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Evergreen Outreach

By Charlene M. Jett
It was a good day on Monday for our weekly Evergreen Outreach meeting – not a cloud in the sky. We welcomed  everyone with music, smiles and handshakes. All signs of good friendship.
Our refreshments  gave us time to get re-acquainted, since for some it has been a couple of weeks since we've seen each other.  We sang "Happy Birthday" to John Bollinger, and Randy Schukar gave us an update on his mom, Katy, who is in the hospital. We will pray for her.
The Rev. Ernie Flowers led us in scripture and opened with a joke about being forgetful. It was really, really funny, and so  you’ll just have to come to our meeting to get the next one! He led us in reading Psalm 27. This Psalm is about being fearless for God. God knows us and will lead us in being confident against a world that is against him. He will let us hide in his house, and wants us to trust him with our life. His love is so strong for us that sometimes it is called the greatest force on earth.
Flowers also read us a poem titled “Someone Cares,” by H. S. Rice. This poem is so in tune with what our world needs right now. It amplifies the resounding voice that  God uses to call us closer to him. I recommend everyone look it up and also read Psalm 27.   
We started our activities with Donna Smith playing our "Welcome" and "Evergreen Outreach" meeting songs. It was good to hear us all sing together again. Beulah Brown and I concocted a simple but different entertainment for today. I started out reciting a few humorous poems from my book, “The Best Loved Poems of the American People,” by Hazel Felleman. In paraphrasing a few of the titles, I hope you will remember the humor and smiles we shared at our meeting:  “Don’t You Be What You Ain’t,” “A Frog Went A Courting,” “I Had But Fifty Cents” (and she ate and drank a lot!) and “The Blind Men and the Elephant." Those humorous poems brought smiles to faces I’ve not seen light up before, and so for that I was very thankful.   If you want the detailed reference, just call me. Naturally, I singled out Randy Schukar to lead hymns with me. This was NOT in musical tune, but it brings out the tune God plays in our hearts. Thank you, Randy. Wish we could get more people to sing with us.  
After that, Hope and her boyfriend came forward and led. We covered about half a dozen hymns, created lots of smiles and lifted lots of hearts!
Then Beulah took over and got everyone involved in games. This is the most fun part of the meeting. Did we like it? Yes!   Remembering our favorite foods and places! Stretching and bending our frail bodies! No dancing today, but more giggling! Finally,  we played hot “Dice” instead of hot potatoes, which I didn’t win! Next time, we will try to fit in some rounds of “musical chairs.”
Our pinochle table was led by the new and anonymous member “Penelope Pitstop,” who, with Mary Woolsey, managed to audaciously lose both games to Richard Kruenegel and Susan Meador. Tell me if you can guess who Penelope is. (Her initials are RAS.)
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goal” Henry Ford ( 1863-1947).  Courtesy of Phyllis Rames! 

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