If You Can Still Read This,
Praise the Lord
Sometimes, Grace Worthy of Worship is simply remembering and being remembered. Grace explodes to limitless thanks for mutually loving relationships.
I recently received a remembrance that I will now share with you. May it remind us all of the impact we can have on everyone we meet.
I felt so richly blessed when he posted it on Facebook along with a reminder about all of those who can read this now. His post was such a wonderful gift to my soul.
The Current Year is 2025.
Coach, what a wonderful memento you have given us in your repost and picture of you and your wife. Thank you so much for that. I am reposting it here as a tribute to you , your wife and my Mom, Rosalva Phoebe Armendariz Leal Aulenbacher, who was born August 31, 1932 and lived two months beyond 88 years to October 30, 2020.
Again, thank you and your wife so much for the lovely post. For four short years of my life, 1967-1971, knowing you made an indelible impact on me, Coach. Seeing your name in the comments of a post sometime in the 1st half of 2025, my heart leapt in my chest, perhaps in a similar way that Elizabeth's heart must have skipped a beat in the proximity of Baby Jesus in Mary's womb (Luke 1:41). Just seeing the name on some comment rang a bell in my mind triggering memories as though it was now just yesterday. It rekindled memories almost lost to me of your presence in my life. Coach, that was around 50 years ago! And I remember it as though it was just yesterday. I would call that an indelible impact.
Suddenly I was 13-17 again and just had to reach out to tell you thanks for the memories. And now, this post has blessed all of us who knew and still know you. You and your wife will remain written in my memory and in the bytes of the ether we call the Internet, as a part of God's Created Universe to be remembered forever more.
Coach, my greatest memories of you were that you seemed to really care who I was. You cared when I was hurt. You remembered that even though I didn't have the best arm or skills as a catcher that I could be relied upon to hit or get on base safely, almost every time I batted. You had confidence to put me in when the need was greatest. Change the title of this Creedence Clearwater, John Fogarty song, Centerfield, to Right Field and you did not hesitate to put me in. (I might as well had been the ball player model singing this song)
Then, Coach West reposted a reminder to all of us younger and older that reminds us all that our lives are legacies of Christ's graceful sacrifice made in love for those who believe in Him. We are His legacies, reminders of what He has lived through our lives. This was Coach's reposted reminder:
- If you were born between 1930 and 1946, you are part of something incredibly rare. Less than 1 percent of your generation is still with us today. You are now between 79 and 95 years old, and your lifetime is nothing short of a living time capsule.
- You were born into struggle. The world around you was healing from the Great Depression, and soon after, it was thrown into war. You grew up knowing the value of every crumb, every scrap of foil, every drop of milk. Nothing was wasted. Everything mattered.
- You remember a time when the milkman came to your doorstep, when discipline came from both home and school, and when excuses had no place. Life was simple, yet it demanded strength.
- There were no screens to keep you entertained. Your imagination did the work. You played outside until the streetlights came on. You listened to stories unfold on the radio, and families gathered around it, not just for news but for togetherness.
- Technology was just beginning. Phones were shared among neighbors, and if you needed to calculate something, you did it by hand. Typewriters clicked away long before computers were even imagined. The morning paper brought the world to your doorstep.
- You lived through a time of peace after war, when the future looked bright and full of promise. No internet. No smartphones. No constant stream of headlines. Just the hope of better days and the quiet certainty that hard work would lead you there.
- You are the last to remember a world where black-and-white TVs were a marvel, highways didn’t stretch across every state, shopping meant strolling through downtown, and polio cast a long shadow over every childhood.
- While your parents rebuilt the world brick by brick, you grew up in an era that many today can only read about. You saw innovation rise, cities grow, and dreams take flight.
- If you are over 79 today, take a moment to reflect. You lived through something extraordinary. You carry memories from a world that shaped everything we know now. And you are part of a generation that truly lived through some of the best of times.
- You are one in a hundred. And that, in itself, is something remarkable.
I know, I know, ha, ha, ha!
And then out of nowhere it seemed, someone would sneeze, ACHOOOOO!, in cathedral-worthy decibels.
Did you know that time actually stands still in a sneeze?
It has been said that a person is no closer to metabolic death than when they sneeze. Whatever one was doing or thinking is sacrificed to make sure the sneezer has a chance to survive it.
Check out this news clip, which is presented as evidence of my truthfulness (We all know by now that everything in the news is Gospel, right?):
Back to the classroom.
As I had mentioned, I heard this sneeze that would wake the dead. ACHOOOOOO!!!!
I Immediately felt 30 pair of eyes penetrating me, looking for how I would react to such an interruption!
My immediate reaction?
BLESS YOU RICHLY!
And without skipping a beat, I would continue my oration. Afterall, it was urgent that my students were not deprived of the privilege having the fire of their heartfelt desire for the wisdom I was passing on to them quenched by my firehose of a voice.
I'd hear a little giggle around the room. And then suddenly, ACHOOOOOO! to which would look up and douse with:
"TWICE IS NICE!"
And then another sneeze and another and another sneeze, which like a rapid fired gunslinger of a teacher I responded in real time:
"THREE'S A CHARM";
"FOUR FOR MORE";
"FIVE ALIVE."
"Mercy me," I would add, "That Saharan dust sure must be powerful! Oh Lord please help us, we would not want to miss this wisdom, would we?"
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I hope you enjoyed this first post that might remind someone of things they may have also almost forgotten.
If you would like add comments, give me any feedback, or to post something you almost forgot, send them to me in an email or attached to an email to Mr. George at peacertnow@aol.com or aulygeo@gmail.com. You can also follow and message me at my Facebook address.
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