Ride Photos 16

Posted on September 12, 2022 by ehurst

This batch is an eclectic mix from several rides. I’m getting over seasonal allergies and it kept me from riding much for a few weeks. This is a view from the South River Trail back toward the OKC Skyline. You can always recognize OKC by the appearance of the massive Devon Tower.

I was trying to capture (below) the green weeping willows covering the north bank of the North Canadian River from the bridge at NE 122nd Street. This is one of my favorite shorter rides, and bridge sees so little traffic that I can sit here in natural quiet most of the time. The sun was still a little low on the eastern horizon, so the color is vivid.

This (below) is facing upstream from the same bridge. I was trying to capture something with the telephoto function, but it seems to have failed. It’s not bad, but it didn’t get what I could actually see. This was right before I discovered I had a flat tire on the front of my bike. The thorn strap had managed to dig a hole in the tube. Don’t buy Rhino-Dillo brand tire liners.

Today I visited a couple more points on Draper Lake. This (below) is Point 22, where the boat ramp is totally exposed by the lower water level. I was standing on the boat dock, but it was not even touching the water at any point, just lying on the sand of the shore. Some guy came hustling past on foot with his dog, able to walk the entire shoreline as far as he liked because there was no brush at all that far out.

What made Point 22 half-way interesting was this lovely rock formation jutting out into the water. Today, the abnormally light breeze meant very little splashing on the rocks, but it was still quite lovely, if a bit damp and slippery. The rocks here are unusually soft and water soaks right into them.

Over on Point 23 there is a fishing dock that looks the same as all the rest. For a while I had the place to myself, so I rode my bike right out on the dock. The far shore exhibited a very large and solid rock formation. I tried a couple of times but the random motions from the fishing dock made it hard to get a good telephoto capture. This was the best I could do.

The rock formation on Point 23 itself was less inspiring, but turned out to be a very nice place to sit quietly and watch the foam forming on the sandy shore. The soil right at this point is very densely packed and forms a sharp rise. What little wind there was drove the waves just hard enough for foam to form, and then it would inch along the shore to a pocket and collect into a large rolling wad. I was mesmerized by it for a little while.

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Ride Photos 15

Posted on September 6, 2022 by ehurst

Out behind the main Midwest City shopping area, the municipal leadership decided to build this fancy park. It was previously the site of our city hall and a fire station, along with a water tower. All of that got moved to other locations. The site sat fallow for a long time until someone came up with this idea. I’m sure it will be nice, but I doubt it will see much foot traffic. It’s more of a monument than an actual park.

Meanwhile, the latest bikeway build for Oklahoma City Parks and Recreation is coming along nicely. This is where it runs parallel to NE 4th Street. It will connect the Boathouse District with the Katy Trail, via a long, as-yet-unfinished bikeway along the north bank of the North Canadian River. The whole thing is moving along slowly. Last year, I predicted it would not be finished before next month. So far, that’s turning out to be a good estimate.

Where NE 4th passes over Interstate 35, the bikeway means simply widening the pedestrian walkway and making the drive lanes a little tighter. The new wall has been poured and is standing solid, but the original wall had to be chipped away completely down to the deck. That’s why there’s a new concrete form running down the center of the bike lane. To be honest, it would have been okay to just carve down the old wall to level with the surface, as they had done originally, but I guess someone decided it looked tacky that way.

With the recent heavy rains, the water flow over the lower dam on the OK River Recreation Area (AKA, the Boathouse District) has drawn a lot of fish, and with them, the cranes. They were crowded thickly around the dam by the hundreds, and all along the outflow for several hundred yards downstream.

The other thing noticeable is that, with the temperatures a little lower than during the heat of the summer, we have a much larger homeless population camping along the river. There is always a few, all year round, but right now they are about as thick as the cranes.

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NT Doctrine — John 15

Posted on September 3, 2022 by ehurst

They had left the Upper Room and were making their way to the Kidron, then across to the Garden of Gethsemane. On the way, Jesus continued to unload a lot of truth in parables. You would be forgiven for thinking He struggled to find the words to say what was on His heart.

Jesus quotes Isaiah more than any other source. In his fifth chapter, the prophet proposes the image of Israel as God’s vineyard. The fruit is not merely bodies; Israel’s purpose was to draw attention to Jehovah’s divine glory. Obedience to His Covenant and harvesting His blessings is all one package. This was to be their fruit, their testimony of God’s glory. Because they refused that mission, Jesus came to fulfill that purpose in Himself. At the same time, He clarified and vivified the will of the Father and gave it as a gift to His disciples. He became the One Vine from which all future fruit would grow to the Father’s glory.

The whole point is the fruit, not the lush growth of greenery. It’s not about us, but about His glory. Jesus sprouts the branches, but the Father prunes them to maximize the fruit of His glory. Refusing to bear fruit guarantees removal from the Covenant, but bearing the fruit of the Covenant is His glory. That’s the context for Jesus’ promise that anything we ask from within the Covenant will be granted. That’s what it means to ask in Jesus’ name. More fruit of glory is precisely what the Father wants.

The sap running within the vine is that glorious sacrificial love of God. The only way we can draw on that love is by obedience to the Covenant. The relationship of Master and Disciples was about to change. From here on out, they would all be friends and brothers (as the Greek word philos implies) of Jesus. A servant was not taken into the Lord’s confidence, but friends and brothers had a vested interest in the Lord’s business.

Jesus chose them and ordained them as close confidants, men who were allowed to become acquainted with God Himself. Whatever they dared to ask was guaranteed. Thus, their new Law of the Covenant was the sacrificial love of Jesus. It’s nothing like the law of human kingdoms. Naturally, any worldly system would detest the Messiah and His teachings, because it left nothing under their control. Thus, the persecution of the worldly system was their native element. But anyone capable of hearing from God would hear Jesus, and whoever hears Jesus will hear His disciples.

Jesus came from the Father as the Divine Voice to the Covenant Nation. His miracles were His badge of authority. They saw and heard, but they had already rejected the Father, so it’s no surprise the rejected the Messiah. This is what Isaiah had warned about way back in his prophecy. The seeds of rejection had been planted that far back. Indeed, Jesus quotes David’s Psalm 69 as a prophecy to point out how ancient this rejection stood. The leadership of Israel had no excuse, having been warned about this repeatedly.

It was essential for Jesus to die. As long as He was in the flesh, His Spirit was confined to that body. Once He took up His eternal form, His Spirit could come and dwell in the members His New Body, making it all One. He has been the same Spirit of the Father and of the Son from Eternity.

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NT Doctrine — John 14

Posted on August 27, 2022 by ehurst

This chapter of John is about as mystical as it gets. Had Judas been there to hear, it would have been one more excuse to betray Jesus and get out of this ministry. It was contrary to everything Judas was hoping to see. The others were committed, but had as yet no recognition of what it was to which they had committed themselves.

The mention of His Father’s house should have been a clue to them: There is nothing literal in this lesson. It’s about eternal things in invisible realm of Heaven. Jesus was going to leave them on this earth and go to Heaven and prepare residences for them. They would eventually join Him in Heaven.

With this as the background, He mentions “where” He must go to do all of that. Thomas is the first to admit he’s not following this talk. Like the other ten still together now, he’s been investing so much time and thought into a literal political revolt against the Sanhedrin and Rome that there’s no room left in his attention for anything on a different level.

Jesus knows that His answers need to stick in some part of their souls, so He replies to the query with something that would have memory hooks, if only because it was so unexpected. “I AM the Way!” He adds the terms for verification of truth and living. In the context, He claims to be the source of everything humans seek. He’s the only way to the Father. The only way you can understand the Father is to be friends with Jesus; it was worded as a feudal protocol. If you know Jesus, you know all you possibly could about the Father.

Here we have the radical statement that truth is personal, in the sense that you can’t know God as facts, but as a Person. His Person is indistinguishable from the Person of Jesus, insofar as any human can know the truth. Everything that really matters in this world is wrapped up in getting to know Jesus. So, Jesus had to drill Philip on that understanding.

The Lord wondered aloud if they had learned much over the last three years. Could they not see the character of the Father in the things Jesus said and did? Did they not realize that following the teachings of Jesus included the miracles He had done, and more? If these men claimed to be His brothers in faith, they should operate in light of His teachings. On those grounds, He could persuade the Father to give them His Spirit. He went to great lengths to clarify that the Holy Spirit was impossible for outsiders to perceive, much less to receive.

Then Jesus said that the Presence of the Holy Spirit is His own Presence, much closer than being with Him in the flesh. He talked about the feudal meaning of love and commitment as obedience. That kind of love holds the promise of knowing intimately the Person of the Father and Son through the Spirit.

Jude, likely speaking what the others were thinking, asked how it was possible that they could see Jesus and the world not see Him. It must have been frustrating for Jesus, but He generously tried to get across that mimicking His moral character was manifesting Him in your body. This would release the Holy Spirit to breathe life into His perplexing teachings and make everything clear. Everything Jesus had said would come back to life in their souls.

This should all point back to the shalom that God had promised a thousand different ways. They had seen shalom in the flesh, and now that peace would linger for the rest of their lives. They had nothing to fear. Jesus was going to inaugurate a New Covenant in His own blood. They should rejoice that Jesus was leaving this world so that all the Father’s promises could come pouring out of Heaven. He was telling them before it happened.

So the lesson was over and now Jesus had to face one last round of moral combat with Satan. Not that Satan had any leverage against him, but it was his job to try to divert Jesus from this final path. Jesus was determined to obey the Father’s commission to the bitter end, in order to open a glorious eternity.

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Texas Road Trip

Posted on August 27, 2022 by ehurst

Early in the week my Stepfather died, so I drove down to visit with Mom for a few days. It’s a long way between OKC and Harlingen, TX. On the way I captured this dashcam shot of the slope up into the Arbuckle Mountains of Oklahoma. The mountains here are few and small. This is a major landmark indicating that one has driven almost to the southern border with Texas.

Close to my mother’s house sits this old abandoned mansion. It’s quite beautiful, but you can’t even drive up close to it anywhere. The driveway is hidden in grass and weeds. I got as close as I could on a side street without crawling through the underbrush. This is actually the backside of the place. There are a surprisingly large number of abandoned houses of all sizes NW of Harlingen.

This is the old downtown section of Harlingen. I’m not at all used to seeing palm trees, especially on the main street. These things drop big chunks of woody skin and wilted fronds, so it requires constant clean-up. These are kept trim to prevent them looking ratty, as most of the palm trees around here are rather disheveled. Believe me, they could look a lot worse. Parking wasn’t too bad on the day I went.

The old industrial section of Harlingen is loaded with older buildings like this one. Most of them are still in use. There was no place I could park my car to get some of the more dramatic specimens. It made me really miss my bike, from which it was a lot easier to do this kind of photography. The railroad tracks run very near here, so a lot of heavy industrial agriculture processing facilities are here. Big structures with odd shapes and awful smells abound. In this are, cotton seed oil milling is a major enterprise.

This is just a glimpse of the newer business district in Harlingen. As before, the lack of safe stopping places for my car limit what I can shoot. There is an intermittent Interstate 69E running down from Corpus Christi, and it intersects here with Interstate 2, which runs along the Red River Valley. I came down on Interstate 35W, and it was a massive mistake, with hideous traffic, complicated by heavy rainfall during my passage. I went back on Interstate 69, which drops in and out, but is based on US Highway 77.

Within Palm Valley proper, there is this nice little veterans’ memorial. Since my stepfather lived here as a veteran, his name and service record were included on the walkway up to the monument. I’ve outlined it to make it more obvious. He started in the Navy, then moved to the Army, and ended his career as a recruiter. He was also a POW in Korea during the war there.

The US Marines sponsor an academy in Harlingen. This is a copy of the Iwo Jima monument standing out on their parade ground. On the same grounds is a nice little museum with some rare artillery pieces and such. It was worth a visit for me.

On the way back, I saw hundreds of things I dearly wished I could have stopped to shoot. If I had done that, I never would have gotten home. It was some 14 hours of driving as it was.

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NT Doctrine — John 13

Posted on August 20, 2022 by ehurst

(By request, I’m restoring these weekly Bible lessons to this blog. They will still appear in the forum as well.)

The Seder was symbolic in the first place. It marked the birth of the Nation of Israel, the defining redemption of the Exodus. Jesus was keeping the symbolic context, but changed the meaning of the symbols. He was about to give birth to yet another new nation. The old covenant was being translated into a new one.

John recounts the same scene of this meeting from a different perspective, and adds something the others did not mention. He carefully notes that this is not the Passover meal itself, but the Preparation Day celebration some used to bind together friends and associates in a solidarity of national identity. But as Jesus’ closest friend on this earth, John had insight into how Jesus was feeling about the whole thing. On the one hand, Jesus was about to face crucifixion. On the other hand, He dearly loved these men more than His life.

This would be the last few hours of teaching for them, one last chance to leave with them some critical impression. They wouldn’t understand it right away, but after His resurrection it would all come to life in their hearts.

The meal itself was done. Now came a few symbolic rituals from the Seder. If there was ever a moment when Jesus the man was fully aware of His Messianic role, it was now. To demonstrate what that meant, He rose from His cushion at the table and took off His clothing, and then wrapped Himself in a towel, as if He were a slave. He took up the foot washing basin and proceeded to wash their feet.

A proper Seder requires sitting upright, as if ready to flee at a moment’s notice, shoes on the feet. Because they were reclining on cushions for a Preparation Day “Seder”, this ceremonial foot washing was very easy to do. They would have taken their sandals off when they came in the door. What was not so easy is how utterly embarrassing it was for Jesus to do this. Only Gentile slaves could be compelled to wash the feet of guests; it was forbidden to humble Jewish slaves this way. This meeting had been too private for such an arrangement, and it was common that the men would have washed their own feet once they arrived. Apparently they hadn’t done this, so Jesus was taking care of it.

Again, the symbolism was powerful. In literal terms, feet got dirty in the nasty streets of an urban environment. The streets were treated more or less like public sewers, and everyone’s feet would stink. Only the arrangement of lying on cushions with the feet out away from the table made eating possible without that wretched smell close to the table. If men were on their way to the Temple, they would have taken a ritual bath, and there were public baths scattered about the City of Jerusalem just for that purpose. But between the bath and this private residence, you can bet feet got dirty again.

They saw themselves as the servants and apprentices of Jesus, and here their Master was performing a humiliating and disgusting task.

There’s no doubt Peter approached this event rather feeling full of himself. He was the eldest and had no doubt that he was destined to be Jesus’ lieutenant in His reign as conquering Messiah. Perhaps that would come in just a matter of hours. The role reversal in this foot washing was shocking, so Peter objected. Jesus warned him that none of them would understand the point of this until sometime later. This was a ritual that marked them all as His disciples.

If cleansing were the issue, Peter was all for it. If this is what marks His court servants, Peter wanted all he could get. Jesus made the point that was opaque to them at the moment: He was showing them that serving is greatness. Spiritual truth turns the world on its head, because fallen humanity had turned moral truth upside down first. The basic condition of people coming into His Kingdom was that they be purified wholly from their fallen nature. Once that was done, it needed only the occasional reminder that contact with this world, like feet on nasty streets, would foul their purified lives. There was a need for regular maintenance to remain undefiled.

Their souls were safe, but the world was still a defiling place. Then He said something they didn’t catch, though it would have been less confusing in Hebrew than it is in the Greek record or in English translations: You (plural) have been fully cleansed from original sin, but not every one of you. Of course, Jesus was referring to Judas as the one still dirty after the foot washing.

After He put everything away and put His clothes back on, Jesus got back down on His cushion and explained what had just happened. They called Him “Lord” as a feudal term, and rightly so. If His washing their feet was a proper demonstration of His Lordship over them, then it was for sure they needed to follow His example. If He can demean His human self that way, their human selves were certainly no better. They had been taking themselves too seriously with all this thinking and talking of becoming the new government of the Jews. If they could figure this out, they would be blessed, indeed. Spiritual leadership is rooted in sacrifice.

Then He added that not all of them were going to join Him in the Kingdom. He knew very well the men He had chosen for this task, and one of those whose feet had been washed was probably burning with internal conflict about this whole scene. Jesus wanted the rest of them to know that someone at that meal was going to turn Him over to the arresting authorities. Jesus noted that He was telling them now so they could mark it as a prophecy. Indeed, the Scripture itself had said the Messiah would face betrayal and sacrifice His life.

Then He reminded them that this was to be a feudal reign, even if not a literal one. If He could send someone with full authority to represent Himself, then it should be clear that the He had full authority to represent the Father in the same way. It was critical that their minds understand how feudal authority worked in a spiritual kingdom of hearts, because hearts are wired for it.

Then something in His manner betrayed a deep sorrow as He repeated that one the Twelve would betray Him. They were totally perplexed by this, but they understood by now He referred to an intentional act, not a bumbling accident. The author here refers to himself in terms of his sheer wonder that someone so holy and powerful cared so much for his company. John had a seat of honor in that he was right in front of Jesus. Peter managed to signal to John that he should ask Jesus who the traitor was. So, John leaned back and touched his head to Jesus’ chest and looked up at His face to whisper the question. Peter knew Jesus would be unlikely to hide anything from His personal favorite, John.

Jesus answered that it would be the one to whom He gave the symbol of honor, a piece of matzo dipped in the bitter sauce. Then Jesus performed the little ritual and told Judas now was the time to act on the agreement. At that moment, nobody knew what Jesus was referring to except Judas. The private speculation among them was that Jesus had arranged for Judas to do something regarding funds, since he was the treasurer for the group. Judas left rather hastily, and John reminds us that this was after nightfall.

Gazing at the door, Jesus remarked cryptically that now began the moment of His and His Father’s glory. His and the Father’s glory was the same, and it was going to come immediately. He refers to the disciples as His dear sons, something they would have understood as a tender moment, and Jesus says it’s not going to be long one. Rather, very shortly He was going to have to go away, and He meant precisely what He had told the Jewish leadership in a recent confrontation. He warned His disciples not to come looking for Him because they would not find Him in physical form.

Then, He said He would leave them with a new Covenant Law: They should resolve to have compassion for one another. It needs to be the same kind of compassion He was about to demonstrate for them in the coming day. That sort of love would be the public mark of those who served Him as their Lord.

But Peter, of course, was still stuck on the comment about going away. Jesus reiterated that where He was going in the next few hours, they could not follow right away. He obviously meant their time was coming, but this was His. We can be sure Peter honestly believed he was ready to play the good soldier for Jesus, and fight to the end. Jesus tossed it around verbally for a moment. No, Jesus knew Peter would pull up short at the final moment. Anyone else who knew Peter would be inclined to agree. Jesus said that Peter would deny knowing Him — three times — before the dawn watch. To match Peter’s soldierly comment, Jesus used a specific military term for the last guard watch of the night, called “cock’s crowing”.

He had much more to say to them before that happened.

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Redemption and Typology

Posted on August 16, 2022 by ehurst

Yeah, what he said. The world in which our God placed us is rich with opportunities for redemption in our own lives, and to participate in His redemption of others.

First, I need to note that the Catacomb Resident Blog is not pastoral in nature. It is prophetic and addresses the same meta questions about faith that I do, but from a different angle. We agree enough to echo each other at times, and today I want to take a pastoral approach to what he suggested in the linked blog post, as he requested. He raised the issue, but leaves it to others how they work it out.

I also agree with Jack at Sigma Frame. While I can’t find the specific reference, I am quite certain at one point he said that we all have a little Alpha, Beta, Delta, Gamma, Sigma and even some Omega in us. It’s exceedingly rare when any man in real life is all one thing to the exclusion of every other profile Vox Day delineated in his hierarchy. What matters is that each of those types is an avatar of how the Devil works in men to keep them captive to his false world. None of them is truly Christlike, so it’s not a real “hierarchy” but simply a typology. Don’t aspire to be any one of them, but seek to understand how each of them needs something that only Christ can offer.

And because there is an established typology we can all refer to, it provides the grounds for suggesting ways we can redeem each man from the temptations and flaws inherent in each type. That we are obliged by God to deal with others is not a question anyone should have to ask. You are no doubt better equipped to handle some than others, but to dismiss one or another simply because it’s uncomfortable is not the way we build His Kingdom. You can’t drive them away and demand they change first, before they are fit to be in your company. Would you like to spend time before God without the blood covering of His Son?

Our Lord commanded us to build communities of faith. He didn’t offer too many details, so the Apostles did what came natural to them and founded what amounts to Christian Synagogues. That came with certain basic requirements, but left plenty of room for local variations. The trick is to analyze what they wrote in their letters, and consider what we can find in historical accounts, to identify variables versus general requirements. If Paul says, “Women are to keep silent” in the worship meeting, we can be sure our cultural orientation in evangelical America is not up snuff. If he says men cut their hair and women don’t, and then connects it with eternal things (“because of the angels”), then the only question is: How long is too long for men? How short is too short for women? In the past few years, I’ve come to the conclusion that there’s more to this than mere fashion trends. On the other hand, I’m not going to set restrictions on your search for peace with God.

It’s easy to get lost in the details, and as Jesus notes with the Pharisees, forget about the whole point of what Biblical Law was supposed to accomplish: redemption of fallen humans. Not “humanity” as an abstract concept, but specific people with names and DNA. One of our basic principles in the Radix Fidem way is that you really should build a community of faith that is homogeneous; that was the primary result of the Tower of Babel. Don’t go looking for, but build, a community of faith that narrows down some of the basic questions of human identity so that you don’t get lost from the “weightier matters of the law” of God.

However, I contend that this doesn’t mean excluding some of the types identified in the Sexual Hierarchy. Those are not cultural issues; those are fundamental to our human existence. You are not allowed to dismiss the Gamma Mamma’s Boy just because he’s annoying. You are not allowed to lock out the damaged Omega. You are obliged by the Great Commission to do all you can, whatever and however much that is. But it’s utterly stupid to pretend they are equals in the operations of the Body of Christ. They are weaker members in need of healing. The Body needs strong male leadership to be ready for them and to have a plan to handle their flaws.

To the degree possible, you will identify the men in the body whom the Lord has blessed with the talents for handling the flaws of each different type. That’s part of the long-term plan of building a faith community. However, that takes place within the framework of the Covenant boundaries. Those boundaries are what saves your fleshly nature from the Devil’s domination. You don’t keep the Devil out by keeping out his captives; you take those captives from him by asserting holiness into their lives.

Jack’s discussions of male Headship are part of the holiness. Men need to see that in action, but they need to see it done with compassion. One of the most annoying things about the so-called Red Pill community, the Christian branch in particular, is too often the lack of compassion in dealing with each other. There’s this fierce orthodoxy that slaps down those who dare to comment from too far down on the hierarchy, as if the Alphas and Sigmas are the holy priesthood and the rest are groveling pigs needing a bath. Have we forgotten that every man can manifest the traits of other types, if encouraged and given the chance? Whatever happened to building up your brothers?

If you are going to raise the issue of the so-called Hierarchy, then at least obey the Lord in teaching your brother how to get out of Satan’s traps. Don’t act like the Pharisees who bind men with heavy burdens of guilt while refusing to flex so much as one finger to help lift them from the mud. Throw them a lifeline or stop talking about it. Stop preening in public how wonderful you are compared to others, and get busy working out ways to set people free. The foul smell of arrogance and the lack of compassion is entirely un-Christlike. Bear your cross.

Update: Okay folks, stop imagining this as an argument with Vox Day. I’m on record shaking the dust off my feet at his blog, and for the same reason as Jesus said to do that, but it wasn’t over this issue. Vox can present himself any way he likes on his blog, and I can do the same here. What this post is about, and I’m sure it’s the same for Catacomb Resident, is moral persuasion: If you are going to encourage the image of Christian fellowship, I don’t think Vox is a good model of that. That’s not his thing. Don’t absorb his apparent attitude as the right way to handle the full variety of men.

But if you want to build a community to discuss Christian manhood in light of the Red Pill manosphere lore, I’m convinced the Holy Spirit doesn’t promote dismissive spite. You will need to open up the comments for a much wider community, because the Lord died on the Cross for everyone. Be truthful like Jesus, and don’t spare anyone’s feelings when the moment calls for being frank. But you need to prepare for every kind to show up in the comments and be ready to help them see the light of divine revelation, without the dismissive arrogance of someone who has no time for weaker brothers. If you don’t have time for that, consider just what you are trying to do.

At any rate, I aim to bring redemption to everyone who appears to be seeking it genuinely.

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Ride Photos 14

Posted on August 15, 2022 by ehurst

While my access to some of the points is limited, I’m doing the best I can to reach as many as possible. I had a little bike trouble Friday and ended up driving my car to the same points I planned to visit on my ride. This image is probably the best view of Point 11. I love how it seems to promise that there is much more beauty down the hill to the bank.

However, as lovely as the water is, Point 11 itself is rather uninspiring at this low water level. The rocky formations disappear just below the normal waterline. What’s left is just a long, flat rock and sandy beach with a little bit of gravel. Where I’m standing for this photo is just sand. There’s no cool splashing sound as the waves roll in, just a faint wash that is almost inaudible. Point 11 is not among the pretty ones.

Next door at Point 12, it’s a beautiful rocky shore quite far out into the water. Not only were the waves washing noisily onto the rocks, but there were little pockets that had worn away and made unique popping sounds in the surging water. Point 12 is one of the cool ones that draw a lot of visitors, as evidenced by the mass of carvings on the exposed soft sandstone formations.

Farther east and jutting farther out into the lake is Point 13, another rocky beauty (that’s Point 12 in the background). All three of these points together (11-13) are under a recovery plan. That means no wheels off the paved surfaces; feet only. That means the equestrians can ride on the existing woodland trails, but no bicycles or other wheeled transportation. These three were pretty badly shredded back in the old days when motocross bikes were allowed over the whole lake area.

For now, I had to skip around Points 14-18 and rode today out to Point 19. The road running out to the fishing dock has a couple of deep silt pockets that required I dismount and walk my bike. The fishing dock itself is at this moment down quite low and resting almost on the sandy bottom. However, it was a marvelous prayer chapel, with the shade and cool breeze off the water. It’s not actually out on the point itself, but back inland a ways.

If you are hardy rider, you can find a gap between the trees and a dirt berm that protects the shoreline from motor vehicles, and make your way over a few other obstacles to the old shore trail. It will allow you out on the actual point itself. As you can see in this image, it is quite rocky, with some nifty places you can hop to where rocky formations jut up from the water offshore. Like the other rocky points, it made that beautiful, almost hypnotic washing sound that makes me think of Eternity. My prayer time here was long and quiet.

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Promote Your State

Posted on August 14, 2022 by ehurst

I’m simply reiterating something I’ve said before, here and elsewhere: Promote your state. There’s a concrete reason for that, which is also isn’t new: Your state government is the only hope of resolving the political troubles of the US.

The people lack the unity of will to rise up as a nation against the current oppression. It is not possible to organize a resistance country-wide. Rather, the only agency that can possibly do any good is the various state governments. They are the only ones in the position to act and make it stick. So you really need to pray about and think about ways to focus on the power of the state governments to resist political evil.

As a critical part of that, you should be looking at ways you can promote the greatness of your state. At the very least, this calls for a strong sense of state identity in the residents. When you raise up an esprit de corps about your state, it strengthens the resolve of the residents to support what state government can do about resisting harmful federal policies. This is our only hope.

Furthermore, it’s precisely how God intends to act. You can get that from your convictions, or you can simply take a look at the Tower of Babel narrative in Genesis 11:1-9. It should be clear that God has a low tolerance for empires, and insists on breaking them down by dissipation of power. Whatever it is that evil men use to corral people together and use for demonic purposes, God will eventually frustrate. Timing is variable based on His wisdom and purpose, both of which are inscrutable to us. But the basic principle is clear: God always works to decentralize human activity in the long run.

This is His answer to the political evil we see going on in the US today. The cancer cannot be cut out of federal authority; the only solution is removal of the diseased organ. It is utterly impossible to restore what you might imagine the US once was, never mind what it actually was in His eyes. That window is closed; the US is doomed. The best answer is to do everything you can to push forward the obvious solution: secession. Granted, it need not be a formal declaration. It only has to be a functional dissolving of the Union of States.

Thus, one of the best things you can do to prepare the hearts and minds of the people is to promote state identity. I’m doing that by the pictures I take and post here. I’m also planning to boost it further by returning to the road and long rides across the state. I’ve still got my camping gear, and I’m keeping my eye out for better camping gear. The lighter and smaller it packs, the better it is for my aging body. I’m doing my part. I still do my workout rides in a set of t-shirts printed with “Bikepacking Oklahoma” on the front and “share the road” with a bicycle icon on the back.

Yes, it’s just a small thing, a niche market to which I appeal, but it’s what God has placed in my hands. The point is that I know how it fits into a much bigger picture. I’m also writing about that bigger picture here on this blog. Right now, the high temperatures in Oklahoma restrict my training rides. As soon as it cools down a little, I hope to get back out on the road and do some camping. I’ve got this new mountain bike that makes long rides on our bad roads possible. I’m practicing with my camera techniques so I can make the most of what I encounter. I’m promoting camping and tourism in general. I’m promoting Oklahoma, because I pray night and day that my state officials will be ready to lead the way in resisting bad federal policies.

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Ride Photos 13

Posted on August 11, 2022 by ehurst

It’s pretty rare when the winds don’t blow in Oklahoma. We had just a very light breeze from the NNE when I took this shot of the Oklahoma River Recreation Area. The almost glassy surface is such a rare phenomena I just had to capture it.

This is one of my favorite prayer chapels (below). It’s the same idea as a glider or porch swing, but built for much larger numbers. Provided there is no major vandalism, it should last quite awhile. I usually have it to myself when I ride by, and it allows me to pray out loud.

We are still in the same weather pattern (below) as the first photo, where the winds are unusually light. Thus, here on the North Canadian River way out by Jones, OK it’s rather still and presents that same glassy surface. It’s such a rare condition that it warrants saving.

Normally any storms NE of us would not be a threat. However, on the day I shot this image (below) at Barnes Park, this stuff was actually coming toward us. It fell apart before it could get organized enough to rain, but no one could have been sure of that from the looks of it. This part of the Veterans’ Memorial at Barnes Park, and that DC-3 was likely built at the Douglas Plant that was eventually turned into Tinker AFB.

This (below) is the same clouds as the previous image roughly 45 minutes later. You can see they are dispersing. This time the foreground is our Senior Center, and over the fence is some apartments I once lived in. The maintenance was awful, so we couldn’t wait to move out of that place.

Taken from my current front yard (below), this is a batch of storms forming off in the distance. The clouds did eventually stretch out over our heads, but nothing happened here. They did dump some rain and lightning, as well, but over the next county east of us.

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