My New Favorite Place

Yesterday at the airport I talked to a guy that works for Bass Pro Shops and asked what the open date for the Clarksville store was. To my surprise he said," Six o'clock this evening." Need I describe my happiness and joy? Well, the rest of the family was just as excited as I was. We ended up at BP(Bass Pro) about six thirty and stayed til about eight thirty and would have stayed longer if it hadn't been for sore legs, early mornings, and a very large crowd. There were a whole lot of very excited rednecks there basking in the presence of extremely cool toys that they will never be able to afford. This is not the sporting goods dept. at stuff-mart. This is years and years of target marketing at work. And boy does it work.
It's not completely finished. There's going to be a restaurant, Starbucks, and fish in the pool at the bottom of the waterfall thingie. So still a lot to look forward to.
That's enough for now though, Katie and I have to get ready to go back this morning. I hope she wants to.
Later, Travis

The Joy of Hunting

Chris and I didn't see a thing on opening day yesteray. I was quite embarassed since I invited him and hoped he would get a deer on his first day. Much to my chagrin, I saw two good sized bucks this morning. Didn't get a shot at either one. The first was my fault. I wasn't ready when he showed up and I spooked him trying to get into position. The second was a LARGE buck that I scared up walking out and was too far away to get a shot at. Harumph. So, after deciding to stay home and watch the undefeated Indianapolis Colts whup up on the Texans again, I've calmed down some and I believe I will go out. The initial frustration is gone and now I am only determined. Hold onto your antlers boys, here I come. Go colts.
Later, Travis

Crisis Averted

Once again I have dodged the bullet of confrontation. As soon as I read Jonna's post I sprang into action. I drove like the wind to the bank, withdrew sufficient funds and went shopping for Dwarf Spruce trees. I then came to my senses and decided to let her pick out the tree she wanted. So this morning I took her to Lincoln Springs and we picked a lovely specimen of Dwarf Spruce. Relief was immediate. Planting date to be announced. Now we are off to the Forestry to toast marshmallows and enjoy the colors.
G'day
Travis

I AM the halloween Grinch

Hank Hanegraaff in "The Bible Answer Book" page 89;

"First, we should recognize that Halloween is indeed rooted in the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain (sah-ween).The Druids believed that on the eve of Samhain the veil between the present world and the world beyond was pierced, releasing demons, witches, and hobgoblins en masse to harass the living. In order to make themselves immune from attack, people disguised themselves as witches, devils, and ghouls; attempted to ward off evil spirits by carving grotesque faces on gourds illuminated with candles; and placated the spirits with a variety of treats.
Furthermore, we can learn a lot from how the early Christians responded to Halloween. October 31st, the eve prior to All Saints Day was designated as a spiritually edifying holiday (holy day) on which to proclaim the supremacy of the gospel over the superstition of ghosts. Thus, "All Hallows Eve", from which the word Halloween is derived, was an attempt on the part of Christianity to overwhelm the tradition of ghouls with the truth of the gospel."

All right, here we go. Everybody's got quirks. You know, the one thing that makes an otherwise seemingly normal person seem a little different. Well mine is halloween alternatives. DISCLAIMER: Please realize that from here on out I am simply spouting off my opinions. This is my blog and I am allowed to do that. I AM NOT questioning anyones faith or judging anyone. Perhaps this is just a cry for help to be pointed on the right path to understanding. But I don't think so.

I'm going to jump right in by saying halloween as it is popularly celebrated is WRONG. Dressing up as demons and witches as the pagans did in their fear of the unknown is not what a christian should do. I'm sorry, there are definites. Especially for christians. We know that they were unnecessarily afraid of what the Druid leaders taught them. We now have courage in the truth of Christ and the gospels.

Ok, for sake of argument, become all things to all men in order to witness to them. Should I become an adulterer to reach adulterers? Should I become an alcoholic to reach alcoholics? Should I commit a crime and be sent to jail to reach prisoners?

How about if I want to reach out to adulterers so I have an affair with another woman. But I'm doing it to attract other adulterers and show them I know where they're coming from and that I care about them. I'm someone they can relate to. So it's an alternative to adultery because I'm doing all the things an adulterer does, but I'm doing it to teach them about Christ.

Hank's paragraph two says that the early christians responded to October 31st (All Hallows Eve or halloween) by designating it as a spiritually edifying holiday or "holy day".

The American Heritage Dictionary defines edify this way;

To instruct or enlighten so as to encourage intellectual, moral, spiritual improvement.

I am not making this up. To edify does not mean to dress up. It means to lift up and build up. I'm not saying we shouldn't try to reach others for Christ at this time. This would actually be a good oppurtunity to point out the differences between what God teaches and what tradition teaches. But let's do that by being different. When Paul said be all things, he meant be everything they need. Be with them, be their friend, laugh with them, live with them. But be different. And when you have their trust, be the salt and the light. As Roebin preaches, the way you live your christian life day in and day out is what people see and think of us. That is how you earn their trust. If they see christians commiting adultery they'll think it's ok. If they see christians participating in a pagan ceremony paying off demons and witches with candy they'll think that's ok too.

So. There it is. The biggie. The belief that is almost as bad as the one that Jonna and I have that vacation bible school is "ob the deb'l". As Bobby Bouchier's Momma would say.

But, seriously, this is not like a deal breaker for attending a church for Jonna and me. And I certainly hope it doesn't affect the friendship of some people we are getting to know. This is just a personal view that I had to get off my chest. And a blog is the perfect place to do it.

But, hey, who's that throwing rocks at my pretty glass house???

Something to do

I've been called out. Chris said post anything so here goes. I took today off and ran some errands. Okay, loosely translated into Travis speak that means I went to the bank and messed around in the Clarksbany area.G-W outfitters and all that. Scares the bejeesus out of Jonna when I do that. We were having lunch after I came home and the old guy next door brought some fried bluegill over. Pretty good stuff. Anyway, that got me to thinking about what Chris and Jonna had said about camping. Sounds like fun to me. One request though, I'd rather not go somewhere really crowded. Other than that I'm up for it. And another thing, I'd like to go fishing, too. Like to Patoka for the day or even just to Deam's Lake. So there, I've posted and didn't say a thing.

The Forty Post

Tomorrow I'll be forty. Don't worry, I'm not going to wax nostalgic. I know it's a milestone but I just can't seem to take it seriously. I think the popular term is "underwhelmed". On her blog, Jonna talked about what she learned this summer, but my brain doesn't work like that. Ideas rarely jump right up and say," Hey, think about this". Jonna learned these things as they happened but I have to look back at all the events that have taken place, put it all together and then I can see how everything fits together. So, yeah, that means most of the time i'm pretty clueless until I get to the point that I put it all together. Much to Jonnas consternation. Sorry honey, that's just how I think. I think that the biggest thing I've found out in forty years, and you have to listen because I'm old now, is that life is made up of only one big thing and then a few smaller things. It's realizing that God is the main source of everything and after that it's smaller things. If you make something else your big thing then the other smaller things will suffer. Even if you're still making God your big thing. In Katinas blog she talked about Eccliastes and how all of our efforts are like chasing the wind. So I'm thinking that anything we make a big thing is just chasing the wind or meaningless or folly.
Think about it. Why is a small life lived happily not one of our desires? Why must life be supersized and noticable from a distance before we can be considered successful? Because we are imperfect, selfish humans. Left to our own devices we will make ourselves our one big thing and seek out what makes us feel good. Hey, we ate the apple and guess what? We can't tell the difference between good and evil. Not without Gods guidance.
What about God saying He has a plan for us? Shouldn't we make that our big thing? I've struggled with this one a lot and I think I've stumbled upon an idea that makes a lot of sense. What if I stop jumping at every chance to do something big for God because this might be his plan for me? How about I just go about my business doing my few small things well and be open for when God wants to use us? I believe the way we handle little things is how God tells if we're ready for big things. (Matthew 25:15-30)
So, forty years, big thing, little things, small life lived well.
Until next time This is Life
Travis

Well here goes

Yeah, this is life. Where you're at, what you're doing, what you do to survive. Any plan to change those things starts now. Or whenever you get around to it. So this is probably going to be mostly about life. As underwhelming as it is sometimes. But, along the way you'll read about the highlights of my life. One of the two greatest of those being my wife, Her Most Royal Highness The Queen Jonna Of Georgetown Indyucky. You'll read about the daring do of my darling daughter Katie. She's the other highlight. And I shall recount to the best of my ability the escapades of the most intelligent Black and Tan Coon-hound I have ever met, Obadiah Boudreax Coonhound. Pictures will follow when I figure out how. Shouldn't be long, I just figured out how to link.So I'm off to experiment with my blog. Pray I don't break anything. Later.
Travis