Pre-Thanksgiving Blessing

Last December, my wife entered us in a local radio station's drawing for couples whose anniversary fell in that month. We won a  free night at a Blue Mountain Mist Country Inn,  a bed & breakfast just outside Sevierville, TN.

We finally took advantage of the opportunity & stayed over Monday night. Thanks are in order to daughter Merrianna who stayed home to feed the chickens & milk the goat.

Three generations of a Christian family are involved in running the Inn, and the easy, friendly manner of their hospitality establish a benchmark for the industry. The evening's agenda included what you might consider the gold standard for accommodations, food & fellowship.

After about 8PM, Laura & I had the whole Main House to ourselves. A time to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Although we were the only guests in the Main House, a youngish middle-aged man and two of his sons checked into the Guest House to await his wife's arrival on Wednesday. We had breakfast with the father & his two very well-behaved boys -- they attend St. John's Christian Academy -- and conversation somehow wandered into the realm of guns 'n' knives.

They had visited the Smoky Mountain Knife Works (SMKW) that morning, and I told him we also had wanted to visit there before we left for home. Then I told them about my specially ordered handmade Kukri from Nepal, and I found out that the father collects shotguns.

The older son asked me if I had ever fired a 10-guauge shotgun. I said no, but that my barber had one, and you could hear a slight echo when he thunked a shell into the chamber. The dad told me he had a 10-guage & an 8-guage.

I joked with the son that an 8-gauge would be handy to have along if you got lost in the woods, because you could just crawl up into the bore for shelter against the elements.

Later, we bid farewell to the folks at Blue Mountain Mist, and we stopped off at SMKW. It's a huge building -- three stories devoted to knives & knife-related items.

As I wandered among the displays of merchandise and memorabilia in this edged-implement wonderland. I overheard a man speaking to his wife:

"What are you looking for? You're looking for a PLATE??!!"

Some people would search for aluminum cans in a gold mine.

The folks at SMKW have devoted the top floor to a museum where you can find displays of flint tools, a bronze Roman sword lying next to a bronze Mongolian sword, and other centuries-old blades. Then there are displays from major knife-manufacturers of the last 200 years.

I even found a display case with some authentic Gurkha Kukris.  We talked with a gentleman who works there whom I found to be quite knowledgeable on the art of the Kukri.

If you're ever in the Sevierville area, forget Dollywood. Just visit SMKW.

Well, we're back home now, and with Thanksgiving coming up tomorrow, I reflect on the blessings of my life. By God's grace and Christ's sacrificial love, I am joined by covenant to my God, my family and a host of really great people like my barber, my veterinarian, many of my readers and a host of others like those I met just this week in the mountains of Tennessee.

I hope you find fullness of blessing in your own celebration and giving of thanks tomorrow.