Ale for the Soul

Happy Thanksgiving and many blessings to one and all.  In the midst of life and the harsh reality of daily living, it is sometimes difficult to get an objective perspective on what's really going on.  Perceptions are created and decisions made contingent on the ebb and flow of the surrounding circumstances.  Experience has taught me this is dangerous as I need to step back for a proper assessment of life predicated on the Scripture of God's Holy Word.  Only the Sovereign Lord has complete knowledge of and infinite wisdom to discern life as we live it out here on earth.  Thanksgiving isn't simply a holiday one day in November...it is a daily lifestyle of true gratitude for God's many blessings and acts of grace and mercy.  More than getting a "want" or having a "need" satisfied, I am truley grateful for those things in life I didn't get, which is what mercy really is.  Grace is getting what I don't deserve.  Mercy is not getting what I do dese...

In a week from now, I will begin a 90-day temporary job with Walmart.  As a result, I have been taking advantage of this last week of freedom by travelling and sight seeing.  Last Saturday, I took off on the open road to Dinosaur Valley State Park in Glen Rose.  They had two guided park events I wanted to participate in: Track Talks and a hike to Paluxey Overlook.  The discussion on the dinosaur tracks was very interesting in that I don't personally believe in evolution, which includes a belief in a young earth.  Basically, it is a belief that the earth is only 6,000 to 8,000 years old.  (For more on this, read The Young Earth by Dr. Morris.)  Then Ranger Katie took us on a non-strenuous hike to the overlook, which holds the best scenic view in the park.  Once the two activities had ended, I checked out a few other sites around the park: the Blue Hole, the Monarch butterfly area, and the park store.  After leaving the state park, I immediate...

Last Friday morning I was able to leave town for four days of camping and site-seeing.  The main purpose of the trip was to visit a friend who is incarcerated on the Ellis Unit in Huntsville and then to swing by Palestine for a time of fellowship with a friend who pastors a church in the area.  As a result, camping was simply a form of inexpensive lodging to help accomplish what I wanted to do.  The cost for three nights at Huntsville State Park were still cheaper than one night at any motel/hotel.  Unbelievable, isn't it?!  Of course I still need to factor in the price of gas in travelling and the cost of food and drinks.  I still came out ahead by camping at the park.  In addition to visiting both friends, I was able to take in the historical sites the area had to offer.  First on the list was the Texas Prison Museum.  Utterly fascinating, considering I'm about to visit a local unit where my friend is currently assigned.  Then I visite...

Several more items on my bucket list were marked off last Friday and Saturday.  On September 9th, I travelled to Fort Richardson State Park in order to participate in the ten o'clock tour of what was left of the original outpost.  A few of the buildings were reconstructed represenations of what they would have looked like while a greater majority were original to the time it was an active installation.  Park Ranger Conner performed an excellent job guiding another camper and me throughout the area.  Once we were finished, we chatted inside the incredible Interpretive Center at the forefront of the historic grounds.  At the conclusion of our time together, I immediately set out to discover what the park had to offer.  Two of the hiking trails piqued my interest as I wanted to explore nature at its finest.  To cap off my excurion, I smoked a cigar in the pavillion/playground area.  Discovering a communal firepit, I'm already planning my next trip to...

Moving here in February of 2010, I had to radically reinvent myself from the former person I was to something totally brand new.  It wasn't a repackaging of the same old stuff, something that a cosmetic new pair of glasses and fake mustache would cover.  A disguise of sorts similar to scenes from corny movies of a bygone era.  For decades I would try to manage the external behavior when what was needed was a drastic change of the heart and soul.  Finally I realized that I had to clean up the inside of who I was and watch the transformation unfold.  Surely the example of a caterpiller to a butterfly is not too overused to cite here.  Still a great analogy!  Once the wreckage of the past had been dealt with, I could move toward total health and wellness in mind, body, heart, and soul.  (Physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.)  Only then could the changed insides induce moral and honorable external behaviors.  The Gospel of Matthew cle...

Recently I had two wonderful dreams about living back home.  In the first one, I was hanging out with my former next-door neighbor and his family in the Clear Lake area of Houston.  The second dream included attending a Bible study with friends from my former church, Northside Baptist, in Victoria.  Unfortunately I had to wake up to the stark reality of my situation, and that is living in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex.  I was extremely sad and disappointed.  Dreaming while we sleep can be a lot of fun and refreshing, but having dreams or goals in life can also become invigorating and energize us to reach forward in life.  As I have grown older, the many dreams and life goals have changed.  Some have completely gone by the wayside while others have undergone slight alterations.  Currently my goals are to keep working at the present job which will enable me to move back to Houston.  In addition, I need to pay off a few debts, replenish the sa...

Seasons of life come and go.  Some are warmly remembered while others are quickly forgotten in the rearview mirror of life.  About a month ago I decided to draw a close on working at Big Dave's Cigars in Fort Worth.  In its place I took on a full-time career with Allen Edmonds in Dallas.  While selling shoes may be old hat and the initial career post-High School, I must look back rather nostalgically on the tobacco industry.  Upon moving to Fort Worth in 2010, I couldn't seem to break into the shoe industry in the D/FW Metroplex, even if my life depended on it.  The proverbial "mark of Cain" must have been writ large on my forehead or stamped somewhere on my work history/resume.  As a result, I was forced to pivot and ended up reinventing myself in the cigar and pipe industry.  Twelve years and three cigar shops later, hob-knobbing with the likes of Doc Severinsen, Ron White, and Pat Green to name a few, I am called once again to the art of sellin...