A Precious Gift - Guard it Well

The preacher where I worship (Brother Mark) told a story in his sermon last Sunday that has stuck with me so far this week...which is kinda unusual in itself....I kid.  Anyways, at church tonight I asked him if  he minded me sharing the story.   He was fine with it.  The lesson was taken from James chapter 2 about how we are to treat or fellow man and how we often have our own little clicks and like to stay in our comfort zone. To illustrate how we often show more respect to people we know he told how his son (age 5) was at preschool when one of the fathers came in and shared what he does for a living with the children.  Apparently this guy fished for a living.   After the class the father was talking to the children when Mark's son piped up that his dad could catch more fish than he could.  He also offered that his dad had caught a shark before.  Now Mark is a good fisherman (or at least to here him tell it he is) but I do have my doubts that he could out fish this guy.   You see, the dad talking to the children was non other than Chris Lane, the 2013 Bassmaster Classic Champion.  I also see one more valuable lesson to be learned from this story.  Children think their parents are the be all end all of just about everything. Unfortunately, this usually only last up until about the time they hit the teenage years. But, during this time, we, as parents should be extra diligent to lead our kids by being a good example. They are watching our every move and hearing our every word.

Reminiscing

Ever remember something that happened a long time ago that really was not a big event in your life and for no apparent reason you can think of.  However, when you think of it with such a vivid recollection, it makes you wonder if there was more to it.  I had just such an experience a few days ago.   Maybe it was due to a recent death in a family that I consider close friends?  Who knows?  Anyways, the event (if you could call it that) was watching a movie with my Grandmaw.  The movie was "The Villain" and to tell the truth, I don't remember much about the movie. In fact, I could not remember the title, so that made finding it harder, I do remember that it starred Arnold Scharzenegger so I finally used IMDb and typed in True Lies, then went to the cast and clicked on Arnold's name and saw the list of movies he was in and thus found it.  I was surprised it was made in 1979.  Not because the time frame seems wrong or anything like that, but the fact that I watched it with Grandmaw and spent the night.  And the reason this seems off is I don't recall spending the night with her a whole lot after I was out of high school, and it would have been 1980 or 81 when it was released on t.v.  But now that I have found it and read the reviews, I guess my taste in movies at that time was not that great.  It got terrible reviews.  But then again, I never have seemed to like the popular movies, tending to gravitate towards lesser known or at least smaller box office hits. One of my all time favorite movies is "The Man From Snowy River" and it was just a so so movie according to the experts.

But back to my reminiscing. I remember that Grandmaw got to laughing so hard that she turned red. I was a little worried that she might stop breathing.  And I'm not sure if it was her laughter that made me laugh so much, but I do remember laughing a lot myself.  I've seen her do this before so I was not that worried but I do recall telling her she might orta git up and walk around a little. Grandmaw passed away many years ago but other than my parents, she was probably one of if not the most influential people in my life.  She had a way of finding the bright side of nearly every situation.  She also loved to cook and I loved to eat so that may have been part of it.  I remember going fishing with her and she was always pretty serious when it came to fishing. She would tell me, "you're scarring all the fish off acting like that" (me running around being a kid) and when I would pause long enough to actually fish a little, "your never gona catch anything beatin the water with you fishin pole like that".  Right now I would just love to be able to go fishin with her one more time, or watch a movie with her, or eat some of her fried fish and hush puppies. If you're lucky enough to still have your grandparents with you, please find the time to tell them how much you appreciate and love them.  

One excuse is as good as another

And by that I mean, most of the things we do in life (or have happen to us) are the results of our own actions, but we often make excuses for why certain things remain undone or do not turn out like we planned.  A perfect example for me is my weight.  It was easy to stay in shape up until I hit about 30.  Then I slowly started adding on the lbs.  By the time I hit 40 it was official, I was fat.   However, I carried it well, or at least that's what folks would tell me, so it was not that big a deal and I did not  become obsessed about it.  However, since I like to ride my recumbent up and down the mountain and also enjoy backpacking, keeping my weight in check would be advantageous, not to mention the fact that it is just healthier.   And here are where the excuses come in.  Like I mentioned earlier, I would have folks say, well you don't look fat. In fact I took pride in asking folks how much they thought I weighed.  I would get answers like 200 or 210 lbs  when In fact I weighed about 235 #.  And now that I'm up to around 250 # I still get similar answers, only now it is you don't look that fat...and they usually guess somewhere around 230 #.  Another excuse I like to use is my wife. We like to go out and eat on Friday or Saturday night.  We will usually order something different and then share.  As a perfect example, we went to eat on our birthday last Thursday night (we share the same birthday).  She ordered shrimp and grits and I ordered a stake.  I cut her off a medium sized piece of my steak and she said, that's too much.  She cut about half of it off and handed it back.  She then proceeds to put well over half of her food on my plate. Another excuses is that the little ole ladies at church cook way too good!  When we have a fellowship meal after services I have a habit of eating 2 plates full of food and then a plate full of desert after that.  At one time a lady (now deceased) would make 2 strawberry pies, and would always announce, now one of those is for Coy.  I honestly never did eat the whole thing but I would often eat at least half.

Along with over eating I also make excuses for not exercising.  I like to get out and ride my recumbent or walk to the holler, but often times I will let 2 or 3 days go by without a good walk or ride.  One excuses is my job.  After working a 24 hour shift, I come home and take a long nap and then get up around noon.  I will then laze around the house the rest of the day.  And because if this I wont sleep good this night and will often take a long nap the second day I'm off.  Another excuse is the weather. If it is raining I probably wont ride or walk, but I also let the cold or the wind stop me, especially from riding.  I do walk more in the winter so at least I don't get completely out of shape, but every spring that first ride back up the mountain is a killer.   I also watch way too much football and TV in general.  Perhaps to make up for the fact that we did not have a TV until I was about 14.   But even so,  I remember a time when there would only be a couple of Bama football games televised each year.  That meant I usually spent Saturdays fishing, hiking or doing some type of outdoor activity.  Now there are usually only a couple of games a year that are not televised and even those are usually available on pay per view.  And then there is NASCAR.  Before I became a fan I would usually play basketball or something similar after morning services. Now I come home, plop down on the couch and watch the race.  Last year I bought a rower with the plan being to use it while watching the race or a ball games.   I used it pretty regularly for about a month but here lately I've noticed it seems to serve only one purpose.  I will say it makes a pretty good coat rack. And besides, the treadmill in the bedroom was already full.

Life after 50 (or in my case 51)

Since yesterday was my birthday  (I turned 51) I guess it is a good time to take inventory of my life and what lies down the road (provided I don't kick the bucket anytime soon).  First of all, I'm relieved that I still feel relatively young!  Well, my knees do act up in cold weather, but I am able to get out and do most of the things I always enjoyed doing.   I distinctly remember as a young feller that folks around 30 seemed old. Then as I myself approached that age, it was folks around 50 that seemed old.  By then I figured that if I reached this age (around 50) I would start to feel old. Thankfully I was wrong. It's folks around 90 that are truly old...

Well, so much for taking inventory or looking ahead.  That takes too much thought. I will say that I am now realizing that time is the one commodity that should never be taken for granted. And along those lines, my health should be nurtured as much as possible.  So looking down the road I would like to improve my health (sounds a lot like my New Years Resolution every year....)  I do believe that being healthy will improve the quality of my life if not quantity. I will be able to do things for myself instead of depending on others and hopefully I can help others when needed