Psalm 118:29

Comic from Sunday paper 29APRIL2018 Asheville-Citizen Times

Psalm 145:3

RAMPS

Now you ain't never lived until you have eaten a Ramp. They are some kind of good. They come up in the Spring. They are a type of wild onion, only better. They have a strong odor when eaten. The smell comes out of your pores when you sweat. It can be a strong odor, if you have eaten a lot of ramps. 

You can cook with ramps. They are good mixed in with fried taters. Or mixed in with hamburger meat when making hamburgers. Yummy.

Fresh dug out in the mountains

Beginning the cleaning process.

After they are cleaned and ready to eat.

Try'em You'll like'em

But take my advice eat only a few

or be prepared to sleep in the dog house.....lol

Trilliums Red & Yellow

Red Trilliums grow wild on my folks land. I love roaming the mountain behind their house looking for them in the Spring. This year we had a surprise we found Yellow Trilliums as well while exploring. The Red Trillium grows at the edge of the forest and Moms yard. The Yellow Trilliums that we found were growing on the side of the mountain close to a branch that runs down the mountain at the edge of the woods and a clearing that my step dad uses for gardening.

The Yellow Trilliums next to an old 5 gal. bucket.

28APRIL2018, photos taken on Eller Branch, in Robbinsville, NC

Moms 65th Birthday is April 30th 2018

Mom will be 65 on Monday April 30th 2018. I didn't think I would get to go in and celebrate it with her so I drove home to celebrate today. Come to find out, she will be in Asheville on Monday so we will get to celebrate her special day again. I think she planned that....lol

Gold Iris

Gold Iris blooming in my flower garden in front of my house. This is the only one blooming at the moment but I have others that are ready to bloom any day.

Psalm 23

Trust in the Lord

The Danger of Drifting

The Dangers of Drifting

Proverbs 27:8 As a bird wandereth from her nest, so is a man that wandereth from his place.

You will never serve God by accident.

Drifting affects every age bracket.

The following story is from a fishing magazine

            Two young men were out on a fishing expedition on a boat. While they were fishing they got caught up in the drift of the ocean and one man said, to the other man don’t you think we’ve drifted to far? The other man said, NO man, I’ve drifted this far before so don’t worry about it. I got a 70-horse power motor on the back of this boat. I got enough power to solve the drifting problem.

            The story said, they went out and got away from the shores of safety. And the coast guard came by and said there’s a storm coming, and you guys have gone and got in the drift. IF you have any sense about you, you’ll fire up your boat and get back to the docks before the storm gets here. After the coast guard left one guy looks at the other and says, see they think we e are retarded, they don’t think we know how far we can drift without going to far. He acts like this is our first time going out on the water. I’m sick of these dictators telling us we’re drifting to far. You run your boat the way you want, and I’ll run mine the way I want to. I got as much wisdom as the coast guard ever dared to have.

            In just a matter of moments the storm came. The wind blew and one of the men said fire up the motor and he went to start it. But the motor would not start. The angry winds of the angry sea grabbed their fishing boat and thrust it out into the surrounding waters. Six days later the boat was found. Both men were still on the boat. One had died, and his body had rotted and exploded. The other was so dehydrated that he was passed out and Nye unto death.

A great thought came to mind, there is a great danger in drifting from God.

Several months after this incident took place, the man had gotten a little better and had lived. He was still in the hospital when they did the interview and the interviewer asked him;

And outline for a life lesson (sermon) from a fishing magazine.

1.      What was the reason for drifting?

There are 3 reasons for drifting.

1.      The current pulled on us so slow that we didn’t really know how far gone we were.

Sin starts out a slow-moving process.

2.      We were more interested in pleasure than we were direction.

The man said, I didn’t care which way the boat was going. I was just interested in having some fun.

3.      We had a power shortage.

When we left the shores of safety we had enough power to get us back.

But we got to drifting and then we lost all our power.

The man said, if I had of been more sensitive to the wind I would have been able to get back to the dock before the storm ever got to us.

He said, if I had of been sensitive to the wind I would have missed the storm.

2.      The result of drifting.

What happened when you got out on the open water

1.      We became delirious.

When you become delirious you don’t hear right. You don’t see right, and you don’t walk right. You don’t function like you used to.

You become real weak, when you become delirious.

2.      We became dehydrated.

No fluid. Lost our tears. No burden.

It would be bad to die of thirst, when you are surrounded on all sides by water. We were surrounded by water. But it was salt water. Very bad.

It’s not only important to have water, but you have got to have the right kind of water.

3.      Then we died.

Two men left on the boat that morning. But only one made it back.

When you just jump out, there’s a 50% chance you may never make it back.

The man that was interviewed will never be normal again because of what happened to him.

He will carry scares with him the rest of his life.

When we leave the safety of Gods shores and drift away we face the same predicament.

3.      What is the remedy for drifting?

1.      Do not be controlled by the current.

Water only runs one way and that is down. If you get in the current, you are going to go down.

2.      Do not hang around friends that are controlled by the current.

I would not hang around anyone who would rather feed my flesh that feed my Spirit.

Do not run around with anyone who lives in the flesh.

3.      Keep the LIGHT HOUSE in view at all times.

The man said, I knew we were gone when I looked out over the horizon and I could not see the light house. I knew we were gone.

What will keep you from drifting every morning when you get up.

A.    Stay close to the light house.

B.     Keep your eyes on Jesus.

4.      Keep extra fuel on board just in case a storm comes up.

                  Take more fuel than you need.

5.      Do not think it cannot happen to you.

6.      Do not judge how far you have gone by looking at the other boats.

It doesn’t matter if everybody is drifting that is no excuse for you to.

7.      Do not ever get mad at the coast guard for warning you about drifting.

The preacher warns you because he cares.

Thank God you have a preacher that will tell you when you are drifting.

There are three things you need on your boat in order to never drift.

1.      You need an anchor………………..That is the Savior.

2.      You need the power……………….That is the Spirit.

3.      You need a compass………………That is the Scripture.

Keep all three of these and you will stay close.

Sunday Morning Sermon at First Freewill Baptist Church, in Hayesville, NC 1994.

By : David M. Shuler

SCARS

SCARS

            Some years ago, my pastor’s wife Angie, and I had been talking about scars. She gave me a sheet of paper with a story about a little boy who was a compulsive liar. His father trying to teach his son a lesson, decided to have the little boy put a nail in a stick of wood. Eventually the little boy told so many lies that the stick of wood was completely covered with nails. This caused the little boy to cry. His father, seeing his sons distress, told him that every time he spoke the truth he could remove a nail. Eventually all the nails were removed from the stick of wood. The little boy cried again. This time because the wood was covered with unsightly holes from where the nails had been.

            The little boy overcame the habit of lying. The holes were left as scars on the wood a reminder of his character. Scars are reminders of what we have been through. With time they fade, but they never truly go away. They stay with us.

            My body has many scars upon it. Some I remember quite vividly, as if it happened yesterday. Other scars I don’t remember how I got them. These are physical scars. Scars that can be seen with the naked eye.

            On my left hand the first two fingers have been scarred. It happened when I was a toddler, maybe two years old. My mom was ironing and got into an argument with my dad. They took their eyes off me only for a moment. But in that time, I pulled the iron off the ironing board and onto my hand burning the two fingers. I don’t remember pulling the iron off the board, but I have the scars as proof it happened.

            In the summer of my third-grade year. I was at my aunt Shirley’s house playing with my cousin David. He had a go-cart and we had been riding it nearly all day. Sometime in the afternoon before my dad was to come and pick me up, it started to rain. David pushed me in the carport backwards. I had killed the engine. As I was getting close to the wall, I hit the break, or I thought I had hit the break but didn’t and I ran into the wall. In the process I knocked several sheets of plywood over and onto my left hand. I was trying to hold the sheets of plywood up, but not for long they weighed to much and my arm finally gave away and my wrist landed on top of the very hot motor of the go-cart.

            I started screaming bloody murder. My cousin David who was standing not 10 feet from me froze in place. Finally, after several minutes of screaming, aunt heard me and came running. But the damage was done. I had this huge burn on my left wrist. It looked and smelled horrible.  It scabbed over. It was an unsightly thing to behold. There was no way that it would be healed before school started back. And it didn’t.  The smell was bad. But by the time school started back the smell had nearly gone. Just the scab remained.

            After high school I went to work for Stanley Furniture. I worked in the machine room.  I was running a shaper one afternoon, putting a beautiful design on a piece of wood. The piece of wood split and splintered into pieces and flew out of the shaper at me. Lucky for me I had on eye protection. But I still got injured in the process. I got hit in from pieces of wood on my left thumb and then two places on my stomach. Randy got to me pretty fast. I was standing in place in shock. He walked me down to the supervisor’s desk and then they took me to the Nurse. My mom’s best friend was the nurse. Once they got me down there. I was standing propped up next to the counter and she was asking me some questions. But she started sounding funny to my ears. And that is when the lights went out, and I passed out standing up. I didn’t fall over. Rita shook me a few times and used smelling salts before I came to. Then up the clinic I went.

            I didn’t lose my thumb. The doctor removed several pieces of wood splinters from my thumb and stomach. New scars to add to the ones, I already had. For some reason my left hand seemed to always get the brunt of the injuries. Probably because I am left handed.

            Not all scars are physical. Not all scars can be seen. There are scars that are mental and emotional. Mental and emotional scars cannot be seen, like physical scars. These scars go deeper and affect the mind and heart. They can cause illness, stress and even death.

            As a teenager my parents were having marital problems. I ended up moving out and living with my grandfather. My parents eventually split up. My dad couldn’t let things go and move on. After my grandfather would leave for work, my dad would barge into his home and cuss me out every morning before I would go to school. It was horrible. My grades began to slip. I started drinking and smoking. This went on for many months. I never told anyone.  I was afraid to. But the guidance counselor at school figured out something was going on and asked me about it. I filled her in on what was going on at home. She offered to help. I told her no, I’d be ok.

            Well I wasn’t ok. My grades kept slipping. I dreaded for my grandfather to leave for work. I had nightmares and lost sleep.  Then finally one morning it all came to a head. A guy that worked with my grandfather had taken the work truck home the night before and was late to pick my grandfather up.

            My dad came into the house and straight to where I was and set in cussing me like a dog. Little did my dad know that my grandfather was in the kitchen and was hearing everything he was saying. My grandfather didn’t take long to make his self-known to my dad. Nearly scared my dad to death. My grandfather let my dad in on a few things that morning. The thing was that if he ever came into his house again that he was a dead man.

            My dad never again came into my grandfather house. My grandfather was mad at me for not telling him what was going on. But my grandfather was my hero that day. My grades picked up. I stopped having nightmares.  It had gotten so bad, I had contemplated suicide.

            My relationship with my dad, never got better. A few years later, it came out that I was gay. My dad couldn’t take that. The thought his son was gay made him look unmanly and that was unacceptable. The verbal abuse I received from him have left scars that will never heal. I don’t worry about those scars like I once did. I have accepted them, and they no longer bleed. They remain with me as a reminder of what family is capable of inflicting upon another member.

            Being gay can cause many scars, physical and mental. I was very active in my church when I was outed. My church was not accepting of what I was term here as the quote, quote “gay lifestyle.” My pastor gave me an ultimatum, either I renounce the gay lifestyle and publicly apologize to my church family or I would be excommunicated from the church. It broke my heart. People that I trusted with my life, had just turned on me. I lost my best friend, Joel. He wouldn’t even speak to me. I was with him the night he was saved. But now that it came out, that I was gay, we were finished.

            I don’t know why I write about this now. It has been years. I have come to terms with who I am. Yes, I have lost people I love in the process of coming out. Friends and family, have went their separate ways. I speak to my dad infrequently. I see him even less. I have no contact with my former church family, unless it is by accident, and I run into one of them on a trip into my home town. We say our pleasantries and go on our way.

            Life shouldn’t be my way or the highway. But for many, that is just how it is. I’ve never been one to like being told what to do. I hate being given ultimatums. I have always been a stubborn person. I come by it honestly. Both of my parents are very stubborn. I just got a double dose of it, when I was born.

I know that the scars are proof to me and to others, that I have lived and been hurt. I am still alive and have survived those experiences that have left the scars. And I am a stronger person because of those experiences.