Country Store

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it (Santayana).

Most Americans are content with their own peace, comfort and prosperity. They are not interested in looking through the rear view mirror of how they got here. Most young people I have known, having gone through the trauma of a government school have little interest in history. They think that Americans have always lived in a land of pleasure, largess, skyscrapers. One of my drivers, a university senior, said to me, after I had spoken to him about the horrors of early settlers crossing the plains, "I think they mostly stopped at McDonalds." I then told him about one of my friends, a well known judge from Tennessee whose ancestors had crossed the plains on a covered wagon. His great grandmother, riding next to her husband at the front of the covered wagon behind a yoke of oxen, fell over dead. They had already buried one child on the trip. It was up to the father, and a surviving son, my friend's grandfather to dig a grave, to bury his great grandmother, bury her in the wilderness and then stay around for a few days to keep the Indians from digging up the body.

When this writer's ancestors landed on the shores of New Jersey in 1677 (a small ship called the Kent), they had brought just a few tools, fewer clothing than comforts, a few utensils. First, they felled some trees, built shelter. Their first actual efforts in conquering the new world, the place to which they had fled for religious freedom and opportunity was to build a chimney, a place for warmth and into which they could hang a cooking pot for the cooking of very scarce food. I still have here in my house the chimney cast iron cooking pot they had brought over from England.

Like biblical characters, you must put flesh and blood on these people. Can one even imagine the physical and psychological trauma they endured... so many died in the ocean crossing as well as after they came ashore.

First, was built their houses, using the rough hand tools they had been able to bring... narrow diameter logs which they put together as log houses. There were still log buildings (barns) on the farms where my parents and grandparents lived.

There were no work animals in the early years of North America. They eked out an existence from the soil, vegetable gardens around the stumps of trees where the soil was pliable full of humus.

Later, as more houses were built and more settlers arrived, the need arose for a store where supplies could be purchased or traded which arrived from England. In my boyhood, there were still country stores at almost every crossroads. This was the beginning of American commerce. Say what you will, investigate all you wish, this was the beginning of all the big corporations which now dominate the stock markets of the world. It is simply a matter of supplying needs for profit... raw capitalism. 90% of faith is just raw courage and, many of our ancestors had the faith-courage to begin businesses, no matter the risk, no matter how small.

I so remember those country stores of my youth. In them you could find necessities which could not be raised-produced on the farm, such as sacks of flour (cornmeal could be obtained at a local grist mill. I so remember the old grist mill near my home, farmers taking in bags of already shelled corn and the stone grinder, turned by water, grinding the corn into meal. Always, as my father was getting the meal, I was out on the bridge next to the mill where the water came through turning the wheels, watching the fish that had escaped). In the store would be a small variety of canned goods, some sewing supplies such as thread and needles, snuff-chewing tobacco, patent medicines, perhaps rolls of oil-cloth for the covering of kitchen and dining room tables. There often were bags of hog and chicken feed, certain necessities for automobiles and farm machinery.

With the coming of vehicles, it was at the country store that you purchased gasoline and oil. There would be a hand made ramp on to which you drove your vehicle for an oil change. Before power lines invaded the country side, the gas tank was pumped by hand. Phone lines came into the country side before power lines and it was at the country store that everyone made telephone calls... usually just emergencies, a place to call the doctor or the funeral home. It was at the country store that the first town councils were formed. With need-wanting to make a living, first came the blacksmith shop, then other businesses such as doctors offices. This is the history of the beginning of every town-city-metropolis. Usually, starting at a place of traffic such as a bend in a river or a railroad. With time, there was a need to transport farm commodities-animals-products of industry. With time, there was a need for school houses, church houses, even court houses. We all came from backgrounds such as this. Every politician should realize that this is the way our America grew. It started with one-story buildings, then two-story. Can you even imagine what it was like, before modern escalation to build multi-story brick edifices (hotels), office and industry buildings?

The founding members of our society-culture were those with the faith-hard work ethic. To take the risk, invest their hard earned money, not only in building commerce, but in building hospitals, libraries, colleges, and then later orphanages (where the children were called inmates), poor houses (county homes, where the unfortunates had never been able to do anything but survive, were able to live and die in some dignity), later retirement and nursing homes. By law and duress, veterans who have defended our country were cared for, but, in the American experience, next to slavery, its greatest shame, the unforgivable shame of this nation is its treatment of disabled veterans and handicapped citizens.

Have we come this far, made such progress from sea to sea in buildings, transportation, industrial enterprise, education opportunities to see it all destroyed by ineptness and deceit. God most assuredly has had his hand on America. One political party wants God taken out of its constitution. Everyday, in every way, we see lying and deceit paralyzing and punctuating future American progress. Are there enough Christians left to stem the tide, to make a difference?

Tall Men in World of Midgets

This writer has traveled every continent of the world. 50 years ago, traveling in remote 3^rd world countries as well as the populous ones, with respect to me and my country, other world citizens looked up to us. We were tall men in a world of midgets, mostly because of our idealism proffered in academia, industrial might and certainly exploration. It was not just the physical spirit of idealism, but the spiritual spirit of exceptional-ism.

So it was from the beginning, my ancestors escaping the corruption and annhialism of 15^th century Europe for the opportunities of the North American continent.

I thought of this yesterday when I had a letter from a pastor who had won one of the two pastor's awards. ($3,000 each cash award) I have given, for many years, in honor of my great grandfather, P.T. Lucas, a country preacher of the gospel. Born in 1854, dying in 1908, not even my father ever knew him but, many knew about him.

The Lucas family was one of North Carolina's first families, owned a large part of Wilson county. This man, father of 12 children who left each of them a plantation, could have stayed home and pastored-preached close by but, on paths, horse and buggy, covered eastern North Carolina proclaiming the good news. He attended a large Baptist convention in Nashville, TN, his first train ride, first time seeing electric lights, first time seeing inside plumbing, having never seen a telephone or heard a radio. He lived through the civil war, witnessed the desperation, annihilation of the countryside.

Today's pastors, luxury cars, comfortable homes, planes and programs, golf courses and the gadflies of the world. I get so sick when I hear televangelists, in their thousand dollar suits, expensive hair cuts, talk of their commitment to God and His Word. It is like “so-called” Christians who can reconcile membership in the church and membership in free masons. It is like Girl Scouts supporting planned parenthood. It is like black, “so-called” fundamentalists voting 96% for a Marxist-Muslim-pro choice sympathizer. It is like hard-working, God-fearing, tax-paying Americans voting for politicians who are increasing the national deficit by $2 trillion per year... taking every tax dollar just to pay interest on the national debt. Rejoice, my greart grandfather was looking forward to this day because we, today, are seeing the “end times”... the times spoken of in the Bible, just before the reappearance of Jesus Christ.

Have we lost all common sense? Do you not understand that communism-humanism-nosticism has always failed? Do you not understand that China, having the world's largest middle class, has moved from communism to capitalism? Do you not understand that America, 54% depending on entitlements, is moving from capitalism to communism?

I remember walking down the streets of Damascus, Syria - street called straight on which the apostle Paul walked next, will come the destruction of Damascus (Isaiah 17:1)

My great grandfather, grandfather, father, did not live through bubbles... .com, real estate, bailout, now silver and gold. Their feet were on the ground, the basics of God, family, country... seed time and harvest, sowing and reaping, absolutes of right and wrong. Greece, the cradle of civilization, Italy, center of history and art. Their foibles of government did not determine or compromise this nation's progress. When the stock market retraces to 3,000 on the DOW, when sexual promiscuity becomes just “ho hum” on the news, when genocide and infanticide are of no concern, even to “so-called” believers many more will realize that our redemption draws near. (Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus - Revelation 22:20)

In a world of midgets, midget thinking, midget actions, midget dreams, it is truly exceptional and marvelous to find men and women, who still stand tall... tall in words, tall in actions, tall in dreaming about better days for their country, their children and at last, salvation for all who God wishes to save. (John 3:17)

Weather forecasters did not predict the recent Northeastern, October, snowstorm. Forget what satanic protagonists have told you. In God's magnificent design, there are absolutes... the periodic table, laws of motion, tones of music. Mathematics, regardless of language, results always the same. Chemistry, results in the same equation. Astronomy, no surprises, no matter which telescope. God is Boss, in charge, He makes no mistakes. When will tall men stand and say something? The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)... bantam Baptists, midget Methodists, puny Pentecostals, effervescing Epicopalians, cathartic Catholics.

Beauty of God In Your Life

For the blind, and this writer is totally blind (over 50 years, veteran of the Korean Conflict). You see by knowing the beauty of God in your life and in the lives of others.

God does what He wants to do, it is not necessary for Him to make sense to us. HE IS BOSS-WE TRUST HIM!

The founders of this country would laugh and then cry. My parents, my grandparents, even in my lifetime, would never believe what has happened to my country. IF, and I do mean if, the parents, pastors, military veterans of this country really cared there would be an insurgence of concern, seeking God's guidance in prayer, from one side of this nation to the other.

My own mother said, “You do not know the meaning of prayer until you hear your son drive out of the yard, onto the road in the family car, on which the family so depends.”

Bill Mccartney, who founded promise keepers in 1991 said, “Everyone must have a rock on which they can cling.” (Psalm 18:2) The world, the people of the world, need an anchor.

The debt of this nation ($16.7 Trillion) which can never be repaid, falls back on the tax payers. The extremism of insanity involving this debt can be traced directly to such federal government programs as FEMA.

In 1996, after a hurricane on this coast, there was much destruction along the beaches. I own a beach house right on the ocean. God always takes care of my house, but all around it, were pieces of houses, piers, fences, etc. FEMA workers, with their trucks and cranes were clearing off the beaches. A very articulate young man came on my porch, and said, “You must move your car so we can clear debris.” My driver had already left, I was in my house alone. I said, “This blind man cannot move the car but you can move it for me”. In order to move my car a few feet, he wrote an exclusion permission paper for me to sign. Then, in conversation, he told me the northern university he was attending, where he was living in the local city, plays in which he was acting at the local theatre... all while working for FEMA. This past week, it was revealed that FEMA workers in Wisconsin, working after the floods caused by hurricane Irene, were staying in Wisconsin’s most expensive hotel (about $500 per night, per room). This year, there has been at least one disaster every month, (flood, hurricane, earthquake, tornadoes, etc.) There are now 1.9 million federal workers working for FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency).

There was a time, before regulations had destroyed competition, that men and women wanted to own their own business. This is the reason that costs for electronics (televisions, computers, etc.) have come down. Costs of everything involving government continue to go up for instance it costs $15,000 per year, over $1000 per month for the average family’s health insurance. By 2020, and even more with ObamaCare, the cost will double.

The role model in the inner city, the new entrepreneur, the one to whom youth looks with envy, with their new “duds” and cars, the drug pusher.

The CEO of Coca Cola, knowing about business, knowing about establishing businesses in many places, said that communist China is much more business-friendly than the United States.

This writer has made Eight round the world trips, cross Russia on the Trans Siberian Railway, China three times since it's reopening, so obvious, as communist countries become capitalistic, they flourish. As America, once the epitome of capitalism, has become communist, we have faltered and failed... become more and more non-competitive. On my three trips to China, the first after the Nixon reopening, textbook, classic communism. (Everyone, men, women, children wearing the same style uniform, same style haircut, attempt at equality at housing, food, education.) Mao killed millions (est. 126 million) to get such totalitarian, authoritarian control.. With each return trip, I noticed, even with my partial sight in one eye changes... changes in manner of dress, changes in decor of homes, business opportunities. The human soul, China or anywhere, desires exceptionalism, beauty of the individual. The true canvass artist does not want to paint by the number... the art critic recognizes personality in technique, difference.

I understood completely when a sixth grade teacher, working for me on weekends, said, “Every teacher I know has become completely indifferent... we just don't care anymore.”

On one round the world trip, island of Mauritius (Indian Ocean) a lady friend became interested in an airline pilot who wanted to meet me. He predicted to me the 911 disaster. He said, “Uniforms, uniforms make all the difference. A terrorist can dress in a uniform, stolen anywhere, fly a plane, drive a truck, in any way compromise security.” He further said, “A pilot terrorist, my size, stealing my uniform, leaving me in my room dead, could walk right on my plane and fly it anywhere”. This is the evil side of life.

My cousin, country farmer, knowing nothing of art, told me, that the greatest beauty he had ever seen was his grandchildren in crepe paper costumes performing in a play on a stage at the country school with handmade scenery. This is the beauty side of life.

Psalm 92:15

To shew that the LORD is upright: he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

Capitalism

Nearly 4,000 books have been written about Abraham Lincoln, without a doubt the most popular President of the United States. He said, “all I am, or ever hope to be, I owe to my mother.” When I was young, my mother, dismayed her entire life from her lack of formal education, so anxious for her children to have the best education. The county book-mobile had come into the community. Once a week, the book-mobile filled with luscious books and a real nice librarian and driver anxious to assist the children of the farm community with reading would stop at my cousin's country store at the country crossroads. My mother would take my sister and I to the book-mobile where we would select books to read during the week.

Many books had a great effect on my life, perhaps the one that affected my young mind the most was called T-model Tommy, a book written by Stephen Meader in 1938. The book told the story of a 17-year old boy, born in poverty in New Jersey who fixed up an old model-T truck and began a hauling business which through hard-work prospered into a transport business of many trucks. The writer, the author, Stephen Meader wrote many stories about young men developing independent businesses in the face of adversity.

The greatest failure of this democratic republic, a nation built on capitalism, it's failure to properly teach young people about capitalism. I have found in my life that very few young people, particularly young men, know anything about capitalism, investing, mortgages, business debt, etc. This makes the liberal sociologists happy because they want this country to become communist anyways, everyone depending on the government. I truly believe the answer to the drop out rate, now approaching 1/3 in the 21st century, would be cured if young men were more challenged in accomplishment through capitalism.

Many come from single family homes, know nothing except welfare, the stagnation of sitting around doing nothing. In the trash can of a democratic republic, many have not learned yet that liberalism keeps you poor and that poor people are easy to control. Among my many blessings, life, liberty, Christian ancestry, parents who knew the honor of work, accomplishment. They knew that in order to have money, the pride of doing something themselves, you sell your services or a product. Time is dollars, and you invest dollars, you make money with money, you have that blessed assurance of responsibility, the honor, pride and dignity of work. My father farmed during the week, crops which he sold for cash. On weekends, he worked as a barber, money which mostly took care of the family needs, during the winter he worked construction, building houses. Along with this, he raised and sold livestock, my mother sold milk, butter, and eggs, garden products. There was no money to waste on frivolous things, but we were able to go to the doctor, were better dressed, had a better home, well-furnished, better car, better money for college. This happened because of the Christian desire to live and give, living productive lives, giving every place possible.

So, having worked my way through eight years of university educations, commissioned as an army medical officer, I returned almost totally blind. Many things influenced my thinking during those crucial times, one was that book I read as a child, T-model Tommy. I was fortunate enough to practice for a while with limited vision, has an assistant standing over me to make sure I did everything correctly. But, the time came that I had to give it all up.

I started out upstairs, over a shoe store, the space had been used by a doctor at least 50 years previously. The owner of the shoe store, Mr. Parrot, said, “doctor, I will give you a five year lease on that space for $25 a month if you are willing to fix it up for your use. I had some construction work done, but wallpaper, painting etc. friends helped me do it all.” I had saved enough money from the military to buy my essential equipment. It was from this meager strategic start that I built a very large private practice. After the initial office I move into a much better location, more appropriate for my use. Because so much of my practice was built strictly on my personality, my knowledge, it was an excellent opportunity for a younger man to practice with me. The truth is that most young doctors want everything at once, did not want to go through the hard-planned program, the heart-ache of work. Most think they are too important, too great for anything.

The time came, just as in driving, just as in everything else involving eye sight, I had to quit, knowing full well, for a very long time, that the day would come. I started with the first dollar, over and above frugal living expenses, taxes and necessities, investing one-half of what was left in real estate, the other half in the stock market. Like T-model Tommy, I started with one duplex residence, I lived on one side, rented the other side, letting that side pay for the building, then I bought a second duplex, one side making payment on the building. Then, I bought another duplex, and before long, I owned 12 buildings.

Then, I started buying commercial property, office buildings, retail space, even night-club buildings. Then, I bought beach property, five duplexes on the beach, furnished, which I rented by the week to vacationers, and rented monthly to students and teachers. Any residence on the beach which came up for sale I would have someone go with me and describe it to me. You should see me measure a room with my white cane, then later, tell helpers how I want it refurbished and decorated. I found that if I decorated and furnished a house, I could sell it at a much greater profit.

Through my military contacts, I knew the owner of a furniture store very well. He could still tell you how this man would come in and buy furniture from him, walking around the store, bargaining, most of the time I could visualize what I had purchased. At public auctions, second-hand stores, thrift-shops I bought pictures and prints, draperies and carpets, over and over, someone would say, “who decorated this house?” Evidently I did a decent job, because they always sold, or rented well. I bought commercial property, depending on two strategic convictions: geography, and if the surrounding property would make mine worth more. It is like a doctor's office, a store, even friends, people want to go to a place which will flatter them, make them look better. The harder I worked, the more I prospered, whether cleaning behind dirty people who had rented my property, or books about investing in the stock market.

I have given instruction to at least 1,000 people, if you ever find a business, free of aggravation, free of hard-work, free of risk, please let me know what it is, I want to get into that business. In other commentaries, I have given the Morris rules for business, for lifestyle, for depending on the Christian promise, it is a matter of mindset. I hear about conservation, political conservatives, most politicians, including some very good republicans, know nothing about conservation, conservatives. God, and God alone gives you the blessing, even when physically blind. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. (Psalm 84:5)