weekend worship-st. patrick's-new orleans

How appropo that our weekend worship would be in New Orleans. I didn't even think about it until just now when I was writing the post title. But enough of football, let's think about God's Word for a quarter or a half, or a minute.

no liquids on your keyboard revisited

Imet him when I was eleven years old. I never could have known then how he was to affect my life. His oldest daughter became my best friend. You know the old, old gloves that fit no matter how your hands change over the years--the warm winter toboggan that ends up the focal point of every winter picture--that is what she and her family and her dad--my pastor during my youth--are like to me. Comfort, pure comfort--no matter when, no matter where--no matter how many years have separated us.

He is now up in his late eighties--Parkinson's has ravaged a once vibrant and zestful personality. Quite unbelievably though, almost every time I go to see him and his wife of almost seventy years, his old personality shines through. He, once again, is the young preacher with the spirited congregation worshiping the Lord in spirit and in truth. His conversation is laced with old, amusing stories and tears when talking about starting a new church and preaching once more.

He is funny, quite animated and makes me smile and laugh out loud. He is the essence of the young preacher man who I have vivid memories of down on one knee, tears streaming down his face, talking to God in a loud, pleading voice with all the sincerity one could muster--yet, with one eye open ready to lovingly but firmly discipline the fidgety teenagers on the back row.

We respected and loved him so much though that it was a rare occurence when he rose from that knee and came walking purposefully toward that back row and let us know in a strong velvet-like voice that we were STILL in the House of the Lord.

Years after we sat under his fiery but compassionate preaching, my brother, with a twinkle in his eye, would joke about this scenario: (funny--I never noticed this but Johnny, who was a teenager at the time, did). My brother says that when a certain bosomy young woman, who always wore sweaters, walked up the aisle to the podium to sing a solo, Bro. B, as we called him, would always say, "Now, let's keep our minds on the Lord." I think my brother's guilt feelings had a part in embellishing that story just a little bit.

Recently when he was in the hospital and very sick, Bro. B told this story. It seems there was a certain preacher who had a reputation for his prayers being answered really fast. One Sunday a young overweight man came down front asking for prayer that God would help him lose weight. Quite confidently and loudly right before he started to pray, the reverend told the young man, "Grab your britches, boy." He has always loved to tell "preacher" jokes.

Bro. B has always fought giving in to the Parkinson's and becoming incapacitated and dying. Lately, the fight has not been going well. His daughter, my best friend, emailed me this morning to tell me that he has started talking about "going home." When one of his daughters asked him if he was referring to heaven, he quite simply said, "Yes, I am going home in a few days." I emailed my friend back to ask her if she knew that you weren't supposed to get liquids all over your keyboard.

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UPDATE: February 5, 2010--Please go to Jo's blog for Flashback Friday.

and I am also joining Kelly at this restless heart for LEFTOVERS--reposts of some of our favorites.

and Elizabeth at Saturday Evening Blog Posts.

Dianne

CPR--a great love gift

Be prepared to save someone's life, especially those you love. This is a different way of CPR not including mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. I think you will be glad you watched the video.

I'm not sure when this came out. I may be way out of the loop but I had not seen it and thought you might not either. At any rate, it doesn't hurt to review it again. You just might save the life of someone you love.

Please share it with others. At the bottom of this post there is a little envelope that will enable you to email this post to your family and friends.






P.S. Thought this trumped the capitol pictures. Guess they will have to wait 'til next week. Sorry.

treasure the simple pleasures

See this speck in the distance............



This precious little two year old (at the time the picture was taken) calls me "Diney"--oh, oh, steal my heart----------



and thinks he is as big as his daddy when he...............



ditches his sister and does his daily chore of hauling the trash in his John Deere tractor to the corner of the road--trash service only comes that far--and this is a private road. Only his parents and grandparents drive down this way in case you are concerned for his safety. It actually is an extension of another really remote road.



This didn't cost me a cent (except the gas money to drive to another city to spend time with my former colleague and great friend, Kim. That was a sweet, simple pleasure to watch.

Brandy, who also taught with us, joined us for the afternoon and I got another treat--watching her swaddle her seventeen day old son.





Thank you, Lord, for the simple treasure and pleasure of friendship.

Go to Kelly's Korner to read more simple pleasures.




P.S. I will post the capitol pictures tomorrow.

designing women

Thought you might like to see some pictures of the charming and romantic Ville Marre, which was featured in the opening of the t.v. show, Designing Women. This supposedly was the house they lived in. This house is located in Little Rock, Arkansas, my beloved city and state. You can read about "the Sugarbaker house" here. And there is a darling picture of the "girls" in Victorian dress. There is also a Designing Women cookbook but I'm not sure if it can be ordered there or not. The show was set in Atlanta, Georgia and the music playing was the theme song for the fourth season.

Tomorrow I will post some pictures of our gorgeous state capitol. I think you will enjoy seeing how much it is like our nation's capitol.

I don't know why they didn't know I was coming to taking pictures and schedule their workmen for another day but yes, you will see a couple of men making repairs in these pictures and tomorrow when I post pictures of the capitol, you will see orange cones in front of it. The gall!!

Just taking this chance in the month of love to post a few of my favorite things. Later on this month, I will be featuring a few of my favorite people.