EXPLORE Magazine July 2016

JULY 2016

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JULY

Explore what's inside this issue!

10 From the Publisher 12 Calendar

26 LIFE

Mind over mouth

Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com

42 Charity Taking it to the streets

32 ART OF

14 TROUBADOUR

THE VISION

Black Ribbons

Operations Manager Michelle Hans michelle@smvtexas.vom Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com

18 History

Assistant Creative Director Kayla Davisson kayla@smvtexas.com

blessings of the great mystery

46 TOOBING A guide for Dummies

ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com

50 OLD TIMER INTO THE SUNSET

38 Spiritual

The One Mighty Burden EXPLORE magazine is published by Schooley Media Ventures in Boerne, TX. EXPLORE Magazine and Schooley Media Ventures are not responsible for any inaccuracies, erroneous information, or typographical errors contained in this publication submitted by advertisers. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the opinions of EXPLORE and/or Schooley Media Ventures. Copyright 2015 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Ste. 200, Boerne, TX 78006

Contributing Writers

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Marjorie Hagy History

Rene Villanueva Music

Kendall D. Aaron Spiritual

Old Timer Just Old Timer

Paul Wilson Life & Living

MARJORIE is a bibliophile, a history nut and an insomniac, among several other conditions, both diagnosed and otherwise. When she's not working tirelessly to avoid getting a real job, she nurses an obsession with her grandson and is involved in passing legislation restricting the wearing of socks with sandals. She is an aspiring pet hoarder who enjoys vicious games of Scrabble, reading Agatha Christie, and sitting around doing nothing while claiming to be thinking deeply.

Marjorie has five grown children, a poodle to whom she is inordinately devoted in spite of his breath, and holds an Explore record for never having submitted an article on time. She's been writing for us for five years now.

Rene Villanueva is the lead singer/bass player for the band Hacienda. Having toured worldwide, hacienda has also been featured on several late night shows, including Late Show with David Letterman.

Rene and his wife Rachel live in Boerne, TX and just welcomed thier first child.

I’m just a normal guy. I’m not a theology student, I don’t preach in church, and I’ve never written a book. I’m just a normal guy that thinks, and feels, and is on a never-ending journey attempting to be the best person I can be. I fail frequently at this quest, yet each day, the quest continues.

I’ve lived in Boerne since the late ‘80s, I’ve got a most beautiful wife, three wonderful children, and just really, really love God. Thanks for going on my spiritual journey with me.

The Old Timer tells us he's been a resident of Boerne since about 1965. He enjoys telling people what he doesn't like. When not bust'n punks he can be found feeding the ducks just off Main St. or wandering aimlessly in the newly expanded HEB. Despite his rough and sometimes brash persona, Old Timer is really a wise and thoughtful individual. If you can sort through the BS.

An insatiable curiosity for life and an incurable fascination with human behavior has forged in Paul Wilson a keen interest in helping people think about wise living. As a Life Coach, Paul offers professional mentoring to clients seeking greater personal fulfillment in their life. He currently serves as the Lead Pastor of Cibolo Creek Community Church in Fair Oaks Ranch, a faith community he began in 1996 to serve people who didn’t really like church. As artistowner of The Paul Wilson Studio, he also creates bronze sculptures for private and corporate collections. Paul and his wife, Charlotte, who make their home in Fair Oaks Ranch, are the proud parents of two teenage sons. If you’re interested in receiving daily thought-provoking insights about life and living, follow Paul on Twitter at @paulwilsonTX or Facebook at facebook.com/ paulwilsonTX.

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

PUBLISHER

DEAREST EXPLORE READER, Live music. Such a blessed thing.

Maybe it’s something about Texas dancehalls, but watching live music in Texas is almost a religious experience. The heat, the packed bodies, the beers raised in celebration, and the ear-ringing goodness that only come from live music in Texas on a Saturday night.

Being hard-wired the way that I am, I stood in the middle of the mob this past Friday night and watched with deep contemplation as these young men on stage “lived the dream”.

With 3-day beards, tired eyes and backward baseball caps, these guys stumbled out on stage, tipped their hat to the crowd, and then proceeded to produce ear splitting music until well past midnight. They sucked down brews between songs, high-fived those in the front row, laughed, and stumbled. Their eyes were tired, but their eyes were happy.

I interviewed Ryan Bingham once for this magazine, and I’ll never forget how he stumbled out the back of his RV at 1pm, lit a cigarette, and legitimately had no idea where he was. He knew that he was at a new venue for a show, but he had no clue that we were in Luckenbach. He had to look around and then exclaim, “Oh hell – we’re in Luckenbach, aren’t we? Badass!!” The journey is a confusing one at times, I suppose.

The dream of being the live music show-person is one that I think we all have at one time or another. The lights, the sound, the screaming and adoring fans…we all have stood in our bathroom and sang into our hairbrush as we imagined our countless fans screaming in front of us as our favorite song played in the background of the house. We dream, and we juggle real life in the mean-time. While we might think that being the rock star might be fun, we have to hurry up cause we have to clock in by 8am.

But for some of us, the dream somehow becomes something that is actually real. These guys I was watching on Friday night were from Lubbock. Via playing approximately one million crappy hole-in-the-wall bars on the Llano Estacado, their fan base slowly built to where they were actually playing shows in other parts of the state. From there, they branched out across multiple states and now play coast-to-coast. I think the oldest one in the band might be 24. Maybe.

And there they were singing songs about being free, being wild, and being this troubadour of life that has it all figured out from behind the wheel of a beat up truck, dog in the back, $3 to his name, and of course a beer in the cup holder. He’s on his way to see a girl, and might stop off to write a song under a mesquite tree while fishing in his favorite stream.

I’m kidding of course about the lyrics, but only partially. They pen these stories that become songs that were borne at 3am under a drunken moon that become anthems for others that are handcuffed to life and just want to scream on a Friday night at a song about getting away, being adventurous, and long-lost love.

Written by young men that have shaved a half dozen times.

might feel in the Army while watching his very young soldiers bond and do things that only young infantrymen can do while the older soldiers are calling it a day. The day to day experience of the troubadour is a beautiful thing, but its true glory can only be seen from the other side of the battlefield.

But man, it sure sounds like fun. At least for a while.

The members in this band were talented. Seriously talented. As I watched the lead guitarist closely, I marveled at the man’s skills. He could play so fluidly, so perfectly, and with experience that showed that he had been playing for most of his life. And here he was at 1am in a run-down honky-tonk in the middle of nowhere. He’s probably getting paid a couple hundred bucks for his skills (as his name is not the one on the marquee) and then it’s on to the next stop. I both pity and envy him…as his skills are superior to the venue, but the adventure is certainly part of the compensation.

But I’m sure that as the miles wear on, the troubadour in him withers a bit. A little road weary, he might find himself in a few years sitting at the back of the bar, squashing out his cigarette with his boot and nodding his head as he watches a 24 year old tell him via song how he’s just living the dream, man.

And our guitarist friend might smile, as now he’s seen the other side and can truly appreciate the music that he played and the stories that the songs conveyed. As he pulls out of the bar to head home, I wonder if, just like me, he smiles at the knowledge that the adventure of life is a universally beautiful thing, but that you must cease an adventure before you can begin one sometimes.

Welcome to July – the perfect month to jump in that truck, EXPLORE, and find a reason or an adventure. Those reasons are everywhere, and sometimes you can even find them in a run-down honky tonk at 1am, surrounded by fellow souls smiling at the moon and appreciating the perspective.

Smiling,

Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com

I’m sounding bitter about this band and their freedom, and that’s not what I intend. I really don’t. Hell, I’m jealous of the adventure that these young men are on, but I wonder if they know that they are on an adventure at all. Can you have an adventure at their age, or is it just more of the continuation of youth? Can you fathom what it feels like to be free of responsibilities when you have barely had any?

I keep re-reading this letter and it keeps sounding more and more bitter or jealous. So here’s where I’m trying to go with it (and am doing a bad job of doing so): The men that can tell you about adventure and struggle and lost loves and what it feels like to fight through this life are the ones sitting at the back of the dancehall on barstools, catching the end of the baseball game on the TV while you are up there crooning about how original and free you are. The perspective you speak of (mostly hypothetically) has been found by men and women that have had the opportunity to experience life at a depth that I’m not sure you can get anywhere near at 24. But dammit, I AM jealous that you’re trying.

So let’s see – where do I take this letter? What’s the point?

I stood out on that dancefloor, beer raised to the rafters and thought to myself “Man, you have NO idea what you’re experiencing right now.” It wasn’t from a position of putting these young men down, but perhaps it’s the equivalent to what a decorated General

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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JULY

Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country!

The most comprehensive events calendar. Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com

BANDERA July 2 Bandera Market Days Courthouse Lawn, 500 Main St. www.banderatexasbusiness. com July 5 Cowboy Capital Opry Features Grand Old Opry-style entertainment hosted by Gerry and Harriet Payne. Silver Sage, 803 Buck Creek. www.silversagecorral.org July 10 Frontier Times Museum Cowboy Camp Enjoy traditional cowboy music, or bring your own guitar and join in the song circle. Frontier Times Museum, 510 13th St. www.frontiertimesmuseum.org July 23-24 National Day of the American Cowboy Includes an evening ranch rodeo, afternoon matched horse race and events at the Frontier Times Museum. www.ndac.weebly.com

July 15-17 Fredericksburg Trade Days Shop with more than 400 vendors in seven barns, acres of antiques, biergarten, live music and more. www. fbgtradedays.com July 16 A Night in Old Fredericksburg Fredericksburg’s original celebration of its German Heritage includes everything that makes this Hill Country town special—polka, dancing under the stars by the outdoor stage, a biergarten, pari-mutuel horse racing, and German food and fun. Gillespie County Fairgrounds. www. gillespiefair.net/niof July 29-31 Hill Country Auto Swap Meet This auto swap meet, car corral and flea market are hosted by the Fredericksburg Vintage Car Club. Hours are 8 a.m.–5 p.m. Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. www. fredericksburgcarclub.com

GRUENE COMFORT July 2 July 4 Celebration The parade begins at 10 a.m., followed by barbecue, live entertainment and raffles. Downtown and Comfort Park, 427 Main St. www.comfort-texas.com July 21 Music in the Park Come and picnic in Comfort Park and enjoy live music sponsored by Gaddis United Methodist Church. Comfort Park, 427 Main St. www.gaddischurch.org

FREDERICKSBURG July 1 First Friday Art Walk Fredericksburg Tour fine art galleries offering special exhibits, demonstrations, refreshments and extended viewing hours the first Friday of every month. www.ffawf.com July 2-3, 16-17 Live Pari-Mutuel Horse Racing Fun for the whole family featuring a full slate of live quarter horse and thoroughbred races as well as special races, trials and futurities. Gillespie County Fairgrounds. www. gillespiefair.com July 4 Fourth of July Celebrations Community parade down Main Street in Fredericksburg followed by a patriotic program at Marktplatz and more in the area. www.VisitFredericksburgTX.com/july4/

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July 10 Gospel Brunch with a Texas Twist Serves awe-inspiring gospel music coupled with a mouthwatering buffet from 10:30 a.m.–noon. Advance tickets recommended. Gruene Hall. www.gruenehall.com July 16-17 Old Gruene Market Days Nearly 100 vendors offer uniquely crafted items and packaged Texas foods. Hours are 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Gruene Historic District. www.GrueneMarketDays.com July 21 Come and Taste It A featured winemaker showcases three of their newest released, top-selling or hard-to-find wines, alongside a handpicked craft brew. Also enjoy live music and giveaways. The Grapevine, Gruene Historic District.

SAN MARCOS July 16-17 Float Fest Float on the river during the day before returning for a music festival. Camping and shuttles are available. Cool River Ranch. www.loatfest.net

STONEWALL July 4 July Fourth at the Sauer-Beckmann Living History Farm Experience how German pioneers celebrated Independence Day in 1915 at the historical farm site.

Lyndon B. Johnson State Park and Historic Site. www. tpwd.state.tx.us/state-parks/lyndon-b-johnson

WIMBERLEY June 3-July 3 “Shrek: The Musical” EmilyAnn Theatre and Gardens, 1101 F.M. 2325. www.emilyann.org July 2 Big Scoop Ice Cream Festival Enjoy tasting scoops of ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt and non-dairy treats.

Entertainment and contests. Wimberley Community Center, 14068 Ranch Road 12. www.ststeve.org July 4 Independence Day Parade Downtown, Green Acres Road at F.M. 2325 to Ranch Road 12. www.wimberley.org July 8-31 “Jesus Christ Superstar” The Wimberley Playhouse, 450 Old Kyle Road. www. wimberleyplayers.org July 9 Second Saturday Gallery Trail More than a dozen galleries offer wine, snacks and art displays from 4–7 p.m. Various locations. www.facebook. com/SecondSaturdayGalleryTrail

KERRVILLE July 1 First Friday Wine Share Meet new people and try new wines at this fun and friendly event at a different location each month. Bring one bottle of wine per two people and your own wine glasses. Begins at 6 p.m. Riverside Nature Center, 150 Francisco Lemos St. www.storkcountry.com July 2 July 4 Car Show Hours are 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Kerr County Courthouse, 700 Main St. www.dietertcenter.org July 4 Robert Earl Keen’s Fourth on the River Enjoy food, vendor booths, live music and Robert Earl Keen concert. Fireworks begin around 9:15 p.m. Louise Hays Park, 202 Thompson Drive. www.kerrvilles4th.org

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

TROUBADOUR

BLACK RIBBONS

By Rene Villanueva

White: a single wooden side table held a heavily used coffee maker, and a few pamphlets.

The only things on the wall to break up this ocean of white: a red plastic clock and a pastel work of wild flowers framed in a dull gold.

At the front desk, unaware or uncaring about my presence, a slumped young redhead played on the computer, laughing to herself.

I was at least hoping for a place to sit.

I set my bass down at my feet. Checked my phone for a text.

The driver: 20 mins.

Maybe I should go back to my room... Is that enough time for a nap? For a good moment, I was in another zone – waiting - looking at the clock on my phone trying to decide what I should do, when her voice cut through the quiet-empty, “You in a band?” The desk girl was pointing down at my case.

“Yeah...”

“I was in a band for a bit…,” she shrugged, “…guitar. We fought a lot...Didn’t like it.”

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

“I...ugh, well” I hadn’t really expected her to say that and it left me stuttering awkwardly, “it can be tough sometimes I guess.”

“Tell me,” she said, and leaned deep over the counter, pulling out a pair of scissors from behind the monitor. She kept her eyes on me. Reaching under her desk, and pulling out a spool of black ribbon.

I laughed, “Tell you what?”

She held the spool between her legs, and pulled out a piece about the size of a forearm and snipped, “How tough is it for you?”

“It can be like any job I guess,” I started.

She raised her eyebrows. Pulled out another piece.

Snip.

“There are bad days.”

Pull.

Snip.

“But I wouldn’t...”

Pull.

“What are you doing?”

Snip.

She smiled, “Just a project I’m working on. Go on.”

“I can’t really imagine doing anything else,” I finished.

Watching her continue to cut the ribbons. And lay the strips of black across her desk - one after another.

One a little shorter. The next longer.

She told me about her band - about how she was always butting heads with the drummer, and how she thought it was all connected to some incident involving Tiffany from Middle School that neither was supposed to talk to, and a back seat of the mini-van. Though it never got heated and they never fought, the practices became fewer and fewer. Their chemistry was colder.

And one day, “...she just didn’t call anymore. And that was it. Like I still see her…,” she put down the scissors on to her pile of black ribbons, and stared me straight in the eyes, “…we even saw a movie together not too long ago, but...we don’t even talk about it. The band I mean. Just...it was done.”

The driver: hit traffic. Another 20 mins.

“Tough,” and wondering if there was still time for a nap.

To be continued…

A son of South-Texas, and two of the most beautiful souls I’ll ever know. Writer, dreamer, singer of songs, bass player, and professional observer. Toured the world with my band of “real-blood-tied” brothers, and friends as Hacienda/Fast-five. Recorded three albums, written countless songs, played countless shows, including two national tv late-night extravaganzas, festivals, throwdowns, parties, and hoot-nights. Lover of books, vinyl, dancing, people who laugh loud, walking, vintage craftsmanship, and my home in Boerne.

JULY 2016

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

HISTORY

By Marjorie Hagy

Do you guys remember 1492? When Columbus sailed the ocean blue and all that and discovered America? Maybe you dozed off a little because the classroom was nice and warm and you’d just had tater tots in the lunchroom and a fly was droning around pleasantly. When you startled yourself awake the teacher was talking about the pilgrims, you got a little mixed up and got ahold of an idea that Columbus drove the Mayflower over and wore one of those pointy hats and had big buckles on his shoes.

Something like that. I know memories can be tricky - how they can be affected by things that we learn later on in life - but I swear I can remember wondering during that lesson about this: If Columbus discovered America, then how was it possible that there were already a whole bunch of people here to welcome them?

Right?

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Well now I’m all grown up and that still seems like a valid point. A lot of other people must’ve felt the same way, since poor Columbus has gotten a lot of flak over these last twenty or thirty years. I’ve also discovered this other thing too, with advancing age that is: the older I get, the less black and white things are, and the more I see these thousands, even millions, of different shades of gray to all the issues that once seemed so open and shut. This is one of those things that I think about: here’s this thing we call ‘social media’ for instance - Facebook, to be specific, since I’ve been forbidden by my children to fool around with Snapchat and all that other stuff. Facebook, along with whatever else it is, is this place where people of all ages and colors and genders and beliefs are all mixed up together, and you get this unique opportunity to see how all these different people are feeling about the same issues. (Oh, and believe me, it’s not always a positive experience as you’ll quickly realize when you get that friend request from a guy you haven’t seen since high school and you’re like ‘Jerry! I wonder what that old so-and-so is up to these days.’ Then you find out it’s a far better thing to just content yourself with fond memories

EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

of ol’ Jer razzing the cafeteria lady instead of reconnecting with him now that he’s a camera-happy nudist and a zealous Amway rep.) Social media is just this really good place to observe people, like my sister and I used to do at the food court at North Star Mall, only on Facebook you get to observe the workings of their minds, in a way, and one thing you notice is how adamant people are! They’re always so positive that there’s only one absolutely, irrefutably correct stance on any given issue and simply no other way of looking at the thing - and that just isn’t true. The world really doesn’t work like that, where there’s one right answer and one wrong one, where one group of people are all saints and the other side is completely evil. I mean, you’re not going to come across a lot of people who say, ‘Eh, well, Hitler did have his good points too’, but most people and most situations are more complicated than just good vs. evil, you know?

I’m talking about European settlement in the United States and the indigenous people whose land this was already when the white people got here, like we’re going to be doing this month, is always a tricky proposition. It’s such a sad story of conquest, disease, violence, racism, and genocide. It’s difficult to see heroes in any of the people who took part in that ruination of a whole civilization.

Believe me, when you get into any kind of research at all about what the white people did to the Indians - and equally on the other end of the spectrum, what the Indians did to the white people - it’s enough to make you sit down and cry.

You have to confront all kinds of things within that - like the part where me, as a white person of European descent and all that stuff that other people did a long time ago - that’s how I got here. That’s my story and the history of my people. What’s my ownership of that, or am I exempt from responsibility if my ancestors arrived on these shores after the natives had already been destroyed? What is my own obligation, one hundred, two hundred years later? What was a simple matter of Cowboys and Indians when we were kids, one guy has a white hat and a gun and the other guy sticks a feather on his head and bam, the good guy shoots the bad guy and that’s the way it is - you grow up and you see all the many, many facets of the real story and yeah, you figure out real quick that nothing is ever really as simple as that.

Ten million people lived here in 1492. Ten million people to whom this was no new world at all, but an ancient one, long sustained and enriched by the blood and hearts of their ancestors, stitched together with their stories, understood through their customs and their gods. This was the land they had known for generations, knew her cycles, her seasons, and her perils - this was the place their families had inhabited for so long that familiarity with her nature had become almost an inborn gift. While Europeans would come with hubris, with the audacity to believe that they could conquer and improve upon this place, the indigenous people treated their world with respect borne of long fellowship.

The first people to come here to Texas - actually to North America at all - got here long, long ago, maybe even as far back as 37,000 years ago. The very first primitive people, called Paleo-Indians, who were the ancestors of modern-day Native Americans, most likely got here by way of walking across a spit of land where the Bering Strait is now.

During the Ice Age, when the first people came, everything was so much colder and all this water was being sucked up into brand-new glaciers, making the world’s ocean levels a lot lower. That meant that the Bering Strait (which separates Russia from Alaska, or more broadly, Asia from North America) became the Bering Land Bridge, and the ancestors simply walked across this, fifty or so miles, to a whole new continent.

From Alaska - or what would eventually become Alaska - the people migrated southward, into Canada and beyond, and spread out to populate all of North America.

“Only to the white man was nature a wilderness and only to him was the land ‘infested’ with ‘wild’ animals and ‘savage’ people. To us it was tame, Earth was bountiful and we were surrounded with the blessings of the Great Mystery.”

Take Columbus. He’s been vilified of late for sure, but was he a bad guy, deserving of all the scorn that’s been piled on him lately? He was a man of his times, and those times were very different than ours - I’ve muddled my way, as a history detective and as a human person, into the realization that maybe that’s the most important thing to remember when looking at the past. It’s a big mistake to judge people who lived in the past by the standards of today - it’s a mistake, but it’s an enormous temptation. I would love to believe that in antebellum times or during Jim Crow, I would’ve stood up against the system in which I lived, or that in Nazi Germany I would’ve damned the costs and been the lone voice crying in the wilderness. Yet, we - none of us - can transport ourselves back into history armed with what knowledge we’ve garnered with the passage of time, any more than we are qualified to dispense judgment on those men and women who acted as they saw fit during their own brief time here.

Columbus has been disparaged because his ‘discovery’ of the New World opened the door to the conquistadors and the rest of the Europeans who followed, and who would exploit the land and decimate the natives, but that was so horribly inevitable, with or without Columbus. Did he discover America? Not really, but he did stumble onto a whole – literally - a whole New World that Europeans had never known was here, and in that his achievement was noteworthy. Columbus has been celebrated for that achievement for more than five hundred years now - perhaps it is time we shift the focus, and instead honor the lives of the people who’ve lived here all along.

JULY 2016

- Black Elk, Oglala Lakota Sioux

Including Texas. Texas has been home to millions of indigenous people, according to the fossil record and to discovered remains, since the Stone Age. When the Spanish explorers first arrived here looking for gold, riches, the fountain of youth, and all that stuff, they found the place already long inhabited by many different tribes, bands, and families of natives. From the Karankawa tribes of the Gulf Coast to the Wichita and Caddo Indians of the eastern Piney Woods; from the Suma and Pueblo people of the deserts and mountains of West Texas to the Bidai, Tonkawa, and the great Apache tribes of the verdant Hill Country; from the Coahuiltecan and Carrizo tribes of the Rio Grande Valley, to all of the bands, families, clans, and confederations in between, such as the Atakapa, Neche, Kadohadacho, Natchitoches and Mayeye bands, the Kiowa tribe, the Kitsai, the Tawakoni, Cava, Cantona, Emet, Sana, Toho, and Tohaha Indians…this land was home to age-old cultures. Native Texans had been weaving their stories on this land for thousands of generations, as hunters and farmers, artisans and traders, warriors and healers, before the Europeans arrived and called them savages.

Here in the Hill Country, where the German-Americans would eventually come to plant the seeds of their Latin colony, where the businessmen John James and Gus Theissen would follow a few years later selling lots in their new city of Boerne on the ancient Pinta Trail - the lush Cibolo Valley had been home to a tribe of the Apache people called the Lipan - meaning ‘light gray people’ - since sometime between 1400 and 1600AD. The Lipan Apache were a tribe of Plains Indians, and they moved from the Great Plains - that swath down the middle of the United States long marked the ‘Great American Desert’ and into Texas, claiming the area around San Antonio as theirs, which they called ‘Many Houses’. These Lipan Apaches were the dominant tribe in the area that would become Boerne for many years, until a formidable enemy arrived in town to challenge them - and until both they and their enemy were driven out of their homeland by an even greater enemy.

The Lipans lived mainly by hunting the great bison herds that migrated throughout all of the United States and Texas in those days, herds of a hundred thousand heads and more. The Hill Country was different in those pre-European days - it had fewer trees and

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more prairie, dominated by the tall prairie grasses that grew throughout that old Great American Desert - the Great Plains - that would eventually be put under the plow and result in the catastrophe known as the Dust Bowl, the worst manmade disaster in the history of the US. The great herds of buffalo roamed the land during their migration, eating everything in sight (including sapling trees, which is one of the reasons there were less trees here), and the Lipan Apache would hunt them twice a year. These big hunts were the red-letter events in the Lipan’s year, socially as well as in provisioning the tribe - many different bands of Lipans would gather from their various locations for the hunt, and it was a big occasion and a joyful reunion for the people. Babies were shown off, and wooing and flirting and all that was undertaken, marriages were arranged and celebrated, and presumably additional babies created as old friends and family members got together for the great buffalo hunt. Before the hunt started, a holy man would consult with the gods to get a fix on the location of the herd (a Spanish explorer who would later witness a buffalo hunt, which he called a carneada, wrote of such an Apache holy man who pronounced, after council with the deities, that the bison were ‘two days to the east and were “as numerous as grass in the fields.”’) Before the Lipans got ahold of horses in the late 1600s, they did this hunting on foot. There’s an old expression about using everything from a pig ‘except his squeal’, and the Lipans found a use for just about everything from the buffalo except for his...snort? Anyway, they turned the buffalo into all kinds of things they used every day - from food, clothes, and shoes to their tepee coverings, cups, bowls, tools, knives, and decorations. The Spanish explorer, again on all the uses the Apaches had for the bison: they lived ‘in tents made of the tanned skins of the cows [bison]. They dry the flesh in the sun, cutting it thin like a leaf, and when dry they grind it like meal to keep it and make a sort of sea soup of it to eat...They season it with fat, which they always try to secure when they kill a cow. They empty a large gut and fill it with blood, and carry this around the neck to drink when they are thirsty.’ The Lipan also hunted antelope, which they called tcela-a, deer (kockeya), rabbit, turkey, quail, and javelina. They believed in leaving the eye of the slain animal, as well as pieces of its meat, between the ribs for the crow who was the guardian of the hunt.

The women of the Lipan tribe also gathered and prepared vegetables, roots, and herbs, including cactus, yucca, mescal, palm, mesquite, honey, and wild plums and fruit. They used chilies and wild onions for seasoning. Lipans were also farmers, of a sort. The women - they seemed to be in charge of the fruits and veggies while the dudes were responsible for the meat - would plant crops of corn, squash, and things like that alongside riverbanks where the soil was fertile. The group would camp in the area long enough for the plants to come up. They’d then go on with their business, whatever that was - the bison migration or wherever else they needed to go - and eventually circle back to their farm site in time for harvesting their crop. When the Spanish first founded San Antonio, they happened upon a crop of Lipan corn growing that way north of town, and called the place ‘elotes’ meaning ‘green ears of corn’. The Lipans kept using that particular corn camp all the way up until the late 1850s or so, and over time elotes became Helotes. Helotes was founded on this site of an old Lipan farm venture.

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When the Lipan Apache finally got ahold of horses in the late 1600s, they quickly became excellent horsemen, and were lethal warriors on horseback with bow and arrow.

Around 1700, things got a lot tougher for the Lipan Apache when the Comanches moved into town. Now these guys, the Comanches, they were a whole different ballgame than what the Lipans had been used to, since the Lipan were pretty much in charge of the place ‘til they showed up. The Comanches - even their name meant enemy - were just downright mean. The Comanches weren’t native to Texas - they were relative latecomers, in fact. Their deal was that they’d been members of the Shoshone people and had come from the southern Rocky Mountains, but the Comanches, once they’d discovered horses, turned absolutely horse crazy and nothing would do but that. They’d split off from the Shoshone and go off in search of more horses, and in Texas they found vast numbers of feral horses - some two million wild mustangs. The Comanches soon distinguished themselves as the fiercest and meanest Indians in Texas, by far the biggest threat to European settlers and by far and away the most feared of all the tribes. Within a relatively short time of their arrival in Texas, the Comanch had established an enormous territory as their own comancheria.

The Lipan Apache quickly became the sworn enemy of the Comanche tribes, and this fact drove their sort of love-hate, symbiotic relationship with the Spanish missionaries, and later, the Texans. They were some of the favorite targets of the missionary zeal of the Spanish in San Antonio, and was variously either working at what amounted to slave labor at the mission in San Antonio, taking refuge there from their enemy the Comanche, stealing horses in surprise raids from the mission, or at out-and-out war with the city. In between warring with the San Antonians, the Lipans often allied with them in campaigns against other Indian tribes. In 1836, in another twist in their weird relationship with the people of San Antonio, the Lipans watched the Battle of the Alamo and even offer their aid to her defenders.

Smallpox, borne to their numbers by the Europeans and against which the Lipan Apache had no natural immunities, decimated the Lipan people in epidemics in 1750, 1780, and again in 1850. A concentrated campaign against them in the 1860s further reduced their population.

It’s a story as old as the story of Europeans in North America at all - a story as old as 1492 and beyond - when Columbus sailed the ocean blue, stumbled across the New World, and set off the events that would eventually destroy the natives, their cultures, their lives, and all they had built for thousands upon thousands of years with the diseases, the hubris, the violence, the Imperialism, and the greed from the old, old world, against which no amount of time nor pride, nor fierce, desperate fight is sufficient.

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Rehabilitate in Boerne, One Step Closer to Home

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CONCERNED ABOUT RETIREMENT?

HUNGRY FOR AN EDUCATION?

Join us for a free educational dinner held weekly at Bob’s, Ruth’s Chris, or Maggianos. RSVP at 210-255-3040 Texas License Number 1490984

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Boerne, TX

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CRYOTHERAPY BENEFITS Decreases muscle soreness Shortens injury recovery time Reduces pain and swelling Inhibits inflammation Eases chronic pain Increases training intensity and athletic performance Triggers weight loss (burns 500-800 calories per session) Lessens fatigue Speeds surgical recovery Tightens skin Reduces cellulite Improves skin conditions like psoriasis and blemishes Boosts energy

PACKAGES AND PRICING Introductory Session: $45 Single Session: $60 3 Sessions: $165 ($55/session) 6 Sessions: $300 ($50/session) 9 Sessions: $405 ($45/session) 12 Sessions: $480 ($40/session) Unlimited: $199/month Spectrum Physical Therapy patients receive a 15% discount. (Excludes Introductory Session and Unlimited)

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www.boernept.com 1002 E. Blanco Rd., Suite B | Boerne, TX 78006 | 830.331.8420 Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/spectrumphysicaltherapy

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LIFE

MIND OVER MOUTH I’m a Life Coach.

I help clients develop strategies for living their life with greater purpose and passion.

In our sessions together, we explore some of the important universal truths about how life generally works. The better people understand these principles, the more likely they can live in harmony with them, rather than frustrated by them. As a Coach, I help people leverage the wisdom of these significant insights to create the kind of life they long to live.

Inevitably, our discussions turn to the topic of happiness. After all, the great longing of the human soul is to be happy. Regardless of who you are or where you’re from, it is what all of us want.

For thirty-some years now, I’ve been talking with people about their experience with happiness. Curiously, when I ask somebody to tell me what keeps them from being as happy as they’d like to be, their answers always fall into one of five categories.

Personal peace.

Physical health and wellbeing.

Relational harmony.

Financial security.

Vocational satisfaction.

I have yet to find an exception.

Go ahead. Try it yourself. Think about what keeps you from being as happy as you’d like and I’ll bet your answer falls into one of these five categories. It will have something to do with your personal inner-world, physical vitality, relational harmony, financial security, or vocational fulfillment.

As clients and I work together to identify specific ways to address what they can do to be happier, I have found one ambition that is almost always at the top of their list, particularly among middle-aged clients. Both men and women list “lose some weight” or “get into shape” as a goal they want to tackle in our work together.

That leads to a discussion about the d-word: diet. (It is a four-letter word for most people.)

Interestingly, almost every client has the same reluctance about “going on a diet.”

“I don’t want to have to count calories.”

“I don’t want to have to weigh food.”

“I don’t want to have to read labels.”

“I don’t want to have to eat boring food.”

“I don’t want to have to keep a journal of my daily food choices.”

If they’re really honest with me, they’ll add, “And whatever you do, don’t make me stop eating _____________ (fill in the blank with their favorite junk food that is almost solely responsible for why they are thirty pounds overweight. You know, stuff like ice cream, doughnuts, soda, pizza, cheeseburgers, candy, alcohol, or fried everything.)

This is almost always followed by, “Please do not make me exercise.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. Tried and true practices like weighing food, reading labels, and exercise can be helpful disciplines on a weight-loss journey. I’m just saying they are typically what many people resent about the requirements of many popular weight-loss plans. Truth be told, they have neither the time nor the interest in paying close attention to what they eat.

Therein lays the problem.

IT IS MORE ABOUT “WHY” THAN “WHAT”

Other than a few people who are exceptions to the rule, most of us will never lose weight - and keep it off - until we learn to think differently about food and why we eat it in the first place. It will be a never-ending cycle of on-a-diet, and then off-a-diet a few weeks later. Unfortunately, the red-hot embers of resolve dissolve into smoldering ashes at the dessert bar two weeks after we start another diet for the umpteenth time.

Just so there’s no confusion, let me make it perfectly clear. I am not a medical doctor, a dietician, nutritionist, or a health coach. I am a Life Coach. I don’t spend time talking with clients about calories, carbs, proteins, or push-ups. I don’t offer them diet plans or workout routines. If they want that kind of help, I refer them to the services of professional colleagues in my network that can assist them in these more specialized pursuits. As a Life Coach, I facilitate discovery, offer resources, help develop skills, and hold clients accountable to their goals.

When it comes to weight loss ambitions, my clients and I talk about eating instead of food. We explore more about WHY we eat rather than WHAT we eat. Figuring out those two important issues will lead to more successful weight loss results than the latest fad diet could ever offer.

I am finding that for most people, about 95% of eating is completely compulsive; impulsive habits of consuming food with little or no thought as to why you’re doing it.

Consider the following common eating habits.

People eat even when they aren’t hungry.

People eat long after they feel uncomfortable (“stuffed”).

People eat more food in a day than their body can utilize.

People eat just because everybody else is eating.

People eat for something to do when they’re bored.

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By Paul Wilson People eat to comfort themselves emotionally.

People eat as a form of entertainment.

People eat to win the approval, affirmation, or affection of others.

People eat just because there is food within their reach and they simply cannot let it go uneaten.

People eat out of obligation in certain social or professional settings.

All of these, in one form or another, are an expression of compulsion. People eat food, not necessarily because they are legitimately hungry or in need of the nutrition it provides.

They’re just eating to eat. That is the essence of compulsive behavior.

It’s the old “sea food” diet joke. “I’m on a sea-food diet. If I see food, I eat it.”

We laugh at the humorous play on words. However, it’s only funny until you realize you’re admitting that you lack the self-control to stop doing what may be harmful to your health.

Or worse, what is killing you. The humor comes back to haunt you when you lack the energy, strength, or vitality to enjoy your life, your grandkids, your retirement, or your bucket-list.

Make no mistake. Unhealthy food, and the consequences of obesity, takes a terrible toll on both your quality and length of life.

Suddenly, it’s not so funny anymore, is it?

Compulsive behavior is the essence of addiction. It’s the unchecked impulse to do something without thought of risk or danger. You do it without even thinking why.

We’re embarrassed to admit an addiction to alcohol, but we joke about our inability to stop ourselves from eating whatever is placed in front of us. We naively think our selfdeprecating humor will somehow disguise the extra weight we’re hiding under that extralarge shirt. Yet there is no shirt big enough to stop the terrible toll obesity takes on your health. You can’t undo that with sarcasm or stop it with carefully layered clothes.

QUIT MAKING YOUR DIET ABOUT FOOD Healthy eating habits begin in our mind, not our mouth.

We have to choose to eat in the interest of our health. Changing old patterns of thinking about eating is neither easy nor quick. Any change we make in our behavior requires time and effort. It’s hard to teach our mind new ways of thinking and choosing. We are actually reshaping our brain and the way we have taught it to fire for years. It takes time to “rewire” your thought patterns.

Losing weight can be such a frustrating goal. There are so many variables that affect our experience. We watch the scale with varying degrees of success and failure, hope and frustration. Initial efforts to eat better result in the loss of a few pounds, leading to the excitement that comes with progress. However, two weeks later, our weight loss plateaus in what seems an impossible wall to break through. Our enthusiasm wanes, and with it, our resolve.

One of the most frustrating variables of dieting is the ever-changing environment in which we find ourselves at meal times. We’re with family or friends. We’re alone. We’re with clients. We’re at home. We’re guests at somebody’s house. We’re on the road for business. We’re in an airport. We’re at a hotel. We’re in the car. We’re running late. We’re so busy we have no time to stop and eat. We’re hungry and there’s “no food in the house.” We find ourselves in so many different eating situations from day to day that make it really difficult to stick with a regimented diet plan.

This is where most people get frustrated and quit.

Perhaps the most important step we can take in our weight loss efforts is to develop an eating strategy that will work in every situation. It has to scale to whatever circumstances we’re in when it’s time to eat or there’s food for the taking.

It’s easier than you think. I suggest you make your diet about a few guiding principles rather than particular food items. Just a few basic guidelines can change everything.

Reframing our perspective – and our attitude – about this essential necessity of life can be the start toward a tremendous difference in how we look, feel, and live.

Here are five ways of thinking about eating I have found helpful. Perhaps they might be of help to you, too.

1. MAKE IT ABOUT LEARNING, NOT LOSING

What if you embarked on your diet as an experiment rather than a test?

Most diet plans are presented as tests. If you lose weight, you pass. If you gain weight, you fail. Even if that isn’t the language used by a particular plan, that is how most of us think about diets.

You pass or fail tests. One wrong move or bad day and you’re discouraged by your inability to successfully achieve your weight loss goals. That’s a difficult road to walk; a frustrating approach to a challenging, yet important, ambition.

What if you make your diet an experiment? Why not approach it as an investigation where you curiously seek information and insights about your relationship with food? Think of it as an exercise of growth in an important arena of personal development. Sometimes, what you try works. Sometimes, it doesn’t. That way both victories and failures offer insights to consider and lessons to learn, resulting in progress made. Any time we discover something helpful about how food relates to our health, we are successful.

With an experiment, we can learn from our failures. Every time something doesn’t work it educates us about what to do differently. Observations about “What did I do?”, “Why did I do it?”, “How did I do it?” become instructive to us in the experiment. Even factors like

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when and where you failed can be helpful. If we pay attention to the factors influencing our experiment, they can reveal patterns (habits) and circumstances (“triggers”) that influence us.

For instance, if we observe that most of our poor eating choices take place late at night when we are alone, we can create some structures to help eliminate the risks of that particular situation. Stocking the pantry and refrigerator with healthy snack options, or determining not to eat after a certain hour are two new exercises to try in your continuing experiment.

See how that feels different than pass or fail?

Why not try measuring your success with a diet by how much you’re learning about yourself, rather than how often the numbers are changing on the scale?

There will be good days and bad days, victorious moments and discouraging moments, wise choices and foolish choices. This is about learning, not losing. With any set back we simply ask, “What is it that I still don’t understand about eating properly for my health?”

2. MAKE IT ABOUT HEALTH, NOT WEIGHT.

Contrary to everything you’ve ever heard about weight-loss strategies, the primary objective of a diet is to be healthy, not to lose weight.

The healthier you are pays greater dividends than how much you weigh. As I often say, “If you make weight loss and exercise about size, shape, or strength, it will become a chore to endure. If you make it about your health, it will be a gift to enjoy.” This is less about losing weight and more about being able to fully enjoy the rich experiences awaiting you in the future.

The simple truth is the healthier you eat, the healthier you’ll be.

Start with owning up to the following truth. If your food comes through a window, is served in your car, or has its own commercial, it’s probably not good for you. One of my favorite quotes is, “You can’t look like a million bucks if you keep eating off the dollar menu.”

You might think junk food tastes good, but it’s not good for you. Stop eating it. It’s compromising your health. Eat healthy food for a few weeks, and you’ll be able to taste (and feel) just how awful lousy food is for you.

3. MAKE IT ABOUT FUEL, NOT FULL

Food is fuel. Your body needs a certain supply of it in order to function properly. We readily understand not eating enough food is bad for the engine that keeps us alive.

Unfortunately, we rarely recognize gorging on too much food is just as bad for us, if not worse.

It’s a sad reality that for many people their only cue for when to stop eating is when they feel uncomfortable! They won’t quit eating until they are “stuffed.” “I’m full” is the only signal they recognize for when to put down their fork. Crassly put, discomfort becomes the Pavlovian trigger to get the rat to stop putting food into his mouth.

The relationship between food and the human body was never intended to result in pain.

Unfortunately, we learn these habits when we’re kids. We are raised as children to “clean our plate” for of all sorts of reasons from “not wasting food” to “starving children in Africa.” Most restaurants don’t help by serving enormous helpings of food on larger than necessary plates. Cleaning them inevitably leaves us waddling away from the table rubbing our belly in pain. When you’re loosening your belt or unbuttoning your pants after a meal, you’ve eaten way more than you should have. I’m just sayin’.

If you feel uncomfortable every time you leave the table after a meal, dreading the inevitable onset of heartburn or gastric distress, something is dreadfully wrong. Your body was not designed to work like that when it comes to the vital fuel it uses for sustaining life.

A great place to start is portion control. You only have to eat enough food at a meal to provide the nutrition you’ll need for the next few hours. Not the entire rest of the day! A general rule is a single serving of a fist-size portion of each item prepared for the meal. Give your body enough fuel to run the engine for the energy you’ll need until the next meal.

Sadly, we have trained our taste buds to like the stuff that isn’t good for us. The good news is they can be trained differently.

If you take pleasure in harming your health, that’s not really about taste. That’s ultimately about intelligence. Adding sugar to rat poison to make it taste delicious doesn’t change the fact that it will kill us if we eat it.

The primary purpose of food is to provide our body the nutrition it needs to function so we can enjoy our lives. There is absolutely no reason why the food that is good for us can’t be savory and satisfying. However, to sacrifice our health for the sheer enjoyment of food that ends up hurting our one and only body is – there’s no polite way to say it – foolish.

Wise people eat on purpose. Fools, only for pleasure.

5. MAKE IT ABOUT NUTRITION, NOT DYSFUNCTION.

When considered honestly, many of our eating habits are more dysfunctional than nutritional. They’re impulsive inclinations to make us feel good, rather than to provide our body what it needs to perform successfully.

More often than not coffee, soda, alcohol, desserts, candy, snacks, and second-helpings (!) are compulsive wants rather than nutritional needs. Face it, the caffeine jolt, the sugar high, the alcohol buzz, and the feeling of being full, is more about dependency than necessity. We’ve trained our body to want it to the point we believe we need it.

The truth is we really don’t.

I am not a big fan of coffee. Frankly, I do not like the smell, so the thought of drinking the stuff is rather repulsive to me. However, all bias aside, I am intrigued with what appears to be a socially acceptable dependency on the physiological stimulant of caffeine. I am not saying coffee is, in and of itself, bad for you. Unless it’s full of cream, sugar, and other flavor enhancers, coffee is relatively low in calories. It’s the dependency that I am interested in here. People depend on the caffeine-hit coffee offers them when their energy wanes.

Early-morning lethargy or mid-afternoon slumps drive java junkies to instinctively reach for their coffee cup for a jump-start. That’s compulsiveness, whether we like to admit it or not.

Coffee is not the only offender here. The cravings for sugar, salt, grease, and even the chemicals that go into our favorite processed foods can be every bit as addictive. When we start talking about “cravings”, and using phrases like “I could really go for some…”, or “Just the thought of that makes my mouth water”, we are using the language of addiction. We really need to be honest about that if we ever hope to get a handle on our eating choices and lose unwanted weight.

Stress, boredom, anger, frustration, and disappointment are emotions. They arise from places inside of us that cannot be fixed with food. (This is different from the emotional crash that occurs with low blood sugar.) However, many of us use food as a way to cope with these feelings. We have to recognize the enormous distinction between eating and coping.

Using food to appease unsettling emotions is an unhealthy psychological pattern that can lead to serious eating disorders. Not to mention, it will never work. There is no way the nutrition in food can satiate the pain in your soul.

The purpose of food is to fuel your body, not to manage your emotions. Keeping the two separate is a very important distinction to understand in our effort to lose weight and live healthy lives.

DON’T MAKE IT ABOUT FOOD

If always trying to sort out what food you should eat while looking to lose a few pounds is one of the reasons that keep you from achieving your weight-loss goals, change your strategy.

Quit making it about food. Determine it will be about health. Decide to put reasonable portions of as many healthy foods as possible into your mouth, and you’re half way there.

Learn to let nutrition triumph over pleasure in influencing your food choices, and now you’re almost home. Figure out why you eat, then what you eat will become much less of a factor in the daily struggle to make wise decisions and honor commitments.

Before you know it, the healthier, wiser you is looking and feeling a whole lot thinner.

Whatever you do, stop putting lousy fuel into a high-performance engine like your body. A steady supply of unhealthy food is like pouring sewage into your gas tank.

After a while, your engine’s vital functions are going to break down and your performance will be severely compromised.

4. MAKE IT ABOUT PURPOSE, NOT PLEASURE

Before you tune me out, I am not saying you can’t enjoy good food if you want to lose weight. That is not true at all. You can eat plenty of delicious foods while working toward your weight loss goals.

It’s when food is consumed ONLY for the sake of pleasure at disregard for purpose that we are placing our health at risk.

Unfortunately, the foods that bring us the most pleasure are often the unhealthiest for us. Foods and beverages laced with copious amounts of sugar, salt, processed flour, fat, grease, chemicals, and dyes are hurting us more than helping us.

JULY 2016

www.hillcountryexplore.com

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ART OF

Louis Gawlik’s job title is “Making dreams a reality”.

That’s not his actual job title, but perhaps it should be. Gawlik, owner of Xtreme Construction & Services is in the business of taking your vision, your dreams, and your goals…and making them a reality.

Having worked with dozens of small business people (as well as residential projects), Gawlik has worked to perfect the dance of reading your mind, seeing the purpose, function, and vision for a particular project, and turning it into a reality.

Gawlik begins, “I grew up in San Antonio, and I worked with my dad a lot during the summers at the glass company he owned since he was 24. Half of my family owns their own business, and I also worked with my cousin who owned a body shop so early on I was involved in the family business.”

After high school Gawlik continued working with family, but as his dad wanted him to go to college, Gawlik attended St. Phillips at night while continuing to work with his father during the day. However, Gawlik quickly knew that he wanted to branch out and do his own thing. “Via some family connections, I started my own subcontracting business in 2005, which ultimately led to a business that did government contracting work at Brooks City for 4 years.”

With the contracting experience that Gawlik gained, he ultimately started Gawlik Enterprises, which began in 2010 (dba Xtreme Construction & Services) and started doing work for Enterprise Rent-A-Car. Gawlik explains, “My cousin was an Area Manager for Enterprise, and they are constantly expanding. I did all their remodels in the region, and am now moving into building actual buildings for them at this point. Business has been amazing – 2010-12 were some of my best years for us, but we’re still growing.”

Being the contractor on projects from $10,000 to the millions, Gawlik is charged with making sense of a myriad of moving parts. Some simple, some complex, he must be the leader that ensures not only customer satisfaction upon completion, but really, the realization o a person’s dream. “I love the diversity of what I do – it’s always something new. I’ve been on job where it lasts for several months, and you can get tired of it, but I know that it’s always going to change. You can always learn something new, and I trust that it will never get old. I’ve gone from doing odd jobs to building actual buildings, and it’s so exciting. It’s also the vision of what is to come that keeps me going. For example, I can drive by a job site and it’s nothing but a field, and I love knowing that when I’m done, there will be an actual building there.”

He continues, “I like doing the remodels of private homes as well because I enjoy the satisfaction of realizing their dream homes with them. But I suppose that my favorite thing is when I get to work with people that are breaking out of their corporate job and are realizing their dreams by starting their own business. They have selected a site, which is often simply an empty shell, they have a vision, and I help them create it. I absolutely love that. They are scared and nervous, but you can see the twinkle in their eye o sheer excitement. I come from a long line of self-employed people, and I know the pride and dedication that it takes to make it work. So that’s probably my favorite part is to be blessed to watch them as their business comes together during the construction and you can see the pride in their eyes.”

Xtreme Construction & Services 210.379.4677

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JULY 2016

www.hillcountryexplore.com

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

SPIRITUAL

THE ONE MIGHTY BURDEN

By Kendall D. Aaron

The one who comes to a right belief about God is relieved of ten thousand temporal problems, for he sees at once that these have to do with matters which at the most cannot concern him for very long; but even if the multiple burdens of time may be lifted from him, the one mighty single burden of eternity begins to press down upon him with a weight more crushing than all the woes of the world piled one upon another. That mighty burden is his obligation to God. It includes an instant and lifelong duty to love God with every power of mind and soul, to obey Him perfectly, and to worship Him acceptably.

- AW Tozer Read that at least 3 times, as it will take that many times before you are able to even partially process the mouthful of knowledge that it contains.

And after reading, I must say that I think that I have too much perspective for a man in his early 40s. I have too much understanding of the brevity of life, of the sanctity of happiness, and of the beauty that we should seek to find. I promise you I’m not bragging about those thoughts, because to be quite honest, I wish that I didn’t have the philosophies that I have acquired. They’ve been borne of death, cancer, divorce, illness, strife, lies, and destruction. But at the end of the day, I truly do understand the concept of worry and temporal problems, and how little of it we should engage.

But does it help? Does my appreciation for the beauty of this life somehow stop me from sitting up at night…worrying….and crying…and dreaming for easier days? Nope. Not one bit. So do I have perspective, or do I have resignation? Sheesh, I have no clue. I have experienced LIFE, and that’s all that I know.

But that quote above is one that begins to strip away at the jacket of misery we wear at times. The jacket that we put on in the mornings as we leave the house – the one that weighs us down, contains our miseries, and makes the whole of life a burden at times.

But if we look at life through the prism of eternity, what does it do to our perspective?

If we’re going to worry about all of the things on our eternal list of “Things I’m going to Worry About”…then we have recognize that we are turning AWAY from God’s plan for us during the day.

If, on the other hand, we can trust that God has our problems handled, the enormity and depth of the responsibility in front of us is staggering. Because if we have handed our problems to God, then we are left with but one task: un-ending worship.

Sound easy? You already know the answer.

As difficult as this humble act of submission is to perform, the simplicity of it is also so very beautiful. Worry about NOTHING. EVER. Simply live, love, and be happy. Give it all to God and spend the breadth of your life doing the only thing we can: worshipping.

As we move into a position of worship, constant worship, the bandwidth that is our vision changes and we no longer see the stressors and struggles that we trudge through daily.

Instead, we see opportunities to be refined, to trust on God more, and to move into a position even closer to Him than we were the previous day.

After all, if we’re not stressing, the least we can be doing is worshipping.

Simply put, I think that we arise each day with a choice. A direction must be chosen, and we’re tasked with that decision from either a worldly perspective, or a biblical one.

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CHARITY

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Explore had the opportunity back in October of last year to shed some light on a locally-run, non-profit that serves the homeless population of San Antonio, Taking it to the Streets. The beginning of that article read “Sometimes helping others begins with simply identifying the need. What began with a group of people simply trying to help San Antonio’s homeless in any way they could has since grown to become one of Kendall County’s most well-known and well-supported outreach ministries... Taking it to the Streets has grown from three people feeding the homeless under a bridge into a full ministry operation.”

While this article gave the ministry an opportunity to share the good news of its growth and accomplishment, it unknowingly masked the pains associated with this growth, the heartbreak of the shift from the original vision, and the all-around spiritual attack the leaders of this organization were dealing with.

Hear me say that this article was well-researched and written by an author and dear friend that I respect. The interviews were truthful, and the leaders were striving to hold tight to what they believed to be the vision the Lord had provided for Taking it to the Streets. Unfortunately, the worldly success for the ministry overcame the former Executive Director, Mark Johnson, and the vision was tainted and control was defeated. Many great programs were implemented under his leadership, but the workload outweighed what the ministry could afford, and ultimately it all became logistically impossible. Success and greed can be separated by a very fine line, and once that line was crossed it became wildly evident that changed needed to be made.

Ministry is hard work. You are overworked and underpaid. When you are serving the Lord there is no actual tool to measure success, you just have to plant the seeds He has given you and allow him to cultivate the result. It can be outwardly a bit “unrewarding” – but the eternal benefits make it all worth it. The Executive Director lost sight of those unseen triumphs and the vision got clouded. The success of the ministry was being determined by the number of zeros on donation checks and the number of attendees at fundraising events.

The growth became overwhelming and the original leaders had already stepped away.

Some stuck around because their passion for the homeless allowed rose-colored glasses to hide the discrepancies of the current leadership.

Which brings us back to the beginning…In 2008 three men began a journey to “love the least.” These bold men put their boots on the ground, and brought warm meals to their homeless brothers and sisters in San Antonio. There was no agenda, no budget, and no

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By Misty McElhannon

strategic operating plan...just brothers stretching out their hands to offer humility, love, and dinner. Others caught wind to this organic gesture and wanted to be a part, and some positive growth took place. Volunteers, churches, and new leaders rose up to walk alongside Ti2tS, and they were able to do some great work by providing larger home cooked meals, PB&J-to-go, music to make the fellowship more inviting, haircuts, a fresh pair of socks, and an opportunity to experience Jesus in a non-threatening environment.

After a very tough, but very prayerfully driven decision, the Board of Directors voted to return to the simplistic way they had begun. Feeding the homeless just one night a week (Saturday nights), operating without any paid employees, and eliminating the extras as to be the very best stewards in providing to the homeless. This included relinquishing the Executive Director of his responsibilities and voting in a new leader. Which was hard to do. Kenny Sides and Mike Russell poured hours and hours of prayer over this decision.

They sought counsel from respected mentors and got on their knees before the Lord to show them the way.

God spoke clearly to them and their obedience has not been easy, but it has been extremely fruitful. They had to step up to the plate and completely reorganize the structure of the ministry and humble themselves in big ways in order to bring the ministry back to its original purpose. They are working hard to gain back the trust of the community by being 100% transparent about every piece of the ministry’s operations. Their goal is to ensure that Taking it to the Streets continues to minister to the homeless and impoverished of San Antonio by serving meals, distributing clothing and other basic necessities, and building God-honoring relationships with those they serve. The founders of the organization have come back to encourage, support, and serve alongside them. God will remain the forefront of this ministry and the leadership will stop at nothing to make of that. Sometimes worldly success feels good, but there is nothing greater than the rewards associated with obedience to the real guy in charge of Ministry…our Heavenly Father.

Whether you have served with Taking it to the Streets in the past or not, I encourage you to make it a priority. The experience of serving our homeless brothers and sisters is profound. Visit with the leadership, encourage them, commend them for their very hard work, and pray over them.

For more information, visit www.takingittothestreets.com.

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

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g n i b o

To For 1. Cell phones don't like water.

If you can’t last more than a couple of hours without your cell phone you have some issues that need to be resolved.

But if you can’t think of life without it, we recommend you store it in an air/water tight Tupperware container while on the river.

2. Wedding rings don't float or your $300 designer sunglasses, or your Guccipradalouis von Furestenberg lucky trinket.

Never bring/wear anything you are attached to because the river will eat it and you will be very upset.

3. Four hours is a looooong time to listen to anybody.

Especially if you are a captive audience and there is alcohol involved. Choose your tubing companions wisely and leave the mother-in-laws at home.

4. Sunscreen has its limitations.

You applied a judicious amount of sunscreen before you went out on the water this morning but here we are 4 hours later and you’re ready to hit the road.

News Flash: You are mere hours away from looking like a lobster. What’s worse, you get to walk into the office on Monday with a sunglass-shaped burn and only sunburned down your front-side. Remember to reapply sunscreen every few hours.

5. You never know how drunk you are until you try to stand up.

You’ve been drinking steadily for about 4 hours and you and your buddy have managed to finish off the case of beer you brought in your chest.

You try to get out of your toob and wade to shore but you slip on the slick river gravel and bust your nose open. Try to pace yourselves.

This rule goes hand-in-hand with rule #3. Sun+ case of beer+ slick river gravel= bloody nose

6. There's a special ring in Hell reserved for people who pollute Texas rivers.

Woe unto he who dares litter in a Texas river. Those Don’t Mess with Texas signs aren’t kidding. You don’t have to worry about any Green Peace members placing you under citizen’s arrest or chiding you about the environment. It’s the big guy with a sunburned neck about 50 yards behind you that saw you toss a can into the river who is willing to set you straight. The lesson here?

Keep your cans in your drink tube or ice chest where they belong.

7. Rope Swings are Verboten.

Though other people's rope swings might look tempting, chances are they're A). older than your grandmother's grandmother and will likely break B). protected by a massive guard dog and an owner with an equally as massive shotgun or C). both of the above.

8. Keep your Styrofoam at Home You're getting cases of beer at HEB when you remember: Crap! The cooler! While shelling out 16 bucks for a 'real' cooler might seem excessive, at most toobing places, Styrofoam of any kind is not allowed. Also it doesn't dissolve in water (or in acid for that matter).

9. Flipping your friends off their toob is funny the first time...kind of But after the second, third or fourth time you’re just a jerk and an immature one at that.

10. Have fun! After all, why else did you shell out hard money to float the river?

Some of the best summer memories are made out on the river.

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EXPLORE EXPLORE it! it! LIVE LIVE IT! IT! The The REAL REAL Kendall Kendall County.

County.

get your toob on!

Texas offers plenty of choices for tubing, rafting, kayaking, or canoeing.

Whether you are looking for a slow easy float or some exciting whitewater, we’ve provided a description of each river along with links to various outfitters websites.

San Marcos River

The San Marcos River is relaxing and mild compared to the Guadalupe and you can get out before the falls. You should have a great time in the river this time of year if the weather continues to cooperate. The rapids area at the end are a little strong so be careful if you have children in tow. More than just toobing the San Marcos River is great for swimming, snorkeling, and scuba diving in the crystal clear water and there are also beautiful campgrounds downstream of the city of San Marcos. You can toob right through part of Texas State campus, downtown San Marcos, but you'll feel like you're in a nature preserve. Most of toobing part of the river is park land on both sides.

Huge elephant ear plants line the banks The San Marcos river is a host some of the cleanest water you can find, anywhere. The water from its spring-fed source is 10 times cleaner than EPA standards for drinking water.

The usual float is one mile, though it's possible to float longer with a do-ityourself toobing trip. When you're done, you can make a quick 10 minute walk back to the beginning and toob it again, or catch a shuttle back, operated by the Lions Club of San Marcos.

The Lions Camp Tube rental is a very popular stop to rent toobs. The toobs rental and taxi program is a fundraiser for the Lions Club—what’s better than having a great day and giving to charity? There’s a $20.00 per tube deposit and a single tube is $7 per tube and $9 for a single tube with bottom.

However, these prices include a taxi ride from the end point.

For more information including directions, please visit www.tubesanmarcos.com.

Comal River

The Comal River is the shortest river in the world. Really! The Comal begins at Comal Springs in Landa Park and flows approximately 3 miles until it meets the Guadalupe. But in a short distance, the Comal is packed with tubing fun.

Not a rafting river, this is the amusement park of the Texas rivers. Easy, slow, and not too cold.

There are plenty of wide easy stretches to the river, and the clarity is great.

The river is a less intensive float compared to the Guadalupe. Besides the single tube chute, there are no other rapids, boulders, or obstacles on the river.

There are adequate outfitters for the Comal, generally located off Common Street in New Braunfels.

For more information on floating the Comal, please visit www.comalrivertubing.com.

Guadalupe River

The Guadalupe is an ever-changing river. Easily the most popular river to float in Texas, its character changes as the flow fluctuates with the release rate of water from Canyon dam turbines.

On the weekends, the Guadalupe is a great party river. It is crowded, and it is fun…if you have prepared yourself for the crowd. Unlike the small central Texas rivers like the San Marcos or the Comal, the Guadalupe tubing areas are spread out over many miles.

The Guadalupe has rapids, boulders, and tube chutes. The landscape is remote, and other areas tube through the town. The river is more intense than the other central Texas tubing areas.

There are a number of popular areas around New Braunfels to check out, each with their own feel.

The Horseshoe is a fun loop float on the upper Guadalupe. After about an hour, you can take out at the bridge, walk about five minutes, and put back in for another go, or continue downriver to the chute.

The Chute is a tube chute that's a few hundred yards long, and tons of fun.

When it's over, you can continue on, or get out and tube it again. Hold on to your glasses!

Around Gruene there are sets of small rapids to provide lots of excitement.

When water levels are low, this is one of the only places to tube on the Guadalupe. When water levels are high, this can be a very wild rapid ride.

The outfitters that offer the Horseshoe generally are located there. In other words, you jump straight in from the outfitter, and shuttle back at the end.

Other outfitters offer to shuttle you first, and then you take out right at your car once you've floated back down.

Starting at the Horseshoe you'll get to do both the Horseshoe and the Chute if you choose a 4-6 hour float. Or, start at the Chute and see the lower regions of the river. Both trips are unique.

For more information about floating the Guadalupe, please visit www.guadaluperiver.com.

The Frio

We all know by now that Texas is hot. And when it's scorching outside, there's no better river than the Frio. Cold. Beautiful. Big. Secluded. That's the Frio. If your Spanglish isn’t the best frio means “cold.”. Where the Guadalupe is the party river, the Frio is a great place to take in the beautiful Texas scenery.

Many can attest to how hard it is to resist the cool waters, cypress trees, rock beaches, panoramic hillside views, fall foliage, limestone bluffs, good company and the many other offerings of the Frio River Canyon.

For more information about floating the Frio, please visit www.funrivers. com/TUBE-KAYAK.html.

JULY 2016

www.hillcountryexplore.com

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EXPLORE it! LIVE IT! The REAL Kendall County.

OLD TIMER

OLD TIMER

I’ll cut right to the chase: I’m done.

I don’t want to do this little column anymore because, frankly, it’s just not fun anymore.

It used to be a lot of fun to chuckle as I hammered out some of my silliest ideas and observations, but alas, either I did a good job and people began to take my writings seriously, or I did a terrible job and people began to take my writings seriously. I’m not sure which to accept, but regardless, I’m not doing this to be taken seriously.

I suppose that every once in a while I touched on a topic that was timely and newsworthy and generated some buzz, but I also spent a considerable amount of time talking about how I was going to run over the STAFF PARKING signs in front of City Hall, was going to shoot all the ducks, and wanted to install a water park at the lake. I talked about my late wife, gun turrets on I-10, and discussing ways to keep Bandera-craziness out of town. Yet, with all of that silliness, I still managed to hurt the feelings of a bunch of our City leaders, and make no mistake, they can be very vocal when their feelings get hurt.

So I’m done. This City Hall deal is the one that’s causing me to throw in the towel.

I penned that article upon learning of the new “Mayor Schultz Shrine”, I mean City Hall, and just marveled at how they were quietly trying to build themselves a $20m building.

Well, a few folks read the article and ended up in Council Chambers making more than a little noise holding a petition with over 700 signatures in 24 hours calling for more time on the entire proposal.

So, City leaders did what City leaders can sometimes do…they scolded the citizens as being too late to the party, misinformed, and untrusting. They then also scolded me, publicly and privately, and to tell you the truth, I don’t have time for this shit.

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I’m not giving up on discussing local politics….oh, what the hell am I saying? Yes!! I’m giving up on discussing local politics! I know that small town politics can be a bit of a nasty environment, and maybe Boerne’s is friendly when compared to some others, but frankly, I didn’t start this little column so that I could get sucked into political debates, nor be publicly horse-whipped on the floor of Council chambers.

I want to make fun of the security hut out at the lake. I want to rag on the Mayor for his nauseating use of the word “affordable housing”. I want to pick on our ratio of antique stores to citizens. I wanted to eternally laugh about the monumentally stupid $1 zillion project to fix our crosswalks. Basically, I just wanted to have some fun, poke a stick at some folks that pretty much deserved it, and give you, the reader, a nice chuckle.

But alas, it’s not to be any more. I need to find something better to do with my time. I’m old, and the last thing I need to do is spend more than 22 seconds giving a damn what a local City Councilman thinks about me. Life’s way too damn short, and these arguments and animosity are issues for much younger people to address, as I could give a damn.

I am proud of the people I’ve met doing this column and for those of you that told me that you enjoyed it. I’m also proud of the citizens that read about City Hall and showed up en masse to kindly tell City Council “Oh – HELL NO”. That made me smile. I’m proud of the interaction, the feedback, and the smiles I’ve shared with many of you out there over this silly column, and will miss it.

I trust that some new soul will come fill my shoes in some capacity with this column, and I’ll wish them good luck.

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F A M I LY

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