Beech Tree News Network

DYING TO LIVE-

I’m a gamer but sometimes I don’t get to my PS4 as much as I’d like.   Okay, maybe a lot of times.   Ever since I got my PS4 for Christmas, I was on the lookout for one of my favorite ‘90’s games, Bad Dudes.  Back in the day, Rochester had two stores- B & J Grocery-One of which carried Bad Dudes.  Problem was, the copies were almost always rented.  That speaks to its popularity.  I would try Boggess in Morgantown.  I soon struck pay-dirt! 

Random topics interest me. This week, my random topics are September holidays, anxiety and identity theft protection. As Sidney Poitier said, “So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness” (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/randomness).

First, although Labor Day has passed, September includes religious and other holidays (https://www.wincalendar.com/Holiday-Calendar/September-2018), like the following:

God is in the details.  Hold that thought.

First lady Eleanor Roosevelt (Mrs. FDR) was once asked if she prayed.  “No, not a lot,” she said.  “I don’t bother God—He has too much to look after…He doesn’t like to be tied-up all day with small stuff.”  Say what Eleanor!  Weren’t you limiting God Mrs. Roosevelt?  The God that made you, and the world you live in… “Who is man that I am mindful of him?” God said. 

Down in a holler, at the base of a mountain, near the Warrior River, in the great state of Alabama, lie the remains of a moonshine still.  The still belonged to Garey’s father, J.D., now gone these past twenty-four years.  After a particularly hard crop year, J.D. is reported to have said, “I’ve decided to raise gourds and make moonshine.  It kills gourds if you work them, and moonshine works itself.”  

            The book of Jonah is fascinating. Jonah was a prophet who lived during the divided kingdom (II Kings 14:25-ch. 15). We are probably most familiar with Jonah’s actions when he was told to go to Nineveh to cry against the city (Jonah 1). The book of Jonah follows him when he finally reached Nineveh and preached the truth to the people in the city (Jonah 4).

The harmonica was first invented in China a few thousand years ago, reportedly.  The instrument, called the “Sheng”, had bamboo reeds, and became a prominent instrument in Asian traditional music.  The Sheng was introduced in Europe in the late 18th century and soon became popular in the 19th century.  In the U.S., the harmonica became popular as a Blues instrument.  In the 1930’s and early ‘40’s, a man named John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson became well-known.  After the second World War, Chicago became a major center for Blues, with such players as Rice Miller(Sonny Boy Williamson II) and L

About a week ago, our church hosted a marriage conference. Twenty-seven couples attended. Many have since commented that it was a wonderful experience. Why would they give up most of their weekend to attend such an event? I believe they attended because they want to keep their marriages healthy.

Many have expressed opinions about marriage. Some of those thoughts include the following (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/marriage):

After watching an episode of the Andy Griffith Show where Aunt Bee bought an elixir from a street vendor and things sort of went down hill after that (alcohol), I remembered some of the elixirs from my growing up years.  There was (in no certain order): Geritol—“Contains as  much Vitamin A as a half pound of calf’s liver.”

Recently, we had two guest speakers at our church that had two very different styles of presentation, but the same message.