Road Trip

I was excited when Pastor Jim told me that I was going on vacation with Him and Sister Pat. He told me that the first day of vacation would be a “road trip” and that we would travel about 550 miles. Most the day would be spent riding in the SUV; and Sister Pat insisted that I ride in the back seat.


Things didn’t go as expected. Pastor Jim remembered that he had not put the license plate on the trailer after we had driven 30 miles in an extremely nasty storm. The frown on Sister Pat’s face expressed the deep disgust in Pastor’s Jim’s voice as they reluctantly turned around to head home for the license plate that had been stored in Pastor Jim’s “important stuff” draw since February. It was evident that my two hosts were not very happy about the delay; but to my surprise, both took it in stride and refused to let the error and delay encroach on their vacation spirits.

That day, after reaching our base camp and setting everything up, I approached Pastor Jim about the events earlier that day.

“Bear” he said, “I could have spit nails this morning when I remembered I hadn’t put this year’s tags on the camping trailer. (I knew that the phase “spit nails” was an expression Pastor Jim uses meaning he was really, really, really upset!) “But then I said to myself, what good is it going to do to get all upset? Being upset wasn’t going to change anything and I’ll just get everyone else upset.”

I didn’t say a word because I have seen Pastor Jim “spit nails”; and when Pastor Jim “spits nails”, everyone within two counties knew he was not happy.

Probably the look on my face caused Pastor Jim to explain. “I made a choice, Bear. Right then and there I made a good choice – a right choice. I chose to be happy and not to let that mistake or any other keep me from enjoying “our” vacation.

“So you can choose to be happy?” I asked.

“Yes Bear, you can choose to be happy or you can let the problems and mistakes that happen in life make you miserable. I don’t always make the “happy choice” but wouldn’t life and the world be much better if we all did?”

I thought on that for a moment and agreed with Pastor Jim – and that is the Bear Truth.

Bear Truth Meets Smoky

Pastor Jim took me with them on a recent retreat where I got to meet the world famous Smoky the Bear. I was a little intimidated by Mr. Smoky because of his fame and size. Smoky has been warning people for years that it is much easier to prevent forest fires than it is to put them out and restore the damage they cause.

I was a little confused when Pastor Jim said that he does the same thing only about sin. He said he especially wants to tell young people about the advantages of avoiding sin and anything that might lead to sin. He said avoiding sin is much better than trying to pick up the pieces of a broken life as the result of sin.

Pastor Jim pointed to a picture on a magazine where a young girl had little or no "fur" covering her body. He said young girls will follow that style not realizing the “foot hold” it gives the devil. He said that girls dress so because they think it’s cool and because they want to draw attention to their bodies. What they don’t realize is the kind of attention it draws. And, he added, it also sends the wrong signal to others.

Pastor Jim says the rules that all people should follow are discreetness and modesty. He said the characteristic that makes people the most attractive is a pure heart that desires to let people see the Holy Spirit living in them.

And that is the Bear Truth…

...and do not give the devil a foothold. (Eph 4:27 NIV)

I also want women to dress modestly... (1Ti 2:9 NIV)

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewelry and fine clothes. Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. For this is the way the holy women of the past who put their hope in God used to make themselves beautiful. They were submissive to their own husbands, (1Pe 3:3-5 NIV)

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