Hallelujah! We Are Not Alone

  When Rusty and I first married, we lived in a rent house near the Homochitto River. We spent a lot of time there swimming and fishing. We made several float trips down different stretches of the river with our friends Sonya and Robbie. The guys would usually fish as we would drift down the river in a canoe or flat bottom boat. Depending on how many miles we planned to travel and how the fish were biting, the float would sometimes last all day.  One year, the local paper advertised a river race. It was to start at the Highway 98 Bridge and go to Sullivan's Bridge. Surely this was something Sonya and I could do. We had floated so many stretches of that river with Rusty and Robbie we figured we should be pros at it by this time. On the day of the race, we pulled up hauling a borrowed aluminum canoe complete with a flat back where a motor could be mounted. A few guys that were competing with their lightweight kayaks and canoes were gracious enough to help us unload our beast of ...

This weekend, the Rymer family came from Mississippi to visit. As always, my friend Sonya is ready and willing to help me with any task that needs tending to while she's here.  I told her that I had accumulated a scrap metal pile in the back and had planned to haul it off. Since I’m terrified of snakes, we thought it would be a good idea to push the metal out in the open with the tractor to make it easier to get to and scatter any unwanted critters.  I pushed around for a while but was having a hard time getting the heavy pile to move. I eventually threw the tractor in 4-wheel drive and pressed hard on the throttle. Nothing was going to stop me now... that metal was going to move!  As the pile began to shift and I lifted some of it with the bucket, something caught my eye. It had white stripes, and it was moving. Actually, they were moving.  It only took a split second to realize that I had disturbed a skunk den! If the sight didn’t alarm me, the faint warning spray ...

  A few years ago, a friend and I were talking about how some people don't seem to be bothered by things that bother us. The remark was made that we have to remember that all of us don't have the same moral compass.  I'd never really thought of it that way but have thought about that statement several times since then.  A moral compass is defined as: a set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior, or an intense sense of right and wrong. *  I believe we've all been guilty of climbing on our "moral high horse" of self-righteous judgment at times. The Bible gives pretty clear definitions of certain things that are considered sin, and some may not be quite as clear. But one thing is for sure, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you on an issue, it is sin.  In today's society, there are many things we can find ourselves caught up in. We may not agree with our friends, family, or even fellow Christians on some of the many issu...

Rusty was finally released from the hospital on Thursday. He's doing well and hopefully on the right track now. The fall was a blessing in disguise because it confirmed suspicions that the wound was not healing as it should on the inside. There was an underlying infection that had to be tended to. Cultures were taken that required a waiting period to read the results. There was nothing that could be done to speed up the process. It was just a waiting game.  Sometimes, there are situations where we have no choice but to wait. Then there are times when we do have a choice and we move on too quickly on our own when we should have waited. In 1 Samuel 13 , we read of King Saul as he was going into battle against the Philistines. He had been instructed to wait for Samuel to come and offer the sacrifice. When Samuel had not yet arrived, Saul became anxious and took it upon himself to do the sacrifice. Saul's actions were not taken lightly...  “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel s...

  If at first you don’t succeed… Rusty’s wound hasn’t healed like they want.  He’s having another procedure later today to debride and reclose. He’s doing good over all and getting around well. Prayers for a successful surgery are appreciated.