Noting Nothing Special

Many bits and pieces of memories crowd close this morning with no special theme or idea, so I will share whatever comes to mind. Things like the old coal furnace in my parent’s house, the warmth and the smell of smoke that escaped from the opened door as someone tossed in a shovelful or two of coal. It could have been my dad, Carl or my mom Sybil, or it could have been one of us kids as we grew older.

Money was tight and my dad was frugal. There were times my dad would take a pick, shovel, and a couple of buckets across Route 711 to an exposed vein of coal and collect some of the black fuel. The vein was about 24 inches high and nearly 5 feet wide. Most of the times dad bought and had coal delivered, but before the coal could be delivered in the fall of when the bin in the spring was running low, dad would add some of the free coal to his hoard.

I made some jelly yesterday and that reminded me of the wild strawberries or Concord grapes we would pick and Mom would make into jelly. Mom would cook and stir the gooey concoction until it thickened. She would ladle in into all sizes and shapes of jars that she’d collected and sterilized in hot soapy water. When the jars of jam had cooled a bit, she would pour a layer of melted wax over the top of the jelly to seal and preserve it to eat later.

I prepared some beets that were given to me yesterday. I pickled them to freeze instead of canning them like my mom and my wife Cindy would do. I ate several cooked beets with butter and salt as a reward.

The rest of the day, I vacuumed, dusted, and emptied the kitty litter. When I’m not out and about helping others, I lead a very uninteresting life. I have been rereading the stories in my “Tommy Two Shoes” series, trying to recapture the character of Tommy and work on more mysteries. I’m not John Steinbeck, but I enjoyed many of the storylines and phrases that I wrote.

Rain Pain Brain

I was awakened by the loud drumming of rain on my roof this morning. It seems as though we’ve had an extraordinarily wet year so far and several things I am grateful for. The first was that I had my basement waterproofed. With as much rain as often as we’ve had it and the quantity that we’ve had, my basement would have gotten at least ankle deep in water. So far the collection pots, drains, and the pumps have been equal the onslaught of the rain.

The second thing I am grateful for is the roof I had replaced. The brown metal sheeting sheds the water instead of having it find weak spots to come inside my house to visit.

The word rain doesn’t say much about the type we can have. From the fine mist of a drizzle to the hard pounding of a deluge, we call it rain. We can have rain that is warm and pleasant or the treacherous freezing rain that makes even walking dangerous. Just as we have several terms for rain, the people of the far north have multiple words for the term we call snow.

When a person ages, the rain can also bring pain; the aching in the joints intensifies and reminds me I am no longer young. Old injuries and the wear of years of use now haunt me, although my doctor says there is minimal arthritic change, the pain is still there. The fall of a mobile home on my right shoulder and me falling on the same shoulder has caused pain and problems with my rotator cuff and the tendon of my right bicep.

I know many people don’t believe that the human body can predict a weather change, but I could tell that the weather change was on its way several days ago. There was no need for me to switch on the television to know rain was coming to southwest Pennsylvania. Arthritic changes have made a barometer out of my finger joints. The aches haven’t stopped me from doing the things I enjoy, but it has slowed how I do them.

The Spring

As I began to drift off to sleep last evening, thoughts of the old spring on the hillside above the house my parents Sybil and Carl Beck made our home. Two small trickles of water exited the ground several feet apart. They were channeled into the back side of a concrete reservoir about three feet square. It was a low, squat, heavily moss covered bunker with an slightly arched top, a ten be ten inch wooden door, and an overflow pipe that was located just below the door on its front. The back side had an opening to allow the two streams to join, enter, and collect inside.

The spring was almost 300 yards from the brown Insulbrick house and provided the water necessary for our house and the Hall’s our neighbors. Even in the hot summer months, the water was always cold, to the point it could make my teeth ache at times. The flavor, well…it was fresh and refreshing with no aftertaste like my grandparents’ spring. There was plenty of water available year round running clear with enough pressure to service the second floor of our home.

The galvanized pipe eventually filled with corrosion and we had to dig a ditch to hold the new plastic pipe. Because the channel would run through the woods, Dad decided that it would be hand-dug. There were two reasons for that. One was trees would have to be cut to get machinery to the springhouse to dig the ditch. The second was that money was tight and Dad was always looking for ways to save money. Dad would assign a certain amount of the to-be-dug ditch to my brother Ken and me. Dad expected it to be done. One day, we couldn’t complete the assignment. A huge rock was in our way. We couldn’t move it, so we dug the rest of the channel on the other side. Dad wasn’t very pleased to say the least and when he couldn’t dig it out, met the challenge with a sledge hammer. The rock was the size of a wide table top and nearly eighteen inches thick. Dad finally surrendered to the massive boulder and we ran the new pipe under the rock.

Running On Empty

King Solomon was described as the wisest, wealthiest, and one of the most powerful men in the Bible. He was famous because he asked God for wisdom. Shortly after he asked for wisdom, 2 women came before him with the riddle, which of the mothers had the remaining live child. His answer caused people to take notice of him. “And all Israel feared Solomon, seeing the wisdom of God was in him.” Much of what he learned, he shared in the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. They emphasized his wisdom to where the Queen of Sheba visited him to see if he was indeed wise.

Solomon gathered great amounts of lumber and stone to build the Temple at Jerusalem The beauty of the Temple in Jerusalem was considered the Eighth Wonder of the World by collecting skilled artisans of all sorts as he erected the Temple. His power became as famous as his wisdom, and other kingdoms sent tributes of gold, silver, lumber, and even more artisans to Solomon. It was written that the Queen of Sheba brought 120 talents of gold as a gift. A talent is equal to 120 pounds, so she brought from Solomon 14,400 pounds of gold plus other gifts.

Solomon built beautiful palaces, exotic gardens, lush vineyards, and orchards with different fruits and pools to keep them watered. He owned cattle of types and sizes. Although in the book Deuteronomy God warns about multiplying horses, but Solomon built great barns had 4,000 stalls for his horses and chariots. He also gathered 700 wives and 300 concubines. He had man servants and maids. Entire orchestras of instruments were at his beck and call as well as men singers and women singers. Everything his heart’s desired, Solomon had at his fingertips. Wine, women, and song…all of the pleasures that the world had to offer Solomon investigated and sampled.

Solomon didn’t find happiness in the entertainment of his life. He didn’t find satisfaction in the riches he’d accumulated and his wisdom was little more than madness. He called it folly. When Solomon weighed his life, he called it all vanity. Everything that the world had given him left him empty. All that he accomplished, all that he gathered, all that he tasted was merely ashes. Nothing the world had to offer could fill the God sized and shaped void in his life.

Who Am I Hurting?

When we think about doing something the least bit unscrupulous or sinful we often think, “Who am I hurting? It’s just me.” But what we do often affects friends and family. It may also affect those that we work with. If our act eats away at our reputation or the truth of our word, it does. Last evening, we heard a sermon by Dr. Alton Beal sharing each time we step into questionable areas we grieve the Holy Spirit. He is the third person of the Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He also shared that the Holy Ghost is a person and he is God. When we accept Jesus Christ as Savior, the Holy Spirit or the Comforter comes to live within us.

Proof that the Spirit is a person he can speak for us when we don’t know how to pray. Romans 8:27. The Spirit can lead us and guide us. Romans 8:14. We can resist the Spirits leading in our life. Acts 7:51. The Holy Spirit has all the attributes of a person. The Spirit has a mind, Romans 8:27 and a will, 1 Corinthians 12:11. He teaches, John 14:26. The Spirit testifies, John 15:26. It convicts of sin, John 16:8. The Holy Spirit can be lied to, Acts 5:3.

The Spirit has emotions and can be grieved. Ephesians 4:30. That is where much of the message was centered. When we are bitter, full of wrath, and anger, we are in direct opposition of the leading and influence of this third person of the triune God. How can we allow ourselves to say or do things we ought not to our wives, our children or our friends? We should guard our lips at all times, careful of what we say. In Isaiah 63:10, the Holy Spirit was vexed when the Israelites rebelled. In Psalm 78:40, he was provoked and grieved as well.

Dr. Beal also shared that the Holy Spirit was also indeed God. In 1 Corinthians 3:16, the saved person is the temple of God and the Spirit of God dwells within. In John 4:24, the Bible shares that God is a Spirit and God the Spirit had a hand in the creation of the world, Genesis 1:1-2.

The Bible also shares that “Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.’ 2 Corinthians 3:17.

When we speak, act, or react, we need to be mindful. In Ephesians 4:32 the Bible says to be “kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving of one another…”

Nobody Loves You Like…

The words “I love you” sometimes easily tumble out of our mouths, almost meaningless in today’s society, but they are words to be held precious when they are uttered with real meaning. Like when a parent holds a newborn close and softly whispers those words or when a child hugs a parent’s legs, looks up, and says, “I loves you, Mommy or Daddy.” How about when we’ve found the perfect match and your heart sings those very same words until they spill out and you take the step to draw that person even closer to you. Sometimes we use these words when a friend becomes so close and dear to us.

There is another being who loves us with a love that is nearly impossible to describe. It is the love of God. God has shared his desire to adopt us into his family, to make us one of his own. Just like the Prodigal son, God says come home. I allowed my only begotten Son to die that you can have eternal life.

What was unusual about God’s love…he sought us out when we were undeserving of love and not looking for his love. Our Creator offered it to us. We are his creation. He shaped us out of the dust of the ground. This Almighty being now pays attention to us who are only specks of dirt.

His love is universal, offering it to the entire world. The Bible says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16, even though we were still steeped in our sin. Romans 5:8. The Bible also says, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us…” 1 John 4:10.

It is a gift freely given. It is unearned and unmerited. Isaiah 64:6 says, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” This is God’s view on what mankind can accomplish without him.

Hollywood and the laxness of our vocabulary has cheapened and diminished the power of words like awesome, glorious, and yes… even the word love.

Hey Mom, What’s for Breakfast

Sometimes when I try to think of something to share in my blog that’s not what is happening to me today, I struggle to share past memories and that is the reason I started to journal. So many of the stories that my parents have shared are lost, I’ve forgotten them. Many of the tales are entertaining to all, but I especially wanted to write them down as part of my children’s heritage.

Breakfast was many times a bowl of cereal. The milk was whole milk poured from a large glass jar, refilled at a nearby farm. The milk often became a point of contention between my dad, Carl Beck and me. I guess I have a sensitive palate, because I could tell when the cow “got into the weeds” and would give the milk an off taste. I didn’t want to use it and dad said it was fine. His nickname for milk was cow-titty-swizzer. My dad’s favorite cereal was shredded wheat, although Wheaties, Kellogg’s corn flakes, or Rice Krispies might be found.

One of my dad’s favorite tricks was to place the icy cold milk jug against me or my brother Ken’s unsuspecting bare back as we gathered around the kitchen table, although, Saturday morning breakfasts were quite different fare. It usually involved my mother, Sybil frying some type of meat: bacon, sausage, squirrel and serving it with either pancakes of eggs and toast. Saturday morning’s breakfast table was a veritable feast. My dad enjoyed food and many of my eating habits came from him.

One unusual habit that I didn’t pick up was the grease, left over from the fired meat. He insisted that Mom pour it on the meat platter, serve it, and Dad would sop it up to flavor his pancakes or toast. The drippings from the squirrel were made into gravy and everyone would smear it on our pancakes to eat.

When I started high school, I got into the habit of having tea and toast for breakfast. Most times the toast was simply “buttered” if you can call oleo butter, but many times it was coated with cinnamon-sugar or rarely jelly. There were two flavors of jelly at our house, Concord grape or wild strawberry. Both types were handpicked and homemade. It was rare that there was another flavor, although I seem to recall some apple butter, peach, or elderberry; always homemade and never bought.

As long as we are able to share our memories, whether it’s the mundane parts of our lives or the more adventurous, it will stir memories of others to keep things from being forgotten.

Meet Me in the Clouds

God has made use of clouds from Exodus through the book of The Revelation to show his power, his might, his glory, or his many other attributes. In Exodus, Jehovah used a pillar of fire to lead his people out of bondage in Egypt during the night and a pillar of a cloud to direct his people during the day. Exodus 13:21, 22.

Jehovah demanded sacrifices as atonement for sin to be burned on the altar, the smoke rising to heaven whether it was animal or grain sacrifice. Clouds of smoke from the incense often filled the Tabernacle and God appeared in a cloud upon the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Leviticus 16:2.

He used clouds or the lack of them to execute judgments in great storms or in prolonged droughts as in I Kings 17 against King Ahab. In 2 Samuel 22:10-15 God wrapped himself in canopies of darkness and thick clouds in the sky. God also adorns the clouds with rainbows to show the covenant between himself and man. Genesis 9:14-17. The LORD brought visions to his prophet Ezekiel.  ^“And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire” Beasts came from the midst sharing a glimpse of the glory of God.

In Hosea, God compares the goodness of Ephriam and Judah to an early dew and a morning cloud. Hosea 6:4.

Christ as the Son of Man will appear in the clouds as shared in Daniel 7:13, Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26, Luke 21:27, and The Revelation 14:14. We will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with power and glory. God also speaks to his Son from a cloud. Matthew 17:5 and Christ was received by a cloud out of the disciples’ sight. The Acts 1:9.

Christ shall again come in the clouds, The Revelation 1:7. When the LORD returns, it will be “with a shout and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”  1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.

I had planned on writing about the shapes that occur with the clouds in the sky, animals, faces, and pillars, but when I thought of the pillar of clouds, my mind wandered off into another path.

Mini-Me

After so many things compressed into a single week, I longed for a travel vacation. What I was dreaming of was another extended trip to see something new but, I settled on a much shorter one. I had a men’s retreat scheduled and I decided that it would have to do. This past weekend I went on a two day men’s retreat in Ramey, Pennsylvania at the Servant’s Heart Camp, located north of Altoona, Pennsylvania on 213 acres of woodland with a large lake.

It was a gathering for Christian men to escape the noise and bustle of the world and enjoy a time of renewal and refreshment. It was a time to escape the telephone, computer, television and enjoy times of Christian fellowship. The messages of our speaker were specifically addressed for men and the problems and needs of men. There were times of prayer, times for sharing, devotions, and time for reading our Bibles without distraction.

I can hear a lot of people saying, “It sounds boring” and you would be wrong. My heart still is stirred from the prayer requests for some men’s loved ones and the testimonies from some of their past makes me thankful that God has spared me and my loved ones from the enslavement of drugs and alcohol. In some in families there were testimonies of abuse and abandonment. Some shared the recent loss of loved ones and were able to lean on others for support. Now, I suppose you are thinking this was a time of either boredom or a time of doom and gloom, not so, Christ is the hope and mitigating factor that renewed our strength and resolve.

We weren’t couch potatoes either. There were activities of all sorts. A gun range provided a chance to shoot trap, targets for archery, or to fire guns on the target range. We could shoot the Blam-zooka which is an air cannon that shot tennis balls at targets. Even though there was occasional episodes of rain, games of ping pong and other games nestled in a large tent. Two men actually braved the cool weather to take a swim in the lake. Horse shoe pitch, campfires, a deer spotting ride and great food served al fresco in another large tent rounded out the weekend. The food was abundant and delicious.

It was a great time that allowed me to relax, make new friends, and to renew a right relationship with Jesus Christ. The old saying, “Wish you were there?” well my friends, I wish you could have enjoyed the mini-vacation with me.

Lugs, Hugs, and Ughs

So much packed into two days, I’ve been busy. Wednesday, before the monthly reunion and meal with the retired nurses from H. C. Frick Community Hospital in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania, I drove to my local tire shop to get two new front tires that had worn down to the wear bars. While I was there, they discovered that I had a defective tire sensor gauge for my tire pressure. My next stop was at the bank. My pocket money was running short. I also mailed a large souvenir book of photos to another historical society in Lower Paxton County.

I couldn’t drive to Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania without shopping at Wal-Mart. As I pushed my cart down an aisle, three ladies were greeting each other with hugs. I said, “Oh, I arrived too late. The hugging is over.” They laughed and I got three hugs. Smiling, I made my way to the luncheon with my fellow retired nurses. I shared a poem of Haiku about us. Most of them laughed as they read it, because we nurses are thoroughbreds.

pastured thoroughbreds

together for feeding time

retired nurse luncheon

 I went home to unload my groceries and to grab a break before Wednesday evening prayer services.

Thursday was my early morning doctor’s appointment at the urologist’s office. All of my blood work and my urinalysis were good and my PSA was lower than last year. As usual, I didn’t escape without the digital exam. On the way home, I needed some parts to make repairs on my basement wood burner for the upcoming snow and cold season and stopped to order them. I have oil heat, but I like the steady warmth of a wood and coal heat.

I returned to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items for an upcoming trip. Snacks and something to drink were on my list. I always find something else and left with a larger hole in my pocket than I’d anticipated. It was on to pick up my granddaughter Hannah. Because of the heat she only had school until 1 pm. I’m glad I stopped to pick up her booster seat. Her school building had changed from last year. She was hungry and so was I, so we made a stop at Dairy Queen.

She was congested and coughing from a recent cold. Back at her home, it was naptime for her and television for me. I was too exhausted to attend a writer’s meeting and headed back to my house when I was relieved of duty by Daddy Eric.

Places I Have Been

Before my stint in the Navy, the only places I visited were with my parents. My dad Carl was even more frugal than I am and we spent his vacations visiting relatives. The longest trip was to Florida to visit my aunt and Uncle Helen and Jake Stahl in Orlando. Shorter trips included visiting my aunt and uncle, Cora and Fred Hyatt in Sheridan, Illinois and to see my aunt and uncle, Ina and “Nicky” Nicholson in Millersport, Ohio.

For my time in service to my country started basic training and naval corps school at Great Lakes training center in Illinois, spending the winter there. Then I was sent to Orlando, Florida from the chill of the north to the heat of Florida. My next assignment was to Keflavik, Iceland and travelled from the hot humid south to a chilly 60 degree weather.

After taking classes at the Fayette campus of Penn State, I was assigned classes at State College, Pennsylvania. After graduating, I found employment at Monsour Hospital then at Frick Hospital. After my marriage to Cindy Morrison, the next trip was to visit her relatives in Jamestown, New York. Cindy felt ill on the return trip. It was our introduction to parenthood. Cindy was pregnant with Amanda, our first. Only my craving for greasy hamburgers alerted us to our other two pregnancies.

Family vacations included Sea World, the Knoxville World’s Fair, and a visit to Murfreesboro, Tennessee and to “The Wilds” church camp in North Carolina. The next major trip for me and the family was to “the Wilds of the Rockies.” It was part of the tenting trip out west with seventeen teens, seven adults, touring multiple national parks for seventeen days.

My next major trip was to Newfoundland/ Labrador Canada, driving most of the way then riding a ship to Nain returning to Newfoundland. A trip to Cottonwood, Arizona for my son Andrew’s wedding to Renee Largent was next. Later my son moved to Amarillo and that was my next long distance trip.

I joined a friend on a trip to Elkins, West Virginia to tide the train to the ghost town of Spruce. I travelled with the same friend across the southern border of Pennsylvania, up the east side, back across the northern counties, finally returning home along the western border of our state. Fifteen days of waterfalls, battlefields, and hotels wore me out. I’ve been pretty much a homebody since then. I’m just wondering it’s time for another escape vacation.

Laboring

Well, it’s Labor Day and so many thoughts from the word labor rush into my head. There are items on my things-to-do list for neglected chores around my house or the daily and weekly chores of mowing the lawn, laundry, cooking, and cleaning. Or sharing my post card collection, my thoughts for my journal, or Bible verses that I read.

I am reminded of the hours of labor for my wife Cindy as she brought into this world our 3 children, Amanda Yoder, Andrew Beck, and Anna Elizabeth Prinkey. I’m also reminded that their labor has produced 3 granddaughters so far, Celine Beck, Moriah Beck, and Hannah Yoder. Although there were problems in birthing, they are here and precious.

I look back on the many years of labor in my professional life and marvel at each step I’ve taken, but the really amazing thing is how quickly those days of learning and laboring have sped by. The good days seem to outweigh the days of drudgery and upset, although those days make the good ones great and the great ones outstanding in my memories.

Sharing my memories is in a way labor intensive, but I want to share my history with my readers and my family before I can no longer remember or I answer the Grim Reaper’s knock. The old hymn, “Work for the night is coming when man’s work is done,” mirrors my thoughts.

I’m ashamed that I didn’t labor as much as I should have for the Master. Drawn aside by the world, I was caught up in the labors of daily tasks and worldly ideas to the neglect of family devotionals, reading my Bible, and praying. I have been struggling to make up for lost time. I’m not perfect as some of my friends have pointed out, but isn’t that why Jesus came to Earth, to heal the sick and to create a way for mankind to reside in Heaven with the triune God?

The Labors of Jesus lasted for thirty-three years, doing the will of his Father. He suffered at the hands of the very people he came to free from sin to the point of being crucified and shed his blood as the perfect sacrifice for imperfect people like me.

Many people labor under false ideas taught by false teachers that misrepresent and misinterpret the truths of the Bible. Jesus tells us to labor to show ourselves knowledgeable with the truths of Scripture and the only way to do that is to read the words and compare it with what the speaker is saying.

Have a great Labor Day. Enjoy the time God has given you. Give some time back to him.