Category: Traveling

Twitter revisited

A bit over a year ago I talked about using Twitter. I have recently (within the last 3 or 4 months) gotten much more involved with twittering.

I own 2 Twitter accounts if you want to follow me. The first one is the one I have been using for a year and a half. That one is the username dpeach. That has mostly been tied in closely with my running buddies. I have a few people who follow me there who do not run, but my main following is made up of people who run and are interested in running news.

My second, and new as of tonight, Twitter account is DavidPeach. I am going to use this one as more ministry related content. I may still post some things about my running, but I plan to make it more about our ministry.

As we explore different ways to help missionaries stay more connected to the people in the churches, this has come to my mind as a great opportunity. My friend Jeff at Missionary Geek and I have talked in the past about using social networking as a way to engage our supporters. I have dismissed much of it because of the problem I see of allowing other people to view my connections. Sometimes, sad as it is, I have been told that I would, or would not be, supported based on who I would be working with. I could understand if the problem was doctrinal, but it never is. First off, I am not going to seek support from a church that I cannot agree with doctrinally. It is always based on personalities or quirkiness that really does not matter in the big picture. Therefore, I have avoided using social networking as a means to communicate with my supporters.

My mind has been steered with the help of some of the people whom I follow on Twitter. The main one being Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson. I have followed him for 2 months. In that time he has told me what new books Thomas Nelson is publishing; he had informed me that they have changed the dress code at the office; and, I know when he plays golf even. Does any of that really matter? Not if I am thinking about what book I would purchase from them. But what it does do is put Thomas Nelson constantly on my mind. That is exactly what I want from people who say they are praying for me and my ministry as well as supporting me financially. I want them to think about me constantly. I want them to know I am a real person who struggles with the same things they do. I think Twitter can deliver that.

Now you can follow one, or both, of my accounts. There may be some cases where I would cross post between accounts, but mainly the DavidPeach account will be ministry related and dpeach will be everything else.

Coming up…

I have been on the road most of the afternoon. When I got to the place I am staying I was really pressed for time to get my blog post of the day out. Instead of a full post I will just give you a preview of what I have planned.

  • How to install an ad blocker in Firefox
  • How to make your own microwave popcorn
  • Half marathon plans
  • Hammer Nutrition sale

These are all subjects that I plan to write about in the next few days.

Stay tuned!

Thrift store finds

Over the last month we have been on the road traveling. When we travel we usually hit thrift stores along the way. Each one has its own flavor. Here are experiences at 3 stores that we got to on this trip.

The Dump
The Goodwill Outlet in Indianapolis, Indiana was a unique experience. They haul out big bins (4 to 8 at a time) which have various items usually loosely grouped with other similar items: i.e., housewares, clothing, books, shoes. No one is allowed to touch the items until all of the bins in that section are moved into place. Once the final one arrives the crowd of 40+ people start digging through the items like a 90% off sale the Friday after Thanksgiving.

We got a few items of interest there. The coolest item was a suitcase which we really needed. We are still in search of at least one more. We also walked away with several books and some kitchen items that we needed in our new house.

The best part about the outlet store, known to the family as “The Dump,” is you pay by the pound. We combined our haul with my sister-in-law’s and got a price break for going over 50 pounds of loot.

The Potter’s House
We were told by a facebook friend that The Potter’s House was a great thrift store, so we made the 30 minute drive to Winder, Gerogia yesterday to check it out. While we did not find a whole lot of stuff that interested us, the prices were great.

I found a nice long-sleeved blue shirt that I liked. In the process of digging through all the shirts I put my new find on the end of the rack. When I got to the end (where I had placed my shirt) I found a really nice long-sleeved blue shirt. I was really excited that I found two nice shirts. They were identical too. Then I realized I found the same shirt twice. I really must get back on my medication.

Happy Acres
Before we left the Atlanta area today we had to check out a place called Happy Acres. It is only available to missionaries, but they have a free clothing closet as well as some very nice apartments where we can stay when passing through. I found a whole rack of pants exactly my size in my favorite style and brand. There were probably 10 or more pairs of pants for me. I could not bring myself to wipe them out, but I did take 4 pair. They are in great shape and would have cost me well over $100 to buy them new in the store. All free of charge.

Thrift stores are great. Sometimes you have to dig through a lot of junk to get something useful, but when you find what you need you can save a ton of money. If it were not for thrift stores we would not have the nice clothes that we are able to wear.

Our thanks to everyone who donates their used, but good, items to thrift stores. Maybe the next time you see me I will be wearing your old shirt or shoes.

Back in the saddle

We have been on the road the last couple of weeks and still have a few more weeks to go before we get back home. It is nice settling into a familiar ministry. Traveling and preaching in churches was our life for 10 years. And though we love what we do on the field, this has always been a very enjoyable type of work.

The whole feeling of being back in the old familiar ministry was brought home in a special way today. We drove south through Nashville and are back in the Murfreesboro area where we spent the first 6 years as the home base for our traveling work. Tomorrow morning we will drive through town before getting on the road to Atlanta. It will be fun to see what all has changed in the last 5 years since we were here last.

Camping trip

This week my son and I headed to the great outdoors for a couple of days camping. He has been wanting to go for a while. Me too. But we have not felt comfortable with any place in Mexico to make a go of it. I don’t mind primitive camping, but I do like to at least know what kind of animals are going to kill me while I sleep. So we waited till we got back home.

We went to Big Lagoon State Park. It is only 12 miles from where we live. But once you enter the park it seems like you are way out there.

Monday
We arrived at the campground around 3:00 in the afternoon. That is check-in time and it seemed like a good time to get there. That allowed us to have a good final lunch at home before having to eat my cooking.

We got camp set up and then spent a good amount of time trying to string up the G5RV dipole antenna for the ham radio we took along. After we got it all up in the air I saw a note in one of the camp brochures the next day saying not to tie or hang anything in the trees. Oops.

We did not do any exploring that afternoon/evening since we had to run part way back to town to get some supplies we had forgotten. There is a Wal-Mart about half way between the camp and home, so I had my wife meet us there with some things and we popped in to Wal-Mart for the other items. We then spent an hour or so enjoying ice creams from Sonic before parting ways.

Tuesday
After a restless night’s sleep, we got up early to put the coffee pot to use. Yes, my 10 year old drank his fill of coffee. Good for keeping you warm, not that it was too cold. I think it was 68 when we got up Tuesday morning. Not too cold, but cool enough to justify coffee for the lad.

We hiked for a good long time after a breakfast of eggs and bacon. We returned to the camp for a rest and to read a book. Another hike before a lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

In the afternoon I took a nap and we rode bikes and read books until we met up with my Dad who brought us some fishing poles and hamburgers. We ate the burgers and headed down to the seashore to do some fishing. My son caught the first fish. It was a pinfish about 6 inches long. The neighbor fishing near us bought it off of him for $1 for bait. The next 2 we caught we donated to the neighbor. We ended up with about 8 pinfish (which we turned into bait or tossed back) and the final catch was a 5 inch catfish. I must have hooked it while trying to set another nibbler. The catfish was hooked in the eye. Ouch!

Slept better that night. Was also much cooler.

Wednesday
Got up to 64 degree temps. Felt cooler since the wind was blowing. After the standard eggs and bacon we went bike riding for a bit. Camp was packed up in various stages of the morning. We also read for a while. Eventually we got out of there around 1:00.

In the events of the 3 days we cooked s’mores and burned hot dogs. We did some torturous things to marshmallows. Though we did not talk with anyone on the radio, we listened to people from Switzerland, Virgin Islands, Spain and Italy. We had more fun with fire than should be allowed. Probably would have had a whole lot less fun if my wife had been there. My son had fun taking hikes with the camera by himself. I was not too worried that there was a pond that hosted 3 alligators just 100 yards from our tent. Maybe I should have been. But this was a fun time to relax and not worry about the world crashing down around us. So we didn’t let a little thing like the stock market or alligators get us too worked up.