Today on our day off we drove to Gentry, Arkansas to the Wilderness Drive-thru Safari.  It was a great surprise!  I have been to a few of these types of safaris that brag about all these exotic animals, but I usually leave disappointed.  Not so with this one.  It was the best Safari I have seen.  It had hundreds of exotic animals that could be seen through a four mile drive thru on their property that sprawled through the beautiful country of Northwest Arkansas.  The animals were out in the open where you could actually see them (unlike the zoo).  The park had a petting zoo that had many types of animals including, turkeys, kangaroos, zebras and prairie dogs.

There was a pony ride for Hannah.  The first time we went to the pony ride it was only $3.00.  As we were walking through one of the workers invited us to help ourselves to ride the pony (horse) as much as we wanted at no charge.  We had a picnic while there.  We brought our own food, but their concession stand was very reasonably priced.  By far, going to this safari allowed us to have fun as a family without breaking the bank.  It was well worth every penny.

You can check out the safari here.

Sunday afternoon, we drove to Devil’s Den State Park.  Don’t really care for the name but you could not question the beauty of our Creator there.  Before leaving for Devil’s Den, we took an afternoon nap.  When Hannah woke up she said, “I want to go climb a mount.”  So we took a trip to climb a mount.

It was a beautiful day with perfect weather. 

We had a good day yesterday.  The crowd was a little down but we still broke 100.  It seems that God is doing great things at RFA.  The worship went well and you could sense the presence of the Lord.  We talked about being more fruitful in our Christian lives.  Fruitful in our character (fruits of the spirit), fruitful in good works, and fruitful in our witnessing.  The response was tremendous at the altar time.  It appears that as believers, we all want to be more fruitful and make a difference for the Kingdom of God.

While Sonya and I were at District Council this week, my parents kept Josh and Hannah.  My dad has been looking for a new pistol so he took the kids to the armory in Springdale.  Josh said they had thousands of guns to look at and there was a lot of people shopping there.  At some point during the shopping trip, one of the workers gave Hannah a balloon.  A balloon in a gun shop, mind you. (I guess they were trying the kid friendly gun shop approach). Now, let me remind you that a gun shop carries ammunition and weapons; things that make loud noises when they fire.  Do you see where I am headed with this?

As my parents are walking around with Hannah, she steps on the balloon and it pops.  POW!  Josh said at once everyone jerked around, startled, to look because they thought somebody had shot a gun in the store.  Leave it to Hannah, that’s my girl:)

We drove through Petit Jean State Park on our way home from Little Rock.  It was a little out of the way but it was well worth the drive.  I forgot our camera but I was able to use my Blackberry camera.  Not the best but good enough.  The beauty was incredible.

Last night at our District Council service, General Superintendent George O. Wood made a profound statement about relationships.  “It is easier to burn a bridge than to build one.”

This is applicable to all of our relationships.  We have a decision to make as to how we will handle conflict and hurt.  Will we burn the bridge, forsake the relationship and cut that person off from our life?  Or will we build a bridge to that person, make amends and try to forgive, mend and heal?

Too often, we take the easy road.  Burn the bridge and make sure that we never get hurt again.  Although that never truly heals the hurt.  It only suppresses it and “makes us feel better” that we have cut them off.  The hard road is to face the pain and the person who caused it or at least resolve in our heart that we are going to extend the hand and be willing to meet in the middle.

Many relationships end because we fail to think it is important enough to save.  We often walk away feeling like life is better off without that person in our life.  We must, however, see things the way God would want.  Jesus reached out to Judas, even though his heart was bent to betray Christ.  Jesus ministered to Peter, even after Peter betrayed Him three times.  Christ, loved us and died for us, while we were yet sinners.  We were the enemies of God but He built a bridge in the form of the Cross to reconcile our relationship.

Who is it in your life that we need to build a bridge to?

We have been kicking back a little today before District Council service tonight.  I am reading Foxe’s Book of Martyrs again this week.  I am simply in awe of the people who have laid down their lives for Christ.  Their martyrdom was  only a shadow compared to their life.

I was moved by the recounting of the life of James the Just, the first pastor of the church in Jerusalem.  The book says about James, “He used to enter into the temple alone, and there fall upon his knees, ask remission for the people; so that his knees, by oft kneeling (for worshipping God, and craving forgiveness for the people), lost the sense of feeling, being benumbed and hardened like the knees of a camel.  He was for the excellency of his just life, called ‘The just’ and, ‘The safeguard of the people’.”

What a man!  To have that as a testimony still alive 1900 years later speaks of a life that was lived for the glory of God.  I am convicted of such a life.  How often am I found on my knees interceding for the forgiveness of man?  Could I be called a safeguard of the people?  What about you?