Summer's End

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Robert Frost 

I know I am
 but summer to your heart, 
and not the full four seasons of the year.

Edna St. Vincent Millay 

Vladimir Volegov 

"Rose Clair Renaissance IV"
 Doris Joa

Tis The Last Rose of Summer

'Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone;
No flower of her kindred,
No rosebud is nigh,
To reflect back her blushes,
Or give sigh for sight!

I'll not leave thee, thou lone one,
To pine on the stem;
Since the lovely are sleeping,
Go sleep thou with them.
Thus kindly I scatter
Thy leaves o'er the bed
Where thy mates of the garden
Lie scentless and dead.

So soon may I follow,
When friendships decay,
And from Love's shining circle
The gems drop away!
When true hearts lie withered,
And fond ones are flown,
Oh! who would inhabit
This bleak world alone!
Thomas Moore

"The Soul of the Rose"
John William Waterhouse
(1908)

Sunset on Delaware Bay







"Softly Now The Light Of Day"

Softly now the light of day
Fades upon my sight away;
Free from care, from labor free,
Lord, I would commune with Thee.

Thou, whose all pervading eye
Naught escapes, without, within,
Pardon each infirmity,
Open fault, and secret sin.

Soon for me the light of day
Shall forever pass away;
Then, from sin and sorrow free,
Take me, Lord, to dwell with Thee.

Thou Who, sinless, yet hast known
All of man’s infirmity;
Then, from Thine eternal throne,
Jesus, look with pitying eye.

From the opera

"Oberon"

Arranged by

Carl Maria von Weber

Music By George W. Doane 

"Watching The Sunset"

Laurie Justus Pace 


 

 “God turns my darkness into light.” 

Psalm 18:28

There's No Place Like Home

Be it ever so humble...

"Oh Aunty Em!  

There's no place like home!"

-Dorothy "The Wizard of Oz"

"Let the miser keep his gold,

And the king his castle hold,

Let the traveler far

 in foreign regions roam,

But I, more blest than they,

Want to come at close of day

To the little place I love

called home."

-An Old Irish Melody 

Home Sweet Home

Kim Jacobs






"Mid pleasures and palaces
though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble,
There's no place like home." 
-John Howard Payne

Moonlit Cabin
David Lloyd Glover

 
So...
Anyone For Pot Roast
Tonight?

 

With a slice of freshly baked

Italian bread?

And some old-fashioned

peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream

for dessert?

August Acronyms

FEAR


FALSE 

EVIDENCE

APPEARING 

REAL

"Fear not
for I am with you."
Isaiah 41:10




FAITH


FULL

ASSURANCE

IN

THE

HEART

“Let us draw near to God
 with a sincere heart 
     in full assurance of faith.” 
Hebrews 10:21-22




GRACE


GOD'S

RICHES

AT

CHRIST'S

EXPENSE

 "All are justified and made upright
and in right standing with God,
freely and gratuitously by
His grace
His unmerited favor and mercy
through the redemption which
is provided in
Christ Jesus"
Romans 3:24



MERCY

MULTIPLIED

ENDLESS

RICHES

CONCERNING

YOU 

 "Because of and through
the heart of tender mercy
and loving-kindness of
our God,
a Light from on high
will dawn upon us
and visit us.
To shine upon
and give light to those
who sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death,
to direct and guide our feet
in a straight line into
the way of peace."
Luke 1:78-79



PEACE


POSSESS

EVERLASTING

ASSURANCE

CONCERNING

ETERNITY

 "I assure you, most solemnly,
if anyone observes My teaching,
lives in accordance with My message,
keeps My word, he will by no means
ever see or experience death."
John 8:51 

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Refrain

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Refrain

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

Refrain

"Blessed Assurance"

 Words by Fanny Crosby
(1873) 

August Days Of Praise

"I will be the gladdest thing under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
And not pick one."
-  Edna St. Vincent Millay  

One day at a time,
and the day is His day;
He hath numbered its hours
though they haste or delay.
His grace is sufficient;
we walk not alone
As the day, so the strength
that He giveth His own.
-Annie  Johnson Flint

 Beach Pals 

Laura Lee Zanghetti

"The Bible exhorts every area of creation and every kind of creature to praise the Lord. The Bible exhorts the heavens, the earth, the sea, the forests, the rocks. There is nothing that should not praise the Lord.

     It speaks about all kinds of creatures – flying creatures, creatures in the sea, crawling creatures, cattle, wild beasts. It speaks about all the states of the human race – kings, princes, young men, old men, maidens, children – all are exhorted to praise the Lord.

     In fact, there’s only just one category of people that do not praise the Lord. Do you know who that is? The dead. Only the dead do not praise the Lord.

     My dear friend, if you do not praise the Lord, do you know what your problem is? You are one of the dead. Not necessarily physically dead, but spiritually dead. Come alive. Begin to praise the Lord. The more you praise the Lord, the more joy and spiritual life you’ll experience. Begin to praise Him right now."
-Derek Prince 

"God's gracious gifts
of sun and sea,
of gentle weather,
within reach
of each
whether
poor or rich.
Yet, at times I wonder-
which is which?"
-Ruth Bell Graham

 Painting By
Michael and Inessa Garmash

"The sum of Your words is truth

and every one of Your righteous decrees

endures forever.

Seven times a day and all

day long do I praise You

because of Your righteous degrees.

I have longed for 

Your salvation, O Lord,

and Your law is my delight.

Let me live that I may praise

You, and let Your decrees help me..."

Psalm 119:160, 164, 174, 175

Painting By

Michael and Inessa Garmash

Out of the light that dazzles me
Bright as the sun from pole to pole,
I thank the God I know to be
For Christ the Conqueror
of my soul.

Since His sway of circumstances
I would not wince nor cry aloud
Under the rule which men call chance
My head with joy is humbly bowed.

Beyond this place of sin and tears
That life with Him! 
And His aid,
Despite the menace of the years,
Keeps, and shall keep me, unafraid.

I have no fear, though strait the gate,
He cleared from punishment the scroll,
Christ is the Master of my fate,
Christ is the Captain of my soul.
-Dorothea Dix

Painting By
Michael and Inessa Garmash

Korean Confederate Flag

Dear Gentle Readers,

I hope you will appreciate 

this beautiful story from
America's past.

"House Calls"

A painting by

Mary H. Kimmel

A young American soldier in Korea

An American solider

from North Carolina

serving on the front lines in the

Korean War wrote to Dr. Moore's son:

"Dear old college mate Pete,

(began the letter to my son)

  It's a long hike

 from Chapel Hill to Korea,

 but, buddy, I'm here just the same.

 There is a bit
 of a lull in the shooting,
 for the moment,
 but these lulls
 are often ominous.
 It is bitter cold here
 and difficult to combat.

 We do not have
 the necessary military complements
 for this bloody mess out here,
 where one's breath 
literally freezes in midair.

 If it were not for
 the emotional plunge
 into a business of survival,
 this loneliness would become
 almost unbearable.

Pete, my pal, 
please do me a favor, won't you?
 I want you to send to me
 the biggest Confederate flag
 you can get.

 Send it over to me
 as soon as possible.
 The Chinks are
 almost in "spittin' distance" of us,
 and they don't mind
 taking pot shots at us
 even when we are doing 
no more than writing a letter
 to an old school chum.

 I guess you wonder,
 in the midst
 of all this serious war business,
 just what in the world I intend to do
 with a Confederate flag. 

I am going to let it fly
 right in the face
 of those yellow boys
 the minute it arrives. 
Do your best for me, Pete,
 won't you?"

At risk of being trite one could say that you can

 take a fellow out of college
 but you can't take college out of a fellow.

  No sooner had Pete received this letter appeal
 from his old University of North Carolina school chum
 than he came to me for help.

"How can we get a Confederate flag
for this boy, Dad?"

Yes, really how could we?

 Here we were right
 in the heart of Yankee land,
 wishing for a rebel flag. 
But after all, the boy wants it 
and get it we will-somehow.

A letter was dispatched in the next mail 

to one of the largest flag-manufacturing plants

 in the world not too distant
 from our home in Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

       In less than forty-eight hours came a reply.

 There were no Confederate flags in stock.
 But that was not to be the final word. 
No sir, not from this generous, thoughtful, 
kind-hearted, flag manufacturer. 

Here is his letter:

 Dear Dr. Moore,
"I am truly sorry
 that we do not have
 a Confederate flag in stock,
 but I am having one made up
 specially for this lad in Korea.

It could be my son, you know.

 I will have made

 one of the biggest flags

 for immediate shipment

 to this soldier boy.

 We are going to pay

 for half of the cost 

 of manufacture and will ship it 

directly to Korea at our expense."

What a wonderful letter-

 a real American, this flag manufacturer. 

What a thrill! 

And now the flag would soon be on its way

 and into the hands of the youngster 

who had suddenly grown to be a man,

 and was accepting the dire 
responsibilities of a man.

 But, at heart, beneath the grim
 and solemn face,

 there was someone's "little boy" 

far from home and lonely.

Sandwiched between World War II and the Vietnam War,
the conflict in Korea (1950-53) has often been referred to as
"America's Forgotten War"


 It was not long before we received word
 from the Korean soldier
 that the flag had arrived,
 unharmed, and now it flew 
from a provisional masthead.
 The chilling breeze of Arctic air
 unfurled this beautiful flag 
directly in front of the enemy lines.

The Americans have a new flag.
 Now what flag is it? 
Of course any real southerner
 could spot the stars and bars any time, anywhere,
 -but not those Mongolians who were bent on killing men.
 Life to them was cheap, so why not?

But this flag?

 Out went the reconnaissance planes of the enemy. 
It took little time to report to headquarters that,
 "the Americans have a new and unknown ally".
Their intelligence department came up 
with that much, but little more.

And indeed they did have an ally
-thousands of sons from Dixieland-
who were happy to see their much loved flag
 fly right along with the Stars and Stripes.

 The ghosts of Lee, and Jackson, and old Jeb Stuart

 rode across the frozen wastes of Korea.

God bless all our American heroes
who honorably served our nation in the
past, and those who are 
serving in the armed forces of
the United States of America today.

Thank you for my freedom.

"Korean Confederate Flag"

 From the book, "Mustard Plasters and Printer's Ink:

 A Kaleidoscope of a Country Doctor's Observations

 About People, Places, and Things"
 By Allen H. Moore MD  

(c.1959)