A Cord Of Three Strands Is Not Easily Broken

I have often heard the above scripture in reference to a married couple or to a couple that is getting married. If we have God in our marriages we are like a cord of three strands.....strong and not easily broken.

I have been thinking this week that this also applies to the gift of friendship. God blesses us with great friendships with all different types of people. The more I think about that the more I think I understand it's purpose. I have many different types of friends. Some are the serious intellectual type, some are shy, some are the life of any party, some are funny, and some are a mixture of all of that. I think the purpose is this. We have different types of friends to deal with or share different areas of our lives. Our lives are complex. We deal with different issues every single day. Some are joyous wonderful things and some are hard painful overwhelming things. That is just a fact of daily life. Sometimes the situation we are in determines which friend we go to to share that issue. The greatest blessing is having many friends to share our lives with. We are never defenseless because we always have someone to share whatever is going on in our lives at the moment. Because we are blessed with more than one friend...we have many to share with and no one friend gets overwhelmed. Isn't that a great gift from God....a friend to go to in each situation and a God to bind us together as one?

This past weekend I went on a trip with 18 women (and three babies) from my church. It was a perfect example of the friendships God give us. There were 19 women with all different personalities and yet bound together in friendship and Christ's love. Throughout the weekend we were able to do things together and to do things separately. We all took time to laugh, and share, and be together. Every night you could see groups of sisters sitting around sharing their hearts and their lives. It was a time of seeing God's blessings and feeling the love and support that true friendship brings.

God continues to bless me and grow me by the wonderful people he adds to my life. I love all of you and I am so thankful to have you. I am reminded of a reference I heard in a Beth Moore bible study. She was talking about the four men that carried their friend on a stretcher (a mat) and lowered him down to Jesus....because the man could not walk on his own. She called these men "Stretcher Bearers" and that was what she called her friends. That stuck with me and that is the way I see my friends. You are my stretcher bearers...you lift me up when I can not walk on my own....and you take me to Jesus.

Tammy


Papa Bears Cabin....our home sweet home


Our view...isn't that beautiful?


Shopping in Gatlinburg


Ella and Ranger....our power couple


Dinner at Bubba Gump's....yummy!


Mexican Dinner with our peeps


I had to eat with the giant fork....


Chillin' on the deck


Ella....isn't she beautiful?


Talking with the girls....


Cyndi's peddie...did I spell that right?


19 Women + 3 babies. The whole gang


Heading home :-(

Be Ye .......Fishermen

Mom's Steinhatchee House

This last week Sandy and some the guys from church went down to my mom's house in Florida to go fishing. My mom has a little house in Steinhatchee, Florida. That is pronounced Steenhatchee and if you say it any other way....the locals will stare at you and call you a tourist.

Last Wed, Sandy, Brad, Eric, Kurt, and Keith plus two friends of Eric's... Todd and Bobby headed off to Florida. They arrived late and found cold weather there to greet them. In all the years my mom has owned this house I don't think we have met up with cold weather....tormenting breath taking hotter than blazes heat....yes, but never cold. They had temperatures of 36 degrees on Wed night. I heard Kurt the lumberjack slept on the porch outside and about froze.

On Thursday, most of the guys went grocery shopping. They found a truckload sale on meat at Mason's...the local grocery. They bought a 20 pound rib eye roast...a slab of meat fit for a King. They grilled out Friday night.... a slab of meat and a few veggies on the side for decoration.

Slab O'Meat

Eric and Bobby slicing veggies

Friday was the big fishing day. They had two charters. One was with Captain Pat...the usual family fishing guide. Sandy, Keith, Kurt and Brad went on his boat. The other guys...Eric, Todd, and Bobby went with Captain Steve. They had a great time and caught 115 pounds of fish between the two boats. They caught trout, red fish, flounder, mackerel, lizard fish, pin fish, blue fish, a stingray, and a shark. There is a huge variety of fish in the Steinhatchee river and lot of good fishin' .

The Boys....Brad, Sandy, Kurt, and Captain Pat

Keith, Kurt, Brad and Captain Pat

Keith, Kurt, and Captain Pat

The Combined Catch

Pile O'Fish

Friday night they were to tired to cook out the fish so some of the guys headed to Roy's...a local seafood joint. They had a great meal and then headed back to the house and crashed.

Saturday morning some of the guys headed home. Eric, Kurt, Bobby, and Todd left out about 6am heading home. Sandy, Keith, and Brad stayed over until Sunday morning before heading home. They did a little of the local sight seeing and went to see Steinhatchee Falls (more like a two foot drop in the river than a falls) and Keaton Beach (Panama City it ain't...) and then they cooked out fish on Saturday night.

Steinhatchee Falls

Keaton Beach

Remnants of Easter on Keaton Beach

This Hot Dog Stand on Keaton Beach

was listed for sale for $1,000,000 last time

we were there.

The guys had a great time of brotherhood and bonding. They are already making plans for next year.

Anyone want to check out Steinhatchee? It's a great place to go and hang out and let your soul catch up with you.

Tammy