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Texanic…

By October 9, 2012August 30th, 2022Devotional

Is that even a word? Well, I think it is. I saw it on the side of a building last evening. The building had been constructed in 1936 and a plaque on the side of it said that it was built to be “texanic in proportion and centennial in design.” Now I don’t think I just fell off the turnip truck, but I have never heard the word “texanic.” However, I can guess what it means – and I’m sure that you can, too. It means large – bigger than anything else – kind of like everything in Texas – after all, I’m still in Dallas and people here aren’t afraid to think big – in fact, they are proud of doing everything oversized.

Although, I have been coming here for years, last evening I did something that I have never done before. You see, the Texas State Fair is going on and I had a chance to see it up close and personal. After my work was done for the day, we headed to the fairgrounds. And I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The fair is, in fact, HUGE. We walked around for almost 2 hours and didn’t even scratch the surface of what was there. The crowds were so large that I couldn’t even get close to the main Midway and the giant ferris wheel. By the way, that’s at $16 per person, per visit to just get in the place – unless you get the season pass for $35.

The first stop was Fletcher’s Corny Dogs. Apparently, Fletcher’s is celebrating their 70th anniversary and no self respecting fair-goer would consider any other corn(y) dog at the fair. And if you have heard anything on the news at all about the Texas State Fair, you know that it is the grand-daddy of them all – and each year new fried items make their way into other state fairs as a result of having been tried in Dallas. From what I could tell, the new items this year included deep fried jambalaya and deep fried peanut butter and jelly. Last year’s special treat was deep fried butter…

So after my initiation into the ranks of those who have tried Fletcher’s, we headed to the small Midway and saw building after building of cars – that’s right – like a full blown auto show that you would see at a convention center – and that was just the first small piece of the fair. From there, we saw the animal barns and spent a little time in front of Big Tex – a statue of a Texan that had to be 40′ high. Kids and families were gathered around while “he” told them about the different events being held on the grounds last evening.

Of course, there were all the food booths and you could buy just about any sort of trinket that you can think of. I’m not kidding – the place went on and on. That’s in addition to the quilts, food judging and the celebration honoring the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts which just happened to be a major theme of this year’s fair. Although I know that Texas has the largest state fair, I have now been there; done that and I have never seen anything like it.

One of the greatest things about the fair was the fact that at about 7:30, a parade wound its way through the grounds. Not just a juggler or two – I mean a whole parade – with floats, stilt walkers, clowns, horses and motorcycles. There was even a group of Shriners waving to the kids and playing a concert on their float. Needless to say, it was all pretty impressive.

While I was walking through the grounds, I couldn’t help but think that almost everything comes in different sizes. I started thinking about the ancient Egyptians and how they worshipped more than 3000 gods (notice the small “g”). But the God we worship, Jehovah, is grander and larger than any other “gods” that have ever existed in the minds of the Egyptians or any other people. And while I am sure that there are still places in the world that think their god is greater or stronger, I have no doubt that the triune God is larger and grander than anything ever…

Solomon, the son of King David, also knew that God was great. He tells us in 2Chronicles 2:5-6, “The temple I am going to build will be great, because our God is greater than all other gods. But who is able to build a temple for him, since the heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain him?” My encouragement this evening is to let you know that we worship the one true God. My prayer is that you realize that even though He is greater and larger than any other god, He also desires a personal relationship with you – on an intimate level. So I hope that you will continue to invest in your relationship with the Father and realize that He is more than “texanic” in size – in fact, He can’t even be measured. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…

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