I had a tough time getting up and going to start page 101, but I made it happen and headed into work to get the building cleaned and ready for the day.  It was a foggy start to the day as I drove to work, but not so much that visibility was a problem.  After getting the cleaning done and the building ready for the day, I took the trash out and found great beauty in the fog lingering above the ground in the twilight of early morning.  Today’s work was a mix of sermon prep, prayer & listening, newsletter work, and writing — with a few maintenance tasks thrown in for good measure as they came up.

As I spend time with God, I often contemplate what my life might look like from His perspective.  I imagine it is a tough thing for anyone to consider, but when your mind is wired in a way that holds onto all the times you didn’t measure up by someone’s standard, it is easy to to question if God sees me as they do or through my faith in Jesus.  The good thing is that this contemplation draws me closer to Jesus as I realize how hopelessly lost I am without Him.  Not that the thoughts of inadequacy fill my mind on a daily basis, but there are days when the circumstances of life somehow access memories that it seems like would be better off erased.  It is in times like these that I lean upon God to help me take every thought captive as I walk in obedience to Him.  

As I worked, it looked like it could rain at any time, but it didn’t.  The birds were active today and not only filled the trees outside my office window, there were many who hopped along the ground pulling bugs, worms, and whatever else they could find useful out of the ground.  Today’s photo is of a Flicker as he made his way across the lawn, poking his beak into the soil on a regular basis.  Normally, I see him in nearby trees tapping away at the bark in his search for food.  When I first began seeing this type of bird, I assumed it was a woodpecker and referred to it as such.  After being politely corrected online one day, I did some research and discovered that it has its own name.  Sometimes it is far too easy to lump people together into categories because of a somewhat similar characteristic and in the process completely miss their unique qualities and who they are as a person.

It was a day where most of the things I was working on are ongoing projects that I didn’t complete today, but by mid-afternoon it was time to call it a day as I stopped for lunch on the way home.  After spending a little time unwinding at home, I fired up the pellet grill to get some pork chops started for supper then began working on a drainage issue with our sump pump.  Our ground has an extremely high clay content, so that it becomes easily saturated and then then the water doesn’t drain away.  The grass around the discharge area had begun to die so it is time to figure out a new drainage field for it.  It, too, will be an ongoing project as I didn’t get finished before the pork chops did so I covered my work area for the night headed in to eat and finish out the day.  I began writing today’s page in the evening but was so tired that it was difficult to focus.  I finally gave up on it and went to bed where I had a good night’s sleep before finishing this page at work the next morning.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Sometimes the hardest part of the day, or project, is getting started.  In those times it is important to press on with what you know needs done.
• Some days we recognize that our visibility is limited.  Those days should remind us that it is always limited — we only see in part what God has planned for those who love Him.
• There can be beauty in not being able to see everything if we focus on what God  has chosen to reveal to us rather than on what He hasn’t.
• Words matter.  
• The words you speak are never fully erased from your mind or the minds of those you’ve spoken them to.  
• The words you hear are always with you and sometimes need to be overcome by the power of the Word of God.
• Knowing how the enemy attacks helps you to recognize him when you find yourself in a battle.
• God’s love and His Word are meant to flow through us.  We must gain from it but we are not meant to fully contain it, it must be shared. 
• Finishing later than what you planned is not failure.

Page 100 was a Monday and for the most part followed a typical Monday routine.  With spring break last week, it had been over a week since I last set my alarm clock for anything and its early morning buzzing was not a welcome sound.  I’ve gotten to where I don’t mind early mornings once I’ve developed a routine of rising early.  But for me, a week is all it takes to get out of that routine to the extent that the early mornings are difficult for a few days.  But difficulty can often be overcome with determination, so I skipped the snooze button and got myself up and off to work.

The workday began with the normal cleaning and building prep.  As I finished, daylight was just beginning to break over the eastern horizon.  With the ever-increasing daylight hours as summer approaches, it seems like each week requires a change to the outside lights timer so they’re not on when they don’t need to be.  Once the building was ready for the start of the school day, it was time to settle in with God to work on the prayer guide for next week.  With the calendar in my mind, it didn’t take long to settle on the general topic of the resurrection.  As I spent time in prayer refining what that would look like in a daily prayer guide focus, I was drawn to the idea of the dead coming to life as a new creation.  As it came together, each day of the week following Easter Sunday will focus on an aspect of living a resurrected life that is new.  

The rest of the morning was spent finishing the prayer guide and getting it formatted and scheduled to be posted and sent out on Sunday.  When all the work on it was done, I turned my attention to the early stages of a sermon I will share at Deer Run during the morning service on April 30.  It will be an opportunity to both preach and share about the work of Impact Prayer Ministry with my home congregation.  Regardless of the topic, it will be a prayer-based sermon that will come out of my prayer time with the intent of encouraging others in their prayer life.

By mid-afternoon my workday was done and I stopped for lunch on my way home.  The weather forecast was calling for storms to move in but they hadn’t arrived by late afternoon so we headed out for a family walk at Potato Creek State Park.  As we hit the trails we were greeted by the presence of a variety of early spring wildflowers.  Today’s photo is a grouping of blossoms from one of those wildflowers as it broke through the dead leaves which covered the forest floor.  It reminded me of the story of the resurrection — of new life conquering the grip of death as the blossoms break through the tomb of the ground to live anew.  

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Routine by itself is neutral.  Good routines are good, bad routines are bad.
• Developing good routines can be useful as long as the routines are tools that help us do the good work God created for us to do.
• When routines become the point for existence, we become enslaved and miss the usefulness they could bring.
• Life is always a series of adjustments as we continually learn to make the most of our relationship with the Son.
• When we come into relationship with God, we are called to die to self — not so death can be celebrated, but so a new life can be born through the power of the resurrection.
• Living a prayer-based life has great benefit in our walk with God, but it also is meant to be shared in ways that encourage and benefit others.
• God plants beauty and illustrations of His principles all around us and His desire is that we would pay attention to both the beauty and the lessons.

Page 99 has been a great day filled with much variety.  Once I was up and going for the day, we headed to church where the Sunday School class I attend finished our study of 1 Thessalonians.  Our discussion today focused on living in a way that represents Christ well and being ready for His return.  

After the Sunday School class we had a great worship gathering as David continued a series from the book of Luke with a sermon based on the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on what we’ve come to know as Palm Sunday.  As we considered the events of that day so many years ago, and the days leading up to it, we looked at three types of people in the crowds that lined the roadway into the city.  If you’ve ever wondered what it would have been like to be there and what you would have done, a quick look at what your actions today say you believe could give great insight into which of those three types of people you would have been because it’s likely the type you are today.  The good news is that Jesus loved, and loves, each person in the crowd including you.  His desire is that each of us would come to know Him as our Savior.

The crowds on that day,  and the crowds today including you and me, are filled with the following:

• The Critic:  Some in the crowds were critical of Jesus, and had been throughout His entire ministry.  Many of these in His day were the religious leaders who thought they were the experts in knowing God.  The teaching of Jesus was done with an authority that the religious leaders lacked.  Jesus did everything in ways that honored and fulfilled scripture while often directly contradicting the teachings of the ruling Jewish leaders.  They did not believe that Jesus was God’s Son sent as the Messiah who would save His people from their sins.  They wanted to silence the crowds who were hailing Jesus as Messiah.  Today’s crowds also include critics.  There are many who do not believe that Jesus is God’s Son sent to save them from their sins.  When we seek a relationship with God on our own terms, we will often be critical of God’s Word and the teachings of Jesus when they are found to be in conflict with what we believe  While many of the harshest words of Jesus were directed at the critic, He never excludes them from coming to Him to find salvation and truth.
• The Curious:  Most events that draw a crowd probably have the majority of those in attendance there simply as those who are curious.  Throughout the ministry of Jesus, word of everything He did spread throughout all of Israel.  As stories circulated of people being healed, large crowds fed with a few loaves, lepers being cleansed, blind seeing, deaf hearing, and even dead raised to life, it was enough to make the curious come out in droves to see for themselves what was happening.  A problem with being a part of the curious crowd is that our curiosity is often satisfied simply by seeing the miraculous happen in the lives of others without ever experiencing the life-changing transformation that God wants to see take place in our life.  The curious are often swayed by the best show.  Curiosity can lead to yelling “Hosanna!” with the crowds on Sunday and by mid-week be yelling “Crucify Him!” with the crowds which follow a different leader.  The good news for the curious is that Jesus promised if we seek Him with our whole heart, He will be found.
• The Committed:  Finally in the crowd, were those who were committed to Jesus.  You had those who had been with Jesus from the early days of His ministry.  You had others who had stayed with Him even as the crowds fell away when the teaching became difficult to handle.  On that day, many of the committed had not yet learned fully what the cost of commitment would be, but they soon would.  Commitment is rarely known until it is put to the test, but it always begins with a deliberate desire to be committed.  There were those who followed Jesus that were critics and many who followed Him that were curious, but there was a sizable group that had a desire to be committed to Him and the things He was teaching.  It was that desire that carried them through even after deserting Him for a moment as the trial and crucifixion took place.  Commitment doesn’t mean that we never fail, it means that we keep hanging on and trusting that as we hold on He will never let us go.

After the worship gathering, I headed to lunch with my family before an afternoon trip to Sam’s Club to pick up some supplies for my mom.  Once the supplies were in hand, it was time for a trip to the farm to spend some time with my parents.  It was good to see them doing well as they were both out working, mom in the greenhouse and dad in the field, when we arrived.  After our visit, I headed to downtown Mishawaka to spend some time walking with my family along the St Joseph River.  There were many beautiful sights to enjoy and photograph, but the one that made today’s page is of a mother goose and her goslings.  I was surprised to see several sets of young goslings out with their parents as I thought it was a little early for them to be hatched out.  At this stage in the life of the young goslings, they are never far from the watchful eye of the mother goose.  It made me think of the words of Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem, longing to gather the people of the city to Himself as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings.  

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Being ready for the return of Jesus changes the way a person looks at life.
• There is such a thing as “doing right” and God wants His children to do it.
• Clinging to what is good is just as important as rejecting what is evil.
• We are all part of the crowd in this life we live.  What part we are is our choice.
• Pride and self-reliance will often led us to being critics when it comes to both the person and teaching of Jesus.  The cure is surrender.
• Curiosity often fills us with a lot of information but rarely results in necessary change.  The cure is surrender.
• Commitment begins with a desire to be committed and leads us to hang on to Jesus even when we know we fail.  Yes, committed people do fail but the cure for that failure is surrender.
• We need to live under the protective care of our Savior.  Doing so is our choice.

Page 98 ended up being a restful day with nothing on the schedule that needed done.  After a few days roaming the countryside of West Virginia and a return to work yesterday, a day at home sounded like the perfect plan.  After some extra sleep brought a later than usual start to the day, it was time to start going through the photos from our West Virginia trip.  It was a big project and about midway through, I stopped to cook some hamburgers on the pellet grill.  The sun was shining brightly and made it look deceptively nice outside as the air temperature was colder than it looked like it should be.  The brisk temperature made me decide to continue working on the photos after lunch instead of going out walking.

As I went through each day’s photos, I contemplated what to do with them beyond keeping them stored on my computer.  I will share some of them on social media but flooding my social media accounts with 900 photos would not be a very sociable move.  I suspect that I will eventually upload them to my online smugmug account where they can be sorted into galleries and viewed by those interested.  In the meantime, after processing all the photos, I put together a blog post about one day of our trip so others could get a glimpse of not only the beauty that we saw, but could have some direction in how to experience it for themselves.  You can read that at Southern West Virginia Waterfalls & Scenic Views Roadtrip: Day 2.

Today’s photo is one from a stop on the final day of our trip as we made our way toward home.  It was a rainy day so we stopped at a park to photograph some waterfalls.  Even on a cool, rainy day there was much beauty to be seen.  Surrounded by the beauty of the park, Susan’s happiness could not be hidden.  Her love for life, her love for us as her parents, her love for her panda bear, her love for people, and most of all her love for God brings her great joy that shines wherever she goes.  Yes, there are times when we probably push her patience to the limit, but as long as we keep her warm, fed, and comfortable without having to walk too much, she shares our adventures with great excitement.  There is so much I can learn from her contentment as she reminds me of the teaching of Jesus about learning contentment in what God provides.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Vacations are good for the family but they can be tiring.  Planning to rest after an active vacation is a good thing.
• Some days look nicer than what they are and some days are nicer than what they look.  You won’t really know until you experience what the day actually is.
• Sharing is good, but sometimes sharing too much is overwhelming to others.
• What we learn from our experiences ought to be shared with others who are willing to learn.
• Sometimes our greatest lessons are taught by the person most people would least expect a lesson to come from.
• True happiness is more closely tied to genuine contentment than most people realize.
• We ought to find great joy in being with those we love, and with those who love us.  That statement ought to describe our relationship with God as well as with people.

Page 97 was back-to-work day after the family getaway that we were able to take.  With the long day yesterday, and no electricity when we got home, today began with the writing of page 96.  Now that I’m home, I’ll try to go back to writing each day’s page at the end of the day rather than the next morning.  Once yesterday’s page was written, I headed into work and began the workday catching up on messages and accumulated mail.  Eventually I made it through the office tasks and then took care of some maintenance issues before starting to get the building cleaned and ready for Sunday.  

I’ve not found anything glamorous about cleaning bathrooms, floors, glass doors, or any other part of the building but they are necessary tasks that are not only a part of my job, they are also a part of serving my church family.  Most of us have responsibilities of some type that are necessary but not all that exciting.  Our attitude in doing them can make the difference between experiencing contentment or discouragement.  I know there are times when the cleaning that needs done is beyond the level that occurs with normal activity.  Often my first internal response is frustration that someone would be so inconsiderate to leave a space in the condition I find it.  The ironic part is that I think the frustration rises so quickly in my mind because most of the time people really do a good job of cleaning up after themselves at the building.  I get complacent and begin to expect everything to be easy.  But that’s not life — at least not the life I experience.  When I learn to take captive every thought, I submit my frustration to God and He reminds me that the work I do, I am doing for Him.  He also reminds me that there are times when I don’t measure up to the expectations of others and their work is increased because of something I’ve done or haven’t done.  When we follow God’s instruction to serve one another, we begin to find joy in serving because we recognize that Christ is honored when we do so.

As I took the trash out this afternoon, I startled two different birds that were perched in the trees near the dumpster.  One was a flicker that I often see from my office window and the other was a hawk that I’ve seen numerous times hovering over the property.  While I didn’t have my camera outside with me, today’s photo is of a similar looking hawk that I photographed at Hawk’s Nest State Park in West Virginia earlier this week.  The various birds of prey are fascinating to watch as they soar through the air on the rising thermals or wind currents.  The appearance given is of effortless flight.  God says that part of the result of waiting on the Lord, or resting in Him, is that we would rise up on wings like eagles.  As we learn to trust God and rest in Him as we allow His timing to come about, we find that we can soar through life with much less effort then when we attempt to do life on our own.

After my work was done, I came home and began to work my way through the 900+ photos that I took over during our trip to West Virginia.  It seems that when I go through the photos I take, there are always a few that I delete right away because they are blurry, I missed the shot, or they simply didn’t turn out.  But most of them are saved on my computer and I try to find the highlights out of the number to share on social media.  I know that there is an element in the sharing that wants to be seen, but usually more than that is an element that wants to share the beauty and creativity of God with people who may otherwise never be able to see the things I photograph.  

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Routine can be useful if it helps us to accomplish the good God has created for us to do.
• Routine is good but it should never replace listening to and following God.
• Routine can also be destructive if it keeps us from doing the good God wants us to do.
• Flexibility in knowing when to adjust our routines and when to hold fast to them is something we should seek from God.
• Serving others won’t always be exactly what we expect but it will always be what God expects.
• Giving others more opportunity to serve is no excuse for being inconsiderate.
• Sometimes what we view as being inconsiderate is simply someone giving more importance to what they’re considering than what we are considering.
• There may be an occasion when people deliberately make your job more difficult, more often we make it more difficult ourselves with a poor attitude.
• It is far easier to become weary than it is to be renewed when we rely on our own strength.
• Waiting on the Lord and resting in Him can be very difficult but it also can be the only way we can find renewed strength.

Page 96 was a travel day.  It marked the end of our family spring break getaway, but that didn’t keep us from making the most of it.  The day began with rain, but early on our drive the rain gave way to some beautiful layers of clouds with patches of blue sky.  Our drive home would take us by a few areas of interest, so I left the course mapped out by my GPS only to have it constantly tell me to turn around when possible.  After adding a potential stop to see some covered bridges, the GPS was satisfied with the route I had chosen and the constant reminders to change course stopped.  As we drove, the beautiful sky gradually turned back to gray.  I began noticing all of the rivers and streams we passed were very full, so I changed our stopover destination to some waterfalls instead of the covered bridges.  

When we stopped, the light rain had resumed but the air temperature was still fairly warm.  Rainy days when photographing waterfalls have at least two advantages over warm, sunny days — more water flowing over the falls and fewer people that end up in the photos.  This stop at Hocking Hills State Park in Ohio didn’t disappoint.  The parking lot was nearly deserted and there were virtually no issues with having to wait for people to move away from the falls only to have them replaced by others.  It was nice to be able to enjoy the peaceful beauty with a sense that we were all alone with God in such a remarkable place.  We did cross paths with people occasionally and one of them said that the day before, which had been sunny and warm, the place was packed solid with people sightseeing.  The final waterfall we stopped at had a paved path so Susan could ride to the falls, but the others were down rugged trails and/or many steps so MJ and I took turns going down to photograph the waterfalls.  

While we could have stayed there much longer, we knew that the journey home needed to continue.  As we headed toward home, the intensity of the wind picked up and the journey included times of driving rain.  When we left West Virginia in the morning, the distance to empty showing on my truck computer and the distance to home showing on my GPS indicated I could make it home with about 40 miles to spare on a tank of fuel.  Our waterfall stop changed that to about 20 miles to spare but as I drove into the wind, that cushion kept decreasing until by the time I made it to Indiana it was showing I would be at least 30 miles short.  As we crossed into Indiana, the rain stopped and a line of reddish-pink began to show on the western horizon.  As the clouds lifted and moved eastward, the sky before us unfolded into a beautiful sunset.  While the wind was still fairly strong, it was fun driving the final two hours home into the beauty that God was putting on display.  As we neared the house, there was an unusual darkness in our neighborhood.  As we pulled into our driveway, it became clear that what I suspected was true — our electricity was out.  As we got out of the truck, the surrounding darkness made the sky above even more brilliant as the light from the moon and stars shone down upon us.  Today’s photo is of the moon that was shining in the night sky.  With the power out and it being late, we unloaded the truck and headed to bed.  

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• The way a day begins isn’t necessarily the way it will end.  You have to live it in order to see it.
• Plans are good.  Sometimes adjusting those plans in light of the circumstances around us is even better.
• If you don’t know where you are going, you probably won’t get good directions.
• Many people choose to ignore the directions that God gives in His Word, yet complain about where they end up.
• If our path is aligned with God’s directions, the journey becomes simply a matter of following and enjoying.
• God doesn’t force us to follow His directions but He will continually remind us that we are off course when we stray.  It is still our choice in what we do about those reminders.
• Sometimes the journey home takes more effort and energy than expected.  Keep pressing on.
• Watch for the evidences of God and you will surely see them.

Page 95 was a true spring break roadtrip as we sought to enjoy the day as a family while accommodating the effects of the seizures that Susan had throughout the night and into the early part of the morning.  It is difficult when you don’t experience something to know all the lingering effects it has on the one who does experience it, but observation, listening, and research go a long way toward understanding.  We have read, and observed, that a major seizure will wear a person out with similar effects to the effort put into running a marathon.  It was apparent as we began our day that anything involving walking beyond a very limited necessity wasn’t going to work today.  So, we hit the road in a driving tour, visiting a few stops where we could photograph waterfalls, but mostly enjoying the scenery of a beautiful day that God had given us.

For me, the seizures are always a reminder to enjoy the moment because there is no guarantee of future moments.  The passing years and the joy that Susan has, and gives to all she meets, also reminds me of an encounter with a doctor twenty-some years ago — a doctor that I soon fired.  I was out of town when Susan was hospitalized with a seizure that had gone on for a few hours before they were able to get it stopped.  When I got word, I left the conference I was at and began the 12 hour journey home.  Before I made it to the hospital, the doctor that was assigned to Susan seemed to want two things from Mary Jane — 1) Sign over all care decisions to him and 2) know how we were going to pay for her care.  It wasn’t long after I arrived and got the report of what had been going on that this doctor walked into the room and started in with what we needed to do and why he was the only one that could do it and that he needed a plan that would show payment would be made.  He warned us that people don’t survive multiple seizures of this magnitude and since this was Susan’s second such episode, she was living on borrowed time as it was.  As I remember, he tried to make it sound as if he was the only one who even had a chance of helping her and that he had great success with similar patients.  The first step of “care” would be for us to figure out how her care would be covered and then he would proceed.  I’m not sure what it was — it could have been the all day drive, it could have been the “fight or flight” adrenaline from seeing Susan, it could well have been the hand of God upon me, or it could have been a combination of these and other reasons I know nothing about — but my response was that he was wrong, our first step was finding a new doctor and that he needed to leave the room.  I’m not sure that anyone had ever responded to him in such a manner but he left Susan was put under the care of doctors who actually cared.  I know that is a longer story than I usually write as background to a “page”, but there are a lot of lessons in it that I continue to benefit from even today.  Some of the biggest ones are that no man is God and no man, including me, knows how long we will have on this earth with those we love.  So, with an approaching birthday this summer of twenty-eight years, well beyond anything this doctor tried to tell us she would reach, I continue in my attempts to enjoy whatever days God allows Susan to live with us.  

One of our stops was a a park where today’s photo was taken.  While the photo appears to be of an old mill along a stream above a beautiful waterfall, all of that is true except the old part.  Evidently there had been a mill along this stream but not at this particular location and not this mill.  It’s a replica because the old one had fallen out of use and with no one maintaining and using it, it eventually disappeared from the landscape.  It reminded me of old mills that I have photographed that are in their original location and still being used — even if just for tourist and demonstration purposes.  The reason some are still standing and being used while many are not is that someone, or a group of someones, decided to invest the time, money, and effort into maintaining them.  While I enjoy old mills, covered bridges, and other structures that have withstood the test of time, family is more precious than any of them.  There are a lot of reasons that families crumble apart and some of those reasons are beyond simple and may require a tearing down and complete rebuilding as in the case of today’s mill, but many times the reason is simply a lack of maintenance.  To me, spending time with my family and trying to be flexible in caring for the daily needs of each one of us, is a big part of the maintenance that helps us to survive.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• Accommodation of disabilities shouldn’t have to be a mandated thing, it should be a result of caring.  Unfortunately not everyone cares for one another as they should.
• There are many things that we will never fully understand about a person.  That’s okay, there are many things they will never fully understand about us.
• Progress in understanding others only happens when we take the time to observe, listen, and learn.
• Adapting your plans, schedule, life to the needs of another isn’t a sign of weakness but rather a sign of great caring and strength.
• No one is God but God alone.  The more a person tries to portray themselves as God, the better off you are in distancing yourself from them.
• Opportunities often take place in the moment.  If you have the opportunity to spend time with those you love, take it.  Don’t assume there will always be another.

Page 94 began with a dark, cloudy sky and rain.  It was also another day to spend with my family looking for some places to enjoy the beauty of creation as we set out on another sightseeing adventure.  As we headed out in the morning, we were prepared to get wet but during our drive the clouds began to break apart with patches of blue sky showing through.  When we reached our first stop it was mostly sunny and warm.  The trail to the first of two waterfalls at this stop was paved, so Susan was able to ride in her wheelchair.  After taking some photos we headed up the trail to the next waterfall and the path became so rocky and rough that Susan asked to get out of the  chair and walk.  That was a good thing because it was becoming difficult to push the chair safely over the rugged terrain.  Fortunately, the trail was a loop and we didn’t have to come back this way.  Shortly after the second falls, the trail became smooth again and Susan was able to rest from her walking.

The day ended up being filled with a variety of driving and stops as we looked for waterfalls and other natural beauty to photograph.  I think my GPS is set to take us on the quickest path between two points, but I began to wonder if perhaps it doesn’t have a “most interesting route” setting that it somehow ended up on.  At times it would direct me down a narrow, alley-like roadway for a block or two only to end up back on the same road it directed me off of.  One of those times was funny as the car that had been behind me went by in front of me as the GPS had me rejoin my original road — not so sure that counts as the quickest. 🙂  Many of the roads it ended up taking us down had signs warning that they were “not suitable for large trucks”.  Some of them I wasn’t too sure were all that suitable for any vehicles but the drive along them was often as beautiful as the intended stops we made along the way.  And then there were other times when I would choose not to follow its instructions and head in the direction I wanted to go.  In those times it would constantly search for, and direct me toward, ways to get back on track.

At one of our stops the sign said there was a waterfall just a quarter mile up the trail.  Susan did such a good job walking to the falls and waiting patiently as we took photographs.  Halfway on our way back, however, she had a seizure so we stopped in the middle of the trail as she fought through that and was rested enough to continue.  It made me think about how often we have things in life that “seize” us yet sometimes we fail to continue on because we don’t make the effort to fight through them and get the proper rest needed to continue our journey.  We made a few more stops throughout the day, including one where today’s photo was taken.  This wasn’t at some out-of-the-way, obscure location but rather it was at a highway intersection where we stopped along the entry ramp to the interstate.  As we were driving, the sky gave all appearances of a beautiful sunset in the making but there were no clear views of the western sky.  We had driven past this intersection on our way to a park that ended up having some great views to photograph, but not views of the sunset.  So, on our way back to town for ice cream to finish up the day, we stopped along the highway and enjoyed the beauty of the setting sun.

As I reflect on the day, here are some thoughts/lessons that stand out to me:

• The weather in your life now may not be the weather you will experience all day.  Keep moving forward in your pursuit of God and allow Him to make beauty out of your circumstances.
• When the going gets rough, sometimes you have to step out of your reliance on other people and rely fully on God.  We need the help of people, but there is a limit to what they can provide.
• Yes, our destination of heaven and eternity with God is important, but they journey we take to get there is also important.
• Sometimes the route of life I’m on doesn’t make sense to me.  In those times I have to first check to see if I’m on the path God has provided direction for.  If I am, then I need to trust Him and His directions.  If I’m not, then I need to listen to Him redirecting me back to the path I should follow.
• Being seized by something along your journey doesn’t mean your journey has to end.  God is always there to comfort and encourage you until you are rested enough to continue — but you must choose to continue.
• Sometimes the beauty of creation must be sought and discovered.  Other times God reveals it broadly and we only miss it because we’re not paying attention.