To Be A Pilgrim is a tree grown in Michigan, with influences and ideas engrafted from trees abroad. Sometimes the tree bears nuts, sometimes fruits. Sometimes pieces fall off a bit too early and sometimes everything is just right. Come taste of the sweet yet sometimes brackish, tree. Throw back pits and rinds when you have them; we know how to handle them.
TBAP is a blog that is still honing its niche. It’s not a place to find political commentary, though we are for the Fair Tax. It’s not a place to find banality, though we do think that square-dancing tractors and Victor Borge can be causes for holy laughter. It’s not a place where skepticism and relativism have any sort of foothold, but that’s not to say we have all the answers. We are Godward in our orientation. We believe that He is God alone and is absolutely and only God. We seek to acknowledge Him in all our ways. We even have adopted a creed, but we’re not laying it out here. Usually the content of TBAP is snippets of depth and happiness, though sometimes there are just technology tips to throw the whole balance out of whack. Quote of the Day is another staple, though no one pretends that it’s daily anymore since it stopped being something that was emailed on a daily basis seven years ago.
Ryan Boomershine is the TBAP curator. He is also a product of the great peninsular state, though he moved to the north side of Nashville, TN in June 2008 to start a new school. Sometimes biographies are broad and unhelpful. Here are five little-known facts about Ryan that can maybe help you get to know him in a hurry. He…
- has had stitches in his forehead three times, but not once since fifth grade.
- enjoys swallowing butter pecan ice cream and things that were recently grilled, surrounded by happy, smiling people he calls friends.
- is sometimes considered to be random and choppy, but usually only by people who he thinks pay attention too slowly.
- and his brother have some very cool matching left elbow scars that they got 15 1/2 years apart when they were both 15 and both broken by falling about 15 feet away from where the other fell.
- thinks that Reepicheep has the soul of a lion.
Ryan has been at Prairie Baptist Church and School in Scottts, MI since he was in Kindergarten in 1981. He left for a short time to get his his B.A. in counseling and then came back to Prairie in the role of Principal and Assistant Pastor and has been doing that for 10 years. In June, he assumed the role of Headmaster of Jonathan Edwards Classical Academy in Nashville, TN, a school a long time in the making but a short time in the preparations. Things are still coming together from scratch and help is needed in all sorts of ways. You can find out more about JECA on their site.
Ryan and Christie met in 1st grade. They spent a lot of time together since Christie’s brother and Ryan were best friends through much of their schooling. After graduating from college, they dated for a month and
decided that they should get married, which they did 1999. After a series of happy adventures together–and now four future men (Karsten Micah, Haddon Elliot, Lincoln Gabriel and Knox Carter) who people describe as looking strikingly similar–the Boomershines are beginning their first major steps out into the deep by moving away from all that is familiar and comfortable to that which is strange and unknown. They are hopeful pioneers, and pioneers don’t use pavement.
If you put them all six of them together and asked them to respond, the Boomershines would mostly agree on some of the following favorite activities and hobbies including Saturday morning soccer games, Food Network, bookstores, the Pilgrims, Dirty Jobs, Animal Planet, orange juice, restaurants, God-centeredness, antique books, the Jesus Story Book Bible, exploring woooded areas carrying long sticks, cuddling, Narnia, birdwatching, missionaries, and peanut butter cups. Some may have been missed, but that is at least a good start.
You can email Ryan at this address (TBAPstandsforlaughter@gmail.com) if you have a question or just need to unload your guns.
