Greetings in this Christmas Season –

It's the day after Thanksgiving, but the weather here in South Texas is mild and inviting. Many of our “snow bird” friends have arrived to spend a winter with us. One of things that makes a season fly by is “the waiting.” We wait for the snow – white Christmas and all. (Doesn't come.) We wait for the first frost. (Wisconsin saw that in September. We had three hours of below freezing a couple of night ago – November 16^th) We wait for the snow drifts, the snowmobiles, the heavy coats, and before you know it, it is eighty degrees and shirt sleeve weather. Where did the winter go?

Mood for Christmas cards? It's December 24^th and I still haven't gotten the eggnog, or poinsettia, two customs from Ann's house. So we're starting early. Right!

We canceled our trips to Tennessee and Oklahoma City for health reasons. Ann has a knee replacement which is giving her problems. By the time this is read by many, she should know whether she has to have repair work. Nothing works as good as the original equipment. Our next big event is a visit with her daughter from Round Rock, (near Austin). We are working on getting some of our Jimannique pieces on the web so our friends can see and enjoy.

Your Christmas letter? Somewhere we remember our friends and relatives – perhaps between Johnson City and Austin. We'll say a silent prayer for you, like we have often and hope all is well with you and in the blessed year to come.

So, Merry Christmas, yo'll, and God bless. DnA

Some years ago I talked to a person who did roofing. I asked how he was able to be so confident walking around without much of a safety rope or support. To add to his situation, he was a heavy drinker, and was probably compromised as well. As a matter of equipment, he went up the ladder with his shingles, hammer and nails (is this dated or what?), and a six pack. He stood up and walked from the edge to the crown. I would not have been so brave, but then I did match his skill on a number of scores.

What is that “fiddler on the roof?” doing in our lives anyway? It was explained by the writer of the movie by the same name, that it is an illustration of life. We are required to play very intricate licks and melodies on the fiddle, while balancing on the top of roof. The music must go on, no matter how the wind blows, or the balance is lost. Life is a constant adjustment, and conditions can not be depended on as also being the same or being perfect.

In our story, it would be hoped that tradition would so dictate life that one would simple follow the path trod over the generations. The story is told often of the mother and daughter preparing to cook a ham. Mother cuts the ham in half, just like she had done so many times before. Then she put both pieces in the pan and added the other spices, etc. The daughter asks why she cut the ham in half first. Mother answered that that's the way she was taught to cook ham. Daughter was not satisfied with mom's answer, and so that visited grandmother in the nursing home where again the question was asked.

Grandmother laughed and then explained the cutting of the ham. She said, “I never had a pan large enough to hold a whole ham at once.” Tradition dictates ways of doing things which worked then, but may be long out of date.

A newcomer to our congregation volunteered to help in the kitchen during one of the big fund raiser dinners. She went to the sink and drew the water to wash the dishes. Starting at the right (or left), she prepared wash water, sterile rinse, and final rinse water. She was about to put the first dishes in when the chairwoman of the kitchen came over and explained that she had set up the sinks just exactly opposite of how they were always set up. She (the chairwoman) dumped water in the sinks, and set them up the other way because that's the way they had always washed dishes. The new volunteer moved out to the carrot table, peeled some carrots, and left the kitchen. I don't know that she ever worked in the kitchen while I was still there. In all likelihood, the person who had worked with the washing of the dishes years ago was left or right handed, and when she retired, the next washer carried on the tradition.

The marriages in “Fiddler,” were always arranged by the matchmaker, because meeting new people particularly of the opposite sex can be scary, or shy people never meet anyone, so a tradition. When the daughters fail to follow the usual pattern of arranged marriages, everyone is upset, mostly the fathers. What an upset there would been in today's world with the new ways and the forgotten traditions. I dare you to list three traditions that you do, but have no reason for them. See you soon. Pastor Dave.

You have probably gathered that I am a firm believer that there is nothing new, under the sun. One Sunday afternoon I was congratulating myself on the wonderful sermon I had just preached that morning. It was so original, I thought it strange that no one had thought of that approach to the subject until now. In all the centuries, that sermon had not been preached. Words had never been put together that way. That evening, as I was reading a pastor's journal-type magazine, I read my sermon. Not word for word, but thought for thought. Then I realized that if I gone to first and second centuries teachings, I would and did find my sermon again, now 20 centuries old.

How egotistical to think that I had an original, “never heard of before,” concept. I had to accept myself as a mouthpiece to bring the old story into my generation. I had little to add, but found my task similar to that of the bards of the middle ages. Let me explain.

One only need read the children's stories, such as “Hansel & Gretel”, or “Billy Goat Gruff”, to catch a flavor of what life was like in Europe, or other countries during the Dark and Middle Ages. The gap between the rich and poor was very marked. The possibility of bandits and thieves on the highways (horse paths) was very likely. It was the reality of the “Old Lady who Lived In a Shoe,” who had so many kids she didn't know what to do, abandoning them in the woods was a way of birth control.

Some the ideas for novels and books have their origin in Scripture as well. I had mentioned “Cinderella” having its parallel in the account of “The Anointing of David.” Stories and themes have been adapted over the centuries, for there is nothing new under the sun, just a different way of looking at it with today's glasses. Thanks for traveling along with me today. See you soon. Pastor Dave.

This is Sunday afternoon. It is November, and the National Football Games are in full swing. Deer hunting starts soon, and the fellows and gals are sighting in their guns, and choosing hunting sites. Fall, the beautiful time of year. One of the questions a pastor might ask is, “Did you attend a church service this weekend?” “No!” No sermons on church attendance, perhaps quite to the contray, but not opposite. I do believe in church attendance.

If you didn't make it to church, did you ever stop to ask, “Why?” I, and thousands of others have asked this same question, even though many are loaded with guilt and refuse to even entertain such a question. Several of my acquaintances don't believe in attending a church, so it gives me opportunity to explore. They believe in God, or that there is a God. He/She (last time for PC, God will be “He”, but you can mentally translate), is an impersonal or perhaps an indifferent being. How could he care for us humans, or worse, how could He allow such terrible things happen to us? Other excuses have been expressed as they had been over the years.

I just forwarded an article on Facebook that expresses my thoughts about human nature, and our relationship with the Eternal Being. We have been so afraid of offended someone that we as Americans have bent over backward to appease someone in the community. (You do know that the someone so offended is often an imported radical who makes it their mission to go around to different communities and schools, threatening lawsuits and faining pain and offense. They are the hired guns. They are the offended few.) This articles speaks of possible teaching of spiritual truths and customs in our school class rooms. Someone else earlier this year preached a sermon which speaks to taking the moral code, or spiritual code out of classroom has left such a vacuum, that evil has found a place to reside.

You know that I believe that we have separated the spiritual and physical aspects of human life, to the point that we are afraid of “the spiritual.” When someone brings up the subject, we draw back from that person, doing our little eye dance, and hand shake as though the person were a little south of sane. So, in the quiet of your own computer, let me broach the subject. Where is the spiritual world anyway? I watched the old movie, Fiddler on the Roof again last night. Our main character speaks to God as though He were off camera to the right and upward just a bit. But, he (Octavia) speaks as though God was listening and enjoying the bit of humor expressed. “If I were a rich man, would it ask to much?” “On the one hand, and then on the other.” There didn't seems to be any lofty words or thoughts. Just one person to another. The physical world and the spiritual world seem to come together in simply dialogue. (Before you get all hung up on the setting and prejudice of this movie, let's see if there is any thoughts worth considering.)

Setting is pre-revolutionary, in Russia. The persecution of the Jews was in full assault. However, there are some customs that are different than ours. The matchmaker is one in full view. The thing that maintains “value” in the minds of the Jewish community is tradition. Place of the Papa, Momma, and Daughter is well defined. The place of worship and spirituality was also defined. The Momma set the house in order, and made sure that the Sabbath was observed. Over the course of the movie the tradition begins to change, but the role of fiddler, and the role of spirituality remains the same. It seems to me that the role of the spiritual will remain the same whether we believe in the attendance of worship, or we remember God in our individual ways. What is your rock? More later. May God bless. Pastor Dave.

Just a quick advertisement: it is very obvious by this time that Ann and I travel with a fine jewelry display. I need your help to bring all the good things we have to as many people as possible. You and the Internet will help to make this a reality. As you know, when you click on "like", it transfers that article or website to your friends' screen. If they in turn, click on like, it transfers it to all of their friends. I know there are people in your friends list, or their friends who like inspirational blogs, or "fine equine jewelry." If you participate in this little experiment, I will send a very nice gift to the person who clicks on number 1000 "like".

We have been to the Morgan Grand National horse show where we met a lot of our friends, and satisfied our wanderlust for a month or so. We will be going back to Oklahoma City in the near future to do the National Reining show. These are the two shows we've planned for this year, but have already scheduled several for next.

Let me tell you about the story of Cinderella, as seen in the Old Testament. It has to do with the lowest of society being elevated to the greatest. In the Jewish nation there was no one lower than a shepherd of goats and sheep. In that culture, the owner or shepherd of the flock was responsible for the actions of every animal. If one of your animals escaped from your immediate custody and ran down through your neighbor's garden, you, as the shepherd, was guilty. "Animals being animals", put the shepherd in the position of always being a sinner, or unclean. Being a shepherd was the most undesirable occupation, and yet it was shepherds out on the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. (Does that sound familiar?)

The prophet Samuel arrives at the home of Jesse, with the message. He has been instructed to come to this house to anoint the new King of Israel. Each of the sons of Jesse lineup in turn to be interviewed by Samuel. One by one the prophet eliminates each of the sons. He turns to Jesse with this question. "Do you have any more sons?" "Yes", replied Jesse, "but he is out on the hills tending the sheep." Samuel instructed him to fetch the boy. Jesse objects saying that the boy is young, has red hair, and a buddy complexion. The boy has several strikes against him. He doesn't look like the average Jewish man. He is probably under age. (Age of adulthood for the Jewish man is 30 years of age.) And he is a shepherd. The boy was brought up to the house anyway.

Samuel took one look at the boy, and immediately reached for his vile of anointing oil. The boy was immediately anointed as "King of Israel". It would be several years before the boy reached adulthood, and was indeed, crowned as King. As with Cinderella, from the ashes of the fireplace to the place alongside the Prince, David went from being the unclean, most undesirable, to the one who sat on the throne, and led Israel to some of its finest hours.

I have been reading in my postings of a person with who I resonate, for this person questions their worth based on how they feel. I've discovered that feelings are not always true. As with our business as exhibitors, where there are few people who actually buy our product at the show, we return to the hotel room at the end of the show, berating ourselves for one more time setting up, and displaying Ann's artwork. On the way home, the cell phone rings and a person announces that they were so busy with their horses and showing that they forgot to get back to us. Would we send such and such a piece? It may be weeks later, when someone calls and asks Ann if she can design a piece of custom jewelry and send it to her. After several of these experiences, we began to realize that our exposure at that show is really was worthwhile. We looked for a specific travel trailer. We found one in Tennessee, and were ready to buy it, when one day before the sale, someone else came in and bought it. We were sad, but realize that if God had wanted us to have that travel trailer, we would now be traveling with it. So it is with many of the disappointments of life. The verse says, in effect, our human minds saw it as bad, but God sought as good. Many years ago I was driving a truck through northern Wisconsin. I heard what sounded like a double-barreled shotgun. "Bang! Bang!" The side in my truck sagged as the air went out of my tires, and I was at the side of the road with two flat tires. Before the days of cell phones, I got a message back to my boss somehow, who sent the truck with the tires. I was delayed at least a half a day. I slept that night in the truck in a village called Rice Lake. The next day was beautiful, and off I went to Hibbings, Minnesota. As I drove by the truck stop where I would have stopped that night, trucks and trailers were scattered and destroyed. A high wind had hit that truck stop where I would have been sleeping that night. And I said, "thank you, Lord."

Well, that's it for today. Look up, for God has greater things for you than this. God's richest blessings. Pastor Dave.