Just sitting here relaxing and noticed that we have no presents under the tree. I remember when the kids were here we waited until the last minute to put presents under the tree to keep them safe. Guess old habits are hArd to break.

Well it’s official. December is here and the Christmas season is coming down the road. Only 24 more days till Christmas. Makes you wonder where the time has gone. I can’t help but think about all the people running around and making their preparations for this big day. Parties are planned, gifts bought and even folks who don’t seem to be able to get along can stop for this one day and not fight or quarrel. It’s kind of mind boggling when you think about it. Especially for me. This day is a day to give gifts, spend time with friends and family and all the other things we do, but it is also time for Christians to celebrate the birth of Christ. I’ll give you that we can’t say for sure that Jesus was born on the 25th of December or even any day in December for that matter. But, it is still the one day set aside that celebrates the birth of Christ. I don’t think Jesus minds if we have the wrong day. After all, it was over 2000 years ago when Jesus was born. And we do tend to rewrite, re-remember and distort the facts over time. So when you think about that, it’s almost certain that we have the wrong day. I also know that not everyone celebrates this day for the same reason. I do think though that for most people, whether they are religious or not, they connect Christmas day with the birth of Jesus. Some don’t but that is to be expected.

I wonder sometimes though how much different this world would be if the same number of people making plans for Christmas were making preparations for Christ’s return. It would make a difference if just the one’s who attend church and worship Jesus on a regular basis would live and act like they expect His return daily. We would find ourselves focused on reaching the lost, helping the poor, sharing the love and less on how we decorate or the gifts we exchange. Just think about it. If you knew for sure that Jesus would return tomorrow or even today, how much different would you have planned your day? Less time would be spent worrying about paying the bills from Christmas shopping, global warming, what to wear, who to see, and etc…. I am not talking about the idea that the world would end on his return and that it is all over. What if we looked forward to His return with anticipation? Excitement? How about the radical idea that we watched the heavens looking for Jesus and we worked to get things ready for Him simply because it would please Him? Doing the work that He started until He returns for His glory. Like I said, I don’t think Jesus would mind if we celebrate the wrong day, I do think He is very concerned that we do things for the wrong reason. The best advice I have is to surrender your life to Jesus and don’t allow anything else to be number one. Then live and work and look for His return.

Merry Christmas and look up, for our redemption is near.

Last Monday, Mark DeWitte called and asked me if I wanted to have some fun Tuesday night. The first thing I asked was what we would be doing. Then he told me that Hawkins Today/Grainger Today, a paper Mark works with, had a couple of press passes to the UT men’s basketball game in Knoxville. They are doing shots of Skyler McBee, a player for UT who is from Grainger County. Mark and Jim had planned to go, but Jim couldn’t  go, so did I want to go and take some photos. Now, I love taking photos, blood runs orange (UT) and this fits my list of things that I can say I did, even if it is just once. I can’t post any of the photos here or anywhere else because they can only be used for the newspaper, but we got there early and I got this one with my iphone. I found out that the photographers come in early and stake out a spot on the floor. Look on the orange/white checker board squares and you will see their gear already in place. That is also where I got to sit. On the floor under the goal is where I ended up.  That is the only drawback to this. You have to sit on the floor the whole game. You can’t stand or sit on your knees. Your butt has to be on the floor at all times while you are down there. You can get up and walk around but you have to leave the floor area if you do. But that is a small price to pay for all the fun that I had just taking the photos and being there. This was the UNC Asheville game and UT won big. At halftime Mark joked about how “close” the game was and I had been so busy taking the photos that I didn’t even know the score of the game. The final score was something like 129-42 or something like that. It was a blow out and I had a blast. I have to say though, one of the high lights of the evening didn’t come from UT. It was fun being there, sitting on the floor under the goal was cool, taking photos along side the professionals was pretty cool too. But one of the coolest moments came when Mark asked me if I wanted to stay for the press conference after the game. We could have gone into the room where the coach and players come for the interviews that you see on TV. That would have been cool also. But, here is the cool part for me, I was able to tell Mark that it was up to him if we stayed. My exact answer was “whatever you want to do. You are driving and I don’t have to get up early in the morning.” That felt so good to realize that I was not on a schedule but could make my own schedule as I go. This retired thing is good. I don’t make much money at it, but it is good. I sent Mark the photos and when I got today’s paper, they had used one of my photos. Under the photo it said “Photo by Dale Vaughn”. That was cool also. Mark was right. We had some fun Tuesday night.

Well actually I can’t really be back simply because I haven’t been anywhere. There just isn’t enough time to do all that I want to do. I really thought that when I retired time would not be a problem. Boy was I wrong. I hate to but I probably need to have some sort of schedule. Now I have something else to do. Gotta go for now. See ya later.

It’s now October 2009 and I am officially retired, or un-employed, I haven’t figured out the difference yet. Anyway, it feels weird but good, scary but exciting. You get the idea, two sides to this and every coin.

While I was doing some of my new honey do jobs, I mean new duties, the particular task for the day was grocery shopping. Having my list in hand I took the challenge. I was not prepared for all the obstacles though. First, why do they have to spread out all the things all across the store? Why can’t they be grouped together in a more user friendly way. For instance why isn’t the pet food in the grocery section? That’s where all the other food is located. Why discriminate against the pets. Or rather the pet owners, making them walk all the way to the other side of the store. And why can’t all the foods be arranged by meals. They could have a breakfast section, lunch section, dinner section, or around here supper section. This would make it easier to find what you want. If you need breakfast food, just go the breakfast section. Supper would be found in the supper aisle. This would be so much better. After all, the tater chips are all on one aisle, if you don’t count all the other displays that are posted in various places around the grocery section.  And if all the wandering around don’t get to you, then you get to move to the checkout line.

It should be against the law to use your cell phone while simultaneously placing your groceries on the food belt at checkout. And worse is to be chatting about nothing while trying to use your check card. To be fair, if you can multi-task this may not be a problem, but most of the time I seem to get behind the single taskers. The ones who can talk but everything, and everyone else, has to be suspended in time and space while they chatter. This same problem is seen at red lights. People get so caught up in their conversation that they don’t even notice the light has changed. Just sitting there in their car talking up a storm, even using hand gestures and completely forgetting where they are.

And how about this. What if the grocery stores had a policy that if you had to wait more than five minutes in the check out line, your groceries would be free? All the carts could have bar codes on them that a scanner could read as you roll your buggy into line. This would record the time and start a timer. Five minutes later, if you are still standing there, your groceries would be free! That would be cool and I bet they would have more cashiers handy. There must have been a huge sale on cash registers for them to have 20 checkout lanes and only three cashiers. Every store I go into seems to have this same problem. Lots of places for customers to line up but not very many cashiers. 

All in all though, the shopping trip went really well and I even learned a few things. The only other thing that didn’t make sense in all this is that after suffering through the shopping, the very next thing my wife and I did…………….go out to eat. This kind of made all the shopping stuff useless. But Theresa said that we needed all that stuff.

Have a good day and know that Jesus loves you. He proved His indescribable love when He died on the cross. See ya later.

Hope you are having a good week. I have been busy working on some of the wedding photos we shot last week. And just trying to define my space in the world now that I am not working a regular job. It seems strange not to have to think about getting up and going into work. Then I remember that I won’t be getting a paycheck and strange becomes scary. Then I remember that God is in control and I have acted in faith as best as I could, so the scary becomes peaceful when I focus on God.

One thing that is going to take some getting used to is that for the last few years, I have been trying to do better about saving money. This was to help me to be able to retire. Now that I have retired, I have to start spending some of that money that I worked so hard to save. Granted that is according to plan, but it still is a 180 degree turn and those are always awkward. Still life goes on. It does seem that you would reach a stage where you didn’t have to adjust and learn new things. Come to think of it, that would be dead, wouldn’t it?

I was proud of the UT Vols last week when they played that other team down south. I didn’t expect them to win, but like most people I thought the score would be pretty embarrassing. They held their own though and came away with out too much damage. I know that the talk now is that the Vols played to not lose rather than playing to win. Seems to me that they had to go with what they had. I can’t believe that any coach on that level would not play to win if they had the means to win. Kiffen has the same problem that Fulmer had and he coached the same way. But they should come roaring back this week. GO VOLS!

The question on my mind today is “Do our prayers change the mind of God, or do they change us?” I was in a discussion on this a few days ago and I felt then as I do now that God does not change his mind. In the scriptures, several times they say that God repented that He had made man, and so forth. Most of these words in their original meaning give the idea that God was sorry. But to say that He changed His mind is another thing for me. One of the points used was when Moses interceded for the children of Israel. God was ready to destroy them but Moses prayed and most people think that God changed His mind. The way that hit me is that God did not lead His people out of Egypt to destroy them. Rather His plan was to deliver them. When they became disobedient again, (like us, over an over and over) God was left with no choice. Until Moses interceded. Then God could show mercy and grace and continue on with His plan to deliver the children of Israel. All of this was in accordance with His plan to deliver them and to teach them about His holiness. So in my mind, the prayer did not change God’s mind, but it did bring the people back into God’s will. Good question though. And I don’t claim complete 100% right about the answer. I have learned though that when I pray about something I need or want, the longer I pray the more I find myself asking for God’s will instead of what I started out wanting. So the prayers seem to change me more than they change God.

Have a good week and may God bless you.

Well, it’s official. Yesterday was my birthday and now I meet or exceed all the requirements for early retirement. Except of course, MONEY! I have realized that no matter how much savings you have, it will never be enough.

A friend of mine has started a new business adventure. His name is David Richards and we call him “Big Time” as most everybody around here has nicknames. If not, just wait a few minutes and someone will tag them with a new name. Anyway, Big Time has got a side car frame that has been outfitted with the same hardware that you find in the back of a hearse for the caskets. He can set a casket on this frame and then the unfortunate person in the casket can get a true last ride to the cemetery. Unlike the ones that pull a hearse trailer behind the motorcycle, this one puts the casket out in the wind, just like a motorcycle rider is used to.  He plans to offer this service through area funeral homes when the need arises. We certainly hope no one in the near future needs this but I am just trying to help Big Time get the word out about his new service. You can view some more photos of Big Time’s rig here and also find his contact information.

I have a wedding to shoot today at 5:00. Tennessee plays that other team today at 3:30. Guess I will miss the game but that is not entirely bad. My heart says GO VOLS and I really think they can win. My head says be careful Vols and I ain’t to sure about winning. I will still be a true, died in the orange, Tennessee Vol fan no matter what. Right now I have to get my camera and everything else ready for this wedding. So I guess this is all for now.

Have a great day in the Lord Jesus Christ and look up, for our redemption is getting closer. He is coming back…..SOON!

Well, it’s getting closer. The last few weeks have really took a toll on me. I am approaching early retirement age much quicker than anticipated. Remember the guy who said that he would have taken better care of himself if he had known he would live this long? That’s how I feel except I would have saved more money. (Yeah Right) And I would have been more careful with debt (suuuure) and I would have done any other thing that you can think of that should have been done.

When we were kids we would play hide and seek. All the kids but one would go hide. The one who didn’t hide, would close his eyes and count to 100, if they could, or as close to 100 as possible. Then when they reached the last number, they would open their eyes and yell “READY OR NOT HERE I COME!”  As soon as you heard this, you knew that time had run out for you to hide. That’s sort of how I feel about this early retirement thing. Because of the circumstances of the retirement plan at work, my age, the economy and seems like everything else, I have come to realize that this is the smart thing for me to do. BUT, it is not the easiest. Seems that I have become addicted to something that is called “cash flow”. But I’ve been assured that this addiction can be overcome. It just takes time and planning.

God has blessed me with a plan that is as good as any. If nothing major rocks my world then I should be able to enjoy the next few years. I am not really going to retire, just simply going to quit doing what I have been doing and do something else. Just what that something else is going to be hasn’t been answered yet, but it will. We have prayed and now we are trusting. I will confess that I have been asking God for direction while what I really wanted was a road map. That just makes me normal. God gives me a direction and I immediately want to know the details.

I admit that the possibility of being un-employed is a little un-nerving. On one hand, I have the plan. It seems to be solid. On the other hand, I have the unknown. The only thing about this that we know is that it is unknown. We can’t predict what the future holds. No one can know what is going to happen next year, or even the next minute. Short range, I am planning to finish writing this but who knows. Something may prevent me from finishing. Life is like that. We don’t have the promise of tomorrow. BUT, we can have GOD!

The Bible teaches me that I am to live by faith. My earthly wisdom tells me that I need to plan for the worst and hope for the best. God tells me that he will provide. Earthly wisdom tells me that I need to be prepared. God knows the future. My earthly wisdom does not. Which one should I follow? First, I have prepared the best I can but even that may not be enough. (remember the un-known thing) So I am left to worry and deal with anxiety, or I can trust God! He never fails us. Even now as I am going through all this life changing stuff, God has sent me little reminders along the way to help keep me focused on Him. Just today, I got a devotional from Dr. David Jeremiah about the opposite of faith. He pointed out that the opposite of faith was not un-belief, but fear. Jesus pointed this out to his disciples in Mark chapter 4. The disciples were on a ship in a storm in the middle of the sea and they didn’t think they were going to make it to the other side. Jesus was asleep on the ship. They went to Jesus and asked him why he didn’t care that they were about to die. They had anxiety to the highest level. Their future looked dark and they were sure that it was over. Jesus first calmed the storm and then asked them why they were so fearful. Did they have no faith? So there it is. Jesus pointed out that the opposite of faith is fear. I needed that lesson today. At the end of the devotion was a quote that hit home for me. Starting now I am going to try to look at my future with faith and not fear. How about you?

The beginning of anxiety is the end of faith, and the beginning of faith is the end of anxiety. George Muller

“and he said unto them, why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?” Mark 4:40

I don’t have to work today. At this stage of my life that is a good thing. Having worked where I do for the last 36.5 years, I am almost ready for a change. Problem is that I am not sure what to change into.

Last month we went camping and took Jasmine and Alexus along for the ride. They had blast and it was fun for Theresa and myself. Here they are blowing some bubbles and just generally having a good summer day.

I remember those summer days and watching them made me think back to when I was about their age. (Many years ago) They had fun with nothing more than soapy water and a bicycle. It made me wonder just when did life get so complicated. I love riding motorcycles today and we ride whenever we get time. But when I was about this age, we would use a clothes pin and a piece of cardboard to make our bikes sound like a motorcycle. Just tear the cardboard into a square and then clip the clothes pin over the cardboard and the frame of the bike so that the spokes would flip the cardboard and make a motor sound. At least with some imagination that’s what it sounded like. The faster you rode the bike the louder it would sound off. Until the cardboard got so tattered that it no longer made noise. The motorcycle sound and thrill of riding would slowly fade away. Not to worry though, a complete engine overhaul only involved another piece of cardboard and about two minutes. Then you were back on the road tearing down the highway. Life was so simple then. Funny how we think that being grown up is better.

Just dropping by to make a short post. Not much going on for me lately. Still trying to decide if I want to try the “retirement” thing out. I can’t and don’t want to quit working but, the way my retirement plan is now structured, this is beginning to look like it may be the smartest, but certainly not the easiest thing to do. Still have a little  time to decide though.

Lots of talk in the news about health care reform and all the changes that they say we need. I agree that something needs to be done but I am troubled by some of the language that I hear. Especially about deciding who gets coverage and when they can get it. I am against my tax money being used to fund abortions and in the future it may even be used to fund suicide. This is very troubling to me. I know that saving money is important but to save money at the expense of lives is not the way to go. Most of the politicians will say “Don’t worry, we’ve got it covered” but somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better. Most of them have either forgotten or never knew the problems that the average person faces, so how could they possibly have them covered.

All that leads us to this. Only one place to put your trust and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. As long as we are alive, we will continue to grow older and more feeble and eventually die. After I die, then Jesus will tell me “Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered” and I will have the best deal of my life. All of the best will be furnished at no cost. No cost too us anyway, but Jesus paid a huge price for this. See ya later.

Rev Big Boy