New Year 2015

It seems odd to me that it is already the year 2015.  It is funny to watch an old sci-fi movie which has looked twenty to thirty years into the future, and what they have portrayed is no where near the way things are.

The year 2014 was a blessed year for my family and I.  There have been changes, there have been hardships, and some of those hardships were blessings in disguise.

I thank GOD, our Creator for His bountiful blessings; and for His watch and care through all the hardships, and the blessing of healings, and comforts in pain.

I am looking forward to this new year on the banks of Flat Creek.

May the new year be a prosperous one; especially in our LORD.

-tim

Just for Thought – The Green Thing

I received the following as an email from a friend.  Thought it to be a good reminder of things.

-tim

The Green Thing

Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the older woman, that she should bring her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment.
The woman apologized and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”
The clerk responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.
Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby’s diapers because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing. But that young lady is right; we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana?  In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.  But she’s right; we didn’t have the green thing back then.
We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull. But we didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza joint.  But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?

Remember: Don’t make old People mad.

It is Thanksgiving Day

This is the first Thanksgiving since the start of this blog.  Just a note to myself and anyone else who might have an interest.

I am a person who endeavors to be thankful every day.  First of all thankful to our Creator who has given us all things for blessing us.  The air we breathe, the ground upon which we walk, the beating of our hearts; He gives us every beat.  At His own will and discretion He could take us to our eternal destiny.  Be thankful today of all days.

I am thankful for my family and friends as well.  The Creator has given them to me to love and enjoy and to learn from them as well; and I pray I can be as good a family member and friend they have been to me.  My wife is the gem, the jewel of my life.  She was a gift from the Creator for sure.

Just over a year ago in September, on the 21st of September, as a matter of fact my wife had a rare heart surgery for an anuerism of the aorta of her heart.  The surgery was a success; and she went for a annual exam yesterday with a CT scan and all looked good.  For that I am thankful.

I am thankful for the five children the LORD has given me as well.  They are all different in many ways, with very different personalities, and gifts.  For that I am thankful too.  I am thankful for my 12 grandchildren, and are they all so grand.  I am thankful too that we have two already with Jesus.

I am thankful for the family I grew up in; my mother and father, brother, sisters; aunts and uncles, cousins; and all my fore fathers.  Without them all I would not be who I am today.

I am thankful for so many things, and one last thing I want to let the world know is that I am thankful for our home and the land on which we live.  It is God’s gift to us.  I pray I will be a good steward of all the LORD has given me.

Thank YOU LORD.

Thankful on the banks of Flat Creek.

-Tim

Being blessed with more Rain

Today is the last day of Summer.  At least according to the calendar hanging on my wall.  Friday the 23rd is the first day of Autumn.  That seems to be a little later than usual to me.  It seems to usually fall on the 21st or so; but not in 2011 I guess.

It is raining again.  Thank the Lord of all grace and mercy and love.  It is wonderful how He loves us all.  It seems to me that rain is a reminder of His love, grace and mercy and our need.

It will not be long and we will all be longing for those warm, even hot Summer days; at least I know I will.  I must admit some of these past Summer days were extremely hot; but that is Summer.

It is great to be alive.  It is great to have family and friends whom I love and who loves me.  It is even greater still to know that there is a God in Heaven who also lives within me, because He loves me and cares for every need.  All because of the gift of His Son Jesus – His death on the cross, burial and resurrection; and knowing that one day soon He will return.  O,  What a day that will be…

Thanks for the rain.

-Tim

Hazard on the Highway

My wife and I were coming home from church last night when we came up behind a couple of vehicles.  The one directly in front of us was a small pickup truck; and in front of them was a Ford Taurus [Though I did not know that until later.  We were too far in the back to tell].  The lady in the Taurus was driving slowly; about 40, maybe less; and she was driving into the Southbound lane of Highway 39 (we were headed North).  At times there was on coming traffic and there were several near misses.

The lady in the Taurus nearly ran in the ditch at one point, and my thought was that that was a good place for her before someone was seriously hurt.  The people in the small truck was afraid to get too close and kept putting on their hazard lights.  We got into Barry County, and about a mile into the county she actually hit the ditch on the West side of the road, did some pretty lively bouncing, veered back onto the road into the correct lane, and just shortly pulled into a driveway.

The small truck and us stopped.  The passenger [a woman] of the small truck got out and she was a bit shaken from seeing what all happened.  I was more angry than shaken.  I was almost sure that this individual was drunk.  I went over to the car, and the woman driving got out wondering what had happened.  “This is a friends car.” She said.  “Is it badly damaged?”  I was talking to her, and noticed that I was the only one standing there with her.  All the others had left the scene.

She did not have any smell of alcohol on her. I found out later that she had taken some kind of sleep medication, taken her friends car without permission, and now the car is damaged.  This woman did not even know where she was.

After I wrote out a statement for the Sheriff’s department I left the scene, and she was taken away in a patrol car.

You could say that was an eventful evening.  I am glad and thankful that the woman was not hurt or injured and that no one else was either.

I was not on the banks of Flat Creek when this happened, but fairly near.

-Tim

Another One

The Little Girl was still gone when I left to drive the bus for the evening route.  However, when I returned home she was back, and had a friend with her; a small male, even smaller than her.  Now I like dogs, but I can only take so many.  After all I don’t run, nor do I want to run a kennel.  I do have methods for dealing with strays.  In other words, we now have three dogs hanging around here.  These two Corgi looking ones are probably someone’s or at least have been someone’s house pets.

No pet is allowed in the house here.  We have made few exceptions if they are kept in a cage; not running free in the house.  We don’t even have gold fish in our house; or an aquarium of exotic fish.  We have had, but not now.

Archer now has two friends.  He seems to get along with them well.

I am hoping that yesterday was the last of the 100 degree temps for the Summer.  It did make it to 100 at our house.

It’s great living along the banks of Flat Creek.

-Tim

My Dad

On Tuesday of this week I was nearing my home when my wife called me on the cell and told me that my Dad was possibly having a heart attack.  He was refusing to be taken to the ER for help.  My Mom had called my wife [Madge] to have her call me and if I could take him where he needed to be.

I stopped went in, and asked if he was doing okay.  He told me, “No! I’m not” even saying to me that there was the possibility he could be having a heart attack.  My words were, “Don’t you think you need to get to the hospital?”  To which he responded, “That’s a possibility”  We were getting somewhere.  He at first wanted to wait for Mom to get home.  She had a doctors appointment that day and was away with my sister Judy doing that.

Our Aunt Bonnie was there with my Day when I got there and she helped me to finally get him to agree and go.

When we arrived at the ER in Springfield an hour and a few minutes later, they quickly put him on an EKG and he was having a heart attack.  They rushed him to the cardiac cath lab; then, an hour and a half to two hours later the doctor came out and told us that basically they could do nothing; and he was continuing with the attack.  They would medicate him, keep him in CCU for a while, send him to a room, and send him home in a few days if things went well.

They have filled him with morphine, his mind is confused from it, and he thinks everyone else is confused.

My Dad made sure that my siblings and myself new the Lord by taking us to Sunday School and church every time the doors were open; and teaching us about work; and the value of family and friends.  Of course, my Mom had a big hand in that too.

There is one thing that I am convinced of and that is that God is good.  God is in control.  Not only is my Dad’s life in His hands; so is mine and yours.  None of us know the day or the hour we take our last step, breathe our last breath, or the last beat of our heart.

Whether it be along the banks of Flat Creek, Cox Hospital, any hospital, or Fairbanks, AK. we are all in the hands of our Creator.  So it is a great thing if you come to Him through His Son Jesus Christ, Creator.

-Tim

A Name Means Something

Though I am not often proud of the things I do; or some things which I leave undone; I am glad to have the name Timothy Alden Blankenship.  I go by Tim.  My friends, and maybe those who aren’t my friends call me by that name of maybe some other name even such as Timmy.

The name Timothy has a biblical meaning:  It means “Honoring God”.  The only way I honor God is due to the love and grace of God my Savior Jesus Christ.  I know that I fall far short of being perfect.  I don’t even try to be perfect.  I do expect perfection on the day I see Him face to face.

My goal in life is to honor God, and glorify His name.

-Tim A. Blankenship