GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS

A REMEMBERAMBLE 1/24/26

Welcome to a cold and blustery Saturday, one that may bring tough times with it, we pray not, but these things are out of our hands, as well they should be. When the Lord said that he caused the rain to fall upon the just as well as the unjust, I assume that goes for frozen rain likewise! It is well that we seek deliverance from all harm from God when we beseech his care and concern for ourselves but pray also for all others. I wrote of this yesterday about Christians in all places and situations praying for different outcomes for themselves by asking God to send harm to the others, and spare us. We wonder why God "fails" us when we ask with fervor and heartfelt faith in Him, but we fail to think of how our prayers could be asking God to harm other of his children if he gives us what we ask for. That is why he did not leave such things for us to be able to affect, because we seldom consider others, that we are not acquainted with. God is acquainted with them, of that you may be sure, so he may so no to us, because we have not the ability nor desire to consider all others. Yes, we pray for others when we learn of their hardships from the natural world (by natural world, I mean the system God put in place to regulate this earth) for instance when an earthquake, flood, or other natural or manmade disaster, strikes far away, we pray for them, but if we are next door to them, we will ask God to take them out but save us. We will hope and pray they are saved by Christ, even as we seek their destruction over our own. "yep, Lord please turn the storm away from us and let it hit "them" instead, and if so, please take them to Heaven to be with you, and please tell them we prayed for them...well, I mean we prayed they would be in Paradise as soon as our prayers turned the disaster upon them." "We surely do not want them to be miffed or put-out with us decades from now when we join them there!" I hope you know I tend to use the absurd to make an non-absurd point, now and then.

Lawd, please steer this thang on over toward Alabama, if'n ya will!

I am going to change topics if you don't mind, let's remember the Gypsies/Romani and speak a bit of them. For centuries the Gypsy/Romani people of Europe moved across most of those countries, living life as they wanted, with good horses and house wagons that were splendid indeed. They never stayed long in any one place, if they could move on after a few day's stay. They were not trusted by many folks and were unwelcome in many places. When America opened up for settlement, many of the Gypsies came here and took up their old lifestyle in a new land. They lived as a group, and traveled together, and sometimes met up with other bands of Romani to travel or set up winter camp. In the years following WWII, traveling across this country by horses and wagons became impractical with more modern highways and heavy vehicle traffic. Most Romani bands gave up their horses and mounted their house wagons on truck chassis. Some older Gypsies kept to the horse and house wagon tradition, and did continue to make their way with their team. In the late 1950s there was an old Gypsy woman who would park her wagon and horses for the winter at my maternal grandparents house at Rountree's Pond just west of Swainsboro. Granny probably agreed to allow it, because she was old fashioned and was a bit fearful of garnering the ire of a Gypsy. It was well known and believed in those days that Gypsies had "powers," as it were, and could put a hex on ya, use some curse to give you bad luck. Even strong Christians like Granny felt it best to not provoke them. Those old Gypsies counted on those fears to get them a "yes" answer about things like wintering over near your home. I recall Granny telling me about her first encounter with Gypsies. Granny was born in 1907, and was maybe five years old when she saw her first Gypsies. The family was over at Granny's Townsend's grandparents house for a big dinner, and Great-grandma Cass had left something at home that she needed and asked Aunt Sookie Bluenose to take Granny with her and walk back to their house to get whatever it was. All roads were dirt roads then, and as they walked the old road back to their house, they saw a long caravan of Gypsies with their fine horses and brightly painted wagons, coming toward them. Poor old Aunt Sookie was terrified of Gypsies, and more terrified for Granny, who was as I said, maybe five years old perhaps. It was said that Gypsies would steal children to get new blood lines in their often intermarried families. Aunt Sookie's terror infected Granny, and she related the tale in such a way that you knew her elderly aunt and she as a little girl were both scared. Aunt Sookie almost dragged her from the road, over an old rail fence and into a briar patch to hide themselves lest the Gypsies abscond with them. The entire time Aunt Sookie was whispering the terrible things Gypsies would do to them if caught. They watched that beautiful but frightening spectacle pass them by hunkered down in awe and fear. No one needed ever again to remind her to be fearful of Gypsies.

The last Gypsy Caravan? Possibly.

One more tale of the Gypsies that I recall so vividly was when I saw probably the last great Romani Gypsy caravan ever to travel our southern highways. It was on a cold and dreary day, as we, those of us kids that made up our youth choir, rode our church bus toward Atlanta, as we exited I-75 at Jackson, parked along the exit ramp, was a colorful line of brightly painted house trucks, all different and mounted on beautiful old trucks from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. For me it was a thrill to see that band of Roma stopped along the interstate, and even then I knew it would be the first and last that I ever saw. It was the end of an era, as they had to give up horses for trucks, trucks even house trucks had to comply with laws, rules and regulations that would bring that lifestyle to an end. I apologize for going so very long on this rememberamble.

Sometimes they take control and pull me along for the ride! May God bless and keep you in his loving arms. Who are we?

we boyz three, babee conway, lil merle, & me

Numbers 6: 24-26, KJV