Home Is Where The Heart Is

Day 239 in my "Year In My Life Through Pictures" blog series

Made the trek to this years Home and Garden Show here in Paducah today. Lots of vendors set up each year to show their wares, goods and services. This year marked the Silver Anniversary of the event (25th) and it is still going strong.

My picture(s) today were from right when you entered the event. What else would you expect to see at a Home and Garden show besides an Indy Car and a Chopper made by Orange County Choppers? The chopper is the second I have seen in person made by OCC. The first was the Airgas bike that also had a tour and stopped in Paducah a few years ago. The one today was made for Window World/ St. Jude Hospital. This bike is beautiful, decked in bright blue and lots of chrome. It is definitely a head turner.

The Indy Car is driven by John Andretti and owned by Petty-Andretti Autosports. The names Petty and Andretti are legendary in the auto racing world. This is the first time I have seen a real Indy Car up close and it, too, was very impressive looking. I'm more of a NASCAR fan than any other motor sports, but I can appreciate a race car from any circuit.

Over the years my NASCAR fascination has dwindled a lot. I've gone from being a diehard fan and purchaser of memorabilia to a "watch the race in fast forward on the DVR" fan. It's not that it's not interesting any more, but that my attention is on Greater Things now. Namely, God. It was not really a conscious decision to get out of the crazy cycle of NASCAR fandom, God just basically took the desire away to spend so much time and money in the following of the sport. Not that I wouldn't go to another race again or buy another t-shirt at some point, but that my priorities are different now and NASCAR and TV watching are not that high on the list for the most part.

It's amazing and sometimes confusing why God picks some things to purge from us painlessly, while He allows others to stay with us. Paul talked about this with his thorn in the flesh. Not sure what the thorn was, but it evidently kept Paul humble and focused on God. I believe the Lord allows some struggles in us so that we will seek Him more. After all if everything was our best life now then we would have no reason to seek God. Our reliance on all aspects of life should focus on God and how we can interact with Him more each day. We must continue to be conformed to the image of His Son or risk stepping on the slippery slope of complacency and falling away. After all, lack of growth is a sign of malnourishment and/ or death. A Christian must always be moving forward with eyes fixed on Christ. He is our strength and He will see us through.