Juicy bones

I recently moved far out into the country. It is dead quiet out in the country at night, (aside from the nightly concert of frogs, crickets, whippoorwills, an occasional cow bawling far in the distance and various and sundry other wildlife critters yelling to each other across the lake all night). There are no cars whizzing by, no sirens; just a silent night.

It is very dark at night living out in the country and I can walk outside and see stars and the beautiful full moon reflecting across the lake. It is amazing but since I have retired I have managed to get up long before dawn and worked well past dark. I have more to do than I can possibly get done and I am dead tired when I go to bed.


I still have not had my Direct TV installed. I do not have a radio or a solid or fast enough Internet connection to surf the Net. I have not read a newspaper and have very little idea what is going on in the world. I did hear from various people who called me on the phone that several people lost their lives during Hurricane Ike and thousands of others are suffering. I also heard the stock market nearly crashed and thousands are suffering from that. (Bummer)


I was thinking that I am in a situation similar to the days of Christ where I do not have any access to 24 hour news reporters who are eager to share with the world the tragic events that are occurring each minute all around the world. I just tend to my farm from daylight until dark and then go to bed and read my Bible a little and drift away to sleep. About the worst thing that has happened down here is that my plantation manager did not have the proper tools to replace a bearing in our harrow today and we cannot finish harrowing our fields until we go to town today and pick one up. (Bummer) Oh yeah and I saw a big Cottonmouth moccasin riding around and forgot my rifle and missed an opportunity there.

Am I better off today than yesteryear? My wife and I were talking about it and she wants to know what is going on in the world around her and misses her television, but aside from that seems very content for a city girl. Hmmm I cannot say that I miss watching the news. It is depressing and it often makes me mad to watch it, especially when I see government waste reports, or worse have to endure biased media in the political arena; however I suppose I would like to be informed a little better too. But it is after all, not that big of a deal.

I have always defined success in a different manner than most folks that I know. I define success as anyone who knows peace and real joy. I do not give a whit if someone is rich or a famous rock star, politician, movie star, business leader, scientist, et al; the real question is are they happy and do they have peace in their life? I would have to say that based upon that criteria, I am successful. Sure things could be better, but by and large the Lord has seen to it that I have all that I need and I am happy. I still work hard, pray often during the day and thank him for blessing me so, and even feel closer to him being in the beautiful outdoors that He has created every day instead of sitting in my former big office overlooking a smaller lake and summoning people to my office daily to discuss their performance or lack thereof. I think I am in a healthier environment now and that must mean my joyful old bones are still juicy

Proverbs 17:22
A joyful heart is the health of the body,
But a depressed spirit dries up the bones.