Posted on 11/01/2007 3:52:50 PM PDT by Kimmers
Today is Oct. 28, 2007 and at about 2 am EST this morning, I turned seventy-one years old. In some ways it doesn't seem possible. It seems that the years have just flickered past in an exciting wonderful, multicolored, roller coaster ride, a fast moving epic played out on the highways and concert stages of the world.
But to view my life in that light would be selective thinking, looking at the bricks and ignoring the mortar that holds it together.
It takes highs and lows, good times and bad, ups, downs and sideways to make up a life and some of my fondest memories don't have to do with major victories or notable accomplishments but with friendship, family and love.
I've got so many sights stored up in the camera of my mind from riding across the frozen oceans of the Arctic on an Eskimo dog sled to standing in awe at the newly restored ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from the peace and beauty of twin Hawaiian rainbows to the heartrending destruction of Sarajevo, from the beehive streets of Beijing to the quiet tranquility of an early morning Colorado snowstorm.
I've gathered cattle in the Big Bend, fished the cold waters of Alaska and attended Easter sunrise services at he birthplace of Abraham, the Patriarch of the Jewish race.
Of course I've suffered disappointment and failure but disappointments are lessons and failure is temporary and if you'll allow it, each one can serve to teach you that it's not how many times you get knocked down that counts but how many times you get up and that if you get up one more time than you get knocked down, you're a winner.
I've had broken bones but never a broken spirit, I've found out that a big problem is usually just a series of little problems that have to be dealt with individually and decisively.
One of the biggest lessons I've ever learned is that malice is poison to the soul and forgiveness is healing.
I've learned that no matter what an apostate world tries to make Almighty God out to be or not to be, that He is never changing, loving, forgiving and holds the Universe in the palm of His hand.
I've learned that a loving wife and child are blessings beyond compare and that true friendship should be treasured above gold and though my immediate family is small my extended family is huge and I truly love each and every one of them, all three generations.
I've rejoiced at births, cried at funerals. I¹ve held the hand of a good friend, the reins of a good horse and the innocence of a baby in my arms.
I have comforted, been comforted and stared into the face of danger with the hand of God covering me.
I've been down but never out, bent but never broken, slowed but never stopped.
Don't be intimidated by the years, they're as natural as the flow of a river, but regard instead the age of your attitude. It can be forever young.
It's such a blessing to wonder what's over the next hill and to be excited about finding out.
I thank God for 71 years.
Pray for our troops.
What do you think?
God Bless America
Charlie Daniels
October 29, 2007
Thanks for posting this Kimmers.
Charlie is such a great man, as well as a great music man.
TPD
Happy birthday wishes to Mr. Daniels.
I can’t tell you how much I detest country music, but as much as I hate it I do love Charlie Daniels. He is a class act and always has been.
I love this guy... always have.
LLS
Hope he has many more. Like my father said before he died, “I’m glad I lived the last eighty years and not the next eighty years.”
Happy Birthday Charlie.
I’m playing blackjack at a $5 table, and a guy sits beside me.
Pretty soon, somebody comes up and asks for an autograph. “sure “
another, “sure”,
pretty soon, all blackjack playing is stopped while he signs autographs...
I ask “Pardon me, but are you somebody famous or something?”
He says “I’m Charlie Daniels”
I say “OK, but can we play blackjack?”
Security asked me to move to another table.
.....Bob
Happy Birthday from a Class of ‘36 classmate. Many many happy returns. Thank you for your music and your patriotism.
Bob, I love your history....keep on writing
Click this, folks! You'll love it.....(I sure do!)
I love the song, I love the words, I love the music, I love the pictures, I love the man. Happy Birthday, Charlie!
LOL, I love doing it...thanks...
....Bob
What is his best song?
I have a few on you, Charlie, and you are absolutely right! Happy Birthday to another one of God’s own! Our eternal spirits grow wiser, but they never grow old. :)
I consider him more southern rock than country.
You bet ... “Call up Trudy on the Telephone”
And here I thought you were in your thirties from the spirit of your posts. Goes to show never consider older folks ineffectual.
Charlie has illustrated much truth in his songs. “I bet he’s even got a Commie flag tacked up in his garage” and the entirety of “Long Hired Country Boy”. People where I live, about 40 miles away from Charlie’s house, truly subscribe to leaving people be unless they’re being bad. Washington D.C. has yet to learn this.
Aren’t you sweet? BTW, I’m not “older”. Inside I am still in my thirties! ;)
We are what we are in our heart’s solidification of adulthood. Mine was at 14 (how pathetic), yet time has justified that age’s attitude of being open to ideas and giving them a fair shake. Conservatism, to me, has been the wisest path for the very preservation of our nation. My hippie dippy friends from the same era merely reinforce that belief.
You’ve been lobbying hard for Hunter. Hunter’s got a snowball’s chance unless he does something truly profound while getting MSM coverage. I’m wary of my Tennessee homeboy Fred but see him as the only solution to the witch. He made a great statement on illegal immigration the other day and his style of patiently waiting for others to step on their wieners first reeks of wisdom. Tom’s out and Hunter’s at the point of quitting gracefully or not.
And Thompson could really beat the witch once support was solidified. While I fear another Bush debacle/betrayal I really think this old actor can pull it off.
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