On the path again...

I can't wait to get on the path again. Okay so it doesn't work as well as "on the road again" by Willie Nelson but hey, I love my walking path. Maybe somebody needs to write a song about it.

Friday I went for a two hour walk (7 miles). It was awesome. Perfect weather and pretty much had the path to myself. It was so great to be back out there. As I've shared before this is a great time of prayer for me and seeking God. Each thing I see reminds me of His goodness and provision. The Bluejay I saw was really a bright blue. Telling me that God loves beauty and color in His creation. Since I walked farther than normal I got to go into this wooded area I rarely walk in. It was great. The trees provided protection from the hot sun but every once in a while there would be a break in the trees and those first rays of summer sun felt really good (I know I was in Singapore in February and got lots of sun, but that was MONTHS ago now).

Then I saw something that took my breath away. This owl flew from one tree to another and her three little babies flew behind her. Owls are so cool to see as they fly, they look like a barrel with wings. It was such a special moment and for me very rare. I've put a lot of miles on the path over the years and this is only the second time I've seen an owl and the first time I've seen one with her babies!
Seeing this Owl reminded me of how God protects those He loves. This mother Owl never let me out of her sight while her babies were near. And with the motion she has been given to turn her head she was able to watch me for quite a while.

Today I again went for a walk. It is HOT here today, 90 degrees or more. Pretty sure we might get storms later or tomorrow. I went two miles turned around and started back. I was listened to my music and a song had just started about how God painted me a sunrise to start my day and I never even saw it. It gave other examples of how God shows us His love for us and in the busyness of the day we never notice. I had been very deep in the words of this song and must have been looking down at the path for a long time because I didn't even notice this Hawk on the ground until I was about five feet away from it.

I was amazed it didn't fly away. Kelly and I tried many times to get a picture of a Hawk and every time they flew away as soon as we stopped. And we were never THIS close. It was huge and spread its wings but stayed on the ground. As I walked closer to pass by it I could see that the reason it didn't leave was because it had just caught its dinner. I saw this very large black snake wiggling around and trying to get free from this Hawk's powerful claws. I stopped to watch and as soon as I did the Hawk clutched it prey tightly and looked straight at me. Seeing its beak that close and knowing the kind of power those claws had I decided it was best not to linger there.

I walked on amazed at what I had just witnessed. There is no doubt in my mind that the Hawk won that battle. I had to call Gary and tell him about it because I was so excited I couldn't wait to get back from walk to tell him. He asked if I took a picture. I never even thought about it. My cell phone has that capability but frankly all I could imagine was the Hawk attacking me or worse yet, flying over me and dropping that big black, now bloody, snake on my head. Neither of those situation appealed to me so the only real picture I have of the event is locked in my memories. Here is a picture I found to just give you a feel for what I saw:

Wow! I exercise up at the gym a lot and miss out on all these wonderful adventures God has for me on that path. I love it that winter is over. Praise the Lord!

Seeing that Hawk with its dinner reminded me of God's provision. Beauty, protection and provision...just three things that God does for all of us. Again, I am humbled that the God who created everything I see and all I can't see cares about my needs. Hmmmm...

You know you live in Kansas when...

You read an article with the title "Subway Ads Bring Hope To Women" and you think, "What is that Subway sandwich shop doing now"?

Then further into the article you realize, ohhhhh "subways", as in trains that take you here and there. Like in New York! And I laugh to myself about being a midwest person who really does forget that not everything is like it is here.

My utmost for His highest

I was reading a devotional by Oswald Chambers (Oswald, don't see many kids being named that these days) this morning and was struck by the simple honesty of it.

When sharing Jesus with others it should never be done in a demanding way - "you are required to believe the Bible or else". As Christians we are not required to believe the Bible as much as we are to believe in the One of whom the Bible teaches.

Others will see Jesus more in how we present Him with Truth, and how we allow and live out our faith by our lives, than they will in our demanding they believe. We are instructed to take His yoke upon us, not place a heavy yoke on others. When we do it God's way we find that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 28:19). When we do it our way, there is resistance and strife. And then in the devotion it says this very profound statement:
"It takes God a long time to get us to stop thinking that unless everyone sees things exactly as we do, they must be wrong."

Ouch, that hit home!

God deals with us with gentleness and patience, we should do no less when dealing with others. Never water down the truth of God...let it stand and speak on its own. Jesus said, "Go...make disciples..." NOT, "Convert everyone to your personal opinions and thoughts."

Now that's convicting.

Has she lost it?

Okay, so I know that four posts in one day is a bit much. I guess I have a lot to share since I only did two posts the entire month of April.

The end of days

Recently something happened in my life that has caused me to stop and reflect on what it means to be God.

This movie crew was working on a film about a real life situation. It is based on the true story of this really horrific event that happened in a young woman's life. How I became involved in it is a very long story and I will spare you those details. I was sitting outside the building where the filming was taking place because to be inside was too difficult (emotionally and spiritually). Knowing what was being acted out, I was reminded that just a few miles away from where I was there were real life situations just like this one happening.

Lives were being ended and lives were being destroyed. I began to think "how can one human being do this to another human being?" It was sunny and the sun felt good but a very cold north wind was blowing. I felt frozen in that place, not wanting to go in the building and not wanting to stay outside. Then I asked myself, "how can God allow this to continue?" He sees it all, in every city, state, and country. He sees horrible miss justice to innocent lives all over the world and all at one time. How can He take it all in? Why does He allow it to continue? How can He possibly tolerate the way His creation has turned against Him and each other?

I can only hope that while He sees all the horror He also sees humans having compassion on other humans. And perhaps, right now, the compassion events out number the horror events and so He allows life as we know it to go on. Maybe someday in the future, a day that only God knows, when He destroys this earth and the heavens as we know them, maybe that day is the day when the horror events will out numbers the compassion events.

Maybe. We can't really know for sure why or when God will say "I've had enough." All I know is that God has more patience and understanding than I'll ever have.


Matthew 24:35-36
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."

Sweet Surprise

Gary did not have to be on the worship team this week and I didn't have any speaking engagements so we got to be this married couple that just goes to church on Sunday morning. It felt weird and we were a little off our game. First of all we got up too early so we decided to go and have a nice breakfast out.

That was great but when we were done we still had an hour to kill before we had to start heading to church. So we went to the park to watch the lake. It is a beautiful day and we were really enjoying the water and the birds when someone decided to park fairly close to us. They kept their car running and played their music too loud. It really ruined the moment. Rather than get in a bad mood I decided I was bored and we just needed to drive around the park instead of parking and relaxing.

We rounded the first bend in the road and there in the field just off the road was this awesome Army helicopter. We pulled over and stared at it. We had never been that close to one of these monsters and the soldier standing near it invited us up for a closer look. So of course we went!

It was awesome. We got to go in it and talk with the other soldiers there. We learned about the massive power this Chinook helicopter has. We learned it has been around a long time and even had been to Vietnam during that war. One of the soldiers shared stories of his trips to Pakistan in it and how one time they landed on top of the Himalayan mountains and got out to have a snowball fight. Cool!

Time went too fast and we had to say goodbye to head off to church. We shook the hand of each soldier and thanked them for their service to this country. I walked away and for the first time was proud that I pay taxes. I also was sincerely glad that woman parked next to me and annoyed me enough to cause me to leave. If it had not been for her we never would have had that opportunity.

One more reason to come and visit us

We have a "Five Guys" in Olathe now!!!!!
Yesterday morning I was complaining to someone about how spoiled I was since my last trip to Florida. Five Guys hamburgers are the best! Nothing quite hits the mark and then I complained how it would cost too much to fly to Florida just for a hamburger. Gary and I went out last night and were completely surprised to find a Five Guys had just opened! YUMMMMM!

I bet my kids are jealous now.