Afterthoughts

Pastor Charles Hunt      "Somebody better hold my mule; I'm fixing to shout!"  When Charles Hunt the pastor at Woodland Hills Baptist Church in Longview, Texas said those words during his sermon, I smiled.  I knew something important would come next.  Many times, he shares a joke or tells a story that goes along with what he's preaching.  Always his focus is on the Gospel of the Bible and leading people to Christ.  When he throws in a saying or two, people chuckle.  Their ears perk up, and they listen for what comes next.      Many people don't realize a lot of common sayings we use every day come from the Bible.  I have compiled a few in the following poem. United And Here to Stay. America the great has started to fall by the wayside. The fly in the ointment is people have lost their pride. The land of milk and honey no longer exists. There's a wolf in sheep's clothing and that's the twist. ...

                                                                           Roy Appling      In the late forties wildcatters came to the West Texas area where my grandfather had a dry weather farm snuggled a mile off US 380 between Tahoka and Post Texas.  The men drilled on several farms nearby but found no oil.       That's when granddad decided to do what he had wanted to do for years, drill for water. They struck one of the best deep-water wells around.  From that day on, he no longer had to watch the clouds in the sky and pray for rain. Each day he got on his red tractor knowing whenever needed he could quench the dry earth.  All he had to do was fill the ditches along the edge of the fields with water.  Once they became full, he walked alo...

Pastor Kase Kuykendall       In 1955 the minimum wage was seventy five cents an hour.  That is the year I turned 14 and began working at a dime store after school.  Being a student, they only paid me thirty cents an hour.  Since I paid for all my clothes and other expenses, except for the food I ate at home and a roof over my head, the thirty cents didn't go far.       That summer when East Side Baptist Church in Killeen, Texas paid for me to go to summer camp It was a blessing.  In one of my classes, my youth leader's wife shared a Bible verse that meant a lot to her. "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and to those who are called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28, NKJV) Because the conflict and violence in my home didn't make sense to me, the verse became my special lifeline.      With the reality of COVID-19, we all need hope, peace, and comfort. Kase Kuykend...

     Why am I not afraid of COVID-19? That's a good question.  I had to think back to my childhood to come up with an answer. Having grown up with an alcoholic, drug addicted stepfather, it's possible my fear subsided through the years because of the violence in my home. The circumstances caused me to cling to a higher power.  Sharing this is not for sympathy. It's just the way it was.      Many nights my stepfather would pull out his gun and threaten to use it on my family. Several times we would flee our house for safety.        The last time I remember him lying on the couch, waving his gun, and cussing, I hurried upstairs to check on my brother.  I didn't want a repeat of the time he hid in the dirty clothes hamper and couldn't run away. The two of us went into my room. I proceeded to open the window and take down the screen.  After putting it under my bed, I pulled the window shade down as a precaution...

     According to an urban legend it is easier to balance an egg on it's end during the spring equinox.  Also, one can make a broom stand by itself during this time.  Google says any day it can be done. Years  ago, one of my grandchildren called me on the phone and said, "Mups, today you can stand an egg on its end, and you can make a broom stand by itself."  Being a person that is always ready to try something new, I worked for over an hour with several eggs.  Since they wouldn't cooperate, I put that aside and moved on to the next challenge.  First came the mop.  It took patience to get it balanced.  For a while it stood and then it fell.  Second, I worked with a flagpole.  Even though the flag hung a little to one side, it also stood up.  As a final test, I tried the broom.  To me if it stayed up, even for a short time, perhaps the myth is true.  It worked. The  hardest part came when I de...

JT Westbrook      Patience has to be at the very core of a fisherman.  Because of the experiences I've had with my husband, I've come to that conclusion.  Fishing has never been my sport. Even so I went with him many times so he wouldn't have to go alone. My sport is swimming so, in warm weather, when we went fishing, I would wear my swimsuit under my clothes. On one fishing trip, we fished for schooling bass at Lake O' the Pines.  After an hour or so, I asked if he cared if I went for a swim. He said, "Sure go ahead." I swam about thirty minutes while he fished on the opposite side of the boat.  Now you and I know, he didn't expect to catch any fish during that time.  Regardless he indulged me.      On another fishing trip, we went to Island View at the same lake.  The bright sun caused the water to sparkle like the twinkling of small blue diamonds. Since my hobby is photography, I asked my husband if he would m...

                                                                   Pastor Charles Hunt      How is a person to know if someone is telling the truth?  In this day and time, we are told to be on our guard.  If a stranger asks for a ride and you give him one, they may rob you or even take your life.  With God given wisdom, we can make the right decision.        Before our last storm, I went to an Exxon station to get gas. At one of the pumps, a young man and woman seemed to be enjoying a lively conversation.  Moments later the man drove away, and the woman walked up to me. She said, “I just lost my job, and I need a ride to Brookshires.  Could you take me?”         I cleared my throat.  “Didn’t I give you a ride to...

     Many children live in fear and sadness by living in a home with violence.  I lived in one.  Even with turmoil surrounding them, children can find hope.  At the age of thirteen, I overheard my youth director's wife say her favorite bible verse was Romans 8:28.  I latched onto the verse and have treasured it.      Since this is a new year, I want to share two poems with you. I pray there is peace within each and every home. Happy New Year! Within The Walls Within the walls came the silence of night, To be replaced by foul exchanges and weeping. Angry words filtered through folds of cover on the bed. Sweet morning dawned. With it came uncertainty. Times of peace were haunted by times of turmoil. Within the walls.                                                     ...

      During the Thanksgiving holidays, my youngest son, Robert, asked me what I thought of the television set they had recently purchased.  I commented, "It looks great.  It takes five to eight minutes for the lines to go away on mine.  When it goes out, I plan on getting a sixty-five or seventy inch." Little did I know what Robert and his wife, Cecilia, planned for me.       The very next Saturday they knocked on my front door.  To my surprise there they stood with a seventy-inch television. Because of the words I had spoken, they bought the bigger TV instead of the fifty-five inch they intended to get. Their youngest son, Shane, bought me a sterling tobacco barn door TV stand to put it on. Overwhelmed I struggled on what to say. How can I accept such an extravagant gift with grace?  Then I remembered what my middle son, Roy, once said, "Don't take away the blessings someone receives from giving. Just say thank you a...

John and Lee Bell  Campbell      Where did I leave the past?  Who knows?  I've tried and tried to retrieve the things I've left behind.  You can't help me with my search. You see I've played, laughed, and cried.  Now it's gone.  It would be nice if I could change some of the things I've done for the better.  I can't.  Wishing so doesn't work. Today the wisdom of age has given me a different perspective.  It's not to say it brings about a great breakthrough.  But with the gift of time, I'm more apt to think about my actions.  Now that I've been blessed with the breath of a long life, I can play harder, laugh at myself, savor each moment, and perhaps use what I've learned. As I go into the future, I can love with compassion holding onto the beauty around me and to the hand of God. (In memory of my great grandparents who lived to a ripe old age.) A Reason I'm not a star that shines at night. Nor am I a s...

     Each of us are given special people that influence our lives.  It may be a relative or a friend.  For me it was Grandma Appling.  She left this world at the age of ninety-seven.  I'm so thankful for the lessons she taught me. After she passed away, I found this letter among her possessions. Even though she borrowed the words from an unknown author, they expressed her true feelings. Dear Pastor and Christian Friends and My Loved Kin,      when you preach about heaven, I am interested in that land because I hold a clear title to a bit of property there ever since I was eleven years old.  I did not buy it.  It was given to me without money or price. But the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. I am not holding it for speculation since the title is not transferable.      It is not a vacant lot. For many years I have been sending material out of which the greatest architect and builder of th...

     Pat Westbrook      I've never been afraid of living in the country.  Even the times the children and I found ourselves alone at night, I felt safe.  The night my husband went on a hunting trip everything at home seemed normal.      My two boys needed to go to the bathroom.  Since we had yet to put one in, I gave them a flashlight to see their way to the outhouse.  I told them I would wait for them on the porch so they wouldn't be afraid.      For some reason I looked over at the garage.  Now our garage happened to be made of used sheet metal.  Many a nail had been driven into it making it easy for the wind to blow right through.  Just as I looked, I saw a flicker of light. I assumed someone lit a cigarette.      Like a mother bear ready to protect her young, I went back into the house and got my husband's twenty-two pistol.  Seconds later I returned and hollered....

     In the sixties my family moved to the country in Milam County, Texas. In front of our house, cars traveled on highway seventy-nine and trains traveling on the other side of the highway broke the silence of each day.        One morning while doing the dishes, my daughter tugged at my skirt.  With her wide eyes looking up at me, she said, "Mom, there's a man outside and he's hungry."        I looked out the living room window and saw two of my boys sitting on the grass, outside our fence with a strange man. He looked like a hobo that had jumped off a boxcar from the train.       As quick as I could, I prepared four peanut butter and jelly sandwiches one for each of them. After wrapping the sandwiches in wax paper, I gave them to my daughter. She smiled then ran outside.        I watched as the four ate their meager meal.  When they finished, the children waved at...

Beth Griffin         It's hard to lose a friend to death.  The grief stings daily deep within the soul.  When my best friend of fifty years went to heaven, I lost the only person that knew all my secrets. She loved me for being me.  When I had a problem and went to her for advice, she knew just what I should do. With her sharp mind and quick wit, she would advise me on what to say if someone hurt my feelings.  Several times I told her I would like to put her in my pocket so she could be there to talk for me.      During our friendship, we went through times of visiting in person and times of being phone friends.  The love of friendship lived in both our hearts, and oh how I miss her. Goodbye My Friend What fun we had dear friend  while you walked this earth. I know you enjoyed your time  here ever since your birth. You laughed and cried living life as best you could. The hardest part you...

           Often when we moved from town to town, we pulled our three-bedroom, one bath 12 x 60 trailer house to the side of the road in order to check the tires.       On one of our moves, while my husband checked things out, the children and I walked up a narrow country road with our dog.  After several minutes, I told the children to head back to the highway so we could continue on our way.  My daughter started down the road toward the trailer and hollered, "Let's go home." Her brothers followed jumping and running as boys will do.       Many times, we look down on people just because they are not like us.  They may not make as much money, dress the way we do, or even live in as nice a house as we do.  If living in a trailer house made us trailer trash, I'm proud.  For you see those seven years happen to be the happiest years of my life.  It didn't matter what other people thought. As long ...