Tag Archives: friendship

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Sharing Lives and Dreams Together

We Are a Team in This Dream

WARNING****  This blog is full of love, devotion, trust, and living an abundant Christian life.  If all you are use to is the hate, arguing, tensions, bitterness and divisions that you see in the news and in the world today, well friend, you may not can stomach what’s fixin’ to be said.

Staci is my team mate on this dream that we are living.  She is my soulmate on this Christian journey we are on.  She is my “bestest friend” and that makes things “gooder than good”.

This chapter in our lives of building a log home in Colorado has been a cherished time of excitement.  It’s also been a time of waiting,……. and waiting some more.  Like I’ve said, we are living the dream and that will include both good and bad, thick and thin, for better and worse.

Scratch that “for worse” part out.  I’m learning it’s all about your perspective.  It’s how you see things.  Times may not always be the “bestest”.  But being blessed with someone who is there no matter what, now that’s for better or “bestest”. ( I know you English teachers cringe when I write like this, but it’s how I talk, so buy a bridge and get over it 😉    )

Staci, the pioneer woman, has been the ultimate team player with me on this dream adventure.  She picks me up when I’m down, she provides valuable input and insight.  She will even wrestle with the chainsaw and other log tools.  She’s able to explain to other folks what we’ve got going on much better than I.  She does all the everday mundane chores and still finds time for me.  I love her more than I can say.  I know it looks like I’m obsessed with her, infatuated, devoted, caring, and just plain whooped because of her……… Well I am!

We make a good team.  I pick her up when she’s down.  I share with her my input and insight.  We LIVE together, not just exist.  We laugh, we cry, we pray, we love, we share, we ah,well, ya know, we do any and everything together.  We are a dream team.

Funny how with all the billions of people in this world, God chose two teenagers who only lived  4 miles from each other to become soulmates.  Now 7 dating years and 35 married years later,………well, they still act like two teenagers.

I wake up every morning and fix her a cup of coffee. (Dudley the dog, gets his coffee too).  It’s another small way of showing affection.  It’s my time to say thanks to God for this wonderful gift He gave me.  As I’m filling the coffeemaker with fresh grounds and water, I’m quietly giving thanks each time to God for her.  It’s one of the few religious rituals I do.

I will forever be devoted to her.  Whether it’s building a log home, or taking a  trip, or just everyday mundane activities my life would be void and empty without her.  She brings me out of my shell.  She inspires me.  She makes me laugh.  She brings more life to me.  She has been the answer to my prayer.

I guess I’m getting mushy and “lovey dovey” with my sharing of what Staci means to me. If this TRUE LOVE we are living is too much for you,…….buy a bridge and get over it……… cause we ain’t about to stop it!

Whatever we are doing, have got going, or are facing,….. both good and bad, knowing she is by my side is the greatest feeling in the world.  It’s the BESTEST feeling in the world.  Thank you Lord for giving her to me.

Proverbs 31: 10, 12  Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.  The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need for regret.  She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.

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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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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