Pastor Tim:

Always stop and smell the roses!!

If you have a few minutes, reading this poem in this issue, brought a very old memory to this 83 year old mind…

I was home to North Carolina from San Diego, CA on boot leave in Feb. 1946.  We had cold weather with lots of freezing rain for a couple of days.  Then one day it cleared off but it was still pretty cold.  Everything was covered with ice.

We lived out in the country on a tobacco farm.  I told everyone I was going rabbit hunting!!  No self respecting rabbit would have been out in that cold, but it was a beautiful clear, cold and sparkly day so I got my rifle (a Winchester model 74 pump .22 that I had paid $11 for 5 years earlier.) and I went outside.

Right away, the first sound I heard was the tinkling of the ice in the trees.  What a beautiful sound that was!!!  God’s bells ringing quietly!!!  That was my first thought!!  What a beautiful sound that was and it accompanied me for the couple of hours that I walked around the edges of the fields of that farm.

I never did see a rabbit, but I really did not expect to.  That day still ranks as one of the very best days of my life.  I remember it very fondly.  I felt very close to our Lord that day!!

Thanks for your e-mails and your sermons.  I do enjoy every one that I listen to!!

Claude Covington
USA