CALLAWAY GARDENS

Even in our Georgia winters, you can find flowers. My eleven year old granddaughter was on a field trip last week to the beautiful Callaway Gardens, not far from here. This girl took some photos with her new camera. She is going to be a much better photographer than her PawPaw. This is a great shot, don't you think? I am thankful for her and all my grandchildren.

GOING THE RIGHT WAY

Whenever I am looking at railroad tracks going away from me into the distance, I think of Psalm One (the Psalm of two ways) . For me the last verse expresses it. "For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish" (Psalm 1:6).

BLESSINGS FROM THE SKY

In the drought stricken South, many , including me, have been praying for rain. In the last couple of months God has graciously answered and given us quite a bit more rain. We are still way behind, but we are catching up. In my county of Coweta the reservoirs are almost full now. This very day we received about 1 and 1/2 inches of rain, very hard rain and some storms, but we receive it gladly. In January we received something we rarely get here --snow! Look at this! I know it's not much for you yankees out there, but for us it was a nice surprise.

MISTAKEN VOICE IDENTITY

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27). On December 4, 2007, the day before Andy Williams turned 80 years old, I saw him on a morning TV show from Branson, MO, singing Most Wonderful Time of the Year. It reminded me not only of Christmas being near, but of an incident in my life long ago. Some buddies and I were at the Los Angeles airport in 1959, or 1960, and one of the guys spotted Andy Williams walking hurriedly across the airport, evidently to catch a plane. We went over and talked to him. He was very cordial to us, in spite of one rather tipsy friend saying to him “Andy, you have something on your shirt. Don’t you know this isn’t good for your image?” He said with a laugh “I’m sorry, I’ll try to do better.” So I chimed in, trying to be friendly “Andy, I just love your record Portrait of my Love, It’s a great song.” Andy said “You are right; it is a great song, only I didn’t sing it. It was Steve Lawrence.” I was a little embarrassed. I felt about three inches high!

I was not a Christian at that time, but today, I see an object lesson in that incident. I heard a voice that sounded like Andy Williams singing a song, but it wasn’t. There was a difference I hadn’t noticed in the voices, though similar. By contrast, Jesus said “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (John 10:27). When we hear His voice, as His sheep, we make no mistake – we follow Him and not another because He knows us, and draws us. His sheep are not interested in following another.