A Good Friday

 Hey Friends,

Today, we reflect on the day Jesus willingly laid down His life for the world and became our Savior on Calvary.  

We commonly call this day “Good Friday.” Was it really a good Friday? It was a day, though, that forever changed our lives! For Jesus, it was not a good day. He was nailed to a rugged cross. He was betrayed, beaten, scorned, denied, humiliated and crucified.

Yet He did it all in love. Jesus showed mercy, even while hanging on the cross. He loved you and me, even on that day. Oh, what amazing love! We love Him because He first loved us! I never want to take His love for granted!

On that horrific day in History, His love turned our world into terrific. Now, Good Friday is a Holy holiday that we look back on and celebrate with reverence.

This is just a pondering that was on my mind last night. I hope it makes sense to you! As my Dad often said, “it made sense when I said it to myself.”

I will leave you with a quote from my Dad. He posted this on the blog in April 2020. This is something else to think about today. Thank you for including me in your day. I will see you right back here tomorrow.

Odie

“Have you ever considered the historical fact that Jesus Christ, the son of God, rose from the dead three days after He was crucified? It is a fact that changed the world and still changes lives today. Praise God that He conquered death, hell and the grave!”

Davy Boggs

Throwback Thursday Easter

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for joining me today. I want to take a moment and thank each and every one of you who prays for us. Many of you let us know that you are still daily praying for Mom and me. Thank you for not forgetting us! Our family and friends are awesome! 

Those prayers are extremely valuable to us. We feel the strength that comes from them. This week, we have needed the extra prayers. Overall, we are doing OK. The Lord's grace helps us make it day by day!

We are still trying to figure out life. This has been a week of trying to move forward, and there were a few rough days. It is very hard for me to sometimes accept our reality. It's not a bad dream that will disappear! I know that to be true, but at times, it doesn't feel real. I have recently had moments where it has slapped me in the face.

I know God answered many prayers that were prayed on our behalf. His strength is there for me and Mom! I am reminded that in my weakness, He is made strong! I am so grateful to be resting in God’s strong arm!

For today's throwback memory, I thought sharing a few pictures from past Easters was only fitting. We failed to get Easter family photos most years. I found a few of them on my phone. 

These are from 2017, 2019, and 2020. These were taken in Ohio, Indiana and Ohio. The 2017 picture was taken the day before we poured the footers for my house. This was the first shovel of ground Dad dug for the house.

See you next time!

Odie

Jesus Paid It All

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for stopping by to visit! Here are some thoughts I can't get out of my mind. I hope they make sense when I type them out! I am extra grateful today!

God sent His only son, Jesus, to die on the cross. Jesus shed His blood to pay the sin debt of the whole world! Yet, He loves us individually. We are special!

All of us are sinners, and the only way that we could have paid our sin debt is by death. The Bible says the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God allows us to have eternal life. Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior! Jesus died in our stead! His selfless sacrifice allowed us to live a debt-free life!

The chorus of this old hymn has been running through my mind today. It is a great reminder: I was one stained with sin, but Jesus would wash me whiter than snow! I am no longer marked by!

Jesus paid it all

All to Him I owe

Sin had left a crimson stain

He washed it white as snow

Friend, if you do not know my Jesus like I do, please get to know Him today! He paid your sin debt, too! You can know what it is like to have your debt free and clear! Do not wait another moment! It is life-changing!

I can not end this post without saying thank you, Jesus, for paying my debt! I am eternally thankful! Words can never truly express my deepest gratitude. I want to take another moment to thank you for loving me!

I will see you all tomorrow!

Odie

Exciting Easter Week At DRPC

 Hey Friends,

This will be a busy but grand week. There is lots of activity at our church. You are invited to join us at Dryden Road Pentecostal Church, located at 3201 Dryden Road in Moraine, Ohio. 

Tonight, Tuesday, at 7:30, Bro. Trey Brock and his family from Oklahoma will minister. We love Bro. Trey, Sis. Allison, Elli and Ivy!

There will also be church on Thursday and Friday nights. Bro. Lynn Head from Georgia is scheduled to preach. I know we will have great services. 

On Easter Sunday, we will celebrate our risen Savior! Dryden Road Pentecostal Church will hold services at 10AM and 6PM. 

I just thought I would invite my friends to church. Visitors are welcome at DRPC! God has been blessing us, helping us and changing lives! I am expecting great things to happen this week!

See you tomorrow. 

Odie 

Weekend Recap 4/14/25

Hey Friends,

Thank you for dropping by to visit us! I hope you are doing good today! Well, here is a recap of a busy weekend. 

Mom mowed the yard for the first time this season. It had been too wet to mow for a while, but she caught it dry enough for a trim this weekend. 

Uncle Tommy came and did the weed eating for us. We appreciate his help immensely. 

I had a fun girl's night with some of my church friends on Friday evening. We all brought food on a board or tray. I brought snacks from Bucee’s. We played games, laughed and felllowshipped.

Mom went to dinner with Renae, Jacqueline and Albany Coffman. She had fun catching up with them! Looks like Albany enjoyed the ride!

Here is Mom’s food from Cheddars, and she said it was delicious. 

Saturday afternoon Gran and Papaw came to see us. We enjoyed visits to Alcapulco and Sams Club.

Sunday was filled with two services at DRPC. Also, with food and fellowship with friends. 

This weekend is a wrap. I hope you enjoyed the highlights. It was a good weekend. We are looking forward to a great week ahead.

See you later!

Odie 

Sunday Sanity 4/12/25

Hey Friends,

Happy Palm Sunday. This is always a special week for me. I like to take time to reflect on the events leading up to Resurrection Sunday!

As Christians, we have a huge reason to celebrate. Our Savior is risen! We should remember and celebrate that every day! This is just a special season that we set aside to focus on His love and sacrifice for us. 

Today’s Sunday Sanity comes from our Pastor at DRPC. Last Sunday night, he preached from Psalms 85:6. This was a great message on revival and our need for personal revival now. 

“Wilt thou not revive us again: That thy people may rejoice in thee?” 

Psalm 85:6 KJV

Here is something Bro. Bennie said during his message. This statement stood out to me. I thought I would share it with you today.

“God is not a God of used to be! He don't mind you remembering, but He don't want you to live there.”

Pastor Bennie D. Sutherland-

Dryden Road Pentecostal Church, Moraine, Ohio 

Thanks for spending a moment of your Sunday with me. I hope you have a great day! Please join me here again tomorrow.

Odie

Odie’s Squishy Arms

 Hey Friends,

Thanks for stopping by to visit with me today. It is always great to have you in our part of the world! I have a hilarious story that happened to me last month.

First, I would like to say I think this is hilarious! My feelings were not harmed during this incident!

I will be the first to admit that I desperately need to shed some weight. My arms are on the bigger side, not only because I am heavier but I use my arms daily to lift myself. I often say I lift heavy weights every day! I lift myself! I have built up some upper body strength.

If the Mother and daughter I communicated with during this story ever read my post, thank you for making my day! I have laughed a lot since this moment, and instantly, I knew this would be great blog material.

I was shopping before PFYC at one of my favorite places, Zadie B’s. It is a boutique that specializes in modest clothing. The shopping atmosphere is very relaxed. I have found it is common to start a conversation with a stranger there. 

On this occasion, I was taking a dress back to the rack when a lady stopped me, wanting to know my opinion on how the dress fit me. She already had the same dress waiting for her in the fitting room. While we were discussing the dress, the lady's little girl noticed my big arms.

The girl said something like look, Mom, she has squishy too! She was pointing to my upper arms. The mother was instantly embarrassed. She began apologizing for her daughter, saying she does not have a filter. I tried my best to assure her that it was fine! I thought it was so funny! The liittle girl said, but mom, I love your squishy!

Needless to say, our conversation ended. I quickly found my Mom in the store to tell her what had happened. We both had us a good case of laughter! Oh, kids they make this world a great place! You gotta love them!

It also reminded me of the time several years ago. I think I have mentioned this here before, but it's been a while. A Pastor's little girl was talking to me, and she began to tell me that they were looking at pictures on our website. 

She said that her Dad had pointed out it looked like I was gaining weight. According to her, the Dad had said “Odie's arms are looking a little chunky.”

So the phrase, “Odie, your arms are looking a little chunky” became very popular around our house. I know my Dad would have also loved the story about the little girl pointing out my squishy arms.

I hope this brings a little laughter! I hope you have a wonderful day! See you tomorrow.

Odie

Tennessee Family and Friends Fun

 Hey Friends,

Hello from the home front. We were gone Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. 

This time, it was time for a road trip with Mamaw and Papaw to visit Friends. We had a great trip! The travel went smoothly, the fellowship was superb, and, of course, we had delicious food along the way!

I failed as a blogger in documenting everything. However, I do have a handful of pictures from our short trip to share.

The weather was gorgeous. On the trip down there, it was terrific to see spring in action! Redbud trees lined the road, and we enjoyed the sunshine.

Mamaw and Papaw wanted to visit a long time family friend, Gladys. It was great to see her once again. Tuesday afternoon we met her for dinner at Cracker Barrel.

Dad often loved to quote the words of wisdom from Garfield the cat. I saw this towel in Cracker Barrel and knew he would have loved this one! It would have become part of his regular vocabulary!

Wednesday we traveled to Oak Ridge Tennessee. Where we met up with Bro. Herman, Sis Margaret Woods and Sis. Sue Nicholas. We enjoyed a great lunch with them at Shoney's. That is where I started forgetting to take pictures.

Before heading back to the hotel. We did stop for ice cream at Dairy Queen. I can not spend too much time with either one of my Papaws without an ice cream.

I did take some pictures of DQ to show Papaw Danny what he missed. 

We took a drive to see some of the beautiful scenery along our route. Here are a couple pictures that Mom captured of Papaw Eugene. I thought they were wonderful!

Wednesday night we attended church at Beechfork in Wartburg, Tennessee. It was great to be in service again with Pastor Herman Woods, and all of our precious Beechfork friends! We love those dear people like our family! They have been so instrumental in our lives over the years.

Thursday morning it was time to point the car toward home. We took our time driving home enjoying scenery in Kentucky. 

The car magically found its way to Sonny’s BBQ for lunch! Yes, the food tasted just as good or even better than it looks! below our pictures of mine and Mom's meals.

The company was even better! 

I love my Mama!

I always have to take a quick picture of Sonny’s sweet barbecue sauce to send to my Uncle Danny Morgan.  He loves it! Well, it is one of my favorite barbecue sauces too.

That is a full recap on this week’s travel. I hope you enjoyed a peek into our week. See you tomorrow.

Odie

Throwback Thursday 100 Days

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for reading. Today, we are throwing it back slightly over a year. Dad shared this video a 100 days post stroke.

It was a great seeing Dad’s recovery progress. The Lord helped him so much! We were so thankful! Mom and I were so proud of Dad for working hard to overcome!

Some people have told me they have recently watched this video again. I love looking back on how God helped us then!

Today marks 5 months since God called Daddy home. We miss him so much! It is still hard to wrap my mind around the fact that Dad is gone!

It comforts my heart to think about Dad walking without need of his walking stick on streets of gold. He is completely whole!  He has been walking in Heaven over 100 days!

Thank you, Lord, for your goodness now and always! We have made it this far because of you! My heart is filled with praise even in the pain of loss.

I will see you tomorrow.

Odie

Oklahoma Friends And Fellowship April 2025

 Hey Friends,

Thank you for dropping by for a visit. I hope you stay for a while!

Yesterday I wrote about the Golden Celebation we attended Saturday in Oklahoma. Click here to see that recap.

Today, I have the rest of the pictures from our trip. Visiting Oklahoma gave us an excellent reason to see the Mayhans! 

Bro. Bruce and Sis. Priscilla have made many trips down the road to visit us countless times! It has been rarer for us to see them at home. We contacted them when planning our trip. They were going to be home. Plans began to take shape. 

First, we flew from Dayton to Oklahoma City with stop in Atlanta. Both flights were great. We love flying with Delta. Their company makes most travel days so smooth. 

It was a beautiful day for flying and pictures. Here are the pictures I captured during our travel.

The Mayhans kindly picked us up from the airport on Thursday night. They made sure we had dinner and got us settled in the hotel. 

Friday was a day of adveture. They took us on a driving tour of their area of Oklahoma. Mom and I greatly enjoyed spending time with our special friends!

Food was also high on our priority list of the trip. It was exciting to eat at the Mayhan’s local favorites. Here is our pictures from Friday. 

We also enjoyed the opportunity to fellowship with Tyler Mayhand and family and Zach Mayhan and family. I was enjoying the visits so much that I neglected to take pictures. The fellowship was precious. 

Bro. and Sis. Landress also came by to visit with us too. We loved being with so many fabulous people. 

Saturday was party day. Before and after the party the Mayhans continued to be phenomenal host and tour guides.

Sunday was time to travel home by plane. The Mayhans were up way to earlto help us make our flight. 

I am so thankful we made this trip. It was amazing to visit friends! It was a great encouragement to all of us. 

See you later!

Odie