“Get rich quick.
Count your blessings.”
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
Author Archive
Frequently, I blog about events or scenes from my drive in to work. These scenes or topics can be as varied as beautiful sunrises to turkeys strutting for females in an open field.
This morning was different. As I traveled along the Gene Snyder after crossing the 65 I noticed sign after sign along the side of the freeway. These signs were spaced 100-300 yards apart and went for 5-6 miles. Needless to say, there were a lot of signs. It was very cool and an impressive sight.
The signs had an American flag or ribbon on them and said:
Welcome Home to
The 19th Engineers!!!
We missed you!
To the 19th Engineers returning to Ft Knox…..welcome home and THANK YOU for your service to our country.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
For those of you who might have missed the live stream in my last post, here is a link to the replay of the fireworks.
Go check it out. It was very cool last night to watch it with the family.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
As I highlighted in yesterday’s post, Kentucky Derby season is now officially upon us. One thing I found out for those of you that might want to watch all the festivities live is that a local TV station, Wave 3, is streaming the airshow and fireworks live at www.wave3.com.
Go check out how cool Thunder Over Louisville is for yourself.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
This morning on my drive to work I looked over at a wide open field. In the middle were several brown objects milling about in the green grass as the sun rose. They turned out to be turkeys. And similar to Sunday’s observation, one of them was a tom turkey all puffed up with a full fan spread of feathers. He was wooing 3-4 females. It amazes me how much bigger and spectacular the males get when they are courting.
I find it interesting that I had never in my life seen this type of display and then I witness it twice in one week.
Pretty cool!
Happy Friday, y’all! If you are in the Louisville area, there is lots going on this weekend. The weather is supposed to be beautiful after tonight’s expected storm blows through. And good thing too, because we don’t want it messing up the airshow tomorrow or the evening’s Thunder Over Louisville. Let the Derby festivities begin!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
The weekend that God has laid out before us shaped up to be even more glorious than I could have planned or expected. It started off with wonderful worship on Friday evening. That was followed by my normal Saturday morning Men’s Breakfast and Bible study.
On my way home, I took a nice country drive detour through a local town so I could swing by the local country store for garden starter plants. Unfortunately, they were not put out yet but I did pick up a couple of things. My conversation with the clerk was very pleasant and somehow turned to prayer. His mother-in-law Tina isn’t doing too well. He also shared with me that this last week his 93 year old dad gave him a scare with an emergency room visit. I said I would keep them both in my prayers and he was very thankful.
Our Saturday late morning and afternoon were spent preparing for our first “party on the patio” or “POP” as my wife refers to them. We invited quite a few families from church over to have good food, games, fellowship, and an impromptu bonfire. We all had a great time. The adults could eat and chat while all the kids were able to run around playing with each other. It all moved from inside and the patio to the back lawn as we set fire to a brush pile and then added more fuel to the fire. Chairs and quilts were brought out as everyone spent the remainder of the evening hanging around the bonfire and enjoying one another’s company.
Sunday morning I arose early to put water on the still smouldering fire. As I was doing so, I heard across on another farm the gobbling of wild turkeys. They were gobbling up a storm and it was so neat to hear them cut the quiet of the morning with their banter.
As we made our way down the street on the way to church in my wife’s truck, we passed by the gravel drive to one of the farms across the way. Something in the middle of the drive literally made me halt the truck and back up — against the wishes of my wife who was reminding me that we were late. What caused me to veer from our drive to church was the sight of two turkeys about 20 yards away. And it wasn’t just two turkeys which we tend to see with some regularity here in the Kentucky countryside. It was a male tom wooing a female hen. He was astrut in full fan and all puffed up. I had never seen such a thing. Usually they are just normal looking turkeys and I had a hard time identifying the males from the females. But when the males puff up, fan out and strut they are truly amazing. This tom was trying hard to woo the female as I described it to the kids. We watched only for a minute so as to not impede on his, hopefully, successful mating ritual. All in all, a very cool sight of nature. The picture below is not what I saw, but a good idea of the difference of the male vs the female when strutting.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
My wife and I went to our first Emmaus “gathering” this evening. It is a monthly opportunity for us to rekindle our Emmaus relationships, involvement and commitment. It was nice to see folks on our walk and in the community again.
There was good conversation followed by awesome worship. The music was inspirational and uplifting. It was a small version of the Christian radio that now dominates my car radio and daily commutes. We sang contemporary praise songs like “Sing, Sing, Sing” (Chris Tomlin) and “Amazing Grace” (the modern version, also by Chris Tomlin).
My favorite was a version of “Blessed Be The Name” by Tree63. Now normally I am a fairly reserved worshipper, probably because of my Lutheran background and heritage. It goes back quite a ways all the way to my great grandparents who were Lutheran missionaries to China. But through the recent experiences of the last month or so along with my immersion into scripture, I have been loosening the reigns of worship to more fully reflect what I believe God calls us to do — completely submit to Him and praise him completely and fully from our hearts. It was during the “Blessed Be The Name” rendition that the moment caught my soul. The beautiful sound of praise. The harmonious tunes of worship. The fellowships of believers. Tears of praise streamed down and stumbled across the smile on my face as I lifted up my voice and my hand in praise of my Lord. It was exactly what I was made to do and such a fulfilling and moving experience. And it brings so many thoughts into my mind. As a guy, to release and reject society’s image of a crying man. As a churchgoer, to embrace this as a more often occurance and seek it routinely. As a worshipper, to completely submit.
It sure has given me a reason to pause and reflect on my worship of the God who made me and who sacrificed His perfect Son for my sake and salvation.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
There isn’t a lot that can truly leave me speechless. The video snippet below showing a “representative” in our Congress at work truly leaves me without words. Now think about this folks — we, the taxpayers, are paying him over $150,000 a year, plus a car, Washington residence and a huge severage and health care package for his “services” and insane questions. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the bottom of the barrel.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
If you have been reading this blog for a while, you know that I enjoy my country drive to work. Whether going to work or coming home, it is a decompressing time that allows me to soak up God’s creation whether it is gorgeous outside, raining, cold and snowy, or picturesque. There is so much for me to look around and ponder. To see His creativity. And if I am aware and observant, there is always something neat around me.
This morning was no different. I was about 3 miles from the house when, out of the corner of my eye from the direction of the rising sun, I see a brown bird flying at a 45 degree angle towards the car. I figured it was a hawk…..until it got closer. Then it began flapping its wings frantically. It seems that the female turkey hen didn’t want to hit (or get hit by) my car driving along the country road. She barely cleared me and I leaned forward to look out and up the windshield to see this large hen 3-4 feet above my car.
Once clear, she stopped flapping and resumed her glide into the trees and away from harm. All I could say was “Cool!”.
An even better drive was last Thursday. It was a day after the full moon and it was hanging low in the western sky brilliantly beaming out against the clear morning sky. As it descended, it got bigger — just like it does when it rises. In itself, it was a beautiful picture.
And then I looked in the rear view mirror to see the glazing ball of orange rise across the Kentucky countryside. I literally could get both glowing balls into my field of view as I looked ahead at the moon while the rising morning sun was in my rear view mirror. As I changed course down the highway while there were no cars around, I literally could turn my head back and forth, east to west, sun to moon to capture a truly amazing rare sight.
It only lasted a few minutes and I felt like I was a witness to one of God’s nature creation secrets. I wonder how many others were able to enjoy that morning gift last week.
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
“God built a bridge from death to life
with 2 boards and 3 nails”
And how appropriate is this sign on Easter Sunday.
He has risen!
…..Dan at aslowerpace dot net
