Category Archives: People I’ve met along the way

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Can You Make Those Around You Better?

The Girl Behind The Camera

The girl behind the camera is Julia Bhansali.   Julia is signed with my daughter Jamie’s modeling agency, JEA Model Management.  She has “the look” so she makes great pictures.  But according to Jamie, not only is she good in front of a camera, she is good at taking photographs and videos.
Today Julia’s challenge is to shoot pictures of the wilderness preacher and his log cabin work………………  and make me look good.  Challenge accepted, but I’m thinking this may take a while.
I’ve never enjoyed having my picture taken.  I don’t have “the look”.  I always feel like if I take a picture of myself, all the flaws and imperfections are there for the whole world to see.  (You feel the same way about pictures of yourself don’t ya?)  The same with taking pictures of my work on the log house I’m building.  The pictures I take are to show a work in progress.  But if you look closely, you will see faults, defects, mistakes, and slipups.
But I have learned that pictures tell a story to lots of people better than the written word.  Pictures can tell MY story even better than MY own spoken word.  So, I’ve accepted the fact that I need help to tell my story.  So, “Jamie and Julia, can you help me tell my story?”………………….  They do, and………… they make me look better in the process.
1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
Can you make those around you better?  The people in your life, at work, at home, at school.  There may even be a person that out of the blue God sends your way.  It’s your opportunity, your chance.  All people have flaws, faults, mistakes, and slipups in there lives.  That’s easy to see.  But do this for others and yourself.  Do, say, and BE what you can to help those around you have a better life. 
Helping others to be a better person themselves,………It’s a way of sharing God’s Love.  It’s the way of being/living as a Christian.
Thanks Jamie and Julia for helping me be better.  Jamie was directing and giving ideas (and camera angles).  Julia was in my face, not looking for flaws, but looking for my story.(I’ll never forget, while she is filming me as I played the flute, she was humming along to the same Christian praise song that I was playing.)
You two young ladies helped me share my story in a better way.  But in the process you’ve made me a better man.
Click here to see Julia’s movie clip of “As For Me and My House”
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The Hard Work Has Its Rewards

Take a drive down Airport Road the next few days and you will see flowers along side the fence.  The flowers continue for days it seems.  Actually, if measured, it’s more like a half a mile of continuous yellow daffodils.  These daffodils are one of the first signs of spring on our farm.  How did they get there?

I know the answer,  So let me share with ya!  My Father planted them.  He was in his 80’s when he started this project. (He’s 87 now!)  Every year he has planted more.  At times, he planted some himself, Other times, he would hire someone to help, (even had Mother out there helping, not sure he paid her though!)  But over the years a few clumps of flowers have turned into a river of yellow and greens.  You can’t help but notice them as you drive by.

It was a lot of hard work.  Planting the flowers and bulbs took a lot of time.  Care had to be given especially when they were just planted.  So why would he do this?  He can see God’s beauty in everything (even in people).

Colossians 3:17 (NIV)17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

I’ve got to brag on this man even if he is my father.  He has driven up and down this road an uncountable number of times over the years.  This is his farm.  He has seen a lot of wonderful things on this place.  A newborn calf, a new crop of hay, a barn being built and filled with this hay,…… all he has witnessed in his lifetime.  Other things he saw driving up and down this road.  He saw two sons grow up.  They both are able to still live close by.  He has seen the deer, a covey of quail…….. and a hawk.  He worked the land, fixed the fences, mowed the road right of way…….  He did it all.   AND, he did it in the name of the Lord Jesus.  Yep, it was all for the glory of God!  (Even when he lost one of his fingers in a cow roping accident!)

Which is why there are flowers beside the road.  Everyday that he drives up and down this road he sees God’s beauty.  He sees and feels God’s presence.  In his own country farmer way, he has planted these flowers hoping that OTHERS will see and feel the God my Daddy worships. 

The flowers are a way that he can share this beauty with others, including you.  So when you drive by his farm and see the flowers, you won’t hear an organ or piano playing,(but you can hear God’s music from the wind, trees, cows, and farm activities).  You won’t hear a choir,(but you will hear the birds, the quail, turkeys,…..and the hawk).  You won’t hear any preaching. (Well, there are two donkeys that will Heeeee Hawwww at ya!)   But, do yourself a favor.  Slow down, roll your windows down and drive slowly by.  You will hear and see God and his beauty.

2 Timothy 2:6 (NIV)6 The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops.

Wiley Ainsworth, the hard working farmer, has received his share of God’s blessings.  Now, this hard working man gets to see others receiving a blessing from the flowers that he planted for God’s glory.

Papaw, the hard work is and will continue to pay off.

See Ya!!  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, Stopping to smell the Roses Daffodils

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Adopted Into The Family

KKandLauren

Meet “Lady Bird Dog” (an inside family joke name), and her son KK.  They are part of our family now.  We “adopted” them.  How come, and why?   well,……..  pull up a chair and listen to this story.

 

My family is blessed.  I know the world thinks that this is an old and worn out sayin’.  But there is nothing old and worn out about my family.  We are blessed.  Staci and I love the outdoors.  We raised our family and have always been blessed(there’s that word again), to be able to show our children what God has given us.  What’s that you say?  Well, the Great Outdoors and all that goes along with it.

When you live a life that includes hunting, fishing, riding 4 wheelers, sitting around the fire, watching nature, having strong family ties, and feeling God’s presence around you, people notice that you are lucky and different from most in this world.  When they  realize that my family is like this EACH AND EVERY DAY, then well,……. it’s a “foregone conclusion” that this family is blessed.

Enter “Lady Bird Dog” (aka Lauren)   Being the mother of this 8 year old lad, she wants him to experience as much of the “being blessed” as possible.  She’s good friends with my daughter, Jamie.  So Jamie invites Lauren down for the weekend so that KK can learn how to hunt, fish, ride 4 wheelers, etc, etc.

KKfishin

So,…… I’m supposed to be the father figure.  Jamie wants me to lead and guide KK and “Lady Bird Dog” to be able to do all this “country life stuff”.  Neither Lauren or KK were raised in this kind of lifestyle.  I’ve got to direct them, show them, instruct them, tell them how to “be blessed”?  Naw man, I’m just going to take ’em huntin’ and fishin’.  They can just join in the fun.  No need for lectures or step by step instructions.  I’ll be there to make sure everything goes well, safe, and most important of all,……..that we enjoy life!

I got to tell you readers that I really get a “kick” out of sharing this blessed lifestyle with those who have never experienced it.  To see KK’s reaction to the first time he shot a shotgun, or watch him wanting to touch a “catfish’s whiskers” is priceless to me.  I see that it’s priceless to his mother, Lauren as well.

I think KK will have experienced more “country stuff” this weekend than a lot of guys twice his age.  Heck, he just  experienced more of this “blessed life” than many men of today.

KKshootin

Here I am “training” KK on how to be safe with a firearm.  There’s my daughter Jamie looking on.  It wasn’t that long ago that I was helping her hold a gun.  Now she lives in her own “blessed ” world.  She has modeled and now manages other models in the big fashion world.  She even makes a trip or two to New York City for work with models.  But as she has told me (and them), “those squirrels in Central Park better look out, I’ll shoot ’em and eat ’em”.  Yep you can take the girl out of the blessed country, but you can’t take the blessed country out of the girl. 😉

And why should I.  More people in this world need to know the blessed life.  How do you do this?  Well,….. join in.

Romans 8:15 (NIV) The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

There it is in the Bible that God “adopts” you into His World.  Being a Christian means for you not to live in fear anymore, but to live life to it’s fullest.  Somehow we maybe miss out on abundant life here on this Earth.  We get the idea of religion.  We realize there is a God.  Where most people get stuck is where they don’t realize that God wants to be involved with our lives.  Not just a part, but each and every day. 

Do you ever feel like you don’t hear God talking to ya?  I’m reading a good book.  I highly recommend it to you.  The book is called “Hearing God in Conversation” by Sam Williamson.  Check it out.

Here’s something to think about that this book is showing me.  “It’s odd how when I seek God for guidance, heaven seems silent, but when I seek Him for companionship, guidance comes unsought.”

I had examples all week of this guidance unsought.  I could have lectured and instructed both KK and Lauren on how to shoot, fish, ride, and live this blessed abundant life.  But, why take the fun out of it.  Just be their companion.  The lessons are learned as we live it.

Well, why not do the same spiritually.  I bet you pray everyday (especially during the hard decisions and times) for God to guide you and tell you what to do.  You know what God’s thinkin’?  I bet He’s thinkin’  “Why take the fun out of it?  Let me be your companion.  I’ll be with you each and every moment.  I’ll even adopt you”.  God has ways of showing, teaching, guiding us as we live here on Earth.  Why don’t you just join in with him.  Let Him in every part of your life.  Seek Him………the guidance shows up in the process.  It’s called being blessed!!

 

L:auren aka “Lady Bird Dog”, your motherly instincts are good as gold.  How you have raised such a good son is easily seen.  The way you discipline him and interact with KK, how you “train” him, but most of all how you love him, seeing this really made my day.  With more mothers like you, I feel better about this next generation.  I’m glad we “adopted you” into our family.

KK, I hope you learned a lot about this “country life”.  Just by helping you “be alive”.  Just by being your companion this week.  I really didn’t guide you or show you any step by step how to do anything.  But now you know how to shoot.  You know how to be safe.  You know how to catch those fish.  You know how to set the hook.  You know how to clean ’em and cook ’em.  There is a lot of “you knows” that you now know, you know? 😉

KKhuntin

I so want God to lead and guide me.  His way of being my Saviour, my Lord, my Companion is what makes Him so special to me.  I am Blessed.  What about you?  Do you need a companion to “hang out” with spiritually? Not just sometimes, but each and everyday?  Well, join in.  It’s an awesome ride.  And you’ll never grow tired of sayin’ how blessed you are.

See ya  Dan Ainsworth wilderness preacher, living the blessed life