Weekend Whirlwind

 Weekend Whirlwind

The weekend flew by. So much to do and so much completed. Friday was the unloading and setting up of the equipment to assemble the Gospel of Romans and St. John into booklets to be sent to missionaries in Ukraine. They will distribute the booklets to the citizens of Ukraine. The Ukrainians only had a sloppy translation of those books or they had to read and rely on a more reliable Russian translation. It was a real dilemma, to read the poorly translated Ukrainian Word of God or to read the Bible in the enemy’s language.

Seedline has been printing and sharing the Word of God in the Ukrainian language for several years now. The missionaries who are in Ukraine have been requesting more copies for the people who are fearful and in need of encouragement. They are seeking hope and the peace in a time of war that only can be found in Jesus to fill the weary soul.

Friday evening we unloaded the heavy cutting/trimmer machine, the boxes of covers, the printed copies of the Scripture, eighteen stapling machines, and the aluminum folding trays. We placed them onto our tables. As soon as the machines were set up, we began to fold the covers so they would be ready to receive the printed texts. Those assembled covers and texts were then passed on to the people who were manning the stapling machines. Once the booklets were stapled, they were stacked in piles of ten and cut by the huge blade in the trimming machine. The finished booklets were then stacked and sealed in boxes ready to be shipped in large metal shipping containers.

We started the project Friday evening at five-thirty as soon as the supplies were unloaded and set up. We worked until eight pm. We folded nearly three of the four boxes of covers only to start again at eight-thirty on Saturday morning. As one table finished their tasks, the workers moved to other tables to stuff, staple, and trim the assembled booklets. By eleven am everything was complete. Machines were reloaded and the boxes of Scripture were placed back into the trailer.

Sunday morning the Seedline director and the new assistant described the depth of the Seedline program and all the components of their ministry. The men also preached a sermon and spoke at Sunday school before heading home to Milford, Ohio.

Sunday evening I attended the Sunday evening services. I was glad to get home and prop up my feet.

Seeds of Hope

 Seeds of Hope

Dan Gill, a dear friend and an ambassador for the Seedline Ministry out of Milford, Ohio has been bringing the equipment and printed Gospel of John and Romans to our church for eight years. It has been a wonderful set of experiences to see him and the church form an exciting bond of friendship. He and his wife have driven a huge trailer filled with the heavy equipment, and supplies to allow our church to assemble the precious Word of God in so many languages to be distributed throughout the world. I’ve mentioned many of the languages before and some are translations that I cannot mention because of the fierce resistance to the Word of God. Satan has set these strongholds, but God has created ways to allow the lost in those countries to hear His voice. Many of these countries once welcomed missionaries, but now will imprison and kill the faithful who desire to share the Gospel or even are found in prayer to God, the Creator of the universe.

Dan shared that he and his wife Kelly has been coming to our church since 2015. The first year our church assembled 5,000 copies of John and Romans. We had problems learning the ins and outs. The fluorescent lighting caused the staplers to malfunction and the assembly project was done in the darkened cafeteria with a scattering of lights. Over the years we moved the assembly line (and staplers) to the gym where Mercury overhead lighting didn’t interfere. This year our total was 12,000 and the numbers in the eight years totaled 243,310 copies in multiple languages.

Form the Seedline research, it is estimated that in the third world countries, seven people will read each copy and one person will understand and be saved and will come to know Christ as their Savior. Our 12,000 copies this year is part of a shipment of 350,000 the will be loaded into shipping containers and sent to missionaries who have requested them. They were bound for Croatia. Dan spoke that Sunday morning on John 17. He shared the entire chapter, comparing it as the extended version of the Lord’s Prayer. He and his wife are coming back this week with their equipment for another assembly project. We’re not sure which language yet, but it is always enjoyable and we know that it helps to spread the Word of God.

Up and Down and All Around

 Up and Down and All Around

Maybe because I have slowed down just a bit from my youth or maybe my artist’s eye is capturing more of the beauty in my surroundings, but I have really been impressed with the sky filled with clouds, sunrises, and sunsets. I’ve looked more closely at the intricate delicate beauty of flowering plants. The rich colors and subtle hues my eye sees doesn’t translate to the camera’s eye. I struggle to describe what I see. It is never as precise even when it becomes a photo on my cell phone. I try to capture and share these landscapes, but wish I could share the intensity of the scene that I see.

My home is located in the mountains of southwestern Pennsylvania. It sports a wide panorama of surrounding tree clad hillsides. This time of years those various trees wear a variety of colors in a patchwork design. These Chestnut Ridge Mountains are but hills compared to the Rockies or the Grand Tetons that I’ve visited, but Pennsylvania remains my home. On three sides of my home I have open views of each sunrise, each sunset, and the many storms that roll from the west in massive thunderheads interspersed with flashes of lightning.

Because I live in a rural area, there is a perfusion of wildflowers and the many flowers planted by my wife Cindy Morrison Beck. One wildflower that was my wife’s favorite flower is the daisy. Fresh, plain, and innocent, its white petals form a tight circle around an egg yolk yellow center. The irises and the snowball bush have bloomed. The blossoms of my apple trees, the black berry, raspberry, and strawberry blossoms all are faded and the fruit is formed and been picked.

If I look, there is always something new for me to see. Have I slowed down enough to take the time to see? Have I gained the wisdom to really look around and interpret what I see? Often when I drive I am surprised with a sudden eye widening view. It stirs my artist heart and I wonder if I could ever capture the sights I was seeing with paint or with camera. Photographs capture only a small part of the things my eyes see. But I try.

Preserving the Past

Preserving the Past

My writing as a blogger didn’t start out that way. I began to write stories about my family to preserve the history of my kinfolk, my life as a kid, and my schooling, Later it evolved into me sharing my time in the Navy, my time in college, and my career as a nurse. Most of the tales were recollections of specific characters, incidents, or happenings. I started out writing every day. That became too burdensome and I had to back off posting three times a week, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I usually dredge a post I’ve written about incidents of the Miner clan for the National Minard, Minor, Miner Group to share with cousins every Thursday.

I’ve allowed my chores to back up because I also edit the newsletter “Down Memory Lane” for the Chestnut Ridge Historical Society and with the help of other members, the autumn and winter edition is ready to be printed and mailed out. Sometimes it’s difficult to find local history to fill the eight pages. Sometimes it follows a theme and sometimes it’s filled with tales and oral histories that have been shared and stored in our archives.

So many of the artifacts, local family histories, maps, news articles, books, and paperwork are either on display or readily available for the community to stop in and view or to look for something specific about family members or incidents. We also archive obituaries to assist beginner or advanced genealogists in their search for their past.

Yesterday, I was able to finish several of the postponed chores and I am looking for several more work-concentrated days like that where I am actually eliminating the unfinished tasks. My firewood is finally stacked. I got a load of coal delivered and I’m breaking apart some old pallets that have been cluttering my yard. I have rolled up my hoses before the coming freeze and I’ve raked up and dumped some of the tree bark debris left from the dump spot of my firewood.

It’s soon time for me to take off my flannel sheets. It was nice to crawl between the warm flannel sheets and I am looking forward to the time I can slip between cool cotton sheets in the summer. I’m planning on replacing storm door’s windows with the screens to allow the warmth and scents of spring to replace my home’s stale trapped air. There is still much to do. Winter, please go somewhere else.

Remembering Versus Imagination

 Remembering Versus Imagination

I often alternate the stories of my recollections and expressing my ideas of fantasy when I write. I try to keep them separate but occasionally my real life occurrences manage to wander over to be woven into the plot of a story or two. One example was a trip driving through the northeastern states of America, the provinces of southeastern Canada, and a voyage on a ship named the “Northern Ranger.” The voyage traveled the length of the Newfoundland/ Labrador coast. It became the basis for a story I wrote for the Greensburg Writers Group. The members were to write a tale to include their favorite sleuth and his/her muse. The compilation of stories that were written were included in a book that was to have amateur detectives getting involved solving a crime while on vacation. My sleuth was Luigi Garibaldi, a professional gambler attempting to escape the wrath of a cuckolded casino owner. While aboard the ship he reluctantly became involved as a witness of a smuggling ring and a murder.

My several day voyage on the Northern Ranger gave me insight to the activities of the shipboard routine and the knowledge of the many small towns, fishing villages, and ports where the ship stopped to load and to unload its cargo. I described the scenery that I saw so well that a fellow writer said I should write travel brochures. I still haven’t figured out whether she was paying me a compliment or not.

In the books of the Tommy Two-Shoes series my trips to West Virginia and the ride on the trains there became an integral part of several chapters of these mysteries. Again the experience added flavor and helped to shape the direction of the story.

In my book titled “Addie” my familiarity of the local terrain of the hillsides of Confluence, Pennsylvania and land between to Mt. Pleasant was essential for the plot. I am barely old enough to remember the things of the 1940’s. But I used things of that time period to keep the historicity of the era correct although the plot was fictional. It’s often necessary for me to do research to keep my fictional writings believable. My readers expect the plot to have a foot in reality. Places, food, weapons must have details that are correct. An example of one small detail I researched in the book “Addie” was, when was wax paper invented? Or was the topography and details of the terrain from Confluence to Connellsville and Mt. Pleasant correct.

Tears On My Pillow

 

Tears on My Pillow

In 1958 the lyrics of “Tears on My Pillow” were written by Sylvester Bradford and Al Lewis. Anthony Gourdine, Little Anthony was the lead vocalist who first recorded it with his Do-whop group “The Imperials.” The lyrics are about a person with a broken heart and an unrequited love. When we look back in our lives, we can remember some tears that we’ve shed. There have been tears of joy; perhaps at the birth of a child or receiving a wedding proposal. Perhaps you’ve shed tears at your wedding or some other enormously happy event in your life. There were also episodes of sadness caused by the death of a loved one or a major catastrophe in your life. These are tears of sorrow.

Different types of tears have distinctly different compositions. Contrasting chemicals are released by our tear ducts composing tears that are specifically designed to fit the occasion. Many times when we cry the flow of tears will cleanse our bodies and souls of the emotions that caused us to cry in the first place. Empathetic friends will understand this. And that’s why true friends will generously offer a shoulder to cry on. They volunteer to share burdens that are being carried. They will support you, pray with you, and hold you up when you’re weak or celebrate and share your joy. There are also tears of gratitude. The Bible shares the emotion by a woman who was a sinner. She was forgiven of her sins and in gratitude washed the feet of Jesus with her tears.

The Bible has a lot to say about tears and even more about crying. The word cry or varied tenses of the word appears 434 times. The words tear or tears appears 49 times and wept or weeping is mentioned 41 times. Jesus himself wept. The shortest verse in the Bible is “Jesus wept.” It occurred at the death of His friend Lazarus. Although Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead, He sorrowed at the sadness of Martha and Mary, sisters of Lazarus to share their grief.

The Bible says God gathers our tears in a bottle (Psalm 56:8) and Psalm 126:5 says, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.”  The bible also says that He will wipe away our tears (Revelation 7:17) and that there will be no crying in Heaven (Revelation 21:4.)

1 Corinthians 15:55-57 “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Thursday Worse Day

 Thursday Worse Day

There is the saying if you want to hear God laugh, say, “Tomorrow a have plans.” I had several errands that I wanted to complete and get them out of the way. They weren’t the looked for “bucket list” type of chores, but were things that I allowed to pile up with the intent of doing them in one trip.

The one chore I needed to do was to replace the marine battery for the sump pump system for my basement. The pump functioned as long as the electricity was on. The Marine battery would allow the pump to work if the electric power should be interrupted for any reason. I disconnected the battery and loaded it into the trunk of my car.

My first chore was to drop off the unused trial medications at the center. I decided that since I felt that I was having side effects from the medications, I was going to withdraw from the study. That done; I drove to the National Tire & Battery store. That’s where I bought it. Making the turn into NTB I ran over the curb. The turn was sharp with other vehicles parked along the drive. inside, I found that the battery had six months on the warranty, but NTB had been purchased by another company and they no longer carried marine batteries. No one in the area sold the marine batteries from the Interstate Battery Company. The closest Interstate Company was forty-five minutes away.

A worker approached and asked if the battery was in the white Chevrolet Malibu with the flat front tire. “I said I hope not. I hadn’t driven in with one.” It was and I had to buy a replacement tire. I couldn’t replace it with the donut spare. NTB replaced the tire. With my wallet almost $150.00 lighter, I drove right across the street to the NAPA store.

Of course, they didn’t honor the warranty for the Interstate battery, but they did have a marine battery. Now I needed to make the decision whether to drive to the nearest Interstate Battery store or should I purchase the NAPA brand of marine battery. I had the money and not the time to make the drive. Back at home, I reattached the battery to my sump pump.

At home I found on my answering machine my electric company left a message. They wanted payment for my bill. The line was busy and couldn’t get through to explain that I’d sent the payment a week earlier, so I phoned the next morning. I explained that it was another USPS higher prices and less service. I said that the old excuse of the “check’s in the mail” was indeed what was happening. I wasn’t going to stop payment on a check and issue a phone payment. I will call again Monday to see if they received my check.