"A WOMAN'S CLEAR VOICE.....LILTING IN SONG"

"A Woman's Clear Voice....Lilting In Song"

"Come unto me, all ye who are weary

    and heavy laden, and I will give

        you rest.".  ...Matthew 11:25

It wasn't a big church, as churches go,

  but it was pretty full that Sunday

as it usually was    but over time

    its people were mired

in cares of the world and just

   "getting along" the trail of life...

and maybe had lost some zeal,

    concern for sin, and warmth

from earlier simpler times of life...

Besides all that, a good many

   of the grand old hymns

of Christianity were unused and

    languished in favor of the

so-called-marvelous-contemporary

   music...and forgotten and 

never heard anymore hardly at all

    were: 

      "Just As I Am, Without One Plea,"

      "Jesus Paid It All"

      "I Am Coming To The Cross"

      "Jesus Is Tenderly Calling Thee home"

 So it happened one Sunday

    that the pianist was playing

an "old" much- used hymn--not many

   years ago--during  the "meditation time..."

          and she slowed and began

to repeat the glorious melody---and

    all at once, out of the clear blue

      ---and surprising the people

    came from far in the back--

"A woman's clear voice, lilting in song!"

   "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;

        Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling:

     Calling O sinner       come home."

And the Holy Spirit of God came that day

    to that place of worship,

and sinners were touched  and went

   to the altar in tears and knelt, saying

in their hearts--in deep repentance

     "I've wandered far away from God,

          Now I'm coming home."

and this was witnessed by the people,

    and the Cosmos, and the angels and

their names were entered that day--

    in the Lamb's Book of Life...

never to be erased.

"A woman's clear voice, lilting in song..."

---------

MIL

MONDAY MUSE, 

22 JULY 2019

PLACES OF THE HEART

...CHARACTERS IN OUR DRAMA OF LIFE

One warm spring day.  

  not long ago and after

an early lawn mowing 

  I was sitting there 

under the back patio

   just sipping on lemon tea 

and got drowsy and must've

   dozed off    for one of

those weird day-time reveries

and

there I was     back in old Clovis

   my beloved hometown since

along about the summer of '38

    and I was walking the sidewalks

and seeing the streets    or was

    I riding the  old Schwinn bicycle

or in the green '60 Chevy pickup-

    who knows ...dragging Main...

or flying over someway--

    you know dreams...

and as I saw all around   my mind 

   went back over decades 

and saw all the store and businesses

    that were so much a part

of our world ...then... almost like

   characters in our drama of life

in our growing-up days...

Yes

   we had that town memorized.

In my dream    there were:

  Clovis High School    the Band Shell,

Silver Grill    Standridge  Drug  

    First Methodist    Gateway Auto

Curry County Court House. State Theater

   Stanley Pawol      Thrifty Drug

Sunshine Theater   Levine's  Anthony's

   Fox Drug     Newsstand    J.C. Penny's

Lyceum  Theater     Cotton's Barber Shop 

      Woolworth's       May Brothers 

Duckworth's Drug    Carmack's  Sutter's

   Holmberg's      Frear's      Mandell’s…..

…..Jack Holt the Clothier  Citizens Bank

    Carrington Barber Shop   Post Office

Jenk's Barber Shop   Peggy's Shop

   City Hall/Fire Department 

The Country Store     Whatley's  Wick's

   O.K.RubberWelders   Empy's Welding

Magic Steam Laundry  Phelps Grocery

   Blaylock's     Janeway Drug 

Rode's Mens Store       Coney Island

    Slaughter Murray’s     Mesa Theater

Busy Bee    Hotel Clovis    Snazzy Pig

     El Monterrey    Clovis National

Montgomery Ward      Clovis Printing

    Woolworth's     and then: 

there I was      standing there at the 

corner of Fourth and Main    in front

of Barry Hardware, one of my favorite

stores and places in town--and 

strangely of a sudden the time was

August of 1945      and Main was

blocked and a KICA van was out in

the intersection broadcasting, as

I came out of the Saturday movie at

the Lyceum...

      KICA was announcing through

their loudspeaker

      The Japanese have surrendered.

And I was eleven years old ...and

thought No More Wars...and suddenly

  I awoke...

  ---------

   By MIL

   22 MAY 2019

   

  

THE FLITTING LITTLE BUSH-TITS ARE BACK!

Used to       on cool summer mornings

    the Bush-tits came to our bird grain

       just about every day 

and flitted and fluttered around faster

   than the eye could follow,

having breakfast with us, so to speak...

Ah, the sun was still climbing

  and the its angle threw an amazing

                 "dappled light"

across my writing place...

   and all seemed peaceful and quiet

with the world...

But then our trusted Bird Grain Lady

   at the grain store told us:

"We got this new bird grain in...

   that will attract all kinds of exotic

birds--you know, like cardinals, parrots,

   blue-footed boobies...and 

amazing birds hardly ever seen...'if

you buy it--they will come!' "

So we bought it, a hanging cylinder

   of miraculous-unheard-of grain!

            They didn't come....

and our marvelous and interesting 

    little Bush-tits...just up and left.

So now we have returned to the old

   tried-and-true regular 

          run-of-the-mill bird grain

and the little Tits 

     "have returned to Capistrano,"

once again....today!

They are back and the happiest,

   flitting-est, nervous-like, and

energetic ones that one could imagine!

   Amazing little creatures...from

The Creator...everywhere at once...

We think there are five, but then

    they are difficult to count

as they won't be still...

    Four are eating as fast 

as they can...with one poor little

          hungry watch-bird

over in the waxy bush...alone.

----------

MIL

11 JULY 2019

"CLACK..CLACK...CLACK..WE CAME...AND DIED"

A D-DAY CLACKER AND OMAHA BEACH ROCK 

The rock   gathered from the "Omaha"

   Normandy Beach seventy-five

years later     has been laved

   by the waves of the sea for 

years and worn down  as has been 

   a weary world    tired of wars

and  men dying on lonely beaches

   and battlefields, barely after life

has begun for them...thousands

   from the beaches of Normandy,

D-DAY 1944  many buried nearby

   where the poppies grow

row-on-row...forever resting in 

            fields of honor...

And the clackers carried by the 

   U.S. 101st parachutists who jumped

into the dark French midnight 

   over St. Mere Eglise...into

               The Unknown

as then they clacked each other 

   in the hedgerows..."I'm 101st.."

can be bought by tourists  and

    little French kids...listen

as they play..."Click,click clack,"

   but the clickers are saying today---

"We came, we came...we came

      and died here for freedom...
Once again....

TAIBAN CHURCH, ABANDONED AND FORGOTTEN

     

Taiban, Abandoned and Forgotten
by Billy Gilbreath

Entering Taiban says the highway sign

With anticipation to see the historic town

Slowing my speed   to avoid the passing traffic

Entered with caution on the gravel street

There the uneven ruts ended at the steps

And there it remained the famous building

The church from years past and forgotten

Taiban Presbyterian famous only for photographs

Wondering how it could survive years and years

Wind of the plains, dust and even tornadoes

God allowed it to remain and perhaps purpose

Using the metal handrail of steel curved pipe

Allowed my weakened knees and lesser grasp

To enter the now removed entrance door

Perhaps it is now used at a nearby dwelling

There inside as my steps were carefully placed

The planks once filled with pews now missing

 Staring  out the  windows without panes

Seeing the distance where once the town

Empty and falling structures, boarded up

Could I hear Rock of Ages, Amazing Grace

Only with my imagination with closed eyes

Looking forward with visions of preacher

Only the distance through the open window 

The ornate ceiling of wood survived ages

 Fortunately the graffiti could not be reached.

Only the faded wall and crumbling paint

Allowed those to install the many scripts

Some inspiring,  encouraging, some foolish

Pictures, with modern phones, cameras

Will continue to be placed on the cloud

But most of all emblazed on my mind

God’s purpose for the little church 

Though not eternal but a reminder

Earthly things will eventually pass

My plans will remain forever, eternity.

FOR MIL'S
by Billy Gilbreath, guest writer
July 8, 2019

"I WILL MEET YOU IN THE MORNING BY THE BRIGHT RIVERSIDE"

...THOUGHTS OF HEAVEN, FROM OUR SONGS...

"Thou the spring of all my comfort,
   More than life to me;
Whom have I on earth beside Thee
   Whom in heaven but Thee?"
--------
"We're marching upward to Zion
   the beautiful City of God."
       2 Samuel 5:7
-------
"O day for which creation
   and all its tribes were made..."
   from ..."Ten Thousand Times
                       Ten Thousand"
--------
"Shall we gather at the river
   where bright angel feet have trod,
With its crystal tide forever
   flowing by the throne of God?
Yes we'll gather at the river,
   the beautiful, beautiful river--
Gather with the saints at the river
   that flows by the throne of God."
       ....Robert Lowry 1826-1899
-------
"In the mansions bright and blessed
    He'll prepare for us a place.
When we all get to heaven
    What a day of rejoicing that will be..."
--------
"When the trumpet of the Lord
   shall sound and time shall be no
more, and the morning breaks eternal
    bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather
   over on the other shore--
When the roll is called up yonder,
   I'll be there."
--------
"Blessed Saviour thou will guide us
   'til we reach that blissful shore,
Where the angels wait to join us
   in Thy praise forevermore."
   from..."Life Is Like A Mountain Railroad"
----------
"Jerusalem, the golden,
    with milk and honey blest...
I know not, oh I know not
   What joys await us there--
What radiancy of glory
    What bliss beyond compare."
 ....Bernard of Cluny, 12 th century
-------
"I'm satisfied with just a cottage
    below,
A little silver and a little gold;
    But in that city, where the ransomed
will shine,
    I want a gold one, that's silver lined."

"I'm headin' for the last Roundup..."
-------
"I look away across the sea where
   mansions are prepared for me,
And view the shining glory shore--
   my heav'n my home, forevermore."
    . ..."Beulah Land, Sweet Beulah Land"
-------
MIL
8 JULY 2019