A Bible and a Belt

The cherries were ready this past week.  We picked twice, and the old farmer's wife made a fresh cherry pie.

More rain this week; over 2 more inches.  In one of the ponds behind our farmstead there was a pair of Mallards enjoying themselves.  When I was scouting the back field, there was a Heron in a pond.  If I could have gotten close enough I would have taken a picture, but it was too muddy.

As today is Father's Day, I am thankful and blessed that I still have my father to turn to for advice and support.  He is 90 years old and still relatively healthy.  Much of who I am is a result of his teaching and example.  I am blessed to be a father myself and it has been a great privilege that I am still not sure that I am mature enough to handle or deserve!
In honor of the day I am going to post the lyrics to a song by Joey and Rory about being raised with a Bible and a belt.  Similar to the way the old farmer was raised.  You can watch the video here.

A Bible and a Belt

They were both made of leather, both black and frayed and worn.

I was brought up to respect them since the day that I was born.

One came here from England; it's been handed down for years.

The other one was ordered from a catalog at Sears.

One my mamma read to me till I was well into my teens.

I thought all the other one was for was to hold up daddy's jeans.

Till I told a lie and learned it had another purpose too.

Out behind the shed my daddy said, "This'll hurt me more than you."

Cause one had my daddy's name on it, the other said King James.

With love they taught us lessons but we feared them both the same.

One led us to heaven and the other left a welt 

Those were the days when kids were raised with a bible and a belt.

I remember when I was twelve I stole a dime store comic book.

How Mamma read where the scriptures said to take back what I took.

When I refused my daddy grabbed my arm and said, 'Come on'

I needed more, he knew, than just Matthew, Mark and Luke and John.

Well sometimes they made me cry, sometimes they made me fightin' mad

And I wished I'd been raised without them like some other children had

But now I'm grown with kids of my own and I know just how they felt

You know it seems to me what the world still needs is a bible and a belt.

Cause one had my daddy's name on it, the other said King James.

With love they taught us lessons but we feared them both the same.

One led us to heaven and the other hurt like hell

Those were the days when kids were raised with a bible and a belt.

A bible and a belt.

We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, 

what work thou didst in their days, in the times of old.

Psalm 44:1