Tuesday, February 23, 2016

MY JOURNEY ON THE TRAIN

    

This morning, it happened just like it has for the last few months. It is 3:33 in the morning and I have been awake for a few minutes now.  My heart is not racing, but it is pumping pretty fast.  It never fails for me to wake at that moment every night, if I take a sleep aid or not.  If I go to bed early or late, no matter.
     Off in the distance I can hear the old number 284 train coming up the tracks.  I can hear the horn first as it enters Ashford, a couple of miles away. Long, low and lonesome the air horn shatters the silence of the still night. It shakes the moisture of the fog on the leaves so that it drops to the ground like a soft rain.  Slowly, it comes upon the next three crossings and the horn gets louder and louder, almost like the trumpet of God.  Then I can hear the rumbling of the train, metal upon metal, bearings squealing and clanging and the breaking of the wind.  Almost like a band of angry banshees, the noise of the train is deafening.  As it passes into the distance, the sound of the banshees diminish and there is just a low rumbling left fading of into the distance.  Then all I can hear is the horn at each crossing and then even that is gone.  I lay there awake for a few moments enjoying the silence and knowing that in an hour it will start up again.
     tonight I realize for the first time that old 284 is running parallel to  my life.  As I was born, so was my passage on the train, I don't remember either one, but I have always been alive and always on that train.  I can look back at the beginning and not see it,  however I can look to the end and see it.  I will die, if not raptured by my savior first, but that old train will continue on, even to the throne of God, however long that takes.  I am not the only passenger of course.  The track has only one direction, from here to there.  In the beginning, I was just an innocent child, traveling with some very fine parents, who taught me of Jesus and His saving grace.  As an adolescent, I rebelled against what was right, but I couldn't get off the train.  Thank God for that.  None of us are able to get too far off the rails, for o one is left behind, you either get to the promised land or you go to hell.  The choice is yours, but you can't get off the train until your ticket is punched, and no one knows when that will be.
     That train will carry you through all the slices of life.  Some will be good, some will be downright awful.  I have been in some good ones in the past, but now I am in one of the worst.  I can't wait for this one to pass and to enter into a good one again.  Just like this old train we are always moving forward.  the past  is receding further away and the future is always in sight and I am excited for what comes next.  I have been told by God Himself that I will spend eternity with my grandkids and as I said, I can hardly wait.  Coming up I can see some dark times coming.  The light of this world will be taken away when the church will be taken out along with the Holy Spirit.  The resulting darkness will be so thick and oppressive that one will have a hard time breathing.  The resulting chaos will be so bad that God said he will have to shorten the days or else no one will be left alive.  I can't tell you the day, but I can tell you the time.  When you see Israel sign a peace treaty that allows her to rebuild the temple there are seven years left.  The peace treaty is just a ruse to take advantage of Israel.  In forty two months after the temple is finished, the Anti-Christ sets himself up in the temple as god, believing that he is god.  He will have the help of the false prophet.  If you do not take his mark and worship him, the false prophet will have you killed.  If you do take the mark, you will be damned forever.  From that time until the return of Christ is another forty two months.
     When Christ returns with His holy saints He will be clothed in white, with His name written on his thighs.  King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  He will defeat the false prophet and the Anti-Christ with a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of His mouth.  The false prophet along with the anti-Christ will be thrown into  the lake of fire.  Satan will bound with chains and thrown into the bottomless pit for a thousand years.  MY God, My God, My God, arms outstretched to heaven, what a glorious God.

Friday, February 19, 2016

TO SHARE OR NOT TO SHARE

     Surprisingly the rehearsal went pretty well, but it had dragged on and on.  By the time it was over I had an urgent need to go to the john. Need is not really the right word, pain would be better suited.  Some of the other players were in the same predicament as well, for there were long lines at the toilets.  Well what would be wrong with pulling the curtain around me and just relieving myself on stage.  That was a good idea until I actually started pulling the curtain.  It had stood the test of time for dozens of years, but that was the moment it decided to come off the rollers.  Too many people around so I had to do something else.  By this time the pain was intense and burning.
     I remembered that the courthouse was just around the corner and they had public toilets.  Running as fast as I could under the circumstances, I made my way up the street.  There was an unusual amount of people milling around downtown and moving was difficult.  The more I tried to go forward, the more intense the pain became.  Just as I reached the courthouse and relief was in sight, there were two school busses parking at the front entrance.  Male students were piling out and running for the toilets.  If I did not hurry, I would never make it.
     As I went up the steps, I could feel some one grabbing onto my shirt and holding me back.  When I looked around, one of the bus drivers was locked onto my arm.  Hurting as bad as I was, I tried to shake him off.  As we went into the toilet, he was still holding on.  All the stalls  were occupied except the one on the end.  If I could just get to that one he would turn me loose.  That didn't happen.  He was still holding on, tighter now than ever.  At my wits end now, I told him "I was here first, but I will share." 
"Hell no" he replied as he shoved me away.  My temper then took over and I grabbed him by throat.  I squeezed him with all my might and realized I could not unzip with my left hand.  His face turned blue and his eyes bulged out.  Just as he passed out, I turned loose and unzipped.  By then I was hurting so bad, I couldn't go.  That woke me up and as I hurried to the bathroom, I was glad the bed was not wet.

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Deer at Sunset

This little deer almost disappears at the setting of the sun.  16x20 inch oil on stretched canvas.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Leaving school

These students see something out of the frame of vision of the viewer.  16x20 inch oil on canvas.

Thursday, February 11, 2016

Three turkeys

I just sold this 18x24 inch oil on canvas painting.  It was one of my earlier ones after I started painting again.  If you are interested in purchasing any of my artwork, please go to  fineartamerica.com and look for charlessims.

Tuesday, February 9, 2016

Heading to the Beach

As a child growing up in Headland, Alabama, I was only an hour and a half away from panama City Beach, Florida.  A couple of times a year we would head off to the beach for a night of excitement.  At that time in my life, we would sleep on quilts and blankets on the shore.  We thought nothing of doing that, as we were not by ourselves.  There were several families out there under the stars.  The next morning we would go across the road to the picnic tables and public toilets.  Coming out of the rural south, that was a highlight of my young life.
     When we got older we got to go to the beach with my older brother, Wayne and his friend Abe Bass.  That was a cast of characters. Abe was notorious for drinking beer and carousing with the ladies.  So was Wayne.  At that young age I discovered that I liked the beer pretty well also.  Soon it was my time to go with my own friends and we were excited to be "heading to the beach."  Much as this gull appears to be heading to the beach.  I hope he has as much fun there as we did.