Shadrack Campground, Bristol, Tennessee
I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalm 146:2
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR SISTER-IN-LAW, KELLI! She’s my baby brother’s wife and mother to our nephew, Logan. Kelli’s fun to be around, quick with a smile, and very creative. She also has a wonderful knack with young children.
After looking at several church venues here in Bristol, we chose Avoca Christian Church for our Sunday morning worship. I say several, but there are at least 18 within a 2-mile radius of our campground! There were a couple of things I’d change – the most important one being, they didn’t tell us to take communion immediately when it was passed out. They serve both at once – the bread in a communion cup and the ‘wine’ in another cup set on top of the bread. But not once, did anyone say, “take this . . . .” or give any explanation as to why we take communion. Blaine and I prayed (as usual), but we missed taking communion, because when we looked up after prayer, everyone was already done and they were moving on to the next thing. Eventually, we just set our cups in the holder on the back of the pew. I don’t know if they do this every week or not, but it would be helpful to visitors to know their procedure.
It was a large sanctuary, but there were few people in attendance (maybe 60-80?), however, we got the feeling that the second service is much more heavily attended.
The Pastor gave an excellent message on Matthew 6:31-32. I’m not sure if he’s doing a series on the book of Matthew, or just on the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ verses, but he mentioned teaching some of the previous verses.
Matthew 6:31-32 are difficult passages to understand. Jesus is speaking and says, It has been said, ‘Anyone who divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’ But I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, causes her to become an adulteress, and anyone who marries the divorced woman commits adultery.
On the surface, this sounds really harsh and not like Jesus at all. Especially when you consider that at the time, the Israelites were under the Old Testament Law which said that an adulterer was to be stoned to death. It’s the premise behind another passage of scripture found in John 8 where the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery and reminded Jesus of the Law to stone her. However, they failed to bring forward the man involved. It is at this point that Jesus tells them, “If any of you is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” And they all walked away. He told the woman that He didn’t condemn her and to ‘go and sin no more’.
Then there’s also another place, Matthew 19:1-12, where the subject of divorce is talked about and basically, Jesus tells them that Moses permitted them to give a woman a certificate of divorce because their hearts were hard. But it’s not God’s perfect design.
We were told that during Jesus’ time, it was customary for a man to divorce his wife for any imaginable reason, and once he did, the wife (and any daughters) were on the streets where most likely, the only way she could support herself was through prostitution. The man kept any sons. Once Jesus came, divorce could take three forms. 1. The world’s way – just kick the woman out. 2. The religious way – kick her out with a certificate of divorce; which really meant nothing but made the men and religious leaders feel better. 3. Jesus’ way – there’s a better way. Stay married.
He called them to look at their hearts. If you love God, you won’t treat women that way. If you care about people, you won’t treat them that way. If you look at previous verses, you’ll find that the bulk of the Sermon on the Mount was a call to look at the heart. It’s not only wrong to murder, it’s also wrong to think or say bad things to people.
So what does verse 32 mean? 1. It starts with your heart. Divorce can come when we cultivate the seed of ‘adultery’ – the selfish thought that ‘my life will be better without you’. 2. Follow Jesus. The secret of doing marriage well is as simple – and as hard – as that. “You can’t send an email without turning on the computer”. Marriage is a great gift, but not a god. Happiness doesn’t come from another person, and if that’s what we’re expecting, we’ll always be disappointed. 3. Stay married. Seek help early rather than waiting until things escalate out of control. And both partners should be willing to follow Jesus.
Jesus is in the business of restoration. He can help. He will help.
For lunch, we decided to head out to the local Steak and Shake. They have pretty good burgers – and milkshakes! We had gift cards we’ve been carrying around since we retired. It was supposed to be a free lunch, but guess what? By the time we got there at 12:20pm, it was packed and people were waiting for tables.
We forgot about the post-church crowds . . .
We ended up at Zaxby’s. We’ve never eaten there before, but remembered from our visit down South last year that they were everywhere, so we figured it would be pretty good. Even though we knew nothing about it. It’s essentially a fast food fried chicken place, but their fried chicken comes in the form of salads, sandwiches, wings and fingers. And it’s pricey! We had platters that contained about 5 boneless wings (bones cost a dollar more – what??), 3-4 fingers, some fries (which seemed to be the frozen crinkle kind), various sauces and something we Northerners just didn’t understand – a slice of buttered, toasted, Texas toast. Neither of us ate the toast. Oh, we tasted it. But we other than that one small bite, we didn’t eat it. Drinks were also included. But the meal was $8.99 – each! At any rate, at least we were quite full when we left. And the young man working the counter was super helpful.
Time to find downtown Bristol and the Tennessee/Virginia state line. By the way, how does it work to be the Mayor of Bristol??
I liked this sign –
not only the name (as in going on a lark, you know, mischievous fun), but also the fact that it’s an ‘amusement service’.
That’s a new one for us.
Downtown Bristol
The right side of the street is Tennessee, the left is Virginia.
How strange is that?? We’ll do Tennessee first.
We didn’t have any kind of a guide, so we just walked and took pictures of what we thought looked interesting.
Old plaque on the bank building
The First National Bank
We’d never heard that Bristol was the birthplace of country music.
They have a museum here, but we didn’t go.
Another side says,
“Recorded by Ralph Peer for Victor Record Company”
This sign lights up at night
This is the First Baptist Church
It’s across the street in Virginia
A restored train station
We’ve crossed the street and are now in Virginia.
Blaine risked life and limb braving a street filled with traffic to get this picture – – upon my insistence. : )
Well, how often do you get to straddle a state line? Especially since it’s the only town in the nation?
So, there were these descriptions of everything in this mural.
The mural was enormous.
I decided, if you want to know what they all are, you can read the explanations I took pictures of.
Some pretty interesting things in there.
Another gigantic mural depicting Dale Earnhardt Sr and Richard Petty.
We couldn’t get the whole thing in a picture . . .
After our stroll downtown, we set out on another adventure.
It wasn’t supposed to be. It was supposed to be a nice walk, in beautiful weather, on an asphalt/gravel trail back at the Park we first visited the other day. It was supposed to be a 1-2 mile walk. We should know better.
Near the parking lot, there was a large group of these bushes, and they smelled wonderful!
The bees and butterflies loved them too!
Even the playgrounds around here have spectacular views!
Just look at this volleyball court!
Better not loose your ball . . .
Duck . . .
Duck . . . .
Goose!
Actually I think they’re all geese.
I just couldn’t resist . . . .
The trail we mysteriously somehow ended up on took us to the Nature Center . . . .
Inside the Nature Center
Not particularly handsome, but look at those claws!
Turkeys!
Better hide! It’s that time of year!
Isn’t that an incredible statistic?!?!?
. . . . . around some of the man-made lake . . . .
. . . . . and up not one, but two mountains! The locals can call them knobs if they want, they’re still mountains. Small perhaps (and I say small compared to the Rockies), but mountains nonetheless. In fact, the first one, was the one you see in the previous picture.
We thought this would go around the lake.
The word ‘ridge’ should have been our first clue.
We were almost to the top, when there was a short side trail leading to an overlook. So up some more to the very top we went.
Well, there it is.
The overlook.
After all that huffing and puffing to get here.
Someone in Tennessee needs to look up the definition of ‘overlook’ . . .
I had to reach in deep and grab hold of my ‘happy camper’ up here, which is probably why Blaine insisted on taking my picture.
He’s always good at lifting my spirits! : )
But it was beautiful! And in one of the valleys, we stopped and just listened to the sound of complete silence! It’s not often you get that.
Is that not stunning?!?
How does that happen?
One leaf is half and half, the other is spotted!
Isn’t God amazing?!?
Look familiar?
It is! We were here the other day!
We were sure glad to be back on familiar ground!
In the end, according to an app on Blaine’s phone, we walked 16,665 steps today! Our short walk, turned into an 8-mile hike – with nothing but two tic tacs each, that I had tucked in my pocket for ‘just in case’. Good thing it was cool today, or we may have died from thirst!
I was still full from lunch, so I ate no dinner, just a small snack of a slice of provolone cheese and 4 pieces of pepperoni. Blaine had pie and ice cream.
So. In case you’re wondering, my working titles for today? Walking off Zaxby’s, We Should Know Better, Not Part of the Plan, The Sound of Silence. I guess I’ll save them for another post down the road. 😊