It's 3:00 a.m. and All's Well! (Tears of the Singer cont...Chapter 1, Part 1)

"It's 3:00 a.m.! " shouted C.J. as he locked the doors of Ramey-Jem's. The four remaining employees responded with a tired, yet enthusiastic, "And all's well!" C.J. Allen has been the proud owner of Ramey-Jem's for over 35 years now and the customary yell and response has been repeated every night since he closed the doors for the first time. Even his managers continued the tradition when C.J. was on a rare trip out of town. The parking lot, which moments earlier was full of cars, mostly pickup trucks, was starting to empty. Hours earlier the cars occupants had filled the club to capacity. They arrived angry, hurt, anxious and troubled. All of them had left at peace, profoundly changed by the magical tears of the mysterious stranger and his "song." It had been a full house tonight; "the Singer" was in town.

C.J.'s light brown skin was finally starting to show the wrinkles of age. His hair finally showing a touch of gray. His father, Charles Sr., had owned the place for 20 years before passing away in his sleep. Charles Sr., had purchased the club at auction, when the previous owner went bankrupt. It was rare at the time that a black man could own a club in the South, but C.J.'s father added some improvements, changed the name to Ramey's and he had made it work and now C.J. proudly carried on the family business. He had inherited Ramey's from his father and had added Jem to the name in honor of his sister. Jem Allen passed away when the family home caught fire the day after Christmas, when C.J. was 15. Jem was only 12 years old. His family grieved for years. It was " the Singer" who had finally brought relief to C.J. and his mother. It was a miracle. Ramey, by the way, was the name of his father's pet cat.

As the remaining staff, continued their closing duties, C.J. looked over to the corner of the stage. The Singer was packing his guitar into his case. This was the third time the Singer had visited Ramey-Jem's. He always took cash as his payment, never a check. C.J. was not even sure what his real name was. He might have mentioned his name the first time they met, but that was a couple of years ago. He was a young man, but he rarely smiled. He had the look of someone who always had a lot on his mind. The Singer wore a worn down pair of boots, which looked like they used to be a nice pair of alligator skins, a pair of blue jeans, a wrinkled white shirt and a faded brown leather jacket. "Where you heading next?" C.J. called out to him. "Not sure," the Singer mumbled, as he snapped the case shut. The Singer had never been much for words.

Ramey-Jem had seen it's share of famous folks. Clint Black, Don Williams, Alan Jackson and even Merle Haggard had performed on the small stage. All of them bringing fans and followers with them; but none of them packed the house like the Singer did. After all, they didn't have what the Singer had to offer. While the others provided entertainment, the Singer provided more. He offered something special; hope. Hope in the form of something so small.

The Singer moved towards the main exit. C.J. unlocked the door for his guest. "You sure you don't want to stay the night at my place tonight? Ruth (C.J.'s wife) will fix you up a mighty fine breakfast." "Thanks," the Singer replied wearily, "I'd better get going!" The Singer started out the door and then stopped. He turned around and put out his hand. C.J. took the Singer's hand and shook it. As they shook, the Singer pass a small "gift" to his host. "Had a feeling you might need this tonight," the Singer said. C.J. looked down. In his hand was a small blue crystal in the shape of a tear, it was glowing faintly. "How did you know?" C.J. replied, as tears started to well in his eyes; but the Singer had already stepped out into the darkness.

Tears of the Singer is a book that I am writing. It has been a while since I have written. Thanks to the encouragement of a co-worker at Starbucks, I am restarting my project. I will post new segments from time to time and when I am finished I will publish it as a whole for the public to buy. For those who follow my blog...you can read it for free, even if it is one little piece at a time. To read the Prologue, click here.

Together Again (at least for the weekend)

Last Monday my wife, Jamie, started her new job in Waxahachie. My daughter also started her week at ACU Summer Camps. The week before My son Caleb was at ACU Summer Camps and my daughter was spending a week with her cousin. That meant two weeks with at least two different family members gone. Last night we were all together. The kids are finished with camp and Jamie is home for the weekend. We are together again; until Sunday afternoon, when Jamie returns to her Aunt's house to start her 2nd full week at her new job.

The only news about selling our home I can update you on is, that our roof is about to get fixed. After 7 years of arguing with insurance companies about the horrible state of our roof, they have finally agreed to have it fixed. Insurance will pay to have the roof fixed; however, there is damage to the support beams that hold the roof up and insurance will not pay for that. To fix the "decking" alone will cost nearly $3000. That is money we do not have. We are hoping to pay for the decking repair out of the profit we make from selling the house or from the escrow taxes we will get returned to us from the Mortgage Company.

Meanwhile packing is still ongoing, (the wedding china is next on the list), with boxes and other items being moved into my dad's storage building or a rented storage space. We are having a garage sale next Saturday to sell furniture and other items we wish to get rid of. Keep praying that our house sells soon and that a school calls me to work for them full-time. I want our family to be Together Again soon.

If I Were a Candidate For President

As early as my Junior year in High School, I have had a desire to run for some kind of public office. At first it was to become President of the United States someday. Then I decided that the intrusion of the press into my public life would just be to annoying to deal with. What I do in my personal life is no body's business! That said, I still wouldn't mind making a run for U.S. Senate or for Governor of Texas. (if Rick Perry can do it, anyone can!) I would have to convince my bride, Jamie, to support me though. She is convinced that being an elected official would change me fundamentally. She is probably right.

Still I can't help wondering what would be the major issues I would push for. Here are a few.

1) My number one campaign issue would be the national debt. The government of the U.S. needs to show fiscal responsibility. We cannot continue to live as a debtor nation for much longer. We have to stop borrowing money and learn to live off a budget free of needless pork projects. We need to have a plan to pay off the national debt even if it means making cuts that will hurt. We must make paying off the national debt our number one priority over all other issues. I would veto all budgets passed by the Congress unless they have a substantial amount of money set aside to pay off the national debt, which now stands (as of typing this post) at .

2) My second campaign issue would be to repair the infrastructure of the country. The roads, highways, overpasses, bridges, and canals that are essential for transportation in the United States are in much need of repair. It is estimated that the majority of the bridges/overpasses in the United States are on the verge of collapse, yet we continue patch them up as best we can and pray they don't fall apart and people die. We also need to repair the majority of the dams, levies, gas lines, oil lines, aqueducts and water/sewage lines. We have already seen the damage caused by failed levies in New Orleans and along the Mississippi River. Many of the major water lines that feed fresh water to our major cities have leaks that flooding communities and wasting 30-40% of the water that is supposed to be reaching the cities.

3) My third campaign issue would be to repeal most the major treaties that we have with other nations in regards to the use of the United States military. The United States may have the best military in the world, but we cannot and should not protect every other nation in the world at the risk of putting our own citizens in danger. We cannot afford to keep fighting long-term wars that other nations of the world could be handling on their own. We must protect our own borders and secure our own national security first.

4) My fourth campaign issue would be to beef up border security and to revamp our immigration laws. I am all for allowing citizens from other nations moving to the United States in order to live a better life; however, we must be responsible for who we allow to come into our nation and in what numbers. We must find a responsible way for those seeking citizenship to file the necessary paperwork and to become citizens within a reasonable time frame. We must also not be afraid to deport those who have entered the United States illegally. I realize that may result in sending back a huge chunk of our work force, but is an essential step in securing national security and for the proper utilization of taxes and for fair representation in Congress. If you want to live in the United States you must apply for citizenship in a legal manner.

5) One thing I would also suggest, and it is probably the most controversial; is that citizens would no longer have to pay an income tax, until the government learns to live off a balanced budget. If the government cannot spend our tax dollars responsibly, then we should not give them any more money to spend. I realize that this may make it harder to pay off the debt or fix our crumbling highways; but if a person has the right to withdraw their money from a failing bank, then they also should have the right to have the option to pay taxes to our government until the government can properly account for where that money is going and for what purpose.

Of course there are many other issues I could comment on, but these are my Big 5 issues. If you want to know how I stand on other issues, then feel free to leave a comment and I will answer.

A Week Alone With the Boy

This week I am spending a week alone with my son Caleb. (Jamie is in Waxahachie with her new job and Rachel is in Abilene at MPULSE with ACU Summer Camps.) Yesterday we went grocery shopping for the week; knowing we currently do not have a huge budget for groceries; he suggested we buy lots of soups, Ramen noodles, sandwich fixings and one frozen pizza. It reminded me of living life in college, when you tried to eat cheap and save your money for when you had a date.

Caleb has picked up the Dave Ramsey philosophy that Debt is Stupid. He so wants to avoid getting student loans and avoid debt that he strongly wants to attend College of the Ozarks, where you can work off your tuition and fees rather than have to borrow money.

This weeks I plan to have Caleb help me mow the yard and continue our "pack and store" momentum, as we prepare to sell the house and move. I also hope to continue to get to know him better. Caleb is a fantastic young man, who is developing his own faith in God/Jesus/The Spirit. He makes me laugh with his deep sense of humor.

Caleb really wants to find a job, but the potential move is hindering that, as he doesn't want to get a job and then have to quit to move with short notice. (Maybe he can get a job at Brookshires sacking groceries for a couple of weeks, they hire summer help all the time.) He also wants to get his driver's license, but we are putting it off until we move so we don't have to pay the fee it takes to change the address on his license. Plus we can't afford the raise in insurance rates until we know exactly what our new financial situation will be once we move.

Tears of the Singer (Prologue)

The following is the Prologue from a book I am writing called Tears of the Singer.
The book is based on a song by the same name that I wrote while in college. (This was one of my original first 5 posts. I am re-posting it now, just because!.)

Prologue

The air was thick from cigarette smoke drifting up from the area around the stage. The soft strains of music filled the backwoods bar. There was a larger than normal crowd this night. “The Singer” was in town. Other singers had visited before, some famous, some not, but no one drew an audience like “the Singer.”

People came from towns and farms miles away just to listen to the Singer. Not just ordinary people, but people with problems they just couldn’t seem to take anymore. People with worries and concerns that kept them awake at night. Worries about how to pay bills that pile higher every day. Worries about family members or life-long friends stricken with illnesses like cancer. People with questions that needed an answer. “Why can't my wife quit drinking so much?” “What does my husband see in his secretary that he doesn't see in me?” “Why can’t I keep a job?” There were people with fears of abandonment and death. People so overwhelmed with depression that it seemed to smother them. All of them were here tonight. All of them, looking for the miracle.

The crowd sat silent, mesmerized by the appearance of this singer. They wondered could he help them where it seemed God had failed them. They prayed the prayers of the desperate and asked the questions of the lost. “How can someone so young and disheveled help so many,” they would ask themselves. “Can he help me?” “When will he sing the song?”

Suddenly the sounds they were waiting for flowed from the stage. This was it. The Singer was singing the song. There was nothing outwardly special about the song. It was just a simple melody, sung from the heart. But it beckoned them forward. At first there was a little pushing and shoving, but it calmed down quickly for they knew the Singer had enough for everyone. They stood there speechless. Some cried gently as it came their turn to receive the gift. The gift that would make all their worries, fears and sadness fade away like the mist rising from a lake.

They were waiting for the Tears of the Singer.

ACU Summer Camps & Other Stuff.

Over the next couple of weeks, the kids will be attending ACU Summer Camps at Abilene Christian University. Sunday we dropped off Caleb at Kadesh, the camp for High School ages. Next Sunday we drop of Rachel at MPulse, the camp for Jr. High ages. It's makes for 3 long drives (drop off, pickup/drop off and pick up) but we feel the camps are worth every penny we spend to send them there.

Jamie and I will continue packing for our eventual move. Boxes are stacking up and we are getting ready to move some of them to my parent's house for storage until time to move. The kitties think we are building a castle just for them. We still need to pack up Jamie's "office area", scrapbooks, several items in both kids rooms and several books and misc. stuff in our room. We are waiting to pack, the two main televisions, the DVD's, the bathroom and the kitchen last.

For those of you who read this blog...keep praying that God reveals my full-time job to me soon and that our house sells quickly, so our family will not be separated for very long.