July 29th Mom Wrote

Dear Family,

Summer is going so fast again.

Our fourth family get together near Spruce Lake is history. Twenty-Three of the Forty-Five family members enjoyed being together July 23, 24, and 25. Ruth and I went only for Saturday. It was a long day. All went well and we had a good time.

Those steps leading up to the deck seem to be getting steeper and higher every year, or am I getting old?

Next year, the Lord willing our weekend in July, I believe is a week earlier? (Editors note; Actual dates July 22, 23 and 24th, 2005. Mark your calendars NOW. Let’s make it 45 family members next year! Or 46, or 47!)

For those who don’t want to stay over night, Saturday is the big day. We have a big breakfast around 10:00, lots of good food, snacking on fresh fruit and other goodies throughout the day. Our biggest meal is Saturday around 4:00.

Those full of pep and energy hiked, or walked (we never did decide if it was a hike or a walk) up the mountain. The rest of us had good discussions on the deck.

There is still time for you to come and see my beautiful flower garden around the fountain. I really enjoy the garden that I call my own but don’t need to care for or pay the expenses.

For a long time I thought putting puzzles together was a waste of time. I am changing my mind and beginning to enjoy the challenge but I miss playing Upwords. Esther & I used to play almost every day.

I have had lots of good “Arm Chair Traveling” this summer. I went to a Hawaiian Leper Colony and to rich plantations set in the 1800’s. Even then the Rich were getting richer and the Poor were getting poorer. I went to the Deep South before the Civil War when slaves were treated like animals and had no rights at all. What an eye opener. Then a story about two girls who were left orphans after seeing their families killed by enemy soldiers. One girl was white and the other was a slave. They became best friends, a beautiful story, yet terrible

It was a series of three books by Michael Phillips. 1. Angels Watching Over Me. 2. A Day To Pick Your Cotton. 3. The Color Of Your Skin Ain’t The Color Of Your Heart.

I also read a good devotional book by Phillip Keller, Walking With God. In the opening pages he writes: “Walking with God can be exhilarating. It can be fulfilling. It can be downright delightful. He (God) does not, of course, guarantee only fair weather. There will be stormy spells as well.”

I looked in the Bible for verses about walking with God;

Micah 6:8, He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Jeremiah 6:16, Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls.

Isaiah 40:31, but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Psalms 23:4; Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil; for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.

Psalms 1:1&2; Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.

I John 1:7, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

John 8:12, Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Proverbs 13:20. He who walks with wise men becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.

There are others also.

Have You walked and talked to God today?