A Great Man

What makes a man great? I have been pondering this for several weeks now. I don't think being elected to an office, no matter how high the office, makes you a great man. I don't even think being king of a country makes a man great. What makes a man great is his character. A man that I know is preparing to meet his Lord and Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is a great man.
His name is Charlie, and I have known him all of my life. My first memory of him is in church. He and his family have always been in the periphery of my life, in the last 20+ years much closer. If you met him on the street and spoke to him for longer than a minute you knew of his relationship with God. He has never been embarrassed to share that relationship. He was a builder in his days before retirement. If Charlie built a house for you, you always got more than what was promised. If he was your landlord, as he was at one time for my parents, he was the best.

He never failed to stand during a testimony service and thank the Lord for his goodness, with tears. He has been married to one woman his whole life and she is the light of his life. Together they raised six children in the house of the Lord and was an example of love and faith to them. Among them are a nurse, a missionary, a teacher, a pastor's wife, a doctor and an attorney. What a legacy.

Charlie has always been there with a smile on his face and a love in his heart. I always knew if I needed something, anything, Charlie would be there, even though it was never spoken. There are some people you just know you can count on. So as Charlie prepares to meet the Lord, he is doing so with a smile on his face and a love in his heart. I just know when he gets to heaven there will be throngs of people waiting to say to him: Thank you for giving to the Lord, I am a life that was saved.

Lord you want me to do what?

I have often wondered if God were to call me to do something out of my comfort zone would I do it. Friday I was in a waiting room in a St. Louis hospital waiting to be called for a colonoscopy. The room was full. Over to one side there was an elderly man sitting behind a woman in a wheel chair, with another woman on either side of him. One of the women started to sing softly, she could still be heard all over the room. She was singing Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's just something about that name..... the elderly man closed his eyes and attempted to sing along. Before long they called a name and the man, another woman and the lady in the wheel chair went to another room. The lady who was singing got up and went to a family of three in front of us. She said "I must apologize, I didn't ask if there was a song I could sing for you." I couldn't hear what they replied but she again started to sing the same song and from that one went into Because He lives I can face tomorrow....., those people then taught her a children's chorus set to the tune of we will, we will rock you. Then she went to the people next to us and went through the same things. She then told them that her husband was here for some major surgery. Instead of focusing on her problems she was ministering to others. I thought Lord, if you called me to do that, could I. Honestly, I don't know. Years ago I was driving with Bree-Ann and the Lord spoke to me and told me to go witness to someone who was a parent of a bus kid. I immediately turned around and went to their home. I felt like there was no choice. I never considered not doing it. But this Lady had major problems of her own and she was joyfully ministering to others. Lord, help me to be like that. I wonder did she feel like I did, was there a choice?

Nothing to do

I am currently at work with nothing to do. Our computer system crashed and we do everything on that program. They were doing an update that was bigger than they thought and it crashed the server. So here I sit with nothing to do. I am supposed to do sound at church tonight but if I can't even start my work until after lunch getting done and out of here on time will be almost impossible. I am working on that one. I hate not being busy. I am a worker bee, I need work. I don't do bored well. Fortunately I work with people I like and we have been talking and surfing the net.
Also, today is tax day. I hate tax day. It seems no matter how hard I try I always end up mailing my taxes (read money) on tax day. I took our taxes to the accountant early in March and he finished them yesterday. Next year we will be looking for someone new. We pay estimated every quarter and still end up paying more. I really hate taxes!

Storms

I hate storms. I think it comes from when I was a child. My parents went to California every year to see my grandparents and I did not want to go (car sick). So I stayed behind at my other grandmother's. One summer there was a tornado in the middle of the night. They lived in a little 3 1/2 room house with no basement. Grandma got us up and made us sit up through the storm. A tree fell on the house near where we were sitting. If she had just let us sleep it would have been fine. Ever since then I have this terrible fear of storms. I have gotten better over the years but not a lot. I can just hide it better now. As I write this it is about to storm. I am at work next to very large windows. Tonight the farmer and I have a dinner to go to in a place with no basement. all I can do is pray Lord keep us safe.

Help

I work with someone who hates me, that is not an exageraton. She refuses to sit at her desk when I am there because it is next to mine. She speaks to me only when I speak to her and there is a supervisor around. She is rude, unpleasant and the unhappiest person I have ever met. I have been told both by my immediate supervisor and the big boss that she has been ask to find a different job. She has been here 20 years and they say she has been here too long and she doesn't remember what it is like in the real world. She comes in late, messes around and spends too much time outside smoking. I start 30 minutes after her and I am here before her. I have been having terrible headaches she causes me so much stress. I have been as nice as can be I pray for her daily but I just don't know what else to do. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Cooking

I love to cook, actually baking is what I really love. I love making yeast bread, sweet bread, cakes, cookies, pies. I love it all and I am not afraid to try new things. One year our church held an auction. My entry was a year of deserts one a month. The people who bought it seemed to love it. I tried to taylor it to their needs. If I knew they were having company I tried to have something for that time. I made sure to ask about their likes and dislikes. I made all kinds of things from cheesecakes to pies. They begged me to do it again the next year but by that time I was busy with other things and didn't have the time. I alway thought I would like to hold a class for young women who are about to get married and teach them things like how to make homemade noodles, easy beef stew, chicken pot pie so they could start out with a basic knowledge. My daughter was never interested in learning, but my granddaughter loves cooking with me. See below.

My bucket list

If you have seen the movie "Bucket List" you will know what this means. This is not a serious list just things I would like to do before I kick the bucket.
They are in no particular order.
1. Build our dream house
2. Fly first class round trip to Europe
3. Fly in a private jet
4. Be a single digit size
5. Go to Australia
(i'm sensing a theme here)
6. Not have to ever have to think about money again.
I really don't have a lot of wants. Mostly travel is high on my list. I guess I just am boring.