Day 21

by   August 31, 2021 with No Comments

By David Freeze

  A lot of hard riding with more false summits


  Last night, after I had submitted Saturday’s update, I happened to check the tires on the bike for proper inflation. First time I have done that late at night. The back tire was going flat. So with the giant room, I unloaded everything and changed the tube. Changing the back tire tube is much harder for me than the front one, because all the parts have to fit back together on the chain and brakes. I got it done and still hit the bed about 11:30pm.


    Up at 5:45, I was out the door before 7, grabbed two egg, potato and cheese tacos, then started the long journey from Brackettville to Camp Wood. That is about 50 miles with no supply points in between. Very light traffic on a gradual climb, all good except for the gravely road. This type of road is common in this area, leaving me searching for a smoother section. Usually it is where the car and truck tires have worn the rocky surface down some. Nearly all of this was on SR 334.


      At Camp Wood, the grocery store and convenience store were combined into one. I got a few supplies, some ice and headed toward Leakey on SR 337. Again, very light traffic and not much unusual to see. Just a bunch of false summits, thinking I had made the top when I hadn’t.


      With about 10 miles to go, another storm looked ready to unload on the area and I rode hard toward Leakey to beat the rain. I made it, grabbed a few things at the local grocery and was disappointed that they didn’t have bananas. All this while my room was made ready at the Historic Leakey Inn. I have a great cyclist’s price in a room with interior rock work and a real wood ceiling. The original building was constructed in 1929 and lots of the old construction is still around. Leakey has a population of about 425.


    I will be headed north tomorrow on US 83 toward Kerrville. Today’s ride was 72 miles,  most of it still challenging. This Texas hill country wouldn’t be so bad if the roads were better.


    I just added things up and it looks like we’ll hit halfway tomorrow in Kerrville. After tomorrow, about 350 more miles to Louisiana. I will be ready for flatter ground.


  And finally, something unusual from this morning. I noticed a canvas day pack, like a hiker would use, lying in the grass near the road. Then noticed a second one, both very nice packs and full of random stuff. Nothing I could use to contact anyone. I left them there, hoping that the owners would come get them.


  Join me for ‘Halfway Day’ tomorrow. As always, thanks for riding along.

School Daze?

by   August 30, 2021 with No Comments

By Ann Farabee

School Days or School Daze? This year it feels like a little of both.

The definition of the word daze includes some descriptive words: stunned, confused, bewildered, stupefied. Stupefied means astonished, shocked, or made unable to think or feel properly.

Those words may be somewhat appropriate for how life is in our world right now, as we try to get back to normal.  So – as school days begin, at first they may feel like school daze.

Here are some ideas that may help our children adjust to the new school year:

SLEEP. It is important for learning, behavior, focus, mood, and growth. Suggested amounts:

*Ages 3 to 6: 10 -12 hours *Ages 7 to 12: 10-11 hours *Ages 13 to 18: 8-10 hours

BREAKFAST. It is important for health, behavior, growth, and higher academic achievement. Diet should include whole grains, fiber, protein, and make it low in sugar.

PRAYER. As you say the morning good-bye, pray with your child. It just takes a few seconds and will be remembered forever – and probably passed on to the next generation. Also, teach your child to pray for themselves – while at school. They don’t have to close their eyes. They don’t have to pray aloud. God hears our thoughts. Prayer is our greatest weapon.

GOD’S WORD. Help your child memorize a verse to bring to mind at school throughout the day. A good verse to start off the year would be Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ.” Write it down and they can put it in their pockets, book bags, or lunch boxes. I kept a handwritten verse of scripture on my desk at all times when I was teaching. It sure did help.

TABLE TALK. Table Talk refers to the conversations we have with our children. It could be while eating a meal. It could be in the car. It could be any time of the day where the timing feels right. I personally find that asking, “How was your day?” results in a one word response like, “Good.” So, I try to ask questions that lead to actual conversation.

FAMILY TALK. Family Talk refers to times where there is an intentional gathering of family to read God’s Word or pray together.

CONNECTIONS. Show up at school events. Volunteer to help at school events. Send emails or notes to the teacher. Parents are part of their child’s educational experience . Our children need to know that education matters.

HOMEWORK STATION. Keep all needed school tools and book bags at a work station set aside for your child to use at home daily.

BOOK BAGS HOLD INFORMATION. The importance of book bags should never be underestimated. They almost seem to be a child’s personal place of residency. Help your student learn to keep it organized and uncluttered. Look through it. Yes, look through it. You can learn a lot. As you look through it, remove molded bread, melted chocolate, or similar items.

BEDTIME TALK. It is the best. Bedtime seems to be when many children are ready to share their thoughts. Make time for it. Take time for it. Pray together.

Deuteronomy 11:19 encourages us to put God’s Word in our children’s hearts by

speaking of them when we sit in our house, when we walk by the way, when we lie down, and when we rise up.

Lord, may the school days be sweet – and may we not be in a daze for long. Amen

READY… SET…SCHOOL !!!

Love Thy Neighbor

by   August 28, 2021 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

Love thy Neighbors

            I live in a good community. Recently, several neighbors wanted to meet with our town mayor and police chief to discuss how to keep our neighborhood safe and outside solicitors out. It was a good meeting that I hope will result in some positive steps being taken to accomplish that goal.

            I am fortunate to live in a good community with people who look out for each other. If the power goes out, we check on each other. If an emergency vehicle comes into our community, you can be certain that neighbors are there to check on each other.

            I don’t know every neighbor’s name, but we all wave as we pass each other. Several of my neighbors enjoy walking and we have a great place for that. I enjoy walking, but not in this summer heat. I will resume walking once the weather cools down.

            One thing I have noticed the longer I live is that we all go through times when we need someone to give us a hand. We certainly go through times when prayers are desperately appreciated. Several of my neighbors have had extended hospital stays and much prayer has brought them safely home to us. Others have faced loss and needed not only our prayers but help in practical ways, too.

            Sometimes prayers are needed for matters that are not life and death. Some of my neighbors have elderly parents. Some of my neighbors have sent their children back to school. Please take time to pray for our schools as COVID is making it difficult to have in-person class instruction, which I can assure you is far better than online learning.

            Other neighbors have taken their children back to colleges or universities. Their once bustling nests are all too quiet. My sister took her daughter back to my old alma mater, where she hopes to enjoy her junior year. She has also taken her second child off to Virginia Military Institute, where he will face many challenges to see if he is ready to rise and become a strong military leader. He has my prayers, but I know he will do great.

            Every person faces their own struggles, their own need for prayer. Some are willing to share, while others bear their pain and needs privately. While it is not appropriate to share all your private struggles, it’s okay to acknowledge your need for prayer or to ask a neighbor for a helping hand. I feel in my neighborhood people would be standing in line to give another a helping hand.

            As I write this, I realize that neighbors are not just the people who live around you. In my case, my neighbors are members of my church family. If I were to mention a need at my church, there would several guys over here the next day willing to help me out. If someone in my church is hurting, you can be sure that someone will be there to bring comfort and an encouraging word.

            I actually think neighbors go beyond the people in your community and church. I remember when Hurricane Andrew left destruction in Florida, a retired friend joined a group of guys and went down to help repair people’s homes. I remember similar things after Hugo went through our area.

            Jesus taught us to love our neighbors. I think loving and caring for them is an important witness to our lives. In Jesus’ day the Jews hated the Samaritans, so the parable of the good Samaritan was probably hard for His Jewish followers to swallow. The woman at the well was from Samaria. It was in Samaria that Jesus revealed to the people that He was the messiah. So maybe our neighbors reach beyond our communities to our neighbors around the world.

            I believe it is important that we be careful and vigilant for our safety around strangers because we know that evil exists in our world. But we can’t allow that to stop us from reaching out if we exercise wisdom. Ask for God’s guidance as you help those in need.

            I want to encourage you to consider how you can help a neighbor. What can you do to physically help or how can you pray for them? Sometimes a simple pat on the back or a word of encouragement can be a lifesaver. I believe when we help someone the door is open to share our faith, the reason for our hope. Your helping hand might open their heart to God’s love.  

Doug Creamer has a new book at Amazon: EncouragingU: Summer Stories. Contact him at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

Day 17

by   August 24, 2021 with No Comments

By David Freeze

Managing the route!


  It was very late last night when I got to Fort Davis, and nearly 10pm when I got in the room. Most everything still got done, but I will admit to dozing off near midnight when I was proofing that day’s update. Knowing that it would get daylight later this morning, my alarm got a snoozing, something I never, ever do.


    I rode back through town this morning and out on part of the route that I missed last night when Mindi Fires picked me up. I didn’t realize that had I kept riding, I would have had a huge hill to climb coming into Fort Davis. In a day that seemed to have no ending, I would have missed my motel had she not picked me up. The owner said he was about to close. This was one time, in retrospect, that I did the right thing getting that ride in the pitch dark.


  I did take the time to plan today’s route last night. For the next few days, there are serious supply issues, so many that I am having trouble sorting through them. My plan today was to ride the 56 miles to Marathon, so small that it has only about 500 residents. But it has at least a couple motels, the one that I chose is the Marathon Motel and RV Park. I have a very nice room but major problems with WiFi. I am going to submit the story and photos and then ride downtown for some food. Much better than I did last night.


    Recapping today, I wanted to see what Fort Davis looked liked and found it full of interesting shops and restaurants. It also has a unique attraction, the Fort Davis National Historic Military Site. Fort Davis is the best preserved frontier military outpost. It has lots of buildings and I could have spent have a day there. The fort was used from 1854 to 1891.


    Attached to my motel was a deli and sort of community gathering place. This place had my favorite egg, cheese and potato burrito ready made. They are so good! My favorite store was the one selling barbed wire art. The old bank and courthouse, both still in use, were spectacular. Someday, I will come back and spend a day there.


      I had yet another tough climb up and out of Fort Davis, and continued on US 118. The scenery was wonderful, the grading of the road and its shoulders were not. I also realized this morning that Texas in this area looks just like Montana. Always mountains on the horizon, appearing to be miles away.


    My only other town today was Alpine, a beautiful and busy place but still at only about 5,000 people. Nice people and while there, I called and made the deal for my room tonight. It was 32 miles from Alpine and I rode it in one minute less than 3 hours. One significant hill in the middle, but lots of good riding on US 90. I noticed a bigger presence of border patrol agents in the area. My mileage today was 56.


  I still stop at every historical marker, and I saw one border agent hiding there. They always seem to have long sight lines where anyone crossing the road would be seen.


    Just as today, if I had continued past Marathon, I had 55 more miles to go for a place to stay and supplies. Tomorrow may be similar but I will research it tonight.


    Mindi Fires is now a significant sponsor for my coast to coast journey, and I want to  welcome Wayne Cobb to the group as a new sponsor.


    A cloudy day, with a little drizzle, never got past the low 80s. Hoping for another like it tomorrow. Join me back here to see what happens!

A Season of Brokenness

by   August 23, 2021 with No Comments

By Ann Farabee

     If you are in a season of brokenness, you may not want words of advice. You want breakthrough! I understand. I sure have been there. During those difficult seasons of my life, much of my day would be spent going through the motions, watching and wondering how others kept going about their daily routine as if everything was normal. For me – nothing felt normal. 

     You may be grieving, sick, discouraged, facing a difficult circumstance, in a broken relationship, or dealing with broken expectations. If so, read this with your heart, and let God apply it to your life. If you are not in a season of brokenness, read it with your mind, and use it to encourage others along your path.

       I haven’t walked in your shoes. I haven’t traveled your path. But… I can tell you what God has done for me. Here is some of what I have learned in my seasons of brokenness:

     *Brokenness shows God’s provision. Even the strongest can be broken. It is not a sign of weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9 – My grace is sufficient for you: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.

     *Brokenness shows God’s plan. It is part of life. John 16:33 – In this world, you will have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

     *Brokenness shows God’s purpose. Your tests become your testimony. 2 Corinthians 4:17 – For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

     *Brokenness shows God’s providence. We don’t have all the information. Our knowledge is limited. God knows why. We don’t. Deuteronomy 29:29 -The secret things belong to the Lord.

     *Brokenness shows God’s power. We can’t fix it. God can. Psalm 147:3 – He heals the broken in heart.

     *Brokenness shows God’s proximity. He is near! Psalm 34:18 -The Lord is near to those with a broken heart.

     Vance Havner wrote, “God uses broken things. It takes broken soil to produce a crop, broken clouds to give rain, broken grain to give bread, broken bread to give strength. It is the broken alabaster box that gives forth perfume. It is Peter, weeping bitterly, who returns to greater power than ever.”

      Having been through seasons of brokenness in my life has more equipped me to help bear the burdens of others as they travel through difficult days. You see, my brokenness has become a weapon of usefulness, and my setbacks were actually  setups!

      Oh, how my heart hurts for those of you who may be struggling in your season of brokenness.  May your good days slowly begin to overtake the ‘not so good’ days, and one day when you least expect it, I know the sun will break through the clouds and begin to shine in your life again.

It’s Monday

by   August 21, 2021 with No Comments

By Doug Creamer

            When I opened my eyes this morning I thought, “Well, I better get moving, it’s Monday.” I have to admit, I wanted to roll over and keep sleeping. I got myself up and started to get ready. I teach classes online. It’s a great job; I only have to get the top half of me ready. I usually wear sweats and slippers on the bottom and a shirt and tie on top. If my wife sees me dressed like that she gets a good laugh for the day.

            This morning as I started to set up my online classroom, I noticed that the internet wasn’t working. It went out last night but I thought surely it would be working by the morning. I had five classes and I wasn’t going to miss them. My option at this point was to drive to church and teach on my laptop.

            I had to get fully dressed, pack up my things, and drive as quickly as I could to church in hopes that I could make it for my first class. The clock was ticking. I was a few minutes late and the company locked me out of my first class. I wasn’t terribly shocked and thought that I would have more time to set up everything for my next class.

            I logged in and started to set everything up, only to discover that I didn’t have my camera with me. My laptop doesn’t have a camera. I jumped back in the car and drove back home to get the camera and return to the church in time to have my second class of the day. I made it. My classes went smoothly.

            When I finished my classes I was emotionally and mentally drained. I had to run an errand while I was out. My stomach was complaining about when breakfast would arrive. While I was driving I thought to myself what a crazy and stressful way to begin the week. I took a deep breath and decided I wasn’t going to allow one missed class to ruin a good day.

            As I was making my way home I noticed trees and limbs down. A little farther down, I saw utility trucks parked and men working. Then there were cable and AT&T trucks. There were people dragging limbs out to the road. Then I saw a house where a tree had fallen right through the middle of it. A once beautiful two-story home, now demolished.

            I knew we had severe storms in the area the night before, which was why the cable was out. I didn’t know so many other people were dealing with such terrible problems. I saw the man surveying his once beautiful home. My heart sank for him and his family. I heard from a neighbor that there was quite a bit of damage in another neighborhood not too far from mine.

            I sat quietly on my porch this morning having my quiet time. I realized that my little hiccup was nothing compared to what some people were facing on this Monday morning. I prayed for the family that lost their home. Here are some other people I prayed for this morning: some friends who are fighting COVID, some friends who are fighting to keep their marriage alive, all the students and teachers heading back to their classrooms not knowing what kind of year they will have with this virus, the people who are in the path of the tropical storm that was coming ashore, the people living in Afghanistan, some people who have never believed in Jesus as their savior, and others who have walked away from their faith.

            Losing my internet and missing a class seemed so unimportant compared to what others were facing. I texted my pastor about my morning, and he texted back that Psalms 145 was a part of his scripture reading for the day. I read it twice. There was so much there to meditate on. God’s love, His protection, His worthiness to receive our praise, and His abundant provision were just a few of them.

            No matter what kind of day you’ve had, I want to encourage you to remember that God loves you and has His eye on you and your situation. He is with you and He will see you through whatever you face. He loves you profoundly. If you have walked away from Him, He is waiting for your return. He will quiet your fears, take away your doubts, and forgive all your sins and failures. God promises to be with you today, tomorrow, and every day if you will put your faith in Him.

Doug Creamer has a new book at Amazon: EncouragingU: Summer Stories. Contact him at PO Box 777, Faith, NC 28041or doug@dougcreamer.com

Twenty Year Journey

by   August 20, 2021 with No Comments

By Roger Barbee

Twenty years ago this morning I awoke in an ICU ward in Fairfax Hospital. The night before I had had two nineteen-inch titanium rods screwed to my back because that afternoon a building I was taking down collapsed– pinning me beneath it. My broken back had to be stabilized, thus the rods.

I remember a little of  that morning: Seeing through the fog of morphine a friend who had flown on a red eye from California to see me; The ICU nurse’s long, black, curly hair that fell over my face when she leaned in to ask me a question; My body still carrying the dust and dirt from the collapsed building; My family huddled in fear and worry; But not much more. Snippets in memory that may or may not be accurate run together with what I know to be true. But what I know to be absolute is that that morning and many after it held doubt and fear and dread until I, as Mary Oliver writes, realized.

Like the narrator in her poem, The Journey, I realized one morning or at one moment or with a particular encounter that it was time—time for me to expel all the bad that I had allowed to enter into my life.  I realized that at times during those four years, my dark time, I ignored what I knew to be the truth and allowed the voices to continue tugging at “my ankles.” But as Oliver writes, “One day you finally knew/what you had to do, and began,…” And like most beginnings, mine was full of slow progress, but “Little by little” I improved, and I eventually left the “Old man” that Paul writes about behind. But like all journeys, mine was not just me placing a foot in front of another. I had begun journeying, but I was not walking alone.

After I set aside the leeches in my life, I was able to reckon myself and take an honest sounding. This sounds selfish, but when you find yourself so miserable that the only option seems to be to continue your denial or to admit that you have been at the bottom of a dark hole, digging and digging, all the while wondering why you cannot escape and see the sunlight and feel its warmth, it is then that you set aside the shovel those takers had given you and deeply consider where you are.  Finally able to lean the shovel against the hole’s side,   I began to stop going down and began to move up, ever so slowly. It was on that going upward that I saw my true friends and learned to allow them to help me.

One of the best advantages of any journey is the people you will encounter. You will meet them in unlikely places and in unusual circumstances. Because your journey is one of renewal, you will move slowly, so you will see and hear more. While your journey may not be one of steps,  you will still discover that your frantic pace to satisfy others has ceased, and you now see and hear what you had not experienced before. The ground you are traveling over becomes a sharing place for you to hear the stories of others, to smell the air of an autumn day, to feel the sun’s warmth through a  window, to hear a child’s laughter, and more. You are alive.

My journey continues because of family and friends. While I could list all of them, there is no need to because they each know what they did to help me as I finally leaned the shovel against the hole’s wall. The hole, by the  way, is still there, however, and it will never go away. It is a reminder of life’s danger, but I have learned to accept its existence and walk around it.

When measured in years, twenty is many. But when measured as a journey, it is short. Therefore, wherever you are on your journey, enjoy each step that brings more people to share it.  They are the balm for your sore and tired feet.

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