NEW POST: He's 104

I thought we’d go in a little different direction with this one. You may recall the name Satchel Paige. Today is his 104th birthday, but it doesn’t much matter. He’s a legend. He played professional baseball for 40 years. He finally quit when he was 60, after pitching 3 shut-out innings for the Kansas City Athletics.

I was reading about him in USA Today today and just loved a lot of his musings and quotes, so I thought I’d share them with you.

“Don’t look back. Something might be catching up with you.”

"How old would you be if you didn't know how old you are?"

“We don’t stop playing because we get old. We get old because we stop playing.”

“Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man that got to be common.”

“Don’t pray when it rains, if you don’t pray when the sun shines.”

“You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.”

“I ain’t ever had a job, I just always played baseball.”

“Mother always told me, if you tell a lie, always rehearse it. If it don’t sound good to you, it won’t sound good to no one else.”

Sage advice for us all – except the lie part – but there sure is value in practicing your lines.

Good stuff to think about as you ponder making it to 104 too.

NEW POST: The Cost of Freedom

The 4th of July. This is a good read....

Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence ?

Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured.

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.

They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor.

What kind of men were they?

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants,nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated,but they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to
pay his debts, and died in rags.

Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer,
Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton.

At the battle of Yorktown , Thomas Nelson, Jr., noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed,
and Nelson died bankrupt.

Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months.

John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his
children vanished.

So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and
silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they paid.

Remember: freedom is never free!

I hope you will show your support by sending this to as many
people as you can, please. It's time we get the word out that patriotism
is NOT a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer,
picnics, and baseball games.