• Just before the state government closed beauty shops and such, I got a haircut on the last day they were opened.  Apparently the beautician had a premonition about things to come, because she practically sheared me. I told some friends that it was so short I looked like a boy with boobs.  They got a laugh from that image.
• I had a friend message me that her daughter, who lived just down the road from me and who doesn’t go to church regularly, called her on Sunday afternoon and said, “Mama, I still had my gown on and stepped outside and heard preaching coming from the church just up the road.  They were having drive-in church, so the preacher had a big speaker going.  I stood out there and listened to the whole sermon, and it was good. I had church without my bra on.”  (I think this is just more proof that good can come out of bad situations.)
• Another young woman reported her daughter’s reaction: Matti Ruth asked if we could keep doing car church (drive in)! She likes it better.
• A funny question from 5-year- old Mallory, “Momma, is coronavirus ‘worser’ than having lots of kids?”
• There was an actual news story that someone posted on Facebook that showed parents Lysol spraying their kids after school. 
• Another lady commented that Lysol was her new fragrance.
• After the shortage of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, someone said that if there was a rush on coffee and it became scarce, someone was about to get hurt.
• One man said his favorite Corona rule was his wife, a nurse, stripping in garage after work! She would run through naked and head to shower immediately!!
• A few cute images posted on Facebook brought a smile to my face:
•    

Not only does humor bring some solace, so do the scriptures. Here are a few that are special during these days:

Psalm 46

¹ God is our refuge and strength,
    an ever-present help in trouble.
² Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
    and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
³ though its waters roar and foam
    and the mountains quake with their surging.

Psalm 9:10

Those who know your name trust in you, for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

Psalm 37:3

Trust in the Lord and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

May God keep you and yours safe during these days.  Let’s keep in our prayers the President and others who are making crucial decisions to keep us protected. Also for health workers, police and others who on the front lines fighting for us, we pray.

The gym was the only place at the church that would hold all the gorgeous tables. Therefore, a high portable speaker’s platform was provided, along with steep steps to ascend to it. I’m not sixteen anymore and my knees know that.  As one of the men serving approached our table earlier, I asked him to assist me when it came my time to speak as there were no handrails. He did and then was Johnny-on-the-spot to offer his hand when I was ready to descend. Thank God for watching over me and for giving this gentleman supernatural strength for the moment, for I stumbled and almost “bought the farm” when I started down. Somehow, he steadied me and prevented my tumble.  I couldn’t help but wonder how “joyful” I would have been had I fallen. My mind traveled to my disastrous zip line misadventures several years ago when some words came out of my mouth that shocked me and were not becoming to a Christian. They weren’t joyous ones. (See “Bucket Lists” on my web site – www.barbaraeubanks.com)

This experience reminded me of another time my words were tested. It was several years back – the last time the stock market bottomed out. I was hosting our Lit Chicks (our literary critique group.) It was our December meeting, so the ladies were decked out in dressy Christmas attire, and I had prepared a luncheon fit for the dining room and good china. After we finished dessert, the conversation drifted from our latest writing accomplishments to how our portfolios (or at least theirs; I’m not sure I have enough to call it that) had taken a hit. I piously proclaimed, “I’m thankful my security doesn’t rest in material things.” About that time, I looked down and cried, “The diamond is missing from my ring.” All of the well-dressed ladies crawled around under the dining table helping me look for it to no avail. My security may not have rested in material things, but I was distressed, to say the least.

I thought about these trials today when I made another bold proclamation. I was discussing the Corona Virus and how it was hitting people my age hard. “If I perish, I perish,” I calmly said. Let’s hope this serenity and statement aren’t tested.

 In all seriousness, let’s join in prayer asking God to give us mercy, not justice, during these pandemic times; for if he gives us what we deserve, it would truly end this world.

But I wasn’t by any means perfect at loves’ descriptions.  I was longsuffering, but I did keep score in our marriage: I let things build up.  I laugh when I look back at my idealistic goals. We married when I was only fifteen.  I aimed to be the perfect wife – one who did everything right. On the other hand, Steve would quickly state his displeasures, and to him, it was then over. When I read, “Love doesn’t fly off the handle,” it reminded me of a scene (now, one I can laugh about) during our first year of marriage. Steve was working on some radiator problem on the car.  I sat on the back steps watching. He asked me to get the garden hose and fill the radiator.  I did, but I inserted the entire nozzle.  Soon it was overflowing and the fan was slinging water everywhere. I couldn’t get it out.

“What are you doing? Take that hose out,” he yelled at me.  There I stood, drenched to the bone, and I had had enough. 

For the first time in our young marriage, I found my backbone and yelled back, “Do it yourself if I can’t please you.” I then went back to the steps pouting with water still pouring out of the car and off me. I expected him to really be angry, but instead he made me angry because he started belly-laughing. My unexpected response amused him.

I Corinthians 13 (the Message)

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

² If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.

^3-7 If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

^8-10 Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

¹¹ When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

¹² We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

¹³ But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. Our love words and our love deeds were never perfected, but verse 13  – And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (NIV) were the guidelines we followed for 56 years for a happy marriage

When there is a death of a loved one, emotions are very volatile; one minute we may be weeping and the next, breaking out into hilarious laughter.  Humor does help in the grief process.

Steve and I had driven Mother to the funeral miles away of my cousin’s husband.  He had suffered from a debilitating disease for years.  Every time I had seen my cousin through the years, I always asked about her husband Herb.  She usually answered, “About the same.” A couple of months after his death she drove up my driveway just as I was arriving home.  She had brought her mom to visit with my mom (they were sisters) and just came across to tell me hello.  We hugged and greeted each other. Then out of habit, I asked what I always had –“How’s Herb?”

She was taken aback for a moment knowing I had been to his funeral.  Then she laughed and answered, “Better off than he’s ever been.”

Another story was told me by a pastor friend who worked part-time at the hospital.  His job was to take in-patients to x-ray.  He felt it part of his ministry to comfort and put them to ease. He would engage them in conversation.  One very old little lady sat quietly in the wheel chair. He asked, “Where do you live?”

“Albertville.”

“How many children do you have?”

“Nine.” Through his litany of questions, he could only solicit one-word answers from her.

Thinking she probably just didn’t want to be bothered, he continued pushing her to x-ray silently.  In a short while, she twisted around and told him, “If I don’t hurry and die, my late husband is going to assume that I’ve died and gone to Hell.”

Some widows find love a second time and remarry.  Such was the case with one lady my friend and singer  Cheri Taylor encountered:

Not making fun, yet it’s still funny: I did a Christmas concert last evening for a senior group. One of the ladies introduced me to her new husband. I then asked their names to which the lady said to me as she looked at her man, “Oh shoot! What IS my new last name?!”

One thing we can rejoice in is the fact Jesus always had (and still does) compassion for widows. One example is in Luke 18:

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’

4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’”

6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

—

Another scripture that reveals this care and protection is James 1:27: Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress …

Wherever you might be today on your grief journey, the following just might reassure you that you aren’t forgotten.

Today:

-we are traveling at 67,000 miles per hour around the sun.

-over 350000 babies will be born.

-over 153000 people will die.

-numerous events, plans, decisions, and actions will be taken.

-And GOD knows about all of the details and has it all accounted for in His perfect plan.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Matthew 10:29-30

( copied from Ray Tucker’s FB post)

May God’s blessings be yours in the New Year.

—

Birthdays have a way of reminding me that I’m a year older and of my own mortality. I turned 77 Sept. 2 and am proud of it. (No, it’s not too late to send me a present. Lol)
I’m often reminded that I’m getting older. A cashier at a Japanese restaurant leaned over the counter, propped her chin in her hand and said to me, “I’ll bet you were pretty when you were young.” My doctor, dentist, and pharmacist have all used the unwelcomed phrases that begin, “For a woman your age—“ or “As we get older —.” Even my youngest grandson chimed in on this once. His mother’s father had died recently and Ty was having a difficult time with the loss. His mom asked if I would talk to him about it. I found him in the family room watching TV and plopped down on a bean bag by him (Big mistake.) I comforted him by saying, “Your granddad is out of pain now. He has a new body and can run and do the athletic things he enjoyed.” He dried up his tears and seemed to feel better. When I started to get up, I saw I needed help. “Ty, help your Gram get up from this bean bag. These old knees don’t work like they once did.”
“Gram, that’s alright; you’ll get new ones in Heaven before long,” he replied. Although there are aches and pains and a few other ugly things that come with age, I refuse to dwell on these. I prefer to take the positive avenue.
I suppose I need to be grateful to those encouragers out there. I have a young friend I taught with (you have now advanced to being a principal, Chris Royal) who told me, Ms. Barbara, don’t worry about being 77. In the bible the number 7 stands for perfection. That just means you are double perfect.” I liked that one and will claim it.
Old age comes with a few perks:
1. Not the least is our senior discounts
2. We can speak our mind more freely and not care so much where it lands. That sounds cold and slightly rough, but it includes some good stuff too. I can share the gospel openly without fear of being excluded or rejected. Those things become less important. Psalm 92:14 They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green,—
3. We have accumulated some knowledge and, hopefully, wisdom. When asked by family or friends, we can share what we’ve learned from experience. Ruth 4:15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. Ruth valued her older mother-in-law.
4. We have more time to actually pray for people. I’ve learned to throw my arm around a person and pray for them on the spot if they ask me for prayer. (I might forget if I wait.) James 5:16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
5. That brings up another thing; if we forget or commit a gaffe, we can always blame it on our age.
6. As we getting closer to the end of our lives, Heaven looks sweeter and God removes our dread of death. Genesis 15:15 You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age.
7. You learn your prayers will be answered in God’s time. Luke 1:13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant—
Perhaps my greatest reassurance comes in Isaiah 46:4 Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Oh, and “the deeper in debt part,” yes, I am spending my children’s inheritance on travel, but that is not the debt I speak of. I am truly indebted to the “old folks” who have gone before me – family, friends, my church heroes of faith – and who have paved my way spiritually.
Barbara’s upcoming events:
Sept. 26, 2019 6-7 PM Boaz Historical and Cultural Society
Oct. 8, 2019 3 PM The Book Club, Anniston, Al
Nov. 1-11 England/Scotland trip
March 19, 2020 6 PM Cullman Baptist Assoc. Women. Place tba
Jan. 25 – Feb., 2020 I will be leading Widows’ Retreat Cruise. If you hurry, I may still be able to get you in. (See below for details,)

Colossians 3:23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.
Psalm 33:3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Matthew 28: 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Envy, love, sacrifice, divorce, cooperation, partnership, companionship, jealousy, selfishness, giving, understanding, selfless, comforting, complaining, humor, romance, boredom, sadness, loyalty, God-fearing –which of these describe your marriage or the marriage of your parents? If I asked you to circle those you thought would contribute to a good and lasting marriage, would they be the same qualities that could describe your relationship?
Before my husband died in 2014, we had been married for 56 years – most of them happy. The odds were against us; I was fifteen and he was almost nineteen when we said our “I do’s.” When young couples asked us how we did it, we would answer, “Only God knows.” Our days weren’t without troubles and trials. Some days we felt we hardly had anything in common, but the important factor that sealed our union was both of us loved God and desired to put HIM first. We did learn a few things along the way:

1. We put God first and stayed faithful in church.
2. We took the word “divorce” out of our marriage vocabulary.
3. When there is a family conflict, let the woman settle it with her family and the man with his. Blood can forgive blood quicker than someone who isn’t blood-related.
4. We learned some things weren’t worth arguing over. If the end results weren’t going to change, why argue?
5. We learned we were happiest when we put the other’s desires over our own. (Did we always do this? NO.)
6. We learned to compromise on many things.
7. We learned to express love in word and deed, even on our worst days.
8. We learned to play together and be best friends.
Looking back, I laugh at many of our mishaps and even our arguments. Sometimes I wonder if we were legally married. The preacher called Steve “Willard” throughout the ceremony. When we started on our honeymoon after the reception, we got just out of Albertville when I realized I had left my new white swimsuit (which, to my dismay, became totally transparent when it got wet.) Rather than going back and having to say the goodbyes again, we stopped at a pay phone (no cell phones those days) and asked my dad to bring it to us. When he got there, he told us we were headed the wrong direction if we were going to the Smokies. I remember his shaking his head at our inexperience. I know he must have bitten his tongue to keep from questioning his wisdom in allowing his young daughter to go off with this guy.
Coming home, Steve got sleepy and asked me to drive for a while. Keep in mind, I wasn’t old enough to have drivers’ licenses, but I had been driving since I was eleven. I was a big sleepyhead when traveling. Steve said, “Now if you get sleepy, wake me up.”
I took him at his word. After he dozed off, my eyes got heavy. After what seemed a long time, I woke him and said, “I’ve gone as far as I can.” He looked at the odometer and I had driven only twelve miles.
We ended up leading quite a few marriage retreats over the years. One thing we stressed was “Keep your eyes wide open before marriage and half shut afterwards.” In other words, ask yourself if you can live with your mate’s worst faults before you marry. Don’t marry expecting to change him or her. Then, quit looking for faults after you marry. Nobody is going to be perfect.
We also stressed the importance of affirming your mate to other people instead of criticizing them. We practiced that in one of the sessions; each person would say something nice about their partner. One time, all one man could think to say was, “Cindy is handy.” Although this produced laughter, we really knew it was high praise coming from a young farmer. He valued a helpmate who would hand him tools or go the store to get a tractor part he needed.
Matthew 19:6
Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. KJV

Barbara’s upcoming events:
6:00 PM August 13, 2019, Philos Book Club, Boaz Library
Nov. 1 – 11, 2019 co-hosting trip to England and Scotland.

Contact Barbara Eubanks at 256-572-3932 for your next event – church civic, ladies’ retreat, widows’ retreat or whatever.

Spring is here. Hurrah! I enjoy all seasons, but the transitional ones are the best. Having enjoyed/endured one of the strangest winters ever, the relief of spring is most welcomed. We’ve experienced some frigid days and days where we thought we might wash away. I noticed after one day of relative warmth and long-awaited sunshine, the hearty, sun-loving buttercups started sprouting forth. Not far behind were the forsythia bushes with their matching yellow blooms.
One young boy was amazed at these blooms suddenly appearing on what seemed to be dead bushes, the bushes where his mother found her switches when he misbehaved. “Mom, Mom,” he called, “there are roses on the switches.”
Oh, if spring would only make us all see the roses on the switches in life. As a memorial to a young friend of mine who made her Heavenly journey recently, I gave to the family limelight hydrangeas for the planting. Although they bring forth gorgeous blooms later, they look dead now. I thought it would be an object lesson for her young children. They could see how lifeless the bushes are now and how they later will spring to life. We bury our loved ones in dead bodies, but they come vibrantly alive in Heaven in the presence of God’s magnificent light.
Another visual that represents resurrection is baptism. As a Vacation Bible School class toured the church building, one little boy whispered to his friend as they passed the baptistery, “Don’t look in there; there are dead people in it.” He had taken the preacher’s words literally he had heard him say during baptismal services, “Dead to self; alive in Christ. Buried with him in baptism; arise to walk in newness of life.”
I praise the Lord that our baptistery has been used often this spring as so many have wanted a new life in Christ. They followed the ABC’s of salvation – Admit you are a sinner (All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Rom. 3:23) Believe Jesus died on the cross as payment for your sins and that he desires a personal relationship with you. Then you must accept Him into your heart and His payment for your sins. (Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Acts 16:31) C (Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God: Luke 12:8) (For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:10) The scriptures teach that baptism is announcing to the world that you are dead to self and alive in Christ. (He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. Mark 16:16) Following Christ in baptism is the first step in obeying Him.

This spring as we see new blooms push through the soil, as we don new clothes for Easter, as we celebrate the risen Lord, may we remember, too, we will be buried in this earthly shell, only to arise in new and stunning bodies in Heaven if we have accepted Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross for our salvation.
Any reader, who doesn’t have the peace and joy of having Jesus as his/her Lord and Savior, can contact me, and I will gladly tell you how you can have this satisfaction and tranquility. May you be drawn to the sun/Son, and have an abundant life.