Alafia River State Park, Lithia, Florida
Those who are wise (godly leaders of the resistance movement) will instruct many, though for a time they will fall by the sword or be burned or captured or plundered. When they fall, they will receive a little help, and many who are not sincere will join them. Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time. ~ Daniel 11:33-35
- 168BC – godly men headed by Mattathias ben Johanan and his sons, led a revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes and his Anti-Semitism
- Mattathias was a Levitical priest
- When ordered to sacrifice to the Greek gods, he refused and then killed the priest who agreed to such abominations. He then attacked the official who ordered it
- Mattathias fled to the wilderness of Judea with his 5 sons and many others eventually followed them
- “Maccabeus” was a name use as an epithet (a word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributable quality – such as Richard the Lion-Hearted for Richard I) Maccabeus means “Hammer”
- The Maccabean revolt is remembered by Jews as Hanukkah
This marks the end of your history lesson! Are you glad? These prophecies were so accurate that some believed this chapter to have been written around the time of Jesus and just inserted into Daniel. Oh, ye of little faith! I personally find Daniel’s Chapter 11 to be one of the most remarkable chapters in God’s Word (the prophecies concerning Jesus notwithstanding, of course). How can we look at this and not believe? How can we look at this and not anticipate the complete fulfilment of Revelation? Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Our day began with a gorgeous morning! Sunrise, fog, trees dripping with Spanish moss, a committee of vultures in the trees ahead of us, chirping osprey, squirrels scampering in the trees, and still one side-view-mirror-attacking male cardinal. Persistent little bugger.
We visited the Florida State Fair today!
Just kidding!
It took me a long time to get ready to go this morning. There was all that hair to wet down and style, clothes that needed pressing due to being in summer storage, make-up and perfume to put on, etc. When we’re just exercising out in nature, all I need is a scrunchie (if it’s gonna be warm) and something to keep the sun out of my eyes. 😊
The Fair only costs $10/person on Monday-Thursday and parking is free. Everything else is free too, except food! We took in quite a few shows today – everything from okay, to fun, to interesting, to excellent! The weather was perfect.
With 19 shows to choose from, it was a little difficult – especially since some were playing at the same time as others. But we made our choices and enjoyed our day.
We began with pig racing, mostly because it was the only show that was offered right after the gates opened at 11:00am.
We moved on to a petting zoo where the animals would only come near if they thought you had food with you,
We’re too cheap to fork over $3 for a small Dixie cup of food.
Then off to the circus we went!
I can’t walk on stilts, but they sure did – – all around the arena.
Not a lot of actual dance moves, but they were moving!
They didn’t do much except walk around and around the arena for about ten minutes or so.
At the end of the day, we agreed that the Hollywood Circus was the best show – even without Ringling, Barnum and Bailey.
After that, it was a quest to find lunch, and there was certainly no shortage of vendors! More on food later.
We thought a show featuring carillon bells sounded interesting, so we went and waited around for it to begin. What could’ve been a really nice music show, was overshadowed by the very loud music accompaniment he played. We could hardly hear the bells. And the noise started bothering us, so we left after just a few minutes.
More wandering around through the barns and exhibits, until it was time for the Flying Royals’ Spectacular show.
I’m pretty sure he could make something like this and have it turn out just as well. : )
The Royals’ once made an appearance on AGT, but it was pretty obvious why they didn’t get far in the show. While they were good and their specialties were pretty amazing (can you twirl hula-hoops on your arms, hands, feet, torso and hair bun all at the same time? Or bend your body in extraordinary ways? Or fly through the air with the greatest of ease?), their 360⁰ trapeze act was very slow-moving and unfortunately had several mistakes.
They tossed a couple out and Blaine caught one! After reading the label, we were pretty sure we wouldn’t be eating it (tons of sodium!), but I carried it around for a while simply because I just can’t stand the thought of throwing out food. Eventually, I got tired of carrying it, and my pack mule refused, so I tossed it.
Our final show was the Cycle Circus, where three bicyclists and two motorcyclists wowed the crowd with their stunts. They were pretty amazing? incredible? scary?
There was a designated place near where we’d come in called Cracker Country. It was filled with a bunch of old buildings and set up like a small town. There were docents stationed around to explain the ‘old ways’. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time to spend here. We didn’t realize they’d only be open until 6pm and it was 5:30 when we arrived. The first building we went into was an old train depot. There was a gentleman sitting in their waiting for time to pass. When he asked if he could answer any questions, I said, “Yes. Why are you here?” It provided an open door for him to launch into sharing every bit of his knowledge with us. Very interesting, but it kept us from seeing everything else. We were happy to help him end his long day. 😊
And now the food.
Of course, we were careful to eat healthy! After all, we began with apples, added half a potato, broccoli, then eggs and milk, and naturally, water to our fair diet for the day. We’re so good!!
Yes. I’m delusional. But usually only when it comes to eating.
We were ready to leave and didn’t feel like more fair food for dinner, so instead, the recent ads we’d seen for Culver’s fish dinner called to us and we zombied over there. We ended up taking two large pieces of fish home for sandwiches at a later date.
It will be fun to compare it to the Ohio State Fair which we’ll visit this summer, although Blaine says Ohio’s is much, much bigger.