Now Is The Time To Go To The Ozarks!

Merilyn and Mollie sitting beside War Eagle River
On the river bridge with War Eagle Mill in back
A view into the War Eagle river valley
A shot from the car on I-540 south of Fayetteville

Even though I have seen the beauty of the fall season in the Ozarks many times, it never fails to amaze me again at just how spectacular it is. The pictures will give just a little bit of an idea how pretty it is but it is difficult to capture the splendor of a huge panorama of hills blazing with fall colors.
This trip back home to see Merilyn, Sarah, Blake and many friends was a great blessing for me in many ways. First, I got to meet with my Thursday night Bible study group. This is always such a boost for me to be with these fellow Christians who are so eager to study the Scriptures. After the study one of the couples invited Merilyn and me to go with them for supper on Friday evening and then to a performance of Riverdance at the Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville. It was so much fun to enjoy an evening like that together. We had supper at Bordino's Restaurant, an upscale establishment on Dickson Street in Fayetteville. Then we walked down the several blocks to the theater. At the performance we also saw several other Christian friends, which made the evening even better. The Riverdance show is just amazing. The dancers are almost unbelievable in their abilities to move their feet with such speed and precision. We are equally as impressed with the four musicians who provided all of the accompaniment to every part of the show. Their sound filled the auditorium as if there was a 50-piece orchestra. I think the musicians got about as much of a workout as the dancers did, especially the drummer. It was a wonderful evening all the way around.
On Saturday morning Merilyn and I drove around northwest Arkansas to enjoy the glories of God's creation in the changing seasons. It was a gorgeous day and so good to be able to spend that time together. Sarah and Chloe, her little Maltese, came over around lunch time to visit. We always have fun watching Chloe and Mollie play together. They are just like a couple of kids.
My drive back to Ennis was nice and uneventful. With the sunshine, it seemed that the colors on the hills were even more brilliant. I almost ran off the road once or twice while engrossed in looking at the hillsides.
Sunday was an excellent day, as usual, just because of the privilege of gathering with fellow Christians to worship. This Sunday was even better because my mother was here for a visit. At the West Side church in Russellville, Arkansas she has a good friend whose sister is a member of the church in Ennis. She was coming to visit her sister for her birthday so Mom and another lady friend of theirs came along for the trip. It was so good to see her and enjoy the Bible class and worship time and then lunch together. I took Mom on a tour of my office and then over the my apartment. I think it helped her to see that my work and living conditions are good. They had a safe return to Arkansas yesterday evening.
Sunday became even more excellent in our evening worship time when I had the privilege of baptizing one of our teen young ladies. She is a sweet girl and was overjoyed to the point of tears at becoming a Christian. She and her family were thanking me profusely but I told them it was an honor for me to be able to help in that way and that is what it's all about...helping save souls for the Lord.
We're getting off to another rainy start this Monday morning in north Texas, but we can always have the sunshine of God's love in our hearts. Hope you have a good day today!

For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
(2 Corinthians 4:5-6)

Autumn wonders

Each season of the year has its own special beauty and wonders. It would be difficult for me to pick out my favorite because I like them all. Sarah told me yesterday that the colors in northwest Arkansas are really amazing right now. I am looking forward to my drive home later today and I will definitely enjoy seeing the wonders of God's handiwork in nature. Of course, I will enjoy getting to spend some time with family and friends, too. It looks as if it will be a rainy day for most of the way but it's freeway all the way so it shouldn't be too bad.
Are you using your Germ-X regularly? The swine flu seems to be spreading fairly extensively throughout the country. There was a graphic in the newspaper yesterday that indicated quite a few states where up to 30% of the population has been infected. I find that a bit difficult to believe. One out of every 3 people with swine flu? Anyway, take appropriate precautions and keep yourself well.
I will write a little less than normal today because there are things I still need to get done in the office and I am going to try to get away a little earlier than usual. The inclement weather will slow me down some. I always look forward to meeting with my Thursday night Bible study group in Springdale and I don't want to be late.
Have a good day and a good weekend. Keep your eyes open to the wonders of the Autumn season around you and thank God!

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature, namely, His eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. (Romans 1:19-20)

And the rains came...again

I am sitting here drying off after my dash to the car this morning. It sure would be nice if apartment owners would offer garages to their tenants, or at least covered parking with covered walkways. Can you tell that I am missing the nice comfy garage with the automatic door opener back home? The rain is supposed to be short-lived this time, lasting just through this evening and into tomorrow morning. The forecast is for 2-3" during the day and into the evening. Then a cold front is supposed to come through to lower the daytime high temperatures into the mid 50's. My farmer friend at church says the rain is coming at just the wrong time for him. He is trying to get what is left of his cotton crop harvested and about the time the fields dry out enough to get into them, here comes another dose of rain. But as another friend at church said, we better be grateful for it when we can get it. True!
While loading some of my pictures from our adventures last weekend on Facebook, I saw a message from some good friends in Springdale that their little kindergarten age boy, Lane, is sick with swine flu. Please remember him in your prayers. It seems that this illness is hitting youngsters harder than anyone else.
Sarah has been troubled with a nagging cough for the past week or so, especially at night when she lays down to try to sleep. I was reading the Dallas Morning News last night before I went to bed and I saw something that might help. There is a column that runs weekly called "The People's Pharmacy" written by a couple named Graedon . They are both pharmacists. People write in with questions and comments about medicines and unusual remedies which have been found to work. The one that made me call Sarah was that people have found relief from persistent cough by rubbing Vicks Vapo-Rub on the soles of their feet. I know it sounds crazy, but the Graedons said they have had that verified by others even though they have no idea how or why it would work. Sarah said she had some and was going to try it. I'm anxious to talk to her today to see if it worked.
Speaking of work, I'd better wrap this up and get to my work for the day. I hope your day is filled with showers of blessings from God!

Whatever your task, work heartily, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward; you are serving the Lord Christ.
(Colossians 3:23-24)

Can It Get Any Better?

The OU Schooner as it passed by us.
Merilyn is not too sure about this fried delicacy; I don't know if it is the fried Oreo or the fried Moon Pie.
BEVO, the Texas mascot, on the field of the Cotton Bowl
Merilyn, Sarah & Blake checking out the Cotton Bowl
Texas coach Mack Brown in the team bus telling Sarah that he won't come out.
Merilyn and the Texas band marching past.
Sarah & Blake with the OU equipment truck
Crowds!
More crowds! Wall-to-wall people everywhere!
Blake & Sarah trying some fried Oreos.
Watching the game on the big screen.


The weather for the past several days has been just about perfect. Yesterday was another day of gorgeous blue skies, temperature about 75, low humidity, and a light breeze blowing. I looked forward all day to my exercise time. It did not disappoint. A few weeks ago, I would be drenched with sweat after exercising. Yesterday I didn't even sweat enough to get my shirt wet.
Here's some more news from the State Fair of Texas. The Dallas Morning News reported that Saturday had the biggest one-day revenue in the 123 year history of the SFOT at $3.4 million. Let me see if I can get some of my pictures to import into the blog. Well, I figured that the pictures would load underneath but they went to the top. No big deal. Hope you enjoy them!
Have a good day today!

Excellent weekend and Sunday!

After a run of gloomy weather that set a new record for the month of October in the Dallas area, it ended last Thursday evening. Friday, Saturday and Sunday brought beautiful blue skies and daytime temperatures in the low to mid 70's with low humidity. As far as I am concerned, that is just about perfect! In addition to the great weather, I had the pleasure of having Merilyn, Sarah and Blake come for a visit. They arrived around 9 p.m. on Friday evening. We got them settled into my apartment then we got to bed at a reasonable hour so we could be ready for Saturday's activities...the Oklahoma-Texas football game at the Cotton Bowl and the State Fair of Texas (SFOT)!
We decided to go on up to Fair Park in Dallas before the 11 a.m. kickoff because some of Blake's buddies told him that they had been to the game before and there were some big screen TV's around the grounds. That way we could watch the game and be there to enjoy the SFOT, too. We left Ennis around 9:45 for the 30 minute drive to Fair Park and everything was going smoothly until we got about 1/2 mile away from the park. What a madhouse! There were traffic jams and people everywhere. We saw a sign that said the public parking areas around Fair Park were full so we started looking for one of the numerous private parking places. The folks around the area must make a lot of money during SFOT time. Everyone who had space in their yard or a parking lot were packing cars into every available spot. We ended up paying $20 to park but we ended up only about 2-3 blocks away from the main entrance so it wasn't too bad. Then when we were in line for our tickets, some nice lady came and gave us coupons for $4 off each ticket. Bonus! Once we got in the gate, our first order of business was to find a TV. We got around and found where they did ESPN Game Day. They had a huge TV up so we thought we were in good shape. About 2 minutes after we got there, they turned it off and started to take it down! We saw some Dallas Police on horses, asked if they knew were a TV was and they directed us to the Toyota display. We scrambled over there and found a pretty nice set up where we could watch the game with 500 or so other fans. I've never seen so much burnt orange color before. It was an exciting game just because it was so close, but both teams made lots of mistakes.
At halftime we went to find something to eat. The first place we tried was an indoor food court. There were so many people in there that it was almost claustrophobic so we left. If I have ever seen a place that was more crowded with people, I can't remember where it would have been. There were over 96,000 people in the Cotton Bowl for the game and I have to believe there were 2-3 times that many out in the SFOT. Just about everywhere we went, it was wall-to-wall people. I'm planning on having some of my pictures downloaded to the computer today and I will see if I can post some on the blog tomorrow. Anyway, we went on down the lines of food vendors and finally found an area toward the rear where it was less crowded. During the course of the afternoon, we enjoyed several of the delicacies of the SFOT: sausage on a stick, famous Fletcher's corny dogs, fried butter, fried Oreos, fried Moon Pie and fried churros. Fortunately, we shared most of the fried foods so none of us got too sick from the intake of those items. Sarah's tummy got a bit queasy later in the day, but overall it was OK.
As we were wandering around we just happened to come upon the area where the Texas and Oklahoma football teams were boarding their buses to leave. Not long after we got in there, security cordoned off the area to prevent the crowds from coming in. We were in there with player's families and others who were supposed to be there. We saw Sam Bradford, Trent Williams and several other OU players. Both the Texas and Oklahoma bands marched right past us playing their marching music. The Oklahoma Boomer Schooner drove right past us. We saw Mack Brown, the Texas coach on one bus. Sarah motioned to him to come out because she wanted a picture with him, but he motioned to her shirt and shook his head "No." She was wearing an Oklahoma Sooner shirt. After the buses left, we were walking back around the Cotton Bowl. Sarah was saying she wished we could go inside. We passed by an open gate and there was a worker there. She asked if we could go in and he said, "I don't care. I'm just a TV guy." So we went in. There were quite a few workers going about their business. On the field there was a number of TV sports reporters wrapping up their reports. We got to walk into the lower seats of the stadium and stayed as long as we wanted. Sarah and Blake went down on the field and got a picture. BEVO, the Texas mascot, was laying out on the field with several folks around him. That is one big piece of longhorn beef!
After all that we were all ready to take off. We made our way back to the car and had a surprisingly easy time of exiting the area. Since we were fairly close to the headquarters of the Dallas Police Department, I drove over there so Merilyn, Sarah and Blake could see it. We all like to watch The First 48 police show on TV and they show the front of the building on it when they have episodes from Dallas. We came on back to Ennis, ate at Taco Cabana and got back to the apartment for the last few minutes of the Arkansas-Florida football game. What a heart breaker for the Hogs! We got showers and spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching more football on TV.
Sunday morning was another beautiful day weather-wise. It was great to have Merilyn, Sarah and Blake with me for worship. Quite a few of our folks were out of town but we had a good morning. One of our elders and his wife took us out for lunch to a nice Italian restaurant then we got back to the apartment and loaded up for their return to Springdale. Fortunately, they had an uneventful trip back home. Merilyn and Sarah were surely glad to see their "babies," Chloe and Mollie. Merilyn had arranged with a co-worker's daughter to stay at our house and watch the dogs. The rest of my Sunday went well. Of course, I was a bit lonesome after everyone left but I am surely glad we are close enough so that we can still see each other every so often. It is always better to count your blessings than to count your troubles.
God is good. He will take care of us and work everything out for our benefit as long as we will be faithful to Him. It looks like it is going to be another beautiful day in north Texas today. I hope it is a good one where you are. Enjoy it, and thank God for it!

We know that in everything God work for good with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

Another broken record

Official confirmation came on the news last night. It is not just my perception of the weather situation here in the Dallas area. The weather reporter said that this October has new entered the record books as officially the gloomiest start to the month ever. He said that since October 1, we have not had sunshine for 86% of the time. I'm glad to know it was not just me! We got some sunshine yesterday afternoon and it surely warmed things up. By the time I went out to the park for my afternoon exercise it was close to 90 degrees. It was nice to have the sunshine, though, and the forecast is for a cold front to come through today that will clear things out so that the weekend is supposed to be clear with high temperatures in the upper 60's to lower 70's. Now that is just about perfect!
The sports pages in the newspaper this week are full of stuff about the Red River Rivalry, which is what they call the Texas-Oklahoma football game. As you might expect, most of the writers are choosing Texas to win the game, but they also say that you can never know what will happen in such a contest. I'm glad that Sam Bradford is back as the quarterback for the Sooners. With both teams at full strength, it should be a whale of a ball game.
I am especially looking forward to the weekend because Merilyn, Sarah and Blake are coming for a visit. Blake is a huge OU fan so it will be fun to watch the game with him. Afterward we are going out to the State Fair of Texas which is held in the Fair Park area of Dallas. That is also the location for the Cotton Bowl where the Texas-Oklahoma football game is played so the crowds and traffic will probably be crazy but I reckon we'll just get in there and be crazy with them.
Have a good weekend and Sunday. Enjoy the beauties of the Fall season!

The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims He handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words; their voice is not heard; yet their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. (Psalm 19:1-4)

Broken record?

Back in the "olden days," if someone kept repeating something you could say that they sounded like a broken record and everyone would understand what you meant. Everyone would have had the experience of putting a record on the record player and if the record had a bad scratch or a crack, the needle would hit it and keep repeating a short part of the song. Now if you say "record" or "record player," most folks under the age of 25 or 30 don't know what you are talking about. How long has it been since you have even seen a record player? Ah, the wonders of the digital age! Anyway, my point in saying all that is to say that we have had another day of rain in this part of the world so I know I am sounding like a broken record. The weather report last night said we got another 2-3" which caused some flooding in the surrounding areas. The reporter also said that we have had rain for 11 of the first 13 days of the month of October. That is on top of the 12-13" that we got during the middle parts of September. If this keeps up, we may be living in the middle of a tropical rain forest before too long! But relief is on the way. The forecast is for sunshine to return tomorrow afternoon and then for the weekend to be beautiful with temperatures right around 72. Merilyn, Sarah and Blake are coming down for the weekend and we are planning to go to the Texas State Fair in Dallas on Saturday so I hope the forecast is right.
There was an interesting article in the Dallas Morning News yesterday about the worst cities in the nation for allergies. Dallas ranked #11. It had a listing of the top ten and most of the worst places for allergies are in Texas. Whether it is the rainy weather causing mold, or ragweed, or some other allergy producing cause, it seems that nearly everybody down here is fighting some kind of upper respiratory congestion. Lots of folks are sick with sinus infection, bronchitis and other ailments like that. I talked to Sarah last night and she sounds like she's coming down with something like that, too. I hope she can get it treated and squared away so she can feel good for their trip down here this weekend.
Enjoy the day. Be grateful for every blessing you receive from God today!

This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:24)

A cheerful heart is a good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)