July 28 '07

                                                    

Volume 582

                   


3rd Missouri Helping The Needy

The Brave Wore Pink The most recent volunteer group (possibly the last for this year) to help Pontotoc County Habitat for Humanity came from Missouri. Two sponsors and five students representing the Bread Of Life youth group from St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in the Waynesville/ St. Robert area spent a week in Pontotoc helping with tasks related to a house under construction in Circle of Hope subdivision just off Clark Street. Rick Vise and Nancy Tafoya led the group of teens, all young men who will be high school seniors this fall.

Habitat for Humanity depends on volunteers from both near and far to keep costs for homeowners limited largely to that which is required to purchase building materials. Land is often donated and is sometimes already owned by the family seeking to partner with Habitat for Humanity. Unlike that of a government handout to an individual or family unit, Habitat plays the role of the good fairy, not a dumb fairy. Habitat homeowners pay a monthly mortgage, but the low cost of home construction makes the mortgage affordable to individuals and families whose income is too low for them to qualify for a conventional loan.

The need for affordable housing is such that I am of the opinion that poverty housing, like the proverbial poor of whom Jesus spoke, will always be with us. My opinion not withstanding, Habitat for Humanity International believes poverty housing will one day be eradicated. While I have doubts of this happening, I firmly believe that if Habitat for Humanity is not destined to be the catalyst for eradicating poverty housing, then Habitat for Humanity will certainly be a dominant force that may one day help bring about the desired result.

Of the Missouri volunteers, only Rick, Nancy, and Jason had been here in a similar capacity. It was, for the leaders, their third trip, but the first for Nancy without her son Jimmy coming, also. Rick has a larger pool of still-at-home children to draw from and brought his youngest son. It was also a trip that almost wasn’t when a last minute effort to find a single vehicle capable of transporting seven passengers and their luggage proved a formidable obstacle. Yet, as is often the case where Christians are seeking to follow God’s will, God provides all that is necessary for them to accomplish His will.

The volunteers were allowed to use the facilities of Second Baptist Church for their lodging needs. There they slept, prepared their breakfasts, and packed their lunches before departing to the work site.

Churches and individuals typically prepare evening meals for the volunteers. When my work schedule permits, I’m able to join the volunteers for supper. I do my best to learn the names of each volunteer and try to spend some time talking to each one during the week. Evening meals are also a good time for me to meet members of other churches who are sponsoring a given meal.

The Bread of Life group may be the only Habitat volunteer group that I’ve seen thank those in charge of the evening meals in a formal manner. Of course, all volunteer groups are gracious and verbally thank their hosts. However, the Missouri group has consistently presented a certificate of appreciation to their hosts, and they do so by selecting a different person to make the presentation each night. I feel this is a good experience for the youth, and I’ve observed the pride on the part of the recipients thusly honored.

One of the churches which fed the volunteers was Selah Baptist Church, near Ecru, MS, and one of the church members works for the same grocer that my son, Jason, works for on a part-time basis. Sheila Grubbs invited Jason to come to her church and eat with the group. To my surprise he did, which is the first time I can recall having my son present for a meal with a group of Habitat volunteers other than at our home.

On their off day, Tuesday, the group traveled to Memphis to sight-see. Because their evening meals were provided by local church groups they planned to be back to Pontotoc by six-thirty. However, navigation errors sent them far out of the way, before they resorted to phoning Barbara for directions. She was able to guide them back to the proper route, but they were more than an hour late for supper.

Rick was the navigator for the group and took full responsibility for the mistake. This is the same Rick, who left last year still ribbing me over my mistake concerning what everybody else calls lemon meringue pie but which is for me, simply, lemon icebox pie. And, I believe he broached the same subject the first meal we shared together this year. I am proud to report that I did not reciprocate the teasing by chastising him over the navigational error, at least not until the day they left. I’m sure he wondered throughout the week if I had lost my witty sarcasm. Saturday morning, the van was packed, all the boys were inside, and only Rick and Nancy were extending to us their last goodbyes.

I couldn’t resist saying, "Do you need my Tennessee map to help you find your way through Memphis?"

Rick laughed off my remark, but his expression was priceless as if to say, "I deserved that."

I may have had the last word this year, but chances are Rick will bring another group next year, at which time we’ll start the ribbing and teasing process all over again.


Love And Marriage Essay By Sarah Carter Brown

This summer has been the season of weddings. I have attended more weddings this summer than in the last ten years. Naturally, my thoughts have turned to truths and myths that I have discerned about love and marriage. I was half-way through my sixth decade of life before I realized it, and I figure I had better pass along what I have observed, not only in myself, but in others. I felt compelled to share these thoughts with my daughter, Felicia, when she began thinking of marriage last winter, and I shared most of them with my son, Brett, four years ago.

If I knew thirty years ago what I know now, I would have remained unmarried. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in love and romance. I believe in the institution of marriage, and I don’t like the idea of divorce. I wouldn’t take a dip of snuff or a plug nickel for either of my children. However, my parents were right when they said that you never can really know a person until you live with that person.

Of course I knew when I decided to marry that when in love, one seeks to impress the object of one’s affection. I just did not know what an act that could be or how quickly the desire to impress can vanish. So having pondered love and marriage, I have decided to dispel fifteen of the most prevalent myths about love and marriage.

  1. Love is forever. Nope, sorry, it just isn’t always true. People change. Some can’t accept adversity that besets all folks at one time or another. Who in his/her right mind would marry thinking their love would not last forever? Probably more literature is devoted to lost love than love that lasts. Many waters cannot quench love, but human beings can kill it, and it’s not as hard to do as you might think.
  2. If it seems right, it must be love. This idea has been around since I was in high school and was popularized in the song, "You Light Up My Life," which is a dandy, toe-tapping ditty to sing along with, but is sadly lacking in statistical proof. Actually, when you are in love, you lose your objectivity. So, you really can’t tell if it is right.
  3. The object of my affection will always understand me. Wrong, you probably don’t understand yourself before age forty, so how can your true love begin to know what makes you the person you are?
  4. Because your family and friends think you are wonderful, your true love will too. No, no, not so. How can this person think you are great when you are around 24-7 and all your little annoying quirks start to really be irritating? Who knew that leaving the toothpaste top off or leaving a closet door open could actually spark WWIII? Those things aren’t even the big annoyances, like spending too much on clothes or a vehicle or presents for family and friends, or missing an important event or awards ceremony. You get the picture.
  5. You can be a great enough person that your true love will love you back. Want to bet? You cannot make someone love you if they do not want to love you. Save yourself a lot of grief and learn this lesson well. Sadly some folks do not know the meaning of love, and mistake infatuation or a need for security for love.
  6. Just because your true love finds his/her family as annoying as you do does not mean that he/she really dislikes his/her family. Where do you think we got the expression, "Blood is thicker than water"? No need for further discussion.
  7. Children will bring you closer. Children will make you question why you wanted to get married in the first place. Those little bundles of joy are more trouble than you ever imagined. You will not get a full night’s sleep until they go off to college, and let us not even think about the new worries that will bring. They will bleed you dry for money, time, and attention. If you are a good and decent parent, you will invest time and wisdom for all the years you have with them. I’m talking a lifetime here.
  8. By the time we’ve been together 10 to 15 years, we’re sure to stay together. Where did you get those statistics? It is true that more that half the folks who stay together 15 years usually remain married until death parts them, but a whole lot of folks divorce after 25-30 years. Girls, I must tell you, that sadly it is often the guy who says, "I just don’t love you anymore." Usually at this stage, you can be pretty sure there is another woman in the picture.
  9. Folks who are married fifty years must have had something special. I hate to break it to you, but I have been to a couple of anniversary celebrations for folks who were civil in public, but really did not care for the person they stayed married to all those years. That something special may have been the will to outlive the spouse.
  10. Money won’t be a problem, after all two can live as cheaply as one. Don’t make me laugh. Two can live as cheaply as two, and don’t you forget it. Money will be your biggest problem, and don’t forget that either.
  11. The best is yet to be. Maybe, maybe not. You know that line about for better or worse? You’ll be surprised at how much worse it can get, and how quickly it can happen. The better and better and happily ever after bit is, after all, the stuff from which fairy tales are made. Try to remember that.
  12. We will stay together because I’m committed to the relationship. Great, but what about your partner’s level of commitment? If he/she decides to bail out, you won’t be able to do much about it. It may take two to tango, but it only takes one person to break up the marriage, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. Make sure it is not you who breaks the bond. You’ll like yourself better that way.
  13. My true love will make me happy. Actually, true happiness comes from within. Another person can’t make you happy all the time. Trust me, if you are miserable, no person can make you happy. Only you can do that, and it’s usually because you got outside your selfishness.
  14. I can’t live without him/her. Sure you can, you just don’t want to right now. I don’t want to live without my dishwasher, but I can. I am of the opinion that if you can’t make it on your own, you don’t need to embroil someone else in your ineptitude. Did you sleep through Emerson’s Self Reliance?
  15. I don’t want to be alone. Why not? Singleness is not loneliness if you like yourself. If you can’t create your own sense of self worth, what makes you think someone else can? Learn to like yourself, and then think about allowing someone else into your life.

Just because, I only stayed married for close to twenty years, does not mean that I am advocating staying single. It just means that I think you need to be sure that you are doing the right thing. You can talk yourself into anything and this is no myth.

The writer of Proverbs came up with that idea long before me when he said, "All a man’s ways seem innocent to him."

The desire to establish a marriage is innate for most members of the Western world. The majority of people I know really do want to procreate and have their own little piece of immortality. Few people want to grow old without a spouse. So, look before you leap, and be sure you love your own true love and that he/she loves you.

How will you really know if you are in love? You will know, and you won’t need anyone to explain it to you. Just be sure you are grown up enough to handle marriage, or be prepared to grow up fast.

Go ahead, shoot for happily ever after. Some folks find it, maybe you will too. Remember that one person may hold a marriage together, but it takes two to make it work.


Bodock Beau Sing Me A Country Song

They are found here as a joke. However, the following Country song titles have an authentic ring to them:

Nashville's Top Ten Songs

1. How Can I Miss You When You Won't Go Away?

2. If The Phone Doesn't Ring, You'll Know It's Me

3. When You Leave, Walk Out Backwards So I'll Think You're Coming In

4. If I'd Shot You When I Wanted To, I'd Be Out By Now 

5. If You Won't Leave Me Alone, I'll Find Someone Who Will 

6. I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Almost Like Having You Here 

7. I'm Sorry I Made You Cry, But At Least Your Face Is Clean 

8. Take Me Out To The Cornfield, Honey, And I'll Kiss You Between The Ears

9. The Oil Is All In Texas, But The Dipsticks Are In D.C. 

10. If My Nose Was Running Money, I'd Blow It All On You (But, Honey, It's Not)

Shared by Ralph Jones

Hairy Problem

After a particularly long-winded Sunday service, the minister approached a parishioner who had left during the sermon and later returned.

"Where did you go?" asked the minister.

"To the barber for a haircut," said the man.

"Why didn’t you do that before you came?" asked the minister.

"Well, I didn’t need one then," said the man.

Pulling His Leg

A man went to his doctor complaining of a sore leg.

"Doc, I’ve tried all kinds of salves and ointments, and it’s just not getting any better."

After examining him, the doctor said, "I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. It’s just old age you’re feeling."

"But, Doc," said the man, "my other leg doesn’t hurt, and it’s the same age."

Longtime Friends

Two old friends decided to have lunch together.

After finishing their meal, one woman confessed, "You know, I just can’t remember your name."

Her friend hesitated a moment before she responded, "How soon do you need to know?"

Source - Laugh Letter Newsletter - July 2007

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