View From The Front Porch- July 16, 2012

This front porch of the old farm house where we live has sheltered families for 92 years. In the year 1920, when our house was built, the front porch was more than just an overhang ot the house to provide shelter from the rain, it was the gathering place, the entertainment center, the neighbor visiting neighbor sitting place and the ideal place to gather yourself for the challenges of the new day. I sit here of a morning with my cup of good coffee, old Buck the collie at my feet, watching the sun come up over the trees along the creek and sometimes I can almost feel the spirits of the old folks that sat here before me. Only they weren't old then, they were in the prime of life, raising their families in a whole different world than what we are living in now. Think of the era when this was built, 1920, the dawn of new inventions where they were looking forward to electricity reaching the rural areas in about 15 years, where the automobile was replacing the horse and buggy, the muddy roads would someday be paved and Mama could actually have water piped into the house from the well out back. All that was in the future, but more too....eight years after the house was built the Stock Market crashed and they entered the Great Depression. How they managed and coped with such as that, when they were still suffering the aftermath of the 1st World War with many Vets coming back with ruined lungs from the poison gases they endured. They had the war to end all wars coming up in 20 years with the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I guess what I am getting at is, with all the stress and turmoil we are suffering under in our country today.....wars and terrorism, Industry almost gone to other countries, folks out of work, our liberties shrinking from an intrusive government every day....hard times are nothing new to this old porch. Maybe it's time to get back to the old ways of starting the days with prayer, sitting on the old porch, just as the old folks must have done to get through their days. Shutting off the tv and video games and gathering out on the porch to share family history, and talk of faith as the only way to truly find happiness. The spirits of the old ones tell me it worked before, and I know it still works today. No hill is too high, no burden to great, for our Heavenly Father. The front porch is waiting.     -Stan