Let Me Tell You One Thing

 September 27, 2024 I wish I had something to say to convince you that being a storm survivor was a good feeling. Of course, I am thankful that me and mine are fine; but I think of others who are fighting the aftermath of the storm, Helene, fighting the emotional and financial part of a storm that takes more than it gives. I have lived in middle Georgia since 1979 and I have never been under a hurricane warning that I recall.  It was so unusual it took me a minute to believe that it could be real.  It finally dawned on me that I needed to make some kind of sensible preparation.  The first thing I did was to run water in my bathroom sinks and fill water jugs.  That was after I discovered that Instacart and Publix were closing down shop and leaving us to fight this as best we could.  Of course, it was 7 p.m. when I discovered that, and if I had been Publix and Instacart, I would have done the same thing. Having said that, the reality hit me that perhaps, just...

    The Wise Woman with the Country Scarf   Paula Day Johns Feb 18 2003 Read at Thelma Vickers Johns’ Funeral 2003 When you looked into her soft brown eyes, there was a knowing look that brought surprise. She was not a woman that held contemporary matters worth a cent, she was from a different era but knew what life really meant. In her younger days it was work that gave meaning to her life, tilling the soil, milking the cow, away from global problems of trouble and strife. It was a narrow world for her, this woman of the field, nothing was more important than Enoch and cooking him a meal. Bah! she would say to glitter and glitz, and no one could orchestrate a more passionate fit! When her fit was on, we would all back away! She could carry on and leave us nothing to say. But when the fit was over and she had settled down, she’d say “you want some eggs before you go back to town?” Many a morning when the dew was still on the ground, she would harvest her...

  Romans 8:32 (New King James)     Paula Day Johns He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?   It took God some time before he decided to not spare His own Son.   How long had he thought about it?   For many generations He used blood sacrifices of animals to give people a method of sin relief.   This somehow did not meet God’s approval and He wanted a better way.   I would imagine that He really did not want to look at the solution, because it would cost Him dearly.   It would require Him to offer His only Son for the salvation of mankind.   Did He get to the place that He considered mankind may not be worth it?   When He held Christ in one hand and mankind in the other, did He consider that it may not be worth it? After all, He was God, and it was God who had to be appeased for sin.   He created mankind, it was His option to d...

A bucket of tears I could cry,  I could cry a bucket of tears. If I turn the faucet on it will drain my soul. But a bucket of tears I could cry. When my grands I love and hold dear, Say, "Nana, it's time for me to go". I get my cane and go to the lane,  And wave goodbye until they are out of sight. I turn and face my empty place,  I hold my hands full of my face; And cry my bucket of tears, My bucket of tears I do cry.  

  I will stay in my walled house. No one can bother me there. In my house, I find security, comfort, and peace. No matter that there are others, Out there somewhere who may need my help. I will stay in my walled house. No one can bother me there. Do I mind if I hear the cries of others who are in sorrow? Shall I trouble myself today or shall I wait until tomorrow? I will stay in my walled house. No one can bother me there. Anxious I am about what I may find. A needy child, an addicted mother, a man who is blind. I will stay in my walled house. No one can bother me there. I will eat chocolates, and take nice hot baths, No matter to me if they have lost their paths. I will stay in my walled house. No one can bother me there. A knock on my door, I cringe at who it may be. How dare they come without a call. I peek through the window and shrink in despair. I see Jesus Christ standing there! I will not open it! I am sure He is not pleased...

  November 28, 2023 1:26 pm   I just want to say I miss my friend Jo-Ann Carlton Blair, 1943-2020.  It hit me hard today about how much I do miss her.  I have called very few people friends in my lifetime, she was one of them. Jo-Ann never disappointed and never turned her back on me; she was straight forward, real, and direct with me. She and I did things together that did not include our husbands, like the time she booked us a five star hotel in Buckhead with a five course meal, then a limousine to our front row seats at the Fox Theater in Atlanta to see The Phantom of the Opera! Who does that?  When she walked into a room, everyone had to adjust to her light, for her light always shined brightly.  She most always had a gift in her hand to give to someone.  She was a great balance for me because my lips cracked when I tried to smile,  I didn't usually stretch my lips to do that.  I didn't have to do anything when she was around because...

 September 14 2023 Have I ever been interested in Wagyu beef?  No, I have not, until someone introduced Wagyu quality to me.  I have never actually eaten Wagyu beef.  How can I blog about Wagyu beef if I have never eaten Wagyu beef?   Because I see so many familiar qualities in Wagyu.   Now, there is an even higher quality of beef which is Kobe. In all my years as a person, I have not been aware of these two qualities of beef until recently from a person who seeks excellence in many categories. Here we go, if you get Wagyu beef, wherever you may find it, you will be getting a bona fide, high end, quality beef.  Why?  Because this Japanese Cow ( meaning Wagyu) has been bred to produce high end marbling and fats with a a pinkish color that sets it in a separate quality with a buttery taste, so they say. Leaving Kobe aside, which I know nothing about, I allude to Wagyu because I have heard that it is a gourmet beef  and I certainly wil...

  A friend of mine said it this way on a Facebook video,  " We have never passed this way before".  Our wise Solomon said this, "There is nothing new under the sun".  Both of these men are right, we have never been through 2023, and, there is nothing new under the sun.   We do not know what 2023 will bring to our personal lives, our nation, or this globe.  But we do know there will be continued successes, challenges, rapid changes in technology, medicine, and social issues. The mainstay in our moving forward is God our Father, Jesus Christ, His son, and the Holy Spirit.  Not all people rely on the trinity, they put their faith and their trust in other gods, in themselves, in the economy, or fate. This one thing I know, I am grateful for life, for the privilege of experiencing life, all phases of life, all possibilities of life, all challenges of life, all heartaches, and all disappointments.  The other side of that is no opportunity at life a...

  Published by Broadman & Holman Publishers Nashville, Tennessee  c.2003 November 18, 2022 When I began this book, it had been on my shelf for a few years.  And like most books, they are around you, either you own them or you buy them, or possibly download them.  But these books can be around for a day, a week, a year or years and then suddenly, you find yourself reading them for no apparent reason. This book was picked up off my shelf of books basically because I was reading the book of John in the bible at the time, and wanted to know more about him.  When I start reading a book, I usually finish the book whether I like the book or not.  I must admit, this book was small print, three hundred thirty-four pages, and it took me some time to acquire a taste for Beth Moore's writing style.  Even though she is a well known speaker and author of multiple books and bible studies, I had never looked into her writings before, I had never heard her speak pu...

One tiny baby, born on Christmas day,  Born in a stable in a land far away.   One tiny baby, lay in a manger,  One tiny baby who never showed anger!   This tiny baby, grew up as He should,  He grew to be a man, that did only good!   He was sent to us from the Father above,    Just to prove to us how great was His love!   Then He died on a cross to save us from sin,  So that we can, to the Father, boldly walk in!   So now we celebrate Christmas, but let's don't forget the cost,  Without the cross and Easter, then Christmas would be lost!   So when we exchange gifts remember the greatest gift of all,  "One tiny Baby" who from heaven did fall!   Just one tiny baby in one tiny hand,  Held the keys to the kingdom and to the soul of man!   Hattie Calihan Taylor won second place with this poem by the Society of American Poets 1994 Hattie was a faithful woman and gave many hand written and type...

Read at Thelma Vickers Johns’ Funeral When you looked into her soft brown eyes, there was a knowing look that brought surprise. She was not a woman that held contemporary matters worth a cent, she was from a different era but knew what life really meant. In her younger days it was work that gave meaning to her life, tilling the soil, milking the cow, away from global problems of trouble and strife. It was a narrow world for her, this woman of the field, nothing was more important than Enoch and cooking him a meal. Bah! she would say to glitter and glitz, and no one could orchestrate a more passionate fit! When her fit was on, we would all back away! She could carry on and leave us nothing to say. But when the fit was over and she had settled down, she’d say “you want some eggs before you go back to town?” Many a morning when the dew was still on the ground, she would harvest her strawberries and beam at what she had found. Then off to the barn to milk her dear cow, making cream for our...

  When things really pile up, I mean really pile up and you become so overwhelmed that staring at the wall seems good; there must be a path left open in our brain to find solace. I find those times especially taxing on everything that I normally use to regain composure and talk myself through whatever is going on. This  reminds me of the many times Saul of the bible felt this way, and he most always called for David who was so very skilled in playing soothing music for him. The best thing always is to have a plan, for we never know when these times will catch us so unprepared to deal with them.  If you have a favorite soothing piece of music that can rest your mind coupled perhaps with beautiful scenery and give yourself time to regroup, time to get the situation into perspective you are already on your way back to sanity and composure.

 It is odd when you are in the throes of possible disaster.  The mind can play tricks.  When the siren went off in my city, I took it seriously but not too seriously.  Why was that?  They don't do those except as a warning.   I did take cover, I did believe it was possible, but it was as if it was surreal.  It was as if it was not really happening.  I saw the wind. I heard the roar. I saw the deluge of rain; however, I stayed on the phone with the Direct TV guy because I was trying to upgrade my plan so I could actually see my local weather.   I can get it on my iPhone , but I wanted to see this radar on my TV.  The entire few seconds that the tornado was actually over my head, I was talking with him about the upgrade hunkered down in my hall bathroom.  I made him nervous.  I told him the siren was going off.  He said, "I hear it.  Mrs. Johns, you are making me nervous."  I said, "My name is Paula, pray...

 I have been reading Mark Richt's book, Make The Call,  which, I must say, has been an eyeopener for me about football and those who play the game. I was privileged to hear Mark at a dinner banquet for the Church of God minister's of South Georgia back in December 2021 at which time he warmed my heart with his demeanor, his humility, and his announcement of his onset of Parkinson's disease. He very generously gave everyone a free copy of his book that night which was amazing since it totaled hundreds of copies. I began to read the book because, he had influenced me and touched me greatly the night he spoke at the banquet.  I didn't know if it would interest me much because I assumed it was about football.  Even though I like a game of football periodically, I am not a die hard fan of any sport or sport team; but, again, he gave us a book, and I had been touched by his life he shared with us at the banquet, therefore I decided to read the book. Not only has the book b...

  Hot, arid air to breathe in a desert, Mixed with morbid, hurting, loneliness; Missing life, love  and connection, There you will find me. Seems like despair, with many there; Lets me know, however I feel, I am not alone. No matter who, no matter who with, There is still an empty space within us, Nothing will be complete until we are home again. We cannot fold, we cannot crumble,  There has to be a beacon of light For those who follow us, even from a distance. Carry on, never cease' If we do not tell them,  They will not find the way.

 Verse  1 O Lord, God of my salvation, I have cried out day and night before you.     ( Psalm 27:9)  Do not hide your face from me; do not turn your servant away in anger; You have been my help; do not leave me nor forsake me, O God of my salvation.      The writer in the 27th psalm has clearly been helped by calling on our Father.        This 88th psalm begins by a reminder to the God of my salvation that he has called or cried to Him day and night.      How can we ever expect God to answer prayer if we we are so sporadic with our prayers?  A consistency would seem a rather important thing      One of the things that stand out most is someone's faithfulness and determination in a certain quest.  If a person has a history of faithfulness, it seems  that God most certainly takes that into consideration. Verse 2 Let my prayer come before You; incline Your ear to my cry. ...

   ◦ I look out into the world; I seem so insignificant behind the window. For just outside my window  There is space that moves and flows;  Flows beyond for thousands and thousands of miles. I am but a small particle in the mix  I am but a small being in the vastness of the universe,  Yet Christ has redeemed me. He salvaged my soul and my future. I will move into the vastness of eternity Like water flows in a waterfall!

  Paul had a mega job convincing the people of his time to embrace Christ and the resurrection. The Athenians seemingly were always looking for something new to tell or hear.   Philosophers were abundant,  practically on the street corners it seems; debaters were common. They accused Paul of being a babbler or picking up scraps of something new and peddling it. There was Epicureanism (tranquility seeking), Stoicism (acceptance of life as inevitable), and Polytheism (the belief of multiple gods).   They accused Paul of propagating a religion of two new gods, i.e. Jesus and the resurrection. It must have been very difficult for him to have to plow through all the ideologies, beliefs, and religions of the day.   He worked diligently, he and the people with him on the mission to tell others about Christ. He suffered prison, beatings, shipwreck, and the stress of leading and mentoring people of the power of Jesus Christ and the resurrection.   God empo...

  Sometimes, when in therapy with an individual with a hole in their heart, I sometimes thought that perhaps that emptiness was there from birth, the hole was so deep.  It seemed that nothing could fill the space.  My client would go layer by layer into their heart until they could dig down in that empty hole and bring up so many painful, destructive wounds.  We would have to deal with them layer by layer.  But in the end, once the hole has been completely dug out, we could begin to fill the hole again with good things. When we love a child, or a spouse that has injured us emotionally,  or there is a wound that comes from a friend,  the hole in our heart becomes deeper.  We begin to layer protection around the heart until there is a cold,  frigid wall around our heart and we refuse to let anyone or anything in.  This can happen without our awareness and over a period of time.  As a result,  it seems there are many of us who see...

  When I was upgrading an old kitchen sink, I looked for a copper sink.  I needed a new sink for an old farmhouse that needed a lot of tender love and care to say the least.  My plan was to upgrade the counters, the sink, and the flooring and to add new cabinets. This I did. Since copper was farmsy and trendy, I looked for copper.  The owner of the granite tile company also offered order only sinks.   This I did.  He suggested that I may want to reconsider getting a copper sink unless I wanted to do a lot of maintenance on the sink.  Did I follow his recommendation?   This I did not do. Since that time, the owners words have rung through my brain many, many times as I labor and polish and buff my farmsy copper sink.  Oh,  it’s beautiful when it is smiling back at me with sparkles, but each time I polish and buff that sink, God speaks to me through that sink.  It is a lesson He teaches to me over and over.  This He does. We are...