James Carroll's page

www.creswellcemetery.org

On left is Violet Griffin, my sister. Center is my daughter, Tammy. On the right is my wife Shirley

above is Mana, Tammy's daughter. Tammy's son Steven is on Right.

Scott Butterworth

On the left is Tammy's husband Scott Butterworth.

On the right is my son Randy and his son Josh. On extreme left is Randy's wife Shirley. Center is Randy's son Andrew

This is a picture of me in 1957 when I worked at Norris Thermador Corp. in L. A. California. The man who the billfold belonged to came to the plant to pick up the billfold. That is how the lady who took the picture found out about it. She called me John Carroll, instead of the correct name James Carroll. I suppose she thought anyone who gave back money he had found should be called John; as in 'honest John'.

Casting out Devils

By: James Carroll

When you decide to turn away from sin, and start living for Jesus; the devil will come at you from every direction. You had better pray because you are going to need help, big time.

Suppose you have a drinking devil, and it is Friday and an old drinking buddy shows up. In the pit of your stomach a craving for alcohol develops; it is so intense that it makes you sweat. (It is ok to pray silently) Remember when the Lord said to go into your closet and pray in secret, for the Lord who hears in secret will bless you openly. Just ask Jesus to help you through, and he will.

When you have the devil of lust, you are going to need a lot of help. The devil loves you more than most others. He is not going to give you up without a fight. Everywhere you go, the devil will send women to you. When you are shopping at the supermarket, Satan might send you a woman with a low cut blouse; when she bends over to show you her breast…look the other way; if you don’t look the other way, he got you. It takes practice. If you turn away from the woman and the temptation to look, the woman will be scorned. Believe me when I say she won’t be bothering you again. It is extremely embarrassing to a woman when you turn away from her in public. But there is no end to Satan’s supply of these kinds of women, there will be more to come. In no way do I mean to imply that the women are bad but are part of the process. You don't have to go around with blinders on or walk backward; just simply look at women in a new light, without lust. Think of them as God's creation and bless them.

If the devil sends his noise demon after you, don’t even think about from what direction it came; don’t even acknowledge the noise exists. The person you think made the noise is 100 % innocent. Under no circumstance make similar noises to get back at them.

Especially, never bark at your neighbor’s dog for barking at you, you wouldn’t want that one played back to you. Just keep saying God bless you, thank you Jesus, and love your neighbor. It is hard to love people you think are doing things to you, but keep on anyway. You are defeating Satan when you love people who would rather not have you around.

Remember Luke chapter 6:22, 23…22 Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
23 Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets.

Some people say those two verses don’t pertain to us, but to the prophets only, but I say all the bible pertains to all of us equally.

God bless our neighbors, God bless our Government, God bless our fighting men and women, and God bless us all. God bless the lady at the doctor's office.

Naive

Before  I retired in the early nineties, my company was awarded the contract for foodservice at four Nuclear Power Plants in the Carolinas. We all had to meet at one of the plants to take test for evaluation for working there. Then we were ask to go to a psychologist who gave us the results of our test. After asking the usual questions about childhood, he told me that I was good to go to work. He also said that I was not overly prejudice against other races and that I was naive. I acknowledged  that I understood but didn't offer any input, as I knew I was naive. I instantly thought of my mother, whom I always thought that her simplicity was the Lord's way to protect her from the world. To me it is a badge of honor to be classified as Naive and it is my desire to become even more childlike before I pass on to be in the presence of the Lord. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.

1 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:
2 Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:
9 Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
11 To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
12 By Silvanus, a faithful brother unto you, as I suppose, I have written briefly, exhorting, and testifying that this is the true grace of God wherein ye stand.
13 The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, saluteth you; and so doth Marcus my son.
14 Greet ye one another with a kiss of charity. Peace be with you all that are in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Jabo

By James Carroll

I have been knowing Jabo all my life; he used to live just down the street from me when I was only six years old. His dad was named Jim and most people called him old man Jim. I remember him being a good man who had a kind of mini farm, as did most people in those days. When World War II came along, Jabo went off to war. When he came back, he didn't have much to say...Just kept to himself. Some people thought Jabo was Shell Shocked, as he displayed some of the symptoms. A few years ago Jabo lived on the same street as I. When he would pass my house, I would wave at him as he drove by. I didn't know what kind of work he did, but he always kept a fairly new car. After waving at him for a year or two, I began to notice that he never waved back; he just looked straight ahead. One day when I was cutting grass I decided that when he passed I would not wave at him, so I just ignored him.  One day I picked up the bible and just randomly opened it and began to read.

Matt 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

I knew then that the Lord had led me to that verse and I knew that the next time I saw Jabo  I would wave at him like I used to but I never saw him after that. It wasn't long after that I picked up the paper to learn that Jabo had died. Now imagine that feeling! I'll never be able to right that wrong. If you have occasion to go past my house and you see me wave at you, please don't be offended, just say "that one is for Jabo".

HATCHING COCKATRICE' EGGS Comments

Lash La Rue

By James Carroll

A few years ago when we lived at our old place on Hillman St., I was sitting out in the front yard under the shade tree. I was looking down toward Paul Schneider’s house and saw a black car come to a stop at the end of our driveway. The driver got out and started walking up the driveway; he was wearing a black hat, black shirt, black pants and black shoes. He had on dark glasses and a black belt with a big silver cow head buckle and was wearing a string tie with fire hose ends. He had a pair of silver handcuffs on his belt next to his cell phone. In his back pocket was a very long billfold with an 18 inch silver chain attached to his belt. On his black shirt he had a patch that said ‘enforcement’ and a badge that must have come from a pawn shop.

I thought, “umm umh! Look who’s coming up to see me, I believe it is Lash La Rue”.  He said, “I’m looking for a feller named James Carroll”. I replied that he was at the right place as that is my name. He said that I was too old, and asked if I had a son with that name and I told him that I didn’t. After a while he said he had seen my name on the mailbox and thought that he had got lucky.

Now I tell you the truth, if I had known the young man he was looking for I would not have told him unless, of course, the man had done something really bad. I just don’t have too much to tell Bounty Hunters. If I report someone it will be to proper law enforcement.

Bellboy

By James Carroll

When I was sixteen there were not very many jobs around Anniston, Alabama for a young person. One day I picked up the newspaper and saw an ad by The Jefferson Davis Hotel for a bellboy. I ask someone what a bellboy was and was told it was a boy who carried hotel guest’s suitcases to their rooms when they checked in. Ok, I thought, I could do that!

When I went to the hotel to apply for the position, there were two men at the Front Desk who laughed at me and informed me that I was the wrong color for that job. Later I learned that the bellboys were in charge of illegal whiskey sales for the hotel. They were the ones you went to when you wanted to buy whiskey. Although I didn’t get the job I did learn an important lesson about job discrimination.

Just across Noble St. from The Jefferson Davis Hotel was the Ritz Theater where we went on Saturdays to see a western movie. You would purchase your ticket on the outside of the theater, then you would go inside and there was a lady to take your ticket. She would tear the ticket in half and give you back half for proof of payment. To the right of the ticket lady there was a stairway going up to the balcony. Now that balcony was a complete mystery to us boys; we just had to figure a way to get up there. One day when the ticket lady was busy at the candy counter, a friend and I slipped up those stairs. We were sitting there watching the movie when the usher came looking for us. He ask “didn’t you boys know the balcony is for colored people only”. We said “no”, but had to go downstairs anyway.

The bus that carried us home was always crowded on Saturdays, so if we had seats we would always get up to let women and older people have our seats, then we would stand in the isle way. Sometimes there would be an empty seat in the rear of the bus that was designated for colored people. We knew the driver and he knew us, so we knew it was alright with him if we sat in back as long as we surrendered our seat to colored people if they needed it.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Global Warming

 ^{Genesis: 8:20}And Noah builded an altar unto the LORD; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. ^8:21And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. ^8:22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

Pool Repair

A few days ago my daughter called me with a pool problem; her filter pump was pumping water out the waste side, even though it was set on filter. I thought back a few years to when we lived on Hillman Street. We had the same problem and I had called the pool store where I purchased my chemicals. The lady that owns the store told me that I needed a seal in the filter back wash valve. When I went to get the seal she explained just how to install the seal. I passed that information on to my daughter and when she went to get the seal, the man at her store in another city where she lives told her that would not fix her problem and she needed a repairman to come out to look at it.

The next day she called me back and had the valve fixed. She had explained to the man that she had confidence in her dad and wouldn't be needing a repairman. I then explained how the Pool lady had had helped me a few years ago and how I just passed along the information to her. It wouldn't surprise me if she passes that same helpful information along to her children. I know she will give the pool lady all the credit.

Tammy's Dad, James