Going to a funeral today

8/30/10 Monday
Today I go to a funeral. My grand uncle, my grandmother’s brother, has died. I don’t expect to be welcomed at the funeral as this side of my family has not exactly been friendly. It will be uncomfortable for sure. “So why am I going?” you might ask. I’m going because it’s the right thing to do. I don’t run from what is uncomfortable and I don’t simply do what I “feel good about”, as some live their life. To let your feelings control your actions is a dangerous way to live and will lead to much error. Troy died and today is his funeral so I will go and pay my respects. I knew him, but not well, however I knew him and can’t say much bad about him. We all have our faults and I'm sure he had some but generally was a good man as far as I know. Even if he wasn’t I’d still pay my respects. Unfortunately I suspect that my mere presence at the funeral will cause a stir. We will see. I’m not going to cause trouble. If I don’t go it will give them something to gossip about and when I do go it will do the same.

First thing this morning I will take Linda and pay to have her truck legally registered so she will be able to drive around without fear of a ticket. She can’t afford gas to go many places and we can’t afford to do much, but an oil check came so we will spend it where the need is greatest. That need is someone else so we will do without to help her. This is the way it’s supposed to be in real Christianity. It’s frustrating to watch so many with so much be so greedy about so little, when there is so much need.

It will be a busy morning for sure. There’s a chance of rain tomorrow and the day after so I will plant in hope and faith that we will get some of it. Actually I had a feeling yesterday, as I worked, that there was going to be rain. But I don’t live by my feelings, rather choose to have faith in God regarding such matters. Too much to do to write. It’s going to be suit and tie for the funeral so am debating putting that on when I take Linda to get her truck registered. Nah, my trucks dirty and I may have to work on hers so will wear regular work clothes.

Worked hard preparing garden beds yesterday and the dog gone dogs just had to go and dig it up to lay down in the midst of the freshly turned earth. In the process they put a hole in the drip tape so I had to use my last repair piece to fix that. Used up a dozen or so of the repair thingy’s. Real frustrating. The dogs have also dug up some of the okra that is doing good in order to lay down. It’s so hard to work on this farm when I don’t have fences finished or other parts of the infrastructure done. As a result so much other work gets destroyed or set back.
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The funeral went fine. Pulling up I could see where the family was gathered across the street but decided to just go inside the church and avoid any potential problems. Inside I sat next to the county attorney and judge. They both know me but we didn’t talk much. As far as funerals go it was good, there was a lot of great things said about Troy and it made me wish I’d known him more but this distance fueled by gossip has prevented any contact with any family members. There was lots of talk about Troy’s faith and integrity, which I’m sure is true, but it’s a shame to not see that “Love of Christ” they talked about exhibited towards us. As we filed past the open casket I shook hands with pastor Dave and simply said “How are you doing”, resisting the temptation to say something smart regarding his “Shaking the dust off his feet” antic when I’d gone to him in an effort to resolve things. It’s a funeral so not the right place. God will have to deal with it I guess.

Met Linda before the funeral and gave her cash to cover getting her truck registered. It needs to get inspected next but her drivers side door won’t open so that probably needs to be fixed. Cherie had a bag of blackeyed peas, tomatoes, and peppers for me to take to her but naturally I forgot.

The air cooler was spitting water in the house this morning so I’ll need to see what’s going in there. Then it’s back to work getting seeds planted in the hope of rain.