August 8th

 

August 8^th was a big day for me: I married Marleen Sykes at 2 in the afternoon.  My dear wife, Kathy, passed away May 6 last year and, to be honest, I have been alone.  There are only so many reruns of Gunsmoke that I can take.  And, to be honest again, I needed supervision.  Saturday afternoon, we drove to Ellijay, Georgia for a few days’ honeymoon.  Just past East Ellijay, we turned onto a gravel road and soon lost cell service.  The Google map that was loaded went dark, but the Google voice kept talking for the next 7 miles.  As darkness approached, we passed a small stream on the left and saw two gleaming eyes running towards us on the gravel road.  I couldn’t identify the animal until it turned aside: it was a small deer.  This morning, Marleen and I read from Psalm 42 about the deer thirsting for water.  Deer are timid creatures staying in thickets eating grass in hidden meadows.  But thirst drives them out to the water brooks to drink out in the open.  David said in Psalm 42:1&2, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God ,,,”  May we thirst for a relationship with the dear Lord today, is my prayer.

Hand Dug Well

 

Growing up, we had a hand-dug well.  It was four feet in diameter and twenty-five feet deep.  My dad dug it with the help of his two brothers.  Dad dug down about ten feet and installed three concrete well-rings to keep surface water from seeping into the well. Then he narrowed the hole a bit (to keep the Well-rings from sliding further down) and continued digging down.  He made a windless to bring up the loosened dirt and rock in a bucket on the end of a cable.  About fifteen feet down, they encountered a rock shelf.  My dad went to West Virginia where he could get dynamite and brought back several sticks.  Having worked in the coal mines, he knew how to set the charges.  He drilled a hole in the rock, set the charge, and Uncle Gray quickly cranked him up in the bucket.  I remember the feeling of the ground shaking when the stick of dynamite exploded.  After the smoke cleared  and debris settled, dad scooped out the loosened rock and continued down another ten feet.  At twenty-five feet, dad struck an underground stream sufficient to fill the well with several feet of clean cool water.  Hey, Jesus used water to describe Himself in John 4.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well in John 4:13&14, “… Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”  Just as we need physical water to live, we need spiritual water: Jesus Christ in our lives.  Hey, we don’t just add church into our schedule on Sunday because it’s a nice thing to do; we NEED Jesus in our lives!  Jesus is as necessary to us as cool water is on a hot day.  He is our spiritual life!  Hey, is Jesus important to you?  I hope so.  Actually, He is important to you whether you realize it or not.

Radiator Trouble

 

In 1998 I had a Sunday meeting in Ozark, Alabama to share my ministry to Romania.  But I had a radiator leak in the old Buick station wagon that I was driving.  So, I filled up five empty milk jugs with water, loaded up my slide projector and slides, and took off for Alabama.  Things went fine … for a while.  I drove along, seeing a wisp of water vapor every once in a while reminding me that things weren’t as calm as I was pretending them to be.  When the temperature gauge began to climb, I would pull over on the side of the interstate and filled the radiator with water.  When I used the last jug, I pulled off at the next exit to fill the radiator and refill the five jugs with water.  But the stops became more frequent as the leak grew.  After a particularly long stretch of desolate road, I had used the last of the water jugs and it had been some time since I had seen an exit sign.  As the temperature gauge began to rise, I topped a hill and saw an exit.  I killed the engine and was able to coast down the ramp into a little town.  Just across from the first intersection was a radiator shop.  The owner was working that Saturday and agreed to fix the leak.  My old Buick had a solid tin/brass radiator that could be re-soldered.  In one hour, I was on my way with no leak.  What a relief!  As my Granny Whitely used to say, “There’s no shame in being poor; it’s just inconvenient.”  David said in Psalm 37:25, “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.”  I miss those days when I was so foolish and so poor that God had to take care of me.  Well, I miss some parts of those days.  But God has been so good to this old man that I couldn’t begin to thank Him.  Hey, I think I’ll just get on my knees and thank Him again right now.  Won’t you join me?  Let’s thank the dear Lord for His goodness to us over the years.