Patriot Flyer: May 2005

My Apology

It is unconscionable that I missed posting on Memorial Day. For a patriot and a flyer it is inexcusable. I could blame my broke foot but that is not the cause. I will post a proper message in the next couple of days in between doctor appointments. Forgive me!

Joe Comer

ZIn the meantime, I refer you to the following post by a brave soldier:

We Took This the Night Before My Foot Surgery

Vidalia Airpatch Seen From the Approach Pattern. I land At The Far End Coming Toward Current Position.

Now That's a Happy Pilot!

Last Week Flying to Columbus: Great Day For Flying

Me & Shay Shay At The Work Position

Jenny's Favorite Time: Playing Games & Talking On The Phone!

Quiet Time Coming

I'm going to be out of action for a few weeks, probably. Day after tomorrow I'll be going into the hospital for surgery on my left ankle. I broke it 18 months ago and it never healed, so they have to clamjp the bones together and let it finally heal.

See ya when I get back!

Joe

Totin' Michael Totten

I have just finished a response to one Michael Totten, who blogs most of the time, I guess, from Lebanon. Anyway, you can read his blog here. He's not a bad writer, but he and I got into a rather snotty tiff regarding a comment I made on his blog last week. I didn't give him a personal heartburn, but used a colloquialism that he may have taken issue with, one that I don't usually (In fact, before this, never) use in referring to arabs: raghead. That's not the way to win friends, but I have no intention of making any arab friends right now. They have done worse with other Americans in the past few years, so excuse me, but my comment was nothing alongside 9/11. His retaliation was not to engage me in civilized debate, or even UNcivilized debate, but to "ban" me from his website. OK, so I apologized, but that didn't even do it. I had to be sneaky and use my AOL identity, go on his website, and let the whole d*** world know that I was apologizing. OK, all done. Now I've done it on my site, and I don't really give a rat's a** if he ever does relent. I'm done going there, but you may if you wish, with my blessings.

Joe Comer

Ode to Mothers Everywhere

Because my mother was not with the program, unable to cope with raising children, and my mother's mother was more than willing to become my "mother", I am more than glad to have called her "Mama" for as long as she lived. Mama took on the challenge, after raising her own children, during the years when she could have rested on her laurels - which were many - of raising an additional two rambunctious boys. I was the oldest, probably the most problematic of the two, certainly the most devious! But Mama was never rattled, never at the end of her wits, always composed, and most assuredly, always in charge!

I remember once when I decided to run away. About the age of 9, I thought it would be cool to load everything I owned - not much - onto my red wagon, and leave town. I guess all boys and some girls, including my own daughter, decide to do this at least once during childhood. Wisely, Mama was silent as I piled all that stuff on the wagon and got ready to leave. Then it overtook me all of a sudden: Where would I find something to eat that night for supper? Where would I find a soft, warm bed to sleep in that night? Where in the heck was I going anyway? I was just a kid and needed my parents, especially my Mama! Running away all of a sudden didn't look to be all that appealing. I ran in the house, flung myself into Mama's welcoming arms, and sobbed like the end of the world had just occurred. Mama wasn't rattled, not surprised, and most of all, totally accepting and loving. She rocked me, sang to me, and just let me cry it out until I was over the whole thing. No one else, I am convinced, would have sat there and consoled me that way. No one but Mama.

I'm a lot older today. Older than Mama was then, with five of my own grandkids. I love my two kids, my five grandkids, and their "nana", my beloved wife Jenny, with all of the big, sopping, loving heart that was willed to me by my Mama! I sit here today and think of Mama, and thank her profusely, for all the good things she gave me when I was a young 'un, so grateful that I don't know the ends therof! What things, you ask? Well, we didn't have much in the way of worldly riches, enough to get by with the restaurant that she owned, and she always saw to it that we had as much of the "I want's" as she deemed good for us, but not so much that we were spoiled by it all. What she gave us that was most valuable doesn't add up in the money column, but it all adds to riches far beyond money. At the top of the list is faith in Jesus Christ. Add to that, love. Love for my family, love for my country, love for the good and wonderful things in life that can't be purchased with money.

Mama has been gone for a long time now. She was 67 when a stroke took her home to Heaven, and left me motherless. Almost. It was 1974, and I was living, with my own young family, in New England. It was a very sad trip to Georgia for her funeral, and I was left with this extremely empty feeling, wondering just how to handle life without my mama. It was the bottom of the pit. Without the loving caress of my sweet wife, I would have been completely lost. You see, every time something happened, good or bad, I always phoned Mama to tell her. Now I wouldn't be able to do that. I tell you, knowing that she wouldn't be there any more was a really bad, unfathomable feeling. Then, after the funeral service, on the way to the cemetary, something wonderful happened. Something that took away the sting, something that gave me hope after all. I turned to my Mother-In-Law, and said to her, "You have to be my mama now." You know, she accepted that without even a blink! Of course, she nodded and agreed to take on the challenge.

So, though I lost my Mama that spring day in 1974, I was the recipient of a second chance at having a loving parent. She's still with us today, bowed with age, unable to do things she once did on her own, but with us, functional, giving us her unbounded love, the celebrated grandmother, great-grandmother, even great-great-grandmother whom we can turn to and say, "What do you think about this?" She has been for all these years, my substitute Mama, one to whom I can give my love, a great lady who is an inspiration to all her children, and the fulfillment of the Biblical blessing attributed to mothers. I'm grateful to have had the love and affection of not one but two wonderful women as my mothers, and I wouldn't for the world leave out another mother: the mother of my children. It's hard to believe, but we've been married for 41 years now. She's still the apple of my eye, the love of my life, and she will be so as long as I live. No children ever had a better mother than my wife has been to her son and daughter. Not a day goes by that she doesn't speak of at least one of our kids, wondering if they're OK, if they have what they need, if they have enough to eat or warm clothes! What a mother she is!! God bless 'em all, I say! Mothers are the best! The Lord really knew what He was doing when He invented mothers, for what in the world would any of us do without them?

So, on this Mother's Day of 2005, here's to mothers everywhere! Hear! Hear!

The Silversmith

Some time ago, some ladies met in a certain city to study the Scriptures. While reading the third chapter of Malachi, they came upon a remarkable expression in the third verse:

"And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver" (Mal. 3:3)

One lady proposed to visit a silversmith, and report to them on what he said about the subject. She went accordingly, and without telling the object of her errand, begged the silversmith to tell her about the process of refining silver. After he had fully described it to her, she asked, "But Sir, do you sit while the work of refining is going on?"

"Oh, yes, madam," replied the silversmith, "I must sit with my eyes steadily fixed on the furnace, for if the time necessary for refining be exceeded in the slightest degree, the silver will be injured."

The lady at once saw the beauty, and comfort, too, of the expression, "He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." God sees it needful to put His children in a furnace; His eye is steadily intent on the work of purifying, and His wisdom and love are both engaged in the best manner for us. Our trials do not come at random, and He will not let us be tested beyond what we can endure.

Before she left, the lady asked one final question, "When do you know the process is complete?"

"Why, that is quite simple, " replied the silversmith, "When I can see my own image in the silver, the refining process is finished."

----Author Unknown----