Author: peachandbatman

Hi!! Thanks for dropping in! We are just a couple of high school sweethearts married 36+ years, who love Jesus, each other, life, our family, our country, traveling, taking pictures, teaching people about guns, books, movies, music, British murder mysteries, and cooking! We have a little bit of everything going on! Come on in!

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Healing

Peach says:

Hey, Everybody! I hope this post finds you virus free! I pray you will find the Lord guarding, guiding and providing for you and your loved ones!

It’s been an unusual month for our family. Through it all, filled with the Lord’s blessing, so much mercy and grace and provision.

At the beginning of the year, I sort of pondered, if I had a ‘word’ from the Lord to focus on through the year. I have done that in the past. Pretty quickly, the word ‘healing’ came to mind. I am always game to take the Lord up on His encouragements. So, I have been believing and praying for it.

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,…Let all things be done decently and in order.” –– 1 Corinthians 14:33a, 40.

A series of events (first two personal) have occurred during the past month, this ridiculous ‘beer’ virus being the third such thing, which looks like the opposite of healing, the opposite of peace, the opposite of orderly. Instead, looking like strife, confusion, disorder, disunity and even sickness.

But, I am not discouraged in the least. I have this sense that with the Lord, in adversity, comes great opportunity. How can a person overcome, or a group of people or even an individual, rise to the occasion, without adversity? Pressure propels. Resistance strengthens our spiritual and mental muscles!

In lack, we learn to trust and give. In strife, we learn to choose peace, forgiveness and love. Where this is not welcome, we wish peace. Pursue these valuable treasures where we can!

In heartbreak, we choose hope, we choose love. We choose faith.

In sickness and fear, we determine to choose faith, hope, the vitality of the Lord, knowing our ‘strength shall not be abated’, nor our ‘eyes grow dim’. As we wait on the Lord, He shall renew our strength.

I think a focused spirit of gratitude is so key to seeing the best the Lord has for us. In all the little things. It makes us able to ‘see’ the possibility of the great things He CAN do! To have an expectation of His GOOD brought to bear in our lives, in our loved ones lives, and in our world! In everything we touch!

“Don’t worry about anything; INSTEAD, PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING. TELL GOD what you need, and THANK HIM for all He has done. THEN YOU WILL experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. HIS PEACE WILL GUARD your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:6-7.

I find myself hopeful for what the Lord will do. In Genesis, He moved a people through a famine for His purpose. He used the threat of Pharaoh breathing down the Israelites’ necks, to cause the miraculous Red Sea deliverance. He allowed trouble to come to Job, up to a certain extent. Because He 1) Knew what Job could withstand and come out stronger and 2) Was using the trouble to do a refining and strengthening work in Job, preparing him for great and sweet, future expansion of his life and blessing. D. O. U. B. L. E. Double everything good he had before the trouble.

Sometimes when bringing order, and restoration, there is more mess than we expect. Don’t be alarmed! The bigger the mess, the bigger the opportunity for God to move. Be expectant. Be bold! Be looking upward, forward, to Him!

Look at this dictionary definition for HEALING ! It fits everything on my heart and mind! I hope it will encourage you! —

“a. To restore to health or soundness; cure: healed the sick patient.

b. To ease or relieve (emotional distress): Only time can heal her grief.
2. To set right; repair: healed the rift between us.
v.intr.
1. 
a. To recover from an illness or injury; return to health.
b. To experience relief from emotional distress: gave the grieving family time to heal.
2. To be relieved or eliminated: The rift between them finally healed.“

Sometimes there’s some disorder to bring eventually a higher order. Sometimes there’s some disunity, to bring a stronger, more vital unity. Sometimes sickness brings not only healing, but a much needed disruption to bring new perspectives, fresh priorities, a much needed pause for a much needed restorative REST!

To be clear, I do not call all things good. All things are not good. However –– “And we know that God CAUSES EVERYTHING to WORK TOGETHER for the GOOD of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.” — Romans 8:28. He’ll use it. For. Good. Bet that, as the young people say!

“For a wide door of opportunity for effectual [service] has opened to me [there, a great and promising one], and [there are] many adversaries.” — 1 Corinthians 16:9

My plan of action? Pray, give thanks, read the Word, hear the Word, sing the Word. Watch God do His wonders.

Thanks for listening!! I hope it gives you something GOOD to think about!!

“For God will never give you the spirit of fear, but the Holy Spirit who gives you mighty power, love, and self-control.” – 2 Timothy 1:7

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bible Faith family focus health Life

Sunrise

Batman says:

Do you get to sometimes see the sunrise God creates for us? I’m not talking about a glance and slide on the sunglasses as your driving, but really see it?

I am blessed that on some days, not all but quite a few, I get to really see and enjoy the sunrise. Some are gray and dreary, some foggy, some just bright and clear, but some, oh those special few, they are spectacular examples of the Masters ability to paint beautiful pictures. All of these are special and I do my best to capture them on camera and send my Peach one with a good morning wish.

God didn’t make them for me to hoard, he made them to be seen and shared by all his creations, and I think Peach likes to see them. My life revolves around making Peach happy and letting her know I love her all the time whether together or apart, and the sunrise pictures helps me express that.

Anyways…. taking the time to enjoy the sunrise, be it alone or with someone, should be something you all try and do once in awhile. Slow down, watch it slowly unfold revealing the brilliant colors. Thinking about how God reveals things to us in ways we wouldn’t expect, and if not looking & listening we simply miss them. Shame to, because they are glorious revelations even if it’s just a simple sunrise. I ponder things important only to me while watching the sunrises I have, and plan to ponder a great many more with Peach along the way. Some days I cannot send Peach a sunrise picture, but everyday I want to. If I could I would share them with everyone, everyday I took them, but I’m not that ingenious, so for now Peach gets them when I take them, and the rest go to our website:

PeachandBatman.smugmug.com

Y’all pop in and look at a sunrise with us, I’ll keep putting them up as I can, God creates them, I do my best to capture a bit of them to share with you all.

Yes Peach I have sunscreen on and my sleeves and my hat and my mask……it’s a wonder I can see anything at all.

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Faith family Fear focus health Life

Enough

Batman Says:

Enough!!

People are losing their minds over a freakin flu bug, it’s a FLU BUG people they have been around for freakin ever!!

Every couple years there’s a great sickness that’s gonna kill us all, and what happens, a few people (relative to the population of the earth) die from it, some get sick, but most suffer anyways. Not from the supposed deadly world ending flu bug, but from the morons in charge of every government, business, and sales force, you get the idea. They listen to the “Sky is Falling” rhetoric and start restricting everything from socks, to how many people can go to the bathroom at the same time. Of course the people working, well they can’t slow down productivity, or be paid worker’s compensation for catching the flu bug, even though if they do catch it, it’s 99% certain they got it at work. Nope they get to stay home, not get paid, use up any sick time they might be lucky enough to have, and if it runs out, sucks to be them.

The overzealous way we approach stupid problems is endemic of todays society, overreaction has become the norm, let’s don’t restrict the movement of the most likely to be affected group, let’s restrict the movement of EVERYONE just to be safe.

Now I am sure there are those who remember, SARS, MERSA,SPANISH FLU, ROTO VIRUS, AVIAN FLU… I could go on for a few pages but you get my point I hope. Each of these were the “Plague of the Year” and we were all gonna suffer and die from them. Welp, we are still here, yes people did get sick, some I’m sorry to say did succumb to the sickness and pass away. But not near as many as we have always been told would. Panic mongering by the moronic people in charge causes way more damage than the “Killer Flu” of the year ever does. I am just fed up with it and you should be also, if you need to be told to stay home if you feel sick, or to wash your hands after doing things with them, then my friends you have a lot more issues than the stupid “Plague of the Year”. I’m going to give a couple statistics (I hate statistics but this just shows the hype and bull crap being pushed by the morons in charge and the media) :

As of 9 Mar 20, based on information from the CDC, and Johns Hopkins University :

56 people daily die from Covid19

1027 die from seasonal flu

82 die from yellow fever

162 die from rabies

247 die from measles

Do I need to go on??? How many times have you heard about Yellow Fever for goodness sake? And more people die from it than this stupid flu bug.

Mark my words, when this passes, and it will until the next “world ending sickness” pops up, and not near as many people die from it, the “Powers that be” or “MORONS” in charge will pat themselves on the back, saying without them the would would have definitely ended.

It’s time to stop and say Enough is ENOUGH!!

If I offended you by this post it wasn’t my intent, my intent was to let you know that just because the MORONS in charge say it, does not necessarily mean it’s true. Put your trust in God, practice good basic sanitary skills like you were taught as children, chances are, you will be fine.

Have a blessed day…yes Peach I did wash my hands

Visit;

PeachandBatman.smugmug.com

And peruse some of Gods creations captured by us on camera…enjoy

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Faith family focus health Life life styles

The Healing Effect of a Bonfire

Friday evening, 19:46 hours (7:46pm) and here Peach & I sit, words aren’t necessary but are welcome. We just watch the fire and look up at the moon and stars and slowly it happens.

The cares of the long week start first, then slowly the most recent cares follow suit, they just fade into oblivion. I have been fascinated by the night and by bonfires as long as I can remember (and I can still remember television shows in black & white and getting up to change to one of 3 channels), something about being outside, with the only sounds being those made by nature, eases the cares and worries to the back portion of the mind.

Man’s fascination with fires probably goes back to the beginning, and I am glad it’s rooted in my being. I know folks that cannot figure out how to start a fire and others that have no desire to be out at night under the moon and stars. To me these people, are missing one of nature’s ways of unwinding. There are people that pay large sums of money to learn “relaxation” methods (seriously, I just read about these!!) when all they need to do is turn off the lights, sit outside, close their eyes and relax by a small bonfire (campfire has the same effect). Build it in a hibachi if you can’t build it on the ground.

If you want to relax, and honestly forget the worries and stresses that have built up over days, weeks, months and years, trust me when I tell you there is no better way, and I stand by this, than to sit by a fire with friends and or family, under the stars.

You can pay someone for “relaxation” methods and waste your hard earned money, or you can stop by, Peach and I love company, just bring a pack of wood for the fire, and an open mind…God and nature will provide the “relaxation”.

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New Directions

Batman Says:

Howdy,

Couple days ago I posted, after being gone from posting quite awhile, about old habits and new ideas and I linked Peach and My webpage where we post photographs we attempt to sell.

We used Zenfolio for a year, great people well run support, and easy to make a website (I mean I figured it out by myself). But for us, doing this as a hobby and not a full time business, the zenfolio site was not beneficial, as it is more for professionals who photograph for clients and need to have a place for their clients to go and choose the photos they want from a portfolio.

Peach and I don’t photograph for people (not yet, maybe one day but not planned) we photograph things we like, and some end up being spectacular photos. Sunrises, sunsets, town scenes, woods scenes, flowers, trees, animals…you get the idea. After we do, we put the the best up on the website for others to see and maybe buy. This requires a website that directs people to your pages, and doesn’t rely on clients to draw visitors. So this left Peach and I to ponder the benefit of paying for a site which was really good, but produced no sales as it does not direct people to our page or anyone else’s page, in other words it does not advertise, and without someone knowing the specific web address, the chances of someone stumbling onto the site are really slim. We decided on a move, a “New Direction’ so to speak.

We have moved our pictures to SmugMug, smugmug has webpages and an app for the phones everyone on the planet seems to not be able to do without. Smugmug is used by professionals and amateurs alike, has a large following and seems to make it easier for photographs to be ‘stumbled’ upon. Whether or not this New Direction will result in any sales of our photographs remains to be seen, but you have to try new things once in awhile.

If you’re curious, bored, intrigued or in need of a photograph for that spot in the family room or den, take a peek at the site. Peach and I have put up a few of the photographs we have taken, and will be adding more. We know we may never sell anything, and that’s ok, we would be content just knowing people looked and enjoyed something we did.

The address is:

jerrywhitehead.smugmug.com

Stop by look at the pretty pictures, send me and Peach a comment on here if you like, we would enjoy hearing what you think.

God paints the scene, we just try and capture it and show it to those who might have missed it.

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bible Faith family Life Uncategorized

Over Estimation

“Lord, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I exercise myself in matters too great or in things too wonderful for me.” — Psalm 131:1

Peach says:

THIS WEEK I’ve been walking out something I didn’t expect or want, and don’t like. Life can be like that at times. Some things happen and we react and it sets off a chain reaction and you just have to breath and hold on while it’s first developing and then take it all, the whole ball of wax to the Lord in prayer, in praise and worship. He IS our peace. He IS our Father. He will lead us through this earthy mess we sometimes fall into, sometimes cause, sometimes gets thrown on us. And He WILL bring good out of it. Every. Time.

SINCE last Saturday, I’ve been turning over a situation in my mind. Wanting it to be over, to be ‘fixed’, to be better. But, knowing these things take time. I might want my Hallmark movie happy ending ‘PDQ’ but, God’s timetable is not often given to that, because His purposes, in order to fulfill their excellency, refinement, and revelation for us and in us, require a process of time. Far be it from me to try to circumvent the Master Craftsman at His beautiful, purposeful work!

IN THIS situation my muddled prayer is something like ‘Please, Lord, I don’t want to be disrespectful, nor did I mean to be. As we walk through this I want to show honor, without saying, ‘Oh, Yeah, that was no worries,’ but at the exact same time, I want to be clearly expressing grace, absolute forgiveness, and sorrow for having upset them. Not sorrow for my actions, because they were necessary. But, sorrow that it hurt. Where I’m wrong, please show me better ways. Help us navigate this and be stronger in You for it, and BRING others to the wonderful knowledge of You. Thank You that You bring beauty for ashes.’

THE VERSE above I opened with, occurred to me today, as sort of my heart’s cry to the Lord. As I find myself concerned that I NOT be haughty. That I be firm, yet approachable and willing. That I understand, that there IS and WILL BE things and maybe even much, which I don’t understand. But, God does. And He can make it all come to His holy purpose, even if and when I mess up, as long as I surrender it to Him, and believe Him for it. Full stop. My job is to pray and love and believe. And praise Him on the journey, for He is worthy, so worthy to be praised.

Thanks for listening! It is always my hope, that sharing how the Lord is helping, or has helped me and mine, that it can be mana for others on their journeys as well.

God bless! 🙂

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family focus health Life Procrastination

Forgetfulness

Batman says:

I had this big long post stewing in my head off and on throughout most of the day. It was going to be the kind of post that made people sit up and take notice, one of those posts that gets discussed, and passed around. This post gnawed at me all day trying to get me to stop and actually put it on paper (electronically speaking). But as per most of our busy lives, I put it on the back burner, saying I’d do it when I get a couple minutes. Minutes became hours, and even though it kept gnawing at me off and on I kept it at bay until I got home, and relaxed with Peach.

So now, I am set up to put this earth shattering post out there and wait for the accolades to roll in, small problem, can’t remember what it was about. I know it was a history making post, one that would change the way people did something, making their lives easier. But nope, it’s gone, outta there, no amount of memory recall techniques will bring it back.

What was this post about?

Forgetfulness

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faith focus Life Time management

Paralysis

Peach says:

Happy Monday, Y’all! Today was filled with work and chores and learning and connecting and all things important to adulting! 🙂

On the drive home I had several choices for how to spend my drive. I chose to turn on my Terry Savelle Foy book about Vision Boards and Goal Setting. Every time I listen, I get fresh insight and inspiration. I have thoroughly enjoyed it! Highly recommend!

Tonight, what really stuck out for me, was the principle of focusing on one thing at a time, knocking those things off the the list, so to speak, building off of each accomplishment’s success, like stepping stones. She quoted John Maxwell, who I will paraphrase since I can’t remember the exact words, at this moment: ‘Too many priorities leads to paralysis’.

The thing about truth is, when you hear it, you recognize it! Knowing it to be true!

Turns out that in years gone by, you would see animal trainers go into the pen with the lion or tiger, carrying that four-legged stool and hold it legs outward. Any guesses why? It is said it so occupied the fierce felines trying to focus on each of the four legs, it would weaken, distract and help them into a very still state.

Don’t be the frozen feline trying to focus on all FOUR legs of that stool!!

As for me, I’m crossing those goals off one at a time, thank you!! No more paralysis here!!

Thanks for dropping by!! It’s great to be back!! God bless!

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focus health Life life styles

Essence of Cool

Batman says:

We all, at one time or another think we are “Cool”. Usually it’s when we are out and about the town or at a party or get-together. For the most part, 40% of us who think we are “Cool” are, actually cool. 59% fall miserably short of being “Cool”, but then there was Steve McQueen the 1%, the essence of “Cool”. There was only one of him, there have been many who tried to be him, but none came close.

Here’s to you Mr Steve McQueen, “The Essence of Cool”

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Saved by the Drill!

Peach says:

It started innocently enough. set the butter on the counter to get to room temperature, get all the ingredients ready, and the utensils lined up, Make sure your recipe is handy and the oven is preheating. Once the butter is ready, tump it out of the wrapper and into the wet ingredients bowl.

Use a wrapper from the butter to butter the pan. Flour the pan, shake out the excess. Start creaming the butter. Insert the sound of metal grinding and the additional sound of a motor bogging down with strain. The hand mixer had sung its last song, had its last hurrah! No way to hand mix this pound cake recipe! It definitely needed a mixer. Yet, there was no mixer available.

Important to note that this day was predetermined ‘Nobody Leaves the House Day!’ But, what on earth would I do with all this mess?

Never Fear! Batman lives here! He heard the grinding sounds in the kitchen from where he was in the family room. He quickly rose t the occasion! After first checking out the mixer to insure it was indeed dead, he tossed it into the trash and got his DRILL! Put the beater in it and viola!

Once the cake batter was all done except the egg whites, he remembered a wire whisk attachment we had once had for the mixer. I hunted it up, he was able to insert it into the  drill and it was PERFECT.

Time for another new mixer! I can’t even imagine how many mixers I have burned up in my life time, but I never in a million years imagined Batman coming to the rescue with his drill! He’s truly the best! Always my hero!

Oh, yeah, the cake? Awesome! 😀

Happy Sunday, Y’all!