One Pastor's Perspective

I have been working outside for the last few minutes and broke a sweat . . . It is kind of hot out there right now! Sure, the breeze is blowing and the weatherman says it will dip into the 30s tonight, but you would never know it right now!

Some say our crazy weather is due to the greenhouse effect, or the disappearing ozone layer. Sometimes I wonder . . . What will this world be like in 50 years?? 50 years AGO, most homes in Florence did NOT have air conditioning. And people SURVIVED!! Certainly they were tougher than we, but it makes you think . . . How many of us would even CONSIDER building a house without it?

But then you could say, 50 years ago NO ONE had a laptop computer to sit and type mindlessly into a blog. Electicity was not used for near as much as it is today. Every family did not have multiple cars to dump exhaust into the atmosphere. Spray cans were not dumping pcps with every squirt. This world was a different place.

I wonder how hot it will be 50 years from now when my grandson is thinking about all of this??

Have you ever held on to a difficult situation? Maybe a broken relationship or a time when you feel you have been wronged with no restitution?? All of us have experienced this, at one time or another. And all of us need to be warned: QUICKSAND AHEAD!

Quicksand is a great danger. Many times it appears to be solid ground, then you step into it and WHAMMO!!! The ground beneath gives way and you start sinking slowly. I have never seen quicksand face-to-face (although I DID sink into Ed Young’s field once). Everything I know about quicksand I learned from Gilligan’s Island, so you might say I am an expert.

Quicksand sneaks up on you, grabs you, and the harder you fight it, the deeper you sink! Solution: DON’T GO NEAR IT!! BE ON THE LOOKOUT (cuz on the Isle, quicksand always looked a little different from the solid ground).

What can we learn here?? LET GO OF DIFFICULT SITUATIONS, because if you do not, you will DROWN LIKE GILLIGAN in quicksand. And the Professor MIGHT not be there to pull you out!!!

We live in a neighborhood that is known for good trick-or-treating. Ergo, many, many people come into Chadwick tonight to make the rounds and benefit from the candy. We invited Tommy and Susan Truluck, who live near Olanta, to bring their four kids over and join the fun. And a fun time was had by all!!

I saw ghosts, goblins, superheros, ballerinas, a couple of angels (Johnny and Anita’s girls), Jasmine and Ariel (Annie Kate and Sophie), and about three hundred other characters. Some were little, some were medium sized, some were taller than me (and yet, they wore masks). I told Drew this would be his last hoorah, as he will be in seventh grade next year . . . Then I saw a few folks at our door that looked older than me, so I might have to go back on that one.

All in all, we had a fun time. I always enjoy talking with Tommy and his kids are great! So, what did YOU do?? Let me know!