Puncture Vines

I mowed my lawn this morning, the first time I have had to do that in about a month. We haven't had much rain this month. As I was mowing, I noticed that the puncture vines (I called these sticker patches when I was a kid) were doing well. I was reminded of Matthew 13:7 the parable of the sower "Other seeds fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants". Now I love my grass. I have 2 vacant lots beside the lot my house sits on. It's has a really good stand of buffalo grass that I'm very proud of. It doesn't need mowing that much, and when it is green and growing, it looks clean. But the puncture vines still thrive. I have to stay on my toes to keep them killed out. What I noticed today was that even with little rain, they are thriving. Growing and making seed (stickers!). And their roots are deep and large. Then I got to thinking about life and exactly what was Jesus' message in the parable. You see, as pretty as my yard is, and as hard as I work to keep the "weeds" out, they keep coming. That's like satan. Just when you get comfortable in life with your faith, satan throws something in your path to trip you up. Like these puncture vines. They're persistent. They make lots of seed. And they hurt when you get them in your feet (the stickers). They grow even when conditions aren't good for your grass to grow. My grass is basically dead form lack of water, but the good thing about buffalo grass, it doesn't take much int the way of moisture to "green" back up. That's just like us. We live life, take things for granted, like our faith, and satan jumps up at us luring us a way. The Gospel is like moisture to us. It helps us to grow in our faith. When we don't get "watered" by the Gospel, we just invite satan in and he grows on us. He's persistent, he makes lots of seed, and he hurts us. Be sure to "water" your self today!











I added some pictures here of the demolition of the high school. Looks like there's progress finally!

Repent!

Those of you that know me know that I struggle often with my "church of Christ" heritage. Growing up in the church, often times, words like "Gospel" and "Repent", were used to scare me into submission.

Repent for instance, I can remember preachers using this word, along with my grandad, in what i felt were scare tactics to get you to act right. "REPENT!!!!" Can you hear that?

Here's what i found on dictionary.com.

Repent: to feel sorry, self reproachful, or contrite for past conduct.


In specific, let's look at Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptized" (there's another word that was not translated form the greek, another time). The greek word is metanoya, (not sure if I spelled that right, but you get the picture here) meaning in english "change".

So, think about that for a minute, "change and be immersed" (since that's what the word baptismo means). What do you think? I like that much better, rather than be self judging, simply change your ways. Cause most of us that have spent the last 60 years or so in the church have a problem with "judging" ourselves as well as others.

Just something to think about!

Facing Your Giants

Before I get to my post for the day, just a quick update on the rebuilding of Lockney High School. The masonry folks showed up yesterday to remove the stone work from the entry way to the building. They are going to attempt to wash it and use it on the new building. Looks like they may be about ready to start with demolition once stone is removed.

I have got an old book out that I read last summer. "Facing Your Giants" by Max Lucado is about the story of David. There are some things I want you to think about. Go back to 1 Samuel 17 and read the story about David and Goliath, just going to hit some highlights here.

David, son of Jesse, had 7 older brothers. A sheep herder from Bethlehem. Young and "ruddy" with handsome features. 1 Samuel 13:14 calls David "a man after His own heart". The only person int he whole bible that is referred to in that sense. I want you to stop and think about that for a minute. And if your not familiar with the story, get your bible out and read all of it. David is a lot like me. Seems his faith comes and goes. Has hilltops and valleys. Trying to find that level ground.

And you would think after killing a nine-and-a-half foot tall Philistine with a single smooth stone, knowing that God was with him and would deliver the Philistine to him, would never have the "valleys" in his faith that I do. But, guess what!!! He did! King Saul made several attempts to have him killed, even after making him a son-in-law. Once David figured that out he runs and hides. How many times have I ran and hid?

My point here is, asking myself, how many times have you ran and hid? How many times have you given up on your dreams and laid the excuse off on some weak personal trait? I have most of my life. Not having a dad, not having enough money, hiding behind divorce, hiding in a bottle, hiding behind your past? GUILTY!!! Although, I have never been one to hide in a bottle or illegal drugs, I did hide for a time behind prescription drugs. Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax, all prescribed for me to take care of depression and anxiety. Then I was told that I needed to take these things for the rest of my life! Don't misunderstand me here. All of these drugs have a place. But they are mind numbing. And maybe you have some traumatic events going on in your life that warrants them to get you "past some issues". I know that I took Paxil for 6 years daily. And coming off of it was awful. But now my mind is clear, having to retrain it to "dream" and dream big". Just don't let those "Giants" control your life!

One other thing, we lost a good one yesterday in Quanah. Ruthie Lance was one of those "moms" that we all loved. She always had our best interest at heart. Sweet, kind, and loving. She will be missed!!! Tell my dad "hi" for me Ruthie!

I hate divorce!

I have had my fair share of this! And now that my mom and step-dad are going through, makes me hate it that much more. I have spent the last several months with mom trying to get through some of her stuff. Yesterday I spent the day with a land appraiser going over all of the land involved. Sad time for me. See, my real dad past away when i was 7 years old. Joe Gayle had been my "dad" for most of my life. The last 35 years to be exact. And Quanah was home. A place fort me to "go to" to remember, to get away. A safe place for me to unwind and enjoy. Mom has spent all those years in one house. The house we moved into when they got married. My home! Every since all this broke lose with mom, it just hasn't been the same going back. The memories now are bitter-sweet. As I was riding around with the appraiser, memories kept flashing back. Growing up in that house. Helping out on the farm. All the places and land we farmed. The good times. Summer wheat harvest with Jim, Shellie, Carol and I. The moving of irrigation pipe. Watching a crop grow form seed to harvest. Some were good and some not so good, the harvest that is. Those of you not involved in production agriculture need to understand. The hard work, the reward of your year long labor. Just stop and think about that. Used to the financial side of it was not as critical as it is now. The margins are so thin these days. One stump of your toe and it's all gone.

I want to keep this as positive as I can. A time for reflection and sharing.

When I was 9 years old, Joe Gayle was dating my mom. He was divorced, had custody of his 2 boys and the thought of having 2 new brothers was exciting. He drove a Ford pickup just like my dad. He farmed just like my dad. But, just before he proposed to mom, he had a wreck during cotton harvest and totalled out his pickup. Back in those days, the inventory of new vehicles was not all that good. Plus the time he had to find one during harvest was slim. He looked for a ford and couldn't find one like he needed so it was Chevy time. I will never forget when he showed up in that maroon 1973 model pickup at our house. I thought "oh no! a chevy?". I can still remember when he called one night, asking me and Shellie if you could marry mom. I can remember my response like it was yesterday. "You gotta get rid of that chevy!" He told me he would as soon as he could, and less than a year later, he had a new ford.

He taught me how to drive a tractor. Taught me how to work (more like made me work! LOL!). I hated driving a combine. I was a better mechanic than a combine operator. So when we were freshman, he hired Carol Martin to drive the combine along with me sister Shellie. Jim and I took care of the hauling to the elevator (without a drivers license I might add!) and keeping the machines running. Carol came and lived with us for wheat harvest every year after that till we all got out of high school. Good times!!!

Oh yeah!!! I almost forgot!! God's still answering prayers!!! My friends test yesterday came back negative! Benign knots! Nothing more till next year!!! Ain't He great!!!

Just remembering fun times!

I have been looking through all the pictures posted on facebook from the Quanah High School class of 78-81 class reunion. That's the four classes just ahead of me. It was so good to see so many familiar faces and remembering fun times! Just want to share a few of those with you today. Kinda funny how some of those events had an impact on my life.

First of all, there was Clif Gibson. He was in the class of 79 and a senior when I was a freshman. I started my first 2 a-day practice the summer of 1978. Hot, over 100 or right at it most days and the humidity was stifling. As soon as we got into full pads and practicing at full speed, they were using us freshman as blocking dummies. And i had been knocked every which way but up. You have to remember I was 6' tall and weighed a whopping 145 lbs. Not a lot of resistance there as a blocking dummy! I had been knocked down by the likes of Jace Reid, Mark Melton and Johnny Dunlap. Then here comes Clif! Just a little side note, all these guys had full facial hair! I barely needed to shave once a week!!! All of them weighed over 150 pounds!!! And I had looked up to this bunch for many years prior. Ok, back to the here comes Clif. He hit me full blast. That's just the way Clif done things. That was the way he was raised. His dad lived life to the fullest and full speed every day. He knocked me on my hiney, my blocking pad flew about 20 yards away (exaggerating a bit there) When he came back by, he stuck his hand out, helped me back up, dusted my rear end off and asked if i was ok. I was like "do what? why does a senior care if a lowly freshman's ok?". I jumped up and said "yes, thank you!". He winked and turned and ran back to the huddle. You know what, I never forgot that! You never forget life events like that. And I have made every effort to pass on the kindness that Clif showed me that day!

Then there was Jerry John Riley. Jerry and i went to church together. His dad and uncle were my sunday school teachers. Jerry had one of the first 4-wheel drive pickups i can remember any of my friends having. It was a 1980 chevy short bed 4X4 with a chrome roll bar and cow catcher. (for those of you that don't know "cow catcher", it's the same as a grill guard.) It was black and silver, a gorgeous pickup. We went to Red River, NM on a church ski trip when i was a jr and Jerry was a freshman in college for spring break. I will never forget who all was on that trip with us!!! Jana Brandon, Kevin Young, Judy Riley, Mark Whitmire, and Jim Baker just to name a few. Well we snuck in a couple of bottles of adult beverages and took them with us!!! (I know, a church trip, I'm sure God has forgiven me for that.!) One night we decided it was time to consume these beverages, so we did! The altitude like magnified 2 or 3 times the effect of the drinks!!! And several of us got pretty wobbly and even a couple threw up. (no names here) So we loaded everyone up in the back of that pickup and got them back to the hotel and made sure everyone was in bed! And I don't think we got caught or even suspected us angels had done anything wrong!

I could go on and on here. OH! There was one picture there of three guys that was in the class ahead of me. Kieth Melton, Kevin Felty and Zachary Choat. Just made my heart warm to see those guys together.

Awesome memories! Thanks God for all of them!!!!

Still waiting to hear from my old friend today. Actually should be having the test done as I'm writing this!

May you feel God's presence near you in all you do!!!

Preston