8/17/2019

Oh, what a beautiful morning! The air is calm, cool and filled with sounds (from insects, birds, and cows—all)! I awakened this morning with a Sergio Mendes SIMH, one that I really like the tune of, but couldn’t remember but one or two words. To the rescue comes Google! (What did we do before Google? Oh, yeah, we bought massive encyclopedias which could never hold enough information!)  Anyway, I found it on Google. Great lyrics: 

“So close your eyes, For that’s a lovely way to be

Aware of things your heart alone was meant to see

The fundamental loneliness goes

Whenever two can dream a dream together

The song has 5 verses with a little “bridge” that says, “When I saw you first the time was half-past three, When your eyes met mine it was eternity” —what a call-to-love song!

Sergio Mendes called this song, “Together”—but the writer fit it into and as a cover to “Wave,” by Antonio Carlos Jobim (never heard of him, don’t know what Wave is, but he was prolific in his writing.)

Too much time on SIMH?  Probably, sorry. Goes back about 50 years.

Mowing is the order of the morning, I’ll get to it momentarily because the “cool” of the morning will not last long. After mowing until I get too warm, I think I’m going to go to a restaurant we like who now is trying a Saturday brunch—I like the menu and I’m sure they’ll do a good job, I’ll let you know. The older I get, the better restaurant critic I become (chuckle.) Barb and I like brunch menus, partly because I love breakfast and she can take it or leave it. Brunch menus normally have specialty breakfast stuff as well as a lunch-type item or two, so it can satisfy both our tastes. She can’t go with me today, so she’ll just have to take my word on how good it is. She can trust me, you know.

Getting people to understand what they have as a possession comes about by making their conscious mind aware of it. Interesting problem. Most of the time, none of this matters to anyone except the one whose forgetfulness is costing them something. We’ve all experienced this, I’m sure. We’re in a store and see an item we generally use or have used, so we pick up the package or can or bag and buy it. Then, when we get home to put it where we keep those things we find we have two more unopened !

But some things we possess are larger and of more importance than a can of WD-40 or a package of frozen peas. Some are farther reaching in importance to our prosperity or our posterity. For instance: if you are a saved individual you might forget (momentarily) that you’ve been “bought with a price” and you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. This slip of the fallible mind might bring on a rash statement or rash conduct that if you had remembered who your Lord is, you would never have done or said such a thing! Being blessed to live here in the “dispensation of the grace of God” is truly thank worthy in that a slip up such as this doesn’t remove us from our relationship with Him, though it might appear as a loss when we go be with the Lord forever. 

There are more present time forgetfulnesses which can be costly here in this life, however. Take, for instance, we sign an agreement which says, “if you do ____, then you’ll get _____. But, instead of doing the correct thing to benefit from what it brings, we decide to go another route, or use another product or assert ourselves instead of asserting the other thing, but then a ways down the road we find ourselves saying, “Oh, why didn’t I do what I signed up to do!”

We have that situation now with some associates and I’m trying to figure out what or how I can get this across to them. They have every confidence they’ve done what’s best, while in reality they are “biting the hand that feeds them.” A conversation needs to come about that will cheerfully and carefully get the point across to them and preserve their future success. Somehow the right words need to be spoken or written in precisely the right way so as to draw the associates back into full association! We’ll work on this tomorrow, several of us.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

8/12/2019

Well, well! I was reading an article by a man trying to sell me something I don’t intend to buy, but he did tell me something of mine which had a name, and I didn’t think it was worthy of a name: The Song in My Head each morning has a name, it’s called Earworm. So, from now on, I guess I have to say, “the Earworm this morning is…” How’s that sound? Which way do you think I should say it: “the SIMH?” or “the Earworm?” I’ll leave it up to you. Vote now, the lines are open!!

Now that the important stuff has been settled. I want to tell you of a restaurant chain with which I’m pretty impressed: It’s called First Watch. Breakfast and Lunch, and Brunches on weekends. They are truly well done and the “fare” is complete and fairly priced and their staff in each of the ones to which I’ve been are well-trained, dressed appropriately, swift and courteous. and they serve you very good water, leaving you a bottle of it at your table! That’s a great finishing touch. It’s an oft forgotten thing, but it is classy, to say the least (and should always be done—with good water.)

I look at a town, these days, on the basis of where and how many Blue Jug stores will fit here. In this case, if I were thinking of putting Blue Jug Alkaline Water Store and Health Market in strategic places in Chattanooga, I would try my best to place one within a mile of each of the First Watch restaurants. The close-by-association would manifest itself by their good practice of water at the table over to reminding people to get the Water the Way It’s Meant To Be which comes from Blue Jug stores. If that sounds trite or miniscule, think of what reminds you at various times of things you need. Tiny or insignificant things often become a routine to our lives. At Blue Jug, we like routine stops for water!

So, in Chattanooga, a metro area capable of 10-12 Blue Jug markets when maturity comes through, I would start with one close to the Hixson First Watch; then, one close to the Gun Barrel Rd. First Watch, and then one close to the North Shore First Watch. If you visit those three areas of the city, you’ll not think me brilliant. You’ll think, of course, I would have chosen these three areas, anyway….Well, get on with it! Chattanooga needs Blue Jug Alkaline Water and Health Markets!

Here we go through the month of August, 2019. Once again, it almost seems surreal for this to be where and when we actually are! I know it shouldn’t be thought strange that I’m approaching my 77th birthday, but if I wasn’t, it wouldn’t be August 2019! I’ve lived long enough that I’ve known many 77 year old people and watched them get older. In fact, my sister, Margaret was 77 when I signed up for Social Security payments, now she’ll soon be 92. Really! that many years! I remember Harry S. Truman being President-by-surprise in 1948, I remember the rookie, Mickey Mantle, Don Larsen’s perfect game, Bill Mazeroski’s 9th inning “walk-off” home run to beat the Yanks in the World Series! In fact, that game was listened to by me in the Trust Dept. of American Fletcher National Bank in Indianapolis, a very special moment in that office that day.

Everyone who worked there participated in the 7th game “pool” —yes, I know, gambling was against the law(my reason for not participating wasn’t that, it was put a dollar in and not eat for two days if I lost: I opted to not take a chance.) That particular pool was unique by the manner you drew your chance to win. It was based on the score. You drew each team (Yanks or Pirates with a number) and that’s how the end score was to end for you to win. Say you drew Yanks 2, Pirates 1—if that wasn’t the score, you lost. Well, on this day, probably the poorest man in the department besides me was a loud-mouth, brash young man the others just sort of barely tolerated—you’ve seen the type. He drew Pirates 0 Yanks 9. He was a big Pirate fan. His heart sank, especially when the Yanks were leading 7-4. Then, the Pirates went up 9-7. In the top of the 9th, the Yanks scored 2 runs. Optimism rose in the young man’s eyes. “Hey,” he says, as the game entered the bottom the ninth, “if the Pirates get a walk off, I win!” Everyone laughed, uproariously. But the Trust Dept. manager, Mr. Reed stepped out of his office and said, he’s right, these are his numbers: Pirates 0, Yanks 9. If the Pirates get a run, they’ll have 10, and since we just use the ten digits, …silence filled the room as the inning progressed with the Pirates coming to bat. It was the bottom of the order, Yankees got their best on the mound, they won’t score, all the other hopefuls said to one another. The young man was strangely silent, some thought he was praying, I would have been.

Then, Bill Mazeroski stepped to the plate as the potential winning run. As the announcer screamed into the mic, “He’s done it! He’s done it! Forget about the “shot heard round the world” this beats all!” The silence of our office erupted in and glorified in handing the $100 giant pool money to the young man who wept for happiness! Yes, that’s they way it was on Oct. 13, 1960, in a bank office in Indianapolis. (ps: radio, no tv.)

Baseball, like most sports, lives on in the memory of those to whom special moments, special plays, special victories occur. Of course they’re not important in the bigger scheme of things, but they remain in our minds, right?

Thanks for reading, the Elder

8/8/2019

“Across the Universe”—ever heard it? I bet you have. This morning’s SIMH. The dominant line in the song is “Nothing’s gonna change my world,” (repeated.) It’s by the Beatles. I never knew the name of it until a few days ago (I wrote about it earlier) I was listening to music channels on YouTube. There is a girl’s choir which does it beautifully, but it sounds as though they’re saying, “Love is gonna change my world.” The Beatles and others singing it say the first quote. Credit is given Lennon and McCartney for writing it. More beautiful music and wonderful poetry from, at least at the time, men who had little or no regard for the Lord Jesus Christ.

I’m thinking this morning about who might be in agreement with me about the things I write in this blog, and then, the contrary, who might be disagreeing with me as to what I write. I thank you, whichever side you might fall on. Generally, writing isn’t about being always correct: it is about the thoughts and their value for furthering another’s thoughts. Oh, of course I write believing I am correct in my thinking. I don’t write to be wrong (how foolish is that?) But, my adamancy in what I say should not prompt in you some exertion to follow me, nor to vehemently disagree and just write me off,  so to speak. If you disagree, write me a comment about it. You won’t anger me, you’ll just be disagreeing. If you have valid disagreements, I will study and compare until I conclude one of the following: I was right, you are right, or we are both wrong. There is the truth, you know, and between the two of us, we should be able to find it. That’s important, no matter the subject.

Wondering what you think of this: When one who has indeed trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for his/her eternal life and the end of days has come to them, what happens next? Many people I know who are good bible students do not agree with many others who also are good bible students concerning the very next thing for us when we die. Why do you suppose that is? Do we not all read all there is about this subject in Scripture? Do we who study by “rightly dividing the word of truth” not practice this system of understanding how these things apply to us? Really? And yet, disagree? How’s that possible? Well, in walks the finite mind.

Scripture assures us “we have the mind of Christ.” —1 Cor.2:16b. When this phrase is compared with all the rest of revealed truth, in particular Colossians 1, it’s clear we have all that the Lord is going to say which is to have the mind of Christ. A few generations ago, as the English language was being perfected, a man might ask another for advise and use the phrase like this: “I’d like to have your mind on this matter” or something similar. It wouldn’t mean the counsellor would go into the depth of his knowledge of the subject at hand, just that his thoughts on the subject were important to the inquirer. So it is with the Lord. The verse mentioned doesn’t mean we have everything the Lord knows. We have what the true Counsellor wants us to know for our purposes here on earth to be fulfilled.

Isn’t that a marvelous thing? Oh, yes, it is. So, we obey some key points and understand what is clear. (By the way, what is very clear to you or me doesn’t mean everyone who studies it sees it clearly. Sorry, that’s just the way it is, speaking finitely.) So we proceed to be clear when we explain what we believe and we leave our thoughts in the minds of others if we teach. But, sorry, there is no formula for making someone believe as we do. To teach or preach, whether to little children, teenagers, young adults or older adults is to proclaim! Not draw people into our “fold.” We’re not shepherds (though many churches today present their pastor as a shepherd, we are not) and the listeners are not sheep!

How, then, do we cause someone to believe the truth we teach or preach? We do not. It isn’t between the teacher and the pupil, it is between the pupil and the Lord God of heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are just Ambassadors with His words in our hands. Ambassadors bring the message from their Master, and leave it with those to whom he is privileged to speak. And the details, what will become the truth in the mind of the receiver, will be seen through the study of the entire text sent from the Master. 

(You can apply this principle to your relationship with God, your acceptance of the “gospel of Christ” unto salvation, or to the rest of your world, at your job, amongst your friends, wherever. It will stop separation because of arguments.)

Thanks for reading, the Elder

8/5/2019

“Goin’ to Carolina in My Mind”—by several artists you’ve probably heard of: James Taylor, Alison Krause, etc., etc. That was the SIMH today. Even if you’ve never been to either of the Carolinas, the song invokes memories of places in your past, places you can easily fall into melancholy about and desperately wish to go there. Guess I had nothing specific to want to go there for because the song was quickly replaced by half dozen other songs. 

Ah. It’s just as well, doesn’t look like I have a reason to go there soon anyway.

August!? Is this possible, Just a couple of days ago, it was time to mow the grass for the first time of the Spring, and now we see “dog days” of Summer just ahead! Where does the time go? How quickly the calendar on the wall gets worn down! However, this is a long month with no holidays, like March, and that means we should get a lot done this month. Now, if only we had something to do! Hey, let’s do this first, let’s get organized! Yeah, that’s it—organized. We can get a lot done if we’ll first get organized! Or not. Sort of sounds like make work, time fillers, guv’ment work, right?

The dog days or dog days of summer are the hot, sultry days of summer. They were historically the period following the heliacal rising of the star system Sirius, which Greek and Roman astrology connected with heat, drought, sudden thunderstorms, lethargy, fever, mad dogs, and bad luck. —Wikipedia

In my growing up years there were warnings about swimming in stagnant water, seemingly always with the warning about mad dogs and rabies being more dangerous during this time. I’m pretty sure I never did understand any of those warnings, but I heeded them, just the same. It was about that time in my young life someone introduced me to the chlorine pool at the city park in Franklin, IN (our county seat about 6 miles from home.) I heard about the pool and girls at the pool and that sounded like reason enough to figure out how to get there. It was fun, but not really what I wanted to do. Besides, likely I felt out of place. Those people could really swim! and dive! 

Well, we finished the month of July, the 24th month of Blue Jug Alkaline Water and Health Market existence, with 12 stores: 8 open, one about to be open, and 3 more purchased and searching for locations. That’s as fast as we dare expand for a while, probably. We’re pretty excited about the quality of the people we have attracted and are going to be the best supplier we can be to help insure their success. 

This is a fun business for several reasons: first and foremost, we just make the world’s best drinking water! We wouldn’t know how to do it if the Lord had not ordained it to be what mankind should drink. The Lord sends down the filtered and very clean rain water and it hits the ground seeking to be its best self. By that I mean water is attracted to minerals and salts which it finds in the earth. And since it seeks its own level, it goes underground, gathering mineral deposits as it goes. Sometime, somewhere water collects in such quantity that it pools and becomes available, either by pressure or pump, to be brought into what mankind can reach down and drink. 

That’s what we do. Now we start from a different spot (we’re not the Lord, so we have to “undo” the bad stuff which mankind has done to the water) and we get rid of the things which make water taste and smell bad. Then, we flow the water slowly over the same minerals it used to be able to pick up from our soil and underground rock beds. Mmm! that makes really great drinking water, like the Lord God made in the first place! The reason it is useful to people is we make it available at a low price. If people want to, they can put a miniature version of our system in their homes. It’s just more upfront money most people don’t have or they don’t own where they live and can’t fool around with the landlord’s plumbing. So, we make it available to them in our stores. And, it really is the best possible drinking water!

We don’t know how many of these stores we might be able to help build, in fact, we feel privileged to have helped this many folks get into the business. But, we have a lot of interest in a lot of other cities, so we’ll just help when we have the opportunity. Water the way it’s meant to be for as many who want it. The business itself isn’t hard to do, just retail store hours. It isn’t hard to learn it. Our system which makes the water so good is very sophisticated, but simple to operate and you don’t have to be a plumber or a technician of any kind to do it. Any city of about 15,000 or more people is large enough to support one of our stores, so there remains several thousand possibilities.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

7/30/2019

The Beatles “rocked” the music world in the ‘60s/‘70s with a wide variety of songs which the four mop-heads sang and sold (millions) and became the phenom of the 2nd half of the last century—nothing like them, before or since. They changed the thinking processes of many, perhaps even for the better in many cases. They openly trashed religion which probably needed it, while ascribing themselves to even further-from-the-truth religions and promoting mysticism in some of their music. Their music prompted culture changes, military changes, political changes, etc. As to the simple popularity of their music, of course, many genres were altered to lean a little “beatle-ish”—yes, even country. 

But, what has come to my attention recently is the high number of Beatles songs which have been recorded by large choral groups of men, women, mixed, school choirs of all ages and small, medium, and large orchestral arrangements! This is even more a phenomenal thing!

My reason to bring this up today is the SIMH this morning is a song I never heard them sing, but now on YouTube music videos I hear it a lot—it is a very beautiful number, “Because Golden Slumber” (this may be two numbers—Because and Golden Slumber, but I’ve not heard them done apart, neither vocal or orchestrally.) This is a lullaby, and is very enjoyable. Why it was in my head this morning is anyone’s guess. More on this later.

When people attend one of our bible studies for the first time, it isn’t unusual to have them say, “I’ve never learned that much bible in such a short time,” or “I learned more bible here than in any church I’ve ever been in,” or “in my church in a year.” True…, this isn’t rare. Well, this has nothing to do with teaching skills or massive Scriptural knowledge or understanding. “But,” one might say, “it has to be something??” It is. Simply put, it is the method of study and that creates a different method of teaching which forces a different method of learning. Isn’t that simple? Yes, it is. 

The method of study is to consider first of all to whom the Lord was speaking by the men He inspired to write the words. Secondly, when did those people inhabit the earth? Thirdly, what did the Lord promise these people in the pages you can see as being written to, for and about them?

And, then, naturally, what did the Lord say to people like me, in my time? Scripturally, it is called, “…rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 tim.2:15) So if the verse says to rightly divide the word of truth (and it does), do you suppose we could wrongly divide the word of truth? Of course, we could. How do we know if we are “rightly dividing” or “wrongly dividing?” 

The Bible is a very spiritual book. And in its pages are clear instructions concerning it. If the Lord promised something to someone in Scripture, whether conditional or unconditional, only those people to whom He made the vow should concern themselves with it. If the Lord wrote a commandment or made a law, then that law stands until the Lord speaks otherwise to the issue. (Look at changes in the dietary instructions of the Lord: Gen.1, Gen.9, the Law of Moses—Ex. thru Deut., Acts 10, 1 Tim.5.)

So, along comes self-righteous man with his applications of Scripture according to his interpretation, andvoila`, religions begin to form. Today, the religious world doesn’t even know how to count the number of sects and denominations! It was a blessed day when a man who knew better than to follow other men told me, “you don’t know and will never find an authority other than the word of God!”

You can look at Scripture many ways, but somehow, the Lord shows inside the book itself, the only valid ways: 

There’s only one interpretation.

There’s 3 Applications: historical, doctrinal, and spiritual

Historical: as He said it, when He said it, to whom He said it(line upon line)

Doctrinal: precept upon precept to produce the concept of teaching

Spiritual: here a little, there a little as the Spirit of the Lord applies

But, always, it is the Word compared: “comparing spiritual things with spiritual.”

The Lord himself was never in favor of religion. He sought of creation that man should recognize, honor and worship Him and Him only. He said, “I will not share my glory!” When mankind made a religion, in spite of pure intentions, that religion always runs afoul and we know of no organized religion which does what our Creator, the Lord God of the Universe calls on mankind to do or be. Thank God for HIs love, mercy and grace.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

7/24/2019 (written yesterday)

Sitting in the pre-dawn darkness this morning I was pondering, as I read various things, about the daily goodness of God which I often have tucked away, when I looked up from the lighted computer screen upon hearing my favorite mockingbird song, and saw the Lord had “turned on” the day’s light! It’s overcast and a bit gray, but it made our view beautiful to behold. A portion of the SIMH stood out in my mind: “I’ll Fly Away” has an opening line that seemed tofit what I was seeing! “Some glad morning,…” But, I didn’t “fly away” just yet. So, there’s more to do! Amen?

Actually, I’m really looking forward to the rest of this year, Lord willing, and the two remaining scheduled bible conferences coming up in September and October. I believe the Chattanooga conference (Sept.20-22) will be their 39th. Get to see wonderful old friends, meet new ones, and hear 8 or 9 truly ably presented messages every year! The Navarre, FL conference is newer than that, but the same is true—see great old friends, meet new ones and hear terrific presentations of God’s Holy Word.That’s Oct. 25-27. I hope I’m going to see you at one or both of these events.

It also seems we have this wedding to attend in North Carolina in September and two weddings to officiate in October, wow! This could be an exciting Fall! More about all that as time draws nearer.

Things are getting exciting around Blue Jug stores. We are about to get #9 opened and #10 & #11 are purchased and looking for their locations. We get requests for information nearly everyday now. Remember when I said there was a lull and we needed to figure out some stuff to be more efficient helpers? We’ve worked on it, but we’re not fully developed yet. More stuff to tie down as “our way” to be the best wholesaler and supplier our stores can find!  Although, as the number one principle of business says, “do your own business”—right out of Scripture—1 Thess. 4:11,12—“That ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing,” We do want to guide as much as is needed for each of our stores to be Blue Jug stores, but we don’t want to become dictators to them. Their stores are their businesses, not ours. We’re their support, hopefully.

Grass is growing. AAargh! Several hours this week will be taken up with mowing. As I was looking out at the beauty of the mountaintop this morning, I couldn’t help but notice how lovely our weed patch we call grass was looking. Boy, when the rains come and the ground is warm, the weeds cut and trim nicely, even though when the rains slow down and the ground cools and the weeds die away, the yard looks somewhat bare. Pretty now, though, pretty now. (Somewhat reminiscent of life, don’tcha think?) Our mower is in need of a tuneup, or a replacement—machinery gets a bit cantankerous when it gets old and tired. Whew! Sure glad I’m not like that!!

Speaking of “old,” I’ve had about 40 vehicles of a sundry sort since age 18 and we are now driving a 17 year old Mercury Cougar (I’ve mentioned before about the low mileage, yet many things which had to be fixed, renewed, repaired just because it had not been an actively used vehicle.) The Cougar is very comfortable, very good-looking, but it shows it’s 17 years in spite of miles. I once had another old Ford car back in the late 60s. A man in the choir at our church told me he had bought his wife a new car so he could have her old one. So, he said, do you want an old car to drive to work so Barbara can have your new car? I said, how much? He said, $15. I said sold! We made the deal and his wife jumped all over him for taking my $15! She said, “Why didn’t you just give it to him?” I assured her she didn’t need to worry, it was worth it to me.

We drove the car for about a year, or so, and one day I found a 1959 Rambler (some of you will have to look that up) with low mileage and low price, so we bought it. A teenager at my favorite filling station asked me what happened to the old Ford? Still got it, I said, you interested? He said yeah, how much? I said $35. He said, “Alright! I’ll take it!” I reminded him the ignition switch had broken and we hot-wired it to start it. He said that’s ok. I said, “You know, when your on the passenger side, you can see the road through the floorboard.” He said, I don’t care, I’ll take it! So, I took it to him, all the while Barbara was telling me I should be ashamed of myself for taking his $35! So, a couple of days later, I stopped in to give him his money back. I didn’t see the car, so I was surprised he was working. I asked, where’s the old Ford? He said, “I sold it! Got $55 dollars for it! thanks for the bargain!” I put my money back in my pocket and said, “later guys, glad you made a profit!”…..and that my friends is the capitalist way at work.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

7/21/2019

Sometimes the excuses for not having written this blog sound a bit puny. However, this is a pretty good one: I left my computer power cord in the motel Monday morning and had no battery till I got a new charger cord today! Incidently, the SIMH is “Till Then”—the bridge (or chorus) of this song by the Mills Brothers says: “Although there are oceans we must cross, And mountains that we must climb, I know every gain must have a loss, So pray that our loss is nothing but time.” All I lost this week was a little time.

Back to the Northern trip. When we left Samaria, IN (location of the reunion), we headed to the alternate route to cross the Ohio river: we went to Madison, IN, and a great steak house called Harry’s for a nice Sunday night dinner. Then, on to Frankfort, KY for the night. Monday morning, visited the city of Frankfort a little, seeing their old downtown skyline which has its own ‘40s-‘50s nostalgic look. For a state capital (4th smallest in the country) in the 21st century, this is truly unique. We also drove over the “singing bridge” twice. Fun.

Then, we drove to Harrodsburg, KY to visit the Pleasant View Shaker Village. The Shakers were a religious sect in the 18th and 19th centuries who, because of some very strange beliefs concerning personal contact and fellowship even with their own members, could not possibly have survived as a religion. It is said there are only two people who are Shakers left alive and they live in Maine. One man, one woman,…and no, that doesn’t mean they’ll survive.

However they were famous for at least two very creative traits: they were excellent craftsmen with their hands–wood, masonry, and the women in quilting, weaving, clothing makers. Their village is a great visit due to those things. The other tremendous artistic attribute was in music. It’s claimed they wrote over 36,000 songs which they performed without accompaniment while dancing a ritualistic religious dance. We saw demonstrations, very talented whether it was likable or not. 

The other very enjoyable thing at the Shaker Village was the restaurant. We had an excellently prepared lunch before leaving. It was a trip to be remembered!

A great visit before driving on back to Alabama, going the whole distance with only the last 60 miles or so being on an Interstate Hwy.

Thanks for reading, the Elder 

7/20/2019 (Written on Sunday 7/14/2019)

It’s a beautiful Sunday morning in Bloomington, IN! We are here to go to the Lockhart Reunion today. We came up on Friday, got here late, then spent Saturday in and around Monroe and Owen counties, seeing things and places we’ve not seen before, even though we both grew up less than 50 miles from it.

We started our day Saturday with a hearty breakfast in downtown Bloomington at a restaurant which served (truly) breakfast tacos! Had not had good ones outside of Texas till these. I even got to have corn tortillas, a real rarity outside of the Southwest! (Oh, they had all the normal good breakfast menu, too.) This restaurant was started about two years ago by a family member of old restauranteurs who retired a few years back. We could tell they knew how to run a restaurant. Beautifully done, though not elaborate, while only a breakfast-lunch menu. I hope they have great success!

I’ve bragged about Indiana State Parks before and yesterday we visited McCormick’s Creek with no disappointment! It is so very naturally beautiful, clean, well kempt, and friendly. Barb and I hiked the “tough” trail which was not so tough because the water in the creek was fairly low. The falls were worth the walk and the climb back up was tough enough, but fairly short. Really good exercise!

We’re thinkin’—one year the whole family! The old Inn is great and has all the amenities; restaurant which people brag about, pool, tennis, basketball, lobby lounge, and of course, the park. McCormick’s Creek State Park—destination location!

Afterwards, we visited Owen Winery, in the country South of Spencer. Simple, but well done with interesting wines—Persimmon?—Apple?—many others. Outside (or inside) light dining in a beautiful valley. We could have sat there all day!  

For dinner, we went to a restaurant overlooking Lake Monroe (Southeast side of Bloomington) with my nephew and his wife, the widow of one of my brothers and 3 of her friends. A wonderful evening of story-telling (yes, with more storytellers than me), good food and drink. 

On Sunday, we drove to the “old familiar” places which are a part of our memories from when we met. After getting a quick but delicious breakfast in beautiful Nashville, IN, a destination city in itself, we drove the old country roads to where Barb’s folks farmed. Near Martinsville, IN, about 130 acre farm with a typical old farm home and classic barn when they were there, now has a beautiful home (looks as though the new owners probably remodeled the old house.) Plus, they have taken some of the road frontage and made some home sites. Then, on the South side of the ridge-top driveway, they have built a 10-12 acre pond which was wharfed and prepared for both swimming and pleasure boating. Gorgeously finished.

On our way East to get to the family reunion we wound around more country roads to go past where Barb grew up, passing many early age friends’ former homes and schools. Nostalgia and some melancholy lingered with us. But, on to the reunion. We really enjoyed all the relatives and friends who come to our reunion. This year, our attendance was up about 20% from last year which makes us look forward to next year!

Thanks for reading, the Elder

7/8/2019

Another momentous week is upon us! Some of us had extended days off because of the “4th” holiday. I could get used to that a little too easily, I think. But, since I don’t engage in really hard work, I’d best be up and about myself this morning. There’s a few things to do. A few different ways to approach normal tasks and some chronic problems getting resolved. Like, most of the Blue Jug inventory problems, water containers, are on their way and we have secured warehouse space to hold it all, thanks to Greg, my neighbor being generous enough to share his extra space with us. That’s a great plus!

Three times now, for a variety of audiences, I have sung a song I love about the grace of God. It was the SIMH today, and since hearing it about 6 months ago, it is a welcome consciousness! It’s name is “Grace.” It is recorded by City Alight and I cannot find another writer, but it seems to me to be an old Irish ballad, sort of updated to fit our version of the English language. The chorus or “bridge” goes like this: “By grace I am redeemed, by grace I am restored, and now I freely walk into, the arms of Christ my Lord.” 4 verses, loving words which all depict what we have in Christ our Lord.

Singing in my amateur way reminds me of childhood days when attending Separate Baptist churches where my father pastored. We heard some good singing, but we also had to endure some very poor singing, as well. One that comes to mind was an old man who would regularly respond to my dad saying to those who were in attendance, “Who’s got a song for us this morning?” and up would rise Mr. Terhune (I think that as his name.) Now, no one would ever doubt this old man’s sincerity or his honesty in his intentions to glorify God. But, the man couldn’t sing worth a flip! His favorite song to whittle his way through was the old hymn, “Haven of Rest.” It has a line which says, “…my fetters fell off” and it never failed: he said “…my feathers fell off!” Us kids, with each mother or father or both glaring angrily at us, could not help but laugh, or giggle when he did that, even though we heard him do it as often as he carried the tune (or failed to carry it.) In eternity, if he’s there, I owe him an apology!

He lived in East Columbus, IN, which had a uniqueness about their little SB church: It was just basement. I guess they always intended to build on top of it, but the last I heard it was still just a basement. That group of churches, called the Central Indiana Association of Separate Baptist, was about 18-20 in number and they had 2 such basement churches, the other in the West side of Bloomington. (I thought this was odd: one basement in East Columbus and one in West Bloomington; and if you look on a map, Columbus is East of Bloomington.)

In contrast, the association had a little country church on a clay hill just south of Camp Atterbury, in Bartholomew County, which was just a little box of a building. When they needed more space, they decided to dig down under it, blast out the old dry clay and make a basement under the existing building! What an event that was for a young pup like me and my brother Jack to get to see happen! I’m thinking Jack could  probably add more detail to that event. I’ll have to ask him what he remembers about it. I recall it was mostly done in the evenings; they used dynamite caps, after pounding a hole in the clay, maybe 4 ft deep, drop in the cap, set the cap off, wait till the dust cleared, check the building to make sure they hadn’t cracked the foundation, then haul out the chunks of hard clay dirt till they made a nice sized basement, useful for them, I suppose. Quite a feat for a group so small. ….oh, the memories,…they do continue to flow.—-Oh! one more thing about that church: their sign spelled separate, Seperate. Can’t find a dictionary that allows that is OK, but they didn’t mind.

Thanks for reading, the Elder

7/6/2019

The SIMH today was unpleasant, and I don’t want to tell you about an unpleasant song or its writer or who made a hit out of it, etc., etc. Someone must not of thought that song was unpleasant, so why did I? Good question. I think the thing which determines our like or dislike of a song has as much to do with our mood at the moment as it does anything. At any rate, I believe a more pleasant number will be there tomorrow. 

Hoping you all had a super-duper 4th of July! Thank God for independence. We were so independent we worked in the yard and mowed grass till heat and weariness drove us in. Mowing is on my agenda again for today. (This is a big lot!) Sometimes when I’m mowing, I think of buying a riding mower. Then, if my sanity is holding, I think how little exercise that would be. And if I get any exercise any more worthwhile than walking behind a mower, I don’t know what it is. 

Are any of you, uh, up-in-years-folks engaged in any “plank” exercises? I can’t seem to remember it at the time of day I can fit it in, but I do get benefit from it—if, and when. How about you? Do you plank? (How long has it been since someone asked you that?—haha). Once, when my wife ran several miles a day, a friend asked her about some of the details of when, where, etc. While she was telling him about it, another friend asked him, “Do you run?” He laughed out loud! He was in his 60s at the time, hardly had an ounce of fat anywhere, probably weighed what he did when he was 21. Run? He didn’t need to run, he said. Ya know, he was probably right. I ran just about all I was ever going to run while playing on the basketball and baseball teams when in high school—cause I had to. I couldn’t seem to make my body ever understand I should run because I wanted to. (I don’t doubt the benefit, but I’m pretty sure the desire has to be there.)

Something I noticed yesterday while working outside. The type of exercise and muscle usage really makes a difference in fitness. I felt really good mowing, the walking and the stop and start at corners and odd shaped edges didn’t seem to create fatigue.  But then, I had to dig two holes; the first to remove a small tree and its root system, the second to replant the small tree and its widely spread out root system. This required two groups of muscles: the first for removal — back and leg muscles, and the second for replanting—the stomach and arms. The fatigue set in. Then, when I got some rope and 3 stakes to hold the tree against  the wind, stooping and hammering really showed me how low my energy level had dipped—it was just 3 little stakes! Anyway, it was a quick recovery and all is well. Something to work on.

Half the year has gone and as usual, the week of July 4th is a planning time, at least mentally. Though I sincerely believe in setting goals for one’s self and for the business venturing one is involved with, I’m not in favor of goals for the ministry. (Many years ago, someone smarter than I told me to walk through the doors which open and to quit trying to kick doors down. I understood.)

For the ministry, I expect to be doing whatever is brought to my attention to do, primarily being what I do now. a Monday night “live” internet (seen at zoom.us/j/2103785748) at 7 pm, followed by the recorded message being put on YouTube channel, Brother Jerry Lockhart. Also, twice monthly on the Sundays I’m available I will teach at Grace Bible Church in Alexandria, AL. (Unless they find someone who can be there full-time.) There are only two more scheduled conferences that I know of for the rest of this year: In September, the Grace Bible Church of Chattanooga, TN will hold their 39th annual conference (20th-22nd.) Then, in October, the Navarre, FL conference will be held the 25th-27th. Both these conferences will serve the Lord in gladness of heart in spite of our earthly circumstances. I intend to  be at both and hope you are, also.

Today, I’d like to leave you with 3 basic and substantive bible verse. If you will let the Spirit lead you in study, these 3 simple verses will guide you into a deeper understanding of how the Lord is willing to lead us, both individually and collectively:

If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?(Ps.11:3) (Foundational truth first lies in the process of believing that God’s plan for the ages is in place and He has not yet been surprised at any event, nor shall He ever be.

Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Col. 2:8) (The “any man” means just that. Being spoiled by man’s opinions and philosophies of life its not being sent by the Lord. Examine and prove all things by the Scripture.)

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. (Lk.12:48b) (Here we sit in the 21st century after the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth. Before the end of the first century, we had been given the entire word of God in written form. It has been mangled and marauded down through the centuries, finally being put together through the auspices of the English language in the form of the King James Bible. And in the last 118 years+, it has been maligned anew by the writing of supposed experts whose own religious “philosphies” have permeated our plain as day doctrines through more than 100 “versions” which claim to be God’s word.) 

Read and re-read these 3 verses and let the Lord lead.

Thanks for reading, the Elder