Soft Soft's

Daddy's Riding Mower

Our Daddy was always doing something funny. He had this big riding mower. We lived on a hill on a lake. One day, we were watching TV and Daddy decided to mow. He made a few ride bys on the lake side of the house. The next thing you know, our TV goes blank. Daddy had run down the guide wires holding up the antenna and the law mower had bucked up in the air and dumped Daddy off. We could see the big old lawn mower high tailing it down the hill. Daddy kept yelling, No, No, Stop, but the mower didn't stop until it ran down the hill right into the lake and sank. Daddy was running behind it waving his arms to stop. That was good for Saturday morning entertainment. Who needed the TV when you could watch Daddy?

Fishing On Star Lake

When Eddie and I were dating, we fished before we went on dates. Eddie would drive out to Alturas to where I lived on Star Lake. We would walk down to the lake and fish for fresh water bass for an hour or so at sundown and then go on a date in Bartow. I really enjoyed those times.

One day, at sundown, we decided to take Daddy's little John boat across the lake and fish along the bank. We had Daddy's tackle box full of his favorite fishing tackles. It was starting to get dark, so we decided to pack up and get in the boat and go back across the lake. We were out a little ways from shore and tried to get in the boat. Well, I managed to dump the open tackle box into the water and flip that stupid little boat to where there was a lot of water in it. At first, I was so upset, we had to get all Daddy's tackle in the boat before it became totally dark. It floated, thank goodness. But then, the boat had too much water in it for us to get in the boat and paddle back across the lake to the house. So with all the tackle floating in the boat with the water, we hung on to the boat and swam back across the lake. We were happy that we didn't lose the boat or Daddy's fishing tackle.

When we arrived back, we started to haul everything up the hill to the house. Mother came out and didn't believe our story. She said we were across the lake making out and she sent Eddie home and I was grounded for a week. If only she would have actually listened to us once in a while, she would have appreciated the fact of how we rescued Daddy's fishing tackle, every little piece, and that it was a funny experience. Making out was the farthest most thing from our minds. Teenagers have it hard sometimes when parents believe the worst and won't listen to the facts.

Expecting a Call

God has a great purpose for each one of us. There is a call from God on your life and mine. The question is, will we listen to find out what it is?

We can be in the dark about the call of God on our lives for two reasons: either we have not heard God’s call and we’re living as though we have, or we have heard God’s call and we’re living as though we have not.

I’ve seen many people who were too busy, too tired, too preoccupied, or too in pursuit of riches and fame to hear God calling them .Others were afraid they might be called to insignificance and so they didn’t want to know about it. I’ve known others who clearly heard the call from God and ran away from it. The direct line from heaven was ringing and they turned up the volume on their lives so they wouldn’t have to hear God and answer. I’ve also known people with such a low opinion of themselves that they didn’t believe God had them destined for anything great. So when the call came, they thought it must be for someone else and didn’t respond.

The only reason it may appear that some people are more called by God than others is that they were expecting the call and answered it.

In the early days of telephones, people had party lines. Several households were on the same phone line and anyone in any of those households could pick up the phone and listen in on your conversation. This meant that by afternoon there might be many different opinions and interpretations of the conversation you had that morning.

Receiving God’s call does not happen that way. God’s line to you is not a party line. You won’t hear conflicting opinions. His call is entirely personal and private and He will speak to you about it.

The Bible says that God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. When God issues a call, He doesn’t take it back. He only waits for us to move into it. Therefore, as long as we are seeking Him, we can never be such a lost cause that His call on our lives is no longer applicable.

All of us share certain calls on our lives. For example, we are all called to partake of God’s divine nature, we are called to His eternal glory and we are called to bless others. But we are individually called according to His own purpose. In other words, He has a specific calling for each one of us.

In order to hear God’s call, you must be expecting a call. In other words, you need faith that He will speak to you, that you can hear Him, and that it will be good news. Say, “I have set the Lord always before me, and expect to hear His voice.’ When an encounter with the living God is your greatest desire, you can be sure you will have it.

This is from the “The Power of a Praying Woman Bible" by Stormie Omartian “From Stormie’s heart”.

Prayer List

People who are on my heart today and need prayer: Connie Meeks is having a breast biopsy WED. Sherry Longstreet is getting set up for one Thursday. Haleigh, the kidnapped 5 year old. I have two heart tests WED and I pray my tumor count will go down again. Ann Price's husband Mike is looking for a job. Sheila and Bill Whiting need a preacher for their church.

Your Identity In Christ

YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST

HEBREWS 3;1 TELLS US, ‘THEREFORE, HOLY BRETHREN, PARTAKERS OF A HEAVENLY CALLING, CONSIDER THE APOSTLE AND HIGH PRIEST OF OUR CONFESSION CHRIST JESUS’. THIS SINGLE VERSE OVERFLOWS WITH ASSURANCE FOR THE BELIEVER.

FIRST, NOTE THAT IT’S ADDRESSED TO THE ‘HOLY BRETHREN.” THIS REFERS TO ANYONE WHO HAS TRUSTED JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND SAVIOR. THE WORD HOLY SIGNIFIES THAT BELIEVERS HAVE BEEN SET APART FOR GOD. BECAUSE OF WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST, GOD SEES YOU AS UNIQUE. NEITHER YOUR PROFESSION, YOUR SALARY, YOUR APPEARANCE, OR YOUR NATIONALITY DEFINES YOU. ONLY YOUR STATUS AS A CHILD OF GOD GIVES YOU THE SPECIAL IDENTITY YOU ENJOY.

AS ONE OF THE “PARTAKERS OF A HEAVENLY CALLING, “ YOUR DESTINATION IS HEAVEN. YOUR HEART RESIDES WITH CHRIST, WHERE YOUR HOME IS. KNOWING WHERE YOU HOME IS MEANS YOU AREN’T SEARCHING FOR THIS TEMPORARY DWELLING=EARTH-TO SATISFY YOU. REGARDLESS OF WHAT HAPPENS AROUND YOU, YOU CAN REJOICE, BECAUSE THIS LIFE DOES NOT HOLD YOU;GOD DOES.

BY KNOWING WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST, YOU CAN DENY ALL THE FALSE MESSAGES OF THE WORLD. MANY VOICES WILL TRY TO CONVINCE YOU THAT YOU ARE NOT PRETTY ENOUGH, NOT SMART ENOUGH, AND NOT SUCCESSFUL ENOUGH. BUT YOUR IDENTITY IN CHRIST ALONE COMPLETES YOU! YOU CAN ADD NOTHING TO IT, AND THIS WORLD’S DETRACTORS CAN TAKE NOTHING FROM IT.

THE FINAL PHRASE OF HEBREWS 3;1 REMINDS US THAT JESUS IS OUR “APOSTLE” AND “HIGH PRIEST”. THE FIRST TITLE SIGNIFIES THAT JESUS REPRESENTS GOD TO US. WHEN WE WANT TO KNOW WHAT GOD IS LIKE OR HOW GOD WOULD ACT IN A GIVEN SITUATION, WE LOOK TO JESUS. THE SECOND TITLE SIGNIFIES THAT JESUS REPRESENTS US TO GOD. GOD LOOKS AT HIS CHILDREN THROUGH THE EYES OF HIS BLAMELESS AND HOLY SON.

THE COMMAND IN THIS VERSE TELLS BELIEVERS TO ‘CONSIDER CHRIST JESUS”. THE WORD CONSIDER MEANS TO OBSERVE OR THINK. WE ARE TO OBSERVE CHRIST, MEDITATE ON HIS WORD, AND IMITATE WHAT WE SEE.

LET THE ASSURANCE OF YOUR IDENTITY, HOME, AND LORD INSPIRE YOU TO EXPLORE NEW DEPTHS OF GOD AND SERVE HIM WITH ALL YOUR HEART.

Be Thankful

Oh GOd,when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry.
When I have work, help me\
to remember the jobless;
When I have a warm home
help me to remember the homeless;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
\and remembering, help me
to destroy my complacency
and bestir my compassion.
Make me concerned enough
to help, by word and deed,
those who cry out
for what we take for granted.

Deb's 25 favorite things about living in central Florida

...in no particular order....

1) Chubby toddlers in bathing suits, covered in sand, plastic shovel in one hand and bucket in the other, running headlong toward the surf.

2) Mommy squirrels, fat with spring babies, barely navigating the top edge of the fence as they head back to their nest in the trees.

3) The ferocity of the ocean when a tropical storm looms off the coast. Black waves contrast against the pounding white surf. Leaning into the wind to look at the clouds racing across the horizon.

4) Margaritas at sunset with a view of the gulf coast sky.

5) The wild kingdom in my backyard (even though I live in a typical subdivision of houses with tiny quarter acre yards). tiny (but deafening) tree frogs, toads big as softballs, lizards and more lizards, geckos, the occasional black snake, the juvenile raccoon that walk the fence each night, an armadillo every so often, blue jays, mocking birds, humming birds, finches, doves, woodpeckers, well fed fuss budget squirrels, little fruit eating rats eating the fallen oranges...

6) Seeing an osprey fly across the road with a fish flopping in it's talons almost every week.

7) the beach, the ocean

8) Driving across the bridge on the way to work and seeing dolpin's fins rolling out of the water as the sun is rising.

9) Nine months of good to great weather and only three months of unbearable heat.

10) Dancing in the rain on the back patio.

11) Screened in patios and hammock's

12) Listening to the herons and egrets settling in for the night in the trees around the pond down the street from my house.

13) Alligators - living dinosaurs. So graceful in the water. Always powerful predators.

14) Red eared turtles sunning themselves around fresh water ponds and lakes. Head and all four feet stretched up and back in the sun. Stacked on top of each other.

Cookie Monster

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Elvis - Hound Dog On The Milton Berle Show

Soft Soft

Night Riding

When I was attending Jones Business School in Orlando, I had some girlfriends who would always look for something fun to do together. So one weekend, we made plan to go to a horse ranch out on the edge of town and go for a night ride. You could arrange for this on a moonlit night. We also arranged for this at a time when Cape Canaveral was going to launch a missle. You could see that from the woods on the ranch.

So about 7 of us arrive for our ride time, and to our delight, this real cute young kid took us for a ride. We all relaxed when he let us walk the horses at first, and just follow his lead horse. We were carrying on and acting silly. The farther away we got from the ranch, the darker it got. Thank goodness for the moon light. The horses knew where they were going but we didn't. We didn't know the way back either. We watched the missle go up at the Cape and then the guide decided it was time to have some fun. He knew the horses knew their way back to the barn. So he yelled something and then told us to hang on because we were heading home. Running through the dark was breathe taking. I think I totally lost my breathe. I would shut my eyes, then remember I better look where I was going because the land wasn't just flat. We made it back and no one fell off. The kid had a ball and thought it was fun to scare us half to death, but after it was all said and done, we were ready to do it again another night. I had ridden horses before when I lived on my father's grove. My neighbor girlfriend would come over and we rode bareback a lot during the summer. So I did okay on our night ride. That is more fun than going swimming in a fresh water lake at night. We also did that some. Going skinny dipping is also fun.

Goggie Soft

Superbowl Soft Soft

Our Last Vacation While In Ohio

Our whole family decided to go on vacation one summer. We went to Virginia and West Virginia. It was fun. The West Virginia mountains are straight down. We almost burned up our brakes by constantly having to ride the brakes all the way down. One night, we went up in the mountains and saw the outdoor play called the Hatfields and Mccoys. We also went into some caves and saw all the rock formations. We spent some time in a motel around the Shenendoah Valley. The Amuish were all around in their horsedrawn wagons. I talked to some of them. One boy said they kept milk in a big barrel in the barn. They are neat. I think we were gone about 10 days. There was a swimming pool with the motel we stayed in. I think it was a Bob Evans resturant. Anyway, it was nice spending time together.

Work

Here are most of the places I have worked: 

• Polk County Court house - Tax Assessors Office drawing maps of groves and lakes in the county
  
• First Federal Savings and Loan - Winter Haven, Florida as a teller
  
• An Orlando Radio station as receptionist
  
• An insurance company downtown Denver, Colorado
  
• Western Electric - Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado
  
• A loan company - downtown Alamogordo, 
  
• A lawyer's office as a secretary - in Alamogordo as secretary
  
• Veterans Administration  - Dayton Ohio
  
• For a doctor downtown Dayton
  
• Social Security Administration started as a clerk and worked a whole career and retired - Dayton, Ohio
  

Rotten Oranges

When we were growing up in the grove house, we were tom boys. Diane was the oldest and was able to go on dates. Late one Saturday afternoon before her date, we decided to have a rotten orange war. You set up fruit picking boxes and load them up with rotten oranges that you could find on the ground. Then you get behind the boxes, which acted as your fort. We were probably 15 or 30 feet apart looking at each other. Then you start throwing your oranges at each other. When you run out, you had to leave your fort and run out and get more. During that time, the other guy could really hit you with a load of rotten oranges. Her hair was a horrible mess of rotten oranges. She had to go in and wash her hair and take another bath for her date. But, we did that at least two or three times during picking season. IT was fun.

Bird

One time when we lived in the grove in Alturas, we had a parakeet. He was so smart. One day, he flew out the door and flew up high and out of sight. He thought he was gone forever. Then one day, a few weeks later, we heard his whistle. We went out to look for him and to our surprise, he was sitting on top of the railing on the catwalk of the water tower. I climbed the water tower ladder and got him to get on my shoulder and down we came. I managed to get him back inside the house. That was amazing. He looked a little worse for wear, but he made it back alive.

Fire At Mamoo Ray's

My Daddy was the volunteer Fire Chief for the Alturas Fire Department. One night, he got a call about a fire that needed his help. We girls were home and decided to drive behind Daddy and see where it was. Well, we followed him to Lake Garfield. Around the lake and up in the distance you could see the fire. When we got near the fire, to our shock, we realized it was Mamoo Ray's two story house. We turned around and rushed home to get mother and bring her to be with Granddaddy and Mamoo. Oh, what a hot fire. Mamoo and Granddaddy and Ralph and Bertha Gay all lived together. They all got out with their sleeping clothes on. The fire started with faulty wiring in the attic where Mamoo had all her stuff stored. Mamoo sat in our car and just stared with tears in her eyes. She was a quiet spoken person and she had to sit there and watch all her stuff burn up. The wooden house got so hot, Daddy had to back off. The Bartow Fire Dept came too and everyone had to back off and let it burn. They watered down the houses beside the burning house. Finally Daddy and The Bartow Fire Dept used a long pole and pushed down the fireplace and brick chimmey and we watched it burn. It was so hot, the area smoked for days. The daughters of Mamoo bought them a mobile home in Alturas and they moved there to live the rest of their lives.