"THEN IN A NOBLER, SWEETER SONG, I'LL SING!"

THOUGHTS WHILE LOOKING AT A HUNDRED-YEAR-OLD  CHURCH...

I HEAR SINGING...from SOMEWHERE
    IN THE COSMOS...Truth Never Dies...
-------------------

"Ere since by faith I saw the stream

   Thy flowing wounds supply;

Redeeming love has been my theme

  And shall be 'til I die...

     And shall be 'til I die--

Redeeming love has been my theme

   And shall be 'til I die."

........William Cowper (1731-1800)

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"When I survey the wondrous cross

   On which the Prince of Glory died,

My richest gain I count but loss

   And pour contempt on all my pride.

See from His head, His hands, His feet--

   Sorrow and love flow mingling down;

Did  ere such love and sorrow meet

   Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Forbid it Lord, that I should boast 

   Save in the death of Christ, my God;

All the vain things that charm me most,

  I sacrifice them to his blood.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,

   That were  a present far too small;

Love so amazing, so divine

  Demands my soul ..my life...my all."

  .......Isaac Watts (1674-1748)

--------

"Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

   Calling for you and for me;

See, on the portals He's waiting

          and watching...

  Watching for you and for me.

Come home, come home,

   Ye who are weary come home."

........Will L.Thompson (1847-1909)

--------

"Brethren we have met to worship

   and adore the Lord our God...

All is vain unless the Spirit of the

  Holy One comes down;

Brethren pray and holy manna

   will be showered all around.

....... William E, Longataff (1822-1894)

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Someone has wisely written: The Bible

  is God's revelation to man; the hymnal

is man's response to God.

-------

MIL

17 APRIL 2020

  Church, Taiban, N.M.

  ....photo Annalon Gilbreath

......Enhanced by Gary Dirlam

......Isaac Watts is said to be

        "The Father of English Hymnody"

A HUNDRED-ONE THINGS....AMERICAN

 
"PRAISE THE POWER THAT HATH MADE
AND PRESERVED US A NATION"



               Home of "The Boys of Summer"


                             New Mexico

A .22 rifle stood in the corner of every farm.

                                       North Texas



















 
      D-Day, Normandy Clacker and Rock from Omaha Beach




                    Presbyterian Church
                    Taiban, New Mexico


                   B-17 Flying Fortress


                     Cowboy

Ebbet's Field.       Hot Dogs.   Baseball

   "The Boys of Summer".  Summertime

Brooklyn Dodgers.   The 1940's

   Pearl Harbor.    Batfish.    The Alamo

Shenandoah.    Niagara Falls.    Billy the Kid

    The Bitteroots.  Mississippi River

Mark Twain.   Tom Sawyer.    Dixie Land

    Fibber McGee and Molly   Superman

Queen For A Day.    Hamburgers, a nickel

   John Wayne.     Marilyn Monroe 

"The Seven Year Itch".     "Red River"

   "Gone With The Wind".  "The Sullivans"

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.."

"Shakiest Gun in the West" "Rio Bravo"

Johnny Cash.  Hank Williams  Dolly 

     Reba.  Scarlett.  Mammy.    Liz T.

"Andy of Mayberry".  Aunt Bea... Barney

"The Great Depession."   Pearl Harbor

   B-17's.    Wake.  Midway  Guadalcanal

Yorktown.   Hornet        Doolittle Raiders

     P-51's.   Bataan    FDR.  Trinity Site

"Comin' in on a wing and a prayer...".  

    "Praise the Lord and pass  the

       ammunition..." "We'll meet again"

Shiloh.     Appomattox.   Stonewall

  Gettysburg.   "The  Wilderness"

"Twentieth Maine".    Antietam   Grant

   Lee.    Stonewall.    Mary Todd 

Shenandoah.  Lee  Wallace.    "Ben Hur"

Sergeant York.    Chesty Puller.  Ike

   Chosin.     Yalu.     Taegu.   Inchon

Doug.    Chief  Joseph.   Sitting Bull

   Geronimo.  Nez Perce.   Custer

Statue of Liberty.     Liberty Bell

   Monticello,    Seward.   Point Barrow

  Stephen Foster...Arlington...Kate Smith

   "God bless America, Land that I love...

        Stand beside her...and guide

           her thru. the night..."

---------

For these thoughts  ...and a thousand  other memories and blessings...we thank God.


              USS ARIZONA, Pearl Harbor


          Trust....in the Old West

----------

MIL

20 MARCH 2020

"THAT WORTHLESS MESQUITE"

 "THAT WORTHLESS MESQUITE"

( a poet once wrote a verse--which posited:
   " that worthless mesquite," but then
he followed with a pensive thought:
          "that mysterious mesquite..." )

A MESQUITE PASTURE

Ole Wylie, the rancher from 

  the Frio Draw, north of Clovis,

has been pondering a poem

  or a story about mesquite

pastures---now onto I reckon,

  about three years...

Billy, the skilled scientist, tackled

  the job and is still "mulling it"

I think...and he found those grand

  (almost extinct) Texas pastures

to be both "useless", ah...but also

                 "mysterious."

Another writer--me--walked them 

   a right smart seventy years ago,

and found them to be 

  "among the grandest miracles

        of all creation."

"POP" had one, about twenty or

   thirty acres, right across  the road

from "the Old Home Place."

    a never-to-be-forgotten-pasture 

---the Creator's handiwork!

A young lad of the time, when "hunting"

   had not been dubbed yet as 

as "evil," would  take the old 

   Cloverine Salve single shot .22

with a few fuzzy rounds searched

  out of Grandma's ash tray (full

of straight pins, safety pins, buttons,

   spools of thread, and lint) 

and go across the road to Pop's

   Mesquite Pasture

and roam his heart out "hunting."

He never kilt anything, and hardly

  ever even shot  the beat-up-rifle---

BUT, he was "hunting."

   ("Hunting" really means more 

        than "hunting," you know...)

That glorious wilderness was replete

  with field- larks, mockingbirds,

chickadees, plain old sparrows, and

  seemingly filled with singing birds,

of all kinds--answering, antiphonally---

   as choral people would say.

The place was covered, in places

   thickly--by big and small 

mesquite bushes..."bear grass,"

   yuccas, cacti, weeds,  and various 

grasses, some  knee high...

Blue quail were sheltering  from

  soaring  hungry hawks under

the thickest of these bushes...  

  and especially along fence rows...

Bull snakes seemed to be everywhere

   to a young boy, to whom 

all snakes .... were scary..

  (a big one crwled right between 

my feet once...and I ran for fifty yards!)

There were likely the ever-present

  rattlers, but I never saw one.

Also there were plenty wildflowers

  of various clumps and kinds,

some giving off subtle nice aromas...

Creatures that were especially fond

   of these wild places were jack rabbits

and cottontails...the little 'bunny"

   cottontails just scampered everywhere

it seemed...the jacks sat upright

  and listened    with their long ears...

Oh to be once more, in my 

    worn Red Wing boots

(acquired much later in life---they 

  have a thousand miles on them)

out on a cool, but sunny fall  day,

   walking Pop's mesquite pasture

        one more time...watching

the wispy white clouds float rapidly 

    across the sky, as if searching

for the main cloud bank

   which left during the night...

Walking with the old Cloverine

  Salve .22 which one of Pop's 

boys had earned by selling 

   a dozen cans or more of a

      popular ointment of the time

 But it is never to be, All are "gone

    with the wind..."

    

  POP left in '73, and someone 

got the old .22, which ever rested

    empty in the back BR corner

by the Philco Radio...

   and many  perhaps --most--

of Texas' mesquite pastures have.  

   been deep-plowed under. to 

get more farming land for 

   cotton and maize.

As with many good things. American,

    the mesquite pastures  are mostly

gone,                  once and for  all---

      never to be seen again.

---------

Mil

3 APRIL 2020

COMPETITION WITHOUT SPORTS

           Competition Without Sports 

             (“…one for the birds”)

       By Billy Gilbreath, Guest writer

A sports nut, condemned to watching

Only nascar racing, reruns and poker

None of these I would consider a sport.

Pardon my expressions to some of you

Turning to nature and the great outdoors

Hearing the sound of the birds and squirrel

The sounds urged me to get a clear view

Peering through the clear glass door

Allowed me to follow the vivid noise

Oops there goes the squirrel in the tree

Black bird, the one hated, called grackle

Swooped down, and three heavy pecks

Quickly relaying the move on message

Swiftly, with tail waving,  disappeared

Three pecks and you are out saying bird.

The feeder full and an abundance below

Brings many, cardinals. Sparrows, doves

Occasionally a blue jay or purple finch

Arriving for the early morning breakfast

First the Cardinal who claims the sunflower

Then the others taking what is available

Then the Blue Jay who desires sunflower

The battle began with the all-out struggle

Those Blue Jays seem to throw heavily

With that long, sharp and deadly beak

Backing off the cardinal quickly moved

To the extended wooden branches above

Looking down, disappearing in obvious loss

As in sports, Cardinal zero, Blue Jay one

Competition, Competition everywhere

Even those nuisance weeds are competing

Hopefully the green fescue will be the winner                     

Surely there is an application to our lives

Be it the numerous temptations around?

“The test of your faith produces perseverance.”

Not my words but read it in James 1:3

Billy Gilbreath, 3/17/2020 

'LET ME BE CLEAR". "I AM SICK AND TIRED" OF CLICHES

"At this point in time," "Let me be clear")

  I'm "fed up" ....with CLICHES!

Don't you just dread the next big TV

 kerfuffle, imbroglio , brouhaha--

what stupid phrases will be

aborning...and latched onto by

mediocre minds..  and repeated

o'er and o'er....ad nauseam...

For as we know: "An apple doesn't

 fall far from the tree!"

   (What did I mean by that???)

       (Who knows?)

Cliches don't really have to mean

 anything, do they? "Moving forward."

(Which other way...would we move?)

By now, "at this point in time," (vintage

 1973, "Watergate"), many folks  are

"Sick and tired," (1930's) of overused,

 hackneyed abuse of the English 

language. Ho hum. "at this point, in

  time..." blah...blah...blah...

And by the way, don't say you'll "pray"

  "I'll be praying")  if you don't really 

intend to pray. ("I covet your prayers.")

 etc. The comforting expressions are

so important and need to be said

 in the most heartfelt and sincere ways.

"Now, let it be said--" and I'll admit that

 hearing an old "saying" from  a

century ago can be downright fetching

 and somehow assuaging to our

hearts, which have been bombarded

over months...by waves of hatred

and inanity.

So we would likely be "much obliged"

 for any old-timey thoughts and 

words, recalling the "matchless days

 of yore." If you know any good old

  saws, "Let's touch base."

"Religious" folks need to remember

 that the world in general does 

not speak "PIOUS," and maybe 

they need to re-couch expressions

at times...which could sound ...

 cliched.

"At the end of the day," originally

  a British saw, I think (and which

O'Reilly dislikes) let is remember

 that we are intelligent enough

to polish our language ...amd 

 thoughts. 

More elocution and public speaking

 need to be taught...somewhere.

(Speakers need to hold their heads

 still and not do arm and hand

exercises while talking. We are not

  dummies.  Okay, a subject for

another piece...later on...

So...I think it's time to get out of this

 piece "With my hat and boots,"

an old poker-player's cliche.

But on leaving, I am reminded of

 a saying from early W. Texas

cotton farmers: "Don't never tell

 yore  guts." When I remember 

that somewhat earthy expression

 FB comes to mind.  

On FB people tell everything. Oh my!

A very dear and wise friend of mine

  from out Elida way, once gave 

me some excellent advice. (over

 a cup of coffee.) He said: "Always

play your cards close to your vest."

In parting, if one comes at me with

  a cliche, I can't help it...I must 

question his judgment...and

gumption.

"Let us be clear..." "going forward."

--------

MIL

4 MARCH 2020

"HAVE A GOOD DAY."