My wife and I took a ride the other day to purchase a load of wood. Our journey took us eastward through the "foothills" area of the north Georgia mountains. Once past the multi-lane congestion of Atlanta, we wound our way through the picturesque countryside on the way to our destination. It was a beautiful early Fall day. The destination turned out to be a workshop full of some prime hardwood which was being sold in preparation for closing out the shop. The owner, a very pleasant and industrious young man was preparing to pursue missionary work in Africa in a few months. He patiently took the time to let us look through his wood supply and make our selections....
I loved the game of golf growing up, it was a sport that my dad taught me how to play and that I ended up being pretty good at. Working at a country club gave me the opportunity to play and improve, even though the season was limited by the harsh winters of Buffalo, NY. To some, golf is considered a snob sport reserved mostly for country clubbers and watching golf on television something akin to “watching paint dry.” But I offer these the Ryder Cup. The Ryder Cup is an event that happens every other year between professional male golfers from the USA against professional male golfers from Europe. It’s golf’s only real team event for professionals, and despite...
This may seem like an unusual time to blog about gardening since late September is when most of our gardens have seen better days; however don’t be hasty to just yank out all your plants as there are still plenty of valuable goodies to be had. Right now my tomato & pepper plants are producing; although the tomato production has slowed considerably. As the summer rolls into fall my garden gets less direct sunlight here in northwest Georgia, so my tomatoes end up with very “leggy” vines and less fruit. My peppers, however, will keep producing right up until the first frost. We try not to waste anything but more importantly we have found that the fruit our garden produces...
You know what you’re eating when you grind your own beef and the cost is better than what you pay for the grocery store mystery grind, but be careful, the guests you invite over once are going to want to be invited back. In a recent post we shared the "how" of grinding your own beef mixture. Here’s a cost breakdown of our most recent meat purchase for creating our own “grind”: Chuck roast: 8.86 lbs @ $2.98 London broil: 8.11 lbs @ $2.98 ...
My accountability partners have fluctuated over the years but I’m always seeking new men to add. I have to be willing to take the risk of transparency first, and although sometimes it doesn’t work out, the rewards of developing deep and trusting relationships is worth any risk. We’ve mentioned the value of starting with simple matters when we form an accountability group and growing from there as time and trust increase. We’ve also stated the importance of setting up guidelines early on which will ensure everyone involved knows what’s expected. There’s one more area worth mentioning: Many churches or organizations publish a list of “tough questions” that are beneficial to establishing an accountability group, but I don’t see them as...
