JANUARY 2017
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CONTENTS
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marjorie Hagy History 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.
Kendall D. Aaron Spiritual 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.
Old Timer Just Old Timer
10 From The Publisher
28 History
14 Calendar
36 Spiritual
16 New Year’s Resolutions
38 VOCALOSITY
20 Put It On Repeat
40 Then & Now
24 Art Of Adventure
42 Old Timer
Operations Manager Peggy Schooley peggy@smvtexas.vom Publisher Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com
8 | EXPLORE
Creative Director Benjamin N. Weber ben.weber@smvtexas.com
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.
ADVERTISING SALES 210-507-5250 sales@hillcountryexplore.com
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 2016 Schooley Media Ventures, 930 E. Blanco, Ste. 200, Boerne, TX 78006
And no, I don’t think I have much interest in doling out forgiveness to any of them, God and myself included. But here I sit, on the precipice of a new season, a new year, and prayerfully, a new chapter of life. As I inventory the emotions that have walked daily with me for the past 5 years, how can I ever expect the next season to be any different if I have a backpack full of these old emotions that I choose to pick up each day and carry with me? Nothing changes if nothing changes, I suppose.
DEAREST EXPLORE READER, On a cold February night several years ago, Chris Williams was driving his little Passat down a city street. As he rounded a corner, his car was struck by an oncoming vehicle, instantly killing his 9 and 11 year old children in the back seat, and he watched as his pregnant wife exhaled her last breaths in the front seat. The police found a dazed 17 year old kid a few blocks away, hammered on vodka in a smashed up car as well, and police estimated he was doing over 60 mph on a residential street. The kid was summarily tossed into jail on multiple vehicular homicide charges, and Williams was left to the tattered remnants of his life, minus his wife and two beautiful children. He recounts that while still moaning in the front seat the night of the accident, with broken bones and the knowledge that his family was killed, he said to himself, “Whoever has done this, I forgive them. I don’t care what the circumstances are, I forgive them.” While almost unbelievable, Williams’ exercise in forgiveness was due to some of his own history, and, well, training. He had never killed another person, but he did know trouble. He had been in the back of a police car as a teenager as well, and knew that life was most precious. "It was almost like I had drilled myself for that moment," he says. Williams had essentially trained — in the way a marathon runner might start with leg exercises and shorter runs — so that when the time came to forgive the nearly unforgivable, he was ready. Part of that training included a prayer he used to say after his first son, Michael, was born: "Help me appreciate him, and if he's taken prematurely, give me strength." Three years previous, when Michael nearly died of toxic shock syndrome, Williams said the same prayer. “The point”, he says, “is that none of us are entitled to a perfect life. Really understanding that”, he says, “is central to being able to forgive. To think that things will always work out in our favor is to set ourselves up for anger, at other people and at God. And yet this is how most of us move through our days: expecting that we deserve a good life, desperately hoping that we can hold on forever to everything that is good.” But life is not always good. Ask me how I know. You know it, too, though we all forget this most simple fact and simply cling with white knuckles to this expectation that we deserve a good life. Then when bad things happen to us, especially when it’s at the hands of another, what do we do? Well, we are left with the simplest of decisions: to forgive or not.
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As we move into this new year, I’m left cataloguing a bit of my own areas where forgiveness is necessary and attempting to make the decisions to move beyond these hurts and to leave the baggage behind. There’s a professor at Stanford that studies forgiveness (seriously – who knew this was an area of study?). He writes, “We can rent our grievances the master bedroom and build them a hot tub out back. We can allow them to put their stuff in all the rooms of the house, or we can restrict them to a small room in the back." In other words, he writes, we need to ask, "How much time do we spend thinking about our hurts and disappointments? And, when we think about them, how much intensity is there?” Our friend Chris Williams adds, “Forgive for your sake, not the other person's. Forgive because, if you don't, your bitterness will consume you. Besides the anger and hurt, the loss of joy, love and intimacy mar the lives of those who do not forgive.” This struck me as particularly powerful. Your inability to forgive does not necessarily hurt the other person…it hurts YOU. In every way imaginable. I won’t have a pity party here and document for you what the past 5 years have looked like for me personally, but rest assured, they’ve been more than a little trying. The entire foundation of my life has been shaken and fractured, and for the first time in a full 5 years, I enter a new year free of the earthquakes which have shaken me relentlessly for a full 60 months. So do I just say “Whew. Glad that’s over!” and move forward? Maybe that would be the easiest way to do it, but I also don’t think that God hands us chapters of life that look so bloody without hopefully including a few lessons in there. If I just shrug my shoulders and move forward, what am I unknowingly carrying with me into this new season that might cause me ongoing frustration and pain? I mean, if we’re going to move into a season of health and wholeness (hopefully), what is going to be different than the last season that was NOT healthy and whole? For me, and perhaps for you, it’s forgiveness. I can barely count on both of my hands the number of people that I must forgive, all characters in the past 5 years that have caused me deliberate and heart-breaking harm. And some aren’t people to forgive necessarily. My youngest had a heart defect. My brother passed. My marriage fell apart. So I suppose I also have to forgive God. And perhaps most difficult, I have to forgive MYSELF.
I certainly have not witnessed my family being murdered by a drunken driver, and I hope that you have not either. However, I will go out on a limb and say that I would imagine you have some serious scars on your heart that were caused by others. And while I will certainly not diminish the pains that we have experienced, I will wonder how much space you rent to these people that have caused the harm. As for me, it’s been way too much. A dear friend once told me in the middle of my 5 year nightmare, “Sometimes God doesn’t take us to the depths to drown us, but rather, to cleanse us.” Man, I wanted to punch him when he said that. But maybe it’s my time to see that I can be “clean”. Maybe that was the lesson that God wanted me to learn: I deserve squat in terms of an easy life, so roll with it, man. Maybe I was supposed to get to this very night at 11:35pm, typing up this silly letter, and needed to realize that I’m free to enjoy my life as it is…or not. It’s my choice. I can be pissed at those that have wronged and hurt me, or I can forgive and pray for them. I can be filled with rage at circumstances, or I can trust in God’s plan for me. I can white-knuckle my way through life, attempting to control the twists and turns, or I can throw my hands in the air like on a roller coaster and laugh, laugh, laugh…. I’m rambling, but friends, it’s a new year. With each new numeral I keep adding to my age, the clarity of time becomes more and more clear. This adventure we call life is all we have, whether it be 5 years of 95 years in length. This is it. There’s no do-overs. A 5 year nightmare of life can become a 2 decade nightmare if we choose to sit and stay in it. We can be free of a bad season, yet choose to spend the next 5 seasons reliving the bad one. Or we can forgive and move forward, free of the baggage that we have sitting at our feet. I know that New Year’s Resolutions are popular, and frequently involve getting healthy or cutting back on sugar so that we can become a little lighter, but maybe we should all try to just travel a little lighter through this life. Drop our baggage. Let loose of the extra weight we carry. No matter what, I hope that 2017 is the greatest year of your life. And I hope that you are cleansed. Welcome to January, and welcome to this new year. May you it fulfill all of your dreams, may you laugh daily, and may you claim it to be the best season. EXPLORE your heart, forgive those you can, throw your hands in the air…and laugh, laugh, laugh. Smiling,
Benjamin D. Schooley ben@hillcountryexplore.com
Authentic
WE ARE
518 River Road | Boerne, TX | www.littlegretel.com | 830-331-1368
Hungry for an Education? Join us for a free educational dinner held weekly. RSVP at 210-255-3040. Space is limited. JANUARY 17, 18 & 31 Bob’s Steak & Chop House
JANUARY 18 & 19 Kirby’s Steakhouse
JANUARY 24 & 25 Piatti (Eilan)
AREA EVENTS
Get out and enjoy the great Texas Hill Country!
The most comprehensive events calendar. Send submissions to info@hillcountryexplore.com January 15 Fredericksburg Music Club “Miro Quartet” Concert features a violin/cello performance by the Miro Quartet. Fredericksburg United Methodist Church, 1800 N. Llano. www.fredericksburgmusicclub.com January 20-22 Fredericksburg Trade Days Shop more than 400 vendors in seven barns and acres of antiques, and enjoy the Biergarten, live music and more. Seven miles east on U.S. 290 across from Wildseed Farms. www.fbgtradedays.com January 21-22 Hill Country Gem and Mineral Show The Fredericksburg Rockhounds bring artifacts, exhibits, demonstrations, jewelry, minerals, fossils and more. Pioneer Pavilion at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. www.fredericksburgrockhounds.org January 28 Hill Country Indian Artifact Show Features a wide variety of some of the finest Native American artifacts from Texas and the U.S., including arrowheads, pottery, beads and books. Pioneer Pavilion at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park. www.hillcountryartifacts.com GRUENE January 1 Hair of The Dog Day Free live shows all day. Gruene Hall. www.holidaysingruene.com JOHNSON CITY January 1-2 Lights Spectacular Highlights the courthouse illumination for the holidays. www.lbjcountry.com KERRVILLE January 21 Harpeth Rising Enjoy this ensemble featuring three-part harmonies, bluegrass, blues and folk music. LUCKENBACH January 21 Luckenbach Blues Festival All-day celebration features local, regional and Texas blues artists. www.luckenbachtexas.com MARBLE FALLS January 1 Walkway of Lights More than 2 million lights transform the park. Take a stroll through the winter wonderland. Lakeside Park, 108 Buena Vista. www.walkwayoflightstx.com
BANDERA January 1 Cowgirl Round-up and “ShowDeo” Cowgirls celebrate their cowgirl history as they gather for a panoramic photo in the arena at HCSNA. Following the photo, showmanship, dressage and speed events are held in the arena. Includes storytellers and singer/songwriters. Hill Country State Natural Area, 10600 Bandera Creek Road. www.banderacowboycapital.com January 3 Cowboy Capital Opry Grand Old Opry-style entertainment is hosted by Gerry and Harriet Payne. Silver Sage Community Center, 803 Buck Creek. www.silversagecorral.org
January 14-15 Boerne Market Days Hundreds of festive booths display everything from collectibles and remembrances of the past to modern innovations. Event includes food and live music. Main Plaza, 100 N. Main. BULVERDE January 28 Chamber Rodeo The Diamond Cross Rodeo Company provides bulls, steers and broncos. Tejas Rodeo Company, 401 Obst Road. www.bulverdespringbranchchamber.com
January 7-8 Bandera 100K, 50K and 25K Features a trail of rugged and brutal beauty where everything cuts, stings or bites. Hill Country State Natural Area, 10600 Bandera Creek Road. www.banderacowboycapital.com
COMFORT January 1 Life-Size Nativity Scene Life-size nativity figures that were first viewed atop the Sears tower in San Antonio for several decades are displayed. Comfort Park, 423 Main St. www.comfort-texas.com
January 12-14 Bandera County Junior Livestock Show Youth of Bandera County show their livestock on Thursday and Friday. Auction is held on Saturday. All events held at the Junior Livestock Show Barn. Mansfield Park, 2886 Texas 16 N. www.bcjlsa.com
FREDERICKSBURG January 1-3 Eisbahn Outdoor Ice Skating This is an annual seasonal outdoor ice skating event. Marktplatz, 100 block of W. Main. www.skateinfred.com
BOERNE January 13-14 Kendall County Jr. Livestock Show and Sale Kendall County Youth Agriculture and Equestrian Center.
January 6 First Friday Art Walk Tour fine art galleries offering special exhibits, demonstrations, refreshments and extended viewing hours. Participating fine art galleries in Fredericksburg. www.ffawf.com
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NEW BRAUNFELS January 13-15 New Braunfels Antique Show Shop quality antique and vintage items with dealers from across America. Find antiques, primitives, jewelry, art, furniture, pottery, architectural/garden items and more. New Braunfels Civic & Convention Center. www.heritageeventcompany.com January 20-22 Liberty Gun Show Find a selection of everything from firearms to ammo to hunting gear. People can bring in unloaded firearms to be appraised or fitted for accessories. New Braunfels Civic/Convention Center, 375 S. Castell Ave. www.libertygunshow.com STONEWALL January 1 Black Eyed Pea Festival Visit this annual event for good luck featuring live music, black-eyed peas and cornbread. Torre di Pietra Winery, 10915 E. U.S. 290. www.torredipietra.com TAYLOR January 16 Martin Luther King Jr. Day March and Program March begins at 9 a.m. in Robinson Park and ends at City Hall. Following the march is a program beginning at 10 a.m. City Hall, 400 Porter St. www.taylormadetexas.com WIMBERLEY January 19 Ray Wylie Hubbard in Concert Susanna’s Kitchen Coffeehouse at Wimberley UMC. www.wimberleyumc.org
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EAT HEALTHIER AND DIET
This goes hand in hand with the “lose weight” resolution. If your diet consists of Big Macs and milkshakes, and this year you eat a piece of broccoli for the first time EVER, then congratulations. Cross it off your list and have a celebratory double quarter pounder with cheese and a small diet coke. A big problem is that diets don’t work. At least not when you think of it as something with a finish line. It requires a whole mental, and usually lifestyle change as well. You have to WANT to. REALLY truly deep in your bones want it. Because if you don’t, by the end of the year, you’ll be making the exact same resolution.
GET OUT OF DEBT AND SAVE MONEY
10 COMMONLY BROKEN NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS
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SPEND MORE TIME WITH FAMILY
This is always a good one. Problem is you can’t have the time unless you take it. Work and other responsibilities don’t magically disappear at the start of a new year. Like just about all the resolutions, it will require sacrifices. And time sacrifices that means less “you time” is pretty tall order, no matter how sincere you are.
January. The annual reminder that there are things we TRAVEL TO NEW PLACES want to change about our habits, attitudes and self. Fantastic. But why haven’t you done it before? Money. Time. Chances are there’s something you need to sacrifice We’re talking about resolutions. The time of year when or change to make this happen. But define what exactly this means and how you can accomplish it and you’ll be gyms are packed any everyone tells themselves “THIS on the right path. TIME will be different.” Unfortunately, resolutions are LESS STRESSED usually so vague, you’re all but guaranteed to fail. Here is BE Again, stuff like this doesn’t just disappear at the of the new year. Actually, there’s probably more a list of some of them most commonly broken new year’s beginning of it now. Catching up on emails at work after taking a week off. Dealing with clients who have new ideas or resolutions around.
LOSE WEIGHT AND GET FIT
Probably the number one resolution on 90% of people’s list is to lose weight. Or get healthier. The problem is that simply joining a gym and going a few times won’t get you into those jeans you wore in college. But everyone seems to think that’s all it takes. Which creates another problem. So many people join a gym in January and February, which crowds the place, which makes it difficult to find a machine or equipment to use, which discourages you and before you know it, it’s June and you haven’t used your membership since March. Don’t be vague. Losing weight, if you’re overweight is certainly a good thing. But don’t just resolve to “lose weight.” Instead make a goal to walk or run 10 miles a week. Something tangible you can strive for. That way, when you hit that goal, you can revise it to 15 miles or whatever, and you’re actually seeing progress.
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This is a good one and definitely easier to see progress on than something more vague like eating healthier. Simply saying it isn’t good enough though. You need a plan of action. Budget. Follow the plan. Make sacrifices. It’ll suck that’s for sure. Because you’re not used to it. But the awesome thing about being debt free and being able to save money at the end of a month can feel like a literal weight being lifted from you.
QUIT SMOKING
This one is tough. Roughly only 13% of people who try to quit, are actually successful. So unfortunately the odds are stacked against you.
LEARN SOMETHING NEW
Again, this is pretty vague. Anyone can go on YouTube and “learn” something new. We suppose that technically if you didn’t know that the elephant is the largest living land animal, then you just learned something new and can cross that off your list. But that’s a pretty low bar to set. Instead, resolve to learn a skill. Or a language. Again, something you can actually SEE progress towards on a fairly regular basis.
demands for the new year. This, like eating healthier is a mental thing. And it ain’t easy.
VOLUNTEER
This is another time sacrifice. It’s certainly a noble goal. But that means you’re going to have to carve time out of your schedule and things you want to do, to go help others. And there’s probably a reason why you haven’t done this before now.
DRINK LESS
Yeah, the morning, or afternoon in some cases of January 1 most of us probably feel like this one is a necessity. But will that feeling last another 364 days? If you’re feeling like someone is playing a drum solo in your head on January 1, chances are the issue runs a bit deeper than a cursory and vague “I need to do less of this.”
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WWW.HILLCOUNTRYEXPLORE.COM | JANUARY 2017
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PLAY IT AGAIN AND AGAIN
U
Usually, when songs get stuck in your head, all you can think about is how to end the misery of having It’s A Small World playing over and over and over. There are some songs though that we can put on repeat and listen to all day long. We all have our favorites that, no matter how often we hear them, we always turn up the volume and sing along. The staff here at EXPLORE thought we’d share some of the songs that get us moving. Hopefully you’ll enjoy them too. Unless you don’t. And if that’s the case we hope they stay in your head ALL DAY LONG! JOSH GARRELS – FARTHER ALONG
JACE EVERETT - NO PLACE TO HIDE
I’ve had this song on repeat lately, and simply can’t stop listening to it. A Christian song, it’s one of the more beautiful songs I’ve heard lately lyrically. With lines like “Tempted and tried, I wondered why, the good man dies, the bad man thrives, and Jesus cries because He loves them both, we’re all castaways in need of rope…”, this song will leave you transfixed. www.joshgarrels.com
This is apparently the theme song to the popular HBO or Showtime or whatever premium cable channel I refuse to pay for, True Blood. I first heard it on Pandora and it was difficult to find a decent version that I could play on repeat. In interviews Jace says he wrote it for a movie that was never made. Which is kind of an interesting tidbit of into. This is an extremely haunting song. A slow, steady rhythm that gets my head bobbing no matter how many times I play it.
RYAN BINGHAM – HALLELUJAH
We interviewed Ryan for EXPLORE back in 2011, which was right before the guy exploded on the scene. In his early 30’s, he sounds like he has traveled every road he sings about. “Hallelujah” is a haunting song that brings entire dance halls to a quiet hush. If you haven’t experienced Bingham, stop what you’re doing and look him up. NOW. www.binghammusic.com
SOUND GARDEN - SPOONMAN
No song transports me back to high school like Chris Cornell screaming out “SPOONMAN!” I remember being in art class (stop laughing) and the teacher would put Sound Garden into the CD player (again, stop laughing) and all would be right with the universe. CHEVELLE - ENVY AND CLONES NEEDTOBREATHE – DIFFERENCE MAKER
This band has been doing it the old fashioned way – touring their asses off and putting out solid music. Now, with a substantial fanbase, they are one of the hotter bands you might never have heard of. Difference Maker is a song that you’ll relate to, even if you’re not sure why. Favorite line: If you’re beating death, then raise your hand, but just shut up if you’re not. www.needtobreathe.net
I can’t choose between these two. Chevelle is probably my favorite band and they actually started out as a Christian band. Both songs are classic Chevelle with hard driving guitar and erie vocals. I often play this entire album over and over when I need to get a lot of work done. These two songs in particular are simply toe tapping, head bobbing, cool sounding songs.
30 SECONDS TO MARS - KINGS & QUEENS
It’s difficult to find the words to begin how cool I think this song is. It starts big and strong and stays that way through pretty much the entire song. And it’s long. The radio version you might hear is only a few minutes long. But the full version is a good 5-6 minutes long. Which is awesome because all too often you’ll be rocking out with a song and it’ll end 2 minutes later. Another reason I can listen to this one song all day long is because the music video is a huge mass of people dressed in crazy fun costumes riding their bikes through a city at night. It’s a lot like the Boerne Slow Ride, but with less beer and more rock music.
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THE WAILIN’ JENNYS - LONG TIME TRAVELLER
I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song by these ladies I didn’t like. They’re very low key and acoustic. This song in particular makes me think of my dad. I actually introduced him to this group about a year before he died and he absolutely loved their sound. Long Time Traveller’s sound is very dark (I really don’t know why I like “dark” sounding songs) and the lyrics make me think of my dad towards the twilight of his time with us. It’s hard to listen to for me, but I still love it.
WINGS | BURGERS | SALADS FULL BAR | WINE | CRAFT BEER Sauced Wing Bar is where Boerne finds good wings made fresh. Sauced Wing Bar believes the secret to being the best place to eat in Boerne is to make great food, make it fresh every day, charge very reasonable prices, provide excellent service and a fun sports bar environment.
Sunday-Thursday 11:00 am-11:00 pm | Friday-Saturday 11:00 am-12:00 am 215 W. Bandera Rd, Ste. 101, Boerne, TX | 830.331-4398 | www.saucedwingbar.com
WWW.HILLCOUNTRYEXPLORE.COM | JANUARY 2017
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Coffee I Tea I Smoothies Bubble Tea I Pastries I BAGELS Organic & Gluten Free Snacks Meetings I Parties I Live Music
215 W. Bandera, Suite 115 Boerne, TX 78006
830.331.2272
22 | EXPLORE
107 Greystone Circle: $2,900,000
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27 Sunriver: $2,295,000
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Cordillera Ranch Real Estate EXPERTS 30 Mayacama: $2,295,000
210 Greystone Cr.: $875,000
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33 Augusta • $435,000 • 1.53 acres
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YOUR PASSPORT TO LUXURY Debr a J a n e s L u x u ry. c o m
Debra Janes : 210-573-4040 Maria Freyre : 210-275-7462 Gary Peterson : 210-365-7565
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Casey Bonham : 210-896-6143
T
ART OF ADVENTURE The pictures are shared across social media frequently, and are met with an almost overwhelming negative response. The hunter, beaming with his kill. Sometimes it’s a lion, perhaps a cheetah, and even sometimes it’s an elephant. People become upset at the death of such majestic animals, and cannot understand why someone would hunt and kill such revered animals.
Meet Adam Clements, one of the world’s premier hunting guides that specialize in taking hunters to Africa and hunting these very animals. While you might think that you have your mind made up about these types of hunts, let him tell you his side of the story. As we think you’ll find, his passion for these hunts has very little to do with a desire for bloodshed or for a “trophy”, but rather, the very preservation of the animals that he is hunting. Clements, the owner of Safari Trackers which is headquartered locally, was born and raised in Tanzania, Africa. Growing up with an intense respect and passion for the animals of Africa, Clements always intended to open his guide business, however, his father wanted him to have a degree, so he came to the States in 1988. While working as an undercover narcotics officer, Clements started Safari Trackers part-time in ’94, and by ’96 was working it full time. He begins by explaining that the “kill” is the smallest part of the adventures that he sells. “Hunting is not just shooting and killing animals. That’s the anti-climactic part. The point is to get away from everyone and everything and have an adventure that you otherwise would never have. It’s an attitude – it’s Africa. Things don’t always go the way that they are supposed to go. You simply experience it. This is my art and it’s all that I ever wanted to do.” So how can a man hunt and kill animals that he claims to want to protect? Because quite simply, without people like Clements and his clients, there would be no animals at all. He begins, “The wildlife in Africa is only there when there’s a value attached to them. If nobody bought a Ford 150, nobody would make them, and it’s the same thing with wildlife in Africa. If there’s no value behind a lion, the African government will not invest the money in preserving them. So the money that clients spend on lion hunts and the other hunts that we do makes it possible for the government to preserve the land for these animals. Otherwise it would all just be grazing land for the cattle, because the
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villagers, for the most part, want cattle more than they want lions and cheetahs.” The men and women in this hunting industry are essentially charged with the management of the populations of these animals, and in turn, ensure that the animals are around for future generations. To do this, they must work with the local villages to contain the areas that are designated for the exotic animals, and promote a healthy relationship between man and beast. He continues, “The wildlife will always expand and will break into new areas. That’s where the quotas on their populations come in as we have to keep things in balance. Sometimes the lions will come out and kill a cow. Cows to the villagers are the most important things they have. So when a lion kills a cow, they’ll frequently poison that cow so the entire pride dies. It’s the same things with elephants. We’ll zoom in and give them money to replace their cows, and we’ll buy them a new one and deal with the lion and elephant populations to limit these altercations.” And that population management is something that Clements and his team takes extremely seriously. “When a hunter is with you, you’ll see a lot of lions. What we look for is a lone male, 6 years or more, because at that age, they’ve gone through their main prime mating seasons. After 6, they tend to go out on their own…they’re not breeding, they’re not with the pride, and they’re good ones to harvest. We scout the prides constantly and track them year round. We literally know them all, so we can know which ones are good to take. Those are also the ones that will go in and kill cows because it’s easy for them to take them.” The elephant populations are just as delicate. He continues, “Elephant numbers are just as important. They eat so much all day long. If you have too many, they will literally destroy the entire ecosystem. They’ll knock over 100 year old trees just to nibble a few leaves at the top. Overrunning elephants makes the area look like a bomb went off. Then their damage affects the lions, the tigers, etc…..it’s balancing a very fine ecosystem. There’s only so much room
for these animals, and they’ll overeat themselves if you don’t manage their population and they’ll starve to death. The animals are surrounded by people, and they have nowhere to go. How do you keep that balance? You show the government that there’s a value to these animals otherwise they would just destroy the entire ecosystem. Let’s be honest: the governments over there could care less. If they can make more off of mining, they’ll do mining. So we provide a value to the animals, and this enables their populations to live on.” As this industry is his passion and his “art”, Clements also invests heavily in fighting poaching. He explains, “I spend 30k-50k a year on anti-poaching. Our vehicles, fuel, staff to police the anti-poaching. ..it’s extremely expensive. They want the skin for lions. Lion legs and gallbladders are also very valuable to some of the villages. Some of the animals it is about the meat. With elephants it’s all about the ivory. Zebras and leopard skins are taken frequently. But we work tirelessly to stop these people and it’s a never ending battle that we fight.” As to the intro about the social media backlash that Clements sees and hears frequently, Clements again explains that there is a complete side of the story that most people are missing. “A lot of people judge us based simply on what they see. They see a dead animal. What we see is the poaching and the tears that we shed over the damage that these people can do. But nobody is doing anything about it but us. The work that we do to cull some of these animals is strictly done due to the passion that I have for these animals, and I know that the money we bring in is the only thing that is ever going to preserve these beautiful animals. You have to kill in order to save. It’s a huge battle, and it’s easy to sit behind a desk and say ‘I can’t believe you killed a lion!’ but when you see what we see…it would change your mind. If you want us to stop hunting, then open your checkbook and cut huge checks so that the government can pay to keep them safe and the poachers away. ..you do that, and we stop. Until that happens, I’ll keep saving these animals the only way I know how.”
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TRUE ORIGINS
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By Marjorie Hagy
In 1849, a group of Free Thinker German colonists from Bettina camped on the north side of Cibolo Creek, about a mile west of the site of present Boerne. They named their new community after Cicero’s Tusculum home in ancient Rome. In 1852, John James and Gustav Theissen, who helped settle Sisterdale, platted the townsite, renamed it in honor of German author Karl Ludwig BÜrne, with the Anglicized spelling of Boerne.
WRONG!!! We all love a romantic back story, don’t we? I was myself savvy enough at the tender age of ten to try and up my cache when my family moved to Boerne by remaining mysterious about my own origins, often gazing absently out of windows and sighing softly as if to suggest to my brand-new schoolmates that I had known pain in my time. I might have been an orphan, for all they knew, or an heiress, and I vaguely recall spending a little time practicing a wistful, breathy kind of accent suggesting foreign climes. Unfortunately, by about lunchtime on my first day at Boerne Elementary, word had somehow gotten around that I was merely a transfer student from San Antonio, and my mysterious aura evaporated almost instantly. As a consolation I toyed around a bit with my family, briefly considering killing off my dad as an ace pilot shot down in The War, but the only war I knew about was the one in which Snoopy fought the Red Baron, and I had a vague idea that the dates didn’t fit my purpose, not to mention the awkwardness that would inevitably ensue whenever he showed himself alive and well at my school, so I contented myself with inventing an older sister instead. I invested this paragon with all of the best things a grown woman could want, according to my way of thinking, making her a Sears catalogue model and a movie star and a secretary and Lord knows what all, and saddling her with a pair of twins and a husband who looked like Gregg Allman (hirsute hippie men being in vogue in those days). It’s tough for a ten year old kid to keep all the details in the air though, and I had some trouble with the numbers, so after a little fancy arithmetic I finally got it to where my poor mother would’ve been about thirteen years old when this sister was born. My mother, inveterate member of the Ladies Circle and maker of casseroles for sick people, who wore gloves and her best brooch to church, the thirteen year-old mother of a love child. I was shameless. Believe it or not- and this may be the weirdest segue I’ve ever attempted in the annals of this column- Boerne has an origin story almost as clunky and suspicious as the one I invented to make my own self a little more interesting back in the fifth grade. The numbers are off a little, and some of the details have been swapped around, so that the real story is a lot different from what we tend to think these days- different even than what a lot of historians have told us it is. Fortunately for you guys, I’ve gotten a lot more honest over the last forty-two years, and I happen to know the REAL story... So, some towns are born in picturesque ways- around a Spanish mission,for instance, or where a man built his livelihood running a ferry, a store or a grist mill at a river crossing. Some places grow up around a trading post or a frontier fort, and others when a new state was added to the Union and the people rush in to claim their stake in the future. Comfort, Texas, was built by German immigrants, Freethinkers and abolitionists yearning to breathe free from the forced religion of their homeland, while Sisterdale was born in Germany, the brainstorm of a crew of wild-eyed liberals looking to plant a colony of learned gentlemen farmers in the wilds of the New World. But our Boerne lays claim to none of these romantic nativities, not at all. Our own hometown came into being as a real estate development, planted in the middle of the wilderness along a frontier road where it crossed a creek in the heart of the Cibolo valley, by a pair of savvy land speculators hoping to make their fortune in selling town lots. Back in Germany in the 1840s, the whiff of revolution was in the air like the odor of ozone before the storm. The Napoleonic Wars, which had finally ended in 1815, had put the final nail in the coffin of the old Holy Roman Empire and rearranged much of Europe, and especially the Germanic states which wouldn’t be united as a single Germany until many years later. Instead of a unified Germany, then, that part of the world was made up of a mixed bag of principalities- dukedoms, city-states, kingdoms, that sort of thing- each of them ruled with an iron fist by its own lord of rank and having each their own
laws and armies, currency and taxes. Every facet of life for the citizens of these principalities was strictly controlled by their ruler; what profession any individual citizen might be allowed to follow, whether or not he would be conscripted into the standing army, where one could live, what faith he might practice, if and to whom one might marry- all were matters for the throne to dictate. And taxes were a crippling burden for the people, who in addition to bankrolling the lavish lifestyles of their dukes and counts were also expected to pay off the debts those fancy lads had run up fighting the aforementioned wars. So a whole lotta people were seriously unhappy with this state of things, and not only the peasants and the common people, whose backs were breaking under those loads, but a slew of more noble names were chafing at the bit as well. It was from this latter group, made up of sons of the nobility and the movers and shakers, wild-eyed radicals whose imaginations had been inflamed by the examples of the American and French revolutions, whence hailed forty young men who met one fine day in 1847 to thrash out the future. They were students of Darmstadt University in the Hessian city of the same name, they were intellectuals and fraternity brothers, liberals and freethinkers and radicals who stood against political and religious tyranny and believed they might create a more perfect world across the seas in an experiment in utopianism. They called themselves the Darmstadt Society of Forty, or simply Darmstadters or the Fortiers, and their goal was to create a classless society without rulers and without personal property, in which the people governed themselves by common consent, and this they planned to do in Texas. In spite of their plan of perfect equality, five natural leaders soon emerged from the ranks, by name Gustav Schleicher, Hermann Spiess, Friedrich Schenk, Julius Wegner, and Ferdinand von Herff. Some of those names, maybe all of them, you may never have heard, but that last one, von Herff, that oughta ring a bell for you faithful readers. Ok, so meanwhile this whole other society had already been up to it’s own business for several years before the frat boys over at Darmstadt got their ducks in a row. This other outfit had come together back in 1842, and consisted of twenty-one noblemen whose own vision was of nothing less than planting a German colony in Texas. See, there were all these people in those days in Germany talking and writing books about all that wide-open land over the ocean in Texas that they were practically giving away, and all the opportunities and freedoms to be had there, and these twenty-one lords and counts and dukes and stuff, they decided to organize into a group with the purpose of relocating as many as ten thousand people to Texas in order to establish a new Germany on foreign soil. They called themselves- get this- the Verein zum Schultze deutscher Einwanderer in Texas, or the Society for the protection of German Immigrants in Texas, with goals both philanthropic and profit-based. Anyway, out of a grab bag of names that also included Mainzer Verein, the Texas-Verein, and the German Emigration Company, they eventually came to be called simply the Adelsverein, and they eventually succeeded in establishing two settlements in Texas- and only two- those of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg. WHAT- you might be asking yourself right about nowdoes ANY of this hafta do with Boerne, Texas, which you said started out as a kind of mixed-use development before mixed-use developments were even a thing?? Ok, calm down, I’m getting there. The quick answer to that question right now is, that it has both everything to do with Boerne as well as nothing whatsoever. Meanwhile, keep your shirt on. As it happens, there was a little overlap in the two groups, the Darmstadt Forty and the Adelsverein, and the Darmstadt group was encouraged by three guys, Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels, John O. Meusebach, and
Hermann Spiess, who also happened to be the first three commissioner-generals of the Adelsverein. There’s a whole lot more to tell about the Adelsverein and the whole thing, and fascinating stuff too, all about the horrific trips over here from Germany in these miserable, stinking cargo ships and the further misery of the poor emigres when they offloaded in the port city of Indianola only to find that no arrangements had been made to get them from the coast to the settlements in the Hill Country and they had to stay on the disease-riddled coast in tents and sod huts and hovels made of driftwood before they finally undertook to walk from the port into the interior- oh, it’s quite a read. And I’ll tell you all about it someday. But for our present purposes suffice it to say that, back in Germany, the dudes from the Adelsverein said to the fellas from the Darmstadt Forty, something along the lines of Psst, since you’re wanting to go to Texas anyway we’ve got all this land on our hands that y’all might be interested in, and the Fortiers were interested in it, and all forty of them set out to plant their very first commune in Texas. This was in 1847, and they took with them a full complement of stuff they thought would come in handy, including dogs and trunkloads of books and their musical instruments and all kinds of things, including ten grand in gold money to keep the commune afloat for a year until they could get the thing up and running. They picked out a location on the banks of the Llano River, so beautifully crystal clear that they dubbed it the Silvery Llano. Amidst much merrymaking and music- the whole enterprise “took on the ambiance of a collegiate party, with beer and singing and youthful high spiritedness”- the men (and one female cook) set about constructing the few adobe buildings that would ever exist there, including the main house “constructed with an outer siding of 10,000 shingles carved from a single pecan tree,” and topped with a weather vane fashioned by one of their own. The group enjoyed great success in their relations with the surrounding native tribes, who especially esteemed Dr von Herff who performed a successful cataract surgery on one of their chiefs out under the oak trees of that wild place. They named their commune Bettina, after the German artist and social activist Bettina von Arnim, whom they admired, and kept after it for about a year, until bickering broke out over who was doing their fair share of work and who was lollygagging around. They only ever produced one crop of corn, and when the 10k in gold ran out, they all split up and went their separate ways. Nowadays Bettina is called a ghost town, though not even the ghost of a foundation or chimneypiece is to be found there to point us to exactly where the commune was. So we’re told that after the failure of the Bettina experiment, the Fortiers just kind of drifted away, presumably to go their own separate ways and to try their best to put their youthful communist ideas behind them and become good German citizens. Not so! A year later, some of those intrepid young men, not to be defeated so easily, dusted themselves off and pitched right back into the thing with a will. Sisterdale, Texas, had begun life as a communal experiment, one of those ideal societies they’d envisioned where gentlemen farmers sat around in log-hewn cabins drinking wine of their own vintage and speaking in Latin of learned topics over the handmade tables, and it, by God, was still going strong, so why shouldn’t they succeed? So these fellas decided to give it another go. Eight of those young Darmstadters and veterans of the Bettina commune came back to Texas the next year, in 1849, to a site on the crystal clear waters of the Cibolo Creek in what would become Kendall County. They were Adam Vogt, Rudolph Carstanjen, Fritz Kramer, Phillip Zoeller, Christian Flach, J Kuchler, Leopold Schultz and Wilhelm Friedrich, and they established their new ideal society, which they called Tusculum, after the summer home of Roman statesman, orator, and writer Cisero, in ancient Rome. This was to be one of the Latin Colonies, like Sisterdale, where learned men would share equally in the work and the fruits of their labor, would discuss ideas and art and poetry in Cicero’s Latin at the end of long, golden days in the field. They would teach the world how to live. So there they all are, the high-spirited and hopeful young fraternity of the remnant of the Forty, laying the stone foundations of their village and getting their first crops into the ground, and there we will leave them for a bit. For now let’s meet a couple of new guys we’ve never seen before, shall we?
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John James wasn’t a German at all- he was from Nova Scotia, born in England while his folks were visiting there. Up in Nova Scotia, John’s young imagination was fired with tales of Texas’ struggle for independence from Mexico, so much so that at the tender age of seventeen he hit the road, determined to get down to Texas and help in the good cause. He got sick along the way and never made it to the war, but arrived in San Antonio a year after Texas had become an independent republic. Putting his visions of gallant soldiery aside with who knows what reluctance or regret, James’ next move was to hire himself out to one Ludovic Colquhoun in looking after that gentleman’s land business, and soon enough finding himself appointed assistant surveyor and then chief surveyor of Bexar County. James kept plenty busy, in addition to the demands of his job, with locating, surveying, and perfecting titles to huge stretches of land in the unsettled wilderness around San Antonio and the Hill Country, and eventually he would survey and lay out the town sites of Castroville, D’Hanis, Quihi and Bandera, Texas, as well as surveying and establishing San Antonio’s city boundaries in 1846. In fact, it was said that John James platted and recorded more land than any other single surveyor in Texas, and along the way he was frequently paid for his hard work in land certificates. Land was cheap and plentiful in Texas in those days, and the new Republic wanted to see people and towns established on all of those acres, as a safeguard against Mexico moving in to take the land back. Before long, young Mr James found
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himself in possession of miles and miles of land in the great Republic of Texas. And here’s another guy, this fella’s name is Gustav Theissen and we know just a little bit less about him than we do about Mr John James. Gus Theissen was apparently a member at one time of the Frankfort, Germany, parliament, which means he certainly would’ve been familiar with the subversive and radical work of one Ludwig von Börne, late from Frankfort himself. At some point in there, Theissen had been a wagon freight hauler, owned a hardware on Main Plaza in San Antonio, and had been among the organizers of San Antonio’s German Society, but in 1852 he found himself partnered up with the young speculator John James in a parcel of land stretching across the Cibolo valley northwest of San Antonio. This land that they’d gotten ahold of had one very distinct advantage, as far as James and Theissen were concerned: crossing through this tract of country was an old military road called the Camino Viejo. This trail was a spur of a much older route, the Pinta Trail, that had long been used by natives and by Spanish explorers setting out to the north from the San Antonio de Bexár Presidio in 1718. By the time James and Theissen found themselves joint owners of this piece of the hill country, the Camino Viejo had become the easier, preferred route used by settlers, soldiers and travellers from San Antonio to
Fredericksburg and points further north and west. It was alternately called the Fredericksburg Road, and over the years would go on to become State Highway 9, one of the original twenty-six Texas highways, then Highway 87 and finally Interstate 10. There was a little stage stop out northwest of San Antonio at Leon Springs, once called Aue, Texas, but other than that, the next stop was Fredericksburg, some sixty or more miles down the road. Think of the advantage of a town laid out along that military road, between the two points! Think of the possibilities in such a town, as a stagecoach stop, a hub for farmers who would come to settle in the rich Cibolo Valley, as a way and supply station for travellers to points beyond! Well, I’ll tell you what, James and Theissen did think about it, and the more they got to thinking, the more sense it made to lay out a little town right along the Camino Viejo where it crosses the Cibolo Creek- and then put the lots they surveyed in that little town up for sale. This was a commercial ventureJohn James and Gustav Theissen were in this thing to make a little dough, so they located their new town along the (relatively) busy military road where potential buyers would find opportunities to make their livelihood, and right next to the life-giving Cibolo. James, with his experience in San Antonio, emulated that city’s design in his layout of the little village, with it’s Main and Military Plazas, and he even threw down the promise of a donation of land in case the place should ever be named a county
seat- in which case, of course, his lots there would become more valuable and he could charge more for them.
of one of the prophets of the New Germany and a fellow townsman of Theissen’s: they would call the place Boerne.
And of course the place needed a name. The fact that the Fortier’s little Tusculum colony lay right down the creek from James and Theissen’s town was mere coincidence, but there was surely some communication between the Freethinkers in Tusculum and the two founders. All over Texas, from the Hill Country to San Antonio, were scattered German settlements, some the results of the Adelsverein’s planning, some that had cropped up where they were to meet the needs of the surrounding farms which required a gathering place where they could trade their goods, and some, like Sisterdale and Tusculum and the failed dream of Bettina, planned communities and societal experiments. There were Protestant, Catholic, Jewish and atheist German transplants, peasant farmers and gentleman farmers, staunch abolitionists and stauncher teetotalers, slave-owning Germans and Germans who worked hard and drank harder, and all of these people and their various small towns made up Texas’ German Belt, of which James and Theissen’s new venture was at the very heart. So it just made sense to name the place something that would appeal to all of these German-Americans everywhere, and let potential buyers know its founders were in political sympathy with them. Gustav Theissen was the guy who came up with the perfect name, after some discussion with the folks out at Tusculum- he suggested an anglicization of the name
Now, Boerne never replaced the little commune of Tusculum, nor did the Tusculum people relocate to Boerne: Tusculum and Boerne remained two very different places. The land where Boerne was laid out had been in the hands of its founders long before those dreamers ever got to Tusculum, maybe even before they ever reached Texas and Bettina that first time around. What happened to Tusculum was the sad and probably inevitable fate of most dreams in which earnest and idealistic people undertake to build the perfect society: it struggled along for a year or so, and then the believers began to wander off to embark on their real lives. Pioneer Adam Vogt acquired the land on which Tusculum stood, farmed it, and left that one little corner of it to the few men who stuck by their dream, but by the turn of the twentieth century all that was left was a handful of crumbled buildings to attest to the hope of that handful of men. And Boerne- well, James built it, and the people came. Rather, that savvy young land speculator platted out the town, and more dreamers came along and bought the lots, and began to raise their own crop of hopes. They weren’t hardline Freethinkers and atheists as they’re now rumored to have been, a hundred and sixty-four years later, and they didn’t have murderous intentions as to preachers
in their midst. That old wives tale is a sort of suburban myth- nobody objected to the building of St Peter’s Church, the first church in town, because Boerne was peopled by folks of all faiths and beliefs, and most of them helped to build the new church. Those who bought lots in James’ and Theissen’s new village came from San Antonio, from Fredericksburg and New Braunfels, and some even came direct from Germany once word got around that other countrymen were living there and liked it. Others came from Missouri and Arkansas and Kentucky, some from New York; George Kendall brought his new bride from France, and John O’Grady came from Ireland by way of Fort McCavett, Texas, and they all brought with them their various traditions and hopes and beliefs and languages and customs, and they built this town from the bottom on up, and you can still see the traces of their handiwork all around you any old day on Main Street. Somewhere along the way, in the mist of the intervening years, the two separate histories of Boerne and Tusculum got mixed up one with the other, stirred around and confused, and Boerne even co-opted Tusculum’s founding date of 1849: Boerne wasn’t established until 1852, in fact. But here we are still, for better or worse, and that’s the TRUE story of this little town in the Hill Country.
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FINDING GOD By Kendall D. Aaron
O
One of the most universal struggles for Christ followers throughout time has been that of feeling distant from God. We go to church and clap our hands while thinking about mowing the lawn later. We pray with our kids while thinking about the dishes. We wake up, work, and then go to sleep and realize that we did not seek God in any way throughout the day. Day in and day out we realize that we’re just going through the motions and we’re making no headway with “finding” God again. It’s one of the most soul-crushing episodes to experience. I think that it’s such a difficult exercise (getting close to God) because since we were in Sunday school we’ve been taught that God is ALWAYS with us. No matter what we do, or where we go, God is already there. We take great solace in this as our brain twists it (I believe) to mean that God is seeking US. You see, I can run over there and live my life the way that I want and when I need Him, I’ll just turn around and He’ll be right there to catch me if I fall. Right? Cause God is always with me, so as soon as I need Him, he’s within arm’s reach! All I have to do is say a quick prayer, and BOOM – I’m right back to some deep, intimate relationship with the Creator of the universe!
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Well, yes and no. The pursuit of Christ is one heck of an exercise in humility, passion, and patience. First the humility. Where are you at with your life? How are things going? When left to your own selfish, destructive behaviors….well…how is that working out for you? You’re probably tired, frustrated, stressed, and angry. Basically, you’re a mess. And you must realize that you can’t lead your own life. Yes, that’s a bitter pill to swallow, but welcome to humility. If you understand that without God your life is a trainwreck, you’re in a pretty good spot. Next up is passion. I am no spiritual guru (despite penning a Spiritual column), but I would have to say that this is the hardest part, as your passion is only defined between you and Christ. So you are praying, but are you REALLY praying? Are you truly, earnestly seeking God? Or are you just going through the motions? Nobody knows except for you and God. Are you honestly at a point where you are giving all that you have to God and digging into a closer relationship with Him? Again, this is between you and God. No matter what exercise that you might put yourself through in order to show a passion for finding God, without true PASSION, it’s little more than a to-do item on your checklist. Just like you, I pray. And sometimes during the middle of that prayer, I’ve drafted an email in my head. Yup – guilty as charged. I’ve sang with the music at church and closed my eyes….and thought about my tax returns. I’m not seeking God – I’m
going through the motions. A fervent, fire-driven passion for God Himself is what is necessary to move you out of your funk. And let me tell ya, it ain’t easy. Lastly, patience. Isaiah 40:31 tells us that those “who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” The act of patience in the Bible is of a particular curiosity to me, as God’s timetable for patience can be seriously cumbersome. Moses’ people toiled for CENTURIES while waiting on the Lord. As in, 400 years. While I trust that He won’t expect us to toil in the deserts as slaves for centuries, I have no doubt that He is perfectly fine with forcing us to WAIT. So will he make us wait 400 years before He shows His presence? Nah. But you are also expected to find that humility, the passion, and the patience in order to give God the space to move in your life. We all experience the absence of God in our lives. That sentence is a bit of an oxymoron, as God has never left us, but at the same time, it’s universal to drift in and out of God’s presence. We’re entering a new year, and I hope a new beginning for you. Evaluate your life. Where are you with your spiritual walk? Where is God in your life? If you’re missing out on Him, the issue isn’t that He has moved away from you, but rather, you have yet to choose a path to find Him again. Good luck. I’m on the same journey.
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T
VOCALOSITY
The Heart of Vocal Harmony will happen, appropriately, on Valentines Day! VOCALOSITY, the all-new live concert event from the creative mind of artistic producer Deke Sharon, will take the stage at Champion Auditorium as the sweet start of the 2017 Boerne Performing Arts season. An endless evening of ten talented vocalists pumping out today’s chart-topping hits offers a heartwarming Valentines event for you and your loved ones.
Let’s get vocal about A Cappella! The latest harmonizing craze that is sweeping the nation includes ensembles that are purely voice. Arrangements with multiple-part harmonies accompanied by beatbox (a form of vocal percussion primarily involving the art of mimicking drum machines using one’s mouth, lips, tongue and voice) are topping the charts and motivating the next generation of singers. Pitch Perfect…on the big screen, and The Sing-Off… on the small screen…are reflective of this new wave of A Cappella music. From the tenth century Gregorian Chant (A Cappella is actually Italian for “in the manner of the chapel”), this music form has transitioned through the centuries to include classical choral to barber shop (remember “Lida Rose” from The Music Man?) to bouncing doo-wop, all the way to its present day popularity. The present-day so-called “guru of A Cappella” is Deke Sharon, whose lifelong mission is creating harmony through harmony. His high profile jobs have included serving as executive producer, coach and arranger of the NBC reality show “The Sing-Off ” (which spawned the hugely successful vocal group Pentatonix) and writing the arrangements for both “Pitch Perfect” movies. Deke’s two latest projects include the first A Cappella musical on Broadway, IN TRANSIT, and his megahit touring ensemble, VOCALOSITY. Deke refers to VOCALOSITY as his dream team. Featuring an all-star ensemble of diverse young vocalists singing some of today’s chart-topping hits in brand-new arrangements setting a new standard for 10-part harmony, it has been reviewed as the “aca-perfect” concert experience! VOCALOSITY’s self-titled debut album from Universal Music Classis is available nationwide. Deke enthusiastically describes VOCALOSITY as “a phenomenal ensemble of diverse young singers, each with a unique style and personality. While most vocal groups aspire to create one sound and style, homogenizing the character of their singers, this group does the exact opposite! VOCALOSITY weaves a variety of tapestries from different combinations of voices and characters for an eclectic dynamic show.” Deke Sharon recently commented to the New York Times, “I truly believe that groups of people singing together creates goodness and harmony in the world!”
Tickets are available for this Valentines event on the evening of February 14th. Tickets ($20-$60) for the 7:30pm show are available online at www.BoernePerformingArts.com, or by phone at 830.331.9079.
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Boerne Performing Arts’ presentation of VOCALOSITY is the perfect opportunity for a very special Valentines Day celebration. Hey dads…thinking about a nice way to take your daughter out on a father-daughter date? How about mom having a special evening with their son? Or, just take the whole family! Any combination will be a sweet treat for everyone!
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BOERNE
THEN
NOW
1954. It was owned s a fixture in Boerne in Bigs General Store wa to Johnny's Feed me ho Gerfers. Today it is ce Ali by ted era op d an e Pet Grooming. st Pet Shop and Boern and Supply, the Red Cre
Boerne Camper’s Association event at the Cibolo Creek dam in 1890.
today. The , pictured in 1918 and The Robert E. Lee house n Antonio and Sa he traveled between house hosted Lee when Fort Mason.
St. Peter's Church was built in 1923. It was org inally built to house 200. By 1980 the congregation had gro wn to over 700 and plans for expansio n began. Discussions ensued over whether to raze the str ucture or save a portio n of it.
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F A M I LY
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BUSINESS
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OLD TIMER
I’m back to predict a few things that are set to happen around here in the coming year. And since I am the one predicting these things, I’ll just say that with 105% certainty that they will occur. Or not. Maybe you’ll just laugh. Whatever. It’s a win/win. Here goes.
JANUARY
FEBRUARY
MARCH
Proposed City Hall plans grow by 5000 square feet.
60 lb. catfish pulled out of the river dam.
Mary’s Taco’s goes up in a fire. Too many people in the kitchen simultaneously.
Dallas Cowboys win Super Bowl.
Stabbing at Boerne Lake. No suspects since not one person at the Lake on a Saturday is actually from here.
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
Due to crime, citizens request that DNA samples be on file with the City in order to gain access to the Lake. $chultz responds that the Security Hut is doing a damned fine job.
Fossils found at SoBo. All construction forced to stop. Hooter feels deflated.
Six Flags Boerne breaks ground. Will feature the world’s tallest bungee jump.
Due to the spike in micro-breweries in the area, the Dodging Duck begins craft-whiskey offerings.
Random hosts “Boerne-palooza”. Headliner? Guns ‘n Roses. 7 tons of trash pulled from Boerne Lake following event.
JULY
AUGUST
SEPTEMBER
Oil found in Welfare. Owner of Welfare Café becomes billionaire. Immediately inks new deal to be first tenant in City Hall Food Court.
Construction near Esperanza ramps up. New HEB planned at the entrance.
Record snowfall. City Lake freezes over. Frozen crocodile found the next day when temps reach 83.
Amendment added to provide 100% tax cut to Buc-ees and 30% property tax increase to pay their electric bill.
Jay Harpole sells all of his real estate surrounding Tapatio. Six Flags is the buyer.
5000 square feet added to proposed City Hall project. We’re gonna have a food court now.
I-10 corridor completed 2 years ahead of schedule.
St. Valentine’s Massacre brings ice storm. Naked motorcyclists freeze appendages and end up in ER.
Proposed City Hall plans grow another 5000 square feet. Helipad also added above $chultz’s corner office.
Businesses begin breaking ground at SoBo. 1st tenant? Hooters.
5000 more square feet added to proposed City Hall. Mayor needs personal barber space for beard trims. Employees also get taxpayer provided valet parking.
EPA shuts down Boerne Lake due to unsafe waters. Too many dead bodies. Security Hut employee stays valiantly at his post.
Temps soar over 100. With nowhere to swim, tourists invade Cibolo River. Ducks are inconsolable.
Boerne Lake overwhelmed with San Antonio tourists. 4 killed in the first month of summer. $chultz gives security hut employee 9mm and a raise.
5000 square feet added to City Hall proposed project. Nobody is sure why, but it just happened. $chultz explains that future expansions will be discussed in executive session. President Trump visits Boerne. Congratulates Mayor $chultz on the proposed City Hall project, which now has gold lettering that says “Schultz Hall”. Crazed Comfort resident arrested for assassination attempt during the visit. Tax revenues through the roof for the City. EDC instantly begins courting for a Sam’s Club to be put beside Buc-ee’s.
OCTOBER
With Mary’s Tacos out of business, customers flock to Yoli’s. 3 hour wait in drive-thru. Boerne resident hits Powerball. $chultz visits him and we now have a new employee-only gym at proposed City Hall named after resident. Vicious fight over zoning on north end of Main Street. Chick-Fil-A wants a location up there.
NOVEMBER
Cheating scandal at UT. Football program disbanded. Earliest freeze in 35 years hits Boerne. $chultz demands heated parking garage at proposed City Hall. Spurs start the season 0-13. Duncan says he’ll return but only if David Robinson will play, too. Reunion season begins. Six Flags Boerne opens. Record crowds. 46 overwhelmed. Construction begins to turn 46 into 8 lane freeway.
DECEMBER
SoBo construction restarts. Hooters excited again. Next tenant? Target. And 3 Starbucks. Main Street retailers have a banner shopping season. Future Dickens on Main events turned into 2-month long extravaganza. Oak Hills Church announces new mega-church campus in Bergheim. Proposed City Hall is no longer proposed; construction begins. It now connects to the Library, is twice the original cost, and features an all new employee-only bowling alley. Duck pond located adjacent.
There ya have it. Agree with my predictions? Great. Disagree? Don’t care. Hopefully you can simply laugh at the zaniness that 2017 will bring us, and may you have the best year since 2016.
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