Do Do Do, Lookin' Out My Back Door #sunset

Our sunset this evening.

The photo doesn't really do it justice. It was quite stunning.

Today was especially lovely for a February.

It graced us with cool, gentle breezes,

bright sunshine and soft puffy clouds.

I made it a day of outside work.

Have a happy weekend folks.

And ...

Funny Friday ~ Affordable Golf Club Act

 Affordable Golf Club Act

        The administration has passed a new law titled: "The Affordable Golf Club Act" declaring that every citizen must purchase a new set of golf clubs, before April 2014.

       

        This law has been passed, because until now, typically only the wealthy or financially responsible have been able to purchase new golf clubs without the assistance of their government.

       

        This new law ensures that every American can now have "affordable" golf clubs of their own, because everyone is equally entitled to new golf clubs. And if you want to keep the golf clubs you already have, you can do that, until April 2014.

       

        These affordable golf clubs will cost from $1,000 to $3,000 each depending on your income level. This does not include taxes, pull cart, electric cart fees, green fees, membership fees, balls, tees, gloves, range finders, storage fees, maintenance, or repair costs.

       

        In order to make sure everyone participates and purchases their affordable golf clubs, the costs of owning golf clubs will increase 50% each year up to 400% by year 2018. This way, wealthy people will pay more for something that other people don't want or can't afford to maintain. People who can't afford or refuse to maintain their golf clubs will be fined. However, children under the age of 26 can use their parents’ golf clubs until they turn 27 at which time they must purchase their own golf clubs.

       

        If you don't want or think you don't need golf clubs, you are still required to buy them. If you refuse to buy a set or make claims that you can't afford them, you will be fined $800 until you purchase a set or face imprisonment.

       

        People living in farming areas, ghettos, inner cities, Wyoming, or areas with no access to golf courses are not exempt. Age, health, prior experience or no experience is not acceptable excuses for not buying, maintaining, and using your golf clubs.

       

        A government review board that doesn't know the difference between a hook and a slice will decide everything. This includes when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your golf clubs along with how many people can ride in your golf cart. The board will also determine if participants are too old or not healthy enough to be able to use their golf clubs.

       

        They will also decide if your golf clubs have outlived their usefulness or if you must purchase specific accessories, like a range finder with slope adjustment or a newer and more expensive set of golf clubs.

       

        Those that can afford memberships at expensive golf country clubs will be required to buy memberships. If you are already a member and you like your membership you can keep your membership. After April 2014, a different country club will be assigned for you to purchase a membership.

       

        Government officials are exempt from this new law as they and their families and some of their friends and a few of their friends can obtain golf clubs at taxpayers expense.

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A Friendly Reminder

It’s time to file your income tax, so pull out the cancelled checks and the shoe box full of receipts and get started.

There is some good news this year.

The government won't tax hen’s teeth and fish hair. 

Aren’t we lucky?

Our chickens are toothless and our fish are bald.

This Day Has Just Flu By

I'm down with a mild 24 hour something ...

or other.

Poor Hubby had it first, now me.

I keep dozing off in front of the computer.

What treatments do you recommend when you have the flu?

Opps, gotta run ... *lol*

Light Of My Life

There are so many things that are a beacon of hope to humanity, lights of our lives, if you will: friends, family, material possesions, memories, etc. God understands this since "... we are dust" [Psalms 103:14] and cannot understand all spiritual things yet. I'm thankful He forgives me of my weaknesses. It's natural to want to cling to what we are familiar with. I have my own self-made comfort zones too. One of them is financial needs.

The meeting with Financial Guy went really well. Better than I expected. I think the dangerous time for us has been averted. Hubby and I prayed before going into the meeting, seeking further guidance from the Holy Spirit who loves us best. The true Light of our lives. Our blessed Savior and He was there. And I can’t tell you how much I appreciate all the prayers of all you dearly, beloved saints. For you are saints. Anyone who believes in Jesus Christ is called a saint. Whenever there is a concern and believing Christians all put their spiritual “shoulders to the wheel”, things get moved. Last night I could feel your love and concern about the meeting. God answers prayer. There was peace, a calm and an understanding which we where lacking before. Thank you so much for adding your "shoulder" to our burden!

The good news made me so lite hearted that it definately called for a ride. Yucky weather be darned. We hopped on the metal steeds and galloped off into the sunset. Well, Ok, it’s too overcast to tell but there will be a sunset. *lol*

 Hubby with his 2013 Honda CB1100.

He said all it lacks is a windshield.

My 2012 Suzuki V-Strom DL650.

The most perfect motorcycle ever! 

(Not that I'm prejudiced or anything.) *lol*

We where having such a good time that even the locals where curious about our rides.

 Hey, get your own wheels guys.
Silly cows. Always trying to horn in. 

Moooving right along.

Something I've done around the house lately is I've added multiple strings of LED Christmas lights. They are very inexpensive (these where only $4 a 100 light string), burn cool, use very little electricity and even though it’s a soft glow, brighten up the place.

There’s a string on each of our two back decks, one in the guest bedroom and one in my office. I think I will also add a string in the carport. Later. I’m too tired to continue any further. Stress takes a lot out of one, doesn't it.

So my hope is that every one is having a funfilled and non-stressful week. Thank you again for all the prayers and words of encouragement. And keep looking up!

Part Three: 11935 Cornelius Street

As I stated in his first post, once weekly I plan to feature a guest writer, my husband. He has been painstakingly writing down the stories of his childhood to share them with his 9 year old niece. I wanted her to know what kind of childhood her beloved Uncle was able to enjoy. While enjoying them myself I thought these are so much fun to read, why not share them? So here are the short missives of his memories of growing up in wilds of Florida during the 1950's and 1960's. They're packed with misadventures, romance, and all the confusing things that can happen in our youth. Even though his hometown of Jacksonville is a big city with over a million residents now, during his childhood it was several small communities surrounded by countryside. 

This is his story.

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11935 Cornelius Street

by Steven R. Hudson

Our house in Center Park, like most Florida homes then, was concrete block with three small bedrooms and one bath. Linoleum covered the floors throughout and the walls were rough textured plaster that "sweated" when the seasons changed. There were no trees in our yard which appeared barren except for the plugs of St. Augustine grass that gave a strange polka dot effect. It rained every afternoon in those times, or it seemed so, and the little plugs of grass sent out their "tentacles" and quickly produced a carpet of green, broken only by patches of white flowered clover. There was a large vacant lot behind the house with an ancient Long-leaf Pine on the lot's east side. We had no air conditioner to counter summer's heat but winter was made bearable by an oil fired space heater. I remember how happy we were to have our own home. Life was good.

I turned six that spring and started first grade at Southside Elementary, a school that is still part of the county school system. I caught school bus # 73

each school day, Mrs. Dent driving. My teacher, Mrs. Grady, told us that we needed to memorize our addresses and telephone numbers and to this day, I still remember them. 11935 Cornelius St. and 724-2426 or RAymond 42426 as the telephone numbers were always proceeded by the name of the exchange back then, R and A being 7 and 2 on the dial, no touchtone either. I enjoyed school, especially the days when we had art class. I loved to draw and my teacher recognized that I had some natural talent as even at that age I drew three dimensional figures and had an understanding of perspective. She told my mother that I should get training but we were poor and that would never happen. I was always given drawing supplies at home however, sometimes I would spend an entire evening drawing, mostly dinosaurs, my favorite.

That same year a family from Chattanooga, Tennessee, moved into the house directly behind ours and across from the vacant lot. Gene and Irma Mealer and their two sons, Ray and Jackie. Gene Mealer was a commercial artist and a good one. Ray and I were the same age and his brother Jackie only one year younger. We became fast friends and would remain so for many years. Our parents became friends also, especially our mothers who, to this day, are still in contact. 

There was a Mexican family, the Lopez's that lived a few houses down. They had a son my age named Roberto but we all called him Robert. I was amazed that he and his siblings could speak another language as easily as they spoke English. Robert had three sisters and three brothers, his oldest sister was already married and his oldest brother was in high school which I thought really cool. I remember his mother being a very kindly woman who loved children and was always inviting the neighborhood kids in for homemade cake and a glass of cold milk.

There were other friends that came and went as families moved in and then moved elsewhere. Many of the names I still recollect, Rick Martin, Bobby Fann, Peanut (I never knew his real name), and Bret and others I can't remember.

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Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Paul's Phraseology

Paul's Phraseology

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Berean Bible Society
Printer Friendly Version

The careful student of the Epistles of Paul soon observes that the Apostle makes many specific statements as to the distinctiveness of his ministry and message. Even apart from this, however, and considering his phraseology alone, we often wonder how anyone could possibly deny that his message was distinct from that which the twelve had proclaimed. Note the following examples:

Rom. 2:16: “In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to MY GOSPEL.”

Rom. 16:25: “Now to Him that is of power to stablish you according to MY GOSPEL, and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”

II Tim. 2:7,8; “Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.

“Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to MY GOSPEL.”

Gal. 1:11: “But I certify you, brethren, that THE GOSPEL WHICH WAS PREACHED OF ME is not after man.”

Gal. 2:2: “And I went up [to Jerusalem] by revelation, and communicated unto them THAT GOSPEL WHICH I PREACH AMONG THE GENTILES, but privately to them which were of reputation, lest by any means I should run, or had run, in vain.”

I Cor. 15:1: “Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you THE GOSPEL WHICH I PREACHED UNTO YOU, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand.”

Add to this the Apostle’s explicit claims as to the distinctive character of his ministry and message and you have irrefutable proof of the fact.

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To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

 

 

A Prayer Request

I have a humble prayer request from my fellow Prayer Warriors today.

I think it's a real priviledge to bring our needs and wants to Him and He actually listens. God always answers prayer. It may not be our way, but it's His way that will be done. But, still, He wants us to talk to Him. All the time! 24-7. And for the Saints (believers) to pray for each other.

Not that this is relevant but we're not rich. Through the years of hard work and savings, we managed to put away a bit so we would have enough to live on and not depend on the public dole. And I'm probably hyperventilating unnecessarily over this subject (not that I would ever do that) [smile] but here goes:

We are in a bit of a financial, well, difficulty, for lack of a better word. Because of our ignorance of "high finance" and bad, or lack of good, advice by our current Financial Guy, our humble annuity is now legally stuck in a 10 year something-or-other contract that was not good financial planning. To make it worse all our eggs are in one basket and our payments have stopped! We need to get out. Now. Desperation is setting in. We have taken the extra precaution of meeting with what we hope will be our new Financial Guy to learn the options. He informed us this current investment is in danger of denuding us financially. Plus we're practically living on air now. My heart almost stopped right there! This is all we have in the whole world!

But there is hope. I believe there's always hope.

Anyway, I have a humble request that my Christian friends please pray that we can get out of this situation unscathed and into another one that is once again profitable. We're not seeking riches just a safer environment for our nest egg. Neither of us can work fulltime anymore due to poor health, not that there's any work available way out here in the country (there's not). And we're trying to be smarter. I'm an Bookkeeper/Accountant, not a financial wizard! I'm sure God has already laid out the plan for our escape. The escape basket is probably already here, all we need to do is get in it so we may be lowered to safety. But I would feel better knowing that my saintly brothers & sisters are also praying for us. Of course, in my heart of hearts I know that God will guide us but I'm still trembling inside.

Also, if anyone else has any prayer requests today, please do share. Even unspoken ones are welcome. Hubby and I will be happy to also pray for others. We're always available for that!

Thank you for listening to the ramble and whine. I also thank you warmly for any prayers. I do appreciate you all very much. And may God bless you in turn. In the name of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, I trust in God's infinite mercy.