![\"\"](\"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Tiger-new-270x168.jpg\" "\\"Tiger")
<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
And now two little stories for your Christmas pleasure!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Swiss Army knife above was a Christmas gift from my wife in a year that even a $49. pocket knife was a real stretch for us financially! \u00a0I loved the knife, had always wanted one, but loved it even more because Sherelene got it for me. \u00a0While on a trip to North Carolina to interview Richard Petty for a magazine article, I lost my knife. \u00a0I was heart broken, I look everywhere and couldn’t find it anywhere. \u00a0For months I hated that I had lost it! \u00a0 The next year my friend Danny Lawson and I had to go back to North Carolina for another story, he had been with me on the first trip. \u00a0On the trip down I talked to Danny about hating loosing my knife. \u00a0He suggested we took a short hike up into the national forest and wondered if I might have dropped it there. \u00a0I said maybe but what \u00a0would be the chances be that it would still be there. \u00a0We parked the car and walked up the path, and there right on the trail was my weathered leather case and my spotless stainless steel treasure, it was my knife, one year later! \u00a0I have to admit I cried. \u00a0Every time I pick it up and use it I remember that little miracle and my wife’s love and generosity.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now the LED flashlight. \u00a0A few weeks ago I got a package from a very dear friend, I wondered what on earth it might be? \u00a0The friend is Carl Turner one of my best photo buddies and a great Christian brother. When I opened the box I could hardly believe the contents, two Smith \u00a0& Wesson, M&P Tactical Flash lights, \u00a0the small one pictured above which now goes with me everywhere in my camera bag, and a larger one that I use all the time. \u00a0As much as I appreciate these wonderful gifts, and I really do appreciate them, even more I appreciate Carl’s friendship, Carl has brought incredible light into my life in more important ways than with a flashlight!!!!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Christmas is a time of giving, to show our love, and to enjoy the great blessing of being the giver! \u00a0Never forget the reason for the season is Jesus himself, who gave the most anyone can give for us, \u00a0His life!!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Merry Christmas,<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
the pilgrim<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Have you got a photographer on your list and you’re stumped about what to get them? \u00a0Let me make a few suggestions, these are all things that I find very useful and I know they would get great use from any of these items! \u00a0I’ll go from the least expensive to the most! The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learning"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3938"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3951,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3938\/revisions\/3951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Hoodman-new.jpg\" "\\"Hoodman")
<\/a><\/p>\n