A Few Days and Beyond...

   My Pretty Lady and I were married a week ago this morning. A rainy Saturday in January as we began our life together.

   I'm not real sure of the customs of 80 year olds after a late in life wedding with family, but we took a couple of days away and "honeymooned", if I can use that term, at a nice little place north of Chattanooga.

   Several years back, our family used this spot as a family reunion of sorts, but there was a difference this time around, especially in terms of weather.

   After the 2 inches of rain that fell on Saturday, the temperatures dropped and the next couple of days were well below freezing. It was nice to have that fireplace in our little nest.

   All of the rooms in the inn and the outlying cabins had bird names, and this was the Rose Cottage, and our room, one of three in this small building, was the Mockingbird. (Note the sunshine on Sunday, but it was super cold).

   Our excursions into the outside world were few, supper twice, breakfast twice, and once to a church service in the chapel on the property.

   Whitestone does a lot of weddings using this chapel, and, yes, there was one the Sunday afternoon we were there.

   But the sign in the main inn building read "Worship Service in Chapel at 10:30 Sunday", and it seemed to us the right place to be. So we went....

   Eight hardy souls comprised the congregation (including us), the preacher was a doctor in Kingston.

   But it was one of those times "where two or three are gathered" that we did indeed worship. Turned out the pianist could not make it, but the preacher, who we found out later was concert-trained, astounded us with a fantastic rendition of the old hymn Jesus the Very Thought of Thee. It was, we agreed, a very worshipful service.

   The Sunday turned off sunny and bright and cold, but it is easy to see what a restful place is Whitestone. We were glad to enjoy it together on these cold winter days.

   And now we are back in Chattanooga, having spent the first week of our marriage living life together.

   Carolyn took this shot yesterday as we walked together. We agreed, life is good, and we do feel 10 feet tall.

   God has been very good to us, and we are grateful..

A Really Big Day

   Saturday, January 19, 2019

   A Wedding

   I have not been able to write about the momentous event or post any pictures, after all I was a participant and therefore not able to take any shots myself.

   But I snatched a photograph from several that my daughter in law, Karen, sent to me, got it on my computer, into the Photos program, and hopefully into the post.

   Regardless of the complexity of photography, and the trials of working with the computer, the Day that will live on is fixed.

   Carolyn and I tied the knot 1/19/19 in a simple ceremony at Brainerd Baptist Church in Chattanooga, officiated by my good friend and former pastor Larry Williams, and attended by our families.

   Members of Carolyn's family hosted a reception at her home. With all the good food, our two families had some time to bond before scattering to their respective places of abode.

   We are happy campers, and want you who read this to smile along with us.

   You can also pray for us.....this is truly Uncharted Territory.

   But we both feel that God has brought us together for this season in our lives, and we are grateful for His love that has caused ours to flourish in these times.

   Amen

She Turned Around..

   The Mysterious Lady, was not a mystery to a lot of you, but just in case, I got her to turn around.

   She is not so mysterious to me, in fact the name that I give her is "My Pretty Lady", and she is just that, both inside and outside.

   The blessing for me is that she said yes twice, once to a message on Facebook, and once to a proposal from a needy man. We plan to join our lives this coming Saturday January 19, 2019.

   She is indeed "something else", and this is one man who can hardly wait.

   Pray for this union, as two senior adults begin a "rest of our lives" journey into uncharted territory. We look forward to it with great anticipation.

   P.S. some of you wondered where these two shots were taken, the Four-H Center at Rock Eagle, just north of Eatonton, GA.

The Mysterious Lady

 

   There is a mysterious lady in my life. She is not that mysterious to me, but she does have a mysterious hold on my future.

   One day the lady may turn around, and I might be able to see our future in her eyes.

   Stay tuned....

Will America Elect a President Like This Again?

   This week, like millions of other Americans I celebrated the life and accomplishments of the 41st President of the United States.

   I was impressed by what he did in his life. It seemed he was born into a life of governmental service, and he served well in a number of high positions.

   But as I listened to the eulogies over two days in two services, what I came away with were the qualities of a life, lived not for himself, but for others. Traits such as:

     Goodness

     Humility

     Integrity

     Quiet and Unassuming

   And the things he valued in his life:

     God

     Country

     Friendships

     Family

   Now, I know, you don't hear bad things about the deceased at a funeral, but all of these things just seemed to fit what I already knew about this man.

   Then as I reflected on other men who have served in this office, after  "41" and through Trump, the question I keep asking "Could a person with the qualities of "41"ever be electable again. A one-term president, with his term sandwiched between the personalities of Reagan and Clinton, how could he hope to be noticed?

   Sadly, I think we are moving farther away from a quiet and unassuming man with each one.

   And I'm not sure we could turn around...

   But God could..

An Answer..and A Blessing

   There is a page devoted to the church (Sardis P.B.) that I wrote about a few days back.

http://hrcga.org/church/sardis-primitive-baptist/

   A reader, (thanks Jen), pointed me to this and the answer to the question about the holes in the floor in one section of the building.

   Jokingly, as I wrote last time, I mentioned that these holes in the floor could be used for spittoons if the men carried funnels to be able to hit the hole.

   Seems as though that was the use for the holes, but there was probably a big mess around the area after the service.

   After I wrote that first blog on the Sardis church, as I thought about being in that building, a scene popped into my mind, that seemed to tell me our visit to that church was not just about the old ways, but God was still in business there.

   As we looked around the interior that day, my friend quietly said to me, "This place feels Holy to me".

   I have made it a habit, when visiting churches or cathedrals, to take a minute or two sitting in the pews, or benches, or chairs, in what we would now call the sanctuary, to reflect on the many people who, over the years, had sat in those same seats and worshipped.

   What were they like?

   How did the worship?

   How did God work in lives during their days?

   But I did not do that here, until prompted by that comment. I was too busy seeing what was odd or unusual there.

   We sat on the bench and prayed, and, sure enough, found out that it was Holy and that God still honored prayers offered in His Place.

   The moral for me in all this was "Don't get so caught up in your own world and plans, that you do not pause to ask and seek God for His blessing and guidance". In a great European cathedral or even in an 1840s one room sanctuary.

   The church building may be old, and way out of style, but that has no bearing on whether or not God is still there and working in that place.

   It was, and is, a Holy place...

And we were blessed to realize that.

An Inside Question

   A couple of weeks back, we were down in Charlton County, right outside the county seat of Folkston and discovered an old Primitive Baptist Church.

   As are all of the churches of this particular denomination or sect, this plain structure was built out in the woods. The building is wooden, built in the board and batten style of construction. There is no electricity, and the inside is free from any kind of ornamentation.

   I believe the building is from the 1840s and was clean as a whistle on the inside. Pews were free of dust and the floor clean. Whether someone is keeping it up or it is still being used today, I do not know.

   But that is not the reason for this post. There was something strange that I had not seen before in any of the other P.B. churches.

   There seemed to be a special section on the left side facing the pulpit where two boards were hung from the rafters with nails sticking out as if for either a curtain or to hang up clothing worn to church.

   Besides the boards above, and for information sake, no other section of that church had anything like that, there was also a row of holes drilled into the floor boards with a direct connection our the ground beneath the building.

   The rows between the hanging boards had this arrangement of round holes from one end of the bench to the other. I believe 8 holes in all. I found no other pews in the church with this feature.

   So the question begs: What were the holes for? Was this a special section for some folks?

   Unless men brought funnels from home, the round holes were too small to be used for a type of spittoon.

   Anyone know?

   Anyone have a good idea or guess?

   Whatever went through the holes ended up right on the ground.

   This is not a game changer question of some kind, just curiosity on our part.