WE MOVED…

We have decided to move blog addresses… I sure hope that you do not mind.  We hope that you will enjoy our new site a lil’ better since it includes pics and soon to be videos.

http://johnnyrussellswritings.blogspot.com/

Hope to see ya there…

OH! I’m so in…

I go to bed somewhat early last night … at least that was my intent.  I am borrowing a book from a friend called The Last Jihad by Joel Rosenberg.  Have you ever heard of it?  Can you say Thriller?  And I don’t mean Micheal Jackson!  This author started writing this book in January 2001 and in it talked about terrorists using a jetliner to fly it into buildings in either Washington or New York.  He spoke about the war in Iraq.  All before it happened.  Pretty crazy.  He has written several books since then that I am looking forward to reading.  My intent was to go to bed by 10, but reading kept me up till 11 or so.  I was really excited about this morning…

My father in law was picking me up at my house at 5:30ish this morning and we were gonna go Turkey Hunting!  How about that?  And that we did.  It was really great!  I have never been Turkey Hunting.  I have been deer hunting a few times … with a rifle.  I have only killed one deer in my life.  And I have been dove hunting tons of times and love that!  But MAN!  Turkey Hunting is where it is AT!  We walked to the ‘blind’ which is a camoflauge tent.  Well, we walked to where it was supposed to be.  We got there and the tent was gone!  My FIL said a few ‘choice words’ and then said that someone had stolen his $200 tent.  I chuckled to myself.  I told him maybe someone had set it up elsewhere and that we should look for it.  It was funny because my ‘head lamp’ was really powerful and his was not.  And so his light lit up about 8 feet in front of him so he was straining to see anything.  My head lamp lit up about 25 feet in front of us.  Before you know, he is directing me where to shine my light.  He had given up on his.  I felt like a man.  We began looking around and come to find out, the wind had gotten ahold of it and it had blown it a short distance away.  So we retrieved the tent, moved it to a new spot and began to wait.  Paul (my F-I-L) begins to tell me all there is to know about Turkey Hunting.  He is an expert on this.  He really is!  It was SO fun.  I chuckled to myself because there we were, two grown men sitting Indian Style (yes, I just called it INDIAN style!  Did you know that teachers are not allowed to use that term any longer because it is not Politically Correct?  Hilarious!) at 6:15 in the morning getting ready to ‘call’ the birds in.  Paul begins digging through his camoflauge ‘Fanny Pack’ that is around his waist.  This guy is serious!  He has got all of the bells and whistles and he is ready to GO.  He has a rifle.  I have a shotgun.  We are gonna kill’em … kill’em dead.  I was so excited to just see a turkey in the wild.  Paul told me all about the ‘Toms’ and the ‘Hens’ and how they were gonna act, where they currently were and how far away they were.  He kept looking at his watch and would tell me when they were gonna come down out of the trees (did you know that turkeys can fly?), off of their roost and come and to our decoys that we had so eloquently set up.  This was Exciting!  We were actually hunting these birds.  We were gonna be ’talking’ to them very soon he said.    

Paul reaches into his camoflauged ‘Fanny Pack’ again and pulls out this wooden box with a handle on it.  It sure looked interesting.  He begins to move the top around and it is making this hideous sound.  He tells me that he is calling in the ‘Toms’ (the males).  This box thing is making the sound of a hen.  On the top of this wooden box read the words, ‘Lynche’s Fool Proof Turkey Call.’  We ain’t no fools… He was working the box and all of a sudden, we begin to hear Gobble, Gobble, Gobble!  No, FOR REAL!  And LOUD!  AND CLOSE!  It was really incredible.  I was so proud of my father in law.  It is such an art.  Such a talent.  It was wonderful.  I’m holding my shotgun at this point ready to ’smoke’ a turkey when he walks out.  The sky is turning lighter by now.  The Toms are still gobbling.  They are still in the roost Paul says.  It won’t be long now.  Along with Lynche’s Fool Proof Turkey Call, Paul is ‘working’ a black gobbler call, a battery operated turkey & hen caller and he has some little instrument in his mouth he called a diaphram.  You might be a Redneck if … This was the time of my life.  We truly were ‘talking’ to these birds.  They would gobble and Paul would gobble back with his hand held black gobbler thingy that he waved back and forth to make the gobble sound.  They would ‘talk’ and we would ‘talk’ back.  Back and forth.  Back and forth.  He would hit my leg in excitement everytime he could tell they were getting closer.  They are only 40 yards away now.  They were 180 yards away at first.  One Big Tom was 400 yards away he said.  Is he pulling my leg or is he serious?  Paul is good.  Real Good!  After a short bit passes, low and behold, 3 Toms come strutting out from the trees.  Paul is still gobbling and they are gobbling back.  Fascinating!  The Toms look really funny when they gobble.  I was looking through the ‘field glasses’ (I call them binoculars!) to see how bigs their beards were.  The size of one’s beard dictates how old one is.  These birds were ‘Jakes,’ not but 2 years old, maybe.  Their beards were in between 1 – 2 inches.  I had seen one in Paul’s truck one time that was about 10 – 12 inches long.  That is the one I want!  Bring out the Big Tom … MUY!  Grande!  Paul told me I could shoot the 2 inch bearded Tom, but I chose not to in hopes that Muy would walk out and I could then ‘touch’ him with my shotgun (that’s a nice way of saying kill). 

There were also 3 hens to our right eating some feed on the ground.  The Toms did not stay around too terribly long.  It was so fun just to watch them and how they acted.  Their feathers would flare up at the back (is this called the tail?) when they got excited.  Their heads would bob up and down.  And boy where they gobbling!  We just watched them until they left.  After they went on their way, we packed up and began to walk to the truck.  It was a great time.  We saw the same flock of birds when we were driving out in the truck.  Pretty.  Fascinating. 

Turkeys have very good sight.  Better than an eagles, Paul says.  At Ellison High School (they are the Screamin’ Eagles), there is written on the wall in the ‘Commons Area’ this fact … ‘at a quarter of a mile away, an eagle can see you better than you can see your own feet!’  Daaaaaaaang.  Now THAT is good eye sight!  Turkeys can see really well.  That is why they get in trees, to keep an eye out for predators.  But they can’t smell very good nor hear, I think. 

I am looking forward to next week because we are gonna go several times and jruss (that’s me!) is gonna kill’em his first Turkey!  A bearded one.  A LONG bearded one!  Longer than Paul’s!  At least that’s my hope and prayer.  Wink.  Wink. 

And I will get some pictures.  I may end up moving this blog to another location so that I can figure out how to post pictures on here.  I will let you know if I choose to do that.  I won’t leave you behind.  I promise.

So there it is … the Adventures of Paul and Johnny!  What a great morning! 

I feel so blessed to be able to hunt and fish and be in God’s Creation when I want.  I am thankful to those who invite me into their lives and teach me about the Arts of Hunting and Fishing.  What a Joy.  True Joy…      

The Ups & Downs…

So what is good with you?  The Ups & Downs.  It is very interesting to see how many or how few folks check out this blog each day and where they come from.  Statistics sure are amazing to me.  Anyhow, this could be a long one so get in, sit down, shut up and hold on!

Life is full of struggles.  You face them.  I face them.  The rich face them.  The poor face them.  All Ages.  All Races.  Both Genders. 

At the age of 25, an old Young Life guy of mine from Calallen is going through a nasty and heart wrenching divorce.  Thay made the unwise decision to live together before they got married and during that process, they found out that they were with child.  Such a beautiful boy the child is.  He is 18 months old now.  Full of life.  The pregnancy forced them into marriage if she was to reap the benefits of health insurance through him.  They visited the JP’s Office.  They got married.  He found out a couple months ago that she had been cheating on him for quite some time.  He wanted to work it out.  He wanted to seek counseling.  She desired none of that.  She is 20 years old.  Has zero support.  This new guy is whacked out and is causing her to become someone that she is not and should not become.  It is very sad.  Hearts are hurting.  The Enemy is Proud of his work.  He has done well. 

For the past few weeks, I have awaken in the morning very in tune with the Spritiual Battle that is going on all around each and every one of us.  Do you sense the Battle?  Remember the cartoons when an angel sits on your right shoulder and the devil sits on your left shoulder?  That’s exactly it!  It’s true.  The Battle is just like this cartoon.  The temptation to do what we know is right and yet the ‘always present’ temptation to do what is wrong.  Paul writes in Romans 7 and says, ‘The good that I ought to do I do not do, but the things that I don’t want to do, those are what I end up doing!‘  Can you relate or what?  I feel like this is my life sometimes.  I lay in bed each morning praying for me, my wife, my family by name and those friends of mine that I know that are struggling or just that I simply care about.  I pray the Armor of God from Ephesians 6 every day.  Why would I dare leave my house unprepared for battle?  Unarmed for Battle?  It goes something like this:  God help me put on the Belt of Truth around my waist.  Do I know the Truth?  What is the Truth?  What role does the Truth play in my life?  I pray for the Breastplate of Righteousness.  What does righteousness look like?  How can I be Righteous?  What does the Breastplate protect?  I pray that my feet would be girded with the readiness that comes from the Gospel of Peace.  Am I ready to go?  Do I know the Gospel?  Is it with Peace?  I pray largely for the Helmet of Salvation.  Most of my battles take place inside my head!  This is where the Enemy targets us!  I pray for my thoughts (2 Cor. 10:5).  I pray for my eyes (Job 31:1).  I pray for my ears.  I pray for my mouth!  I pray for all of my senses.  I pray for the Shield of Faith that stops the flaming arrows of the Enemy!  If you don’t think he is firing at you, you are mistaken!  The Enemy is always working.  Back in the day, the soldiers had leather shields that they would soak in water so that if fired upon by flaming arrows, the soaked leather would extinguish these flames.  I like that.  And then the Bad Boy……I pray for the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God!  Do I know God’s Word?  Do I BELIEVE God’s Word?  Do I trust God’s Word?  Am I reading, following and obeying God’s Word?  A great tactic of the Enemy is to make us think that he does not exist and is not working and certainly is not against.  Please don’t believe that!  Please don’t believe that!  Please don’t believe that…

Issues kids (and people in general) that we are dealing with include:  depression, lack of motivation, cutting themselves, homosexuality, they hate their parents, zero relationship with their parents, many many followers and few leaders in the group, scared to step out on a limb and experience something new for the first time. 

The Enemy is a part of each and every one of these issues.  John 10:10 says, ‘the Thief (that’s the Enemy…his name is satan) comes only to Steal, Kill & Destroy, but I (Jesus, Savior) have come to give you LIFE and LIFE ABUNDANT!  I LOVE THAT!  Are you going to bat for you friends and family?  Are you battling for the souls & hearts of your co-workers?  Engage.  The Battle is taking place now. 

Daily Bible:  I am now reading in 1 Samuel and it is great.  I am learning about King Saul and King David, Jonathan and Samuel the Prophet.  To make this short, King Saul ends up getting Jealous of David because he is one bad dude.  I mean, this guy can whip some butt!  So Saul wants David killed, so he tells him that if he is to marry his daughter, the cost of his daughter is …… are you ready for this?  100 Philistine foreskins!  Serious.  No Joke.  What a price!  That’s a pretty good deal I guess.  But NASTY!  So David goes out and kills 200 Philistines and delivers a hundred of them nasty ‘skins’ to Saul.  What did he do with them?  Saul tries to kill David several times with his spear.  He does not succeed.  then he tries to do the same to his son, Jonathan.  This stuff needs to be in a movie!  David and Goliath.  Ring a Bell?  Now THAT’S a Sweet Story!  Absolutely.  I Love It!  David is just a boy.  He hears this 9 foot dude mocking David’s God and he would have none of it!  It says that (1 Samuel 17) David took his staff in his hand, choose 5 smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.  It later says that DAVID RAN QUICKLY TOWARD THE BATTLE LINE TO MEET HIM!!!!!!!!  I flung the rock.  It sunk into Goliath’s forehead.  He fell backwards and died.  Dead.  David cut off his head!  With a Sword.  Now that’s cool…

Taylor and I went camping this weekend with some old YL leaders of ours.  Tara and Isaac are such cool people.  I didn’t know such cool people could come from Colorado.  Tara is really pregnant.  Both couples had tents and enjoyed sleeping outdoors.  It rained on us Friday night which made for a relaxing nights rest with the pitter patter of the rain on our tents.  That could things down.  We hiked 4 miles round trip on Saturday to the Gorman Waterfall.  It was really beautiful.  Tara was amazed that something so beautiful was in Texas.  I hated her comment.  Have you been camping in awhile?  Taylor and really like to camp.  We have a little 2 man tent and it is really great.  No watches.  No Cell Phones.  Time sure does seem to slow down when one camps.  It is really wonderful.

What else is going on?  We are in the midst of signing kids up for summer camp at Sharptop Cove.  My goal is to raise $10,000 to help kids go to camp.  That is only 20 people to each give just $500!  Very Doable!  20 people have looked at this site today.  Sooooooo, if you are reading this, just plan on helping one kid, Just One!, go to STC this summer.  It will be an Eternal Investment.  I promise you that!  Please pray for kids to sign up for camp!  It really is the Best Week of Their Lives! 

We are watching the Art of Romance tonight for Campaigners.  Things are ‘heating up’ once again in the Scriptures.  The kids are handling this subject and topic very well.  Very Mature.  It’s actually surprising. 

 I guess it is time for me to head home.  I am grilling trout tonight on the grill for Taylor and me.  Gulf of Mexico trout caught over Spring Break.  Yum.  Yum.

Thanks for reading…

Know the Battle.

Know the Enemy! 

I haven’t forgotten…

I have not forgotten about this blog!

I just thought you should know that.  There are some really great things going on and I just have not had time to write a substantial amount of my heart and so I am choosing not to write until I can do that.  It is coming sooooooooooooon.

 I am off to the high school…

 Because high school kids are worth it!