OLD GEEZERS


"Geezers" are easy to spot; this is slang for an old man. But at sporting events, during the playing of the National Anthem, they hold their hats over their hearts and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them.

They remember World War I, the Depression, World War II, Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Normandy, and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Age. the Korean War, The Cold War, the Jet Age and the Moon Landing, not to mention Vietnam.

If you bump into a "Geezer" on the sidewalk, he'll apologize, pass one on a street and he'll nod, or tip his hat to a lady.

"Geezers" trust strangers and are courtly to women. They hold the door for the next person and always when walking, make sure the lady is on the inside for protection.

"Geezers" get embarrassed if someone curses in front of women and children and they don't like violence and filth on TV and in movies. Geezers have moral courage. Geezers seldom brag unless its about the grandchildren in Little League or recitals.

This country needs "Geezers" with their decent values and common sense. We need them now more than ever. It's the "Geezers" who know our great country is protected, not by politicians or police, but by the young men and women in the military serving their country in foreign lands, just as they did, without a thought except to do a good job the best you can and to get home to loved ones.

THANK GOD FOR "OLD GEEZERS"!





MOMENTS THAT TAKE OUR
BREATH AWAY

     I had a very special teacher in high school many years ago whose husband unexpectedly and suddenly died of a heart attack. About a week after his death, she shared some of her insight with a classroom of students. As the late afternoon sunlight came streaming in through the classroom windows and the class was nearly over, she moved a few things aside on the edge of her desk and sat down there. With a gentle look of reflection on her face, she paused and said, "Before class is over, I would like to share with all of you a thought that is unrelated to class, but which I feel is very important. Each of us is put here on earth to learn, share, love, appreciate, and give of ourselves. None of us knows when this fantastic experience will end. It can be taken away at any moment. Perhaps this is God's way of telling us that we must make the most our of every single day."
     Her eyes, beginning to water, she went on, "So I would like you all to make me a promise. From now on, on your way to school, or on your way home, find something beautiful to notice. It doesn't have to be something you see; it could be a scent-perhaps of freshly baked bread wafting our of someone's house, or it could be the sound of the breeze slightly rustling the leaves in the trees, or the way the morning light catches the autumn leaf as it falls gently to the ground. Please look for these things, and cherish them. For, although it may sound trite to some, these things are the "stuff" of life; the little things we are put here on earth to enjoy, the things we take for granted.
     We must make it important to notice them, for at any time... it can be taken away."
     The class was completely quiet. We all picked up our books and filed out of the room silently. That afternoon, I noticed more things on my way home from school that I had that whole semester. Every once in a while, I think of that teacher and remember what an impression she made on all of us, and I try to appreciate all of those things that sometimes we all overlook.
     Take notice of something special you see on your lunch hour today. Go barefoot. Walk on the beach at sunset. Stop off on the way home tonight to get a double-dip ice cream cone.
     For as we get older, it is not the things we did that we often regret, but the things we didn't do.
     Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.





POWERFUL WORDS

     Many times in life we struggle with our past and fail to walk in our potential future. Let me make a profound statement.... Your past has nothing to do with what God can do for your future! God says, "In spite of what you used to be or have experienced, I CAN STILL BRING YOU OUT!"
     I know that you used to be a dog, but I can bring you out!
     I know that you slept with half the football team, but I can bring you out!
     I know that you have bad credit and now you want a house, but I can still bring you out!
     I know they call you by your problem and not your name, but I can still bring you out!
     There is no past too troubled and no person that God cannot redeem. He took a murderer named Moses and made him a prophet.
     He took a pimp named Abram and made him the father of many nations. (If you wonder why I call him that, go back to Genesis and see how many times he sold his wife off for possession because he was afraid of being killed.)
     He took a liar and cheat named Jacob and made him a prince named Israel and blessed his seed.
     He took a prostitute named Rahab, called her blessed and changed her profession.
     He took a wimp named Gideon and made him a mighty warrior.
     He took an adulterer, liar, and murderer named David and made him "a man after God's own heart".
          He took a Christian hater named Saul and made him the great apostle, Paul.
     We could go on and on and on. If God used those people, he can use you. So what, you've had a bad past?
     This is the problem... you keep living in the past! God wants to bring you into the present and develop you a great future. He says it best in 2 Corinthians 5: 17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come."