January 2 – “Before the Old Grind”

So … “Happy New Year” is over and done with.  Well, almost.  I guess it’s really not over until after the college football National Championship.  That doesn’t happen until Monday night.  I can remember when all the key games were played on New Year’s Day and the only worry about conflict came when that day also happened to fall on a Sunday.  Oh, the conflict wasn’t with church or anything like that.  The worry was which game would get the most television coverage, a pro football game or the college championship.  Gotta consider that “almighty dollar.”  I understand the powers that be are moving to some kind of a playoff system for the colleges now.  I think the competitive spirit in me agrees with that decision.  Maybe it will do away with the bickering and posturing that come out of the ranking system.  It also makes for those improbable situations where a huge underdog can sneak into the national spotlight.  And you gotta love the underdog.  Just ask Central Florida fans.  Ouch.

Chris and I do have one more thing planned before the “old grind” returns for 2014.  We are heading up north into Texas for a few days.  First stop will be Victoria.  We plan to deliver a load of things to Chris’ brother that are his as a result of their mother’s will.  That means three of the dolls that have been staring at me every night as I try to sleep will now do their evil glowering at someone else.  Once that is done we hope to take our time moving on toward Waco for Caleb’s birthday party on Saturday.  And the plan is for the “moving on” part to take us past at least some of the churches on what is called the “Painted Churches Tour.”  We saw one of them a few years back when we stopped to visit some friends in Flatonia, Texas.  Yep.  Flatonia.  I didn’t know where it was either.  It is somewhere between Houston and San Antonio.  Great place to eat there called the Railroad Station or something like that.  Anyway, we can skip that one, but apparently there are quite a few of those old churches that have been fixed up and are now available for visiting and viewing.  Maybe we can find a few of them, anyway.  At least it will be an adventure that we can enjoy together.  It’s been a while.  Thanks, Jennifer, for being available to stay with Mom for those few days. 

1 Timothy 4:12 says, “Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.”

Father, in this next year, strengthen the underdogs and soften the perennially victorious so that both may understand that you are all they need.  Amen.