Sunday Reflections - Friends

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. (John 15:15-16)

During my life, I have had lots of acquaintances, many friends, and a few really close friends.

When I was a little kid in Nashville, I think my best friends were my sister and my female cousins (I've always liked girls). However, to them I was probably just a bratty little brother/cousin. When we moved to Birmingham, Alabama I became good friends with a guy who lived down the street - Alan Wright. Alan and I shared a lot of the same interests, especially our love for playing baseball.

As a teenager we moved from Birmingham back to Nashville and I met the person who's been my best and closest friend from that time until today -- Betty. We met and started dating as juniors in high school.

As an adult, besides Betty, I've had a few good male friends -- Bob in Ohio, Lane in Canada and one or two others. In fact, today is the day we arrive at Lane and Margie's ranch in Caroline, Alberta, Canada to spend a week with them and three more good friends.

I also am fortunate to consider both of my sons as good friends.

When Jesus told the disciples that he was now going to call them friends, he meant something very special. The Greek for friend is philos which literally means 'dear.' Jesus was saying to the disciples 'you are dear to me.'

Like most scripture, we can apply his words to us. Jesus wants us to know that we are dear to him -- to the point that he died for us on the cross.

Now that's a good friend.

Oh, Canada!

Well, we're in Canada -- Lethbridge, Alberta to be exact. For those of you who are geographically challenged, it's that great big country just North of ours.

Tomorrow morning we'll drive to Caroline, two hours North of Calgary, where our friends, Margie and Lane Moore, have their ranch, the Lazy M.

Margie has only a dial-up Internet connection, so this will be my last 'live' post. I have a Sunday Reflection for tomorrow that I did a week or so ago, but that's it until we get to Great Falls, Montana on our way home and that will be next Sunday night.

Here are a few pictures from our stay in Great Falls -- actually it should be named Not So Great Falls, Montana. They have dammed the Missouri River at each of the falls for electricity so there is very little water flowing over the cascades. When Lewis & Clark came through here they were overwhelmed by the majesty of the falls -- not so today.

Here's what the Missouri river looks like going North from the last falls.

The best part of Great Falls is it is the home of the cowboy artist Charles M. Russell (1864-1926) who is one of my favorite artists.

He was a working cowboy for many years as he refined his artistic skills. He also lived with a Crow tribe for almost a year. So, he understood both cultures and his pictures are considered some of the most historically accurate. Here are just two of his many paintings.

And two of his sculptures.

Here I am with a statue of the man himself.

Both his home and his log cabin art studio were preserved and the museum is built right behind each. It's in the middle of a residential area now, but it was pretty well open land when he lived here in the early part of the 20th century.

On our drive from Great Falls into Canada to Lethbridge, we took the scenic route again. We drove along the outside of Glacier National Park. Here are a couple of pictures from that drive. Glacier National Park is on the other side of these mountains.


Well, goodbye for a little over a week. I'll see you around the first of September.

Update from Montana

I finally have an Internet connection that works, so here's an update on our trip.

We left Fort Collins and had a beautiful drive up to Cody, Wyoming. Cody was founded by Buffalo Bill Cody and lies along the Shoshone River. It's main attraction is the Buffalo Bill Cody Historical Center. It has several wings which are complete museums in themselves.

There's the Buffalo Bill Cody wing which is a history of his life, but also a history of the West during his lifetime. There's the Plains Indian wing which is a good recap of all the Plains Indian tribes. There's the Western Art wing which is super. There's a Natural History wing that details the natural history of the Cody area from prehistoric times onward. There are two outdoor sculpture gardens, and, there's the Gun Collection wing which has almost every firearm ever used in the USA. Finally, there's the special section which is now showing a recap of the Lewis and Clark journey in art. There's an artist who decided to recap all aspects of the journey in his paintings and they are both good and historically accurate. It was really neat.

Here are some pictures from Cody.


A statue of Sacajawea.For our horsey friends, here's a picture of an actual Pony Express saddle.

Finally, a picture of Betty outside of the Wyoming Rib & Chop House where I had the best steak I've ever eaten.

We left Cody and headed up the Chief Joseph Scenic Highway towards Yellowstone.

We drove through the Northern part of Yellowstone and of course we saw Bison and Elk.

Then we drove North to where we are now, Helena, Montana. This afternoon we took a boat trip through the Gates to the Mountains on the Missouri River. The name was given by Captain Lewis when he and his crew made this same trip in Cottonwood dugout canoes.

This final picture is a formation that's called the Rhino. If you look to the right of the 'eye' you can see the Rhino's horn.

Tomorrow we drive up to Great Falls, Montana. If I have the time and an Internet connection, I'll try to post pictures from our visit there.

Be good.

Monday Video - Buffalo Bill Cody

After a great visit with Wade Daniel, Marie and Juliet, we're heading to Cody, Wyoming. Named after Buffalo Bill, Cody is the home to the Buffalo Bill Museum.

We stopped there many years ago on our way home from Yellowstone, but we only had about two hours which is not nearly enough time. This time we're going to do it right.

We left Fort Collins about 8:30 AM this morning and we're driving up to Cheyenne, Wyoming then to Casper, then on up to Cody.

Here's a short video of the man himself shot in 1917.

Sunday Reflections - Will You Still Need Me? Plus More Juliet Pictures

"Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?"

Fortunately, Betty has answered yes to both as I turn 64 today. When Paul McCartney wrote that song he was 16 years old and I'm sure 64 seemed really old to him. Actually, for 64 I'm feeling pretty good.

As my Dad always said, "I can still do everything I have always done. It just takes me twice as long to do it and twice as long to recover."

God says, "The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old." (Proverbs" 20:29) Well, I must have plenty of splendor given how much gray hair I have.

But I'm not complaining about getting older. Actually, there is a great gift of freedom associated with old age. You quit worrying about what people think of you. You get to say what you want and some people take it as wisdom and others take it as the ramblings of an old fool -- and I don't care. That freedom is a real gift.

One of the great gifts I'm receiving on this Birthday is I'm celebrating it with our oldest son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. That's pretty good.

Happy Birthday to me!

Yesterday, we went to a new park in Fort Collins. I've said it before, but Fort Collins has the best family parks in the world.

Here are some (warning: lots) pictures from our park visit.

First, a picture of Juliet with her doting Papa.

Me with my number one son and good friend, Wade Daniel.

The park had a water section where the kids could play.


There was one little fountain that she enjoyed standing over.

But one thing she didn't know was it would occasionally spray much higher.

Then it was on to the playground.

Juliet loves to climb up steps and down.

Finally, some pictures I like.


You just have to bear with a proud father and grandfather.