Wednesday, November 19, 2014

The Soul's Midnight




Last night when the train rumbled by
The whistle was not a blast of warning
But a strange and mournful cry.
Meanwhile...
 The host of heavens danced
in the velvety ballroom
of cold dark night,
dazzling till dawn
they whisper and sigh,
with much delight
waltzing across the sky
In the Soul's Midnight

The hour of sorrow passed,
with the train's mournful cry,
Your pain is gone
All fear has to die,
There shall be

No suffering in your flight,
Across to paradise tonight
to join the dancing stars
In the Soul's Midnight.
"The Soul's Midnight" 
Pamela D. Brida
 



Nat King Cole

"Stardust"
And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart

 
You wander down the lane and far away
Leaving me a song that will not die
Love is now the stardust of yesterday
The music of the years gone by


Sometimes I wonder why I spend
The lonely night dreaming of a song
The melody haunts my reverie
And I am once again with you


When our love was new
And each kiss an inspiration
But that was long ago, 

now my consolation
Is in the stardust of a song


Beside a garden wall
When stars are bright,
 you are in my arms
The nightingale tells his fairy tale
A paradise where roses bloom
Though I dream in vain
In my heart it will remain
My stardust melody
The memory of love's refrain.
-Hoagy Carmichael
1927

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Thanksgiving 2014

This post is a tribute to one of my favorite all American holidays....Thanksgiving!

   





"We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!
We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be.
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!"

Words and Music By Adrianus Valerius (1626)




Thanksgiving Day On Walton's Mountain





  A Reason To Give Thanks



Freedom is indeed the greatest gift that has been bestowed on the United States of America and yet, what many people today fail to realize is that true freedom can only be experienced when we choose to honor God first and foremost in our lives.



  “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.”
- George Washington

"The practice of morality being necessary for the well being of society, He [God] has taken care to impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in the obligation of the moral principles of Jesus and nowhere will they be found delivered in greater purity than in His discourses."
-Thomas Jefferson  


"I have examined all religions, and the result is that the Bible is the best book in the world."
-John Adams


 " I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth- that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings, that "except the Lord build the House they labor in vain that build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without His concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better, than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our little partial local interests; our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and by word down to future ages."
-Benjamin Franklin


 Although much has been said and written about both Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin as being the "least religious" of the Founding Fathers of America, apart from the fact that both men have long since departed from this earth and are no longer here to speak for themselves, how much they believed in religion and how much they believed in God and their personal relationship with Him remains a matter of speculation. 
There are atheists and other self-proclaimed, "non-religious" people who remain adamant that these two men were deists with no real allegiance to Jehovah God or Yeshua. On the flip side of this argument, there are evangelical Christians who claim that both Jefferson and Franklin were devout men of faith and that much of what they did say about their belief in God has either been taken out of context or misunderstood all together, especially by those in the opposing camp hoping to change America into a secular and godless place.
Religion, with all it's rules and rituals, is sinful man's attempt to understand the will of Almighty God. Yeshua Himself told us, "Not all religious people are Godly people."  Those who bow to religious legalism are too often bereft of the ability to love their neighbor as themselves. You do not gain entrance into the Kingdom of Heaven by keeping a set of rules and regulations. The reason why God gave us the Ten Commandments was to reveal to the sinful mind of man what sin is, and yet, He knew that man, in his inherent rebellion, could never keep these laws.
 This is why Yeshua came to live among us.  God sent His only begotten Son into the world to become our substitute on the cross.  His precious shed blood cleanses us from our sins and brings us into right standing with the Father in heaven.  We can only claim to be good and righteous because Yeshua was good and righteous first.  

"For the grace of God, His unmerited favor and blessing, has come forward for the deliverance from sin and the eternal salvation for all mankind. It has trained us to reject and renounce all ungodliness and worldly desires, to live discreet, temperate, self-controlled, upright, devout, spiritually whole lives in this present world.
Awaiting and looking for the fulfillment, the realization of our blessed hope, even the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus the Messiah, the Anointed One.
Who gave Himself on our behalf that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify for Himself a people to be peculiarly His own, people who are eager and enthusiastic about living a life that is good and filled with beneficial deeds."
Titus 2:11-14
Although the secular camp has been in America even before we became a nation, sewing seeds of  dissent towards honoring God, it is without doubt that America is a nation which has been blessed by Almighty God in many ways.  It could have only been the hand of Divine Providence working behind the scenes during the fight for our independence from the British Crown in the Revolutionary War.

 Those rag-tag bands of volunteering farmers and blacksmiths called Minute Men were certainly no match for the mighty army of Red Coats sent here to quell the uprising in the Colonies and yet,  without going into the long and laborious details, America miraculously won her freedom!
However, not even one hundred years later, an evil institution called slavery tried to divide and conquer the fledgling United States of America, pitting free northern states of the Union against the slave-holding southern states of the Confederacy.  Both groups felt justified in their cause, however, it was NEVER in the plans of Almighty God for even one poor unfortunate soul to be brought to these shores in chains to be sold into human bondage!

Once again, the greed and selfishness of wicked man prevailed over the laws and precepts of Almighty God.  Many slaveholders took the Bible out of context in order to justify keeping their fellow human beings in bondage to them. It took a bloody civil war to put wrong to right and preserve the Union, and yet, although President Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves, he, nor any national leader proceeding him right up to this present day has never stood before the people of this nation and called for a time of repentance and prayer before the throne of Almighty God for this terrible offense committed in His sight.  This has allowed the enemy of the souls of mankind a wide open door to come into our land and fuel the fires of racial hatred, anger, bitterness and  resentment, not to mention nurture an unforgiving spirit in the hearts of  many generations of the American people.
God's Word should never be taken out of context for the purpose of condemning someone or justifying behavior that is clearly immoral, especially to deem a fellow human being as inferior due to the color of their skin or ethnic origin.  God is not only no respecter of persons, but He is deliberately colorblind.  He alone sees the color of our hearts.

 During His earthly ministry, when Yeshua was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan, He set an example for all of us when He encountered the devil, who challenged Him with Scripture.  Yeshua did not challenge him back, but admonished the enemy with the truth of God's Word.  The word, "admonish" means to correct.  In addition to encouraging and edifying the body of Christ, the main use of God's Word is to admonish those who have stumbled into sin to see the error of their way and their need for repentance and to help them get back on the right and only path to God, by believing and trusting in the Lord Yeshua Ha'Mashiach!



The Origin Of Thanksgiving


 "It came without either wind or thunder or any violence, and by degrees in abundance, as that ye earth was thoroughly wet and soaked therewith, which did so apparently revive and quicken ye decayed corn and other fruits as was wonderful to see, and made ye Indians astonished to behold; and afterwards the Lord sent them such seasonable showers, with interchange of fair warm weather as, through His blessing, caused a fruitful and liberal harvest, to their no small comfort and rejoicing."
-Governor William Bradford, Plymouth Colony 

Friday, November 14, 2014

Trailblazer



I have been reading an exciting
 and unforgettable book called,
  "Grandma Gatewood's Walk".
 It is the inspiring, true story 
of an Ohio farm woman 
named Emma Gatewood,
 who, at age 67, 
walked the entire length
 of the Appalachian Trail
 from Georgia to Maine 
in 1955. 



 A Walk of Faith







America's Most Famous
 National Trail
stretches  2200 miles
 from Maine to Georgia,
crossing through 14 states.



Emma became interested in walking
 the famous trail after reading
 an article in National Geographic Magazine.
 She had a great love for walking outdoors
 in the forest and fields
surrounding her home in Ohio. 

Emma's journey through
 the remote wilderness 
was one of  remarkable
 courage and determination.
  Her suffering for twenty years 
at the hands of an abusive
 and sadistic tyrant of a husband
 only served to make her stronger
 and even more determine
 to live life in her own way. 


 Before she left to follow the trail,
 she told her grown up children
 that she was merely "going for a walk"
 and since they were use to
 their mother's pedestrian wanderlust 
no one really missed her
 or knew where she was
 until the newspapers
 picked up her story.



Emma On The Trail




 One of Emma's trail diaries
 recalled a night near
 the end of her journey, 
camping outdoors after
 reaching the mountains of Maine. 
 The night was bitter cold
 and as she lay huddled 
in her layers of clothing 
on the bare, frozen ground, 
surrounded by lonesome
 pine forests on all sides,
 Emma looked up
 at the frosty dark veil of sky
 glittering with thousands of stars,
 and despite her obvious discomfort,
 was overwhelmed 
by the sheer beauty
 and majesty of God's heaven.
Her experience in the solitude
 of that cold starry night
 reminds me that even in 
the uttermost places on the earth,
 which, like Mt. Katahdin,
 are often the first to herald
 the glory of the dawn,
 we are never truly alone.




Northern Lights
 Surround Mt. Katahdin
Maine






"The starry firmament on high,
And all the glories of the sky,
Yet shine not to Thy praise, O Lord,
So brightly as Thy written Word.

The hopes that holy Word supplies,
Its truths divine and precepts wise,
In each a heavenly beam I see,
And every beam conducts to Thee.

Almighty Lord, the sun shall fail,
The moon forget her nightly tale,
And deepest silence hush on high,
The radiant chorus of the sky.

But, fixed, for everlasting years,
Unmoved amid the wreck of spheres,
Thy Word shall shine in cloudless day,
When Heaven and earth have passed away."
"The Starry Firmament On High"
Words By Robert Grant
 1778-1838








Remember, in order
 to take that mountain,
you've gotta be willing 
to climb out of the valley first!

I'm sure Emma Gatewood would agree! 

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Veteran's Day 2014



There's a graveyard near the White House
  Where the Unknown Soldier lies,
And the flowers there are sprinkled
With the tears from mother's eyes.

I stood there not so long ago
With roses for the brave,
And suddenly I heard a voice
Speak from out the grave:

"I am the Unknown Soldier,
The spirit voice began
"And I think I have the right
To ask some questions man to man.

"Are my buddies taken care of?
Was their victory so sweet?
Is that big reward you offered
Selling pencils on the street?

"Did they really win the freedom
They battled to achieve?
Do you still respect that Croix de Guerre
Above that empty sleeve?
"Does a gold star in the window
Now mean anything at all?
I wonder how my old girl feels
When she hears a bugle call.

"And that baby who sang
Hello, Central, give me no man's land.
Can they replace her daddy
With a military band?

"I wonder if the profiteers
Have satisfied their greed?
I wonder if a soldier's mother
Ever is in need?

"I wonder if the kings, who planned it all
Are really satisfied?
They played their game of checkers
And eleven million died.

"I am the Unknown Soldier
And maybe I died in vain,
But if I were alive and my country called,
I'd do it all over again.
-Billy Rose


The Battle of Lexington
The Revolutionary War
1775-1783





General Kearney's gallant charge
 at the Battle of Chantilly, Va
The American Civil War
1861-1865



Spanish American War 
1898







          World War I Dough Boys
1914-1918






US Troops Storming The Beaches
 Normandy, France  
June, 1944
WW11




U.S. troops pass a group of retreating civilians
 near the Naktong River in South Korea
during the Korean War 
(1950-1953)












         American soldiers in Vietnam
1966








Operation Desert Storm
1991






US Troops On The Ground In Afghanistan 
2001










Operation Iraqi Freedom
 2003












To all our soldiers and veterans, 
past and present,
 thank you for your service
 and sacrifice for this nation
 and thank you especially
 for my freedom. 
 God Bless You!