Scripture

Beside the rivers of Babylon, we sat and wept
    as we thought of Jerusalem {home}.

~Psalm 137:1, NLT

Quote

Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.

~John Howard Payne

I have loved creeks and water since I was a boy. I love canoeing, white water rafting and last Saturday I got my first taste of a kayak. My children and grands carried me to Crazy Horse Canoe Rental in Flatwoods, Tennessee. It is about 35-40 minutes north of Waynesboro which is a quaint little Tennessee town, very small. I saw a beautiful little house right there on the edge of Waynesboro, maybe in walking distance from downtown. As I admired the little cottage and the beautifully groomed yard I thought: “It is a lovely house in a nice little town but I do not want to live here.” I don’t have anything against Waynesboro or Tennessee, but Rockyford has become home. We have been here almost 25 years which is longer than we have lived on any one spot. My kids are here; my friends are here and I am too old to start over at a new location.

Six hundred years before Christ, the Jews were uprooted and displaced. They were forced to move 600 miles to a new location. They didn’t even know the language of the natives. They got very discouraged and homesick. I had been studying Isaiah 49-50 in preparation for the Sunday message and it deals with their discouragement and longing for home. This served as a backdrop for my thoughts on Saturday. We enjoyed our three hour canoe ride and then loaded up and started home: I was a happy puppy. There is no place like home.

All this got me thinking. My mother-in-law use to fuss when we brought her to Danville for a few days. She complained until we carried her home. She lived in a little shootgun house on Highway 99 just north of the Elk River. It wasn’t much but she loved it. She always said, “Just take me back to my little shack.” Now I know what Granny meant: be it ever so humble, there is no place like home.

Extra

One change to the Ordination schedule, the council will meet in the men’s SS class room. Some of the guys will need the elevator and I didn’t think about that: we meet from 8:00-8:45 so it should not be a problem. I was blessed to get to baptize another grand child last night. Thankful for two good services yesterday and the crowd last night.

Don Murphy told a story in SS yesterday and I think it is the best one yet. He and Peggy where going somewhere and she saw a bulldog swinging from a tree limb on a rope. She assumed the dog had gotten entangled and that he was choking so she told Don to stop and rescue the dog. He pulled over, got out of the truck and started toward the dog. About that time a man came out on the porch and hollowed for Don to get back in the truck. He said, “Get back in your truck, that bulldog will tear you up.” Sure enough, the old bulldog had jumped up, bit the rope and was swinging himself. As Don approached, he released and came to the ground growling, Don turned and moved toward the truck, ASAP. He said he ran but I can’t picture Don running. Long story short, he beat the bulldog to the truck, barely. He said it was within inches.

So we have two in the dog rescue business: Betty Patterson and Don. He’s also got a story about rescuing a turtle. We will save that one for later.

I hope you have a great day and week. Thank you for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

Lyrics to song, “Home Sweet Home.” [1923]

Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam
Be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home
A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there
Which, seek thro’ the world, is ne’er met with elsewhere

Home, home, sweet sweet home
There’s no place like home
There’s no place like home

I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child;
As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door
Thro’ the woodbine whose fragrance shall cheer me no more

Home, home, sweet sweet home
There’s no place like home
There’s no place like home

An exile from home splendor dazzles in vain
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again;
The birds singing gaily that came at my call:
Give me them and that peace of mind, dearer than all

Home, home, sweet sweet home
There’s no place like home
There’s no place like home