Think On These Things

My friend in Christ, Johnny, reminded me today that no matter how difficult, hopeless, or overwhelming things may seem, I still need to fix my mind on God, and think on the things that He has promised me.

• Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.Philippians 4:8-9 (New International Version)

• Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.Philippians 4:8-9 (The Message)

• For the rest, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of reverence and is honorable and seemly, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely and lovable, whatever is kind and winsome and gracious, if there is any virtue and excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think on and weigh and take account of these things [fix your minds on them].Practice what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and model your way of living on it, and the God of peace (of [a]untroubled, undisturbed well-being) will be with you.Philippians 4:8-9 (Amplified Bible)

I've always believed that circumstances will not get you down unless you allow them to. I've been up against some difficult circumstances, and it's been very difficult for me to not allow them to overwhelm me. I cannot change things, but I can change how I react to them. Some of the promises that I am going to fill my heart with are these:

• He knows me by name, and He knows my circumstances. When the future seems dark and perplexing, and I am feeling helpless and alone, He is at my right hand, supporting me, upholding me, and cheering me.

• I am never alone. He there with me wherever I go, whatever I do. There is not a sigh breathed or a pain felt that does not reach my Father's heart.

• If I lay claim to the promises that I have in Him, I will never know failure.

• I will not allow anyone or anything to steal my joy.

• He will answer my prayers in His time, in His way. I will hold fast to my faith and never give up or distrust, maintaining my confidence in Him - and the blessing will fall upon me like a shower of rain.

It has been said that "those who have borne the greatest sorrows are frequently the ones who carry the greatest comfort to others, bringing sunshine wherever they go. Such ones have been chastened and sweetened by their afflictions; they did not lose confidence in God when trouble assailed them, but clung closer to His protecting love. Such ones are a living proof of the tender care of God."

I want to be that living proof.

The Curse Of An Aching Heart

You made me think you cared for me,
And I believed in you.
You told me things you never meant,
And made me think them true,
I gambled in the game of love,
I played my heart and lost.
I'm now a wreck, upon life's sea,
Alone, I pay the cost.

You made me what I am today,
I hope you're satisfied.
You dragged and dragged me down until
My soul within me died.
You shattered each and every dream,
You fooled me from the start.
And though you're not true,
May God bless you,
That's the curse of an aching heart.

The dreams I dreamed of future joys,
You smiled on, though you knew,
Deep down within your faithless heart,
They never would come true.
Still further on you led me,
till my paradise I saw,
Then with one word you banished
all my hopes for ever more.

You made me what I am today,
I hope you're satisfied.
You dragged and dragged me down until
My soul within me died.
You shattered each and every dream,
You fooled me from the start.
And though you're not true,
May God bless you,
That's the curse of an aching heart.

(Lyrics from a song by Al. Piantadosi and words by Henry Fink, published in 1913)

It's In the Valleys I Grow

Sometimes life seems hard to bear,
Full of sorrow, trouble and woe
It’s then I have to remember
That it’s in the valleys I grow.

If I always stayed on the mountain top
And never experienced pain,
I would never appreciate God’s love
And would be living in vain.

I have so much to learn
And my growth is very slow,
Sometimes I need the mountain tops,
But it’s in the valleys I grow.

I do not always understand
Why things happen as they do,
But I am very sure of one thing.
My Lord will see me through.

My little valleys are nothing
When I picture Christ on the cross
He went through the valley of death;
His victory was Satan’s loss.

Forgive me Lord, for complaining
When I’m feeling so very low.
Just give me a gentle reminder
That it’s in the valleys I grow.

Continue to strengthen me, Lord
And use my life each day
To share your love with others
And help them find their way.

Thank you for valleys, Lord
For this one thing I know
The mountain tops are glorious
But it’s in the valleys I grow!

© Jane Eggleston

Contemplating...

I'm sitting outside today, thinking about things that happen in our lives that we have no control over. Things that other people do that affect us in a dramatic way, and how frustrating it is to not be able to do anything to stop or prevent it. Several things have happened lately that are weighing heavily on my mind and my heart.

It's difficult to not question why, why me. Why am I chosen to carry such burdens, when everyone else around me seems so carefree? I know that we don't see into the lives of others as we do our own. I know that there are many people around me that are carrying more heartbreaking burdens than I am. But my pain is what is real to me. My fears are real to me. My daily struggle is to not allow my circumstances to get me down - to send me into a downward spiral of depression and self-pity. I refuse to let that happen.

I know that my God is a loving God, and I know that He will see me through. There will be lessons learned, wisdom gained, and new paths to take. It's just a slow, slow process. But I will learn. I will grow. I will rise above it.

Is It Worth It?

This was written by a friend named Chris. You can find his original posting here

Sun 8:04pm
On December 3, 2007 too many lives to mention were shattered. One was forever lost, the rest were emotionally spent. Why does such foolishness take place? Selfishness and pride.

I usually don't use my notes as a platform to "preach", today I have no choice. What is in my head must be put down. Learn from this.

We are all selfish and proud. You, you, you, and even you. I am selfish and proud. To many that may not seem like a bad thing. Right? I have reasons to be proud. Proud of my family, proud of my accomplishments, proud of my kids, proud of my parents, proud, proud, proud. Yet the Bible is clear that "pride goes before the fall." You probably don't think of yourself as selfish, but you are. You want, you need, you deserve, you, you, you. I am the same way. I want to play golf, I want to sleep late, I desire this, I deserve that, me, me, me, I, I, I.

So let me be bold. You deserve Hell. I deserve Hell. Thank you Jesus for not giving me what I deserve, BUT for giving me mercy instead.

This past week, I've lost control of my emotions twice. I don't like doing that. I wish I hadn't, but since I can't change the past, let me just apologize to all who saw me "freak out".

What could possibly cause such emotional demonstrations from me? My brother. My little brother who is going to teach you all a lesson.

On Friday, May 15, 2009 my brother was sentenced to serve 20 years in the state penitentiary for intoxicated manslaughter. I cried harder than I ever remember crying. I wailed so loud that I shook. There was a pain in the pit of my stomach that stayed for a long time. It still tries to show up. You know what? I wasn't even the person who hurt the worst. Two teenage boys and 3 siblings, of a man who lost his life surely hurt worse. I'll see my brother again. They never will.

The district attorney painted a vivid picture of how evil and horrible my brother was for this horrific act. The families of the deceased will probably only see him that way as well. But Mat is not vile and terrible. On one night in December he simply let his pride and his selfishness have their way in his life and now...was it worth it?

I've been a minister for over nearly 20 years now, and I've had a war inside of me for many of those years concerning, what many in the older generation call, "the demon alcohol". Let's be frank the Bible never tells us to not drink. It's not in there. In fact Jesus drank wine and Paul tells Timothy to have wine for his stomach. Whether or not it is fermented wine or not, I'll let the Greek and Hebrew scholars debate. The bible does say two very important things concerning alcohol though:
1) "Wine is a mocker and beer is a brawler; whoever is led astray by them is not wise." Prov. 20:1
2) "Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery. Instead be filled with the Spirit." Eph. 5:18

When I was in my young teens I got drunk. It sounded like fun, but let's be real. It's not. Puking is not fun. Having no memory or hazy memories...not fun. Headaches all the next day, fun-less. If you are deceiving yourself with your pompous arrogant attitude saying something ignorant like, "Hell, yea it's fun." You're a liar and you know it. Being intoxicated and inebriated is no fun. So now at 36 I don't get drunk. I don't drink at all. Not because, "Christians don't drink", but simply because I don't need it. I don't need a beer to help me wind down. I don't need a mixed drink to help me have fun. And I don't need the grief that drinking in excess brings.

Wait a minute there, Chris. I can handle my alcohol. You're probably right. This time you can. But alcohol causes you to lose your inhibitions. If you've had a really great day or a really rotten day, you think you deserve just one more drink. And then your friends show up so you have to have one more drink with them. Then they feel bad for you or celebrate with you and you need one more drink. And then because you're arrogant enough to think that you can "handle your alcohol" you drive off and kill a man dismembering his body into three pieces.

Everybody thinks, "That will never happen to me." I'm just being hard because of what my family's been through, right? That is exactly right. No one. NO ONE, should have to feel what those boys, what my mom, I have felt this week. No one thinks it could happen to them...until it does. Do you "deserve" a drink? No you deserve hell. Do you "need" a drink to relax? Then you're co-dependent and need psychiatric help. You want...I repeat...you want a drink. You want TO drink.

Look, I'm not over the edge. I'm not saying ban alcohol. In fact if you drink one or two drinks in your home and you don't leave. There is nothing...NOT one single thing wrong with it. In fact I could have a glass of wine with my steak at home and I'm not breaking the law or sinning. But, and this is a big but, my kids see that, and whose to say if they can "handle" their alcohol. Or if their grandchildren can handle theirs.

If you believe you can handle it and you have no problems with a drink here and there, kudos to you. I hope you never experience what we have. I simply know this one thing for certain. If you never drink, you'll never drive drunk, and you'll never be convicted of intoxicated manslaughter.

One last footnote note. On the day my brother was sentenced, an aunt called with sympathies...she was already drunk.

Sophia's Heart

Many of you are familiar with Danny Gokey, one of this year's American Idol contestants. He created this website it honor of his wife Sophia's work. She passed away shortly before he auditioned for American Idol. Now that his Idol participation is over, he will be blogging on the website again. I wanted to share his Feb 11, 2009 posting with you. He shares a very important message that we all need to consider. It's the posting titled "Letting Go."

Here's the link:
Sophia's Heart

Yikes!

Early this morning, around 2:00 a.m. I went to the kitchen for a drink. I reached out to turn the faucet on, and this is what I saw:



It was about 3 inches long. I'm sure you can well imagine the disturbance that commenced. I screamed and ran down the hall yelling to my husband to Get up, get up, there's a poisonous creature in the kitchen! Hurry up before it gets away! He staggered down the hallway in a haze of confusion and alarm, trying to figure out what I was going on about.

Somehow the whole house didn't get woke up. He took one look and said, That's just a centipede. It's not even poisonous. I'm still hollering Hurry up and get it outside! Kill it! He slid it onto the flyswatter, walked outside and dropped it in the grass.

Now I'm watching everywhere for the creepy crawly thing to show up inside the house again. Why couldn't he have just killed it? There'll be no rest for me.

Milton Man Kills 2 Sisters, But Police Save the 3rd

By WHDH-TV Staff and Associated Press
WHDH-TV
updated 5:47 a.m. CT, Mon., March. 30, 2009

MILTON, Mass. - A man fatally stabbed his 17-year-old sister, decapitated his 5-year-old sister in front of a police officer and then turned toward his 9-year-old sister with a knife in his hand before officers shot him dead in what their chief described as "a killing field."

There was no clear motive for the events that unfolded Saturday, the day after the 5-year-old's birthday, in a tony Boston suburb that also is home to Gov. Deval Patrick. But there was no doubt about the carnage wrought by 23-year-old Kerby Revelus against his sisters in the two-family home they shared with their parents and grandmother.

Five-year-old Bianca was killed as a cake for her birthday, which investigators believe was Friday, sat on the kitchen table. Nine-year-old Sarafina dialed 911 and watched police shoot her brother as her elder sister, 17-year-old Samantha, lay dead on the floor.

Sarafina was hospitalized Sunday with defensive wounds to her hands and stab wounds in her abdomen and one of her legs, police said.

"In policing, we see the raw human emotion every day, but to think that a human being could afflict such an atrocious, violent act on his own family is unbelievable," Milton police Chief Richard G. Wells Jr. said. "When I walked up to the first officer (on the scene), I could see the whole story right in his face. This just told me that this was something very bad."

Saturday's attack came about 24 hours after Revelus had gotten into a fistfight with a man living next door, Wells said.

"Blows were exchanged," he said. "I don't know the cause of it, but we're confident that did happen. He had been agitated in the hours that followed that, going into the day and last night."

Investigators believe Revelus targeted Samantha, a senior at Milton High School, and fatally stabbed her with a household knife while their grandmother, who neighbors say lives on the first floor, was doing laundry in the basement. The children's parents were away; their mother, identified by friends as Regine Revelus, is a nurse at a Boston hospital, Wells said.

Sarafina, a student at the Tucker Elementary School, just behind the house, called 911 around 5 p.m. An officer on patrol in the neighborhood arrived within a minute, Wells said, and could hear an altercation inside as he reached the second floor. The 911 operator tried to persuade Sarafina to open the door, but when she didn't the officer broke through.

"As the officer entered the door, (Revelus) decapitated (Bianca) in front of him," Wells said. "He actually walked into a killing field. He walked into such carnage, as far as the atrocity of it, I've never seen it."

Within moments, four officers were inside and two of them shot Revelus as he tried to get to Sarafina, Wells said. Revelus fell, still clutching the knife.

Details about the number of shots and who killed Revelus were pending the outcome of an autopsy Sunday.

Revelus had recently served jail time on a gun charge, Wells said, but the details would not be released until courts opened Monday. Neighbors said Revelus was in a car that was pulled over by police and from which one occupant threw a gun into a sewer.

Police had been called to the family's house in 2004 after a domestic violence report that Revelus had punched a woman living there, Wells said.

A neighbor, Norm Walsh, said his daughter Kate Walsh, a Hollis, N.H., police officer, reported hearing two shots as she went outside to bring in groceries from the family car. Moments later, a blood-covered officer emerged carrying Sarafina, seeking towels to stanch her bleeding.

"It's shocking to me," said Norm Walsh, whose son is the same age as Revelus. "He played a lot of pickup hoop in the driveway."

Walsh said the family members had lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years and were warm. They were of Haitian descent, as are many residents in the neighborhood, where Creole is spoken alongside English.

"The family is a solid family. Both parents worked; good kids. Completely makes no sense," Walsh said.

Samantha's classmates referred to her by her nickname, Princess, and remarked at her grace, class and friendliness. She had been one of about 20 students who had been at the high school Saturday afternoon to rehearse for a poetry jam on Thursday. Saturday morning, Samantha also had practiced for a school fashion show.

"She had a stage presence like you couldn't believe," classmate Kassi Stein said.

Sobbing, she added: "She had just a soft voice and everyone would lean in to hear what she was saying."

In one of the poems Samantha was to recite, "Acquaintance," she wrote of the strength of women in the face of "ignorant souls."

The poem closed, "So what lousy wind brought you here? What values you offer? She's a woman, a queen, a goddess. Don't treat her like any other."

A two-hour grief counseling session was held at the school Sunday afternoon and will be offered Monday to students and employees.

The officers involved in the case were placed on administrative leave and were receiving counseling from the Boston Police Department.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29938013/

Do You Like To Blog?

It seems that everyone is blogging these days, including myself. You can find mine at http://stillwaters1965.blogspot.com/ Though some people blog as a form of revenue, I just do it because I like to write my thoughts on things, or share specific interests or links with others. I like it when other people read my blog and leave comments letting me know they enjoyed what they read. It would be nice to gain more exposure to my blog.

Attracting readers is important to build a blog following - a readership. One of the ways you can do that is by submitting your blog to various blog directories - a search engine specifically for blogs. You can find many interesting blogs to read, and subscribe to. Often when you provide a link to someone's blog on yours, they will in turn link to your blog on theirs. Over time, you can develop quite a list of followers.


Among the most popular blog directories, these are some of my favorites with the largest listings.

Best of the Web Blog Search http://blogs.botw.org/
Bloggeries http://www.bloggeries.com/
Blog Hub http://www.bloghub.com/
Blogged http://www.blogged.com/
Blog Catalog http://www.blogcatalog.com/
Globe of Blogs http://www.globeofblogs.com/
Blog Universe http://www.bloguniverse.com/
Boggernity http://www.bloggernity.com/
Bloggapedia http://www.bloggapedia.com/
Blogging Fusion http://www.bloggingfusion.com/
Blog Flux http://www.blogflux.com/
Blog Listing http://www.bloglisting.net/
Blog Explosion http://www.blogexplosion.com/

Electric Cars

Yesterday, one of these showed up in my neighbor's driveway:

A limited number of them are to be available this year, for lease - $850 month. Then they would become available for purchase in 2010.
This is said to be a fun but quirky little car. One example is that the battery takes up the entire rear end of the car, so it definitely won't seat more than 2 up front. I'm sure there will be alot of pros and cons pointed out about this car. I just think it's cute. It would be very practical for me to have one to toodle around town in. Only I want mine to look like this:

Laurie Heath Studio

I wanted to share this website with you. Laurie is an awesome photographer. Her pictures are beautifully amazing. Click on the following link: Laurie Heath Studio

I'd Rather Be Dehydrated

I'm sure everyone has heard about the plan to recycle urine into water on the International Space Station.
I read this on NASA's web page:


Space shuttle Endeavour is carrying two refrigerator-sized racks packed with a distiller and an assortment of filters designed to process astronauts' urine and sweat into clean drinking water.

The crew of the International Space Station will test the whole apparatus, but they won't drink any at first. Instead, they will take numerous samples and return them to Earth for detailed testing. After the testing is complete, controllers will clear the astronauts to use the fresh water in orbit.


I'm sorry, but nothing could make me drink that water. I don't care how much it is filtered, processed and tested.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Stronger - Breaking Free Update

And I am happy to say that my heart is still growing stronger! I am so very proud that I am now 10 months smoke-free!!!! Yaaaayyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kind of Creepy

I was noticing the ads in the far right column on my MySpace home page. They are advertisements for things that I have recently typed in the search field on google. Spyware protection doesn't do any good for something like this. I hate that everything I do on the web is being watched.

My Friends, I'm Sorry

My friends, I'm sorry if I've seemed:

Uncaring,
Distant,
Uninterested,
Indifferent,
Mean,
Self-absorbed,
Unapproachable
Removed,
Miserable,
or
Sad.

I haven't meant to alienate anyone.
I've just been a little too wrapped up in my personal problems,
And I've forgotten to let my light shine.
It's been a little dim lately, but I'm working on that.

Sometimes I just need a little reminder that I've forgotten to respect myself.

I'm moving forward now.

My Struggles Make Me Strong!

Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly
One day a small opening appeared
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
It struggled to force its body through that little hole
Then it seemed to stop making any progress
It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could
And it could go no farther.

So the man decided to help the butterfly
He took a pair of scissors and snipped off
The remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easily, BUT,
It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings
He continued to watch the butterfly
He expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge
And the body would contract
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling
Around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It was never able to fly.

The man acted with well-intentioned kindness
But he didn't understand the consequences.
The restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get
Through the tiny opening, were nature's way of forcing fluid
From the body of the butterfly once it achieved it's freedom
From the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life.
If nature allowed us to go through life without any
Obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as we could have been
And we could never fly
Have a great day, great life, and struggle a little.
Then fly!

Awesome Crackers!

I picked up a box of these at the store today, and they are awesome! One side is like the original buttery cracker, and the other side is like a pretzel. You gotta try them. They also come in cheddar flavor.

I Wonder Why He Is So Ungrateful

My son has been staying at a girl’s house for the last week or so, after we told him he could no longer stay here. He did manage to find a job a couple of days ago. Unfortunately, when he came home the first day from that job, the apartment manager told him he could no longer stay with his girlfriend, because he wasn’t on the lease. He called me that night, explaining what happened, and asked me if he could stay at the house until he could get it straightened out. I reluctantly said yes.

The next morning, I woke him up for work. He griped and moaned and said he’d get up in a minute. I went back 10 minutes later and told him the time. He griped louder. At 7:00 a.m. I told him the time and said if he didn’t get up right then he would be late for work. Well, he got up about 10 minutes later, pissed off at me because I wouldn’t leave him alone. Because he was late, I made his lunch, and some breakfast tacos to take in the car with him. No thank you, of course.

That afternoon, I went and bought him 4 pairs of pants for work, and some shoes. I also bought some bread, lunch meat, peanut butter, jelly, crackers, cookies, and a case of water for his lunches. Last week I bought him a new pair of tennis shoes.

I woke him up this morning at 6:30 a.m. He wasn’t happy about it - said he was going to sleep 15 more minutes. I reminded him that today I would not be making his lunch or his breakfast, so he’d better allow enough time for that. At 7:00 p.m. I went back in and told him the time. He cussed at me. I told him that I didn’t want him to lose his job. He lay there griping and cussing. I told him that I wasn’t going to listen to his mouth, and if he didn’t get up he would be jobless and homeless.

Now we really didn’t want him to lose his job, because that would put him in an even worse position for finding somewhere to live besides our house. He couldn’t be added to the lease at his girlfriend’s house, because of his police record. Walt went in and told him to get up now, and go to work. He cussed Walt out, got up, and stalked around the house cussing and calling us “mf’ers that can’t leave somebody alone“. This went on the whole time he was getting ready. Walt got pissed and told him that when he got home from work, he could come here and get his clothes and go. He wasn’t staying at the house tonight. He told him that we were just trying to help him, we’d done a lot for him, he was ungrateful, and that I didn’t deserve to be talked to in the manner that he talked to me.

He stormed out the front door, furious and cussing us out where all of the neighbors could hear. The mayor of West Columbia lives right across the street from us. There are several elderly neighbors that have known my family all of my life. It is so embarrassing to me for him to do this, and it’s certainly not the first time he has. As he passed our car, where Brianna was sitting waiting to leave for school, he pointed at her and started cussing her out. He got in his piece of crap car and floored it. We live on a corner lot. As he approached the corner, he floored it and flew into the turn. His tail end swung around and his car spun twice in the middle of the turn. The culvert that runs under the road is pretty large, and the drop off is about 4 feet. Somehow he managed to keep his car from flying off of the culvert. He then floored it and headed off in the opposite direction going about 50 mph on a neighborhood street.

So - our neighbors got quite a show. We were embarrassed and upset. Brianna was crying. I stood there thinking, “Where did I go wrong? What is wrong with this child? I don’t deserve this. “ I truly wished that he would have run off of the culvert so his car would have been un-drivable. It seemed that there should have been some kind of consequence for his horrible behavior. But that would have just caused him to stick around longer. I guess being told to not come back was just consequence.

After I comforted Brianna, and told her goodbye, I went back inside the house. I fully expected to get a phone call telling me my son had been in an accident. I didn’t hear anything, and he didn’t come by this evening to get his stuff. So I don’t know where he is, or who he’s staying with. I absolutely can’t let him come back here. None of us deserve to be spoken to the way he did, especially Brianna. The house has been so peaceful since he’s been staying with his girlfriend. 2 days back at our house, and it was full of turmoil. NO THANKS! I just can’t do that anymore.

Hurricane Education: What we've learned during Ike . . .

1. Coffee and frozen pizzas can be made on a BBQ grill.

2. No matter how many times you flick the switch, lights don't work without electricity.

3. My car gets 23.21675 miles per gallon, EXACTLY (you can ask the people in line who helped me push it).

4. Kids can survive 4 days or longer without a video game controller in their hand.

5. The Astros can’t beat the Cubs in Milwaukee especially when they don’t get any sleep.

6. He who has the biggest generator wins.

7. Walking around your home in the dark should be a new Olympic sport.

8. A new method of non-lethal torture- showers without hot water.

9. There are a lot more stars in the sky than most people thought.

10. TV is an addiction and the withdrawal symptoms are painful.

11. A 7 lb bag of ice will chill 6-12 oz Budweiser's to a drinkable temperature in 11 minutes, and still keep a 14 lb. Turkey frozen for 8 more hours.

12. There are a lot of dang trees around here.

13. Flood plain drawings on some mortgage documents were seriously wrong.

14. Aluminum siding, while aesthetically pleasing, is definitely not required.

15. Crickets can increase their volume to overcome the sound of 14 generators.

16. People will get into a line that has already formed without having any idea what the line is for.

17. When required, a Lincoln Continental will float - doesn't steer well but floats just the same.

18. Tele-marketers function no matter what the weather is doing.

19. Cell phones work when land lines are down, but only as long as the battery remains charged.

20. 27 of your neighbors are fed from a different transformer than you, and they are quick to point that out!

21. Hampers were not made to contain such a volume.

22. If my store sold only ice, chainsaws, gas and generators... I'd be rich.

23. Price of a can of soup rises 200 percent in a storm.

24. Your water front property can quickly become someone else's fishing hole.

25. Tree service companies are under appreciated.

26. I learned what happens when you make fun of another states' blackout.

27. MATH 101: 30 days in a month, minus 6 days without power equals 30 percent higher electric bill ?????

28. Drywall is a compound word, take away the 'dry' part and it's worthless.

29. I can walk a lot farther than I thought.

County should count blessings in wake of Ike

By Bill Cornwell
The Facts
Published September 21, 2008
That whistling noise we heard early last Saturday morning was a bullet grazing past our community and hitting Galveston. But for 20 or 30 miles west, we would be where Galveston is today.

I still have a list of addresses, homes that were still occupied by residents who ignored mandatory evacuation notices.

I was lead officer on Lake Jackson’s Fire Engine 5.

Our assignment was to drive a sector of Lake Jackson hours ahead of Ike. The information we were obtaining was for rescue and body recovery post-hurricane.

Thankfully, the list wasn’t required.

Even though we sit in dark houses and look out over debris-strewn lawns, we are the lucky ones.

If you still have a home, family and friends, you have no complaints.

When The Facts’ managers and I broke from our meeting prior to the hurricane, I told them to look around and take stock — “What you see now may not be here when you come back. Life will change.”

A few miles away that prediction came true. Galveston, Bolivar and points east took the brunt of Hurricane Ike.

My dear friend, Dolph Tillotson, publisher of The Galveston County Daily News, is facing the nightmare I envisioned for most of our county: Loss of basic services — water, sewage and power — grocery and retail disruption, commercial and industrial uncertainty.

With the exception of our battered friends in Surfside Beach and Quintana, the rest of our communities remain intact.

We are the lucky ones.

It might not seem so now, but we are.

Here are some positive thoughts:

I think Surfside Beach will recover and reinvent itself.

Perhaps this situation will bring the infrastructure the city needs to move forward.

Many laughed when our county officials called for a mandatory evacuation Wednesday.

Thank you to those who endured the criticism and made that call.

Our municipal leaders did an exceptional job.

They have worked nonstop and are the reason your basic services continue to operate.

Don’t blame them for your electricity woes.

Our sheriff, police, Department of Public Safety, emergency medical personnel and fire departments were out there guarding property, clearing streets, marking downed power lines and putting out fires.

In many cases, they went well above the call of duty.

Many of our local businesses, especially those selling building materials and groceries, worked off of generators to open as soon as possible to meet our basic needs.

Several local restaurants opened back up quickly to the relief of those craving iced tea and a hot meal.

Because of the lack of power, our neighborhoods have become more social places.

As we sit out in our lawn chairs and stop to offer each other help, many of us are getting to know our neighbors for the first time.

I could go on, but the point is we should count our blessings.

Brazoria County, its municipalities and its residents have done a good job in a tough situation.

We are alive, the power will come back on and this experience will have made us wiser and more appreciative of what we have.


Bill Cornwell is editor and publisher of

The Facts.

Copyright © 2008 The Facts