Wednesday's Heros

While making the rounds on some of my favorite blogs ,http://www.mamaarcher.com/, I came a cross this. Bloggers post alot of meme's for fun, entertainment and interaction with one another. This happens to be an opportunity to recognize the heros in our country and give them the honor and credit that they are due. Most of them will never know that they're names and stories have been posted in the blogosphere for the entire planet to read, but I still like the idea of recognizing them all the same.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Davila
From Sierra Vista, Arizona


On the sixth anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States, Petty Officer 2nd Class Chris Davila raised an American flag over Camp Korean Village, Iraq, he brought with him from Arizona.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008, Sierra Vista firefighter and emergency medical technician Chris Davila presented that flag to Fire Chief Randy Redmond as fellow firefighters looked on. Monday, May 5, 2008, was Davila’s first day back on the job with the department after being gone for nearly nine months, with seven of those months deployed as a Navy Reserve corpsman serving with a Marine unit near the Jordanian and Syrian border area in Iraq.

And, as luck would have it, on his first shift saw him responding to a blaze in Sierra Vista. "Right back to work," he said with a laugh.

You can read the rest of PO 2nd Class Davila's story here.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.

We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

Oh, What a Time!

When I posted the video, "Oh What A Time", last week as a part of my anniversary celebration, I had no idea how profound that would be. Saturday night I took my bride to the Gaither Homecoming Concert in Tulsa,and Oh What A Time!
Those of you who have read very many posts on this blog know that I love music in general and Southern Gospel Music in particular. I like Christian music as a whole, but the past five or six years have found me gravitating toward gospel music. There is a reason for this shift in my taste in inspirational music, as some would call it. As "Christian" music has changed in the past ten years or so to become more praise and worship, or more generic in nature, I have gravitated toward the message that is found in Southern Gospel. Unfortunately much of today's Christian music no longer contains the name of Jesus, Christ, Lord, or God. I'm not sure how you can priase Him if you don't mention His name. The result is that the relationship in the song could be with anybody. The message is pretty obscure in many cases. Anyone who does not know Christ as their savior would not know that some of today's Christian music is about Christ. Again, this change has really only happened in the past ten years.
Gospel music, and Southern Gospel music in particular, proclaim the joy of the relationship with Jesus. The music speaks of the hope that we have in Him. It speaks of that wonderful place that He has prepared for us and that death is nothing to fear, but a method of transitioning from this world into His presense. There is a message of joy, hope, love, peace, and forgiveness to be found in Southern Gospel music. We found all of those things in the concert Saturday night.
We arrived in Tulsa Friday afternoon, checked into the hotel and did a little shopping. We had dinner at a local steak house, then drove over to the Cheesecake Factory for coffee and dessert.
Saturday morning brought more shopping. By about three o'clock we decided to have lunch/dinner, since the concert started at 6:00. Back to the Cheesecake factory for a couple of excellent salads and, of course, more cheesecake! We got back to the hotel around four o'clock, rested for a little while then dressed and headed to the concert a little after five p.m. The concert started promply at six.
Featured groups were the Signature Sound Quartet, the Booth Brothers, Lynda Randal, Russ Taff, and the Easter's and, of course, The Gaither Vocal Band.
As I mentioned the concert started promptly at 6:00 p.m. Intermission was at 8:45! After the intermission it went from being a concert to being a worship service!! It was just amazing. We left the venue at 10:45. That's right, four hours and forty-five minutes of music. If you even think you might like Southern Gospel music, then you must see one of these events. You will not be disappointed. You can scroll through some of my posts and find clips of Gaither Homecoming music to help make that decision. Like I said, "Oh What A Time"!!!!

Glory To God In The Highest - Signature Sound


The River Keeps Rollin' - The Booth Brothers


Lord Send Your Angels - Jeff & Sheri Easter


At Calvary - Lynda Randle


Build An Ark - Gaither Vocal Band

I Now Pronounce You...

May 11, 1974

It's been thirty-four years since I heard those words, "I now pronounce you man and wife." I seems like yesterday, but as we all know, time flies when your having fun. As the song says we're "Still Crazy After All These Years." The picture above from our wedding kind of reminds you of "That 70's Show" doesn't it? Yep, brown tuxes, ruffled peach shirts, and mustaches. The only thing I'm missing is stacked heels!
The photograph below was taken last recently, and you can see that my bride has weathered the years much better than I. Neither one of us color our hair.

May 11, 2008

34 Years!

I'll close this week with my inspirational song. We're going to the Gaither Homecoming concert in Tulsa on Saturday night so here is a song from two groups that will be there, Signature Sound and the Gaither Vocal Band. As I look back over the thirty-four years that my bride and I have been together, I can only say, "Oh, What a Time"! Enjoy.

Oh, What a Time - Signature Sound/Gaither Vocal Band

For those of you who haven't been here is a few weeks, if you want to know the whole story, scroll down to Anniversry Week. Have a great week-end.

So, What's the Secret?

So what's the secret to being married for thirty-four years and looking forward to celebrating number fifty one day? All I can tell you is that our marriage is centered around our faith and that the message from God's Word is critical to the happiness that each of us enjoys.

First of all, God loves us and everything He does for us is for our benefit. He created the institution of marriage to be enjoyed by a man and a woman and to bring each of them happiness. The Bible tells us that God loved us so much that He gave His Son to die on a cross for us so that we might, through faith, have eternal live. Christ tells the husband that he is to love his wife with the same love that Christ loves the church and gave himself for that church (Ephesians 5:25). If I love my wife with that kind of love, then everything I do, I do because I love her and I want her to be happy. I want her to be pleased with this relationship. I want my Lord to be pleased with me as a man who loves his wife and realizes that his wife is a gift from God created especially for me and for my happiness.
Secondly, marriage is a partnership. Like any relationship, it takes work to maintain that relationship in peak condition. A happy marriage doesn't "just happen". Both of us are committed to the relationship and to each other because we love one another and it is our desire that our partner be happy in this relationship. No major decision in this relationship is made without prayer and conversation. God is not the author of confusion, therefore He will not give my wife a different answer to an issue than the one that He gives me. Again, God created the institution of marriage for our benefit, not for our demise.
Finally, I married a woman far better than I deserve. I thank my Lord and Savior for her every day. My wife is the most thoughtful, caring and giving person that I know. Proverbs 31:10-12 says, "An excellent wife, who can find? For her worth is far above jewels. The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." I have found that woman. Proverbs 31:25-30 further states, "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and teaching of kindness is on her toungue. She looks well to the ways of her houselold, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying: Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all. Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised." I married such a woman.
So, back to the original question, "What's the Secret?" The answer is, you have to give yourself to the marriage. You have to give yourself to your spouse. Whatever you have within you, you have to "Give it Away."

Give it Away - Gaither Vocal Band


P.S.
I need to apologize to two of my readers for deleting their comments. I had mistakenly published only the title of this post the other day without the body of the message. My mistake made their comments look a little awkward after I published the entire post. So, Julie and Matthew, I am sorry for the confusion.

She Liked the Roses!

My wife was out of the office yesterday when I arrived with the roses, so I left them on her desk. She loved them. Here are the pics of them and yes, I did the arrangement myself, just like I said I would.
Let's kill two birds with one stone while we have these photos and talk a little PhotoShop Elements. The first is straight out of the camera. The second photo has been cropped and a little "Auto Enhance" added via PS Elements. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, I completed the second online PS Elements course and scored a 93 on my final. Whoohooo!!!

Before

After

Close-up

Anniversary Week!

Sunday, May 11, is Mother's Day. It is also our 34th wedding anniversary! So, you're going to get a week of posts (I don't post everyday) related to our marriage and the celebration of thirty-four years together.

Today I am buying two dozen roses and delivering them to my bride. How come you might ask. Well, our anniversary is Sunday and we will be out of town, so I decided to get the flowers early so that she could enjoy them all week at work. At our wedding the primary flowers were Talisman type roses. They are a peach-cream with dark reddish tips. So that is what I will buy. I have actually found them at SAM's Club. I will get some greenery, baby's breath and make the arrangement myself. She will love it, rearrange it and it will be spectacular.

So how did this relationship begin, you ask? Well, we were both working in Tulsa (We're returning to the scene of the crime this week-end) and lived in apartment complexes that were very close together. I used to ride the bus to work and she would ride to work with a friend. Apparently she saw me waiting on the bus one morning and decided that some day she would ride the bus for a change. Never underestimate the scheming mind of a young, single woman. The day that she finally decided to ride the bus home from work, it was standing room only. So I gave her my seat and the rest is history. Yes, we met on a Metropolitan Tulsa Transit Authority bus! Thanks MTTA.

We dated for about a year, only because we didn't want to upset her parents. She was 19 and I was 26. We knew within three or four months that this relationship was going to lead to the wedding alter. In fact, we started dating in May and I had the rings bought by August. I didn't give her the engagement ring until October, again, to keep peace in the family. She was from a very small town in Missouri and I grew up in the "Big City" of Tulsa. We just didn't want her parents to think that she left the country and was swept off her feet by the first city slicker that she encountered, so we waited as long as we felt appropriate before the engagement and marriage. Still, it was only slightly less than a year from the time of our first date until we were married. Well, that's our story and we're sticking to it. Excuse me, I gotta go deliver some flowers. Stay tuned, "That Seventies Show" will make an appearance here...if I can find our wedding album.

TGIF

It's Friday! I don't have much to say this morning, so I will get right to the weekly inspirational music. Next Friday my wife and I will be headed to Tulsa to celebrate our 34th wedding anniversary! That doesn't sound all that exciting you say. Well, we're going to see the Gaither Homecoming Concert, and that is exciting for us. There will be other anniversary related posts next week. Anyway, in honor of the upcoming concert, here are a few of songs from artists that will be performing. Enjoy.

Give It Away - The Gaither Vocal Band


I Surrender All - The Isaacs


Stand By Me - Signature Sound