1/4/2019

The Gadsden, AL Blue Jug Alkaline Water and Health Market officially opens today. What should have been a 5-6 week schedule to get the store ready to open actually took almost 4 months. It is understandable that states, counties, and municipalities should be careful to protect against something strange happening inside businesses which they allow in their jurisdiction, but it is strange they do not guard against a stifling bureaucracy. In fact, each faction of licensing acts as though they are the singular protector of the people. 

A building inspector should be able to go into a facility and examine whatever is in a building. Sounds reasonable, right? But, if a building inspector is just a collector of data, the government entity must also have a plumbing inspector, an electrical inspector, and a Fire inspector. Then, the health inspector comes in and says, let’s see what the state has to say about this. But, the state doesn’t see it so they categorize it. Since the Fort Payne city/county had never heard of a water store, they didn’t have any rules, they just said, “OK.” Gadsden, however, knew of the Fort Payne store, and upon checking around, saw there were no comparisons for this kind of store and, fearing they might make a mistake, stretched it out to include everyone they could think of for an inspection. This after several weeks of being unable to find an “approved” plumber to run a waterline and a drain. It’s just water, folks. … Rant over. Store is open.

Had a hard time waking up today, but I had an old Blood, Sweat & Tears SIMH as I did: Spinning Wheel—you know, “What goes up, Must come down, Spinning Wheel got to go ‘round. Talkin’ ‘bout your troubles it’s a cryin’ sin, Ride a painted pony let the spinnin’ wheel spin”  Good rock n roll, right? It’s just a carousel.

Speaking of “good” rock n roll, if there can be such a thing, and add the recent holiday to my conscious mind reminds me of another “Mo” story. Such a great friend and most memorable character, Mo was a true entrepreneur, a man not afraid to have and go after his dreams. He, however, was never able to bring any idea to a successful end. He never made what’s commonly thought of as a good living, he just got by. But, he became so knowledgeable in several areas, I was always convinced he was going to have a real breakthrough and be successful. Never happened, unfortunately. But he did know and understand music better than anyone I’ve ever met. You might recall, I told this: he wrote and/or musically arranged over 8,000 songs in his avocation of barbershop quartet singing. 

Back to the holiday thing; Barb and I used to have a new year’s eve party at the church. In one of these parties, we decided to play Trivial Pursuit. So the adults decided to choose up sides, then it was decided before we chose up sides, we should decide on a category: we chose music. both side’s captains come together and flipped a coin to see who chose first. Every body there knew the first choice was going to be Mo. There was much bantering, but finally came the flipping of the coin, I won!! so, I chose Mo. The other side just howled some more about not having a chance, there wasn’t any reason to play, etc. MO just busied himself and never said a word. 

The questions started and we were all astounded: they were all about rock n roll music and Mo knew absolutely nothing about rock n roll. We got skunked! Mo knew old show tunes and old gospel songs, he never listened to any rock n roll at all! Let alone know Trivial stuff about it. The other side laughed us to scorn. It didn’t bother Mo at all. He said he was glad he didn’t know rock n roll! He may have been the better for it.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

1/3/2019

It is starting out to be a difficult day to get done what I must get done. The rain continues, of course, and the first item on the agenda is to haul something in the truck. It won’t get harmed by the rain, but I fear, I will. Grr. Oh well, I guess I’ve been wet before. Others, more native to the area than I, say 2018 was the wettest year they can remember, especially the last half of it. Don’t know much about weather, but under northern conditions we sure would have already had record snowfalls for the Winter—and Winter just started. 

Does this sound grouchy? Kinda does. Sorry. Often, when my day starts like this, I take myself back to some miserable days in my past and then this one doesn’t seem so bad. Take the time, about 4 years after we had built the church building in Texas. a torrential rain hit the area about 5am and for an hour or so, gave us about 3.5-4.0inches of rain, then stopped. Our drive for the parking lot of the church circled back close to the building at one point, the low point of the drive. The level of the drive was about 4 inches lower than the extreme porch corner of the building and ran very close to it. 

When daylight came, I took a look at the corner, and silt had come down the hill and settled somewhat in that low spot, an area maybe 10ft. wide and 8ft. long, headed down the drive. But hardly any water on the drive, and it had stopped raining, so I went to the coffee shop at about 7am—the sun was shining. Five minutes or so after I got my coffee, it began to rain again. Not paying any attention to how hard, I visited with the gang, laughed, drank more coffee and had a good morning. At about 8am, my son called me and said, “Dad, I was leaving for work and noticed the drive, I’m standing in your office looking out at it and I think you better get here quick or you’re going to have water in the church. I have to leave or I’d help!” 

So I ran out in the pouring rain, got in the car, turned on local radio which always warned of flash flooding—not unusual in the area. They said another 5 inches of rain had fallen between 7:10am and 7:50am!! 5 inches in 40 minutes!? Good grief! I got home, got my big square bottom shovel (almost like a small scoop) and went to that low corner. The previous low pile of now packed silt was about 8inches high in that 10×8 area I mentioned, which formed a dam across the drive and there was water backed up and making its way around that dam, flowing rapidly straight at the corner of the building!

I began to push through the silt—took me about an hour as it continued to rain, just to redirect the water away from the building. Another 3 hours or so to clear the silt off the pavement. Hard work with a big shovel and heavy, water-laden silt & rocks. Bad morning. Another reminder of being thankful to now live on top of a mountain, don’tcha know.

Incidentally, every time it rained after that, I had to be sure and as quickly as possible shovel the silt off that spot in the circle drive. Also, I went up the hill to where the silt came from, re-directed as much runoff as I could, but torrential rains brought it anyway. (When the building was being built, I paid an engineer $400 to tell me the downhill flow plan was fine, wouldn’t be any problem with water flow—sheesh!)

8 inches of rain that day. Many Texans in the area used to say, “We get 28-29inches of rain every year, and we enjoy both days!” As you might imagine, there are other flooding stories. We’ve been through some floods, could write a book. Perhaps I am.

The SIMH this morning was Nat King Cole singing “The Greatest Thing You’ve ever learned, is just to love and be loved in return.” The name of that is Nature Boy. Written as a poem by Eden Ahbez. Beautiful song, not the greatest thing you’ll ever learn, but as to this world, a great principal upon which to build a community around you.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

Good Morning, 2019!—-(I forgot I said I would write a blog yesterday, so here’s the first on the second!)

1/2/2019

I’ve got a great SIMH today, not because its inspirational, funny or poignant. But because it’s Dolly —“I Wish You Love” and the theme of this year is going to be “Joy” and in this song she wishes joy along with love and kindness. I see a lot of people in the media looking for kindness on the political front—that’d be good—though it’s unlikely to come about. And just like normal, the majority of media available to us points the guilt finger in the wrong direction. (They think Trump caused it.) What causes the lack of kindness in the world is the squelching of the truth for so long that when it is heard, though a few humbly accept it, all the rest want to shout it down, “away with it!” is their cry.

But we all should step back, take a deep breath, and remember the Lamentation of Jeremiah the prophet when he wrote, “It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not all consumed.” It is, you know, of His mercies. Remember the Lord’s words to Noah in Gen.6? How about His words to Moses when (paraphrased) He said, “stand back Moses, I’ll just wipe them all out and start over with you!”…. and do you know why He didn’t? Moses pled with Him concerning His great name. Do you have any idea why the Lord God would need to have His mind changed? 

So that you and I could read and understand His sovereign way of getting the creation’s attention. The next 3 1/2 books of the  bible, after this incident, has the perfect law of God (to show mankind what righteousness really is), written to show mankind they need the Lord since they cannot obey it. When they finally rejected all that the Lord had done for them, He set all of mankind under one infinite law. A law man can only adhere to by doing nothing but trust: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”—Rom.8:2. He sent His Son, the Son kept the law of Moses perfectly, the Son became our sacrifice for our failure to keep it (whether we knew it or not), and told the Apostle Paul, “Go tell the world it’s their only hope.” I pray you’ve trusted Christ or that you will…today.

Most often on the first of a year, I teach a bible lesson about “redeeming the time.” Perhaps the above picture of our “helpless estate,” as the song says, will suffice for this year.

I think, at this moment, I know of fewer bible conferences for this year, but I hope there is a vast increase in bible classes around the country. It’s a pleasure to get to know of them, be it through FB, or personal note or call. Some other things will fill the calendar, I’m sure, looking forward to whatever the Lord has for us. Make each day of this year to be a stronghold for the love, joy, kindness, and fill your mind with the love of God in Christ Jesus. And remember, The greatest of these attributes is charity—biblical charity.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

12/29/2018—sorry no blog yesterday, the day got away from me.

Here’s a thing I wrote for the approaching new year. As many of you know, I believe in thinking ahead about the new years as they approach. Not sure I’ve ever been fully prepared, but this is my way (at least, partially) of looking at it:

Fast approaches the end of another year!                                                             How gladly sings your heart for being here?                                                     

Is it fearful, is it fanciful, what shall it bring?                                                      Breathe deep and free, be poised to sing!                                                         

For God knows all, and wrote it all down,                                                         freeing us from sin and guilt, giving us a crown                                                    It’s simple to know, yet cannot be seen,                                                            Trust in His word, and be fully redeemed.

The years are no problem, piled up or a few The Savior has said, heavy burdens eschew!                                                           

No yoke any easier, His task, not hard to bear

Just walk close to Christ, twill bring a great new year! 

Happy 2019 to you all.                                                                                                   

I confess I’m not much of a poet, just a little sing-song ditty to help us to step lightly into the next 365, hopefully remembering not to take ourselves too seriously, though we face a serious task. Every day we face a trying world system, designed, not by the God and Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but by the enemy of all mankind, Satan. (Not big on recommending books, but Keith Blades wrote of Satan’s Evil Plan, pretty clearly.)

Well, a couple of our expected stores aren’t opening till late January, but still a pretty good year for a startup company. We have 5 stores open, the 6th will open Wednesday or Thursday, then the 7th and 8th will be open mid to late January. Each new owner is excited to be in this business and pretty well prepared for 2019. We also have some plans and prospects for the next few months, that I will get too excited about soon! I’ll just have to tell you about some as I can. Hope I don’t bore you. 

Laying aside the burdens that beset us in 2018 will not be a walk in the park. Some things are hard to forget. But, the grace of God does prevail and we’ll manage in the full expectation of Christ’s spiritual blessings and His daily food. We’ve learned some things we didn’t want to know and some things remain mysteries of life. Some friends need our support personally and some just prayerfully. Either way, there is much before us to do. Remember Phi.3:7-14 KJB.

Oh, there is a football game on this evening. Some team from somewhere out West is playing some team from near here, to see if either one of them can beat that awful team from Northern Indiana (in case you wondered, I am not a Notre Dame fan!) or the South Carolina bunch that keeps irritating us! Perhaps, if a little luck, a little special talent, a little QB magic, can find its way into just two more games, the Crimson Tide will Roll!!

Gonna write the next blog in the new year—Jan.1, 2019, Lord willing. Happy New Year to you all!

Thanks for reading, the Elder

12/27/2018

Some days are diamonds, some days are coal. That’s a line from a John Denver song (maybe the title) which, even though that was not the SIMH today, it is now rolling around in my head. But then, also rolling around in there is “How do you solve a problem like Maria?” from Sound of Music. I tried to find the one that was coming into my mind first today, but I couldn’t find it from the lines I was remembering. Perhaps it wasn’t real and now I should write it? Naw, the world doesn’t need me to write more songs. Oh, well.

My early day is slipping away. This will either be short or I’ll pick it up later with more. 

Received a comment and suggestion for a video to watch. It was an interpretation of prophecy because of what happened yesterday evening when Israel bombed the Damascus area because they believed the Iranians have an arms stash there. Pretty sure this is not a fulfilling of prophecy, but like dozens of other current events (starting way back in 1948, I suppose) they are precursors for the ultimate fulfilling of all things prophetic. 

Here’s the order I see prophecy being fulfilled: 

Now: “Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils..”

2nd: “Perilous times come..” (also now)

3rd: “The Lord himself descends with a shout..” and we (saved people) leave the earth.

4th. The “man of sin” is revealed 

5th: He “confirms the covenant with many for one week..” (with Israel)

6th: The 7 years (or 70th week of Daniel) goes on

7th: 2520 days later, the Lord returns

8th: Christ reigns.

See if you can show me Scripture to correct any errors. The Lord is not complicated. 

Thanks for reading, the Elder

12/26/2018

It has been a long weekend, right? Now this sort of makes a short week possible. Then, another long weekend and another short week following. Haw can this go on? Hmm, I think it cannot. Nice thought, though. Some of us have to be at work today, but a few are off the whole week. In fact, I’ve got some friends who will have been off since the 17th clear through till the 7th day of the new year! How fair is that? Life’s little perks and peculiarities, they’re everywhere.

This morning, early as it is, I was reminiscing through all the holiday greetings and pictures of friends, etc., while Paul and John and the boys were singing “All you Need is Love”—The Beatles, 1967. This SIMH is typical of life in general, all you need is love. But there is a larger picture of love which the boys seemed to eschew: the love of the Lord. It’s a shame really, that these 4 young men grew up with such a skewered view of Christ, brought to them through the auspices of standardized religion, either RC or C of E. Both ritual laden, bondage driven, overfed works of the devil could never have given a clear picture of who the Lord Jesus Christ or His love is. I don’t think they had a chance. The Lord will handle that judgment (and He knows them that are His.)

Well, it’s time to finish out another year. We look back through the year at the trips we made, the money we spent, the things we participated in, the things we missed, etc. I’d like to suggest something: take one and only one look back at the regrets; the opportunities that slipped by, the words which could have been enlightening had we chosen them instead, how we could have been of help to others, and taken the side of Christ in our plans. But, just take one look, then “forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before…” let’s “press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Ref. Phi.3:13,14 & 7,8)

Someone might think, why take a look back? Paul did, he rehearsed what he had “counted but dung” of his past life, as if to be sure he was remembering what he had cast away from himself. Yes, he wrote it on our behalf. But also for his own sake. If a person loses a leg, shall he walk as if he had not? No, he remembers why he needs the aid. So, yes, put away the bad things from the year now ending, but not till you see them as they were. Just loss (not lost), just loss. And look to the new year for what can be gained: “press toward that mark.” I know it’s a spiritual journey to which Paul is referring, but there’s an application to be made to the things of this life we are charged with carrying forth, also.

All 6 of our grandchildren were at our son’s home in New York yesterday, and last evening, we were thrilled to get them all on a video call at once! There was much frivolity and love shared! The youngest of them will be 18 next month. Time does slip away, “ain’t it funny?”

I’m beginning to put thoughts together for the restart of the Monday night online bible study (Jan. 7, 2019, 7:00PM Central). If you have any thoughts on subjects to cover, doctrines to explain, curious things about bible study, and you think I can help with any answers, right me a comment about it. If I can, I will include biblical truth for that subject. If I give you my opinion, you’ll know it is just my opinion. But the bible is trustworthy, if I answer Scripture and you disagree, give me Scriptural reasons to change my application of same.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

12/25/2018

“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,” [Sent His only begotten Son into a world of woe, gave Him His Holy Spirit, the Son being fully able to live that sinless life, the Father used the Son to be the perfect sacrifice for my sins(and yours), then raised Him from the dead to show me(and you) how He justified me(and you) who stands before Him.] So, merry Christmas? Yea, and more: Merry Eternity with the Son who loved me also, and gave himself for me(and you.) 

May your day be merry and bright, but may all your days be filled with His love!

I put the above post on FB this morning, but I want to emphasize some point of it on here, too. 

Many preachers who dispensationally teach the bible often are afraid to go to John 3:16 and use its truth. I understand that. Jesus and the 12 had  a separate and distinct purpose of God to carry out and it doesn’t include us, directly. But, the verse, may the Lord add His blessing to our use of it, the verse is trans-dispensational. It isn’t simple the kingdom of Heaven which is included in God’s love for the world. We often forget, no doubt because the “world lieth in wickedness,” that God our Creator is also God our Savior— see Titus 2, and as the Eph.2 quote above shows, He has loved us enough to give us all mercies of His own(grace) and “blessed us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places” in order to dwell with us eternally. 

I like John 3:16 and 17. I like being reminded in the next couple of verses of why men do not like what they “see” in Jesus: “..men love darkness rather than light.” Most men do not like to be reminded of that truth, but all I did was quote it, I didn’t write it. We men should be humbled by the reminder of what we are, sinners who cannot help ourselves, yet brought to completion in the finished work of Christ, and invite with relish, being made conformable unto Him. And among many brethren who are the same.

Thanks for reading, and may the holiday be bright in your memory for years to come, the Elder

12/24/2018

“Still” —By Bill Anderson, Brenda Lee and others, from 1963 on. I sat down to write this and there it came. It’s a sad old love song, just right for the whispering voice of Bill Anderson and the soulful renderings of Brenda Lee. Yet another mystery for why I thought of it. Ahh, me.

Read a criticism of Stephen Curry (basketball player) as a witness for Christ. The critic has a point about the kind of industry he is in, the predominance of anti-christian activity and material in the sports industry is a bit overwhelming. But, I went to the website of the school that taught Mr. Curry for 12 years, bringing him to adulthood, and I saw nothing wrong with the simplicity with which they present the gospel of Christ as the power of God unto salvation. No, they don’t practice a  rightly dividing the word of truth curriculum, nor do they use the King James Bible. But, let me remind everyone: “faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” 

Now, since faith cometh by hearing, think back to your moment when as a lost sinner, you placed your trust in Christ: did you study something, or did you hear a speaker telling you it was Christ’s finished work? or, if you were going from memory to know what to do to trust Christ, was it a formula in a book, or words which rang in your mind? When I was saved, I was aware of 1.) my sinfulness, and 2.) my helplessness, and 3.) Christ’s promise He would save “whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And I was saved right then and there. Pretty much the way Mr. Curry described his salvation moment.

My doctrine which I began to immerse myself in immediately was not totally correct and it was nine years before a rightly dividing teacher slowly but surely, by the true word of God, a King James Bible, straightened out a lot of it. Then, study by rightly dividing has set in and worked on me for 45 years. I don’t think I’m done, but I’m further toward the perfection in Christ than I was in 1964—when I was saved, or 1974—when I started to study, or especially 1984—when I started to do nothing but preach. Steph Curry may come to a great deal better understanding down the road a ways.

Today’s the day I start studying an additional subject: What is Franchising, What is a Franchisor, What is a Franchisee, what are the rights of each. It’ll take a while. Anything the federal government sticks its nose into is going to get word-weary. The “rule” on a certain law is what I need to understand. Probably, I’ll have to ultimately find a “franchise attorney” to interpret the parts I don’t understand. (It has always been a mystery to me that there has to be legalese, but it has been so for hundreds of years. I shall not fight it nor change it by my frustration with it. A futile battle.)

Going to go visit the new Gadsden store in a little bit. Just to see if we can make alkaline water there yet. This town has less pertinent rules, but the same number of inspections before opening (sheesh!) — one more to go. I love getting new stores started and one day regulations will settle into a routine. No matter how stringent or less stringent they become, it’ll be easier when they are all the same, I think. Oh, that sounds so patronizing.

It is a beautiful day here on the mountain. I hope it’s a great day where you are. It’ll be alright with me if we do not have any snow in the next 3 months—I have a suspicion some of you want snow tomorrow. It’ll be alright with me if it does snow tomorrow (..yawn..) Happy Holidays and all that goes with it for your family!

Thanks for reading, the Elder

12/23/2018

Seems we were forced to go back to rain, tis the season, I guess. But, it shall not stop us from our excursion to Lookout (the town) for a great brunch at Cafe on the Corner. That’s really a super little restaurant. It has become one our favorites, so today we introduce 3 other family members to it. We’ll see what they think.

A song came rushing in this morning. “There ain’t no place I’d rather be, than Sittin’ Next To You, Sittin’ Next To Me” —Shenandoah, released in 1990. (I had no idea I liked Shenandoah so much until I started looking up the SIMH these mornings. Their style Country music just grips me, I reckon.)

It seems a bit odd to go to brunch this morning instead of somewhere to church. I know the importance of regular attendance to some folks, and it is to me from a pastor’s perspective (that’s probably not what you’re thinking.) But it is an exceptional day, not just because it is close to Christmas, but in our situation, Ben will be heading back to NY to then go back to Germany. This might be our last get together for this visit. He’s a special young man.

A pastor’s perspective (if proper) concerning church attendance is not the swelling of the crowd. It isn’t self-aggrandizement, a pastor should never have that anywhere in his mind. (If it seems to you he does, stop going to his church.) Neither is it about meeting some goal, either attendance or money, nor to gloat about anything. A pastor should concern himself with his congregation’s desire to meet in fellowship around the word of God and the study of it. If their desire for those two aspects of church attendance has waned, it is his fault. Yes, it is. 

What can a pastor examine to see how the “fault” lies? First, his own faithfulness to study. He must follow the Lord’s plan for study, 2 Tim.2:15. If he is sure he’s true to the doctrine for today, even though he uses all Scripture in his presentations, he can then look to manner and time. Is he talking idle talk too long? Is he boring to listen to? Is he way too long-winded? How can he get these  questions answered? (Here’s where I should say he asks his wife, but I won’t say that.) 

The pastor should practice “face reading.” What are the people saying to him while he is speaking? When he makes a funny, either on purpose or a flub, or tells a funny story: do they laugh? When he makes a salient point, do they respond, amen, etc? These are “face reading” habits. Pastors, above all others should silently read people on this basis. If he never gets personal feedback or sees an attitude change because of a sermon, he really needs to practice these things. If, perchance, you don’t think this is biblical, there’s some parts you haven’t read. Try a steady read of Proverbs, throw in a little Job, especially from ch.35 on, and 2 Cor. 6 through 13, just for these things. (Look up the places where the word “friend” is used.)

Well, that’s probably enough seminary effort for one day. It’s time to move on. 

I’m going to spend my extra time in the next week education myself on a couple of areas I’m probably going to be facing in the next year. I don’t think I can become an actual expert, but I should be able to become aware enough not to get drawn into something spurious. One of these areas has a Federal law written about it (rules and regulations) which is 48 pages of legalese of the hardest kind. So, it’ll take some getting used to for me to just absorb it all. The other area, what I used to know has now become passe` and the jargon has changed, as well. I think it’s going to be a fun challenge to be a part of this endeavour. If you read fairly regularly, you may run into an occasional rant about either or both. If the Lord has no plans to the contrary, I’m looking forward to the new year. 

Please, folks, enjoy the next few days with family and friends! Thanks for reading, the Elder

12/22/2018

What a wonderful dinner we enjoyed last evening with Steve, Kelly and our grown-up grandson, Benjamin (Ben) from Germany. Barb again did a superb meal and an array of cookies to be enjoyed afterward. The evening was short, but we enjoyed the time. We’ll spend more time with Ben while he’s here.

I had an interesting experience yesterday I’d like to share with you and I hope you understand it. A few days ago, I had talked with a middle-aged man about performing a marriage ceremony for him and his intended. We settled on next Wednesday, at 6PM. But, yesterday he stopped in the store where I was working and asked if they could come by this evening (yesterday) and we could do it then. I said, well, I don’t have a ceremony with me here. He said, well, do we need a ceremony for it to be legal? I said, no, we don’t. He said we want to get this done and get on with our lives. 

So, I said sure, come by at closing time. (Short, informal ceremonies take about 4-5 minutes and I practically know it by heart. And for my bible, I had my computer.) I was very busy (it was like Christmas eve for our store), but I looked up through the other customers at about 4:30 (an hour and half early) and they came walking through the door! I said have a seat, they did at the small round table in the corner of the store.

When those customers were gone, I said, “You’re early.” They laughed and said, “Just work us in between customers.” I laughed and said OK. So, until 5:50 (an hour, 20 minutes) we talked a few minutes, I’d wait on a customer, we’d talk some more, more customers, then more talk, more customers, etc. They were married and I had signed the “certificate of marriage” by 6PM. They started their “honeymoon” by her going back to work, he went home, I locked the store and came home for my great dinner with my family. How’s that for a unique wedding?

I’ve had some pretty unique marriages to perform, but this one might just be at the top of the list! Top of the list till now has probably been one back in Mobile about 1983. A beautiful young couple came to see me about their wedding and I found them to be very delightful in conversation about the Lord and the sanctity of marriage, etc. We set the date, it was to be a small family gathering one Friday evening at the home of her parents. Informal, but solemn and, if weather permitted, on the patio. 

The evening came and I had told a friend who was going somewhere with me to meet me at a certain restaurant after I was finished with the wedding. It probably wouldn’t be more than 45 minutes total, I told him. (My friend was a big man, close to 500lbs, which, among other things meant he ate a lot.)

I get to the home at about 2 minutes to 7 and ring the doorbell. The groom answered and in a not so happy voice said, Stand over in front of the fireplace mantle and we’ll be right with you. I said, “Oh, I thought with this beautiful day the patio would be lovely.” He stepped close to me, almost whispering said, “my parents are arguing with her parents and Sherie and I have to get out of here, make it fast.” and turned and went into another room. By the time I took a deep breath and opened my bible, the 6 of them were in the living room seated. I read the ceremony, the Scripture, they said their I Do, and I was out of that house at 7:09! At the door, he slipped a $20 bill in my coat pocket and said “we’ll be in touch.” I left and have not seen them since! 

The rest of the story is about my friend the big man: I drive over to the restaurant to wait and he was already inside eating. I looked at all that food he had in front of him and stared at him.”You said 45 minutes, Jerry, grab some food and wait, I’ll be done by then!” Never, ever have I ever seen anyone eat like that man.

Another side note about that man: he was our taxman and once brought me some papers to sign while I was down at the gym shooting hoops. He walked out on the floor, said “gimme a shot,” I threw him a basketball, he stepped to the free throw line and with perfect form, shot and made 15 in a row! My mouth hung open the whole time! I said, “you’ve played some ball before?” He said, “I was the leading scorer on my high school championship team and turned down an athletic scholarship to continue my singing career!” Astounding! and at 45, weighed 500lbs. ain’t people amazing?!

Just so you know, “Here Comes Santa Claus” was not the SIMH this morning. Didn’t really have a song today.

Thanks for reading, the Elder