Precious Sounds From The Past

Good Monday Morning To You!!!

Last week I told you about more of the adventures of Johnny and Vic. I told you about the different smells we experienced and their origin. This week I want to reminisce a bit more as I take you back with me to Elmwood Place located in southwest Ohio. Elmwood Place is a Cincinnati suburb, but is not part of the Cincinnati City limits.

There were three distinct sounds that I remember: the trains, the Carthage Mills whistle, and the nine o’clock siren.

Johnny and I lived next door to each other, and our houses were sandwiched in the middle of two railroads; the C&O a block and a half to the west, and the L&N a block and a half to the east. Our street, Oak Street ran east to west. When we road our bikes to the C&O tracks, at the next block from ours, just past the second house, we were inside Cincinnati. In order to get down to the Mill Creek, we had to cross these tracks. We very rarely played on these tracks. I don’t know why we didn’t, we just didn’t. Maybe it was because we just chose to stay inside our own little village and not to cross into Cincinnati. On either the north, or the west of us, we were about a block from the city.

To the west, about the same distance as the C&O, were the L&N tracks. We did play on these from time to time. I remember one time putting rocks on the tracks to see what would happen. These rocks were small, not much bigger than a marble. That night we heard an awful sound: an L&N train had derailed. I knew I was going to jail! Those rocks had forced that locomotive off the tracks, and I was headed to prison. As much as I feared jail, I feared Howard Cooper even more. I knew that by the time he was finished with me, there would be nothing left to jail. I imagine the same thoughts were running through Johnny’s mind. We decided to keep quiet and only breathed again when we heard that the derailment was caused by a more serious problem, but not our rocks. My dad explained to me that a train’s wheel were made to throw debris off the track. He probably never suspected why I would ask a question about things on tracks.

The train’s sounds were wonderful. At night you could hear the trains roar past, and up at the L&N tracks, the engineer blew his horn when he crossed our street. Back then a train went by nearly every fifteen minutes. For the most part, we were so used to them, we rarely heard them. However, even now in my mind I can hear the horn and the train passing by. I’d love to hear that sound again, but I now live on an island in the Gulf of Mexico, and there are no trains here.

Two other sounds were the Carthage Mills whistle, and the siren located at the fire station. My dad worked at Carthage Mills, so I was always proud of that whistle. Its sound was a low, deep sound that could be heard for miles. The whistle sounded at 7:00am, 8:00am, and 3:30pm. Although its primary purpose was for signaling the beginning of work, and the ending later that day, the people in both Elmwood, and Carthage depended on that whistle. It helped moms know when to get the kids ready for school, and when it was time for them to go home. Years later I would bowl on the Carthage Mills bowling team, and one of our bowlers was John Smallwood. John was the factory’s boiler engineer; the man who so faithfully blew that whistle. That whistle is silent now, and Carthage Mills is gone, but I can still hear it if I really concentrate. It said, “AOOOOOOOOHH! AOOOOOOOOHH!”

The nine o’clock siren was also an unmistakable sound, and one that you’d better not ignore. It had a twofold purpose. The first was to call the volunteer fireman or the life squad people to the station. If it sounded one time, the ambulance was needed. If it sounded multiple times, it was for a fire. Whenever the fire alarm was sounded, we’d run up the street to the station and follow the truck to the fire. Elmwood Place was a small village, so seeing where they went was not too difficult. Even back then, you could see what they were doing, but the police wouldn’t let you get too close.

The second purpose was to signal the nine o’clock curfew. When it sounded it meant kids needed to be at home. You could play out past nine, and we often did, but you needed to be in front of your house. For most moms, it was the “time to go to bed” signal. I honestly do not know if today’s Elmwood citizens get to hear the siren. I doubt it, but I am not sure.

Even though these memories were fifty years ago, I still count them as some of my most precious. What I wouldn’t give to be able to reset the hands of time and go back to those days! Maybe one night soon the LORD will allow me to go back, even if only in a dream.

We had a good service at Friendship Harmony yesterday. What was really encouraging was our visitors. Our church is always so honored when people come. All three visitors have visited before, so I hope they continue to come. Who knows --- one day the LORD might direct them to become members. I hope so.

I’ll not tell you about the morning message, but I will invite you to hear it over the internet. It is at www.facebook.com/friendshipharmony. I will say it is about the transfiguration of Christ, and its significance for us today. You do not have to have a Facebook account to see the video. This week’s message is 12 minutes in length. We try to keep them at ten minutes, but I missed my signal and went over. I hope you will enjoy the videos.

Thanks for sharing this time with me. I really appreciate each of you. Stay safe and well, and I’ll see you this Tuesday with the video, and again next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!!

The Further Adventures Of Johnny And Vic

Good Monday Morning To You!!!

It is so amazing to me how many of you want to hear more stories about the adventures of Johnny and Vic. John and I were talking about it the other night. We grew up in a tiny village nestled within, but not part of the Cincinnati city limits. Our houses were in Elmwood Place. To get a good feel for what Elmwood was like when we were kids, just visualize Sheriff Andy’s Mayberry, and you would be close. Some of my fondest childhood memories go back to those days in that place. If the LORD would let me go back and relive any part of my past, it would be with Johnny and Vic in Elmwood Place.

As I was saying, last evening Johnny and I were discussing the smells and sounds we remembered. Cincinnati surrounded us on three sides, and St. Bernard filled in the gap. There were factories all around us, and depending upon which way the wind was blowing, determined what factory smell you got. One such factory to the north of us just a few miles was National Distilleries. The smells from them were nice, especially when they were making vanilla flavoring. It was my favorite then, and I’m still partial to it today. A bit closer to us was Fries and Fries. They made perfume. As I recall their smell was also nice, but could be overwhelming. Going the other direction, in St. Bernard was P&G. Crisco, Joy, and Prell were made there, as well as their flagship pride, Ivory Soap. Back then you could buy Ivory Soap, Ivory Flakes, and Ivory Dish Washing Liquid. When we had winds coming from that direction, Ivory filled the air. It was oppressive; it burned your eyes and nose, and was horrible. I wish I could describe it to you, but you would have had to have been there. We still played outside, but there was no doubt as to what Procter and Gamble was cooking.

However, in our little village, we had smells unique to us. Johnny reminded me about the Mill Creek, and the Chili Kitchen. The Mill Creek was a block west of us, and we occasionally went down there. Basically it was an open sewer. Many of the factories along its path released sewage into it because it had a chemical smell. We never played in it as I recall, but we often played beside it. I was in Elmwood about two years ago and I started to walk down to the creek. I was told it had been cleaned up and “improved.” I turned around and walked away, preferring to remember it as it was --- a nasty place that holds many precious memories for me. Funny, it did not seem nasty to us back then. (For more on the Mill Creek, go to Wikipedia.com and search Mill Creek Ohio.)

Also unique to us was three distinct chili restaurants. The smells coming from them was mouth-watering. There are no longer chili parlors in Elmwood, but our little village was chili and cheese cony heaven back when Johnny and Vic had their adventures. Next week I’ll tell you about the sounds. Let’s just say they were bone rattling.

Yesterday at Friendship Harmony was one of those services where you could go home feeling good about being in church. At this time of the year, we are at a seasonally low attendance. All of our snowbirds are back in their northern nests, and many of our full timers are taking their vacations. Still, the attendance wasn’t bad and the service was awesome. The morning message dealt with covenants; one covenant of God with man, and another man with death and hell. God’s covenant sign we examined was the rainbow. Not only does it signify that God will no longer destroy the earth with water, but God validates that it is indeed Him talking by the use of the colors in the rainbow. The colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, and they always appear in that order. ALWAYS! God has given it a sense of order, and it does not stray from it. God is not the author of confusion, as 1 Corinthians 14:33 tells us. He is a God of order, and the rainbow has order. The video will be available, and you can get a 10 minute version of the message. You can find it at www.facebook.com/friendshipharmony. It’s an excellent way to invite me into your home and not have to feed me. Speaking of food, I believe I’m going to have a 4-way today. If you don’t know what that is, meet me in nearly any neighborhood in Cincinnati, and we’ll show you why Cincinnati is the chili capital of the world!!

Have a great week and I’ll see you tomorrow on the video, and again next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!!

Summer Camp

Good Monday Morning To You!!!

Hello to you. Welcome to the blog. Whether you are a new reader, or have been reading for a while, I want you to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to visit with me.

Sitting on my desk is a photo sent to me by my friend of the past 55 years, John Miller. It is so hard to call him John; to me he has always been Johnny. The picture is of him, the others in our cabin, and me at Camp Meachem in Mentor, Kentucky. I’ll never forget that summer. It was 1964, and I was 10 years old. Johnny went to camp every year, but I’d never been. In order to go, you had to be a member of the YMCA. I remember dad taking me to the Powell Crosley Jr. YMCA on Hamilton Avenue in Cincinnati. As I recall, the building was brand new, so they had a special deal on memberships. Dad signed me up, and I was going to camp. I couldn’t wait! Every year Johnny would come back and tell me all about his experiences. I wanted in on all that fun. The day soon came and dad drove me to Mentor, which sits right on the Ohio River. It seemed like a long way from home, but in reality it was not too far from Cincinnati.

When we drove into the camp, I was so excited about baseball, crafts, movies, and hiking the mountains. Actually they were hills, but to a ten year old, they were mountains. Some of the “veteran” campers warned us to not let our leaders take us on an overnight camp out. They said that way back in those hills was “Headless Hattie.” Headless Hattie was a lady who had been killed by a camper and she was out for revenge against the one who had killed her by chopping off her head. Since she was headless, she could not tell one kid from another, so she struck at random. I didn’t believe the story, but still enough doubt was in my mind that I didn’t want any part of hiking those mountains. I figured daytime wasn’t safe either since Hattie was headless and wouldn’t know the difference. As it turned out it rained quite a bit that week, so there was no hiking. I was fine by that!

My favorite camp experience was getting off by myself and walking the banks of the river. As I looked across the river into Ohio, everything I could see was natural. There was nothing man made in sight. I remember wondering if this was what it looked like to the Indians, and the early explorers. Surely it must have been. Even at age ten, I felt connected to the past. I was seeing what those historical people saw as they saw it. As I looked, I wondered what thoughts must have gone through their minds.

I don’t know if Camp Meachem exists any longer. I wonder if you can still look across that river and see only God’s handiwork, without any man made distractions. In any event, I look at that picture often, and my mind goes back to those care free days of my youth where your only worries were being axed to death by a headless old woman. Long live the memories!

Yesterday was an absolutely fantastic day at Friendship Harmony. The service was good, and we were honored to have a new family in attendance who had just bought a house across the street from the church. They are from Pennsylvania, and were on their way back to take care of personal business before coming to Pine Island permanently. It spoke volumes about the Christian character of these people who, before leaving on their trip, made time to attend services.

Following the service was our monthly fellowship dinner. This month featured Mexican dishes. In the past we have featured Italian, and it was wonderful. I was impressed how well our ladies did with Mexican. Maybe in the future we can feature Chinese. On second thought ---- naw!

The message was titled, “Death, What Meaneth Thou.” The notes are below and the brief video will be available Tuesday morning. To see the video go to www.facebook.com/friendshipharmony. Scroll until you find the video. You do not have to have a Facebook account to watch the video. Now, here are those notes.

Death, What Meaneth Thou?©
John 11: selected
1 in a series of 2 By Victor Cooper
05/17/14

Intro: For a believer in Jesus, Death does not claim the victory, but rather is the victory!

I. The pain of separation. Verses 17-21
A. In Scriptures death means separation, not cessation.
B. Death hurts? Paul said it had a sting.
1 Cor. 15:55a O death, where is thy sting?
C. Separation brings sorrow. v19
1. Mary, Martha, and their friends felt it albeit differently.
2. Jesus also felt the sorrow. V 35 Jesus wept.

II. The hope of expectation. Verse 22
A. Martha’s statement was not one of faith, but of cultural teaching.
B. Verse 39 shows that Martha’s statement to Jesus was not one of faith.
C. Verses 40-43 allows for hope.
1. Christ calls on the Father as Martha had suggested in
verse 22.
D. Christ was confident.
E. Mary and Martha had hope because of Jesus’ confidence.

III. The joy of jubilation. Verses 43-45
A. Sadness turned to joy.
B. Joy became faith.
C. Faith produces more joy.
D. Sorrow is temporary, but joy is eternal because Christ is eternal. Cf Psalm 30:5, “For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

PRAYER REQUEST AND UPDATE:
1. I heard fom a mother of two sons in Wisconsin who is struggling with some painful issues. Please pray for Karen and her boys.
2. My wife, Miss Bessie, is doing some better, but is still having pain from her broken ribs, and punctured lung. The doctors tell us that it will take time for her to heal, but in the meantime she is to take it easy and not exert too much. When our doctor told us that, I thought, “This is going to be interesting.” Trying to keep Miss Bessie down is as easy as putting a racehorse in the gate, starting the race, while telling the horse, “Stay, don’t run!”

If you have a prayer request please send it to us at fhbcsjc@gmail.com. I will not reveal your full name and excact location, but please let people pray for you. The blog is now reaching over twenty six thousand readers world wide, so you’ll have lots of people bombarding Heaven with your need.

Have a good week. I’ll see you tomorrow (Tuesday) on the video, and again next Monday Morning With Pastor Vic!!!