Saturday Evening Post

 

I’ve just told Vickie that I need to go write something for this blog. I haven’t written or posted anything this week and I need to post something every week for purposes of search engines. So what we have here is a Saturday evening post, not to be confused with The Saturday Evening Post.

 

A few years ago an unknown benefactor got us a subscription to a current The Saturday Evening Post, the thing is, it isn’t published weekly; it’s more of a nostalgic publication with feel – good stories and advertisements from the Franklin Mint, gold coin sellers, pictures of bald eagles with a backdrop of the American Flag, and maybe even some ads from vintage candy companies – I mean, who wouldn’t like to lay his hands on some Beeman’s gum or Necco wafers?

 

I recall the time when there was Look magazine, Life magazine, and The Saturday Evening Post; just like there used to be a time when we had Hecht’s, Landsburgh’s, Woodward and Lothrop (known as Woodie’s), and Kann’s, these we all department stores in the D.C. area. You’d think someone would open a retro department store so old folks could take one final stroll through retail memory lane. O how these stores used to put on a window show at Christmas, we used to make special trips to the department stores to view the window displays of trains, villages, and general merriment.

 

Now some folks think that a good time at Christmas is paying $20.00 a carload to drive through a blinking neon light display synched to music, that has a total lack of symmetry, imagination, or beauty – but they pay the $20.00 because they think…well…what do they think? Give me the old department store windows at Christmas – they could hold your attention for more time than any old thumping and banging light display – and I am proof that they could live in your memory for a lifetime…and I ain’t the only one with this testimony.

 

Speaking of lights, they came for a neighbor this week…maybe they’ll bring him home, maybe they won’t. Pray for Bob please. I’m not sure what happened, he’s been dealing with cancer and is pretty frail, right now he is in the hospital. It was night and we saw the lights through our window, no sirens, just blue and red lights. I thought, “Is this the way it is? Is it a matter of the blue and red lights coming for you?”

 

Speaking of prayer, I prayed with a neighbor this week. I hadn’t had the opportunity to have a conversation with her before, but this week I had a sense that I needed to walk across the street and have more engagement than simply, “Good morning,” or “Good afternoon.” After a few minutes of general talk she started sharing some serious stuff; after a while I asked her if I could pray…not later, but right then and there. She was all for it and prayed I did, with her listening and (I believe) praying too. Then she gave me a hug and I went back across the street to my yard work.

 

Is there someone that you need to cross the street to be with? Who might you pray with during the coming week?

 

Last week, while I was walking our border collie Lily, a neighbor who lives a few blocks away came up to me and said, “I’d like you to add our middle daughter to your prayer list.” Then she shared about her. You see, when I first met this lady a couple of months ago and learned that her husband is dealing with cancer, I told her that we’d be praying for them; when I see her out walking I ask her how her husband is. So she knows we’re praying folks and she knew we’d pray for her adult daughter…which we are indeed doing.

 

Well, I guess this is it for my Saturday evening post. Please pray for the folks I’ve mentioned…praying for others is a high honor and privilege…and a joy…maybe we can all find some folks we can pray for in the coming week…wouldn’t that be just great?