TROUNCE TEMPTATION!

For worry-warts of the world their besetting temptation is often WORRY! "What if's" invade their minds in subtle ways and not so subtle ways. The recent Collierville shootings not so subtle. Prayer ensued immediately!

"Stewing" over things with outcomes beyond one's control can seep in and catch him off guard. Fear ensues.

Such thoughts require immediate action. 

A battle of the mind....a temptation that must be dealt with before it can reach the heart and begin to permeate every action. 

Thoughts reflecting worry are stepping stones to temptation & need to be taken captive to destroy those worldly arguments. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Focus is needed! Remember Who is sovereign in this world!

Remain............................

F IXED

O N

C HRIST'S

U LTIMATE

S OVEREIGNITY

Thoughts are okay when when brought into obedience of Christ. He's the only One who can trounce our temptations. 

Morgan says, "Our ability to trounce temptation is in direct proportion to our fellowship with Christ. (All To Jesus, Day 269, emphasis mine) 

So when the devil knocks, let Christ open the door!

TEAR WRAPPED SMILES.....VISUALS OF DADDY'S WWII EXPERIENCES

I did not hear many stories from Daddy's time as an Army Staff Sergeant in the Philippines during WWII. I did hear of his tasting fresh filched pineapple from a field in Hawaii where he went first for training. 

I was thrilled to visit WWII Museum in NOLA to see a section devoted to the battles/guerrilla warfare in the Pacific, specifically Leyte where Daddy was stationed.

Daddy told me of slogging through the mud until their boots rotted away.

Years later he told me of coming upon a shack in the jungle that had a rickety upright piano. One of the men in his platoon sat down and played a tune and they all sang together. He told me he "decided then and there that he would have an upright piano in his home one day so that someone could play the piano to bring joy to all who heard." I was that "someone" for several years but i'm not sure I ever got to the point of bringing joy. I saw a picture of such a gathering at the museum movie but was unable to snap a photo. It brought tears to my eyes as I remembered Daddy's story. Tears had me smiling because I now saw those harrowing lessons (across the street at Mrs Bell's) as a privilege.

The Leyte Gulf section gave me "pause" as I recalled the story that Daddy, a quiet, gentle man anyway, held close for many years.

Leading his platoon out on maneuvers, Daddy was shot in the leg by a lone Japanese snipper in a tree. His men returned him to the field hospital & then he was taken to the hospital ship which took him to Goodenough Island in Papua New Guinea to recover from wound and malaria.The next day, "his" men (reconnaissance unit and the man who took his place) went to Mindanao.  All were were ambushed & killed by a squad of Japanese snipers. It was a real time of war... (Ecclesiastes 3:8) as the world had never seen. Years later, Daddy at his Saturday lunches at the VFW, reminisced with two chums who had also been on Goodenough Island during the war. Tag & Frank.

How proud I was when I saw those Philippine maps that changed from almost completely red (Japanese control) in Leyte....

to blue (United States control) during Daddy's time there.

Daddy's final days in service ended in Australia as he qualified for the Points' System* & was shipped home, to CA & on to Indianapolis, where Mother, who had ridden bus from Clarksville, TN was waiting for him. 

The rest is history---that would be me, as I was born the next year.

 

*Points System---points for months of service over seas, combat situations, Purple Heart, and points for each dependent child---His first child, Buddy, was born while Daddy was overseas.

 

OUR HAPPY PLACE.....EARTHSIDE!

Where is it? Don't know yet! It's always a secret and it's always "the best yet!"

Today will be #21! It will be a happy place because all 6 of the "sistas" will be there with COVID vaccination card in hand, masks available as needed and enough snacks to take us "to the moon and back" because that's the way we love each other. (and food) Both bring refreshment to our souls at our Happy Place. (Proverbs 27:9)

IN THE PINK!

The idiom "in the pink" has been a defining term for many seniors  this past year. It was their way of saying, I'm grateful to be alive and well. I am truly in the pink! As Daddy aged, he would say, "I'm grateful for each day the good Lord gives me!"

The chorus of "Alive and Breathing" by Ellie Limebear and Matt Maher 2019 says it well.......and was sung beautifully by Ephie Johnson and the First Evan choir.*

Joy still comes in the morning, hope still walks with the hurting.

If you're still alive and breathing, praise the Lord.

Don't stop dancing and dreaming.

There's still good news worth repeating,

So, lift your hand and keep singing, "Praise the Lord.

May these words put you "in the pink"physically, emotionally & spiritually this rainy, foggy Meditation Monday morning. And for an uplifting treat tonight---glimpse the Harvest Moon before you head to bed.

*  Alive and Breathing--FirstEvan YouTube 9/19/2021

SOUND OF TRADITIONS!

The tradition started in September 1975 as I stopped to get donuts at a shop on Union Avenue. Instead, I bought a glass pumpkin-shaped jar filled with donut holes for our son, Buddy at Methodist Hospital. He had been badly burned---2nd & 3rd degree burns over 18% of his body from a cracked pyrex coffee pot as he collided with a waitress at Buntyn's Restaurant on Southern Ave. It was her first day on the job. Our regular waitresses, Louise and Mary saw it happen and they probably cried more than we did. No ambulance was available so we drove him to the hospital with our gas gauge on E. We made it. That was our first miracle. We were so naive we asked the ER doc if he would have to spend the night. 

After the first week in the hospital we were all ready for a treat. The donuts were the first of many goodies that traveled to the hospital in that pumpkin jar. Once Buddy could leave his isolation to go for cleansing in a PT room, His "tub" was across from Larry Csonka's who winced when he saw Buddy. Csonka was playing for the Memphis Southmen in the WFL & was a big encouragement to our son, commending him for being so brave!

After a couple of weeks we were able to go home. Needless to say, our pumpkin jar rode in the seat beside him. Buddy continued out-patient treatment with LOTS of Silvadene creme (silver sulfadiazine) for healing of burn scars for several more weeks.

But.....our pumpkin jar stayed out until Thanksgiving and has been put out at the same time every year since the accident.....  Sept. '75 started with one child & one pumpkin. Eventually the one pumpkin served our 3 kids +  3 in-laws and 9 grandchildren.

It's been a fun way to keep up with folks who remember the inaugural pumpkin year, especially those with an affinity for candy corn. Even those whose paths we crossed later (Abe) have a way of appearing and leaving with a handful. We usually hear them before we see them. The clanking of the glass lid being removed is our first clue. From the Huff kids and David and Josh F. to Amy G.----who now would not let a single candy corn cross her lips..... to our youngest grandson.

It might not be healthy but its a "sound" of tradition that always makes me smile.

It reminds me of God's goodness at a time when every tender mercy was a treasure. (Psalm 145:9)

A PICTURE THAT SAYS IT ALL!

I needed to add this picture because iPhones are having trouble opening the web version in order to see this.

WORRYWART!

Worrywart is a moniker I wear all too well. Often is a better adverb choice than well, I think. 

As a youngster, in Hoptown I was aware that Mother was seen as a fuss-budget. It sounds like the worry malady is hereditary.

What worry really is---is sin! A besetting sin for some.

For a believer, this "distrust" can begin with our thoughts......which too often can be more emotion-based than truth-based. Distrust = not taking God at His word.

A mind game! Mine, can run from one extreme emotion to to the other. Hot to cold. Fluctuations that override and overule the truth from God's word. 

What's the antidote for worry? Take every thought captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Remember Jesus Christ. (2 Timothy 2:8)

Others need to see you as a testimony to His truth not as a slave to your emotions.

For me, it's not as easy as the picture might suggest. In my life, it's a real struggle that I have to submit daily to the Lord as I choose to disregard my own power and cling to His Presence, never discounting His omnipresence in my life.

Farewell worrywart......until the next time! In His time, no worries.

DOG-GUST

Dog-Gust It's that time of year. Just ask your local, or in my case, resident meteorologist. 

Dog days of summer are here. You don't have to ask anyone if you live in the sultry South. .....You just walk outside. Sweltering comes to mind.

Muggy Meter. Alliterative and worsening just since I took this pic.

Yet, who are we "privileged" folks to complain. We have air conditioning and access to swimming pools, if we don't have our own. We travel to the beach to enjoy ocean breezes. 

We should focus on what we do have in our relationship with Him......that goes way beyond the daily weather fluctuations even in life.

But God---He can still the storms, whether heat waves (Psalm 107:29) or calm floods of despair. (Luke 8:24) 

Think on these things on this sweltering Meditation Monday.

MULLING MORGAN

Some of Robert Morgan's quotes have a way of sticking with me. Many come from his All to Jesus book which was a gift to me from Marje Andrew (2016)----a gift I passed on to my Quad Squad. 12/25/2020

A few recent ones I am mulling.........

• ....an addiction-prone society 7/6
• ....seasoned with salt 7/16
• ....for spiritual health, know what is temporal and what is eternal. 7/20
• ....stress mess....(stress strangles me) 7/24
• ...cacophony of confusion (sounds like my mind) 7/29
• The New is in the Old contained; the Old is in the New explained. (OT & NT) 7/30

Am I mulling alone or do these catch your attention as well?

BIRD TALK

***If viewing this on a mobile device, you will not be able to see the video unless you go to the bottom of the entry and click--View Web version! I think it will be worth the effort.)

A worder, if that's a word, and a birder come together and the fun begins---at least at our house.

Sharing a recent Jeopardy answer (in the form of a question, of course) with hubby started the conversation. A group of crows. What is a murder? He disagreed....probably because a flock of birds is a flock of birds and he can usually identify them specifically by both sight and sound/"call"! 

I on the other hand, enjoy discovering an" unkindness of ravens" and a "murmuration of starlings"....all of which join crows as general blackbirds to me.....and then forgetting soon after until the question appears on a game show.

For our almost 2 year old granddaughter, a bird is a birdie.....

But, she knows the name of turkey and sees a rafter of them....followed by the "mommy."

One thing we, a worker and a birder, agree on completely......God created every bird that flies, each after its own kind. And it was good. (Genesis 1:21) Amen!