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Butcher Boy Blues
© words and music by C. Stewart (March 31, 2007)

A crisp head of lettuce
Your rump roast is wheat
My career is affected
By the things you eat

A cucumber sandwich
A juicy red beet
How can I trust ya
If you don't eat meat

Possible Chorus......
How am I supposed to pay the rent
Buy my kids new shoes
When baby all you're givin' me
Mama all you're givin' me
Baby all you're givin' me's the blues
You're givin' me the butcher boy blues

Carrot sticks and celery
Fresh corn on the cob
Fillet of bell pepper
Now, there goes my job

Possible Chorus......
How am I supposed to pay the rent
Buy my kids new shoes
When baby all you're givin' me
Mama all you're givin' me
Baby all you're givin' me's the blues
You're givin' me the butcher boy blues

Bridge,,
If you really cared for me
You would take a stand
I want a woman with a
Pork chop in each hand

Possible Chorus......
How am I supposed to pay the rent
Buy my kids new shoes
When baby all you're givin' me
Mama all you're givin' me
Baby all you're givin' me's the blues
You're givin' me the butcher boy blues

Hey Calvin,

This one is very very well done. Made me smile all the way through it. Couldn't find anything to change. Just needs music.

Vanessa

Gosh Calvin

This is so cool!!! Tell the truth now, it was the picture of Vanessa's gluten roast that set you off...

I think this is terrific too. The only thing I might have to offer is a possible idea for a tag. Maybe something about a 'balanced diet' don't you know includes meat!!

my favorite image is

I want a woman with a
Pork chop in each hand

Nicely done. jm

A pork chop in each hand, eh? That's quite the visual, Calvin.

Loved the humor in here. Can't wait to hear you sing it.


~Christine

Calvin!!!

In true misfit style, a fillet of red pepper!

i've got a compromise
a pot of beef stew
big chucks of meat
carrots and potatoes too

EXTRA-CUTE ONE, Neighbor!

Lemmie suggest "The VEGAN SPOUSE BLUES" Perhaps...GOTTA Sneak in the Words "Vegan" and "Veggies" wherever ya get the Chance!

"KUDOS" & Good Luck with this Really FUN One! (Fun for US, NOT Much FUN for YOU if this is Based on Real-Life, eh?)

Good Luck with this Great Bitta Fun!

Big Guy-Hug,
Stan

Hi Vanessa,

Thank you for taking the time to read/smile & of course the picture that started this thought.
Have a sunny day.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Calvin,

This is funny. The only thing I would change is the first verse because when you say your rump roast is wheat it sounds confusing. I'm guessing you mean their eating bread or wheat pasta in lieu of beef but I would make that more understandable there.

You have:
A green piece of luttuce
Your rump roast is wheat
My career is affected
By the things you eat

How about:
A crisp head of lettuce (since it's obvious lettuce is green)
An apple, a peach,
My career (job) is affected,
By the things that you eat or (by the things you don't eat).

Maybe add "red" to your last line of 2nd verse so it reads:

If you don't eat red meat.

Best,
Lynn

Hi Joice,

Thanks for joining us for brunch.
Glad ya liked it ok & I appreciate your remarks.
And yes.....it was the gluten roast.

Have a good evening.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Cal,
Reminds me of a guy I used to play the blues with on occasion, he had a tune where he was "Goin' home, where women got some meat on their bones, there ain't a woman in this town, big enough to keep me warm" a real crowd pleaser...bein' a carnivore myself, that would suck pretty bad...ha...good one Cal...Moke

Calvin...

My grandfather was a butcher, too. I can fall right into this one. If I do, pull me out before I boil down to nothing!

I do like Lynn's suggestion. Other than that, what's not to like? This one is already well done and simmering for some music!

Goodern!

Alan

Hi Christine,

Glad to see ya in here :-)
Hope you're doing just peachy.
Glad you liked the pork chops.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Ok...How does pork chops baked (covered in foil) in apple juice topped with onions and apple slices sound? So tender they melt in your mouth!! You know what they say..."pork..the other white meat!!"

This is adorable even if it made me hungry. LOL

Hugs,
Bobbie

Cute lyric. Love the alliteration in the title.

Hey Calvin,

My dad would've loved this one! He loved taking his cattle to market each year. the beef industry was a very strong force in our house.

enjoyed it!

Charlann

Hello Cabbie,

Glad ya took a minite to read this one, much appreciated.
Also enjoyed your verse.
Have a good evening.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

I had to laugh out loud at the bridge...what a great picture

Nice writing...(btw, it's lettuce)

Calvin, you crack me up!!! I wish I had 10% of your imagination!!

Diane

Hi Stan,

Thanks for lookin' in on this one.
I think I'll go fix myself a sausage sandwich with mayo.
Have a sunny day.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Lynn,

Hope you're doing well.
Thanks for taking a few minutes to read/comment & give some fine suggestions for this one.
I appreciate it.
I used crisp, (good choice of words), but i'm pretty sold on the RUMP ROAST IS WHEAT.
Have a beefy day.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Moker,

Glad ya liked it.
Thanks for sharing your story with us, cool !

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Loved it's originality, you brought a smile to my face today, and that no mean feat on a Monday morning!

Can hardly wait for your next piece of work!


Carole

Hi Alan,


Hope you're having a good day,
Thanks for the response, glad ya liked it.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Bobbie,

Thank you for your time & comments & your pork chop meal sounds super.
Believe it or not I just had a pork chop sandwich with mayo & swiss cheese.....2 of em.
They we're great.
Have a wonderful day.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi ya Shayne,

Good to see ya man.
Thanks, glad ya liked it ok.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Charlann,

Thanks for giving me a minute of your time, this was fun writing.

Calvin


http://www.soundcick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Mel,

Thanks a bunch, much appreciated.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hi Diane,

Is it imagination or just being full of it ?
Either way, thanks.
See ya.

Calvin

Hi Carole,


Welcome !
Thank you for taking the time to read & comment.
Glad you got something from it.
Keep smiling :-)

Calvin


http://ww.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Calvin, I realize Vanessa traumatized you with that gluten roast, but I didn't know how much till just now.

yeh !

Calvin

Calvin,

Very clever and humorous piece here from the carnivor's viewpoint. It not only made me chuckle, it also stirred my vegetarian instincts to respond in kind. When I went to the site where I had archived 200 plus lyrics online to fetch a piece called "Veggie Delight", I discovered they have dumped me and all my lyrics. I no longer exist. Hmm... Too bad I don't have back ups. That was my back up.

How do you all ever keep track of what you've written? I've literally lost hundreds of songs over the years because I lose the hard copies in multiple moves and through a basic lack of organization of even my most precious papers (I cannot prove I have been born currently, for instance), or in computer meltdowns where the lyrics become part of the fossilized innards of silicone based devices, or in the dumping of large archives of my material by various servers online who determine I am no longer welcome for some unknown and unannounced reason. Makes me begin to wonder if Buddha had it right saying the material realm is all an illusion anyway. Kind of hard to keep anything I've written in any sort of permanent form.

I'm a fourth generation vegetarian, Calvin. So for me, the image of a gal with a pork chop in either hand is likely to proceed immediately to her looking me in the eye over her triple chins, winking, and saying "oink!" Specifically not porking on pig is a part of my Biblically-derived life style choices (see Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 11 for details) which has put members of my denomination living in over 200 countries around the world center stage as some of the longest living folks on the planet. (National Geographic November 2005 cover story, if I recall the date correctly.) Lots of us are living to 100, in part due to lack of coating the inner lining of our circulatory system with lard and other animal based cholesterol products. Even being a veggie like me has a Biblical root (see Genesis 1:29 and the first chapter of Daniel).

Curious how our differing life experiences give us different perspectives when looking at the same situations. That's one of the things I value about interacting here. I get to look at life through a whole lot of eyes other than my own. Seeing through yours in this lyric gives me a perspective otherwise unavailable to me. Thanks!

If we vegetarians convince many to adopt our ways, the butcher boy may need to open a fruit and veggie stand. At that point, his blues will likely be blue berries--a potent antioxidant, and rather tasty as well. If the downhearted butcher boy succeeds in perpetuating the carnivorous lifestyle among the public at large, on the other hand, he will be providing timely and ongoing employment to the local medical professionals and to the mortician's league. Currently, about half of the preventable deaths in America are due to cardio-vascular issues, which are largely a result of years of high cholesterol diets. Ingested cholesterol comes solely from animal-based food products. Go vegan, and you can begin unclogging the arteries that feed your brain (stroke danger here), heart (heart attack here), legs and feet (loss of limbs here), penis (the Viaga crowd might consider an alteration in diet instead of medicine), and other vital organs.

I'm currently a part of a new govornment funded study of 125,000 of my denomination here in North America to see why we are living so much longer than our fellow citizens. We know it isn't due to nationality, as we're getting the same results in over 200 countries around the world. It isn't our denominational affiliation either, since anybody who adopts the same lifestyle choices gets the same results, whatever their choice of world views. Also, our own members who fail to actually put the Biblical lifestyling into practice suffer the same illnesses as the population in general. Guess it is all a matter of personal lifestyle choices, which certainly do affect economics, both on the personal and the national level--and for more than butcher boys.

Keep writing.

Skip

Hi Skip,


Thanks for the read.
much appreciated.
Well......
I have lyrics printed out.
I have them on floppy disc
I have them on cd's
I have them on hard drive
Although some of my earlier stuff thatw as on a floppy isn't available, the disc says (unable to format ??)

Hvae a good weekend.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hey Calvin,

Well written. I myself will always find the time and the need for a little red meat from my local butcher. whats interesting is, not a single scientific study has ever demenstrated a longer life span for vegetarians over those that eat red meat, in moderation. In fact, those on a strict vegetarian diet lack amino acids vital to good health.It would be my "biased" guess science will prove lifespans are more dependent on genetic history, rather than what we put on our plates. Well, heres to hoping anyway, until then I'll take mine nice and thick and bloody rare.

Take care

Fix.

Hi Fix,

Thank you for taking a moment to read this one, I appreciate your thoughts on this.
Have a cool day.

Calvin


http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Hey Calvin,

No problem. In support of all carnivores, i offer a little Deuteronomy of my own.

Deuteronomy 12:20 "When the Lord your God enlarges your border as He has promised you, and you say, `Let me eat meat,' because you long to eat meat, you may eat as much meat as your heart desires. 21 "If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and from your flock which the Lord has given you, just as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your gates as much as your heart desires."

Good Luck.

Fix.

In for a quickie Cal....had to see what the commotion was all about and yeah, loads of fun

And I'm in the carnivore camp...I'm all for giving oinkers, mooers, bleaters and cacklers a purpose in life

Funny story....my kids are now in their early teens, so I thought I'd have some fun, and made rabbit for Easter, and of course made the appropriate side remarks...

....my daughter, the younger one, with a glint in her eye and a half hidden smile said....Dad, you're soooohhh mean!....but enjoyed it immensely, while my son just ate the back half (I'm a loin person myself)....

so thumbs up for butchers, and a big set up for the lyric

Calvin,
I've not been on this site very long, but I've learned that I can count on you to keep it creative, fun, and always interesting. Thanks.

Jay

Fix,

Think I need to correct a misunderstanding concerning no scientific studies existing that show the benefit of a vegetarian diet over a meat one. I was part of a study of 24,000 Californian Seventh-day Adventists, about half of whom were vegetarians, that was conducted when I was a student at Pacific Union College just up the hill in a town called Angwin, out of the famous Nampa Valley wine growing country north of San Francisco. That study showed our male members lived an average of 7 years longer than our fellow Californians, with about half of that extra years of life due to the fact that half of us were vegetarians and the other half stayed by the kosher meat regulations mentioned in Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14 in the Bible. (We also don't smoke or drink alcohol, which accounted for some of the rest of the "Adventist Health Advantage".) Those of us who followed our denomination's health recommendations most closely were living an average of 14 years longer than the average population.

That study correlating health style to longevity and the avoidance of many of the degenerative diseases that kill Americans in general (stroke, heart attack, cancer, ect) proved so impressive that entire govornments, including Canada for one, reviewed their health recommendations for their populations. Their basic take was this: "All the advances in scientific treatment in medicine over the past 80 years has not added as many extra years of life to the general population as Seventh-day Adventists are obtaining solely through their health style. We need to find out ways to convince our populations to adopt at least some of their practices if we wish to see general improvement and lower health costs for our nation."

Currently, due to the first study, an 18 million dollar govornment grant has been issued studying 125,000 Seventh-day Adventists all across America to discover why we are living significantly beyond the life spans of the general population and have such a high number of people living to over 100 years among our numbers. I am part of that study also. Yesterday I got back the initial results by mail. I'll type in a bit directly from that report. Here are the facts in most recently validated scientific terms...

The study broke those of us being tested into five categories based solely on our dietary practices. These categories were (from least meat, to regular meat diet):

1. Vegan Vegetarian-----------------no meat, no fish, no sea food, no dairy, solely plant-based food sources

2. Ovo-lacto Vegetarian---no meat, no fish, no sea food, does eat eggs, milk products

3. Pesco-Vegetarian-------no meat, does eat fish, sea food, eggs, milk products

4. Semi-Vegetarian--------eats some meat, fish, sea food, eggs and dairy, but concentrates on a good supply of fruits, vegtables and grains as well

5. Non-Vegetarian--------eats meat, fish, sea food, eggs and dairy as a staple portion of the diet (the usual American diet for the general population)

Part of the study was reports on weight, cholesterol levels, high blood pressure and diabetes--all indicators of cardio-vascular problems, if these are on the high end of the spectrum. (Strokes, heart attacks, loss of limbs due to diabetes, ect kill about one person in two in America currently, and all are related to the above four indicators.)

The scientific results in each area have proved to be stair step predictable in all four categories.

1. Weight

The lowest average body weight was with vegans, followed in order by ovo-lacto vegetarians, pesco-vegetarians, semi-vegetarians, then meat eaters as heaviest. This was true in both men and women. A 55 year old woman 5 feet six inches tall averaged 34 pounds lighter than no-vegetarian women of their age and height. For a typical 55 year old 5 foot ten inch man, the vegan men weighed 32 pounds less than the non-vegetarians. There was a direct correlation to increase in body weight depending precisely on the range of diet from vegan (low) to non-vegetarian (high).

2. High Cholesterol

Again, the scientific results showed a direct correlation between those being treated for high cholesterol and their chosen diet. This ranged from the vegans (fewest) up through the non-vegetarians (highest). The stairstep was unmistakable.

3. High Blood Pressure

The same stairstep results from vegans (lowest number being diagnosed with high blood pressure) up through the range of increased animal product consumption to non-vegetarian (with the highest number being diagnosed with high blood pressure) were readily apparent.

4. Diabetes

Overall three times as many non-vegetarians as vegans reported being treated for type 2 diabetes. The stairstep from vegan (lowest number with type 2 diabetes) through ovo-lacto (halfway between vegans and non-vegetarians for this indicator), through non-vegetarians (highest incident of type 2 diabetes) was unmistakable.

So what are the actual most recent, govornment sponsored, initial reports concerning the scientifically-validated benefits of a plant based diet rather than an animal product based diet? Exactly and unmistakably this: the more animal products you eat, the more illness you will suffer from in the areas of being overweight, having high cholesterol, suffering from high blood pressure, and dealing with type 2 adult onset diabetes.

People are free to eat whatever they wish, of course. I would not argue against that. But the choices they do make with their health should be based on actual scientific evidence (if they value such more than a simple "thus says the Lord from the Good Book in these matters, which suffices for me) rather than heresay and supposed experts who haven't an actual clue pontificating based more on their own dietary choices and ignorance than facts. Beware of "experts". Challenge assumptions, beginning with your own.

Jesus once said, "You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Only if you actually accept the truth when it stares you in the face and steps up to shake your hand, and then follow it, of course. (So howdy, partner. Want to shake?) We need to make sure our sources of information on these matters are sound. Then we can make our own choices, and live (and die) by them.

As for me, the results above have moved me from my lifetime practice of ovo-lacto vegetarian (inherited from three generations of Seventh-day Adventist ancestors before me) toward a more strictly vegan diet. I'd really like to break the 100 year mark personally, and I've got a good chance of doing exactly that. One grandpa lived to 97 and the other to 93. Neither were strict vegetarians, though they did have a greatly reduced meat consumption and one in line with the Biblical kosher laws for types of meats consumed. No reason at all I shouldn't be able to go past a century if I make wiser choices than my ancestors in these matters. That means my 50th birthday, which has still yet to occur, will only be the halfway mark for me so far as life expectancy goes. I have every reason to believe I can be active into my late 80's or early 90's. Many among our membership are.

Some say, "But I don't want to live to be that old!" Again, here are the facts: Seventh-day Adventists who do live longer also have fewer years of "failing health" at the far end of their lives than people who live by other health practices. If you follow the general American population's health style, you not only live shorter overall, but you're sick longer before you do die. If you adopt the Biblically-prescribed and logically applied health style instead, you not only live more years total, you also have fewer years of declining illnesses before you do eventually die.

A quick death is the kiss of God. Anyone who has seen someone linger in pain for years, or slip into senility, knows that much at least. Moses and Aaron, the originals through which much of these Biblical health principles were revealed 3,500 years ago, both lived until 120 years of age. (Note: There is more in the first five books of the Bible that directly impacts the general health of populations than my own denomination has searched out and put into practice, which stands to add additional years of life for those who learn them and adopt them, as well.) The Bible says of Moses that "his strength was not diminished, nor his eye dimmed" until the day God told his brother, then Moses, to go climb mountains and stay there until they died. A person 120 years old who can climb a mountain for the purpose of dying still has more than a little measure of vital life force remaining. They've lived a long, strong life, and meet a short, quick, end...and that at a place where they are as near as they can get to God on planet Earth.

So those are the actual, just got it in the mail yesterday, scientifically validated, govornment investigated, large study population facts. Do with them what you will.

Keep thinking.

Skip

P.S. As Seventh-day Adventists exist in 200+ countries around the world, and in every place where are teachings are put into practice the identical results are replicated, this is not a matter of nationality or ethnic background. It is solely a matter of choices over which we have direct control that affect our health for better, or for worse. The most potent medicine is accurate information intelligently applied, and the most reliable and validated source of accurate information is the Bible. That's where we got these things well over a century before science ever discovered just how much of a benefit we were gaining from them.

By the way, on the average you will also add two years to your life expectancy by simply going to church each week, regardless of your denominational affiliation. I crunched the numbers when I read of that study. It seems God adds to the far end of a person's life the time they spend worshipping in His house. So another excellent health practice is to go to church.

Well Skipper I'm not one to argue with scientific studies, but I will say this, if you take the meatballs out of the spaghetti, then you may as well hang all the Italians by their feet and slit their throats and let the blood-letting begin.

Richard,

That's why, in the face of the most excellent evidence that can be discovered and presented, people should still be allowed full, and unfettered right to make their own choices in the area of diet, religion, politics, choice of life partner(s), world views, and color of shoe laces. (Did I miss anything?)

You Italian?

Skip

I'm not Italian, Skipper, but I did grow up in an Italian neighborhood, and have tasted many delicacies. Interestingly scientists have also found that once someone has been ill, that dietary changes are not always the best remedy, as taking away a patients "flavor" reduces their will to live. As per myself, I try to eat as little red meat as possible, (an occassional burger, still hits the spot) and have taken to foods such as as red grapes, cherries, tomatoes, pomagrants juice, blackberries, rasperies, etc, to keep regeneration of cells alive and kicking. A two mile walk a day also does wonders for one's physical and mental health. Love is also a great healer, as misery or lack of love in one's life is unhealthy to say the least...Lots of contributing factors to a healthy lifestyle, diet is only one aspect, albeit an important one!

Unless you have a Mother who knows how to imitate the taste of the flavor and texture. My Mother-in-law isn't Italian but she was married to one for over almost 40 years before he died. She learned to make vegetarian 'sausage' using pecans, walnuts, oatmeal, tofu, and seasonings. I also have my own recipe that I think is even better (course I might be a bit biased ;)) But, I've fed some of my recipes to diehard meateaters who never knew they weren't eating meat. Sometimes even cheesless dishes and they thought they were eating cheese. Taste can be changed over time too. So, I always advocate making slow, steady change when it comes to diet. Comfort food is important sometimes---for the soul. And in time the difficult switch can be made. My grandfather was a testament to that. And my dear Grandmother, was such a faithful cook/hostess. She made the switch and stopped smoking all within a few short years. Papa, he stopped drinking, smoking and eating meat----in a very short time. He never missed any of it by the time I knew him. But, then turnip greens, cornbread and buttermilk may have always been his favorite foods.

Rittman, have you ever tasted those Italian cookies? The fig ones? They are packed with nutrition----almonds, dates, figs, raisens.

Vanessa

Vanessa

Recipes, I want recipes!!!

Which ones? The Italian meatballs?

Ritt,

I do believe that love is the greatest healer of all. It was in my own life when I was the sickest I ever have been. I'd had a major, public, horrific nervous breakdown and wound up pacing in circles inside the padded cell of the local lockdown psych ward. It happened about halfway through my first year at the seminary something over 20 years ago now.

Judi went through that with me in the middle of the night in a crowded student apartment complex. Neither of us had a clue that the universe itself wasn't unraveling around us. It was like being attacked by great invisible sharks. Every time one roared through, it took a huge mouthful out of whatever it is that is invisible and makes us who we are apart from our bodies alone. Those sharks literally tore me to shreds until I would clearly see that two and one were exactly the same thing. I wouldn't have wished that experience on my worst enemy. In the end, Judi had to make her escape with our two toddlers while I was distracted in another room. I scared a lot of people, myself included.

When official help was summoned, I went voluntarily, but in the back of the only police car I've ever ridden anywhere in as an "honored guest". Not very pretty. Particularly for a guy who was headed for being a preacher, in charge of the lives of other people. What I had been training for for ten years was gone--perhaps for good.

That entire next year was by far the worst thing that ever happened to me. Death would have been easy by comparison. The social pain was incredible. So was not knowing even who I was at the worst of things. When the hours of pacing in circles in the lockdown padded cell finally brougth the physical back into balance the mental, I was allowed out into the larger ward. I knew my entire world had come undone. Every relationship and every dream I had ever had was in entire jeparody. I didn't even know if Judi would ever wish to see me again.

After all, the guy who had dyed his hair bright orange and with whom I shared the room with was back in for his 20+ time. A revolving door psych ward junkie. I woke up that first night with him crouching like an ape on the end of my bed. Poor guy's wife had left him the first time he was admitted. Wives do that sort of thing under those sort of circumstances.

The black big-bosomed cutie-crazy from the ladies' hall though I was Michael Jackson bleached whiter than usual. She followed me into my room on the sly, fully expecting to do the nasty with me. I never met a woman more certain of herself sexually on first approach. She only tried that once.

When the orderlies gave me my meds, my muscles seized up so that I went over backward like some Spirit-slain devotee at a Pentecostal healing ceremony. They were waiting to catch me before I hit the tiles. Apparently, that was a common first side affect of that particular medication. Nobody had warned me, of course.

Half the people who worked on the ward were helpful. They actually listened, and still saw the inmates as human. The other half were so afraid of becoming like us they were flat out cruel. They treated us like subhuman animals to be caged and despissed, just to assure themselves they could never arrive at the place where we were, I think. All my fears of horror stories connected to insane assylums swirled around like a black sucking whirlpool of sheer terror. I was afraid I would be lobotomized, electro-shocked into a drooling zombie, castrated for somebody's sheer sport. I knew I was at the entire mercy of some people who had their own best interests at heart, and that anything I ever reported would be immediately discounted as lunatic ravings. I had become one without any control over my existence, among others who were the same. It was entirely surreal. Minutes seemed like hours, and hours like weeks.

Of all my fears, my gravest concern was whether I still had a marriage. Would I ever see Judi again? If I did, would she want me back? Would I ever get out of this place? Nothing was certain, any my fears filled in the blank spaces where the unanswered questions lurked.

That's when love found me. I looked up and saw Judi walking down the hall in that locked down psych ward with loonies like me crouched in corners making strange signs with their hands and talking to people nobody else could see. She was dressed as beautifully as if she were coming on a date with a man she deeply loved and profoundly admired. When I saw her, I knew I was going to get well again. I took one look and said to myself, "No way I'm staying in here with a woman like that outside waiting for me!" Judi's love literally healed me, and that process was not instantaneous. It took years.

It wasn't just Judi's love, however. It was also the love of my parents, who took us in without question when they had themselves been reduced to near poverty by an unexpected turn in their own life. They were living in the remodeled cellar of a barn by Dad had fixed up and taking baths and flushing their toilets in muddy water drawn in buckets from the pond. A year earlier, they had been living in the largest and finest house for five miles in any direction.

But it wasn't only my wife's and parents love. It was also the compassion of the non-Christian hot-tempered farmer who hated just about everybody in the countryside, except my father--who had just become a preacher a year earlier after teaching in a girl's reform school for a couple decades. The farmer provided Judi and I and our two little boys with an empty farm house to live in rent free for six months.

There was also the love of Judi's family, who didn't raise a word against me during the most embarrassing time of my life. Even Judi's brother, who had no interest in the religion I was pursuing as my life's labor, said, "Skip is not to be blamed for this. He did nothing of which he is culpable, or should be ashamed. He simply got sick."

Then there was the love of many dear friends who came to me upon my return to campus and poured out the deepest hurts of their lives while I simply listened, and said absolutely nothing in return. How much I owe them at a time I could repay nothing, they will never know.

A little later, there was the love of the circle of seminary friends and their wives who met together at each other's houses one evening a week for Bible study and mutual life support with our varied struggles when I returned a half-year early to my seminary classes. They provided social healing, a group within which I was entirely accepted and valued, and whom Judi could call on for timely support when thing became touch and go with me several months later for a few weeks.

Yep, diet is important in maintaining and even regaining health. But it is truly love that heals. Unless people were important, their diet wouldn't matter.

In the end, it was the love of God Himself, who would unmistakably and supernaturally call someone like myself in a manner I had only read about in the Bible accounts of His calling of the prophets a year later that put the seal on my ongoing healing. That experience healed me in the deepest places of my existence and answered the question I had been too afraid to ask. "After all that, am I of any use to anyone in representing You? Or should I withdraw quietly, and spend the rest of my Christian life holding down a humble back pew in a small local church somewhere?" A minute in God's direct presence was a thousand times more potently life-changing than the entire previous hellish year had been. That's another story in itself, and one that is still in the telling.

You are correct, Ritt. Exercise is a crucial factor in health. Smokers who exercise regularly are healthier than non-smokers who do not. All those anti-oxidants in berries are a great benefit, too. The sexual restrictions in the Bible are a huge health principle. One man, with one woman, for life, raising their family, would put an end to misery that is currently wreaking havok of entire nations in some parts of the world.

The greatest of all healers, is love. That's what healed me. Without that, there's no reason to get well. There is no reason to even want to.

Thanks for making me remember.

Skip

P.S. I've been reading the gospel of John again mornings. It says, "This is love: Not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and gave His Son as a propitiation for our sins." Basically, none of us have a perfect life to offer a holy, man-loving, sin-hating God. So He offers us a perfect life instead. That is the life of the Lord Jesus Christ, which we simply accept in place of our own--knowing we need it, and that it was lived on our behalf to be counted in place of our own life in the final reckoning when we answer to God for what we've done with our existence.

All the healthly choices in the world won't keep even one of us from dying in the end. Only Someone from beyond this world coming into it and becoming one like ourselves, experiencing what we experience, facing what we fear, and suffering what we suffer, could do that. His empty tomb is our open door. We've got very good reason to look to heaven with hope. God is on our side, even when others are against us and we are against ourselves. He is for us still. If He gave us His own Son, why would He keep anything else back that we might need as well? Jesus is God's unanswerable argument, the proof that in the end, love heals anybody who will willling.

Skipper you do realize that portion of your life would make a great movie, with the script already written, repleat with drama and a wonderful tear jerking scene!

Ritt,

My whole life would make a great movie, actually. Thing is, nobody would believe it unless I wrote it as fiction. Stuff so very far out of the ordinary has happened, and continues to happen, that the street credibility of a perfectly honest and straight forward account of what I have actually experience would be dismissed out of hand by pretty much anyone who didn't know me well enough to know I simply don't lie. If I wanted to make a living lying, I would have been a politician, not a preacher. I told another clip from something else that happened to me in class to the high schoolers the other day. Afterward, one of the students spoke up, "Your life is like a movie!"

So it is. I have the very real sense that my life is a story God Himself is telling. It certainly never has been boring. I'm very much looking forward to the chapter just ahead...

Skip

Hi All,

I like the song, and I like the discussion it provoked. I personally believe that a diet at least limiting your intake of red meat is a whole lot better for you than the diet most Americans have been eating for years. Just look at some of our ideal breakfasts: ham, sausage, bacon, biscuits in redeye gravy, all the eggs you can eat etc. Before anyone gets the wrong idea here, I love that breakfast. I'm limiting myself to having it about once or twice a year now though. I love living too much to give it up a whole lot sooner than I have to. It boils down to this. I know that I could live a lot longer in a better state of health if I ate a better diet. I also know I'd miss the taste of red meat. So I compromise, a lot less red meat for some more healthy years.

And every once in a while, a pork chop in each hand.

Think I need to correct a misunderstanding concerning no scientific studies

Hey Skip,

I think the misunderstanding stems from our differing views on what constitutes "scientific studies".

Eating "red meat" is good, even the bible tells us so, In fact, It might even be suggested, that God frowns on those that preach otherwise. allow me to offer on one more snip-it from the good book.

1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2 Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3 Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4 For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5 For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.

If i ever join you skip for braking bread, in the form of fellowship, and you offer me a green bean casserole, in the place of tri tip, i might try the beans, but i'm gona half to pass on the kool aid.

God Bless.

Fix.