tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168425112024-03-14T07:08:10.979-04:00RuthlaceRuth Shaw remembers a time when folks sat in rocking chairs on the front porch and shared stories. Today, at age 92, she sits at her computer and shares those memories with people all over the world.Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.comBlogger293125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-75101055910803739642012-11-30T13:09:00.003-05:002012-11-30T13:09:33.078-05:00Weeding Lily's GardenRuthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1166467506811894552012-09-16T19:27:00.000-04:002012-09-19T07:34:52.282-04:00Going To School in the 1930's<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSfHR5TRZA3KsAE2UKZqv3AJy5jUj2fXS5jv4o7dw2KrdGGXLpOcYJRZL6HJYgi7kOa38cUvJ_TLmApvqt6kl9Mh-f9UYmaD3WG-6n1oo8DtraU9-wo72WY0QGOLv58G76pae/s1600-h/sarah-ruth-baird-flower-bed-porterdale-1930.jpg"><b><span style="color: black; font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291720085948432898" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSfHR5TRZA3KsAE2UKZqv3AJy5jUj2fXS5jv4o7dw2KrdGGXLpOcYJRZL6HJYgi7kOa38cUvJ_TLmApvqt6kl9Mh-f9UYmaD3WG-6n1oo8DtraU9-wo72WY0QGOLv58G76pae/s400/sarah-ruth-baird-flower-bed-porterdale-1930.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 240px;" /></span></b></a><b><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></b><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">I started school in January before my sixth birthday in 1929. This was the year of the stock market crash and the Great Depression. I suppose we had "poverty" but not in the sense of poverty today. Most people were in the same boat and helped one another. We were fortunate not to have 24 hour news, so we did not learn until later that people were jumping out of skyscraper windows to kill themselves.<br /><br />The first five grades in our school were divided into 10 grades. We had low first grade and high first, low second, high second. etc. I contracted measles and missed the last two weeks of school in the Low Fifth.<br /><br />When my teacher came by to visit a few days after school was out for the summer she brought my report card. (Yes teachers, doctors and pastors were expected to make house calls.) Mama asked my teacher if I was to go back in the fifth grade or skip to the sixth grade. My teacher, Miss Bohannan gave me a test and skipped me to the sixth grade. That is how I happened to be the youngest in my class for the rest of my elementary and high school. Elementary School was called "Grammar School" when I was in school.<br /><br /><u><b>School dress</b></u>: In Grammar School in those days, girls always wore dresses to school with knee stockings and oxford-type shoes or high top shoes. I remember a few of the girls wore high-top stockings. These were dark, thick, stockings, often black, that came above the knee and were held secure by elastic circles. In fact these garters were called "elastics." I remember being thankful that my mother did not make me wear those "old fashioned stockings." We had only one pair of shoes that were sometimes worn until they fell apart. I have worn shoes that had cardboard put in to cover holes in the soles of the shoe.<br /><br />Incidentally, a little later when we did wear sheer hose (with a seam down the center of the back that had to be kept straight), we made our own elastics to keep our hosiery up. We just took a piece of elastic and measured around the leg just above the knee and sewed the ends of the elastic together. This was before garter belts were in use. By the time I got to high school, girls were beginning to wear anklet socks that turned down at the ankle so were more comfortable than the kmee socks.<br /><br /><u><b>Discipline</b></u>: As I was writing this, a long time friend called. When he learned I was writing about school in the 1930's, he asked if I had written about "whippings." I told him that "whippings were a "boy thing". After we joked around a bit, we both agreed that in his school in South Carolina and mine in Georgia, the teachers had 12 inch rulers that were used for something besides measuring distance. The disobedient child held his/her hand out with palm up to be smacked with a ruler. For major misbehavior, a razor strop or a hickory switch was used on the child's bottom. Parents typically told children that if they "got a whipping" at school, they would "get another one" at home. Litigation against teachers and/or schools was not considered.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516541838244294930" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3sl0aY94N35mA5Pkb8XbhdKzYMqiuz_yJP83aoO16GbIMz1KJJGSXoei7U3XAUaNyKY1d_-EKFxQoMCfGJIoESqWfmxKo4DotdcTdTRlEJ2GRkb_DzA9KcWsOMe1GRLFzo5zviQ/s320/school+desks+and+blackboard+1920-s0.bmp" style="float: left; height: 196px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 147px;" /><u><b>School Room:</b></u> The student desks were attached to one another in rows. They were also attached to the floor. All student desks faced the large teacher's desk. The wall behind the teacher desk was covered with black boards for writing. The blackbords had narrow little shelves at the bottom to hold chalk and erasers. Each of the student desk tops had a small round <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4QTSu6fjeNB8S2YtqJRUii989lvOR1V2p98jb_r021ZqzwD2jdO4q2UrTQdXG8p0uleaDUW7atxWe6JV3pim1WvyZtYZmxqpA8ts6M1Gjo4_8B9Eg50vyjrRnaDjvQb-TT5mMw/s1600/school+desk+with+inkwell+in+1930%27s.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516542854303057042" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit4QTSu6fjeNB8S2YtqJRUii989lvOR1V2p98jb_r021ZqzwD2jdO4q2UrTQdXG8p0uleaDUW7atxWe6JV3pim1WvyZtYZmxqpA8ts6M1Gjo4_8B9Eg50vyjrRnaDjvQb-TT5mMw/s200/school+desk+with+inkwell+in+1930%27s.jpg" style="float: right; height: 120px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 160px;" /></a> hole that our ink wells fit into. We had to fill our pens with ink from the ink wells for writing before fountain pens came on the market. We also used pencils and lined tablets for Math, spelling and much of our writing. Every week, two students were selected to take the erasers outside to "dust the erasers" to get all the chalk dust out so they would be clean enough to keep the blackboard clean for clear writing. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">,</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><u><b>Social Class</b></u>: The word egalitarian had never been spoken! I remember clearly sitting in class while the teacher told us there were three classes of people: the upper, the middle and the lower class. We did not, for the most part, question this custom. Socially, people associated with their own class as well as their own race.<br /><br /><u><b>Transportation</b></u>: How did we get to school? Two words. We walked! In our school, most of the teachers also walked. Many were single women who lived in town. In our town we have a large house called the "teacher's cottage." The teacher's house was "across the river" from the school building. There were no parking lots at the schoolhouse. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUbj8GGlMKU7UnPkwoutMf5qyCC5aqopV89DH-ZOlnuRldUZb3GO0ZScJNFPaMnlJJH2jHaC92hEK96xpXbLZ1bYKeWXF-9s4IgTNPVgkAqp7LtF5J2-YY-To99Hi3uZ29Dr7DAg/s1600-h/Dick+and+Jane+booklife2102.jpg"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5336534502943037250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUbj8GGlMKU7UnPkwoutMf5qyCC5aqopV89DH-ZOlnuRldUZb3GO0ZScJNFPaMnlJJH2jHaC92hEK96xpXbLZ1bYKeWXF-9s4IgTNPVgkAqp7LtF5J2-YY-To99Hi3uZ29Dr7DAg/s400/Dick+and+Jane+booklife2102.jpg" style="float: left; height: 268px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 188px;" /></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> <u><b>Report Card</b></u>s: In our small-town Georgia school, we were graded A, B, C, D or F. I do not remember anything about the grading system or how I scored in First and Second grades. I do know that I never received a D or an F and do not remember many A's. I was generally a B student. I usually sat quietly and went unnoticed in class, speaking only when spoken to.<br /><u><b><br />Miscellaneous Thoughts:</b></u> We were then taught that the atom was the smallest particle. It was not until 1945 that we learned that that microscopic atom could be split and inside was power beyond comprehension.<br /><br />One of my readers asked about “school dinners.” There was not a cafeteria in the Elementary school I attended, nor the High Schools I attended. But there was a Home Economics Class where all the girls took lessons in homemaking; basically in cooking and sewing.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">In our “Grammar School”, we could “take milk” for three cents a day. It consisted of a small bottle of milk and peanut butter spread on two very thin slices of white bread. Most of the children brought a lunch from home (a biscuit with sausage or fried meat or jelly</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjant4ZOnFLYZthZJLRf6XfK5tFlpaCU4h9i23LXmoHziEZwc-qmUCOhK5Kj6Mu-n198VP78QpDcjV__GUwd9KyKfDe8QhEaebJGS6JEBW0fc4Nq_0dhDTh2bEuYbkdTww1fvBc/s1600-h/pdale-9th-grade-2-sm.jpg"><span style="color: black;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324693053700496178" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjant4ZOnFLYZthZJLRf6XfK5tFlpaCU4h9i23LXmoHziEZwc-qmUCOhK5Kj6Mu-n198VP78QpDcjV__GUwd9KyKfDe8QhEaebJGS6JEBW0fc4Nq_0dhDTh2bEuYbkdTww1fvBc/s400/pdale-9th-grade-2-sm.jpg" style="display: block; height: 325px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 400px;" /></span></a></span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> The group picture above is the Ninth Grade graduation class. The Ninth Grade was the last grade offered in our community in the 1930's. It was in the 40's that Porterdale High School was established. Yours truly (Ruth Baird) was fourth girl on the left, front row.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">If one desired to attend school after Ninth Grade Graduation, he/she had to pay tuition. buy their books and find transportation to Covington, our Newton County seat, to finish tenth and eleventh grade and receive a High School Diploma. Ninth Grade was the end of school for many students in the thirties. I ended up attending three different high schools.<br /><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5291477609833112370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsrhXix-XSdQ3v7dVkRouf_SeOX3qbA1jlwpCZsz-y9B4BnNwFST4nWMd8nCrblgvcTy1ujHKky98lmv0W6L_xTI5-5GySqjuXSP6POQ0ovRhXteJYaXfQOhaUxvQlUspP9qjJ/s320/Ruth+At+High+School+Graduation.jpg" style="float: left; height: 188px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" />My widowed mother somehow managed the tuition cost for me to attend Covington high School and another small transportation fee to a girl in my class who had managed to buy a car. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">I rode with her (Louise Walton) to Covington every school day for a full semester. Alas, she dropped out - decided not to continue in school. ( Four girls in High School cap and Gown- LtoR: Ruth Baird Shaw, Clara Shaw Daniel, Lenora Ferrel Mills, Gladys Newman)<br />With no transportation to Covington after the first semester in the tenth grade, I then transferred to Livingston High School, a county High School. I walked with 2 other girls and a boy (Julia Sellers, Hilda Mitchell, Ernest Bennett) the mile or so every morning to the far end of our community to catch the school bus to ride to the country school where I finished the tenth grade with only two units left to graduate. In the 1930's, the Eleventh Grade was the last grade to finish to receive a High School diploma.</span><br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />World War II</span>: America was plunged into Would War II after Japan's attack on America at Pearl Harbor in 1941. All our young men registered for the Military draft. Charles and my two youngest brothers were in the Military Service by 1943.<br />
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<span style="color: black; font-size: small;">When I finally managed to enroll in college classes, I learned my high school experiences had been well enough preparation.</span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> One of the things I remember about Covington High School in the semester I attended was an assignment to write a story of fiction. As far back as I remember, I have loved to write and enjoyed writing rhymes. I remember working on the story but do not remember anything about it. As I remember it was basically a lazy rearrangement of something I had read (which is probably why I do not remember anything about the story.) When we take short cuts or cheat on anything, we only cheat ourselves. Strangely, I have never taken time to try to write fiction again.<br /><br />Another day while I was a student at Covington High, we went to Chapel where someone introduced a blind and deaf lady and illustrated how she communicated. This memory is too vague for me to be sure of details. I keep thinking it must have been Helen Keller and her teacher? Keller had not attained nation wide fame then? I believe that the famed Annie Sullivan, Helen's first teacher died in 1936. Polly Thomson assisted Sullivan later and became Helen's teacher after Annie Sullivan’s death. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br />An earlier chapel experience I told about in the first or second grade is being chosen to walk up on the large stage in the Grammar school auditorium to tell the Bible story of the sick man whose four friends took him, bed and all, to Jesus to be healed.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><br /><u><b>Teachers</b></u>: I especially remember one of the teachers at Livingston High School, (the school where I transferred after my friend with a car left Covington High). One unforgettable teacher at Livingston was a widow in perpetual black dress. She was always openly counting the days until the end of the school year. I do not know how long she had been a widow, but this thin and sad looking lady in her "widow's weeds" each day would tell us how she was counting the days until the end of her days as a teacher. Then she would remind us how many days were left in the school year. She called herself the "walking calendar."<br /><br />Another teacher I remember more fondly was Miss Willie Hane Hunt, my seventh grade teacher in Porterdale. She tried to encourage me by telling me I was probably the “best mathematician that ever walked in the school door." This kind of remark from a teacher made a big difference in the way I saw myself as a student. I began to find algebra and geometry problems not just easy but fun to do.<br /><br /><u><b>Sports</b></u>: Schools in the thirties had "field days" with competition between classes and between schools. This included relay races, 100-yard dashes, high jumps, broad jumps, etc. My brothers, Charlie, Tom, and Jack, excelled in all the races. I was also a very fast runner and played basketball, but did not broad jump or high jump.My brother, Tom, was one of the fastest runners in the school. He would run in his regular pants with the shirttail flying rather than putting on the shorts and sleeveless tee shirt that was the usual attire.<br /><br /><u><b>Family</b></u>: One of our family stories is about my brother, Tom winning the race for the school and winning a great deal of local fame running the race in his regular school clothes.<br /><br />One day just a few years before he died, I asked Tom why he ran the race that Field Day in his regular clothes. He said he had to rush home to lift Papa out of bed and had hurried back to school because they expected him to run in the race. Apparently, he appeared on the school grounds just in time to run the race. Tom was stronger than Jack or Charlie, so it fell his lot to lift Papa out of bed and back into bed after Papa became disabled. Tom told me he would go to school every morning and answer the roll call. Soon after, he would leave school and go home to lift Papa out of bed and into a chair and later he could go home again to lift Papa back into bed.</span><br />
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<br />Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com98tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1161158415758390072012-09-15T15:50:00.001-04:002012-09-17T22:13:37.135-04:00WOMEN PREACHERS<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHjzJIyv-YVLfVNDCmqX-7vsWbmmCz8PY1E_XUNJRXS8t_J2KqcMk0frqC3kJsyrlEVPsoRLQV_PRsSL7IW0fTCeT06oXkdctC7ftINaI5xQUIR1y-BunnZJHnqaJMeYApyG6Uw/s1600-h/open+Bible.jpg"><b><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5340605164735150786" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoHjzJIyv-YVLfVNDCmqX-7vsWbmmCz8PY1E_XUNJRXS8t_J2KqcMk0frqC3kJsyrlEVPsoRLQV_PRsSL7IW0fTCeT06oXkdctC7ftINaI5xQUIR1y-BunnZJHnqaJMeYApyG6Uw/s200/open+Bible.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 110px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 108px;" /></b></a><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b><i><b> <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I did not intend to address the subject of
"Woman Preachers " on this BLOG. T<br />
However, it is a subject still debated in some
circles. So as I was giving thought to this post, I kept coming back to
the subject of what the Bible has to say about women as preachers.<br />
<span id="goog_1435984246"></span><span id="goog_1435984247"></span><br />
My husband who was a pastor used to tell those who came to him for counsel
concerning a call to preach, "If the Lord will let you do anything else,
do it. Becoming a pastor is a glorious joy and privilege but also a never
ending task. The demands are staggering.”<br />
<br />
In a letter to our local paper(Rome News-Tribune),a man who identified himself
as a preacher (published in the May 19, 2004 edition)wrote that women preachers
violated the clear teachings of Scripture and were a "cancer" on the
church. A clear reading of the Bible in context indicates otherwise.</span> He did not give any scripture references on the subject. Let me do so?</b></i></b></span><b><span style="font-size: 100%;"> </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">Starting in the Genesis of our Bible, Chapter 1, the Bible makes it plain that it takes both male and female to make up the image of God, and the generic word "man", includes both. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female, he created them."(Genesis 1:26-27 KJ version) I am female of the species, man. The scripture thus makes it clear that we of the female sex are part of mankind. That Biblical verse in the first chapter alone should end the argument but there is much more.</span></b><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">Many New Testament passages show that it was Christ's intention to reverse the widespread subjugation of women, which began when the cancer of sin (speaking of cancer) entered the world. (Genesis 3). In Genesis 3, we read that both man and woman lost the joyful liberty God had given them in creation when they abused that freedom in prideful disobedience. Sadly, God's intention for mutuality and equality among man and woman went awry. Thus, the image of God became distorted with sin and our world became 'fallen' (full of sin). Jesus came to save us from sin. (Matthew 1:21)<br />In a culture that refused to allow women as teachers, learners, or even as witnesses in court, Jesus assures Martha and Mary that Mary sitting at His feet and learning was a good thing (Luke 10:41-42). 'Sitting at the feet' of a master is a phrase used for a 'learner' or 'disciple'. </span></b></div>
<b><br />It is difficult for our generation to understand the amazing freedom (and Amazing Grace) Christ's coming brought to the world of women as well as men. In many of Jesus' parables, when He used male images and activities, He also used a parallel involving women. In the four Gospels there are 633 verses in which He refers to women, most of them in a positive way.</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br />Jesus allowed women to be the first witnesses to the resurrection. In fact, it was Jesus Himself who told Mary Magdalene to 'go and tell.' I read recently that Ann Graham Lotz, daughter of Billy Graham, was at a gathering where she had been the invited guest speaker. As she stood to speak, some men in the audience stood up in protest and moved their chairs to face away from her. (So it is not just "ordained pastors" they reject. Ann Graham Lotz is neither "ordained" nor a pastor.)<br /><br />After that experience, while in prayer about her call, Ann recalled the Bible verse (John 20:17) about Jesus sending Mary Magdalene to tell the Good News of the resurrection to all, including the 11 male disciples. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">I have observed that in churches where Christian women are not allowed to "preach," they preach and call it "Bible teaching" or "speaking" or "witnessing." In churches where women are allowed to preach, we teach the Bible and speak and witness and call it "preaching." Churches that preach that women should not preach, allow women to "witness and teach" on the mission field. </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">God help us! Whatever we call it, I stand in awe and humility that the Lord would call and enable me to tell this greatest good news humans ears have ever heard and to win others to Christ.</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">In the picture on the left above, My husband (as pastor) was presenting me with a certificate and gold pin in recognition of work in the WSCS (women's society of Christian Service) given to me by the Rome District Women. He was pastor of Trinity Methodist Church at the time (1962-1967) and I active in our woman's work. This was long before I was ever labeled "a preacher." </span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">Another example: At the Ellijay Methodist Church (the first church my husband served after his ordination and Master of Divinity degree from Emory) I was asked to fill in to teach an adult Sunday School Class one Sunday. A woman came up afterward with several complimentary statements about my teaching, including, "I did not know that you were also a preacher." All of this to belabor the point of the fine line between teaching, preaching, witnessing and Missionary efforts of dedicated Christian women.</span></b><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">"And it shall come to pass, says God. That I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions. Your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and My maidservants, I will pour out My spirit in those days. And they shall prophesy." (Acts 2:17-18) The prophet Joel's words that women as well as servants will one day prophesy came true at Pentecost.<br /><br />God has imparted His gifts to each person 'just as He determines' (I Corinthians 12:11). We do not tell God to whom He can or cannot give any gift, including the gift of preaching. Pentecost represents God's sanction for prophetic ministry by women as well as men. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">It is God who calls a person (whether man or woman) to preach. In Galatians 3:22-28 we read: "For we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:16-28). Paul goes on to say that Christ came to redeem those under the law (Greek, slave, female) that we (all) might receive the full rights of sons (whoever will).<br /><br />The masculine noun (son) and pronoun (he) was used for both genders in the original and so translated into English by Biblical scholars in places when the intent was son/daughter, he/her or children. At other times the gender is specified when read in the original language. Paul tells us in I Corinthians that a woman is not to pray or prophesy without a 'head covering'. This certainly means that if a woman dresses decorously, she can both pray and prophesy. (I Corinthians 11:5) </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>Paul goes on to say, "as a woman came from man, so also man is born of woman." Both genders were loved and honored equally by God in the three decisive events of: </b><b>..Creation (Genesis 1:26-27), ...Incarnation (Matthew 1:21) and ...Pentecost (Acts 2:17-18).8. </b><b>All my life I have heard people quote Paul's words in I Corinthians 14:34, "let your women keep silent in church." Some incorrectly used this as a proof text to forbid women to preach or teach. To "keep silent" would not allow singing, speaking to your child sitting nearby, saying "hello" to a friend, testifying or even getting down on her knees to say, "God be merciful to me, a sinner." </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">In the context of chapter 14, Paul admonishes the women at Corinth to be quiet, not because it is wrong for women to speak out loud in church service. He has just told them they can pray or prophecy as long as they act and dress circumspectly. (I Corinthians 11:5). Paul goes on to explain that "God is not a God of disorder but of peace ... everything should be done decently and in order." (I Corinthians 14:33-40). So untaught women were not to disrupt the service by asking questions out of order. Better these women should 'ask their husband' at home. </span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">Ephesians 5:22-24 is one of Paul's five 'hupotasso' passages, (I Corinthians 14:34, Colossians 3:18, I Timothy 2:11, Titus 2:5) so named because of the Greek word translated 'submit' or 'submission'.<br /><br />A full discussion of male/female roles would require a careful exegesis of all five passages. The idea of submission was nothing new. These women had been taught 'submission' from their mother's knee. Submission was a part of Jewish life for women since the tragic event of 'the Fall' in Genesis 3. What is new? The new is seen as we read the rest of the story. Christain men are also taught 'to submit as to the Lord'.</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">Paul , more "politically correct" than Jesus was careful not to upset the delicate cultural fabric of his day. But Paul was a 'new creation in Christ' since the hour he met Jesus on the Damascus road. Paul recognized that 'submit' is a good word. So do I.<br /><br />What is new in Paul's theology is how women are to submit; they are to submit 'in the Lord'. In fact, Paul requests the same submission of the entire church body at Ephesians. They are all to 'submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.' (Ephesians 5:21).</span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">I Timothy 2:11:12 is another example; "Let a woman learn in silence and submission, in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.'' In the context, the Corinthian women were speaking so as to create disorder in the worship. It is often said generally, 'women like to talk'. In I Timothy 2:15 Paul takes about "'However' a woman will be saved in childbearing." Bible scholars agree these verse were addressing a local problem rather than a comprehensive manual of polity and worship.(1)</span></b><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">Paul is maintaining that untaught women should be taught (manthaneto is imperative). The silence and 'full submission' (again to the church body or teacher). Silence and "full submission is what any teacher would ask of his pupils.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>A correct rendering of I Timothy 2:11-12 (of the original into English)is: "I command that women learn (be taught) in quietness and full submission (to the teaching authority). I am (presently) not permitting a woman to teach and she is not to exert evil influence over a man." Women (or men) who 'exert evil influence' are not to teach.10. </b><b>When we study the whole of Paul's letters, we realize that the great Apostle Paul was not chauvinistic toward women as some have claimed. </b></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 100%;">It was Paul who referred to Julia as 'outstanding among the apostles'. It was Paul also who called Phoebe 'a minister of the church'.<br /><br />Of the 29 people Paul greets in Romans 16, many are women whom he addressed by name, which is contrary to Jewish custom; Phoebe, Tryphosa, Julia, Mary. This passage of scripture definitely tells us that the woman Phoebe was a minister. In Romans 16:1, Paul says, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a diakomos (translated into English as 'servant' only for Phoebe) of the church in Cenchrea." Paul uses the word, diakomos, a masculine term with no article.<br />When Biblical scholars translated the word 'diakomos' into English, they translated it 'deacon' (3 times) or 'minister' (18 times). Only in the case of our sister Phoebe is it translated from the original into English as 'servant'. In fact, in Romans 16:1-2, Paul refers to Phoebe as 'prostatis pollon', which if addressed to a man would likely be translated into English as 'ruler of many'.</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>Ordination is not a call to authority or to be a "ruler of many." It is a call to Christian servanthood. Other </b><b><i>Scripture references include: </i></b></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b><i>Genesis 1:27...John 20:17, </i></b><b><i>Galations 3:22...28 Ephesians 5:22-24, </i></b></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b><i>I Corinthians 14:34... Colossians 3:18, </i></b><b><i>I Timothy 2:11... Titus 2:5...Romans 16:1</i></b></span></div>
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1. The Communicator's Commentary. 1,2 Thessalonians, 1, 2 Timothy, Titus.<br />
Gary W. Demarest. p183<br />
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2. I have been in the church all my life and have never had a pastor who I felt had "authority" over me or anyone else. In the churches where I served as a pastor, I did not even take authority over the thermostat on the wall.<br />
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-13065594779287634892012-09-14T15:39:00.000-04:002012-09-14T23:39:32.279-04:00How Do Women Preachers Dress?<strong><span style="font-size:130%;">I am going to be a preacher,” she told me. “Wonderful,” I said. Of course, I knew that she was talking about her role in the upcoming youth Easter drama, but I was excited for her nonetheless. Then she asked, “Should I dress as a woman or a man?” I told her that she should dress as a woman and that she was going to be a great preacher. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">I was troubled because her question represented an uncertainty as to whether or not a woman could be a preacher, so much so that she considered dressing as a man necessary to more accurately portray the role she had been given in the play. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Her church ordains women as Deacons. From time to time, women even fill the pulpit as guest preachers, though obviously not enough to give her a clear impression that she did not need to dress as a man in order to play a preacher in the Easter drama.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The uncertainty about women in pastoral roles demonstrates just how effective the culture in which we live is undermining the teachings of a local church. The Bible we read gives us countless examples of women working for the Lord and leading young churches. Our scriptures are bold to say that “. . .in Christ, there is neither male nor female. . .,” and that in the last days God will pour out God’s spirit on all flesh so that our “. . .sons and our daughters shall prophesy.”<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">How then do we find ourselves, at times, uncertain and ambivalent about who God can call to do God’s work? Consider for a moment that women have been allowed to vote in our country for less than a hundred years. Generally speaking, the arguments against women voting sounded high-minded and moral. The Holy Scriptures were often invoked to undergird arguments against women voting. Of course, voting was not the only thing that women were not allowed to do. There were any number of professions and careers that were off limits to women simply because they were women. Preaching was high on the list of occupations unsuitable for women. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Today, the list of careers that women cannot pursue is whittled down to one – preaching — and then only in certain pockets of the Christian faith. Of all the activities that society once deemed off limits to women, preaching remains.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Those opposed to women preaching unfailingly state their position with passages from the Bible that would seem to suggest that women should not have leadership roles in the church. I would grant that there are such passages of scripture, but there are also passages of scripture that would suggest just the opposite. </span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">So then, the question becomes not so much what the Bible says, but how do we read what the Bible says. Will we read it as people who long for the days when women were denied freedom and opportunity, or will we read it as a people who believe that the God who said His spirit would be poured out on all flesh is, in fact, doing that very thing even as we speak?<br /></span></strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Today the pastor of</strong></span><a href="http://www.abpnews.com/content/view/1181/119/" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> Pingdu Christian Church</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> in Pingdu, China is a woman. This church was started in 1885, when a tiny woman from Virginia ventured, on her own, 120 miles inland to share the Gospel in a city that had no Christian witness. That woman’s name was</strong> <strong><em>Lottie Moon</em>. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><em>Lottie Moon</em> was appointed as a missionary to China by the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. No, she would not have been allowed to pastor a church in the United States at that time, but it was fine for her to go where no man was willing to and proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Today, pastor Wang Xia, leads multiple congregations and meeting points, along with her pastoral associates, telling the same story that was told the residents of her city long ago by Miss Lottie Moon.<br /></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Baptists have had women preachers throughout our history. We have just not always appreciated them as such. Even today, as </strong></span><a href="http://www.tonycartledge.com/2010/01/lottie-moons-rooms.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary</strong></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong> prepares to reconstruct Miss Moon’s Pingdu house into an on-campus historical display, the living legacy of Miss Moon’s devotion to the cause of Christ is ignored and rejected by Southern Baptists. They have trademarked her name, but they have shackled her spirit. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong>They are happy to use their fundamentalized version of Lottie Moon to raise money for their enterprise, even while they ignore and demean the gifts and callings of her spiritual descendants.<br /><br />We honor the legacy of Lottie Moon, and others like her, when we help our children, our sons and our daughters, listen to whatever God is saying in their lives. We keep that legacy alive when in faith we, along with our children, say yes to God’s call in our lives.<br />No doubt Catherine B. Allen says it best in this months Baptists Today, “The stones in Fort Worth will cry out a message the seminary has officially rejected. Ye who have ears, listen to what the Spirit says!”</strong> </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;">(The article above copied from a Baptist paper) </span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-17772124395056069982012-09-11T09:40:00.000-04:002012-09-11T07:58:41.273-04:00Our Founding Fathers<img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 262px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265718119396656210" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmA2-gOrmn4YGRhGIWIQChGYG4WDB7DyxGJejPdfXRNbFr0DlHzpDswMVQuXKBu89y2cnJ1F7IvAXSE7_sybcFiA4JyH3pRZKfmnQgYgQ7LIZrzr2TyDQZ0b4UQk2J9tqh3S0J/s400/Founding+fathers.jpg" border="0" />Fifty two of the fifty five signers of The Declaration of Independence were orthodox, deeply committed Christians? The other three believed in the Bible, believed in the God of scripture and God's personal intervention.<br /><br />That same congress formed the American Bible Society. Immediately after creating the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress voted to purchase and import 20,000 copies of scripture for the people of this nation.<br />Patrick Henry, who is called the firebrand of the American Revolution, is still remembered for his words, "Give me liberty or give me death."<br />In the the context of these words we read; "An appeal to arms and the God of hosts is all that is left us. But we shall not fight our battle alone. There is a just God that presides over the destinies of nations. The battle sir, is not of the strong alone. Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it almighty God. I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6k-Vab3CJhGMwEJtGy7_Ul6oiPmeQaZT72Epg7GbnTQaYWC-MnbWUlORatPCa75tcIrJNQxZmRN0gwnP4WPZu6NoUPsFnqwTRhNF11qFFj7wPsGxhe-eYPWzAziJfAOTzuHfUkw/s1600-h/Patrick+Henry.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 121px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 106px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342146245855472706" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6k-Vab3CJhGMwEJtGy7_Ul6oiPmeQaZT72Epg7GbnTQaYWC-MnbWUlORatPCa75tcIrJNQxZmRN0gwnP4WPZu6NoUPsFnqwTRhNF11qFFj7wPsGxhe-eYPWzAziJfAOTzuHfUkw/s320/Patrick+Henry.jpg" border="0" /></a> In 1776 Patrick Henry wrote; "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religion, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For that reason alone, people of other faiths have been afforded freedom of worship here."<br /><br />Consider these words that Thomas Jefferson wrote on the front of his well- worn <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7907bNoY_7wc7LC1maTU8Crn1WyJuMcUc-2xlYU2UqhT0y2wkdysLsxpYbqCMIgdFfZjQODFV40HLCp1-Epx0SSuxW5aHOIxW6LqoE0igo8OSenJd2IkxzV7PFvs-E-AWlXr9hQ/s1600-h/Thomas+Jefferson.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 120px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 90px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342147295917898450" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7907bNoY_7wc7LC1maTU8Crn1WyJuMcUc-2xlYU2UqhT0y2wkdysLsxpYbqCMIgdFfZjQODFV40HLCp1-Epx0SSuxW5aHOIxW6LqoE0igo8OSenJd2IkxzV7PFvs-E-AWlXr9hQ/s320/Thomas+Jefferson.jpg" border="0" /></a> Bible: 'I am a Christian, that is to say a disciple of the doctrines of Jesus. I have little doubt that our whole country will soon be rallied to the unity of our Creator and, I hope, to the pure doctrine of Jesus also.'<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihQyCi3rHea00fzvhtp_YyLj4uRS8OyBgcA1GMMFgLyRHy-XTwq4GosRE7_FyezXGrLb8n41jrM4H-qSwSdJJAi21G1aam7iOFieLjUZiY3uM3ckpY5YwPLkayrhG8Mit62YHjNw/s1600-h/George+Washington.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 113px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342149091106289218" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihQyCi3rHea00fzvhtp_YyLj4uRS8OyBgcA1GMMFgLyRHy-XTwq4GosRE7_FyezXGrLb8n41jrM4H-qSwSdJJAi21G1aam7iOFieLjUZiY3uM3ckpY5YwPLkayrhG8Mit62YHjNw/s200/George+Washington.jpg" border="0" /></a>George Washington, the Father of our Nation, in his farewell speech on September 19, 1796 stated: "It is impossible to govern the world without God and the Bible. Of all the dispositions and habits that lead to political prosperity, our religion and morality are the indispensable supporters. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that our national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." These words from Washingston's personal prayer book: "Oh, eternal and everlasting God, direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb and purge my heart by the Holy Spirit. Daily, frame me more and more in the likeness of thy son, Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time obtain the resurrection of the justified unto eternal life. Bless, O Lord, the whole race of mankind and let the world be filled with the knowledge of thy son, Jesus Christ."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXKio1gshQAx6g-z2sofotIobPqDvybN24x68M4xsFBfH6uF6pybM-du1eO8BLwz7zJ5zuEzPbbfbHDiGqWbGeE0nQ2V1z1szWygzvBnYhX82En7japcGqKc04lT7aA7iSH1quw/s1600-h/225px-Johnadamsvp_flipped.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 171px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5342152433121036130" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXXKio1gshQAx6g-z2sofotIobPqDvybN24x68M4xsFBfH6uF6pybM-du1eO8BLwz7zJ5zuEzPbbfbHDiGqWbGeE0nQ2V1z1szWygzvBnYhX82En7japcGqKc04lT7aA7iSH1quw/s200/225px-Johnadamsvp_flipped.jpg" border="0" /></a>John Adams, our second president, also served as chairman of the American Bible Society. In an address to military leaders he said, "We have no government armed with the power capable of contending with human passions, unbridled by morality and true religion. Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."<br /><br />Our first Court Justice was John Jay who said "it is the duty as well as<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30CzC9KJbtrTIkO50lmcOvCrcD-dcBiiy7ifwZNqk7QLDM850o7QpW3yGaNHUyOjBz0CEyNmx6PAhxj8qbmZTChmogy7CcAHFAffEujYpsqL1mQK8-qbgfQHW0ICZ1acPQLurPA/s1600-h/250px-John_Jay_(Gilbert_Stuart_portrait).jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 156px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379182022187160146" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi30CzC9KJbtrTIkO50lmcOvCrcD-dcBiiy7ifwZNqk7QLDM850o7QpW3yGaNHUyOjBz0CEyNmx6PAhxj8qbmZTChmogy7CcAHFAffEujYpsqL1mQK8-qbgfQHW0ICZ1acPQLurPA/s200/250px-John_Jay_(Gilbert_Stuart_portrait).jpg" border="0" /></a> the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christian as their rulers."<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47FVanRyWEmKkyEaZsR-1GJcDEvWho4mOB_Pvi3VtoMwWQtbI8t2m9-m8YNOr-8Hv_BP2XXFNrSI89e3GKaiRKp2IadknHQ-y-01O-Tt_zCtfQO1rCAIssW0VkQAyPxfrSKgR_A/s1600-h/JohnQuincyAdams.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 164px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379180971327267858" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj47FVanRyWEmKkyEaZsR-1GJcDEvWho4mOB_Pvi3VtoMwWQtbI8t2m9-m8YNOr-8Hv_BP2XXFNrSI89e3GKaiRKp2IadknHQ-y-01O-Tt_zCtfQO1rCAIssW0VkQAyPxfrSKgR_A/s200/JohnQuincyAdams.jpg" border="0" /></a> Our sixth President, John Quincey Adams said on July 4, 1821, "The highest glory of the American Revolution is the connect of the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity."<br /><br />In 1782, the United States Congress voted the resolution; "The congress of the United States recommends and approves the Holy Bible for use in all schools.<br /><br /><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379183291037083986" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipFp-el1-PCN9uI9BGq7jaI2wjt24x_aH7s8aRy2fwR7s9J3i1BiB7VnxEmRRD4Kj32Trgvp-jZ3YT8gM_l53r_avqSM6_2IuOJW2mG7xDHh7cv_OrBMB3ekDziHfqT2fWtbjJCg/s200/McGuffey's+reader.gif" border="0" />William Holmes McGuffey's, "McGuffey's Reader was used in our public school for over 100 years.McGuffey stated, ""The Christian Religion is the religion of our country." He goes on to explain Chritainity as "the percularities of our free institutions."<br /><br />The first 108 universities in America 106 were distinctly Christian, including Harvard, which, chartered in 1636 was the first university. In the original Harvard Student Handbook rule number 1 was that students seeking entrance much know Latin and Greek so they could study the Scriptures.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlgt8IvR-_N58ONxN5Ic55jUGjIe9L95XFvL6hXVhXva9OUd7WfnE4hyphenhyphen1IoXgL8PQ-IG6DmEAAi41x5LKYYjWc9AQzoYumTX0ZrIqV-Wj8pTwrH3AWUiy66gwdKSU_Mgia541jQ/s1600-h/200px-Harvard_Wreath_Logo_1_svg.png"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379242204046844050" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlgt8IvR-_N58ONxN5Ic55jUGjIe9L95XFvL6hXVhXva9OUd7WfnE4hyphenhyphen1IoXgL8PQ-IG6DmEAAi41x5LKYYjWc9AQzoYumTX0ZrIqV-Wj8pTwrH3AWUiy66gwdKSU_Mgia541jQ/s200/200px-Harvard_Wreath_Logo_1_svg.png" border="0" /></a><br /><br />Harvard's early motto was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae "Truth for Christ and the Church." In a directive to its students, it laid out the purpose of all education: "Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and <a title="Jesus" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus">Jesus Christ</a> which is eternal life, John 17. 3.<br /><br />All of the above are documented facts that have been ignored or re-written by those with an atheist personal agenda.Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1128823751787588862012-09-08T08:59:00.002-04:002012-09-08T13:46:46.949-04:00Who's Your Daddy? A Tribute to Pastors<div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/b_gardenia/family/daddy_ministering.jpg"><span style="color:#000000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d57/b_gardenia/family/daddy_ministering.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><strong><span style="color:#000000;">I suppose all of us who have sat in Psychology classes have heard about Abraham Maslow. He believed, though he had no scientific proof for it, that restraint was unhealthy and that "self - actualization" and high self - esteem were crucial to human development.<br /><br />Many of us have come to believe that nothing builds high self esteem in a child or any person so much as coming to the realization that God loves us and we are so important Jesus died to save us.<br /><br />Jan Karon's Mitford series books remained for a long time on the New York Times Bestseller list for many reasons. Karon's leading character, Father Tim, is a reminder of what every good pastor should be. It is refreshing because in much of the media pastors are presented as either ignorant or evil. As I read Karon's work, I thought of my favorite pastor. He was also my husband from our youth until his death in 1986.<br /><br />My pastor, like Father Tim and so many other pastors, worked tirelessly and unselfishly, visiting the sick and homebound, Feeding the hungry, ministering to those in prisons, going with fathers to search for runaway children in the "hippie" era and continuing to tell the awesome good news of Jesus. All this is just a tiny part of the job description of a pastor.<br /><br />I heard Dr. Fred Craddock tell "A Great Tennessee Story" at Candler School of Theology at Emory. I read the story again recently. One of my readers tells me it is not a true story? I understood it as factual. It is certainly a story typical of many true stories that could be told about Christian pastors. The heart of the Gospel that brought about the best in America and Western Civilization is that regardless of whether or not our biological parents accepts us, God loves and accepts each of us as His own. </span></strong></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify" align="center"><strong><span style="COLOR: rgb(0,0,153)"><span style="FONT-WEIGHT: bold;font-family:lucida grande;color:#000000;" >WHO'S YOUR DADDY?</span></span></strong><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><br /></strong></span><strong><span style="color:#000000;">A seminary professor was vacationing with his wife in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. One morning they were eating breakfast in a little restaurant, hoping to enjoy a quiet, family meal. While waiting for their food, they noticed a distinguished looking, white haired man moving from table to table, visiting with the guests. The professor leaned over and whispered to his wife, "I hope he doesn't come over here." But sure enough, the man came over to their table.<br /><br />"Where are you folks from?" he asked in a friendly voice.<br /><br />"Oklahoma," they answered.<br /><br />"Great to have you here in Tennessee," the stranger said. "What do you do for a living?"<br /><br />"I teach at a seminary," he replied.<br /><br />"Oh, so you teach preachers how to preach, do you? Well, I've got a really good story for you." And with that, the gentleman pulled up a chair and sat down.<br /><br />The professor groaned and thought to himself, "Great. Just what I need -- another preacher story!"<br /><br />The man started, "See that mountain over there?" He pointed out the restaurant window. "Not far from the base of that mountain, there was a boy born to an unwed mother. He had a hard time growing up because every place he went, he was always asked the same question: 'Hey, boy, who's your daddy?' Whether he was at school, in the grocery store or drug store, people would ask the same question: 'Who's your daddy?' He would hide at recess and lunch time from other students. He would avoid going into stores because that question hurt him so bad. When he was about 12 years old, a new preacher came to his church. He would always go in late and slip out early to avoid hearing the question, 'Who's your daddy?' But one day, the new preacher said the benediction so fast, he got caught and had to walk out with the crowd.<br /><br />Just about the time he got to the back door, the new preacher, not knowing anything about him, put his hand on his shoulder and asked him, 'Son, who's your daddy?' The whole church got deathly quiet. He could feel every eye in the church looking at him. Now everyone would finally know the answer to the question, 'Who's your daddy?'<br /><br />The new preacher, though, sensed the situation around him and using discernment that only the Holy Spirit could give, said the following to the scared little boy: 'Wait a minute! I know who you are. I see the family resemblance now. You are a child of God.' With that, he patted the boy on his shoulder and said, 'Boy, you've got a great inheritance -- go and claim it.'<br /><br />With that, the boy smiled for the first time in a long time and walked out the door a changed person. He was never the same again. Whenever anybody asked him, 'Who's your daddy?' he'd just tell them, 'I'm a child of God.'<br /><br />The distinguished gentleman got up from the table and said, "Isn't that a great story?"<br /><br />The professor responded that it really was a great story.<br /><br />As the man turned to leave, he said, "You know, if that new preacher hadn't told me that I was one of God's children, I probably would never have amounted to anything!" And he walked away.<br /><br />The seminary professor and his wife were stunned. He called the waitress over and asked, "Do you know that man who was just sitting at our table?" The waitress grinned and said, "Of course. Everybody here knows him. That's Ben Hooper. He's the former governor of Tennessee!"</span></strong></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1171662288531883662012-09-08T04:36:00.000-04:002012-09-29T19:24:38.552-04:00Come Into God's Presence With Singing<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_UTAv-k6kB2tTb9-lUZUmafHpC92QFVB0WiHgz7wDgrfZHzXA7bFAwd44jJSeovO7H5knHpijC0fHhWxq44IglYR2Pn2hH9F3DG82kv2ofogGTX-VlTHfK-f-dHXzMdjtIe3Hw/s1600/_cross+with+cloth.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5713875995488010370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI_UTAv-k6kB2tTb9-lUZUmafHpC92QFVB0WiHgz7wDgrfZHzXA7bFAwd44jJSeovO7H5knHpijC0fHhWxq44IglYR2Pn2hH9F3DG82kv2ofogGTX-VlTHfK-f-dHXzMdjtIe3Hw/s200/_cross+with+cloth.jpg" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 174px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 142px;" /></a> In Psalm 100, one of a number of Psalms I memorized as a child, we are told: ” <b><i>Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands...Serve the Lord with gladness. ..Come into his presence with singing.</i></b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>Hymn singing in church has been and still is a vital part of our Christian worship and our discipleship. Our hymnals, next to the Bible have been our most formative resource.<br /><br />Christians have been singing as long as there have been Christians. After finishing his last supper with his disciples, Jesus, on the very night when he was betrayed, sang a hymn with his disciples before they all went out to Gethsemane.<br /><br />Charles Wesley's hymn "O Love Divine, What hath Thou Done, " is one for the Lenten Season.</b></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b> "O Love divine , what hath thou done! ...The immortal God hath died for me! ...The Father's Co-eternal Son...Bore all my sins upon the tree...The immortal God for me hath died!...My lord, my God is crucified." </b></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><b><br /></b></span><b>Our Jewish spiritual ancestors sang. The 150 Psalms in the Old Testament is the Jewish “book of hymns.”</b><br />
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<span style="font-size: 100%;"><b>John Wesley in 1761 wrote “The 7 directions for Singing “ and they continue in our Methodist hymnals. In our current United Methodist Hymnal.1. Wesley directed us to, “Have an eye to every word.” and to “above all to sing spiritually with an eye to pleasing God more than ourselves or anyone else. We are to direct our singing to the Lord. So our hymn singing is “To the Lord.”<br /><br />I am not a musician. But I keep singing anyway. I enjoy singing and was allowed to sing in the Candler chorale in Seminary at Emory University.<br /><br />I love to sing and I love to cook. So I sing around the house, especially in the kitchen. My daughter Beth likes to laugh and tell that every time she brought a boy into the house after a date, I would be in the kitchen banging pots and pans around and singing, “His Eye is on the Sparrow and I know He watches me.”<br /><br />One learns more than they want to know about themselves when they have grown children.<br /><br />My parents loved to sing. My mother sung solos in church as a young woman but she was 38 when I was born. I never heard her sing in church but, from my earliest memories, I learned every hymn in the hymnal from hearing my mother sing them as she did household chores.<br /><br />As a teen, it embarrassed me to bring friends home when Mama was in the kitchen singing hymns. Today my dear mother’s singing is one of my happiest memories.<br /><br />I do not have a great many memories of my father as I was only nine when he died after being bed ridden for over a year. But his witness in life and song had a profound influence on me and some of it tied up with his gospel singing.<br /><br />I remember hearing Papa sing several hymns still in our UM Hymnal. Also he sang other hymns like, “I’m a Child of The King.” My sister, Louise told me that on his deathbed, Papa sang all the verses of “Palms of Victory,” an old hymn about the first Palm Sunday.<br /><br />G.K Chesterson wrote a few lines of poetry about the lowly donkey that Jesus rode that first Palm Sunday. Chesterson has the donkey to say:<br />“Fools! For I also had my hour…<br />One far fierce hour and sweet…<br />There was a shout about my ears<br />And palms before my feet.”<br /><br />The donkey was telling us…Whatever or whomever Christ touches he dignifies…whether a lowly donkey or a lowly person.<br /><br />In the devastated South still struggling to recover from the Civil War and in the Great Depression, I did not need lessons in "self esteem." We were taught in church that we were so loved and important that Jesus died to save us." My dying father was so sure that heaven was his destination as if his ticket was already in his hand. And I was a witness as I learned the lyrics and tune to:<br />“Never Grow Old:” by hearing Papa sing:<br />“I have heard of a land<br />In the far away strand<br />Tis a beautiful home of the soul<br />Built by Jesus on high<br />There we never shall die<br />Tis a land where we’ll never grow old”<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQjAS_2FrU8oT4-I_KIyjEtpUi72Gy6ZRHENexZ_pqImCjbyMIAs5hjwa2QDppwrwYaVf3iZMNuKxxMlUOyPzeTIKQzLVFZGVEPRgoaMWxv_6ESis6k8NGIyt86c625hDLI6LZQ/s1600/methodist+hymnal.png"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485387737318635074" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKQjAS_2FrU8oT4-I_KIyjEtpUi72Gy6ZRHENexZ_pqImCjbyMIAs5hjwa2QDppwrwYaVf3iZMNuKxxMlUOyPzeTIKQzLVFZGVEPRgoaMWxv_6ESis6k8NGIyt86c625hDLI6LZQ/s320/methodist+hymnal.png" style="cursor: hand; float: left; height: 246px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 170px;" /></a> Charles Wesley, the Bard of Methodism wrote over 65 hundred hymns. When we learn the words of Wesley hymns we are also learning Bible truth. For example, “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” is truly a “message of the Holy Spirit” in song. It contains 14 references or allusions to scripture passages.<br />“Breath, O breath thy loving spirit<br />into every troubled breast!<br />Let us all in thee inherit,<br />let us find that second rest.<br />Take away our bent to sinning;<br />Alpha and Omega be;<br />end of faith as its beginning,<br />set our hearts at Liberty.”<br />“Finish then thy new creation<br />Pure and spotless let us be<br />Let us see thy great salvation,<br />Perfectly restored in thee<br />Changed from glory into glory<br />Till in heaven we take our place<br />Till we cast our crowns before thee<br />Lost in wonder, love and praise.”<br /><br />Bishop Arthur Moore, A South Georgia native and one of our greatest bishops said about Charles Wesley’s “O For A thousand Tongues to Sing.” “We sing “O for a thousand tongues to sing” and do not use the one tongue we have.”<br /><br />Wesley’s “A Charge to Keep I Have” reminds us as Christians have been given a “charge to keep and a God to glorify.” We have also been given a particular charge or calling that is unique.<br /><br />When we sing, “When I survey the Wondrous Cross, by Isaac Watts “we are also hearing a good sermon about the cross and the doctrine of the atonement.<br />“When I survey the wondrous cross<br />On which the prince of glory died<br />My richest gains I count but loss<br />And pour contempt on all my pride.<br />“See from his head, his hands, his feet,<br />sorrow and love flow mingled down.<br />Did ev’er such love and sorrow meet,<br />or thorns compose so rich a crown.”<br /><br />One of the hymns I connect with my parents singing is “He Keeps me Singing.” The hymn is still on page 110 in Cokesbury,<br /><br />The words and music were written by Luther Bridges,(1884-1948) a Methodist pastor and evangelist from Georgia. He was away in a revival meeting in Kentucky when his wife and three children were burned to death in a house fire. Bridges was so devastated and dismayed he stayed to himself for many months.<br />My mother told me about them meeting Bridges and hearing him preach and tell the sad story about how he came to write “He Keeps Me Singing” in the midst of this great sorrow.<br />The first words are; “There’s within my heart a melody.” Jesus whispers sweet and low<br />Fear not I am with you<br />Peace be still<br />In all of life’s ebb and flow,<br />“Jesus, Jesus , Jesus,<br />Sweetest name I know.<br />Fills my every longing.<br />Keeps me singing as I go.”<br /><br />Many of our most beautiful and effective hymns were written and sung in the midst of tragedy. It is in crisis times that we are stopped in our tracks and say, “Where is God when bad things happen.” Strangely, we do not stop often think to say, “where is God when good things happen.”<br /><br />When things are going smoothly, we tend to focus on other things, our work, our vacation, holidays or the latest movie or ball game.<br /><br />But let sometime happen… losing a spouse, a job, or discovering you or a loved one may have heart failure or cancer and suddenly life changes and God is back in the picture. Crisis and tragedy serve the function of bringing us back to the recognitions of our limits and our mortality.<br /><br />My brother Tom dropped out of church for a few Sundays as an older teen. One day he ran into our town’s mayor who told Tom he had been missing him at church. Then he said, half in fun, to Tom, “One day you are going to die and I will say, “poor Tom, he had to die before we could get him back in church.” Tom came home, told Mama about the conversation and asked her to wake him up in time for church the next day.<br /><br />Some of our favorite hymns were written in times of distress. The hymn, “What A Friend We have in Jesus“ was written by Joseph Striven after his fiancée was drowned the night before their scheduled wedding.<br /><br />It is said that George Matheson wrote “O Love That will Not Let Me Go” after his fiancée’ broke her engagement to him when she learned of his impending blindness.<br /><br />In reflecting on my spiritual journey, I was influence by hymn singing. As a child of 11, I was sitting in the Methodist Church where I had been baptized as an infant, listening to the words of a hymn we were singing and pondering the first Biblical question I ever remember giving thought to. We were singing:<br />“Alas and Did My Savior Bleed.<br />And did my sovereign die,<br />would He devote that sacred head<br />for such a worm as I.”<br />A few years later some of our church musicians, contrary to Wesley’s advice, took liberties with Isaac Watts’ hymn and deleted “such a worm as I” and replaced it with the more palatable “sinners such as I.”<br /><br />We might debate the question of whether or not someone should change the lyrics in a hymn after the poet has died. But most of us think it is a nice change. We do not mind being “a sinner.” We may even brag about being a sinner, but none of us relish the idea of being called a “worm”.<br />This was before WWII, a time when we believed that human beings were getting better and better. All we needed was better education and more bathtubs.<br />Then we learned about the Holocaust in Germany, where one of the most enlightened and educated nations killed 6 million Jews. We learned about the atrocities of Japan, another educated and prosperous nation…and on and on. Worms?<br /><br />The evidence is in. Education and prosperity and even social action ...all good things…all much needed things but they cannot save us. They sometimes only may increase our capacity and opportunity for evil?<br /><br />That day at age 11, sitting in church I was paying attention to all the words of this old Isaac Watts hymn and especially the words, “was it for crime that I have done… Christ died upon the tree… amazing pity, grace unknown… and love beyond degree. “<br /><br />I was thinking…”how in the world could the sins I commit today have anything to do with Jesus dying on a bloody cross 2000 years ago?”<br />I was then a thoughtful obedient child. More serious than many I think because of the illness and death of my beloved Papa two years earlier. I suppose I was somewhat like the little 8 year old girl who wrote her pastor one Monday morning.<br />“Dear Pastor. Yesterday you preached about loving our enemies. I do not have any enemies yet. But I hope to have some by the time I am nine. Love, Mary.”<br /><br />I could not think of specific sins I had committed, but somehow I grasped a profound truth. I accepted the mystery that God to be God could see into the future as well as the past and Jesus had shed his blood on the cross for me and my generation as well as those of his generation.<br /><br />I have not mentioned everyone’s favorite hymn, “Amazing Grace,” by John Newton who had been a slave trader and became a Christian and an Abolitionist. (Note: this is important...not every "Christian " was an abolitionist but every "Abolitionist" was a Christian. No other religion had seen the evil of slavery and worked to defeat the powerful world wide slave trade)<br /><br />I have not mentioned two of my favorite hymns, “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and “All Hail the Power of Jesus Name.” We must also include the greatest of all, Handel’s “Messiah” and the “Halleluiah Chorus” that lifts us to our feet in awe and praise!<br /><br />And let me mention Fanny J. Crosby (1820-1915) the blind poet who wrote the lyrics and music to over 8 thousand hymns…many of your favorites and mine. Many Cosby hymns still in our Cokesbury and United Methodist Hymnals, are, “To God be the Glory;“ “<br />“Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,<br />Let the earth hear His voice.<br />Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord,<br />Let the people rejoice.”<br />Come to the Father<br />Through Jesus the Son<br />And give him the glory<br />Great things he has done.”<br /><br />Cosby also wrote the words and music to: Blessed Assurance”;<br />"Blessed assurace...Jesus is mine...Oh, what a fortaste of Glory Divine...Heir of salvation...purchased above...Born of His spirit...Washed in His blood."<br /><br />Thank God, we can come into God’s awesome presence with singing and say with the Psalmist, “let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.“ May we say with our life and with our words, “This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long</b></span>.” AMEN.<br />
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1. United Methodist Hymnal, Roman Numeral page 7.</div>
Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1143325188367515422012-09-05T09:14:00.000-04:002012-09-05T16:17:56.205-04:00Pedophilia: The Exploitation of Children<strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">Pedophilia</span></strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><span style="font-size:85%;"> </span><strong>The Exploitation of Children</strong></span>:<img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 133px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477311260208567042" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrWWnWaojxEXAVO-XFyE1oxRjSKXt0gieYS2x7gNXubEKj4gMMKTcl5HutaKVlogqVwDfiD-LbyQeR5aSE1h8VSwW5BQRxGd-BKNmFj0CijQ84BPy9WPq6eTHzbDEfaYnNQcu77A/s200/Children-at-Risk-Small.jpg" border="0" /> <img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477310696748645666" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGVPxxWvNRCmY9DJN_VXmuBJaUGgki9-MPTHu9QUHAUJAn9_SXARVUb2z1HbA3KNDKfwgK_3tJ9cE5EfdaWh4hiycRtzuwI2-mZ_mFVE6GoDKAzyeKPPPI2uWZ8yA0mLi4qdiKnA/s320/BabyBaptismSmall.jpg" border="0" /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>A few years ago a friend of a friend's husband was arrested for involvement with child pornography on the internet. I do not know the details but this man was a respected Christian judge. </strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>He was </strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>sentenced to prison and served about two years in prison. </strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>How in the world did a respected, responsible citizen get to this point in his life? </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>We are told that pornography is addictive and like other addictions reguires more and more to satisfy? In the case of porn, more explicit and sometimes one may go from adult to child porn? </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>I heard very early one morning recently a report that was beyond the imagination of normal adults in a civilized country; the arrests and busting up of a Pedophilia Molestation Ring on the internet. Children, one as young as eigthteen months, were being brutaliy and sexually molested.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>Recently, my daughter, Dr. Janice Crouse wrote a book about "<em>Children at Risk</em>," addressing the problem.<br /></strong></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>My mother was born in 1885. Her father, Charles Dick had died when she was a baby and a few months before her younger brother was born. (Charles Dick had gone hunting on Christmas day. He caught a cold which turned into flu and pneumonia)</strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>. </strong></span><br /><span style="color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>At age 2, my mother, her five siblings and pregnant widowed mother were moved from Clay County, Alabama to her grandfather's farm in the Inman community in Fayette County, Georgia.<br /><br />My mother grew up in a little house on her grandfather’s farm. Her grandfather was a community and church leader. He was a respected Methodist preacher and owned a large farm. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>But this was in the late 19th century. The South was still in reconstruction. Many who still owned land were "land poor." </strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>Some of the children had to drop out of school and work in the cotton fields and some got jobs in a cotton mill nearby to help support their widowed mother and siblings. </strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>My mother's youngest brother, Irvin Dick we are told, got a job at age 12, running an elevator in a Cotton Mill about 15 miles from their home in Inman Georgia.<br /><br />In 1988, my brother and a cousin and I rode together to Griffin Georgia to attend the funeral of a cousin. Our conversation turned to family history. My mother’s family has been a family, not wealthy , but community leaders, teachers and preachers, land owners, office holder.<br /><br />My brother, Bill (eighteen years older than I) recounted to me some of the family history. Our conversation turned to talking about how wonderful it is to now have better opportunities for women left alone with children. Now we have more opportunities for widows. </strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>We now have child labor laws, so children no longer have to leave school to work in cotton fields and cotton mills to help support their families.<br /><br />Then I thought, in some respects, we have gone backwards. We do not have children working their childhood away in cotton fields or standing all day on stools to reach spindles in cotton mills.<br /><br />But we have child alcoholics, children who are addicted to other drugs, children abused emotionally, physically and sexually as reported in the news article that began this writing. Children stealing and killing. You know the headlines as well as I.</strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>Also it seems that today's clothing industries are determined to turn all our girls, younger and younger from early childhood on into sex objects with the ready-made clothing on the market? (1)<br /><br />There is an answer and it is God’s answer. During those difficult years, many learned about God's love and wonderful plan for life. In our desperation many believed and turned to God's plan by faith is Jesus Christ. We got our children back in school, educated, prosperous. Then, in our arrogance, many said, “OK God we’ll take over now."<br /><br />How much more tragedy and messed up lives in our nation do we have to see before we fall on our knees in repentance?</strong></span><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#000000;">Notes:</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#000000;">1. </span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#000000;">No, I am not "citing female dress" as a cause for any of the exploitation or rape of children or older females. However, many see it as an example</span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:100%;color:#000000;"> of the unhealthy sexuality in our society.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-81363294196818842702012-08-27T13:55:00.000-04:002012-08-27T14:17:43.243-04:00Holy Communion on the Moon<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfD-RFKPkXWJ2yyscQn10AOO1Va88U2Ee5DGrZhVJk2UgUGyQSFvJvsdRL4-UrAFb9qJv6oTrrQvyISYtGljqYsmLzDlAnKtVNLYg_FwpIjv3grAWHRcKMAEbKgnzykMZB5mxOLg/s1600/american-moon-landing.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 107px; height: 160px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfD-RFKPkXWJ2yyscQn10AOO1Va88U2Ee5DGrZhVJk2UgUGyQSFvJvsdRL4-UrAFb9qJv6oTrrQvyISYtGljqYsmLzDlAnKtVNLYg_FwpIjv3grAWHRcKMAEbKgnzykMZB5mxOLg/s320/american-moon-landing.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591142688398545698" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgTWaaMvHUFh0_zJf2jkqga4XMfMN3T4xUXGdsH9IgzRLyLqijGIxSH0I1rrHkPcjST367YmzEirzPxq4PPskyYwRX2l4eO4ikF1e4kfwEpZVjfXcq_71YXCCEzyTupTGaaKMQQ/s1600/Picture+of+Earth+from+moon.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 160px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 120px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5590709820164226402" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcgTWaaMvHUFh0_zJf2jkqga4XMfMN3T4xUXGdsH9IgzRLyLqijGIxSH0I1rrHkPcjST367YmzEirzPxq4PPskyYwRX2l4eO4ikF1e4kfwEpZVjfXcq_71YXCCEzyTupTGaaKMQQ/s320/Picture+of+Earth+from+moon.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Forty Two years ago Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong changed history by walking on the surface of the moon. </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />But what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing, if only because so few people know about it. </span></strong></strong><strong><strong></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:100%;">(Picture to the left is of the Earth Rising over curvature of the Moon as seen from Apollo.)</span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Did you know that Buzz Aldrin took communion on the surface of the moon? He wrote an article about the experience in Guideposts magazine some months after his return.</span></strong></strong> <strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />A few years ago, Eric Metaxes wrote about having the privilege of meeting Aldrin and asking him about the communion service on the moon, Aldrin confirmed the story. </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Metaxes wrote about it in his book "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About God (But Were Afraid to Ask)". </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />The background to the story is that Aldrin was an elder at his Presbyterian Church in Texas during this period in his life. Knowing that he would soon be making the unprecedented in human history Lunar Mission, Aldrin felt and many agree he should mark the occasion in a special way.</span></strong></strong> <strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Buzz Aldrin asked his minister to help him. The minister consecrated the communion wafers and small vial of communion wine. And Buzz Aldrin took them with him out of the Earth's orbit and on to the surface of the moon. </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />He and Armstrong had only been on the lunar surface for a few minutes when Aldrin made the following public statement:</span></strong></strong> <strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">"This is the LM pilot. I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her own way." </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">He then ended radio communication and there, on the silent surface of the moon, 250,000 miles from home, he read a verse from the Gospel of John, and he took communion. </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Here is his own account of what happened: "In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. </span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture, 'I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.</span></strong></strong> <strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Aldrin had intended to read the communion passage back to earth, but at the last minute [they] had requested that he not do this. NASA was embroiled in a legal battle with Madelyn Murray O'Hare, the celebrated opponent of religion, over the Apollo 8 crew reading from Genesis while orbiting the moon at Christmas. Aldrin agreed reluctantly. He ate the tiny Host (small piece of bread) and swallowed the wine. He gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility .</span></strong></strong> <strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></strong><strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />It is interesting to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements. And of course, it's interesting to think that some of the first words spoken on the moon were the words of Jesus Christ, who made the Earth and the moon - and Who, in the immortal words of Dante, is Himself the "Love that moves the Sun and other stars." </span></strong></strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />It is personally sad as well as disgusting that NASA thought it had to bow to the wishes of the troublemaker O'Hare and other atheist minorities rather than the Judea-Christian Majority in this Country. </span></strong>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-19347214210731373052012-08-24T08:58:00.006-04:002012-08-25T21:24:34.075-04:00Happy Birthday Carol on August 26.<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbG3AuY60DV9SqZjBNWcRHDh0oV-RmQWBB9J2VmZBpag0U1n91p1S5WHCfPdal5azmHPEaL66SThyphenhyphenjKpOclCDdtQOS68B66554TEAe9qp4g5woe2UiGMFscFr1yzgdUpa4LfA/s1600/Ron.Carol.8.6.2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIbG3AuY60DV9SqZjBNWcRHDh0oV-RmQWBB9J2VmZBpag0U1n91p1S5WHCfPdal5azmHPEaL66SThyphenhyphenjKpOclCDdtQOS68B66554TEAe9qp4g5woe2UiGMFscFr1yzgdUpa4LfA/s320/Ron.Carol.8.6.2012.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carol and her husband, Ron, August 2012</td></tr>
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<span style="color: #336666; font-weight: bold;">Happy Birthday to my precious daughter, Carol, on August 26!</span><br />
Carol is our middle child with a brother and two sisters older than she and two sisters and a brother younger. Carol has titled her popular weblog,"<a href="http://themediansib.com/">The Median Sib</a>," but there is nothing middle about her except being the fourth of seven children born to her daddy and me. On a scale of one to ten, she is a ten! Never a four!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh6X3JNkqBwBxl770HbqW3IW0KBSIUzV7PN0_vCT2S93nI8dMYcC8F9N5hZ2AVQ0eBpp974iO4pxf0zYf9WISfJgRQrR9KariehEp7F1-URjt5yL_DCmsyfLC6dztLDNEb_Ym/s1600-h/Ruth&CarolInCar.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img align="left" alt="" border="0" hspace="10" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5100910452176568306" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEh6X3JNkqBwBxl770HbqW3IW0KBSIUzV7PN0_vCT2S93nI8dMYcC8F9N5hZ2AVQ0eBpp974iO4pxf0zYf9WISfJgRQrR9KariehEp7F1-URjt5yL_DCmsyfLC6dztLDNEb_Ym/s200/Ruth&CarolInCar.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I am holding Carol in this photo from 1951</td></tr>
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Carol was a beautiful baby and a very feminine little girl with blond curly hair. She was as beautiful and wonderfully precocious as her own son and daughter and the three precious little granddaughters she now loves to be with and often writes about.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitnDUm56hx7l3QA-KruAU6Uf5ndMVwcjpLkoXHgG6vL73A-zLsaKs199l2aM-hh4PtlDTJr-w-aIX9h36hzWTQZ4Ss5UTfGIxj7Yp3g6PeLYEaflt5HV6hSwbuZ9igG8VPSpa4dw/s1600/4147_1139078471726_1070313486_410929_6188555_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509332509402056754" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitnDUm56hx7l3QA-KruAU6Uf5ndMVwcjpLkoXHgG6vL73A-zLsaKs199l2aM-hh4PtlDTJr-w-aIX9h36hzWTQZ4Ss5UTfGIxj7Yp3g6PeLYEaflt5HV6hSwbuZ9igG8VPSpa4dw/s320/4147_1139078471726_1070313486_410929_6188555_n.jpg" style="height: 137px; margin-top: 0px; width: 152px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carol, April 2009</td></tr>
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Carol also shares my love for cooking. She is a fabulous and innovative cook. a better cook than I. Also, as Joan of <a href="http://daddysroses.blogspot.com/">Daddy’s Roses</a> fame pointed out, Carol (and Joan) share my reserved nature so they may actually “understand me” somewhat better than their 5 more gregarious siblings. However as we all know, none of us are limited by being “reserved” or “gregarious” but all of us are a combination of both with unlimited possibilities though the grace of Christ.<br />
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All those who have grown children know that they all think (whether they are reserved or gregarious) that they understand their parents only too well.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJUH75cU5u7gI36ACZMzDcHbeShw77ZQHSINlbeIn74-F7wWTewz469m6K1_RZBBrnzlbBXo96zWG8NanO8W-0MkyADoZzzIy8YkShhbJ0aoFncUr_ZXN-2pWuArYXCYJxJ7gjQ/s1600/CarolRonWedding1969.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509338858172297858" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWJUH75cU5u7gI36ACZMzDcHbeShw77ZQHSINlbeIn74-F7wWTewz469m6K1_RZBBrnzlbBXo96zWG8NanO8W-0MkyADoZzzIy8YkShhbJ0aoFncUr_ZXN-2pWuArYXCYJxJ7gjQ/s320/CarolRonWedding1969.jpg" style="float: left; height: 171px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 347px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carol and Ron's wedding, 1969, Fairburn United Methodist Church</td></tr>
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The picture above is Carol and her husband Ron's wedding in 1969 in Fairburn First United Methodist Church.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2KgMJDRzQROsP1dK2idHS9sW6b032a7S_1wsx62zKe416ERrojy4gwxDyZLa8fV8a6O7rj4z43csna2oH_cOXKqmMR9-GOYSI4VsK4S9auD0rXp5ZJHzY768PmuCj1t1-qzzm/s1600/EasterInRome01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2KgMJDRzQROsP1dK2idHS9sW6b032a7S_1wsx62zKe416ERrojy4gwxDyZLa8fV8a6O7rj4z43csna2oH_cOXKqmMR9-GOYSI4VsK4S9auD0rXp5ZJHzY768PmuCj1t1-qzzm/s320/EasterInRome01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">David, Beth, Debi, Carol in front of the Trinity UMC Parsonage, Rome, GA</td></tr>
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The picture above is Carol with her three younger siblings on the lawn at Trinity UMC parsonage in Rome, GA.</div>
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Happy Birthday, Carol! Carol is an outstanding teacher (Now retired, raising chickens and canning vegetables) and writer and has a great “Erma Bombeck” sense of humor illustrated in many of her articles published in the Nashville paper a few years ago.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCS1m1RV2RoUg-vzTuCf6-XrORUCcTdFsE0cej4gJKecsu5-30a7FPZTXaq4DYOxYtW6RFt3Oss2BP9Z9rT2ZT7ZxRXRR5FS83_ViFrvV_QwuQZ4FqJBrLMus_HBYiQ862TZQJIQ/s1600/Joey,+Meleah,+Evey.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509340699837932354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCS1m1RV2RoUg-vzTuCf6-XrORUCcTdFsE0cej4gJKecsu5-30a7FPZTXaq4DYOxYtW6RFt3Oss2BP9Z9rT2ZT7ZxRXRR5FS83_ViFrvV_QwuQZ4FqJBrLMus_HBYiQ862TZQJIQ/s320/Joey,+Meleah,+Evey.jpg" style="float: right; height: 130px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 94px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joey, Meleah, Evey</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMYzixBYOUR57LF9q15e5DaN_N02An-BBVCfQKBxX3ddJgCc3tblusf0ckqBW_3pbPiNYn3ySQqy76V4UxLOMMJ4rHOrTyWJpbKIzcHzl1CKAqhXaBWJr7qldrmSJ6S_ZzEPRqqA/s1600/Evey+,+Sophie+and+Lily.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509340042619717474" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMYzixBYOUR57LF9q15e5DaN_N02An-BBVCfQKBxX3ddJgCc3tblusf0ckqBW_3pbPiNYn3ySQqy76V4UxLOMMJ4rHOrTyWJpbKIzcHzl1CKAqhXaBWJr7qldrmSJ6S_ZzEPRqqA/s320/Evey+,+Sophie+and+Lily.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 302px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Carol's three granddaughters, Lily, Sophie and Evey</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tVhR3MZQP9Kdke5NDgMX3YZnNwLr3bBBNib-bqlcNrKhpaw6uO1P32EwGEiOgwd8-KmkVq4qZ1jgoxixZceEwv4PTGSHcwpoV5GzZpZ95FOHP-qZA7GYMqJJZst-XpGvSQRO4A/s1600/Larisa,++Lily+and+Sophe+2.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509346404111914050" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2tVhR3MZQP9Kdke5NDgMX3YZnNwLr3bBBNib-bqlcNrKhpaw6uO1P32EwGEiOgwd8-KmkVq4qZ1jgoxixZceEwv4PTGSHcwpoV5GzZpZ95FOHP-qZA7GYMqJJZst-XpGvSQRO4A/s320/Larisa,++Lily+and+Sophe+2.jpg" style="float: left; height: 130px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 98px;" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Larisa, Lily, Sophie</td></tr>
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In 2001 Carol (on the right in the photo below) took time off to drive me to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore from my home in Georgia for Trigeminal surgery by Dr Ben Carson. Carol and I spent a few days of recuperation with daughter Janice and her family in Maryland. The picture shows Carol and Janice with me in the hospital.
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWU3tABjCqePAMyT8oZ1Ytu6YlaPyr3GzWqkevmzTMTfkPKpfXc-_3dKJg2N6_dlSpvMazvBfJFRtkQV4uLkzHw-V8kZwvafMzDcDo8_QBvBFo_l07eoiFUb7d_Psd7NgXn3R/s1600/MotherJaniceCarol+Oct01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqWU3tABjCqePAMyT8oZ1Ytu6YlaPyr3GzWqkevmzTMTfkPKpfXc-_3dKJg2N6_dlSpvMazvBfJFRtkQV4uLkzHw-V8kZwvafMzDcDo8_QBvBFo_l07eoiFUb7d_Psd7NgXn3R/s400/MotherJaniceCarol+Oct01.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Janice, Ruth, Carol - Johns Hopkins Hospital, October 2001</td></tr>
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Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com124tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1134085764326063842012-08-15T18:01:00.001-04:002012-08-15T23:28:30.667-04:00Have you Read the Latest "Best Seller" book?<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnGgU3O_USlCPHIGJsds9PEfaBUyee7JUIDqOJCMvL-FHUJcfkAuPT-TcLRJx-__z-NrcCGFpporvboV82MKkh-oiQnDDoMp3jo7ewth9CVNd395oH4ILaE4rBNo-CPo_kLsKHQ/s1600/bible...old.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589491002370051794" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGnGgU3O_USlCPHIGJsds9PEfaBUyee7JUIDqOJCMvL-FHUJcfkAuPT-TcLRJx-__z-NrcCGFpporvboV82MKkh-oiQnDDoMp3jo7ewth9CVNd395oH4ILaE4rBNo-CPo_kLsKHQ/s320/bible...old.jpg" border="0" /></a> <strong><span style="color:#000000;">Reading the "Best Seller" is Attacking Cultural Illiteracy. </span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCiVFybE8OFP22-oqKT1GwTMbKmV11XFEser5ECydceltSH0y019ugp4ovMytK-oNaGNE1bFNJe4cg_Yz4zVymj8H_HMBjs2v-MAD-KZMR9PSqs_H449hy74usKc18ZYoZ0eh6Ew/s1600-h/Bible+and+Rose.bmp"><strong><span style="color:#000000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 124px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5380344081286313490" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCiVFybE8OFP22-oqKT1GwTMbKmV11XFEser5ECydceltSH0y019ugp4ovMytK-oNaGNE1bFNJe4cg_Yz4zVymj8H_HMBjs2v-MAD-KZMR9PSqs_H449hy74usKc18ZYoZ0eh6Ew/s200/Bible+and+Rose.bmp" border="0" /></span></strong></a><strong><span style="color:#000000;"> The Bible is still the world's "best seller" book. From a literary standpoint alone, there is no way that students today can function as well-informed and educated people without Biblical knowledge.</span></strong><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;"></span></strong></div><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">For example, a public high school English teacher said to her class, "In the short story we just read, there's a reference to one of the characters 'washing his hands' of the situation. Does anyone know where that phrase comes from?" Many students stared blankly, but several sheepishly raised their hands. "The Bible," said one student nervously. ( As silly as it sounds, some people are afraid of uttering the word "Bible" for fear of offending.) "Exactly," said the teacher, who went on to explain how Pontius Pilate washed his hands to symbolize that he was not responsible for Jesus's death and and also explained the meaning of the allusion in the story.</span></strong></div><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">As a CHICAGO TRIBUNE editorial put it, "Trying to understand American literature and history without some knowledge of the Bible is like trying to make </span></strong><strong><span style="color:#000000;">sense of the ocean despite a complete ignorance </span></strong><strong><span style="color:#000000;">of fish."<br /><br />Western culture was built on the Bible. </span></strong><strong><span style="color:#000000;">Our literature, music, history, and politics</span></strong> <strong><span style="color:#000000;">are permeated with biblical themes and biblical language. Commenting in the LOS ANGELES TIMES, David Gelernter asked, "Can you understand American culture without knowing the biblical context of 'covenant,' 'promised land,' 'shining city on a hill'?" The answer is a resounding, no. Cultural literature begins with Bible literacy.<br /><br />THE BIBLE AND ITS INFLUENCE is a great resource for anyone looking for a comprehensive academic understanding of the roots of modern civilization,</span></strong></div><br /><strong><span style="color:#000000;">We so often hear the term "Separation of Church and State" as a reason to stop reading the Bible in public school events which had been a part of school events from our founding until the 1960's. "Separation of Church and State did not mean that we were not to continue the historic invocation and benediction prayers at public school or "State" events. </span></strong><br /><br /><div><strong><span style="color:#000000;">The "Separation of Church and State "simply meant the United States is not to have a "State Church" as in England. The Episcopal Church was then and still is "The Church of England." Our forebears chose not to have one demonination to be " The Church of the United States." </span></strong></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1161836514342785022012-08-15T05:04:00.000-04:002012-08-15T12:22:47.257-04:00GLIMPSE OF ROMANCE DURING WORLD WAR II<div style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;">During World War II, I made a week long train trip from Georgia to San Diego, California to be with my Marine husband before he was to be shipped out for action in the South Pacific.<br /><br />Charles told me “girls” were a major topic of conversation am</span><span style="font-size:130%;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60sxJYX1du2TtDPe_jbsTc1_kLpoKIbj3_vGIyEWtz-92-5Hn2DlwYcrZhp_tx5_GFpzzpiD2jnMN-_G9MljdkeKqyY29vrU9XhoqQpsQe0YfUAUj5mnWpA7OjWQUChDgykLu/s1600-h/Ruth+WWII.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 256px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5293001672024239250" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj60sxJYX1du2TtDPe_jbsTc1_kLpoKIbj3_vGIyEWtz-92-5Hn2DlwYcrZhp_tx5_GFpzzpiD2jnMN-_G9MljdkeKqyY29vrU9XhoqQpsQe0YfUAUj5mnWpA7OjWQUChDgykLu/s400/Ruth+WWII.jpg" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;">ong these young marines in the barracks. This close knit unit of men passed around and pinned up pictures of girl friends and wives for the admiration of their brothers.<br /><br />“The greatest generation” is a label that was later to be conferred on them. At this point they were just "men in the making" and still preparing for overseas duty and combat.<br /><br />My husband was happy to announce to his buddies that a real Georgia peach was on her way to California. It was a week long train trip with crowds of soldiers and their wives as weary travelers.<br /><br />Alas, soon after my arrival, I was quarantined at the Naval Hospital with Scarlet Fever. My Marine could only come over to sit on a wall outside the hospital window and look longingly inside and speak through the window.<br /><br />One afternoon he brought a buddy to see his “pin up girl.” On this afternoon, the “Georgia Peach” was lying on her stomach with her feet toward the window.<br /><br />The only thing my husband's buddy could think to say was, “She sure has beautiful feet."</span></b> </div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com115tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-76855533890313069132012-08-09T16:27:00.001-04:002012-08-09T21:05:47.938-04:00The Civil War Parade.<strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;">THE CIVIL WAR PARADE</span>.</span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;">I love a parade! The first parade I ever saw was a Civil War Parade! </span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOxoym1RzQWq8lJ-Qot58uAV1uIHBe2ovC8srhPW0XmcnhnWovfjir4l8NCrpOodzdQkRsCJGlZk_8n-NP4q5jzPErSVEzId07T6JvNvn9nGRiUVoV5THjUBdKWIQ8yPJnViq_Yg/s1600-h/cwlee.gif"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><strong><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 144px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382620211602577490" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOxoym1RzQWq8lJ-Qot58uAV1uIHBe2ovC8srhPW0XmcnhnWovfjir4l8NCrpOodzdQkRsCJGlZk_8n-NP4q5jzPErSVEzId07T6JvNvn9nGRiUVoV5THjUBdKWIQ8yPJnViq_Yg/s200/cwlee.gif" border="0" /></strong></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><strong><span style="color:black;"> I may be one of a few persons living in 2012 to tell of a parade featuring </span>Civil war Soldiers(1861-1865). </strong></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdVX82CXQMhdakF8RynQu9Q0GQ0jhs7H8QlAyR0K7gz75-yX5F3hZvO_kd4R95QZ2w-Inca6AaAR-1RGYAKIYS98_Ia4UQO_zXUyTbUDxaGrStN7cCZBQDidcoG-t2E2rcuFfYw/s1600-h/cwgrant.gif"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><strong><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 135px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5382619848186451426" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXdVX82CXQMhdakF8RynQu9Q0GQ0jhs7H8QlAyR0K7gz75-yX5F3hZvO_kd4R95QZ2w-Inca6AaAR-1RGYAKIYS98_Ia4UQO_zXUyTbUDxaGrStN7cCZBQDidcoG-t2E2rcuFfYw/s200/cwgrant.gif" border="0" /></strong></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:black;"> </span><span style="color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 143px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 115px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5365543123127879650" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJY5PixYzGLmR1-ZML_fkFuNUNOQHd4l2OHJWeUCQaqwO1brKnxEOZVe6ytmo0O8X8M8Jt0ZNahttlK1Bpb4TUWxwJ3NBLx38-ETbNJuW3sSCq02aPoRsB93fiUT_2czCAQktfRA/s400/WICAXXSCW7CA06Mcivil+war+flags.jpg" border="0" /></span><br /><span style="color:black;">The Civil War Parade passed down the streets in our small town of Porterdale, Georgia when I was a small child in the 1920's. It was a</span><span style="color:black;"> small parade as parades go. </span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:black;"></span></strong></span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:black;">But any parade in our small southern hometown was exciting! This 1920's parade featured the soldiers who had answered the call to arms and last survivors of the "disappearing soldiers"of the few who had survived the Civil War </span></strong><strong><span style="color:black;">to come back home to a devastated Georgia and Southland.</span></strong></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;"><br /></span></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:black;"></span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><strong><span style="color:black;">In those 1920-1930 days, we still referred to the tragic Civil War of "brothers against brothers" as “The War between the States."<br /><br />It is hard for this generation or even my generation of black and white people who finally won the battle for equal rights to put ourselves back in the time of worldwide slavery and class and racial separation. Today white and black people have associated with one another in school, church and work situations. Most thoughtful people have come to respect our common humanity and to appreciate our differences. </span></strong></span></span><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The Civil War Parade of my childhood moved slowly as it passed our house. There were a few horses and wagons in the parade but the three elderly Civil War veterans with long grey hair were sitting on chairs in the back of a slow moving truck. These Civil War soldiers were not waving or smiling as I remembeer them but were looking rather serious. I was standing near the road holding my mother's hand.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">I asked Mama, "Who are those poor old men?" </span></strong><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">"Those elderly men," I was told, were among the last of the Civil War soldiers.<br /></span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">These men had probably seen many of their brothers maimed and killed in an "uncivil" war of "brothers fighting brothers." General Sherman is quoted as saying, "War is hell." If they had not learned it earlier, after Sherman's march through Georgia, who could deny the truth of Sherman's words.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the American Civil War was seen by many in the south as a "states rights" issue. We are told that less than ten percent of the people in America's southland were slave holders. Most of the slave owners were caucasion, but records reveal there were a few African American as well as a few Native Americans who were slave owners.<br /><br />History also reveals while all "Christians" were not Abolitionists, all Abolitionist were Christians. There is no record of any Muslin, Buddhist, Hindu, Atheist or persons of other religions who had tried to do anything about the world-wide system of slavery. </span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">It was in the Christian Bible that Christians finally became literate enough to learn that God is "no respector of persons" and much later powerful enough to defeat the evil institution of slavery .<br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">When Jesus was born, class and racial discrimination, slavery and survival of the fittiest" was already a world wide practice. </span></span><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">As G.K. Chesterson said, "the end of slavery was begun when Jesus died … although it took the church years to become powerful enough to defeat the powerful slave trade."</span></span><br /></span></strong><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Many of the Confederate soldiers had never owned nor even seen a slave. My grandfather, Col. William Baird, a Methodist "exhorter" and teacher, like 90 percent of people in the South, never owned slaves. Methodist ministers were prohibited from slave ownership. </span></strong></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">The first battles for equal right were fought in Christian conferences.</span><span style="color:black;">In fact, when Georgia Methodist Bishop Andrews' wife inherited a slave , it caused a riff in the church that separated the Northern part of the church from the Southern part.</span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">The Northern members of the Methodist General Conference in 1840 took away Bishop Andrew's credentials without hearing about his plans of how to divest himself of slave ownership. The Southern delegates took the side of the Georgia bishop, The "slave" Bishop Andrews' wife inherited was the now famous "Miss Kitty" and “freeing" her with a place for her to go was a problem. In fact she continued to live with them after her freedom, and after their death, she continued to live in her own cottage.<br /><br />Rev. Bogan Mask, A Methodist preacher and my maternal great grandfather is said to have bought one slave for the purpose of freeing him. This old family story is told in more detail by Ferrel Sams in his book of fiction, "Epiphany. " In Sam's book he tells us the son of the former slave who was freed by Rev. Bogan Mask was one of the first African American medical doctors.<br /><br />The Southern men had been called to arms in a war that was seen then by many as "states rights" and "northern hostility toward the South." In reading the tragic history of the conflict today, we know the issue of Slavery was primary to whether or not we could "live out our creed" and become the United States. </span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">The few young soldiers who lived to return home saw their countryside devastated. Many of their schools, church buildings and homes had been destroyed.</span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">At age 88, I am the youngest and the only living granddaughter of William Baird, a Confederate Army officer in the tragic "Civil War." My father, Benjamin Wilson Baird, was the youngest son of Col. William Baird and his wife, Mary Marks Baird. I am the youngest of the 11 children born to Wilson and Ieula Ann Dick Baird. My father, Benjamin Wilson Baird was 63 when I was born.<br /><br />William Baird was wounded in the Battle of the Wilderness in North Carolina. His daughter's husband had been killed in the war, leaving her with a child to raise. My dad stayed on the farm to help his wounded father, mother and widowed sister and did not marry until he was forty.<br /><br />Most of my contemporaries are three generations removed from the Civil War. My husband had two great-grandfathers in the Confederate Army. However, although I am four years younger than my husband, I was only two generations removed from the tragic toll of that war.<br /><br />I thought of that Civil War Parade of my early childhood with its few surviving elderly Civil War soldiers this week while reading about the rapid "disappearance" of our American World War II (1941-1945) generation. My generation! The World War II generation is my husband Charles Shaw and my brothers Jackson Irvin Baird and John Thomas Baird's generation. They, along with many school friends, went off to World War II. Young men were drafted to fight in response to Hilter's Germany attack on Europe beginning with France and then Japan's deadly attack on America at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. </span></span><br /><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;"></span></span><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:black;"><span style="color:black;">My husband and brothers lived to come home. Four of my school classmates were killed: Homer Cook, Carroll Adams , Quinton "Red" Cole and J. W. Rye. God bless their memory and the memory of all the young men (and the few women) who went off to fight a war they hoped would be the last war!<br /><br />These World War II soldiers, part of the generation labeled a few years ago as the "Greatest Generation" are also now "the disappearing generation" as were those three old men in the Civil War Parade of my childhood. </span></span><br /></span></strong></span></span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com34tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1133365813050308772012-08-06T16:15:00.000-04:002012-08-07T16:47:18.567-04:00Bed and Bath in the 1920's and 30's.<a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6308/1609/1600/416441/mother_9years.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; FLOAT: left; CURSOR: pointer" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6308/1609/320/351444/mother_9years.jpg" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:small;color:black;">Bed and Bath in the 1920's and 30's</span><span style="font-size:small;">. </span><span style="font-size:small;color:black;">My family keeps asking me to write more about life when I was a child. I would like to hear from BLOGGERS of my generation and about their memories of life in the 1920's and thirties. My father died when I was nine, and so I was raised by a widowed mother. My memories may not be typical of everyone in the Southern United States.<br /><br />I never had a room of my own. Never even a bed of my own. After Papa died, we moved to a smaller house. I slept in the bed with my mother. There was also a single bed in this bedroom and my sister, Mary, slept there. My brothers, Charlie, Tom, and Jack, slept in a room across the hall. My youngest brother, Jack, was five years older than I. My sister, Mary, was ten years older; so I was almost raised alone as far as sibling playmates was concerned. (The picture to the left is Ruth Baird Shaw (about age 8) with her nephew Lavay McCullough, (age 2) who contacted Polio as an infant.)<br /><br />Although we were poor, it was not "poverty" in the sense of poverty today. It is said that "poor" was proud (not un-Christian pride, of course) in the South after Sherman's successful march through Georgia and all the way to the sea. It left much of the South in ashes and ended the War between the States. At least "poor" meant you were honest and not a "carpetbagger" or a "bootlegger."<br /><br />In a world of class, as well as race divisionisms, my mother told me, "You came from good stock." She was pleased to then tell about her grandmother who traced her lineage back to the Revolution and her maternal grandfather who had been a hard working and prosperous (for the times) land owner and a Methodist preacher.<br /><br />And we, as well as nearly every Southern family had a story of some brave woman or child facing the soldiers from the North, seemingly bent on burning the South to the ground and thus ending the horrible war. In November, 1997, I read a part of our family history when a woman ancestor faced Northern soldiers, who were about to torch their house. She let the Yankee soldiers know that her husband was also a member of the Masonic lodge. Apparently this was a common ground respected by both North and South .<br /><br />In our small town, most of the people worked for Bibb Manufacturing Company. Most were hard working and glad to have a job of any kind. It took all the members of the family working to have enough income to survive. They lived on their meager incomes and helped one another in times of emergency. Almost everyone we knew had about the same income and opportunities. If someone was out of work or sick, the neighbors collected money for them or made up a "pantry shower." There was no sick leave nor other such benefits and none expected.<br /><br />My mother was hardworking and resourseful, She knew how to "stretch a dollar" so we always seemed to have plenty to eat and to share with neighbors and most of what we needed. I do remember that on many occasions Mama was instrumental in collecting food supplies (pantry showers) for neighbors who had to be out of work because of sickness or other problems. Mama also lent money (without interest) to neighbors between paydays.<br /><br />I remember that there was one man in the neighborhood who would make loans with interest to his less fortunate neighbors. This was considered unneighborly and un-Christian.<br /><br />The salary for a full week's work was $9.90 for some and $10.80 for other jobs. I remember people jokingly saying, "If you can't make $10.80, $9.90 will do." We did "make do." To put this in focus. The overseers in the Cotton factories were paid about $100. weekly. The overseers and other mill officials were given bigger and better houses to rent on larger lots in their own part fo town. It is difficult for my grandchildren and the younger generation to understand but the word "egalitarian" was yet to be added to our vocalulary. But we were looking forward!<br /><br />In the bedroom where I slept with my mother and sister, there were a couple of rocking chairs and some "straight" chairs because this was also a sitting room. The parlor or "front room" was across the hall in our house before my mother converted it into a bedroom to accommodate "boarders". This is another story.<br />Before going to bed, we sat around the heater at the "fireplace" and talked, or in my case, listened. I was a painfully shy child. If one decided to go to bed, it was no problem. One just went over in a corner or behind a door, undressed and put on night clothes. I remember warm flannel gowns.Today we remind our children to go to the bathroom before going to bed. In those days a "slop jar" was brought into the bedroom, and the children were reminded to"go to the slop jar before you go to bed."<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6ZLUPaew1IEZic0EITIZYDgxcwK6Io-dcOZ1xU0htaTARFMy-m4_m9pgqm6NbgRdP4awa_lG0ATFDnrtzd1sgUBlMUtJDA87Iu_F7o2c9V2ajybIMQY3ZlujGYsLoy6aInNIAw/s1600-h/slop+jar.jpg"><span style="color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 71px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 96px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351253227222216034" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjd6ZLUPaew1IEZic0EITIZYDgxcwK6Io-dcOZ1xU0htaTARFMy-m4_m9pgqm6NbgRdP4awa_lG0ATFDnrtzd1sgUBlMUtJDA87Iu_F7o2c9V2ajybIMQY3ZlujGYsLoy6aInNIAw/s320/slop+jar.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></span><span style="font-size:small;color:black;"> </span><span style="font-size:small;"><span style="color:black;">Sometimes this vessel was called a "chamber pot" or just a "chamber." It was not my regular job, as I remember, but I was often told to "bring in the slop jar" or sometimes "go bring the chamber in." My mother usually did the more unpleasant job of taking it out, emptying it in the commode which was in a bathroom off the back porch, and washing it out.<br /><br /></span><a href="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6308/1609/1600/61389/ru.jpg"><span style="color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; FLOAT: right" alt="" src="http://photos1.blogger.com/x/blogger/6308/1609/320/511878/ru.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></span><span style="font-size:small;color:black;">The bathroom had a large footed bathtub and a commode. The "out house" in our community was before my time. However, this indoor plumbing had been added to one end of the back porch after the house was built (this smaller house on 45 Hazel Street being one of the older ones we moved into after my father's death).<br /><br />At one point a gas heater was put in the bathroom, but that may have been in my later childhood. I do remember that sometimes, in cold weather, we brought a large </span><span style="font-size:small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQcoMU5RsatHHU0atXEtqiVGBbeApU5kCCE6_qsS_NdrTBw0u3A3GE8Zk1urX-_0bucvUgVnOCdgvef6jwxarbvmjtYqpUT7WsUvw5agcnB0FXHhyphenhyphenPr8akXBUymxOb42xtdmRdSg/s1600-h/galvinized+tin+tubs.jpg"><span style="color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 150px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 74px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351254219271431026" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQcoMU5RsatHHU0atXEtqiVGBbeApU5kCCE6_qsS_NdrTBw0u3A3GE8Zk1urX-_0bucvUgVnOCdgvef6jwxarbvmjtYqpUT7WsUvw5agcnB0FXHhyphenhyphenPr8akXBUymxOb42xtdmRdSg/s320/galvinized+tin+tubs.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></span><span style="font-size:small;color:black;"> wash tub or a smaller "foot tub" into the warm kitchen or bedroom to take a bath. The bathroom was not as well sealed as the other rooms, so it was not suitable for bathing in very cold weather. We sometimes took sponge baths. This involved bringing a large “washpan” of warm water with cloth, soap, and towel into some private corner of a room. Every part of the body was thoroughly washed and rinsed but not all at the same time. Mama believed "cleanliness was next to Godliness."<br /><br />My earliest memory of bedding were sheets that were made at home with seams down the middle. I think that textile looms that would weave cloth 54 or 60 inches wide were developed much later. I remember a few straw mattresses. These were homemade mattresses filled with straw to put on beds. I remember such a mattress on a small odd-sized bed in one of the rooms. Probably there were no mattresses that size on the market. The other mattresses were factory-made, cotton-filled mattresses.<br /><br />We were fortunate to also have feather bed mattresses to put on top of all the cotton mattresses. Mama was resourceful. Feather mattresses were made at home. One would buy pillow ticking cloth (pillows were made at home also), sew it the length and width of the bed and fill it with feathers. On a cold winter night it was good to sink down in a bed of feathers and under the weigh of numerous handmade and home-quilted quilts. In the 1930's we called them "feather beds" and put them on top of the cotton mattresses. This added to the bed-making time every morning. One had to fluff up the feathers and smooth it out, often turning it over, and frequently taking it out in the sun to“air the bed out."<br /><br />When innerspring mattresses were added to the market, most people were glad to retire the feather bed to history.<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8GrrfXYdMyhOLu8SvInq_N4uhEqjMlu0Yc_XL3m_wZbjT4Q9eshHybhNApO8vrlu_Se4y_5AP0Zzu3Vp6RmM9sXESQrHQp0MqwAv1PuWfg0eWUzD0ESnOI9LRDus4BfGRf5tDQ/s1600-h/grecian_square_sml.jpg"><span style="color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 170px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 170px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5351273590886172082" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_8GrrfXYdMyhOLu8SvInq_N4uhEqjMlu0Yc_XL3m_wZbjT4Q9eshHybhNApO8vrlu_Se4y_5AP0Zzu3Vp6RmM9sXESQrHQp0MqwAv1PuWfg0eWUzD0ESnOI9LRDus4BfGRf5tDQ/s320/grecian_square_sml.jpg" border="0" /></span></a></span><span style="font-size:small;color:black;"> Homemade quilts? We had large stacks of them, home-pieced and home-quilted by Mama and the women in the neighborhood. In cold weather one was weighted down under warm quilts. In summer, when company came, quilts were folded on the floor to make mattresses for the children and sometimes for adults to sleep on after all the beds were filled.<br /><br />We children loved these temporary beds. To make the quilts, quilting frames were hung from the four corners of the ceiling of our bedroom and drawn up at night. I have slept many nights with an unfinished quilt suspended above. Neighbors would come to visit and help with the quilting. Any unoccupied house in the village was often put into service for quilting bees. The quilting frames were hung from the ceiling, and six to eight women would take a chair and sit on all sides of the quilt, making fine stitches in a quilt pattern that one of them had drawn.<br /><br />There was much talk and laughter as these women visited while working on a quilt. The younger children played at their feet, and the older children were in and out of the house.The advantage of the empty room was that the quilt would not have to be lifted up at night and walked around in the daytime. In the evenings Mama would cut and sew various patterns for future quilting. The children would play around and sometimes be allowed to make a few stitches and were complimented if they could manage small stitches. If the stitches were too long, the mother would remove the stitches, often after the child left the room. Everyone took pride in fingers nimble enough to make practically invisible stitches.<br /><br />I was allowed to make a few stitches occasionally but was not often invited to quilt, so I assume my stitches were far from invisible.</span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com78tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-4682026294184369322012-08-04T05:10:00.000-04:002012-08-04T14:10:41.861-04:00The "White Experience" during Segregation.<span style="font-size:130%;"></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4bsM97WtbSP4a_NjduMFi8mp6AWF6-YVmKISrEHqLiLtMw2yb7DlOCV8YWm0ShigraPAnjfqJre0_ldl8fzwYCYr9DzcWRHp37zcWJln0x7mSzpz5v3ZymnhO_w4l294iJ_v5Qg/s1600-h/African+Americans+one.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 101px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335294945905110354" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4bsM97WtbSP4a_NjduMFi8mp6AWF6-YVmKISrEHqLiLtMw2yb7DlOCV8YWm0ShigraPAnjfqJre0_ldl8fzwYCYr9DzcWRHp37zcWJln0x7mSzpz5v3ZymnhO_w4l294iJ_v5Qg/s400/African+Americans+one.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;">African American friends tell us it is difficult for white people to understand the "Black experience." This was the phrase my husband and I heard over and over from Black friends in the Fifties and Sixties in church and civic groups and in our home when African Americans visited with us. It is true. This lack of understanding by any of us who have not walked in the shoes of another is the stuff of which hostility and even riots are made!<br /><br />Perhaps some will find it interesting to hear something of the "White Experience." Of course none of us, whatever the color our skin happens to be, can speak for all. I was born in 1923, when the South was still trying to recover from the destruction of the Civil War and the beginnings of the Great Depression.<br /></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYs1NzKmn53GkSs1SoiWsqHe05gdpnX9N6V2Sh7R6jGQq5GG3xQpwD0RsJwEHV3ufuR8CeZPhEFnDh33VE-MKqMQcLGJ-ANJ3zgFfC_BvEyc0R_CJxt5AIGZVx1sunrh-IJyZTuQ/s1600-h/women+in+cotton+mill.bmp"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 256px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335672902410097906" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYs1NzKmn53GkSs1SoiWsqHe05gdpnX9N6V2Sh7R6jGQq5GG3xQpwD0RsJwEHV3ufuR8CeZPhEFnDh33VE-MKqMQcLGJ-ANJ3zgFfC_BvEyc0R_CJxt5AIGZVx1sunrh-IJyZTuQ/s400/women+in+cotton+mill.bmp" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"> In our town many Caucasian workers worked from "sunup to sundown," twelve hour days for a meager living in one of the textile mills or anywhere they could find employment.<br /><br />Cotton farmers all over the South during the Great Depression and the Boll weevil epidemic were giving up on trying to make a living in farming. My older cousin Aubrey <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Simms's</span> told me he remembered as a boy of six, the very night in 1922 when my father told his father about his decision to sell his farm and move to town. Aubrey said his Dad replied, "Uncle Wilson, I will go to share cropping before I will raise my family in a Mill town."<br /><br />Apparently my father, a hard working and intelligent Christian man in failing health, thought this his only option. I am told he worked in the Old <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Porterdale</span> mill until he became disabled. He was bedridden for over a year and died when I was nine.<br /><br />Most of the Black men we saw were the collectors of garbage or worked as unskilled laborers in one of the cotton factories. Textile Mills had been moved South for cheap black and white labor after the Civil War. They found plenty. Many southerners, both Black and White can point back to the hard working "Cotton Mill" experience as a part of their inheritance. </span><a href="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/cwillow894/millworkers2.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left" alt="" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/cwillow894/millworkers2.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />Many Black women worked as cooks and housekeepers and in child care for the poor White workers.<br /><br />Sad to say, we each had our own schools and churches. However many of our schools had been destroyed and school tuition and books for high school and college were beyond he means of most of the people, Black and White.<br /><br />It was customary and considered proper to socialize with ones own race. Thus Black workers come into the homes of White people through the back door to distinguish it as a service rather than a social call.<br /><br />Class distinctions were also important, but were not always so obvious, nor so rigid. As Margaret Mitchell had Rhett Butler to illustrated in <i>Gone with the Wind</i>, with white skin, one could possibly make money by hook or by crook and sooner or later get legal and/or "respectful" and move up the social ladder. Possible but not likely?<br /><br />The white experience was that many, if not most, white men and women were also poorly educated (or schooled...some, like my father was "self-educated") and worked 12-hour days. In those days, it took both paychecks to survive. Most children stopped school and went to work as soon as they were old enough. The burning of schools and churches in the South after Sherman's march through Georgia at the end of the Civil War had taken its toll.<br /><br />When I came on the scene, this was the custom. This I saw and pretty much accepted in my childhood as "just the way things are." We had no social contact with African-American people at all. We had never heard the term “segregation, "integration "nor "discrimination.”<br /><br />All the black people we knew were servants who seemed accepting of their status. As a child, I had noticed that Mama always treated kindly the "Colored" women who sometimes worked in our kitchen. My intelligent and hard working widowed mother worked as a weaver in the Cord Weave Shop of Osprey Mill in our small town. The "Cord Weave Shop" made heavy cloth for use in tent making, to reinforce auto, truck and tank tires among other such uses.<br /><br />In those days it was a common practice for the Colored or Negro cook to eat at a "cook table" rather than with the family. A cook table was a table on the side of the wall where we mixed and rolled our bread, etc. The dining table was in the center of the room and sometimes nearer the stove and therefore warmer. Mama would always ask the Black lady, much to her seeming dismay, to sit at the dining table with us in cold weather. I suppose this seemed the same kind of paternalism that white workers dealt with from textile officials who gave out Christmas bags of candy, fruit and nuts to everyone in town - black and white - and who built schools and churches and tried to be good to all their "mill hands."<br /><br />The textile mills jobs also required feet, eyes and brain but the workers were referred to as "hands." We referred to Black people as "Colored people" or "Negroes" – often with the Southern pronunciation "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Negra</span>" close to the sound of the "N" word. We were corrected in school (and sometimes in home) and told to fully pronounce the last vowel, "Negro." We thought it would be insulting to say "black, " as in "old black Joe". And it was considered ignorant by educated Caucasians then as now it is considered insulting and criminal to say the "N" word.<br /><br />Incidentally "color," as on a "color chart" is not a good way, in my judgement to define any of us. I have never seen anyone with "black" skin. On a color chart, skin might be discribed as dark brown to light beige. Neither have I seen "white" skin. Caucasian might accurately be described as having light ivory to dark beige skin. ( But snow is "white" and it is no compliment nor insult for Christians to be told they can be washed "whiter than snow." We are taking about " soul" washing not skin.) Perhaps one day we will describe ourselves as either Caucasian or Negroid, instead of the inaccurate description of "Black" or "White" or the divisive "European American" and "African American" ?<br /><br />Being from a Christian family, I never saw any African American person being physically mistreated. But in addition to many kindnesses, I also observed some indignities against them. Whether we are African American or Caucasian, many of us are sad to know that our intelligent, hard working and good parents and/or grandparents had little to no educational opportunities in the south until after World War II.<br />When I was a young teen, an attractive and bright young "Negro" girl came into our kitchen and said something to me (not to my mother) to let me know coming into our house by the back door was discrimination rather than just "custom." I had never before thought about this.<br /><br />My husband Charles, 4 years older than I, remembered one young Negro man having rocks thrown at him as he ran away from “stealing” some apples from an apple orchard. Charles was a young boy at the time and didn't know for sure, but his fear was that the young man might have been seriously injured. Remembering these kinds of treatment against African Americans is tragic. This made a profound impression on Charles, although he did not know the people who owned the Apple tree or any of the people throwing rocks at the young man as he ran away down a railroad tract. Charles said he stood there as a little boy feeling afraid and ashamed and knowing in his heart the horror of the situation.<br /><br />Charles and I often talked about this. This kind of behavior was so foreign to the Christian concept and the experience of Peter and Cornelius in the Bible that God is no respecter of persons. Even earlier, the Jewish law of gleaning taught that even a sojourner and a stranger was to be cared for and allowed to pick grain or fruit to eat from others' fields as he passed by.<br /><br />Yes, there has been world wide slavery and class distinctions from the beginning of written history. It was still a fact in Bible times but never condoned in the Bible as some have claimed. After all, the major celebration in the Old Testament is the Passover of the Hebrew slaves out of Egyption slavery into freedom. </span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghY_0CjJKSWJWeYyrPLMRgiQowcp2aqe3QxMB89HbRPgG9ivr1DW1DbhXawLUUzUUmJx2d7b9pWNF0OE6cuiqqbxr7Z7g0-Lgy44oDxE91q2r5W57ICVpp8ooDozv5WnFBOZd7YQ/s1600-h/mlk1-hi_sm.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 180px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 225px" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5335319523322464098" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghY_0CjJKSWJWeYyrPLMRgiQowcp2aqe3QxMB89HbRPgG9ivr1DW1DbhXawLUUzUUmJx2d7b9pWNF0OE6cuiqqbxr7Z7g0-Lgy44oDxE91q2r5W57ICVpp8ooDozv5WnFBOZd7YQ/s400/mlk1-hi_sm.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br /><br />When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the King, slavery was already a world wide practice along with “survival of the fittest.”<br /><br />As G.K. Chesterson said, "the end of slavery was begun when Jesus died … although it took the church years to become powerful enough to defeat the powerful slave trade."<br /><br />The South was only beginning to recover from the Civil War when the economic depression hit. After World War II, when things began to get better, and Charles and I became committed Christians, we spoke out for Civil Rights long before it became a politically correct posture for whites to take. We took some licks for this stance from those who did not see the need for such "quick change."<br /><br />When Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. , A gifted Christian minister began to "speak out" with conviction, many Caucasians became informed and educated enough to join him in his fight to the death. Then in the Methodist Church we had white men and women like "Mrs M. E. Tilly" and others who held Methodist feet to the fire until most of us woke up and saw the evil of segregation.<br /><br />In the 60's my husband, Charles Shaw was pastor of Trinity Methodist Church. Silas <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">McComb</span> had been the church caretaker for many years. His wife died and Mr. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">McComb</span> asked my husband to participate in her funeral at their church, the Metropolitan Church, an African- American Methodist Church. Miss Lottie Duncan, our Trinity Methodist Church secretary, and I went to the funeral. The people in the church welcomed us warmly. I observed they read from the same Bible and sang from the same Methodist Hymnal as we did. Why were we not friends and co-workers? </span><a href="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/cwillow894/flag-1.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:black;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left" alt="" src="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/cwillow894/flag-1.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />Perhaps we can recover from some of the bitterness when we realize the issue of slavery is not altogether a Black and White issue! Less than 8 percent of the people in the South had “owned” slaves. Most were white but a few wealthy Black people and a few Native Americans also owned slaves.<br /><br />History reveals there were white Abolitionists who gave their life for freedom and Civil Rights from the beginning of African people being sold by some Black Africans to some White slavers. From my own experience, I know of many white people who worked and prayed tirelessly for the end of segregation and for equal rights for all people. Today we see some White and some Black "racists." Hopefully it is a minority and most of us want the best life possible for all people.</span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com79tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1148504556441095962012-08-02T04:02:00.008-04:002012-08-08T04:30:19.324-04:00"Gay" Activist<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJJ0KpnwlpOPQC5FVKEVSFVb2kbgswcEP3OjEDf8J6yPLEHRoDTh9b362xZHRxz5ktktoajyKrMn61ATdnxUcao6vdkOzr_O4vrQQYv5dHyFksXkckngKE029ruAw0xH6IDqTdw/s1600/bible___old.jpg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhJJ0KpnwlpOPQC5FVKEVSFVb2kbgswcEP3OjEDf8J6yPLEHRoDTh9b362xZHRxz5ktktoajyKrMn61ATdnxUcao6vdkOzr_O4vrQQYv5dHyFksXkckngKE029ruAw0xH6IDqTdw/s320/bible___old.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5774216732820595186" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoD4CFFF9ernqIKpPerKLSUxqPYpQDZMrOCsKdwiv7Df-kYgZrIdOxV-5XgF5wLIIxg_mlVhsCrhV04jyOy4RbbuNsCM-kvLMUTz9VA4uhPtRRRzGdWM_2O4MrLLeJteK67rs/s1600-h/red+rose+boquet.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 260px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 283px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5313209444694181170" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoD4CFFF9ernqIKpPerKLSUxqPYpQDZMrOCsKdwiv7Df-kYgZrIdOxV-5XgF5wLIIxg_mlVhsCrhV04jyOy4RbbuNsCM-kvLMUTz9VA4uhPtRRRzGdWM_2O4MrLLeJteK67rs/s400/red+rose+boquet.bmp" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:130%;"><b>Gay Activist Mel White, who left his wife and children to moved in with his homosexual lover some years ago, has decided his life is not so "gay" after all. He is reported as saying "we are as boring as the rest of the people in Virginia."The associated press release said, "Gay Activist moves near Falwell's church to preach acceptance."<br /><br />White found he already has acceptance, so he tells us he is bored.<br /><br />The popular demands today are for Christians to throw away over 2000 years of Scripture and tradition as well as experience and reason and place their stamp of approval and celebration of "Gay, Lesbian, Bi-Sexual and Transgender" behavior.<br /><br />Mel White (not Methodist) and his activist group Soulface and other GLBT activists have marched as a group into the General Conference of the United Methodist Church meetings for thirty years in trying to chip away at our Church's ruling against the celebration of homosexual behavior as Christian behavior. (Our United Methodist Church General Conference meets every 4 years and is is the only body to speak officially for the church)<br /><br />Our instincts and our desire as loving Christians it to tolerate all non-coercive behavior. All of us are sinners. None of us are righteous or good enough to point our finger at anyone! However, the GLBT activists continue pointing their fingers at all of us who do not celebrate with them their behavior and lifestyle.<br /><br />Tolerance is not what the GLBT Activists are seeking. They have tolerance. They have love from Christians. They have reached "political correctness." They are demanding the church's stamp of approval and celebration on their behavior.<br /><br />I am glad to be a member of a church that listens to all sides of an issue. (I was baptized as an infant in the Methodist Church. As A young woman , I was active in church and in the Methodist Women's organization, serving as an officer on a local and district level)<br /><br />As a church, we have listened long enough and voted year after year against changing our church's book of Discipline. Is it past time to stop this dialogue?<br /><br />We keep voting against placing our stamp of approval on a damaging behavior that runs counter to the deepest claims of our Hebrew-Christian Scripture in the strongest language possible.<br /><br />The first sexual revolution was not in the sixties, as we suppose, but was the sexual revolution initiated by Judaism and carried forward by Christianity. This ensured that polymorphous sex no longer dominated society.<br /><br />Placing controls on sexual activity, heightened and channeled male-female love and sexuality and created the possibility of love and eroticism within marriage between a man and a woman and thus began the task of <em><em>elevating the status of women and the nurture of children.</em></em><br /><br />If one does not believe the status of women has hit an all time low take a brief look at pornography with it's rape, incest, group sex, brutality etc. This at a time when GLBT Activists have achieved political correctness.<br /><br />The widespread ignoring of the Bible's prohibition of "no fault divorce" and other heterosexual secular behavior has brought about much "uncivil" and lack of civility in our world today. It has also brought us to this radical debate about "why not homosexual marriage and "why not GLBT marriage?"<br /><br />It is no exaggeration to state that the Bible's prohibition of homosexual behavior and any non- marital secular behavior has made possible the "civil" and "civility" that made "civilization" possible and advanced Western Civilization.<br /><br />What about the current debate about Homosexual Marriage? Marriage has rich meaning in Jewish and Christian thought and even traditionally secular marriages has always been between one man and one women.<br /><br />The recent demands that two men or two women have a right to get married is brought forward, declaring anyone who does not agree and celebrate as "ignorant and mean spirited."</b></span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-85915626762275872152012-07-31T22:11:00.000-04:002012-07-31T22:11:28.612-04:00Spending Money in the Great Depression<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3BpojbkMS5Szs-6t2ULlCp-MHdY3AJNjhhrWhrz_xHXk5T7gXi1l5SMZbNY-OTpCR2eBnToN8J2LGSbMPrF5oslQu2TdFIQ8QU0Lt5TwjykvPqNblRffQRTLj9YrWYY1QqPU22A/s1600/Fsbric+and+Needle2.gif"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 168px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562515696859928354" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3BpojbkMS5Szs-6t2ULlCp-MHdY3AJNjhhrWhrz_xHXk5T7gXi1l5SMZbNY-OTpCR2eBnToN8J2LGSbMPrF5oslQu2TdFIQ8QU0Lt5TwjykvPqNblRffQRTLj9YrWYY1QqPU22A/s200/Fsbric+and+Needle2.gif" border="0" /></span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"> </span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipv5I8riIlzSS9BoCuT4lfHfCLK5Gcaflb2D95xx9ouiDMf5C-jiD0EhCXH9SFf2us0P90aTfMkDYFwr4RaxWBWIymfk8zbROwsQMVnof80fxjJSctp-ymmaUDf5vWvG1Na96oFw/s1600/Fabric+patterns.jpg"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 100px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 100px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562436173695309826" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipv5I8riIlzSS9BoCuT4lfHfCLK5Gcaflb2D95xx9ouiDMf5C-jiD0EhCXH9SFf2us0P90aTfMkDYFwr4RaxWBWIymfk8zbROwsQMVnof80fxjJSctp-ymmaUDf5vWvG1Na96oFw/s200/Fabric+patterns.jpg" border="0" /></span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Much of the media coverage today is about how to spend our money. How do we get out and stay out of debt? This is a subject I heard and hopefully learned a little about early in life! </span></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66DkrheMF8x64TGVs0XpaHy2hbOYw_cIJ0jLBoWI1NkWhYrww92p7EhZxFUfzseVzT1qE12po8G8hVTWkc8Aihuc9qxc2-zEjRgwyK0KBamEbrCTclEGR5vxq6wZOxLx2boIcjg/s1600/Fabric+scissors.jpg"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562435777162480322" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg66DkrheMF8x64TGVs0XpaHy2hbOYw_cIJ0jLBoWI1NkWhYrww92p7EhZxFUfzseVzT1qE12po8G8hVTWkc8Aihuc9qxc2-zEjRgwyK0KBamEbrCTclEGR5vxq6wZOxLx2boIcjg/s200/Fabric+scissors.jpg" border="0" /></span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 113px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 128px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5562435465827204354" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGNRK4MrxqiMgHeGuk9T-vJVpFx79rvbBKYR_fbGl8ea9CLrxLOMjCrCNPpdZuuyTXGJAl6uXtEN1umHwmQLC_IQHw-fUe8_Ck_dIEwrOWie9L2yNijNTE1KoK39caNplZuFjKdQ/s200/Fabric+xprd18849a_t.jpg" border="0" /><br /><br /><br />When I was a child, my mother, Ieula Ann Dick Baird, not only cooked all the food I ate but made all the clothes I wore. I have written about her "cooking from scratch " and about sewing in the 1930's.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">As I have told in other stories, the Boll Weevil destruction of the cotton plant, the major money crop for Southern farmers, added to the general struggle to survive in the South continuing from the Civil War until after World War II.<br /><br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">My father, in failing health, made the difficult decision to give up farming, to take a job in a nearby textile factory and move his family from the farm to town. He died when I was nine.<br /></span></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">I started to school in Porterdale Georgia, a Bibb manufacturing textile town about 40 miles Southeast of Atlanta in 1929.<br /></span></strong><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">At age 10, I was thrilled to become a member of the Girl Reserves! The Girl Reserves, a forerunner to Girl Scouts, was one of the efforts of Bibb Manufacturing Company to benefit it's employee's families.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The Girl Reserves provided many "firsts" for me. The first time I saw the Atlantic Ocean was on one of the annual trips with the Girl Reserves. The first train trip! The first time I stayed in a hotel! The first time I was given "spending money!" </span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">The Girl Reserves were making a journey by train from Porterdale Georgia all the way down to Savannah! </span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">My hard working , widowed mother gave me one whole dollar to spend for the week. I came home with presents for everyone in the family and sometimes had money left! I do not remember what I bought for my siblings, but I always bought four yards of cloth for a dress (at ten cents a yard) as a gift to my mother. There was no sales tax in those days so I had sixty cents left after buying Mama a present.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Mama always acted so pleased to get the cloth, it took me years to realize that yard goods were not the nicest present one could possibly buy for a woman. I remember when Charles and I were first married, I would always buy 4 yards of dress material for his mother when a gift was in order.</span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">It took a few years for me to realize that cloth was not a suitable gift for every woman. Every woman did not sew. My mother-in-law did not sew. </span></strong><br /><br /><strong></strong><strong></strong><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">Mama also made use of washed and bleached flour sacks to make clothes, as did many of the women in our neighborhood. These bags were cut and sewn into undergarments, slips and panties. <br /><br />Flour was sometimes sold in patterned cloth bags as were feed sacks. These bags (especially the larger feed bags) were made into dresses and blouses. </span></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:130%;">In my earliest memory people bought flour in 25 and 50 pound bags and often made bread two or three times a day. My mother made 40 biscuits every morning for years for her family which included 5 boys. She also made cornbread and/or biscuits for the late afternoon meal, called "dinner." So these empty cloth bags were put into use for needed clothing.</span></strong>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1142945207387982942012-07-26T07:28:00.000-04:002012-07-26T20:18:23.379-04:00Random Thoughts about Courtship in The 1930"s<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_reiQOJZkiYrZCmK54OVyGBgPHON1eAnkglwQktVKlEQDwSGj-g3pjSiYIqckfxnxcvBxgtmBxAcduYVrMIDJF9b-gUZbVAu6ihS0oFCzmSTGBpEa0sePwgvm6kaCx3bJlqw/s1600-h/CharlesShaw_age18.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>Random Thoughts about Courtship in The 1930"s</strong></span><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; FLOAT: left; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238249798053632434" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT_reiQOJZkiYrZCmK54OVyGBgPHON1eAnkglwQktVKlEQDwSGj-g3pjSiYIqckfxnxcvBxgtmBxAcduYVrMIDJF9b-gUZbVAu6ihS0oFCzmSTGBpEa0sePwgvm6kaCx3bJlqw/s200/CharlesShaw_age18.jpg" border="0" /></a> <img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; FLOAT: right; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5238248910444079538" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLykzqBwD5rNtYjPb6q4gZ578GFEINOi4Pi4VTHRxCxmPXviPzApf4CcgOxznimDRRnTzJCZ3g4g321zc2F9TI6DYzJXfkc-h5Q5p9nrKmE-nAYBFDC6sll1WdSf_ipoa8JTg/s200/RuthBaird_9thgradegraduation_2.jpg" border="0" />. <strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">What do you think about the quote, "the Poet looks at the world like a man looks at a woman" ? One man responded to this quote in the "Word A Day" column by saying "Does that mean poets are afraid of the world?"<br /><br />One day, when the first of our five daughters was a teenager, my husband watched the smiles and excitement as she talked on the phone with a young male school friend. He remarked, "I wish I had known when I was a teen that girls were waiting at the phone for boys to call."<br /><br />When he was a kid, he told me, he thought he had to persuade girls to go out with him. He said he had no idea girls were waiting close by the phone for boys to call.<br />I am told that these days girls do not wait by the phone but initiate the calls themselves. They tell me further, boys do not call a girl that does not call them first. Does this mean males are afraid of females?<br /><br />Recently I wrote a post about a time when my mother was a fatherless child in the stricken South during reconstruction after The Civil War. Before the South recovered from the terrible destruction of war, it was also faced with the Boll Weevil's destruction of cotton fields at a time when cotton was a major money crop in the South. Then the Great Depression.<br /><br />But men and women loved and respected one another. Life seemed good in our little corner of the world in spite of all the deprivation. The Christian gospel of Grace brought the beauty of much "graciousness" into our community. The Christian gospel preached by Methodist Circuit Riders and others, in spite of any flaws they may have had, brought about enough "civility" that we could build civilization in our communities. We worked hard and played hard.<br /><br />I have written about cooking from scratch and how clothes were made at home with long hours of sewing with needle and thread and/or a foot operated Singer sewing machine. No fast foods. No washing machines. Clothes were rubbed by cold chapped hands on a "rub" board and hung to freeze sometimes before they would dry on an outdoor clothes line.<br /><br />But it seems relationships between male and female was not so complicated.<br /><br />My husband, Charles, and I were teen agers in the thirties. I can testify that the thirties were not a time when boys were afraid of girls. If they were afraid, they were brave enough to call anyway. (Incidentally, a call was a knock at the door. There were few telephones in homes in the South. It was during World War II before telephones were in many households.)<br /><br />The teen aged boy I married tells me that when he looked across his school gym and saw me, he said to his buddy nearby, "I am going to ask that girl for a date." A good line? He said he and his friends were taking a look at all the girls on my side of the large gymnasium. The basketball game was in his school's gym playing my school's team. We lived sixteen miles apart.<br /><br />Are some couples just "meant for each other"? It so happened that Charles had relatives living in my town. I was a school friend of his cousin, Clara. Clara and I were not close friends but did visit back and forth occasionally. One day, a close friend and I happened to be visiting with Clara when Charles and his family came for a Sunday afternoon visit.<br /><br />Charles was still a teenager and did not have a car but managed to get back to my town on occasion. It was a time when hitchhiking was common, When Charles was unable to hitch a ride one time he actually walked the 16 miles.<br /><br />His friend, Bill, finally owned a car (with a rumble seat) and the problem was solved. Charles brought Bill down to my town and introduced Bill to my best friend, Julia. Problem again. Bill and Julia got married two months later. So Charles was back to hitching a ride when he could not borrow his Dad's car. Was Julia and Bills marriage so soon after meeting a bad mistake? Not in this case. The marriage lasted over 50 years until Bill's death.<br /><br />One late afternoon, Charles came down to a pound party. What is a pound party? During these "depression years," the hostess would invite all the kids to her home for a party. Everyone who came, pitched in with refreshments by bringing a "pound of cookies" or fruit or part of a cake or whatever they had on hand. The hostess made a large pitcher of something to drink...punch or cool-aid or ice tea. We played games that would be called "mixers" today, These games would have the boys and girls talking to one another. Parents were nearby but basically out of sight.<br /></span></strong><br /><div><center><a href="http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b120/cwillow894/CharlesRuth.jpg"><strong></strong></a><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">It so happened that it was at a pound party when Charles asked me to marry him. One of the games that early evening, had couples to take a walk together. The walk was along a well lighted street with modest frame houses close together and people all along the short walk. Not a great deal of privacy.</span></span><br /></center><span style="color:#000000;"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />While we were walking, he suddenly turned to me and asked, "Will you marry me?" My reply was, "Oh, I am too young to even think about marriage." Charles said, "I do not mean, marriage right now. Could we be engaged? " In retrospect, I suppose it is laughable to think of our innocence and ignorance. But as young we were, we talked quite seriously about what we expected in marriage.<br /><br />As they say, the "the rest is history</span></strong>."</span></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-58596307119874758582012-07-24T04:00:00.001-04:002012-07-23T22:24:16.375-04:00School Days, Dear Old Golden Rule Days.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cMdTLmX9iVYEO_lRSSYHSjtpWHA293_W4ckbSTTcbXq2GQqTPxSvLdWUDqArDKsNcmppALvAnqzqjHi6vDrNVLiPT4t7CKoAMi5DevsQ46rDobEaqd-8chPlW67BYV0fWj8ktQ/s1600-h/Ruth+at+age+4+or+5.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 110px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371075851009765378" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3cMdTLmX9iVYEO_lRSSYHSjtpWHA293_W4ckbSTTcbXq2GQqTPxSvLdWUDqArDKsNcmppALvAnqzqjHi6vDrNVLiPT4t7CKoAMi5DevsQ46rDobEaqd-8chPlW67BYV0fWj8ktQ/s320/Ruth+at+age+4+or+5.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"> </span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>School days in the late 1920 and early 1930 could well be described as “School days, school days, dear old Golden Rule days.”<br /><br />Golden Rule days? Yes. We learned about the "Golden Rule" and other Bible lessons in public school in the 1930's as well as in Sunday School. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>When I was in what was then called, "Grammar School", we "went to chapel" three times a week. We referred to the school auditorium as “the chapel.” No wonder, atheist and agnostics want to rewrite American history!<br /><br />In chapel we sang church hymns and patriotic songs. We stood to place our hands over our hearts and pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. We prayed the Lord's Prayer. We memorized whole chapters of scripture and repeated them in unison. </strong><br /><strong></strong><br /><strong>Some of Bible readings I learned in school included, Psalm 1, Psalm 23, Psalm 24 and Psalm 100. We memorized and repeated in unison, I Cor. 13 and Romans 12 as well as the Matthew and Luke account of the birth of Jesus.</strong><br /></span></span><strong><br /><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">In 1930 I stood on the stage in Chapel and told a Bible story. In my mind’s eye, I see myself as a seven-year-old, walking up the steps to the stage on the left of the large school auditorium. I remember beginning the story by saying in rote fashion, “Once there was a sick man. He was so sick he could not walk. He was so sick he could not sit up. But he had four friends who took him to Jesus</span></strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">.”<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>I do not know why I remember so clearly walking up the steps to the stage and the words of the beginning of the story. The rest of my recitation is foggy. It is a familiar Bible story found both in Luke 5:18-25 and Mark 2:1-12.<br /><br />Mark and Luke tell us the paralyzed man had four friends who took him on a mat where he lay to the place where Jesus was teaching. When they could not get into the house because of huge crowds surrounding Jesus, these four friends carried the crippled man up on the roof of the house, pried off enough of the tiles to let their friend down through the ceiling. Bible scholars tell us this did not damage the roof on the house. They placed their paralyzed friend on his mat at the feet of Jesus.<br /></strong><br /><strong>J</strong></span></span><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#000000;"><strong>esus told the sick man to “stand up, take up your bed and go home.” The man got up, picked up his mat and walked away praising God<br /></strong><strong></strong><strong></strong></span></span><br /><br /><div align="left"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGes_lgB12drlJk_p3ZIHqGHM5z0H5yzzQUvhctvwGsvpokS6epvSji_jRE4We45KGEgkikS3A8QJI2UZcvEZQBUJ9xDpi1SMtYLgfgqyGgZ9owF5ZWaruG8ZbjjprRZG2vN_/s1600-h/image5.jpg"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; FLOAT: left; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5247113696364601554" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGGes_lgB12drlJk_p3ZIHqGHM5z0H5yzzQUvhctvwGsvpokS6epvSji_jRE4We45KGEgkikS3A8QJI2UZcvEZQBUJ9xDpi1SMtYLgfgqyGgZ9owF5ZWaruG8ZbjjprRZG2vN_/s200/image5.jpg" border="0" /></span></strong></a><strong><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;">The large school auditorium floor slanted down toward the stage and had theater style individual seats that lifted up so we could pass by. The floor of the auditorium was oiled clean and smelled of polish.</span></strong><br /></div><br /><div align="left"><strong><span style="font-size:130%;"><span style="color:#000000;">We walked in long lines to chapel with each class sitting together. Then standing to sing and participate in all the educational, patriotic, moral and Christian chapel</span> activities .</span></strong></div>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-27430116128999155022012-07-23T16:16:00.000-04:002012-07-23T16:22:02.155-04:00Thirteen Things You Do Not Know About Me.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-0KjWW7jVcRfwxNzb-uE56Zfb3N7Qx4m2JuffutETtN_5TfzzXxmvtnDnCTp-LxPQdC9hI4ZpC7AgUVv8KtwSDOnbmmW9lWxZKz3W4-vcXa3WEgT1ZgN2buWgDoH54tmgeT-KA/s1600/Ruth+at+50.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 173px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 200px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5478936673170646418" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0-0KjWW7jVcRfwxNzb-uE56Zfb3N7Qx4m2JuffutETtN_5TfzzXxmvtnDnCTp-LxPQdC9hI4ZpC7AgUVv8KtwSDOnbmmW9lWxZKz3W4-vcXa3WEgT1ZgN2buWgDoH54tmgeT-KA/s200/Ruth+at+50.jpg" border="0" /></strong></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong> Thirteen Things You May not Know, nor Want to Know about Me?<br /><br />My niece Jane Lathem of Cozy Reader fame wrote “Thirteen Things You May Not Know About Me.” I was challenged to answer the same questions.<br /><br />Many of the 13 things on Jane's list apply also to me. How about you? Are they "relative" things or simply human attributes?<br /><br />1. You may not know that I was afraid of the dark as a child.<br />I still do not like to sleep in complete darkness. As far as I know there were no “nightlights” in the 30’s but a small kitchen light burned all night at our home. My mother said that before electricity she always burned a lamp with the wick turned low at night. She started that, Mama told me, when she had small babies that required feedings and diaper changes in the night.<br /><br />2. As a child I was painfully shy.<br />I am still an introvert but I finally overcome shyness by seeing it as “self-consciousness," the emphasis being on “self," thus related to selfishness and sinfulness. “Sin” can be defined as anything that hurts or damages a person and thus something one needs to dismiss from ones life.<br /><br />3. I like to write. Did I mention that I am also a philosopher, or a person given to philosophizing? Also I have liked to write and have written "poems" since early childhood.<br /><br />4. I agree with Jane. </strong></span><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>I have never eaten sushi!<br /><br />5. Siblings? The siblings nearest my age were three brothers. My youngest brother was five years older than I so he played mostly with our brothers. So I, as the youngest daughter and the youngest child of nine, was virtually raised like an only child. Translation: SPOILED!!<br /><br /></strong></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSU9M2V-3P2NAnaZARsUFNQVqvbvB98Gl6IYupRkw22X8XMu21JFQtewHFEybE-S5nirEXJYZlx6a9Zhk0Mt4-5t7XFO-Ho-5keGjCVPmq55JPAuKB4bnuUB9Q_XPGBdmopA6Hg/s1600/Guy+Sharpe.jpg"><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 150px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5405676699739438322" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghSU9M2V-3P2NAnaZARsUFNQVqvbvB98Gl6IYupRkw22X8XMu21JFQtewHFEybE-S5nirEXJYZlx6a9Zhk0Mt4-5t7XFO-Ho-5keGjCVPmq55JPAuKB4bnuUB9Q_XPGBdmopA6Hg/s200/Guy+Sharpe.jpg" border="0" /></strong></span></a><span style="font-size:130%;color:#000000;"><strong>6. Having dinner with A celebrity? I have never met nor had dinner with Jeff Foxworthy as did Jane! But I did have dinner and a friendship with Guy Sharpe!Guy was recently voted into the Georgia Hall of Fame . I found the photo of Guy with his dog in the article about the Hall of Fame awards)<br />Guy was music director and choir leader at Park Street United Methodist Church. He and his wife Virginia were both talented soloist and in church with us the four years we were at Park Street (1975-1979). Guy came over to College Park and sang a solo at the Funeral Service for Charles in 1986. Guy Sharpe, as all Georgians know, was a well known and popular Atlanta Weatherman television personality! Guy was, in fact, offered the opportunity to go national as a TV Weatherman, while we were with him at Park Street. But he chose to stay in Atlanta.<br /><br />7. I have never appeared on a national talk show! I <em>was</em> interviewed and seen on an Atlanta Television Station in 1993 during the four years while I was pastor of East Point Avenue United Methodist Church. Does that count?<br /><br />8. Broken bones? Jane broke one little toe. I broke both arms! I fell backward, getting tangled up in a vacuum cleaner cord. This means I spent 6 weeks with one arm in a cast and the other arm in a splint. Fortunately my husband was still living. As one can imagine, when he was home, we became very close! He even went to the bathroom with me and once put curlers in my hair after shampooing it one day. That was a riot but fun!<br /><br />9. My feet grew one size with each of my children? I started out wearing a 6 1/2 and I went to a 7 with my first pregnancy and to a 7 1/2 with the second. Fortunately my feet did not continue growing with every child at that rate. I ended up with seven children and now wear a size 8 ½ shoe.<br /><br />10. None of my OB/GYN doctors had a famous brother like John Birch, as far as I know? I had a different doctor with each of my seven pregancies, not by choice (theirs or mine) but because of several moves.<br /><br />11. Singing voice? My singing voice is good (it is a family thing). But my voice was never as beautiful as Jane’s! One of the most welcome compliment I ever received and I gladly relate here is that the Music Director at Grantville UM Church said my voice range was perfect! She encouraged me to sing solos while I was pastor there but I did not continue. So you have to take my word for it. <smile>I did sing in the Candler Choral in seminary! Does that count?<br /><br />12. Formal Education? I went back to school after my children were grown and earned a Bachelor and a Master's degree after age 60. I aged into the study of Gerontology and was also certified in Gerontology at Georgia State University.<br /><br />13. I am a preacher? The last thing I ever wanted to be or expected to be was a preacher? I have been a Christian believer as far back as I remember and a definite experience and decision at age 11. For a long time I postponed the call to preach that both my husband and I recognized as early as 1975. But I am a woman? It is a problem to some. One awesome day in 1986, the Lord opened a door and pushed me into the pulpit and into Christian leadership. God has enabled me to do and to do well the task He called me to do! I retired only becaue I reached the age of mandatory retirement. I would like to have more invitaions tp preach and have never tired of telling the Story of God's amazing love and grace!"</smile></strong></span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1148480789423856482012-07-23T04:48:00.002-04:002012-07-23T12:56:48.620-04:00Mary Magdalene...<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWRObPFdo6k_6E32jjTq5mGmusucmoYrFdOpvx8ItmugUophO5Mm5Ej4Ngl5Go1uzfnM2oBTStSV2IFveCrv8_k19OQzF5JZZPzuW4setGMfFPwMyLseAMBTB06ItuF_-XPLqAcA/s1600/Jesus+at+the+Garden+tomb.bmp"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 142px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWRObPFdo6k_6E32jjTq5mGmusucmoYrFdOpvx8ItmugUophO5Mm5Ej4Ngl5Go1uzfnM2oBTStSV2IFveCrv8_k19OQzF5JZZPzuW4setGMfFPwMyLseAMBTB06ItuF_-XPLqAcA/s200/Jesus+at+the+Garden+tomb.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5768409920866982914" border="0" /></a><br />This post is in response to a post from Carol of The Median Sib about women pastors.<br /><br />Ann Graham Lotts was invited to speak at a gathering that was predominately men. When she stood up at the podium to speak, several rows of men stood up, turned their chairs around and faced away from her in protest.<br /><br />When Ann went home, she knelt in tears to prayerfully seek the Lord's guidance. She was led to the passage in the Bible when Mary Magdalene was told my the Lord Jesus Himself to "go and tell the disciples..." So Mary Magdalene was the first evangelist to tell the Good News of the resurrection.<br /><br />Below is an article in this months, <b><i>Today's Christian Woman</i></b>. Basically the article is to address the current interest in the <b><i>Da Vinci Code</i></b> fictional movie that has mixed truth with fiction in such a way as to jump on the band wagon of a political stance seeking to diminish the influence of the Christian world view. It was written by Liz Curtis Higgs and entitled, "<i><b>Mary Magdalene; Meet the real friend and follower of Jesus."<br /></b></i><br />Was Mary Magdalene the wife of Jesus, the mother of his children, or the Holy Grail, as The Da Vinci Code claims? Or the repentant prostitute of Jesus Christ Superstar, throwing herself at the Master's feet and singing, "I Don't Know How to Love Him"?<br /><br />According to Scripture, Mary Magdalene was none of the above. And more than the above.<br /><br />We find her story in all four gospels, where she's mentioned by name 14 times. This is significant, since many women of the Bible are nameless.<br /><br />Here's her eye-opening, one-line biography: "When Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons" (Mark 16:9). Possessed by Satan, she was repossessed by Christ, then privileged to witness his resurrection. Oh! She has a story, all right—but not a scandalous one.<br /><br /><b><i>There are seven Marys in the New Testament</i></b>: Mary, the mother of Jesus; Mary Magdalene; Clopas's wife; Mary of Bethany; John Mark's mother; a diligent worker; and James and Joses' mother, who's also was called "the other Mary."<br /><br />Two thousand years of art and literature haven't helped Mary Magdalene's cause. She often is depicted as the unnamed prostitute who washed Jesus' feet with her tears (Luke 7:37-50), or the woman caught in adultery (John 8:2-11), or as Lazarus' sister—who was from Bethany, not Magdala and as the woman who anointed the Lord's head with costly perfume (Mark 14:3-9, John 11:2). Fascinating women, all—but not Mary Magdalene.<br /><br />The real Mary Magdalene led the faithful sisters in financing the Lord's work "out of their own means" (Luke 8:3) and following Jesus wherever he went.<br /><br />For her devotion alone, Mary Magdalene serves as a fine role model for twenty-first-century believers. Follow her to the tomb on Easter morning, and you'll learn the greatest lesson Mary Magdalene has to offer.<br /><br />When Mary Magdalene "saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance" (John 20:1), and Jesus told her to "go and tell", she hurried to Jerusalem and convinced Peter and John to see the empty tomb. I might have started with a lesser disciple, but this leader among women went right to the top. Clearly they respected her, because they wasted no time running back with her.<br /><br />Finding it empty, the two disciples returned to their homes, while Mary remained weeping outside the tomb, unwilling to abandon her Lord. Such faithfulness was soon rewarded. Two angels in white appeared, followed by a stranger whom she mistook for a gardener, until the moment he spoke her name: "Mary" (John 20:16).<br /><br />Her response was immediate. And it was not "Honey" but "Rabboni!" The meaning is "my great teacher," and the nature of their relationship is clear: teacher and student, leader and follower, but not husband and wife.<br /><br />Before Jesus returned to his heavenly home, he had an assignment for Mary Magdalene: "Go … to my brothers and tell them, 'I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God' " (John 20:17). Did she ever! With her own eyes, she'd seen him. With her own ears, she'd heard him. With her own hands, she'd touched him. And so she proclaimed, "I have seen the Lord!" (John 20:18). A personal, undeniable testimony, setting the example for us all.<br /><br />Two thousand years ago Mary Magdalene heeded the command of Jesus to go and tell. May we follow in her footsteps, seeing the Christ with new eyes, then declaring his glorious truth to a world longing for answers.<br /><br />Digging Deeper<br /><br />1. According to Luke 8:1-3, what facts do we know about Mary Magdalene and her relationship with Jesus?<br /><br />2. Following Christ can and will cost us everything, as Matthew 10:37-39 testifies. How do those verses exemplify Mary Magdalene's life? In what ways might she serve as a role model for you?<br /><br />3. Like Mary Magdalene, we are called to go and tell the world that Jesus is alive. Read the following verses—Acts 20:24, Galatians 1:10-12, and 1 Thessalonians 2:8—then offer a prayer of commitment to share that Good News.Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-62780105350324316992012-07-22T15:30:00.003-04:002012-07-22T22:29:20.221-04:00Post Script about Women in Ministry.<span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;">POST SCRIPT- (1)<br /> People have asked me what my parents would think of me as a pastor. My father, was a Christian man who died when I was 9. The memory of him on his death bed for the last year of his life had a profound and positive influence on me in wanting to be a Christian. I have no idea what he thought about Christian women's place in the church. But as an intelligent and thoughtful man, who read the Bible and quoted whole chapters of Scripture on his deathbed, He would know that when Jesus said, “whosoever,” He included women.<br /><br />My mother, also a faithful Christian, although not as active in the local church as was my father, was hard working and intelligent. She raised me and loved me and was devoted to me and to all her children. Mama died when I was in my fifties. I think Mama might have been somewhat uncomfortable with the thought of me as a preacher. Mama tended to be critical of women in what she considered the limelight in any way. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;">But Mama was not one to take Bible verses out of context or easily influenced by public opinions. She would have been OK with it, but certainly not "proud" of it. As a matter of fact, I have never been “proud” of my calling.<br /><br />I have learned that a woman preacher, generally speaking, has to be twice as committed and work twice as hard to get half the credit as male pastor with the same dedication, talent, intelligence and energy. I gave up more than a little popularity when I answered the call to preach. I have learned more than I wanted to know about forgiveness.<br /><br />If I may editorialize, I think that where my parents are now (where the scales of tradition and pre-conceived ideas are removed from their eyes -- and where the Bible is understood in the original language and all things are clear) they would know that when Jesus said, "Whosoever will", our Lord had no subordinate list for women.<br /><br />As far as women preachers were concerned, Mama did speak very highly of Mrs. Carlock, (Elizabeth Harris's mother) who was a preacher and the wife of their pastor. She was said to be a “better preacher” than her husband, and Mama thought they both were good ministers of the Gospel.<br /><br />I remember also Mama relating to me about a Missionary speaker commenting of the Corinthian passage that says, "Let your women keep silent in church ...If they would learn, let them ask their husbands at home." Mama said that the missionary (a very dedicated male Christian missionary doctor) said that in Paul's day, women (like children) were not educated and sometimes asked questions out loud in church. According to this missionary, the women in his mission field did the same. They might yell out to their husbands, "John, what did he mean?" This missionary said he often felt like Paul at these kinds of interruptions: "keep your women silent, if they would learn anything, let them ask at home -- or at least at break time!" and let everything be done decently and in order." (I Corinthians. 14:40.)<br /><br />In other words, the missionary said, this passage did not mean that women had to keep silent. See Galations 3:28, Luke 8:1-3; Acts 2:17-18; and Romans 16:1 for other relevant passages. If women kept silent in church, silent would also mean not sing, teach, speak, testify, preach or even say hello, whisper "no" to a noisy child or get down on her knees and pray, “God be merciful to me, a sinner.”<br /><br />That often quote passage simply meant to teach your women (as you teach your children) order and manners in private for public behavior so they will not interrupt the meetings.<br /><br />Galatians 3:28 settles the question! “There is no longer Jew nor Gentile, there is no longer slave nor free, there is no longer male nor female; for we are all one in Christ Jesus.”<br /><br />Of course, when Mama related this missionary talk to me, I had no personal interest in women preaching. It was certainly the last thing in the world this girl would ever expect to do. I am still amazed that the Lord would call me to preach. I am even more amazed that I ever found the grace and mercy to answer such a call. I am in awe as well as joy that the miracle of the Lord’s blessings has been and continues to be on such a call. I am told that one man at Trinity said, "I never believed women should preach until I heard Ruth Shaw." Of course, the fact that the Lord has blessed my preaching is not the issue but a correct understanding of the Biblical teaching.<br /><br />It was interesting to me what someone told me what my brother, Tom, said when he heard I was preaching. Tom remarked that it was an answer to Papa's prayers, for Papa was said to have prayed that the Lord would call one of his sons to become a preacher. "Imagine", Tom said, "the preacher in the family turned out to be his baby daughter!"<br /><br />I think my children already know this, but perhaps a personal word about women in ministry would be appropriate for posterity. It has been a part of my story since 1954 (when wives stood with their husbands when they were ordained) but more directly (the preaching part) since December 1986. </span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;"></span></span><br /><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-size:130%;">I have no personal agenda in preaching. I am in it because of a compelling call from the Lord. Certainly not Mama called nor self called nor "husband called" even though Charles recognized my called to preach about the same time I did. He recommended me for license to preach in 1976.<br /><br />While I do not understand the hostility and arrogance of some people who preach against "women preaching." I am more in harmony with those who oppose my ordination out of their misunderstanding of the Scripture and their interpretation of God's will than with those who applaud me out of loyalty to a humanistic social agenda.<br />Ordination is not a women's rights issue. Ordination is not a right to which any of us are entitled. It is an unmerited call and an unexpected gift of the Lord's mercy. It is not a call to authority but of servant hood.<br /><br />Note.<br /> 1.</span></span><span style="font-size:100%;"><strong><em><strong> This is a Post Script to a piece I wrote in 2004 about what the Bible has to say about Women as Preachers, rather than what "tradition" has said or what has been preached about women's place in the church.</strong><strong></strong><strong> It was written in reply t0 a man who identified himself as a preacher. He wrote a letter to the Rome News-Tribune,(published May 19, 2004) , stating that women preachers violated the clear teachings of Scripture and were a "cancer" on the church. He did not give any scripture references on this subject? I wrote "Women Preachers" also published in the Rome News-Tribune and on my Ruthlace Web Log.<br /></strong></em></strong></span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1129081339941720062012-07-20T01:18:00.000-04:002012-09-28T17:46:21.686-04:00Wit's End Corner<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLd5dOZ8CzYvs5LbZPZbFYpxBN3q5mdVXUPVqEJclsTHR_zfS_fkuzNdcGvYA_D6T3a9wuE20WoCsMDgjZD0yJATKdKS1Wury91EBSbNVoqCBESC9uMdkeFqAQUwhI6f_26kOX/s1600-h/Painting+of+he+Thinker.gif"><b><span style="font-size: 130%;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5320498480614527970" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLd5dOZ8CzYvs5LbZPZbFYpxBN3q5mdVXUPVqEJclsTHR_zfS_fkuzNdcGvYA_D6T3a9wuE20WoCsMDgjZD0yJATKdKS1Wury91EBSbNVoqCBESC9uMdkeFqAQUwhI6f_26kOX/s320/Painting+of+he+Thinker.gif" style="cursor: hand; float: right; height: 222px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; width: 175px;" /></span></b></a><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;">My mother was still in her forties when my father died after being bedridden for a year. My father was a man of strong faith and knew the heartache and possible hardships his wife and children would have to endure after his death.<br /><br />A few days before Papa died, he gave my mother a poem entitled "Wit's End Corner" he had cut out of a monthly magazine and gave it to Mama and told her to keep it to read. Both my parents were readers. As tight as money was during the depression, they continued to subscribe to publications.<br /><br />I thought about the poem sometime ago when reading a story about a musician who played keyboard and sang at a Starbucks shop near Times Square in New York.<br /><br />It was a cold day so a large group had crowded inside the shop to enjoy the warmth and the music. It was a fun time and was beginning to be a profitable day for the musician as his basket for tips kept piling up.<br /><br />The music was mostly from the 40s to the 90s with a few original tunes thrown in. During an emotional rendition of the classic, "If You Don't Know Me by Now," the musician noticed a lady sitting nearby singing along with him and swaying to the beat.<br /><br />After the tune was over, she walked over and said, "I apologize for singing along on that song. Did it bother you?" "No," the musician told her. "We love it when the audience joins in!" Then he added, "Would you like to sing up front on the next selection?" She accepted his invitation. She was told to choose a song and asked,"What are you in the mood to sing?"<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOyG6apqqtiEGzapddMBz3-yaKicIz-U4EDROTWR5YGqvdOZqW0ZgJyoAqUWeRtonuiwUQc7HzlV_lM48dNVHWYa-7N-z3ESqng_IvimEcmarVdKuWxQH8Twosq3F3ulNVBWXnQw/s1600-h/Sparrow.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5448305502087218946" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOyG6apqqtiEGzapddMBz3-yaKicIz-U4EDROTWR5YGqvdOZqW0ZgJyoAqUWeRtonuiwUQc7HzlV_lM48dNVHWYa-7N-z3ESqng_IvimEcmarVdKuWxQH8Twosq3F3ulNVBWXnQw/s320/Sparrow.jpg" style="float: left; height: 307px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 320px;" /></a></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"> Finally she asked, "do you know any hymns?" He replied, Hymns sure...I cut my teeth on hymns.. Before i was born, i was going to church."<br /><br />He said, "How about 'His Eye is on The Sparrow.'" The lady was silent a for a minute and then said, "OK, lets do 'His Eye is on The Sparrow."</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br style="font-weight: bold;" /></span><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-weight: bold;"><br />She slowly put her purse down, straightened her jacket and faced the center of the shop and began to sing : " Why should I be discouraged?<br />Why should the shadows come? "<br /><br />The audience of coffee drinkers were transfixed. Even the noises of the cappuccino machine ceased as the employees stopped to listen. The song rose to a conclusion:<br />"I sing because I'm happy,</span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br style="font-weight: bold;" /></span><br />
<div style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-weight: bold;">
<span style="font-size: 130%;">I sing because I'm free.<br />His eye is on the sparrow<br />And he watches over me. "<br /><br />The applause crescended to a roar and continued while the musician embraced his new friend and told her she had "made his day."<br /><br />She told him, "Well, it's funny that you picked that particular hymn. " "Why is that?" , he asked. "Well ,"she hesitated again, "that was my daughter's favorite song". "She died at age 16 with a brain tumor two days ago."<br /><br />She smiled through tear filled eyes as the musician hugged her. She said, "I am going to be okay. I'm just got to keep trusting the Lord and singing God's song." She picked up her bag, gave the musicain her card, and then she was gone.<br /><br />My mother sang "His Eye Is On the Sparrow" and other hymns in the kitchen as she prepared meals and cleaned the house. Her loud and happy singing in the kitchen sometimes embarrassed me as a teen ager when I would have friends over. Today it is one of my happier memories.<br /><br />The man ended his story by saying, "When you get to your wit's end, you'll find God lives there."<br />Those were the words my Father told Mama. When she died at age 88, the hand written poem , was still in her box of keepsakes. The poem is in her handwriting and now in my keepsakes. She must have copied from a dog-eyed printed copy frm the church newspaper.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><br style="font-weight: bold;" /></span>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Wit's End Corner</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Friend with troubled brow?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Are you thinking of what is before you,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">And all you are bearing now?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Does all the world seem against you,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">And you in the battle alone?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Remember-at "Wit's End Corner"</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Is just where God's power is shown.</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Blinded with wearying pain,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Feeling you cannot endure it,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">You cannot bear the strain,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Bruised through the constant suffering,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Dizzy, and dazed, and numb?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Remember-at "Wit's End Corner"</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Is where Jesus loves to come.</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner"?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Your work before you spread,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">A mountain of tasks unfinished,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">And pressing on heart and head,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Longing for strength to do it,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Stretching out trembling hands?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Remember--at "Wit's End Corner"</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">The Burden-bearer stands.</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Are you standing at "Wit's End Corner"?</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Then you're just in the very spot</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">To learn the wondrous resources</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Of Him who faileth not:</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">No doubt to a brighter pathway</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Your footsteps will soon be moved,</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">But only at "Wit's End Corner"</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;">Is the "God who is able" proved.</span><span style="font-size: 100%; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: 130%;"><br style="font-weight: bold;" /></span><span style="font-size: small;">Poem by Antoinette Wilson</span></blockquote>
Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-6825491905491969942012-07-15T13:27:00.001-04:002012-07-16T14:26:34.192-04:00Letter to President Obama<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk_-S9Ga0kBxTUIlYxikBwP6EajfG416kvlFd7B7bsq4KrFPsH4wbgjwS4mGEq-_QxhPoPs6G8sjhgexO0eeU6ojOuxGtWfoe1Lm1qunnNwP913FdyMK0m5IqdCpAX35e1eIm_3g/s1600-h/Griffin+column_default.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 182px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 228px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5346946046155152642" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk_-S9Ga0kBxTUIlYxikBwP6EajfG416kvlFd7B7bsq4KrFPsH4wbgjwS4mGEq-_QxhPoPs6G8sjhgexO0eeU6ojOuxGtWfoe1Lm1qunnNwP913FdyMK0m5IqdCpAX35e1eIm_3g/s400/Griffin+column_default.jpg" border="0" /></a> Below is an editorial that appeared in the Griffin , Ga newspaper,written by Pastor Herb Flanders of the United Methodist Church. I think the criticism of President Obama, by many who voted for him and were happy to see the first African American as president goes back to his criticism of America when overseas. It said more about him and his many Anti-American friends that it does about America!<br /><br /><strong>Dear President Obama,<br /><br />As I gather the Sunday before Memorial Day to worship with two United Methodist congregations I pastor in Griffin , Ga , I'll think about some of your recent comments.<br /><br />I'll be thinking of what you told a crowd of about 2,000 in Strasbourg , Germany , as you spoke of our nation's views of Europe - "Instead of celebrating your dynamic union and seeking to partner with you to meet common challenges, there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive."<br /><br />The gray, balding heads on the people who worship with me attest to their years of toil and labor on this Earth. They are, as Jesus said, the 'salt of the Earth." They are grandmamas and granddaddies, blue collar folks who worked hard to build a community and raise families, to give to others when they had precious little for themselves. They continue to do these things today.<br /><br />Salt of the Earth they are and heroes to boot. When this nation called they answered with a resounding 'yes' and went where Uncle Sam asked them. A couple of months ago, we laid John Busbin to rest.<br /><br />Like you, he visited Europe on behalf of the U..S. He beat you there by 65 years and spent his time marking and clearing mine fields, not giving speeches. Rather than being arrogant, dismissive or derisive, John partnered with the French and others to meet a common challenge. Others did the same, sailing on ships, slogging through mud or soaring through the air because evil and tyranny were well on their way to taking over the world.<br /><br />I wish you'd come May 24th and sit with these folks as we sing America the Beautiful and America . I'd like it if you could sit up front with me when Maxine Bunn and Jerry Turner do a medley of military service Hymns and the veterans or spouses of deceased veterans stand when their branch's hymn is played. They grab hold of the pew in front of them to pull themselves to their feet. I know I'm in the company of giants.<br /><br />I'd love for you to meet Janie Worthy and understand those tears that still glisten on her cheeks each Memorial Day Sunday.<br /><br />Janie married John Pershing Botkin in August 1943. Their daughter Gail was born Aug. 10, 1944, three or four months after John shipped out to Europe . Janie, 19, went to St. Mary's , Ohio to stay with her in-laws after Gail was born. One Sunday afternoon in early December, farm families began to call each other as the postmaster's Model A made its way down the country roads. They knew that car carried news that would shatter a family and were trying to figure out where he was headed. He stopped in front of Janie's in-laws' farmhouse. Her daddy-in-law walked out to meet him and learned that John was killed in action Nov. 11, 1944, serving with the Army in Alsace . Cpl. Botkin never saw, held or kissed his little girl. As a father, you can empathize with Janie's salty tears.<br /><br />Perhaps if you could come you'd see why your words hurt so many so much. America may be many things and she certainly isn't perfect, but heroes with whom I share my life have hardly been arrogant, dismissive or derisive of Europe . They've given themselves to save Europe when Europe couldn't save itself.<br /><br />So, Mr. President, get out of Washington for a weekend and take a trip down to Georgia . We'll feed you some barbecue over in Williamson and I'll introduce you to some friends of mine, some everyday giants and ordinary heroes.<br /><br />God bless,<br /><br />Herb Flanders</strong>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16842511.post-1142878804639923752012-07-14T01:16:00.000-04:002012-07-14T10:42:32.740-04:00Seven Rules for Daily Living<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeYprv5wRQTRipt4OKeLaTB_rtoSR9b-Wnw_03mFr4ce8JowJAuWsmyattT92ACiRIPsQPrR4d3Y5Ro1l2Z5cQTVPEKb0dkh2l00t3mihVapGoTsBXhHyzws73aikxvqCQGn7SyQ/s1600/Dahlia+9-12-10.bmp"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 240px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5516227046850987138" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeYprv5wRQTRipt4OKeLaTB_rtoSR9b-Wnw_03mFr4ce8JowJAuWsmyattT92ACiRIPsQPrR4d3Y5Ro1l2Z5cQTVPEKb0dkh2l00t3mihVapGoTsBXhHyzws73aikxvqCQGn7SyQ/s320/Dahlia+9-12-10.bmp" border="0" /></a> 1<span style="font-size:130%;">. Wake Up !!<br />Decide to have a good day. "Today is the day the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it." Psalms 118:24<br /><br />2. Dress Up !!<br />The best way to dress up is to put on a smile. A smile is an inexpensive way to improve your looks. "The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at outward appearance; but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7 </span><br /><span style="font-size:130%;"><br />3. Shut Up!!<br />Say nice things and learn to listen.<br />God gave us two ears and one mouth, so He must have meant for us to do twice as much listening as talking. "He who guards his lips guards his soul." Proverbs 13:3<br /><br /><br />4. Stand Up!!...<br />For what you believe in. Stand for something or you will fall for anything.. "Let us not be weary in doing good; for at the proper time, we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good..."<br />Galatians 6:9-10<br /><br />5. Look Up !!...<br />To the Lord.<br />"I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me."<br />Philippians 4:13<br /><br />6. Reach Up !!...<br />For something higher. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not unto your own understanding.<br />In all your ways, acknowledge Him,<br />and He will direct your path."<br />Proverbs 3:5-6<br /><br />7. Lift Up !!...<br />Your Prayers.<br />"Do not worry about anything; instead PRAY ABOUT<br />EVERYTHING." God answers Knee-Mail.<br />Philippians 4:6<br /></span><span style="font-size:130%;"></span>Ruthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05675143999878806444noreply@blogger.com5