~Daily Devotion 28th~

Coffee With Pat

I thought that you would enjoy reading this poem again. Author is Unknown, but I remember seeing it in a book many years ago. You may have also read it. It was popular when I was a teenager.

Heaven's Grocery Store

I was walking down life's highway a long time ago.

One day I saw a sign that read "Heaven's Grocery Store.

As I got a little closer, the door came open wide.

And when I later found myself I was standing there inside.

I saw a host of angels that were standing everywhere.

One handed me a basket and said, "My child, now shop with care."

Everything a Christian needed was in that Grocery Store.

And all you couldn't carry, you could come back the next day for more.

First, I got some PATIENCE, and LOVE was in the same row.

Further down was UNDERSTANDING, which you need where ere you go.

I got a box or two of WISDOM, and a bag or two of FAITH.

I just couldn't miss the HOLY GHOST cause it was all over the place.

I stopped to get some STRENGTH and COURAGE to help me run the race;

By then my basket was getting full, but I remembered I needed GRACE.

I didn't forget SALVATION for Salvation there was free.

So I tried to get enough of that to save both you and me.

Then I started up to the counter to pay my grocery bill.

For now I thought I had everything to do my Master's Will.

At the end of the aisle I saw PRAYER, and I just had to put that in.

For I knew when I stepped outside, I would run right into sin.

PEACE and JOY were plentiful; they were on the very last shelf.

SONGS and PRAISES were stacked nearby, so I just helped myself.

Then I said to the Angel, " Now how much do I owe?"

He just smiled and said to me, "Just take them where ere you go."

Again, I smiled at him and said, " How much do I really owe?"

He smiled again and said,

"MY CHILD, JESUS PAID YOUR BILL A LONG TIME AGO"

The flag of the United States is a symbol of unity, with a very interesting history. Although it's instantly recognized around the world, it's not always welcomed. To patriots, though, it stirs up great passion. It represents freedom and the opportunity to live in liberty, and reminds us all of the great sacrifice in human life that has been paid for that privilege. That Ragged Old Flag Written By: Johnny Cash I walked through a county courthouse square On a park bench, an old man was sittin there. I said, "Your court house is kind a run down, He said, "No, it will do for our little town". I said "your old flag pole kinda leaned a little bit, And that’s a ragged old flag you got hanging on it". He said "have a seat", so I sat down, He said, "is this your first visit to our little town" I said, "I think it is" He said "I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of "That Ragged Old Flag" "You see, we got a little hole in that flag there, When Washington took it across the Delaware. It got powder burned the night Francis Scott Key sat watching it, writing "Oh Say Can You See" It got a rip in New Orleans, with Packingham & Jackson tugging at its seams. It almost fell at the Alamo beside the Texas flag, But she waved on tho. It got cut with a sword in Chancellorsville, Got cut again at Shiloh Hill. There was Robert E. Lee and Beauregard and Bragg, And the south wind blew hard on "That Ragged Old Flag" On Flanders Field in World War I, She took a bad hit from a Bertha Gun, She turned blood red in World War II She hung limp and low by the time that one was through, She was in Korea, Vietnam, She went where she was sent by her Uncle Sam. The Native Americans, The Black, Yellow and White All shed red blood for the Stars and Stripes. And here in her own good land, She’s been abused, burned, dishonored, denied and refused, And the very government for which she stands Has been scandalized throughout out the land. And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearing kinda thin, But she’s in pretty good shape, for the shape she’s in. Cause she’s been through the fire before and she can take a whole lot more. So we raise her up every morning And we bring her down slow every night, We don’t let her touch the ground, And we fold her up right. On second thought I do like to brag Cause I’m mighty proud of "That Ragged Old Flag"