Columns

A well-meaning Christian friend once gave me a copy of Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. You’ve probably heard of it. It’s a daily devotional that has sold more than 30 million copies.

I tried to read it, but very soon into my reading I became uncomfortable.

I just could not get past how Sarah Young speaks as if she herself is Jesus.

I’m not saying God does not or cannot speak to people or through people, but Young specifically puts words in God’s mouth.

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My favorite Bricklayer was Blake McCullough, a longtime friend and neighbor back in the day. While I was “toiling away” down at LSU Blake was living it up with a crew of young men like us learning how to be bricklayers … AND having a hell of a good time, too!

He did end up a bricklayer with his own equipment and was a pretty skillful craftsman. One summer back in the 80’s, to make a little money, I volunteered to help him do some brick mantles and brick mailboxes. Of course, the bricklayer’s helper (me) did all the wheelbarrow work – whew. He once let me start a mailbox column which I thought looked pretty good but he tore it down because the mortar joints were uneven … same with the hearth I tried to start. I soon realized that laying brick was a craft, a talent so I didn’t ask to try again. AND I quickly moved on to another “easier” part-time job – reroofing houses. Dang it!

I sometimes listen to the late Bible teacher, David Pawson.

Recently in a YouTube talk, I heard Bro. Pawson say that someone had once asked him if their baby who had passed away would be in Heaven.

In his gentle British accent, Bro. Pawson replied that, while there are no specific Bible verses stating directly that babies will be in Heaven, he believed that God’s character provides evidence that they will be.

I started thinking, what are some specific attributes of God’s character that we can lean on when we don’t know the exact answers to some of our questions.

I can’t list them all in the space of a column, but here are some of God’s character qualities that we can be sure of, as revealed in the Word of God:

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Mansfield reached its pinnacle of high society at the end of the 1800’s and early 1900’s. The editor of the DeSoto Democrat Newspaper on April 26, 1895 made the statement that Mansfield should have a first class opera house. This statement evidently put the proverbial “Bee” under Mansfield’s “Bonnet” for with two years the Belle Taylor Opera House formally opened.

Miss Belle Taylor contracted B.F. Jenkins to build a two story “Business House” on her lot where the post office stood in September 1896 at the southwest corner of Polk and Jefferson Streets. The new two story building would house the post office and a store on the lower floor and the public hall or opera house on the second floor. The proposed 75 foot by 30 foot structure would be of red brick. By mid-December 1896 Johnson Brothers had moved into the lower floor and finished final touches for the post office and upper floor opera house.

Diamonds!

Returning from a weekend trip to Hot Springs, Ark., actually Hot Springs Village, I had plenty to time to remember other family vacations I’d been on. Several were of summer vacations to the Alabama beaches south of Mobil, Ala., one to Six Flags Over Texas when it first opened, and others to Texas and Arkansas. I’m sure you, too, could rattle off a few of your favorites. In fact, take a minute right now to close your eyes and let that warm pleasant memory just wash all the negativity right out of you. Aaaaah!

This trip was centered around Susan’s Step-Daughters’, Shannon & Sommer, birthday – 40 years old times two. With the start of Shark Week on cable and a menacing looking shark piñata and lots of BBQ planned we were all excited. Who knows the boys may catch enough fish for a big fish fry before we left! Well, that didn’t happen but we all had fun with the fish we did catch.

Those of you who have followed this column over the past several years know my true historical love is local history with an occasional deviation. Up front this writer does not claim a great deal of knowledge in today’s subject – only love and interest. “A Brief History of the Holy Bible in English”. Being a Mason some 70 years we are exposed to the subject with the Knight Templars as the principal information source. J. Luther Jordan, of Mansfield and world leader of masons back in the mid-1900’s, could have done a much better jobs with this subject.

Or, more accurately, a tasty combination of three very good Eggplant recipes from my three favorite Recipe Books that I’ve had for years. Just out of curiosity I looked up Eggplant on Wikipedia and found out that it is generally believed to have originated in India but has be cultivated in southern and eastern Asia since prehistoric time.

We know it here in Louisiana as an excellent ingredient in a lot of Cajun recipes like Eggplant Seafood Casserole, Eggplant Dressing or as a meat substitute in Italian recipes like Eggplant Parmesan. Susan has had some White Eggplant vines growing in her back yard and they have all started coming in. I brought several home planning on doing a little research online on a good way to cook them. However, the cable crew was replacing lines in my neighborhood and my Internet was down. I remembered how much fun I’d had in the past researching recipes so I started breaking out my old recipe books.

Snake-Zilla

Last week t h e evening news reported on and showed footage of a giant black snake weaving through the limbs of a tree in Fenton, La. The landowner reported seeing it near one of his crawfish ponds and claimed it was over 12’ long! When asked for an I.D. of this giant the La. Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries were of the tentative opinion that it was a “… very mature Black Rat Snake.” The largest on record in Louisiana being over 7’ long.

We welcomed a new family member in mid-June, a beautiful chocolate and tan miniature schnauzer puppy girl.

Our little Bailey (“Bailey Hanna Chocolate Bliss”) came into our lives at just the right time. We lost our precious two-year-old schnauzer girl, Charli, in early April to a sudden tragedy. Our family and our boy schnauzer, Kaiser, had been grieving.

We originally had no idea that we would be getting another puppy so soon after losing Charli, but a series of events that I recognize as God’s grace came upon us.

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As Americans make plans to celebrate one of our most important National Holidays there are a few things that should be kept in mind other than Bar-B-Queuing. First of all what is the Fourth of July? On July 4, 1776 delegates of the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence from England. It was the act of declaring not necessarily obtaining our independence from England. July 4, 1776 marked the formal beginning of the American Revolution and we celebrate it as our Nation’s Birthday.