Love & Loyalty

Good friend, don't forget all I've taught you;

Take to heart my commands. 

They'll help you live a long, long time, 

A long life lived full and well.

Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty.

Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. 

Earn a reputation for living well

In God's eyes and the eyes of the people.

Trust God from the bottom of your heart;

Don't try to figure out everything on your own.

Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;

He's the one who will keep you on track.

Don't assume that you know it all.

Run to God! Run from evil!

Your body will glow with health,

Your very bones will vibrate with life!

Honor God with everything you own;

Give Him the first and the best.

Your barns will burst,

Your wine vats will brim over.

But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline;

Don't sulk under His loving correction.

It's the child He loves that God corrects;

A father's delight is behind all this.

Proverbs 3:1-12

We Wear the Mask

"We Wear the Mask"

We wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes--

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

 

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us while

We wear the mask.

 

We smile, but oh great Christ, our cries

To Thee from tortured souls arise.

We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

By Paul Laurence Dunbar

Shampoo Deb?

Mom had four small girls between two and six years old, was the pastor's wife, helped to care for Grandpa George after his stroke, and she was also pregnant with Juanetta. So it is understandable that she would need to rest a few minutes while we played right outside. 

Mom said she lay across the bed and listened to our chatter as we played on the porch. She didn't think much about it when she heard me ask, "Debbie,  do you want me to wash your hair?" But her rest was over when shortly afterward Deb came through the door and said, "Momma, Annette put that stuff on my hair."  Mom saw a brown, sticky, semi-liquid running down Deb's hair and got up to investigate its source. When she walked onto the porch she realized that she had set Grandpa's tobacco juice spit can there, thinking she would empty it later. Hopefully tobacco shampoo won't give Deb cancer. 

Mom has always had a weak stomach, so you can imagine her gagging while washing Deb's hair. 

Jail & A Snake

There was an old, unused jail in Success that was near the home of the Perren's.  Dad and Hershel were both pranksters and wouldn't miss a chance to get back each other with one. 

One day Dad went to the Perren's house and Hershel wanted to show him the jail. When Dad stepped inside Hershel dropped something in the hasp and had him locked in but hurriedly let Dad out when he realized there was a snake inside. 

As Dad came out of the jail he grabbed the snake behind its head and started after Hershel. Of course  he didn't stand still for long with Dad after him. 

Dad killed the snake and later sneaked over and coiled it in the floor of Hershel's pickup. I think when he got in and started to town he about killed himself trying to get out of the truck. 

Dad's Teeth

It was about 1960 and 1961 when we went to Success, Arkansas. Dad and Mom helped tear down and rebuild the Pentecostal church there and pastored during that time. 

In the front, left corner of the church was an old cement style baptistry which was probably a block in width. The inside was built narrow, so the minister would stand on the outside to baptize someone. 

Dad had trouble keeping his top denture plate in, even with Fixodent, when he would excitedly yell, "Hallelujah!" because his tongue would get under the edge and flip them out. You know that it is tough for a Pentecostal preacher to avoid doing that. 

One night he was baptizing a new convert when the Holy Ghost fell. Dad yelled, "Hallelujah!" and out his teeth flew. They bounced about three times and fell out onto the floor. 

Later Dad was talking to Hershel Perren, a friend of his in town and said he thought they were gone into the baptistry for sure. Hershel replied, "Well Preacher, it wouldn't have been a problem to get them out. All we would have had to do is tie a chicken leg onto a string and drop it into the baptistry. Your teeth would have grabbed it."

Slag or Tree?

When we were about eleven and twelve Deb and I were playing chase before school started one day. Deb was being very elusive when I tried to tag her. So for some strange reason I decided to tag her another way. 

Why I did it, I have no clue, but I picked up a piece of coal slag and threw it at her. She turned to look at me just as the slag caught her nose and eye. Deb was adled and blood was flowing from her broken nose and cut eye when I got to her side. There was no question in my mind that I was in serious trouble. She asked,  "What happened?" Thinking what a rare opportunity to save my hide, I replied, "You ran into the tree."  That was the story we told Mom and Dad when we got home. My conscience bothered me, but evidently avoiding a paddling was more important to me at the time. 

Deb being stunned enough that she believed my story saved me that day. The truth wasn't told about this incident for many years, when Deb asked me one day, "Did I really run into the tree when my nose got broken?" I then told her the truth. She said she had always had the idea that I had thrown something. 

A Bug

Around 1959 Dad preached a revival in an old night club he had rented near Thayer, Missouri. Many people came to know God through this revival and he helped the Lafferty and Crony families get a church started there. 

We lived in a small, two bedroom house with brown asphalt siding and an outhouse.  At the time there were only four of us girls, Debra-age five, Rhonda-age three, Sherlyn-age two, and myself-age six. We all four slept in a full-size bed. (Sure wouldn't want to try that now)

One evening after we sat down to eat supper Rhonda asked to go to the outhouse. When she stayed out too long I was asked to go check on her. When I walked around the corner of the house there Rhonda stood, holding a big, brown, hairy tarantula by one leg. I yelled, "Rhonda! Throw that thing down!" as I slapped it out of her hand. Then I excitedly asked, "What did you think it was?" She calmly replied, "A bug."