What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?

What Do You See Outside YOUR Open Window Today?
Remember: "When God closes a door, He always opens a window!" You never know what might be out there waiting for you!

Tuesday, July 11, 2023

Tuesday 4: Old Times

 


Old Times

Old fashioned church picnic

Hello! Welcome back to our weekly question fest begun by Toni Taddeo and kept in her memory.


Let's talk about old times.....

1. My town had an old-fashioned strawberry festival, a summertime picnic and carnival and the local church went caroling at Christmas time. What did/does your town do? What about your family?
 

Our town just had a nice 4th of July parade and fun and games in the park, and finished off the day with fireworks. We did not participate because of the heat and the crowds. We did drive around the town and saw what was going on, but decided we were better off staying out of the heat that day.  Here's a few pictures I borrowed from the Internet from the 4th of July Parade:

This one has Smokey the Bear riding in a bulldozer...

And this lady is riding a horse and carrying the American Flag!  
There were floats and games and all kinds of activities going on. I am happy our little town does this each year. They also have a similar day of activities and parade at Christmas time.  


2. What things in your life did you love about the past?
I grew up in a small town where we had lots of parades and other activities at our school for kids. I used to march in the parades with the Girl Scouts, Cheerleaders, and one time as a Junior Majorette...which was not my favorite thing. I remember I got blisters on my heels from the boots we had to wear and I ended up having to drop out of the parade about half way through because my feet hurt so badly. I never was very good at twirling a  baton either since I was a lefty and all the routines were with right hands. So I became a cheerleader instead because I was good and loud! LOL.  I loved our small town, where people knew each other and actually cared about each other. I was truly blessed to grow up in a small school and town, with good teachers, preachers, and adults who went out of their way to make our lives more pleasant.  I still keep in touch with many of my friends from school, and we try to get together when we can.   HERE is a link to a post I wrote about my hometown and happy memories.

3. What would you like to bring back that are no longer as popular as they once were? Would you talk to friends about perhaps reviving old traditions?
Not sure how to answer this one. I need to think about it.  I know I hear a lot of people say they wish their churches would sing more of the old hymns. I am happy to say that our little church loves to sing hymns. We also sing a few a the newer songs, but the majority of our songs are hymns. We don't have a band and drums and all that kind of instrumentation (not that there's anything wrong with that)...just a piano that also can sound like an organ. But we sing with our whole hearts and truly rejoice in singing praises to our great God!!  If you click on this link below, you will hear our choir singing "On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand..."



4. Do you belong to an organization of any kind and do they have outings, picnics or pot lucks? What special things do they engage in and what would you like them to do or accomplish? By the way, I looked up the usage of 'old- fashioned vs old- fashion and old-fashioned is the correct usage. and must have a hyphen as well.

Yes, our little church loves to have pot-luck dinners and we also had a lovely Memorial Day Picnic.

Here's some pictures from our Memorial Day picnic. It was a lovely day in the yard of our Parsonage.

(me with my mouth full. LOL)

And here's some pictures from one of our Pot Luck dinners:

There's ALWAYS a lot of great food and fellowship!  We try to do a 5th Sunday Pot luck dinner after church on every 5th Sunday, which will be coming up again on July 30th!


I do love that our little church is very "Old-Fashioned" in many of its ways. We still preach/teach the Bible and believe that God's Word is true and the inspired Word of God:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 

16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

AND:
Hebrews 4:12
12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Yes, we are just an old-fashioned church with old-fashioned values and lots of love for everyone.

I am happy that we have an "Old-fashioned" church and  live in an "old-fashioned" small town that still does things the "old-fashioned" way in many ways, and yet we are still growing and welcoming new people every day. So we must be doing something right!
Oh, and if you happen to be passing through this Saturday, our church will be having a Community Breakfast in the Fellowship Hall from 7-10 a.m.  $6.00 adults, $3.00 children, for a great breakfast with lots of good food! All are welcome!  (We do this every 3rd Saturday)








10 comments:

  1. I grew up in a small town, but never experienced the sort of community camaraderie or festivals you speak of. Not sure what that's all about; as I recall, people weren't ugly to one another, just private. Your story about becoming a cheerleader made me smile. How hard I tried to learn baton twirling, but was never that coordinated. (Plus, I'm a leftie, too.) I thank God every day for having landed in a small, caring community and finding a Church like yours (sounds). Funny, because we weren't consciously looking for those things. God is good!

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  2. I grew up in the, what was then, small town of Titusville, Florida. There was no festivals or parades or group spirit like we have up here in Georgia. These folks love family, friends and lots of smiles! I could never go back to living in T'ville again. I'm spoiled now with all the kindness. *giggle*
    Not being a Summer person, I tend to shy away from groups or doin's this time of year. I did used to go swimming. A LOT! Water is a good respite from the Summertime heat and humidity, as you also know since you're a Florida Native too.
    Sweet post. Enjoyed all the photos and memories.
    Love xx

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  3. Happy Tuesday friend! I also go to a small and rather old-fashioned church - which is rather unusual in this crazy part of the world. I am more of a "large church" kind of a girl but God has placed us here and I have been so blessed with the sweet fellowship and family nature of our church. And yes the food. We do fellowships and potlucks quite a bit and there is no shortage of good food - and we sing the "old" hymns:) I enjoyed your photos....looks like a lot of summer fun!! Stay cool...I know that Florida summer heat can be brutal:) Take care -

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  4. Your church is so pretty and I'm not sure there's anything much better than a church potluck.

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  5. I love your church. It looks very much like the little white church my family attended when I was little and that I still visited when I would visit my grandmother until she no longer was able to go. It was the Teepleville U.M.C. The Alliance church I attend now is only a little bigger and still old fashioned in many ways, but we do sing more of the newer songs. I like a nice mix of both. Our town also has a 4th of July parade every year, along with a carnival, car show, Miss 4th of July pageant, patriotic concert, and fireworks. The town isn't as small as it was when I was growing up, but it still has that feel. Nice to see your photos and read your memories!

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  6. I grew up Methodist and y'all sure know how to feed people!! I have so many great memories of delicious food at our church potlucks. I enjoyed being at one of your potlucks a few months ago!! This was a fun Tuesday post!! xo

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  7. I grew up in a small town :) to me nothing better. The town still only has around 2,000 people. We still have the "Hay Day" parade and carnival. Inola, OK was at one time the Hay Capitol of the US. We still have some old fashioned churches around here. I love the church in KS that I found they have pot luck dinners on Wednesday from August till May that way people get a break for the summer. In October they have Octoberfest which is a lot of fun, food and fellowship. I still travel 100 miles the 3rd Monday to go to the ladies get together "God's Girls" I love it however traveling is only during the spring summer and fall, can't risk weather changing to snow and sleet before I get home. I also like the Old traditional hymnals but most churches now sing the newer stuff, just doesn't send off the same message. I was a band member (clarinet in marching season, oboe and sax in jazz) My Jr year I decided I wanted to be part of the flag and rifle team, and became the team captain I loved it. was also the Secretary for Future Homemakers of America, Vice President of Future Business Leaders of America and a member of Future Christian Leaders of America. I have some new post up and hope you enjoy them. PS Your church is so quaint! love it!

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  8. I enjoyed hearing the song you sang with the choir at church. Old song I remember. I grew up on a farm that was close to a small town we went to church at. No parades there or where we live. I know there is a parade through St. Paul rodeo that's not far from us but we'd have to get up early. We went to the Christian Church that is still there and old when I was growing up. Been through the town a few times. We had potluck lunch in the gym that our church has on their property. Games going on too. I will show that on my blog soon! Have a good week!

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  9. Pam, if we lived near your area, we would certainly enjoy attending the church breakfast. I really like that your church does such wonderful things as a community and there is nothing quite like living in a smaller town. We had that during our years of living in VA.

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  10. What fun answers. Your church building is pretty and sounds like an amazing group of people

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