WHILE THE LOVELY WHITE SNOW FALL: PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
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While the lovely white snow ( six inches) came down over Porstmouth, we missed the heavy snow (nineteen inches) that Columbus received, Charity and I were enjoying our day off from our jobs.

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So after my regular visit to PYROMANIACS AND PULPIT MAGAZINE, reading the articles from the Shepherd's Conference 2008, I cut off the Gateway. For the next few hours I worked with my HOT WHEELS DIE CAST COLLECTION.

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HOT WHEELS DIECAST COLLECTION

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I believe I started a collection of Hot Wheels in 1996. Before 1996 I had never bought a Hot Wheel Diecast in my life, nor did I have any. My collection was sports cards. (You can check my blog on that story.) Then NASCAR die cast 1/24 and 1/64 cars became an interest in 1996. Following Dale Earnhardt, Sr.'s death in 2001, I lost interest in the collection. Then for some reason I began a collection of the first edition of the 1998 Hot Wheels Collection.

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Followed by the 1999 and 2000 first editions. What really became of interest was the variations of the cars. I was able to pick up a few variations in flea markets. Then in 2006 after a visit with my nephew Stephen Sigmon, my sister Ellen's son, I really became interested in going to Wal Mart, K Mart, and Target to search for variations. "The Hunt" is really what is fun. Stephen was gracious enough to find me several nice variations. That really started this search.

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Then of late, over the last year, I have really found a lot of variations of Hot Wheels. So I began to display these variations. I had about twenty cars with variations. Then all of a sudden I found myself with over fifty cars with two variations. Then there were the three car variations, then four, and now several cars with five variations first in 2007. Now I have over sixty cars with variations.

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I have never really liked real cars and don't know a Dodge from a Ford. I can pump gas, but never have changed the oil in a car. So why do I like collecting cars? Go figure!

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I thought, " I will collect all 1/64 cars." So I started looking for the 1931 Doozie, '32 Ford Coupe '32 Ford '32 Bugatti Type 50, '33 Ford Road, '35 Cadillac, '36 Cord, '40 Ford Coupe'41 Willie, and '47 Chevy. This gets worse. '50 Chevy, Plymouth, '60 Lincoln, T-Bird '70's Dodge Charger, Plymouth Barracuda, Pontiac Firebird.

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Oh, then the Jaguar, Corvette, Porsche, Mustang, Lamborghini, Ferrari, Mercedes and my favorite -- the Mercucy Cougar. (The best real car we have owned.)

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• My son Eric really likes riding his "bike". So guess what, I look for motorcycles. I have a very nice collection of bikes (about 40 different ones). And a very nice display of them in my room. And since he is a Lexington Firefigher, guess what -- I look for fire engines

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Then I like, for some odd reason, to display out of the box, the yellow cars. I have a very nice display of these cars (over fifty). Then there are the buses, goodness, sad isn't it?

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Earlier last month, I made a very nice display of over sixty cars with two variations.
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So yesterday during the blizzard, I spent several pleasant hours checking out all my Hot Wheels. I discovered there are a number of cars that I could fit into one of the catagorgies I have listed. I noticed that Hot Wheels makes the same cars over and over. For example they make the Phaeton Car over and over.

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This could go on and on, but really it's not a big time killer for me. Though, it's fun for sure. Who said you couldn't still have fun at sixty.

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NASCAR, WHEETIES, POSTERS, SPORTS CARDS, MAGAZINES, USA SPORTS SECTIONS

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I enjoy displaying my collection of NASCAR, the Dale Earnhardt Sr. collection, and the Jeff Gordon collection. Today my collection is in our upstairs room. You can find a nice display of Wheatie boxes, a Tiger Woods collection, A Lexmark 1/64 diecast cars (provided by nephew Brian Williams), and collection of Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordon, and a display of old baseball cards. And there is a nice display of sports binders of cards collected over the last few years.

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Also, I have a nice display of Starting Lineup Players. Then there are the posters of Earnhart, Griffey, Pippen, Jordon and the Chicago Bulls. Today I collect very little of these I have mentioned.
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I started collecting baseball, basketball, football, hockey, NASCAR cards again in 1993 until 2001 with regularity. Couldn't go into a store or flee market without buying cards. Today I have some 150,000 cards. Isn't that really great! Buying cards was rather cheap. Today I only pick up a pack and look that them.

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What was really fun was going on trips. We would go to Sam's, and as Eric got older, he would buy a box of baseball cards, and we would split them half and half. When we would leave Kansas to come to Porstmouth, Ohio, to visit family, we would stop in Pittsburg, Kan at a Flea Market and get a box of 500 old cards for $5, and that entertained us for the whole trip. In Altoona, I would go with Eric and Chad to card shops, and get cards. That was always great to do, and they would know what to get me for my birthday and Christmas. As a matter of fact, Chad picked up six or seven packs of cards over Christmas and gave them to me. That was really neat! Chad has a good collection of cards, and so does Eric.

In the first years of our marriage, while Charity shopped I would sit out in the car reading my Bible. When I became interested in sports cards around 1993, I would go in with Charity and shop for bargains, too. My spirituality slipped!

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HERE IS THE ADDIDICTION

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From 1996-2003 I was not pastoring a church, and my interest changed. From 2002-03 I was studying church ministry, and then I lost my job at the church. From 2003 to 2007 I didn't have employment at a church or secular place. My interest changed to studying over the Internet. For the next years I spend as much as eight hours a day studying the Doctrines of the Bible. There were a few attempts of seeking a place to serve in a church, but there was little interest from those churches. In 2007 I spent the whole year in research and study for a ministry that I believed I was going to have in a church. This was a wonderful time to get back into ministry, but at the end of 2007 I no longer had the positon.

In August 2006 I discovered Bloggers. They have a free website that you can have your own blog. That is, you can write your thoughts on a daily basis or how many times you want to. This was a really wonderful thing for me. I have spent many hours studying and writing "posts" for my "Grow By Learning" site. Today there are over 400 posts.

Then in Febuary 2008 my sister Ellen, was gracious enough to get me a web site. GROWBYLEARNING.COM. She is my websister. Now this is another avenue in which I have to express myself in ministry.

Finally, I went back to work at a secular job, Mex-Itali (the business Charity's mom and dad owned and operated for thirty-four years.) My good friends Tim and Sherri Wheeler were nice enough to give me a job for four hours a day in October 2007.

THE PURPOSE OF LIVING

My family, Eric, Becky, Chad and Kyle are living their own lives, and doing rather well, I might say. So that part of my life is not as involved as it was. Ministry in a church at the moment has not materialized. There seems to be this idea that my service is not needed at the moment in a local church.

I have to express in some way the ministry that the Lord has called me to do. While I would love to express my love for teaching in a local church, the opportunity has not occured. I still have this spiritual need to express my love for the Lord and love for people.

So there is now a mix of ministry, one 'GROW BY LEARNING' Two, at Mex-Itali, Tim introduces me as the resident chaplain. Three, my e-mail ministry as well, and my study over the Internet.

Then in those moments to relax, I love to get into my collections.

Spring is coming and I love the outdoors. Lawn mowing is what I really enjoy doing. Soon Union Mills, Mex-Itali and our place will be ready for me to get out the old lawn mower. I also love walking about three to four miles a day (at least 30 minutes of that time is with Charity.) Then there is hitting the old golf balls! I gathered over 300 golf balls from the wooded trails surrounding the resort at Lake Cumberland last August!

Proofread by Charity, and some added remarks.