Good Sunday afternoon from my front porch to yours. Thanks for stopping by. Weather is a little cooler for a few days. Grab a hot cup of coffee or perhaps a cup of hot tea and let’s chat.
Interesting weekend! One of the few where I only had one thing on my to-do list: some paperwork together for taxes. Got it! We are waiting for a few more ‘documents’ and hope to file soon…hoping for a good refund!
Couple of reasons I slowed down this weekend. First, the weather turned cool..much cooler for us. So, no outside projects. Fed the horses and others in the barnyard and back inside. Then Preacher wanted to attend a Southern Gospel concert, promoted it at church and got one couple interested to go with us. This is a family that has been such a blessing to the church! They have two kiddos, ages 10 and 6. The 6 year old is my little buddy, who calls Glen the “Preacher’. Last Wednesday I wore some really ‘crazy’ socks, (Lukie would be so proud of me!) can’t remember where I got them, Annabeth looked at them and said “Why are you wearing the “Preacher’s socks?” This child is so precocious and could pass for the 2009 version of Shirley Temple! Anyway, we all rode together, meet at 3:00, so this was going to be an interesting event!
The auditorium was about an hour and half away. UGH..cold, gray, overcast day. But things brightened up when we decided we had time to stop in Mesquite at the Cracker Barrel. Good hot coffee of course and my favorite: catfish! I was challenged to a game of checkers by Andrew the 10 year old. He reminds me so much of Caleb! So, these two are my grandkiddos when my grandkiddos are away. Anyway, I held my own for a short time…but Andrew ‘creamed’ me …Our food came and my bruised ego was comforted by hot steaming catfish with all the ‘fixins’….then later Andrew challenged me to some game he had on his phone (kiddos and their gadgets these days) to “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?' didn't have to play this game I already know the answer.... ahhh….could have told him that…on most days, No…I’m not smarter than a 5th grader. He promised to ‘help me. Kiddos. This family may be leaving us soon-no I feel they will. Mac recently lost his job (like so many!) they have such faith however and feel it is all a part of God’s plan (its all in the attitude!). They are from West Texas and feel it is time to go back ‘home’. They’ve been in the Dallas area for several years (came here on a job assignment-he’s an engineer) and want to get back to the basics West Texas...where everything is a little slower...I know the feeling...Dallas can be just too busy, too many people, too many cars, too much traffic, just too much..... Pray for this family. I hate to see them go…but I know what is in their hearts…they want to go home.
Back to the concert, Preacher picked up the tickets at 'Will Call'. Walked in and it was LOUD!! You heard me LOUD!! The tenors could hit a few notes that could have broken glass…thought my own eyeglasses might break. Me and Annabeth both held our ears a couple of times and said ‘it so loud!”. Amazingly, I did NOT see anyone else, the older folks in front of us, beside us, to the left or right flinch, or hold their ears or seem to notice! Amazing-because I don’t know how many times through the years we have had the complaint in our church…’music is too loud”. You’ve got to be kidding! Right? Tim, I’m sure you will certainly appreciate this ‘observation’. We have had this discussion before about music and the perceived ‘loudness’. of it So what’s the difference?
Anyway, Preacher owes me! When one of us does something we really don’t want to do…we joking will say …’you owe me’ (whatever that means and we are still working on how we will do paybacks). Anyway, we got there ‘early’ to see some special presentation..the auditorium was nearly full-already. Seats weren’t that great-by this time. You know squeezing past people’s knees, holding your breath…they do likewise. For about 45 minutes we saw a video promotion of what I will call…’a Gaither Homecoming wanna be’. Phil Cross of Poet Voices claims this is his ‘project’ and is traveling all over promoting it….
I never saw so many gray/white heads, people using canes and wheelchairs, limping and ‘old’.
I mentioned this to the Preacher and he bristled somewhat and said something to the effect-that precisely, that also described us! He’s right of course. Still trying to figure just when and how this happened... the old and gray thing. Not too many young people at all. A few here and there-including the couple that came with us. Mostly older folks. My thought is where is this type of music going….if the vast majority of the fans are so ….old?
Overall, the ‘show’ (that’s what it really seemed to me’…was OK. I counted 3 songs I really enjoyed.. Poet Voices had a couple and Gold City had one that was patriotic. Other than that……
This family we went with are big Gabbard (from Butler, Ky) fans. They asked us why they weren’t there at this concert and said that the Gabbards were their favorite group-even from those groups we had just heard. If any Gabbards are reading this-this is a big compliment from this family! They even played their CD “Gravity” on the CD player in the car and their kiddos know all the words. I’ve come to the conclusion much like sports….if I’m not related to the Southern Gospel singers (even if it is by marriage only) I’m not too interested in it.
After hearing these groups I also wonder….why aren’t the Gabbards singing with these ‘big names”. Their music and songs are just as good….no better than most everything I heard last night.
Anyway, the Preacher compared it to something like this. Music can be compared to say, Cracker Barrel…not everyone will like everything on the menu. We all have our favorites…and some people like a little more variety than others. But it is still Cracker Barrel. I am still trying to dissect that word of wisdom from the Preacher. If anyone really gets the Preacher’s explanation of this, let me know!
Anyway, interesting evening, we got home LATE…me and the Preacher decided we don’t do well on Sunday morning when we have been out late on Saturday. I think this is called, ‘getting old’. So today kinda kicked back after Church and fed animals, put together lunch, cleaned up and that’s about it. I walked through the house right before coming to the front porch and felt God’s overwhelming peace and presence, so I stopped and told the Lord, “Thank you Lord for the gift of this day, to just be still and rest and say, "This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad”.
From my front porch to yours…God bless.
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