The Commander's Captain

My church just recently welcomed a new pastor. In the interim we had a retired pastor whom just happened to be my old pastor twenty years ago. To make a long story short, this is what I wrote for his thank you reception.


A ship without a captain
Tossed about by the wind
Guided by the current
It’s sails growing thin

Filled with a crew
Each with an oar in their hand
Waiting for someone
To take command

Sent from the Commander
He stepped behind the helm
To give directions
From the Commander’s realm

His course is true
His destination sure
His eye is on the prize
His task is pure

Captain of many a ship
Guided them safely to shore
His time here though short
His message we can’t ignore

The Commander has another
Ship for him to sail
Another ship adrift
A crew that needs saved by the nail

His course is set before him
He needs no direction or more skill
For his life is the Commander’s
To perform His Will

Graditude and thanks
Seem so hollow of words
To say how much we love you
How much you’re adored

Though our course will cross
On the horizions shore
May we be shipmates when we pass through
The Commanders Door

Missing Beth

I miss Beth. I never met her, but I miss her. Beth is author of one of my favorite blogs, "Switched At Birth", and decided she needed to put the blog aside and concentrate on other areas of her life. Ya can't blame her for that.

After reading a comment she made on another site, I realized I missed her. A few times a week I'd pull up her blog and there she was, welcoming me to her home on Long Pine Preserve with that big smile of hers. Then suddenly she was gone.

This caused me to start thinking, why do we get so attached to people we have never met? Why is it that on-line friends become almost like family? I feel closer to all you on-line friends than I do those I physically see. I blogged about this once before, a long time ago, and my conclusion then was that at the keyboard, we can be ourselves. We don't have to put up a false front to try and impress someone we don't know, but then a funny thing happens, we've established a relationship. We cross our t's and dot our i's and suddenly we have a friend in Florida, Alaska, even Down Under.

We have even written about our friendships over at Ann's website. We decided that we're going to all meet on Gully's deck and have a beer or two and pound on our laptops. I do hope that one day that will happen in one form or another.

I don't know why this is such a phenom, but it is. Maybe the way to world peace is one on-line relationship at a time. So my friends, on-line and off, keep in touch. Keep writing and keep wowing me with your words, on-line for now, but one day face to face.

(I know this is almost the exact opposite of my last post, but the last post was mainly about a romantic relationship. This one is about friendship and finding them in a place where a person wasn't really looking for friends.)

Text Message?

I guess I'm a little old fashioned. Have all these new types of communication really made life easier? Back in the day it was three ways to ask the latest crush out. For the one who was really bashful and tongue-tied, a note left on her desk. For the shy but conversational, there was the phone call, and for the verbose, there was the face to face. These three styles of communication worked well the majority of the time. The reaction was from "Isn't that cute?" to a slap in the face, depending on the pick-up line you used.

Now it seems the face to face has been deemed necessary only during the date. They text, send pictures of themselves, email, and even when everything else fails telephones. I guess a text message would qualify as note. But how impersonal has this become. How well do you know someone by their text message or email? How do you know if this person is as nice as they sound or are they a pervert?

I guess I'm just an old romantic, I prefer the wooing. The holding of hands, the goosebumps when you brush their arm as you walk beside them. The aching of your arm as you refuse to move it even after all blood has left it because it took you so long to work up the nerve to put it around her. The look in her eye when you finally kiss her.

So I'll live in my decade where you opened the door for your lady. You protected her reputation and listened to her wishes. You were obedient to not only your parents wishes, but when her father spoke, you listened.

Ah the good ole days

OUCH!!!!

Back before Beautiful and I were married I was shopping at the local supermarket where I selected:

A half-gallon of 2% milk, A carton of eggs, A quart of orange juice, A head of romaine lettuce, A 2 lb. can of coffee, and 1 lb. package of bacon.

As I was unloading my items on the conveyor belt to check out, a drunk standing behind me watched as I placed the items in front of the cashier. While the cashier was ringing up the purchases, the drunk calmly stated, "You must be single."

I was a bit startled by this proclamation, but I was intrigued by the derelict's intuition, since I was indeed single. I looked at the six items on the belt and saw nothing particularly unusual about my selections that could have tipped off the drunk to my marital status.

Curiosity getting the better of me, I said, "Well, you know what, you're absolutely right. But how on earth did you know that?"

The drunk replied, "Cause you're ugly."

I get no respect................

Sigel's Summer

Sigel lifted his straw cowboy hat off his sweating head and wiped his face with his bandana. He had a love hate relationship with Oklahoma Indian Territory in the summer. He hated eating the dust off the cattle trail all day, but loved watching God paint a sunset at night. The sun turned his face a dark brown but his long sleeved shirt kept his arms as white as if it were winter. The heat radiated off his paint pony, Jamie, and he knew that it was about time to spell her.

Boss Man rode up next to him, “We’re going to stop early today, there’s a river crossing about a half mile up the way. We’ll bed down there for the night, and get a early go in the morning. This heat is taking too much weight off these doggies.”

“We’ll get’m bedded down,” Sigel smiled, “maybe Cookie could cook something besides beans tonight?”

“Just be beans with some jerky thrown in. He probably don’t even need a fire tonight, them beans probably cooked themselves in this sun,” the boss man laughed.

Sigel tipped his hat and rode off to start the bedding down process, and started thinking. He didn’t like thinking, he always over thought things when he should have just gone with his first instinct. Still, he started making a list in his head as he listed them out loud to Jamie. “Being hot, means the varmints would be prowling in the cooler night hours. Probably be a good idea to ride extra rounds. We’ll wait till after supper to make that call. At least we’re near water tonight, maybe I can grab a bath, upstream from the herd of course. I’ll need to help Cookie fill the water barrels. I’ll need to fill my canteens. Might give Jamie a good bath and rub down too. She deserves it, hauling me around all day. Oh, well, I’d better get busy.”

Summer nights in July doesn’t always bring a cool breeze, tonight was one of those hot, sticky nights that made life on the trail tough. Sigel wasn’t bothered by it though. On quiet nights like this, he could hear Cookie snoring clean across the herd. He would sit in the saddle and let Jamie dose while he looked into the stars and talked with Jesus. He gathered strength from these times and too often his shift would end too soon and he’d lay on his bed roll and continue his conversation with the Lord. His strength came from these times and he was always surprised the next morning on how rested he felt without much sleep. He remember some Bible verse his mama would quote him about how strength came from the Lord, but he didn’t know where to find it. He figured remembering it was just as good as reading it. Remembering it was a way of thinking about it and seeing what God wanted him to learn. Too often, he admitted, he’d read his Good Book and then not think about what it said. Well, he decided, at least I know I'm going to Heaven and I won’t have to spend any time in hell, shoot, don’t know if it could be much hotter than Oklahoma in July.

The Most Boring Post

I was tagged, I guess that's what you call it, by my best red headed cyberbub Linda from 777 Peppermint Place. She gave me the "Honest Scrap" reward, I think she fat fingered it, it should be "Honest Crap" if she's referring to my writing. Anywho, I'm suppose to list eight truths about me. I warned you that this was going to be boring. So here goes, All you wanted to know about Walk but was afraid to ask:

1. I'm short for my weight. There ya have it, I'm short. According to my weight I should stand at 8' 10". So I'm short.

2. I've lived at the minimum of sixteen addresses since I was born, I think it's closer to twenty, but I can't remember them all. They cover seven states.

3. I like a good chick-flick. There just not many of them out there. "Under the Tuscan Sun" or "Must Love Dogs" are good examples. Lifetime movies are bad examples.

4. I hate lists.

5. I was roadie for a night a few times. The first time was when I was in college and was roadie for "Rare Earth". Others were David and the Giants, and Ray Boltz.

6. I had eight aces in a row in a doubles tennis tourney back in the day. I was a stud back then.

7. I've survived two head-on car accidents. Totaled out a 66 Mustang and a 71 Ranchero.

8. I was first kissed by, oh yeah, I promised I'd never tell.

Ok, now to tag some others......

1. Sarah Palin...just as soon as I get her blog address.
2. Michael Jackson...whoops, too late.
3. Michael Moore.....never mind, no mind.
4. Britney Spears.....nope, we already know too much about her.
5. Amelia Earhart....just as soon as she lands.
6. Daffy Duck..........I believe his address is Washington D.C.
7. Monty Python.....But I don't speak English (Well, I don't, I speak Okie)
8. Mikey the Mime..Except we're not on speaking terms.

Well, there ya have it, or maybe not.

Granny and Gramps

looking at this picture
Not color, but black and white,
Of my granny and gramps
Posing with smiles so bright.
Their house in the background,
Their dog not out of their sight.
Granny's a head taller,
Gramps didn't care much about height.
Wearing their sweaters
Buttoned up so tight.
Cane in their hands
Bad legs were their plight.
Eye glasses sitting on their nose
Magnifying their eyes so bright.
One of the last pictures taken
Before Gramps left on his homeward flight.
Leaving Granny alone in their house
Missing her beloved knight