Adventure 371: San Angelo State Park/Post B

Last night in San Angelo for Fric and Frac.

It's Sunday, so it must be time for preaching. Here it goes. We left the First Baptist service this morning humming a tune that promised to honor God every day. As happened the last time we were Baptists (Corpus Christi,  2015), we were uplifted by the Baptist service. The music filled us with the spirit, the friendly people made us feel welcome, and the pastor, Dr. James Hassell spoke with both aplomb and conviction. We witnessed an immersion Baptism, (My first), and in keeping with the church's evangelical mission, Pastor Hassell preached about living in the way of Christ. He chose Luke 9: 63, which basically calls people to drop everything for the service of the Lord. To paraphrase, believers are giving Jesus excuses as to why they can't come into His service. One says after I take care of burying my father; another says I have to tend to the fields; some people say give me a sign. Christ's basic reply is that no one who makes any excuses will be worthy of the kingdom of heaven. Pastor Hassell's sermon dealt with the idea of moving forward by "living backward". It sounds confusing except for this perfect example. Our current President fancies himself as a person who never backs down. He's proud of the fact that if someone hits him, he hits them back, harder. That's quite opposite to the notion of turning the other cheek, or praying for one's enemies as Jesus instructed us to do. At the end of the service, Pastor Hassell called for anyone to come forward in a public display of faith to commit to Jesus. A young African American woman, who was carrying her three week old baby, came forward. Pastor asked the women of the congregation to come forward to surround this young woman with acceptance. It was quite moving, and I find this approach much more palatable than baseless accusations, empty recriminations, or vile threats. It's not easy to honor Jesus seven days a week. As a theologian Pastor Hassell alluded to ( I can't remember his name), "A person who comes to church on Sundays and says all the right things, sings all the right songs, and holds him/herself in the right manner is considered righteous, but a person who publicly professes to love the Lord seven days a week is considered weird." Like they say in Austin, "Let's keep being weird." After church we took a ride around the park. It's quite extensive and offers uses for just about every taste. There is the lake, several bike/hike trails, a few nature walks, a buffalo herd, an exhibition herd of Texas Longhorn Steers , picnic sites, and over night camping sites. In the evening, since we're here near Big Lake, Texas, we watched Dennis Quaid star in the movie of Jimmy Morris' life, "The Rookie". It brought the day full circle. We wiped the tears from our eyes just as we had when the ladies of the church welcomed the young mother, and realized once again that life is good, especially today.

 Last night's BBQ with creamed corn and borracha beans.

 We talked with a fisherman who was glad to be on the lake. He said that two years ago, due to the drought in Texas, a guy could walk across the lake (And not just Jesus, either).

 I took this cute biker babe with me on the ride.

 We saw some buffalo, but they were too far away to get pictures of.

 Same with the Longhorns, but boy are they huge cattle!

 I did snap a shot of these metal bison.

 Don't you just love the scraggily arms of these oak trees.

 They call this a picnic site in Texas.

 Blowing wind and golden sunsets mark this part of the country. There's a lot to say about both.

 A guy can't really be a winter Texan without a BBQ and a Lone Star.

Good night, Frac.