RV Havin Fun!

Pine Ridge Campground, Roebuck, South Carolina

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. ~ Matthew 5:7     Have you ever had occasion to show mercy to someone?  Has someone ever shown you mercy?  What is mercy?  Forgiveness or withholding punishment that is within one’s power to wield, such as a judge.  What is the difference between forgiveness and mercy?  Forgiveness is the act of overcoming anger or resentment toward someone we feel has wronged us.  Mercy is withholding harsh treatment or punishment someone has the right to inflict.  Given this definition, I think most of us deal with forgiveness on a regular basis, but few of us are faced with practicing mercy.  However, the Biblical definition is a bit different in that it includes compassion, love, sympathy and deep caring.  Mercy is also the act of giving or receiving care when it isn’t deserved.  This is God.  He has shown us great mercy, in the face of our sins before Him. 

The weather still wasn’t great, but we ventured out anyway.  It was fairly warm – in the low sixties, but heavily overcast.  No rain though!

With all the rain, we were determined to find a waterfall somewhere.  Boy, did we!  Glendale Shoals Preserve and Waterfalls.  We talked to a couple of locals who said they couldn’t ever remember this much water here before – one was a young teen boy, the other an old-timer.  Also, the huge log under the bridge you’ll see in our pictures just appeared in the past day or two.  Another one’s been perched on the rocks since time and memorial and they were surprised it hadn’t moved with all the water.

It was a great find, and we did a little walking around while we were there.  The town was getting ready for their 2023 Reunion. It seems it’s basically just an opportunity for folks to get together and listen to live Bluegrass music and have a good time.

After we finished up here, it was time to do some real hiking.  Blaine drove us over to Croft State Park where we hiked the Kelsey Creek/Palmetto/John Lake loop trails.

Dinner was a quick stop at a newer-looking Arby’s.  It wasn’t very well cared for and the curly fries weren’t very well made.  Too long in the oil maybe? Plus they were barely warm.  Sandwiches were great though!  We found ourselves second-guessing our decision and wondering if we should’ve tried the Bojangles next door instead.

We got in 11 ½ miles today, and it felt wonderful!

Pine Ridge Campground, Roebuck, South Carolina

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. ~ Matthew 5:6     To understand this one, we must first have an understanding of the word we hear so often in connection with the Christian faith – righteousness.  It means being and acting right before God, according to His standards and not our own, nor that of the world.  If you look up the definition, you’ll find something along the lines of ‘the quality of being morally true or justifiable’.  This is the world’s definition and may not align with God’s standards – especially nowadays.  How many of us continually justify our sin? If we hunger and thirst for God’s righteousness, we are desperately wanting to live according to God’s standards and make the effort to repent and learn when we fail.  Because we cannot ever hope to achieve living as a Holy God demands, He sent Jesus, Who fulfills all righteousness and stands as our advocate before the Father, when we accept His gift of salvation.  It is Jesus Who makes us right before God, but when we love the Father, Son and Spirit, we ought to have an intense desire to be like Him.

The first rainy day, we worked on projects that’ve been put off and watched and listened to God dump continual God-sized buckets over our tin can.

The next day, we were planning on a day trip to Greenville, but it never stopped raining, despite what the weather people told us.  And by now, any place there’s water, it will most likely be gushing over its banks!

The third day dawned with still more rain, but it was more like a cool mist.  We took appetizers to share with Bruce and Donna.  We looked at Peck heritage pictures, watched Top Gun Maverick (highly recommended!), played Wi golf and of course ate.  The appetizers were more for snacking.  For dinner, we had Publix fried chicken, corn on the cob and Barberton Hot Rice. Dessert was Donna’s homemade chocolate cake!  She’s so good to me!  We talked several weeks ago about how we women just sometimes crave chocolate cake – and I was this week!  Yummy!  Everything was!

BARBERTON HOT RICE  (usually served with fried chicken)

1 C. onion, diced

1 jalapeno pepper (or jarred equivalent), seeded and sliced

2 T. butter

2 t. paprika

2 cans (14.5 oz.) stewed tomatoes

½ C. uncooked rice

Sauté onion and pepper in butter until onion starts turning brown.  Meanwhile, blend tomatoes slightly.  Add tomatoes, paprika and rice to the onions.  Bring to a boil. 

Simmer until rice is done, adding water as needed to keep from scorching rice.

Serves 4

Tomorrow we’ll be on our own again.  Hopefully, the weather cooperates. Although considering we went about nine weeks with zero rain, we really shouldn’t complain.  😊

Pine Ridge Campground, Roebuck, South Carolina

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. ~ Matthew 5:5     I don’t know about you, but I seem to have questions for each of Jesus statements so far.  What is meekness?  And how and why would the meek inherit the earth?  What does that mean?  When I went searching for the meaning of Biblical meekness, I came across the following on blueletterbible.org: 

Meekness toward God is that disposition of spirit in which we accept His dealings with us as good, and therefore without disputing or resisting. In the OT, the meek are those wholly relying on God rather than their own strength to defend against injustice. Thus, meekness toward evil people means knowing God is permitting the injuries they inflict, that He is using them to purify His elect, and that He will deliver His elect in His time (Isa 41:17, Luk 18:1-8). Gentleness or meekness is the opposite to self-assertiveness and self-interest. It stems from trust in God’s goodness and control over the situation. The gentle person is not occupied with self at all. This is a work of the Holy Spirit, not of the human will (Gal 5:23).

Also according to Blue Letter Bible, the phrase ‘inherit the earth’ in the Biblical sense means to partake of eternal salvation in the Messiah’s kingdom. So to put Christ’s statement another way, those who choose to trust God in all things and deal gently and humbly with others (which in no way means allowing others to treat you as a doormat), those are the ones who exhibit God’s saving grace within them, and show evidence of their changed lives and hearts because of salvation.

It’s Tuesday, and we squeezed in a visit to Hatcher Garden, “A public botanical garden & woodland preserve” today.  There were a few pretty things growing, and lots of trees along winding, intersecting, paved paths.  And it was quiet even though a busload of young kids showed up just after we did.

A quick stop at WalMart, then it was off to see Blaine’s baby brother, Bruce, his wife Donna, and their ‘baby’ –  a giant Maine Coon cat named Leo.  Surprisingly, for all his fur, we didn’t see any in their home or on our clothes!

It was soooo good to see them!  We haven’t visited them in quite a while.  Such a pleasure to be around!  We’ll head back over on Friday.

The weatherman says rain for the next couple of days.  We’ll see!