Currently Reading Rage Therapy By Daniel Kalla see related

Don't Faint

Thy garden is the place,

Where pride cannot intrude;

For should it dare to enter there,

T'would soon be drowned in blood.

I am offering 1000 "not cool" points for the person who can identify the author (Clue:  Born roughly 18 centuries after the demise of Xenocrates) and a dose of incredible hope to the person who can interpret the meaning.

A Penny for Your Thoughts ...

And Winter Came
By Joan Bob
 
I was not prepared for the winter winds that chill the bone,
With the desperate sense of being alone.
Alone except for Christ, my Rock, my strength, my sword,
My hope, my joy, my Lord.
 
Winter came, grace seemed to fail;
I suffered snow and ice and hail.
Relentless was the terrible pain;
I longed for gentle warming rain.
 
The winds cut through my very soul.
And Christ alone could make me whole.
But only in His time, He said;
I wished and prayed that I were dead.
 
The days went by, then weeks, then years;
A times I thought I’d drown in tears.
Relentless still the pain I felt;
Yet always at His feet I knelt.
 
My question o’er and o’er was, “Why?”
”Because of love,” was His reply.
I look back and now I see:
He sculpted, chiseled, molded me.
 
And if at times I ask Him, “Why?”
“Because I love you,” He’ll reply.
Today I have those warming rains,
The ones that wash away my pains.
 
The winds may come that chill the bone,
But now I know I’m not alone.
I trusted Him and sought His face,
And through the melted snow came grace.
 
 

Currently Reading Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team By George Jonas see related

Goodbye Dad

Delbert Eugene Winn, age 88, died October 30, 2006, in his room at Heritage Hall in the Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center in Broken Bow, Nebraska.

Delbert was born to Leonard Easton and Neva Pearl (Cayot) Winn at his parents’ river bottom farm south of Burlington, Coffey County, Kansas on December 28, 1917.  Del, who was known as “Debbie” to his family, was the youngest of four children.  During his growing up years, the family moved from Burlington, Kansas to the Winwood Dairy farm in Westphalia, Kansas, then to another farm north of Westphalia and eventually to two different houses in town.  Del attended grade school at Cherry Mound School and graduated from Westphalia Rural High School in 1936.

In high school, Del took the Normal Training Course for school teachers but never was able to get a job teaching.  After graduating from high school, he attended business college in Kansas City, Missouri to learn clerical work.  Upon completion of business college, he worked at the Bliss Syrup Company in Kansas City and then for the Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis, Jefferson Barracks and Vichy, Missouri.  On January 26, 1942 he joined the Navy, was stationed in Philadelphia for one year and then was transferred to  Washington, D.C. to work at the Navy Annex in Arlington, VA.  During his time in Philadelphia, Delbert met Helen Carolyn Goucher on the observation roof of Radio City Music Hall while they were both sightseeing separately in New York City.  They were married in Philadelphia on June 10, 1944.  In September of that same year, Del was shipped out to the Pacific during World War II on the Landing Ship Tank (LST) #587.  His LST participated in the invasions of Iwo Jima (saw the flag raised), Okinawa and Ie Shima.  After his discharge on October 5, 1945, he returned to Philadelphia, where his wife, Helen, was living.

Following the war, Delbert worked for the government, first at the War Assets Administration and then the Veteran’s Administration with the V. A. Insurance Division in Philadelphia for 5 or 6 years, at the New Castle County Air Base in Wilmington, Delaware for 5 or 6 years and then finished the bulk of his 32 years of government service by working at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard until he retired at age 55. 

The Winn family lived in Philadelphia, PA for 7 years, where their first son, Delbert Easton, was born and then in Broomall, PA for 10 years, where their second son, Robert Howard was born.  The family also lived in Newtown Square, PA for another 12 years.  Both sons, Delbert (’64) and Robert (’73), are graduates of Marple-Newtown High School.  After the boys left home, Delbert and Helen moved to an apartment in West Chester, PA and eventually to a home in rural Christiana, PA which was built onto the 1844 Sadsbury School House, No. 1.  After Helen’s death in 1992, Del lived in the school house for two more years and then moved to the Heatherwood Retirement Home in Honeybrook, PA. He relocated to Broken Bow, Nebraska with his son’s family, Bob and Priscilla Winn and their children, in June of 1996.  Delbert was a resident of Liberty Square at the Jennie M. Melham Memorial Medical Center from 1996 until 2005, and has been living in Heritage Hall from January 2005 until his death on October 30^th.

Delbert enjoyed fishing and hunting small game as a teenager and young man, was an enthusiastic pool, pinochle, bridge, horseshoes and quoits player, went to watch repair school and repaired watches for most of his adult life, was an avid fan of all of the Philadelphia sports teams, loved to collect coins and was a 65 year member of the Masonic Lodge in Garnett, Kansas.  He and his wife, Helen, also volunteered for many years with the Red Cross and Meals on Wheels.

Del was preceded in death by his parents, brother Carl (who died in World War II at the battle of Midway), sister Dorothy, and by his wife, Helen.

He is survived by his sister, Cleo Thomason, of Andover, Kansas and his sons and their families:  Delbert and Mary Winn of Alpharetta, Georgia, their children Carrie (Winn) and Mike Caudle and great-granddaughter, Madeleine, of Canton, Georgia, and Colin Winn of Flagstaff, Arizona and Bob and Priscilla Winn of Broken Bow, Nebraska and their children, Ethan Winn of Dallas, Texas, Tori Winn of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, Becky (Winn) and Jeff Busenitz of Langhorne, Pennsylvania and Michaela Winn of Santa Clarita, California.

A funeral service was held for Delbert at the Govier Brothers Mortuary in Broken Bow, Nebraska on Thursday evening, November 2^nd with his son, Pastor Bob Winn, officiating.  Another funeral with both of his sons, their wives, all of the grandchildren (who are in colleges and graduate schools across the U.S.) and great-granddaughter in attendance will be held on Saturday morning, November 25^th at 10:00 a.m., at the Toppitzer Funeral Home in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania.  Burial will be at the Valley Forge Memorial Gardens in King Of Prussia, Pennsylvania.

Currently Reading The 5th Horseman (Women's Murder Club) By James Patterson, Maxine Paetro see related

Testing A Theory ...

OK ... let me know if there is any truth to this ... I believe many of today's teens are intentionally and inappropriately jerking their parents around to get  them to say "yes" or to get them to say nothing at all ... ie. looking the other way.  How is this done?  I believe that teens have figured out that,  if they distance themselves emotionally from their parents or perhaps if they venture into behavior patterns of which their parents do not approve, the parents, in a desparate attempt to cling onto a semblance of emotional attachment or a semblance of normalcy in their family, will cave in rather than doing the hard thing ... aka the right thing for their teen.   So ... anybody out there ( those who do the "jerking around" or those who do the "caving in") honest enough to 'fess' up?  [Note: I am not implying that a parent cannot be manipulative or selfish.  We are often guilty as charged.  But that can be another discussion point. Let's not use the old 'bait and switch' tactic to avoid the question at hand.]

P.S.  Even if you don't like my post, take 55 minutes and listen to the radio program I've put on here.  The guy speaking will be at the Custer County Fair this August.  His story will challenge your thinking and his music will encourage you spiritually.