My 59th Year

I am close to halfway through my 59th year on this planet. Since turning 59, I have run my first 5K and won... (for my age group). I have climbed a mountain with help from my husband and encouraging words from my daughter. I have traveled to more states by plane and by car than any other year of my life. Let's see now, here is a quick list of where I have been since turning 59: Poughkeepsie, NY, Columbus, Georgia, Key Largo, Florida and points nearby, Seattle, Washington and suburbs, Tennessee, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Oregon (Corvallis is very nice),Idaho, Wyoming (The Cowboy Cafe in Du Bois -pronounced DO Boys is great), Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois,Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, North and South Carolina. In one road trip alone,my husband and I logged 7,600 miles!! Just as the Johnny Cash song says, "I've been everywhere,man...".
I am fairly sure that my love of traveling is from my father. He was a traveling salesman and knew that Tom Bodett would leave the light on for him as he stayed in many Motel 6 and other hotels over the years.
My mom would say that she is not the traveling kind. She loves the home life and a chair that she can recline in and watch TV. Although, now that she is confined to a wheelchair, she has put many miles on those wheels and may need new tires soon. So, maybe she is becoming a traveler afterall:)
Since I still have about 6 more months to go, before the big 60, it will be exciting to see all of the new adventures God has in store for me. What's next, God?! I am ready, well maybe after a few days at home. That's nice too.

God Does All Things Well

Since getting back from our "See the USA" trip, I have been struck by the grandeur of God's creativity. From the Grand Canyon, to Yellowstone's Old Faithful, to the Grand Tetons at sunset to The Rocky Mountains and to the crisp, cold waves of the Pacific Ocean, God allowed us to see some of His majesty. Heaven's scenery is beyond our grasp on this side, but my husband and I got a mini view of His handiwork.
This video/song is pretty much how I would describe our trip ~ indescribable...I was talking with a friend today at the Y as I shared a few highlights of our trip. He has experienced nature firsthand when he spent some time in western Canada. He said it's like watching a sport in 3-D. If we just watch a baseball game, he said, it seems pretty boring and slow, but if we experience it, it is fast-paced and full of movement. That is the case when one sees a western sky in all of its vastness. My husband saw a shooting star just driving along one night with the endless sky to gaze upon. After he saw it, I continued to look up at the sky hoping that I too would see a shooting star. Even though I didn't see one, I still enjoyed seeing the stars and their arrangement in the midnight blue. The quietness of the canyons, mountains and lakes is another aspect that one doesn't get to appreciate too much as we busily go about our days. As we drove along in Wyoming, for example, we would go for miles and not see a telephone pole, house or even another car.
Seeing an antelope literally lope as he ran across a field reminded me of an imaginary animal in its movement. They hop along with both front feet moving at the same time and then their back feet hop together too. They reminded me more of big bunnies hopping along. I got to be quite good at spotting a herd of them as we drove and drove and drove some more!
Tomorrow, we will begin our new book study on Crazy Love. The first chapter talks about being in awe of God and not taking what He has done for us for granted. We need to view God anew and not allow Him to become just a common thing in our lives. We need to see His "crazy love" for us fresh each and every day. As my friend at the Y reminded me today in thinking about Our God's creativity~"It's crazy!" Yeah, it really is.