Not Just Beans and Cornbread: A Country Boy’S Philosophy on Life

By Billy D. Green

Whats this book about?

Not Just Beans and Cornbread is a compilation of stories and poems on how to handle lifes adversities. This was written from a firsthand point of view by a true homespun storyteller, who loves to mix laughter at himself with profound advice on how to survive most of anything that life throws at you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984521583

Billy D. Green

Billy D Green grew up on a small family farm near Stuttgart, Arkansas. He graduated High School in 1966 and studied at Southern State College before getting married and pursuing his first career of farming as a share cropper for 24 years. He served 6 years in the Army National Guard. He has served in numerous capacities as a community and church leader thru the years. In 1994, he quit farming and began his second career as an insurance agent. Billy is married to his wife Nancy. They have four children between them and 5 grandchildren.

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Copyright © 2018 by Billy D. Green.

Library of Congress Control Number:      2018904402

ISBN:            Hardcover                         978-1-9845-2153-8

                      Softcover                           978-1-9845-2152-1

                      eBook                                978-1-9845-2158-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/17/2018

Xlibris

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Contents

Judging On Appearance

Ain’t Life Grand

The My Cloud

Guardian Angels Do Exist

The Old Water Pump

All In God’s Time

To Have Rainbows You Must First Have Rain

Forgive Them Lord

A Little Help Please

Time Flies

Devil or Angel

Speed

Always Something To Be Thankful For

Lessons on Hiding History

Growing Up In The World You Are In

Adjust Your Sails

We Are All Preachers

Playing Cowboy And Indian

Try

A Time For Every Season

It’s Always Sunrise Somewhere

I Am My First Responder

Relationships

What Do We Want From Life

Take Nothing For Granted!

Walking Fish

Any Day Can Be A Holiday

A Product Of Immigration

Heritage

Triple Crown Fairytale

Unwanted Lessons

The First Hunt

Be Careful What You Give Up

Old Farmer’s Almanac

Never Give Up

Hang In There, God Has This

Summer Of 68 Again

Thanks For God’s Grace

Drive Kindly

Traditions

Friendship 101

The Weather Man

Wiley and the Roadrunner

Rainbows and Butterflies

4th of July

Lovin Country Livin

The Crystal Ball

Surviving Cancer

Just Thankful

The Seduction of America

New Beginnings

Mysteries of Life

Mother’s Day

Proud Of America

Progress

American made…..From Irish Parts

Life Without Risk

Ancestors

8 Miles Of Muddy Road

A Cup Of Kindness

Even Before Sunrise

Some Day

Life Is A Lot Like Plowing Beans

Plow Your Beans

The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow

Fixing Levees/ Broken Levee’s

Sometimes Wisdom

Savor The Moment

Messy Bits

Yesterday’s Dream

God’s Details

So Easily Offended

Mustard Seed

Where Did The Catalog Go

Dancing is a State of Mind

One Room Education

Some Things Are Best Left Unknown

Are You An Angel

Part Of A Model A

Competition

Late Night TV

You’ve Got To Get It Right

Time

Foreword

The following compilation of stories and poems are meant to be inspirational, thought provoking and humorous. Based on a deep Christian faith in God Almighty, a strong sense of patriotic pride in these United States of America and a hearty ability to laugh at ourselves. They cover a variety of topics and includes some of my favorite scenic photo’s that I have taken thru the years. Hopes are that you can relate to, laugh at, are inspired by and most of all that you enjoy them or you can say Amen, that just what those other folks needed to hear.

Most of these thoughts are mine, but I like to quote some lines from time to time that have inspired me. They might be a line from a song, movie or books I have read. One line that seems to fit here I will give credit to a great speaker that I heard many years ago. He used to say that he did not write ALL of his own material, but, he only stole from the best.

I am greatly humbled by the thought of sharing my stories with you. Thank you Lord for getting me this far in life, in spite of my best efforts to do otherwise. Thanks to you all for reading these and again, I hope you enjoy.

Billy D. Green

Judging On Appearance

I know that we are NOT supposed to judge others but in reality we all do in some manner. First impressions can be so far off course that it is unreal. I have met a few folks thru the years that, at first, I liked or disliked them based on my instincts only to have found later that I had been wrong. Ultimately, how we view someone will change and evolve until we really get to know them on the inside. I talked to a very sweet lady recently who had run into an up-class children’s store dressed in her yard work clothes. She needed a nice baby shower gift and did not have time to dress up for the occasion. She could well afford to buy anything in that shop that she wanted and did purchase an expensive gift. However, she said that she wasn’t likely to ever go back because they had treated her like a second class citizen. They had missed an opportunity to know just what a great person she is because they judged her on her outward appearance only. Now, take a look at this photo. On the next page is the outward appearance and on the right is the same window from the inside looking out.

Enough Said!

PHOTO%202.tif

Ain’t Life Grand

It had been a rough couple of years filled with heart aches and what seemed like that 8 miles of muddy roads that only country folks would understand. It was 1995 and I suddenly found myself 47 years old and single. I had started my new life determined not to let my disappointments and fears show to ANYONE. I was, after all, starting a brand new career as a insurance agent who had a role to play. Somehow I had to be confident and believe in myself and what I was doing IF I was to succeed and there could be no IF to this, this had to work. Success should be based on how you feel about yourself, nothing else, but In my new career, and I suppose in life in general, success is judged not by yourself but by your peers. How do you stack up against those you work with and for, not just how much you make but can you gain their respect?

So, finally, after struggling thru the first year and some, I qualify for one of the coveted company trips. It was a simple trip to Destin, Florida. Deep sea fishing and golfing, golfing, whoa, wait just a minute; I didn’t even know how many innings were in golf! I had never so much as even watched a golf game, match, round, I don’t even know what you call it. Ok, what the heck, what have I done? After the last few years, how hard could golf be? I asked for this?

Encouraged by a good friend and dedicated golfer, I bought a fine $40 set of golf clubs at a pawn shop and he and I visited the driving range to hit a couple buckets of balls. I found a new bit of confidence deep in my soul that I could hit that ball and it would go straight down ... there ... somewhere.

Skip to Destin, championship golf course, everyone decked out in their finest golfing attire and truly fine golf clubs and me in my tennis shoes and $40 clubs (it WAS a real pretty blue and white vinyl golf bag though, the best that $40 could buy). We drew for teams in a four man scrabble, and I thought scrabble was a word/dice game, but I’m really starting to catch on to the lingo. I had hoped that I would play with some folks that I at least knew but that wasn’t going to happen today. Oh well, that meant these 3 guys did not know that THIS was about to be MY very first round of golf. For all they knew I could be the next Tiger Palmer or is it Arnold Woods, that is until we tee’d off? It’s finally my turn, a professional photographer is set to record this historic moment. I take a deep breath as I pull my driver (all I knew was it was the biggest club) out of my blue and white vinyl bag. I step up, I can feel all eyes are on me, waiting to see just what I have to contribute to the team. Finally I swing; well that was kind of what I had come to expect over the past few years, it did not go as expected. I had missed the ball completely; still have the professional color, glossy photograph to prove it. It only got worse from there. My team mates were having the best game of their lifetime. They were shooting over and across ponds and making shots that were unbelievable, and then there was me and my tennis shoes and blue and white bag that couldn’t even make a putt. In spite of the encouragement of