"Still Waiting"

This was written about three weeks after Curtis passed away in 2004. Notice the * and ** that refer back to previous poems or posts.

Still Waiting

I have a wounded heart since Curtis Wayne is gone
But oh, the peace and joy to know that he's still living on

He went to be with Jesus with all his family there

We sang and told him how we loved him, and also had a prayer

*Our life together has been so sweet since he came home from war

*Our children were a blessing as God gave us, not one, or two, but four

Our dreams did unfold as 58 years passed along

The families You gave them made a happy new song

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for fulfilling our dream

I'll see him in heaven, for love was our theme

Good-bye my dear husband, your pains are all gone

And joy fills your heart and it won't be too long

And now I am waiting to be there with you

Dear Jesus, You're my husband and days won't be blue

For I know that You love me and will care for me too

Your promises sustain me when I read Your book

When my heart wants to break, within it I'll look

Thank You, Lord Jesus, for loving me so much

You died for our sins and gave us Your touch

I'll bless You and praise You the rest of my life

I'll serve with Your church because it is Your "wife"

I pray that You'll use the message I've shared

**Because, Jesus, at Your coming I want to "Be Prepared"!!

Gertrude Murphree

3-10-04

* -- "Waiting"

** -- "Be Prepared"
To read my first blog post about my life, click HERE.

Be Prepared!

It was August, 1945, and the war was over. I knew Curtis would be coming home... sometime... and hopefully soon! We had written letters back and forth for almost three long years. We had pledged our love and plans for our future in those letters. But I didn't know when to expect him. Would he come back for me as we planned? Would we marry as soon as he returned? Could I really love someone that I only knew in letters, in pictures, on paper?? Was it right for me to get things ready for a wedding?

And then one day it came! A telegram with only two words..... "Be Prepared"!!! My beloved was coming home, and he was coming for me! I still did not know when, but I knew to be prepared for his coming. 

He did come, and we were married in my parent's home. We then left on our honeymoon to his family's home in Comanche, Texas, to celebrate his homecoming and our marriage.

I have thought about that telegram many times through the years and how it is an analogy of our watching and waiting for the Lord Jesus to return and take himself a "bride", the church, home to be with him. We don't know when He is coming, whether it be in our individual "home-goings" or at the last trumpet call, but the message is the same.... "Be Prepared!!!"

......................................................................................................................................................................

*Questions about how to be prepared? Here's a site with a simple explanation of how to trust Christ: "How to find peace with God"

Next entry: "Still Waiting"

Early Marriage
Click here to read about my life, starting with my first blog post.

Clueless

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since Curtis went to be with the Lord. February 21, 2004 he stepped across into eternity where he is in the presence of his Savior. About seven years after he died, our family received this in the mail. It seems that one of my children's friends watched Curtis' life, and it had a great impact on him. He wrote an article about Curtis in a Baptist Association news letter. In honor of Curtis and his quiet faith, I'd like to share that article.

Clueless

I want to tell you about the guy who led me to Jesus. The funny thing is he didn’t even know he did it. When I thanked him many years later, he was completely clueless about his part in it.

My father was what could be called a scoffer, a ridiculer of the Church. He loved to point out the flaws and inconsistencies in Christian’s lives and used that information as his excuse for not accepting Jesus’ claim on his life. He laughed at the Chairman of the Deacons. He heard rumors of dishonesty against that man. Dad mocked churchmen who cleaned up their language around other church folks, but cussed when they lost a domino game. Still others laughed at my father’s dirty jokes. That was alright with Dad. It just added ammunition to blast the “hypocrites” in the church. However, there was one man whom my Dad couldn’t call a phony. His name was Curtis Murphree and Dad thought he was a fool.

Curtis, like my father, was a farmer. He worked hard and played clean, but lived a “foolish” life that utterly baffled Dad. He was the same at home as he was in public. He once lost a wheat crop to a hail storm because he wouldn’t harvest on the Lord’s Day. That really bugged Dad. His life was a consistent witness to my father. When Curtis tried to tell Dad about Jesus’ sacrifice, Dad would not listen. But I did. When the 10 and 11 year old boys went to church camp, Curtis “foolishly” took time out of his farming schedule to be a camp counselor. He had prayer time with us and asked us to share our testimonies (I had none). He made sure all us boys made it to chapel on time every day, including that final day of camp, when I asked Jesus into my life.

Curtis thought it was the Camp Missionary who led me to Jesus, but nothing could be farther from the truth. For years, Curtis led me to Jesus by regularly taking time to talk to my father. Curtis led me to Jesus by taking me to church camp. Curtis led me to Jesus by modeling what a godly man could and should be to his family. Curtis led me to Jesus by consistently living a godly life that challenged my father to reconsider the validity of Christ’s Lordship in his own life. Yet, at the time, he never had a clue about the eternal impact his life was making on a child living on the fringe of the church.

Some would call Curtis Murphree a fool for spending so much time witnessing to a hardened scoffer. Personally, I don’t fault the man for not knowing who he was really influencing.

1 Peter 2:12

Author: Name Withheld

Next entry: "Be Prepared"

My Valentine - 1943

In 1943, Curtis was in WWII stationed in Santa Ana, California. I received this Valentine from him before he went off to war in Italy.

He had given me his portrait before he left, that was autographed, "Love Forever, Curtis Wayne".

For two more years all I had of him was his picture, his cards and letters, and promise of a love for a lifetime. I penciled this poem on a scrap of paper. I'm not sure if I ever sent it to him, but it's how I felt as I looked at this picture.

Love Forever

It's love forever that's written there,

It's love forever in your eyes, in your smile, everywhere

And I know that it's true

For it's written by you

In your eyes, in your smile that I love.

It says love forever

And I know it was never

Meant to die

For it's there in face, in smile, in eye

It's not only a picture, 

It's you.

To look at you means memories,

Those hours together, just two care-frees.

It was oh so much fun

Just to hold you, sweet one

In my arms and to kiss your sweet lips.

It says love forever.

Did you mean it could never

Leave our hearts?

For my dear if you do

It sure means I love you

And it's true, darling you

Just you.

by Gertrude Short

1943

Copy of penciled poem

Our love did turn out to be true. We had 59 years of sweet marriage before Curtis went to be with the Lord. I still love him so. Happy Valentine's Day!

Next entry: "Clueless"

To read about our how we met, click here.

Read about our early marriage here.

Undelivered Letters

This was penned sometime between 1963-1968.

How many of you like to receive and write letters? Everyone of us anxiously awaits the letter from that special someone. There is just something about getting a letter from someone you haven't seen in a long time that just lifts you up and fills a little of the vacancy that they leave.

When you write a letter you put a little of yourself into the letter, don't you? Sometimes you can put something in a letter that you couldn't say to the person to his or her face at all. When you write that letter..(Sometimes it's quite a chore to just write a little 'ole bitty letter!) ... but after you've gone to the trouble and lick the envelope and stamp (just think... $.05 for a stamp now!!) ... you certainly want to be sure it reaches the person that it was intended, don't you?

I heard about this postman in California who was arrested and they found 5,000 unopened letters in his house. When they questioned him, this is what he said, "My feet hurt. I would get so far on my route and my feet would get to hurting so bad that I'd just go home. I intended to deliver them the next day, but the next day my feet got to bothering me again and I just kept putting off part of my route. I didn't intend to keep the letters. I sincerely intended to deliver them but they just kept piling up and I got further behind."

The postman was tried and given a prison sentence. We would say he rightly deserved it, wouldn't we? We would have hated to be some of the people who failed to get their mail. Maybe some of the letters contained money that would have solved problems... or messages that no one else could bring.

You know, you and I have been entrusted with some letters and messages just as important to people. We have the message of salvation and the Bible with all kinds of messages of promise -

     "Come unto Me all ye that are heavy laden and I will give you rest."

     "In My Father's house are many mansions.."

     "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

What message could be more important than holding back a message from God that He had entrusted us to take?

Will our excuse when we stand before the Great Judge be the same as the postman's? "My feet hurt...I was too busy ... I intended to take the message but I got so far behind .... There were so many I didn't see how I could get around to them all..."

Then the Great Judge will surely take those works of ours and burn them in the fire, and only those letters that were delivered will be saved and the others burnt, and we ourselves will be saved "so as by fire" -- no reward, not as many joys as we might have had if we had but delivered His message.

Next entry: "My Valentine"
Read about "The Word of God in My Life"
Read the first entry of my prayer life - "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep"

"A Rainy Fourth" - A Poem - by Gertrude Short - 1942

A Rainy Fourth

A Poem, By Gertrude Short

Another holiday has been ruined by rain once more;

A picnic lunch and a party had been planned for four.

But the clouds are still gathering and the rain still falls,

And the thunder is roaring loudly and lightning coming in fiery balls.

Faint in the distance I hear a train roaring down the track,

And the sound of a car engine grinding away -- wheels mud-packed.

The traveling is very bad;

But to think this thought I'm glad:

That our boys are not tramping in the rain

Fighting and dying for victory in vain.

One hundred and sixty-six years ago today

Our forefathers were down on their knees to pray.

That day a very sacred document was signed

Which ended a fear that cannot be defined.

Today the people of Europe hold that same fear,

But we're safe in a home with our loved ones so dear.

Let's not think of this day as spoiled by the rain,

But sing out our thanks in a joyous refrain!

This poem was published in my hometown newspaper, the Friona Star, in 1942.

Next entry: "Undelivered Letters" click here

I Will Never Leave You nor Forsake You

My Bible is "alive"! When it says "you" - that means "you"! All these things are promised to you. It says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you." (Matt. 6:33) When I first noticed this, I really started reading it like God wrote me a letter every day.

When we got our 2,000 acres of cotton hailed-out.... the crop that we thought was going to get us out of debt.... we went out to the farm to view the damage. We knew we had "gone broke". I came home crying and said to the Lord, "I've prayed over that crop and thought it was going to get us out of debt.... What is going on?"

I always went to the Word for my answer and I didn't know where to turn in the Bible. I opened my Bible and it opened to Hebrews 13, and my eyes fell on the 5th verse...like it was in darker print, and it said, "Let your character be free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'"

I was so shocked because it felt like He took me by the shoulder and shook me and said, "Don't be so anxious for money. Be content with what you have. Don't you know I'll never leave you nor forsake you?"

The boys came into the house with their wives and I said, "Boys, cheer up- let me tell you what He just said to me!" When I told them the promise I had just found in the Word, we all joined hands and began to thank the Lord. Jim had just gotten married and thanked the Lord for the privilege of working with his dad and brothers and he thanked Him for his wife. Each of us prayed and praised the Lord for what He had always done for us.

We knew that this was the end of this precious time of farming together as a family. We would have to have a farm sale and sell all the equipment and sell some land to pay our debts. 

The sale was a success, and we had just enough to pay the bank. But we still had a small business loan with the government of $100,000 we had made when we had gotten our cotton accidentally sprayed with poison that drifted over all our cotton a few years earlier. How would we pay that??

We had always sent our cotton to Littlefield to the Levi factory where they made denim cloth.We got more for it there than on the market, but we didn't know we were also given shares in the plant. That year, the denim plant sold, and we didn't know it, but a few days later we received a check for our share......$100,000!!  We were DEBT FREE!!! - What a relief!

Curtis turned 65 that same year, so he put our land into the CRP program (putting the land back into grass, and receiving a check from the government). Plus, he was able to start receiving Social Security. Our needs were met! Can the Lord take care of you?!! Oh, yes, He promised me that He would never leave us nor forsake us! 

Next entry: "A Rainy Fourth" click here

Read "The Word of God in My Life" by clicking here.

The Word of God in My Life

As a little girl my mother took me to church and I was taught Bible stories and the gospel message. I accepted Christ by faith and it was accounted to me as righteousness when I was 12 years old. As a teen and young adult I went to church but didn't grow much spiritually. However, I worked at a department store in town with a Christian lady, Melba Miller, and she would sometimes take me home with her and her husband, Ralph. They had a loving Christian home where the Bible was read and prayers were offered. I knew that this was the kind of home I wanted when I married.

However, when Curtis and I married we didn't go to church. We moved to Colorado, and while we lived there I realized how far I had strayed from the Lord. One morning I fell on my knees and re-dedicated my life to Him. [For the full account of that experience, click HERE] I went to the little church there and began to help in the children's classes. I found that I loved teaching the Bible stories. Also, I became so hungry to grow spiritually. I went to the pastor's wife and asked her if she would help and teach me the Bible. She turned up her nose and said, "No, I don't have time for that." I asked another lady, and she turned me down, too. I was on my own.

We moved back to Friona, Texas, after about a year. We faithfully went to church and sat under very good Bible-teaching pastors. I also discovered good teaching on radio programs like "Back to the Bible Broadcast" with Theodore H. Epp, and "Thru the Bible Radio Network" by Dr. J. Vernon McGee, who took me systematically through the Bible. I learned so much.

But then something happened that changed the way I read the Word. In the 1970s, one day I was burdened for a lady in my Sunday School class. I was kneeling by my bed praying for her, and I was totally immersed in a "fountain of love".  It was coming from the Lord, and it was so much that I couldn't contain it. I had to cry out to the Lord to stop it. It was an experience that filled me up to overflowing with the Holy Spirit. In a few days some trouble came into my life - an attack on me. I was accused of something I didn't do. I didn't understand what was happening! I didn't know where to turn except to the Word. I opened my Bible (and I had never had this happen before) and it opened to Luke 22:31. My eyes fell on "Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you..." My spirit quickened and it seemed that the Lord was saying this directly to ME. Sure enough, the sifting began as the rumor mills ground me down. The Lord allowed this trial so that I would run to Him.

I literally hid in the Word of God. I had never read the Psalms until then, and I began to pray David's prayers as my own prayers. I developed such a appetite for the Word that I could read and pray for hours. My hunger to read the Bible was like having chocolate cake sitting there, and I nibbled on it a piece at a time. I would be doing housework and walk by the Bible and long to open it to see what it said-- to ME!

From that time (1974 or 1975) I have had the sweetest times reading the Bible. The Living Bible came out about then and I devoured it. In the 1980s I discovered Precept Bible Studies by Kay Arthur. She taught me to inductively study and dig into the Word as never before. She encouraged us to get a New American Standard Bible, and I loved it because throughout, the pronouns referring to God or Jesus were capitalized - making it so clear. Now that I've read and understood the Bible, I've gone back to my King James Bible and it is understandable to me.

So I have experienced God's Word in two ways. I've studied and dug into the scripture for its literal, cultural and historical meaning, but my favorite experience in His Word is when I read and the Lord quickens that Word in my spirit and makes it mine. "That's for me!" my spirit says, and I claim it!

Praise God for His glorious Word! Sometimes I think He wrote it just for me!

Psalm 119:97 & 102-103
(New American Standard)

"Oh how I love Your law!

It is my meditation all the day.

......

I have not turned aside from Your ordinances,

For You Yourself have taught me.

How sweet are Your words to my taste!

Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth!"

Next entry - "I Will Never Leave You Nor Forsake You"
To start at the beginning of my journey with the Lord, Click HERE- "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep"

World War II - "Waiting"

When the United States entered WWII, Curtis' draft number was one of the first drawn. I wrote this poem to him before he left.

Waiting

Before you leave dear, I want you to know

That I'll be with you wherever you go.

I'll watch by the window and pray every night

That God will be with you as you go to flight.

I'll pray that he'll keep you safe from all harm

And bring you back quickly to stay in my arms.

Go out my dear loved one, be brave in your strife

To help bring the victory for peace, love and life.

We've dreams for the future that must not be broken,

But until you return our love is the token.

There'll be nights of waiting and watching in vain

For a word that you're safe will be a joyous refrain.

So darling remember while you're far away

I'm with you at heart and I pray every day.

Our dreams will unfold as the days pass along.

We'll be happy together and make a new song.

That home that we've planned, and the kids, one or two,

Will all come to pass and we'll never be blue.

We'll have a fireplace with flames burning bright

To help spread our happiness far out in the night.

These are the dreams you'll be fighting for right here.

Good luck, and God bless you, I love you my dear---

Gertrude Short

10/26/43

To read accounts of my early marriage click HERE and HERE.

Link to a follow-up poem, "Still Waiting" - click HERE

My Prayer Life - Part 13 - "God Answers - Big & Small Requests"

Part 13:

Our Carolyn (age 16) is learning to trust the Lord with her "big" problems and her "little" problems -- if we could decide which was which.

She had not had just a rush of dates during her junior year in school and had wanted to go with a certain boy for a long time. As the Junior/Senior banquet approached, she became more and more concerned as to who would ask her. One day I told her, "Let's just pray and ask the Lord to work this little matter out." She said, "Oh, Mama, do you really think He cares about something so little as this??" "Absolutely," I said. "He cares about every detail of our lives."

I prayed and told the Lord that Carolyn wanted to go with Christian boys and that she wanted to please Him in every way. I said, "Lord, she needs an escort to this banquet, and you know the boy she wants to go with, and that he is the finest of the bunch. She has chosen him and will you help him to choose her? I just leave it in Your hands, and thank You so much for the answer."

It was not many nights later that HE asked her to the banquet. She was as thrilled about the answer to our prayer as she was getting the date. Praise the Lord for answering little requests or big ones -- which is it? Thank You, Lord anyway!

Kevin & Carolyn's First Date

Addition to original: This turned out to be a BIG answer.... because that boy became her husband about five years later!

August 13, 1976

Next entry - "The Word of God in My Life"