Let's Go To Garner State Park...

Do you remember that song from the 60's?  It has been in my head lately, having spent a couple of days in West Texas at Garner State Park with four of our grandchildren.  We used to camp there - in tents, mind you - ages ago when our boys were little.  It's probably been thirty-five years since our last visit.  I am glad to say it hasn't changed a bit, though our accommodations have.  We stayed in nearby Uvalde in a hotel.  I think we will go again, and forego the hotel for a rented pop-up.  It was inconvenient with our things in two places.
My brother and his family, niece and her family, and our friends, the Littlejohns were also there - spread out, but not too far from each other.
Here are some pix of our fun.

This is how I saw Luke most of the time.

Tommy is in the light colored hat.

Look at the guy in the top of the tree.

Marlon, Owen, and Tommy grillin' and chillin'.

Ivy needing some love.

Cherith loving on a frog.

Bella, Emma, and Maggie looking for some other frogs to dance with.

Three musketeers.

Owen's campsite.

Ivy and Oliver talking to Hope.

Old Baldy.  

Hayden and Luke

Karen and Ivy.

Stevie in the rapids.

We found a cove to swim in.

Holden and Cherith dancing at night.

On top of Old Baldy.,,sing with me.

Owen and Ivy

Karen and me..without a stitch of makeup.

Bunny hoppers

Secret handshake or something like that.

Back in the room.  Everyone seemed to like my bed the best.

Emma danced with eight boys.  

Josh and Ivy

Owen and Emma

She danced her heart out.  She is done.

It's Like Dominoes

"And you, who were dead in your trespasses 

and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God 

made alive together with him, 

having forgiven us all our trespasses, 

by canceling the record of debt 

that stood against us (me) with its legal demands. 

This he set aside, nailing it to the cross." 

Colossians 2:13-14  

I was reading through Colossians and these verses grabbed me as if I had never read them before. Does that ever happen to you? It was as if I had just discovered a black and white masterpiece and it jumped from the page right into my heart. What great love God must have for His children! He set aside what I owed and paid it with His own Son's blood. God nailed my sin to the cross, with the same nails that killed His Precious Son, Jesus Christ. He nailed my debt - past, present, future.  So...why, oh why do we hang on to the debts we think others owe us?
We keep accounts of wrongs done, words hurled in anger, being mistreated or left out, or having to watch loved ones suffer, and endless other things. The freedom from slavery that we experience, we can share with others, but not until we free them from the bondage we have held over them in our hearts. Take hold of the freedom given in Christ and let go of the debts you might be owed. It's like dominoes falling.

O Lord, let me never forget what it cost You to save me. You paid the debt I never could. You forgave me so I could forgive others. Let my life be a living testimony of gratitude, love, and forgiveness.