Fellowship with God refreshes the soul....

“Fellowship with God refreshes your soul: it allows God to speak into your life for the next level of your life endeavours. Your life will always speak louder in the light of God’s Word.” 
― George Mfula

The Wildness Lies in Wait

The real trouble with this world of ours is not that it is an unreasonable world, nor even that it is a reasonable one. The commonest kind of trouble is that it is nearly reasonable, but not quite. Life is not an illogicality; yet it is a trap for logicians. It looks just a little more mathematical and regular than it is; its exactitude is obvious, but its inexactitude is hidden; its wildness lies in wait.--GK Chesterton, Othodoxy

The Light at the End of the Alley

"The light at the end of the alley, the sunset at the end of the mountain day,
silently speaking of things way beyond themselves, things we can't quite 
reach, but can sense within,  things of which we catch but a fleeting glimpse. 
The road ahead is filled with that which will cause wonder and cause 
us to wonder.  But tonight, here it is right before me. 

--photo taken in Colorado Springs, CO

The Stability of Trees....Learning to Live in the Place You are Planted!

I like trees because they seem more resigned to the way they have to live than other things do. I feel as if this tree knows everything I ever think of when I sit here. When I come back to it, I never have to remind it of anything; I begin just where I left off.”  --Willa Cather --"O Pioneers"

O world as God as made it! All is beauty!

O world as God has made it! All is beauty! --Robert Browning

--photo taken in Colorado Springs, Colorado

Refresh and Gladden My Spirit, O God!

O God! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers.I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.

 

Jonathan Edwards: I Know Not How to Express...

This I know not how to express otherwise than by a calm, sweet abstraction of soul from all the concerns of this world; and sometimes a kind of vision, or fixed ideas and imaginations, of being alone in the mountains, or some solitary wilderness, far from all mankind, sweetly conversing with Christ, and wrapt and swallowed up in God. The sense I had of divine things would often of a sudden kindle up, as it were, a sweet burning in my heart; an ardor of soul, that I know not how to express.
... I walked abroad alone, in a solitary place in my father’s pasture, for contemplation. And as I was walking there, and looking upon the sky and clouds, there came into my mind so sweet a sense of the glorious majesty and grace of God, as I know not how to express. I seemed to see them both in a sweet conjunction; majesty and meekness joined together: it was a sweet, and gentle, and holy majesty; and also a majestic meekness; an awful sweetness; a high, and great, and holy gentleness.



photo taken on the far side of Pike's Peak...
near the Florrisant Fossil Beds,
Colorado

Jonathan Edwards: the appearance of divine glory in almost everything...

The appearance of everything was altered; there seemed to be, as it were, a calm, sweet, cast, or appearance of divine glory, in almost everything.


God’s excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in every thing;
in the sun, moon, and stars; in the clouds and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water, and all nature; which used greatly to fix my mind.


I often used to sit and view the moon for a long time; and in the day, spent much time in viewing the clouds and sky, to behold the sweet glory of God in these things:

In the meantime, singing forth, with a low voice, my contemplations of the Creator and Redeemer. . .” - 

--Jonathan Edwards

photo taken in Wilmington, Delaware

"Try not to fear [bodily ills] and commit yourselves wholly to God, come what may. What does it matter if we die? How many times have our bodies not mocked us? Should we not occasionally mock them in our turn? And, believe me, slight as it may seem by comparison with other things, this resolution is much more important than we may think; for, if we continually make it, day by day, by the grace of the Lord, we shall gain dominion over the body. To conquer such an enemy is a great achievement in the battle of life. May the Lord grant, as He is able, that we may do this. I am quite sure that no one who does not enjoy such a victory, which I believe is a great one, will understand what advantage it brings, and no one will regret having gone through trials in order to attain this tranquillity and self-mastery.


--Theresa of Avila

photo taken near Rand, Colorado

For the Beauty of the Earth

 For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,

for the love which from our birth over and around us lies;

Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.


 For the beauty of each hour of the day and of the night,

hill and vale, and tree and flower,  sun and moon, and stars of light;

Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.


 For the joy of ear and eye, for the  heart and mind's delight,

for the mystic harmony, linking sense to sound and sight;

Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.



. For the joy of human love,  brother, sister, parent, child,

friends on earth and friends above,  for all gentle thoughts and mild;

Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.



For thy church, that evermore  lifteth holy hands above,

offering up on every shore her pure sacrifice of love;

Lord of all, to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise.


For thyself, best Gift Divine,  to the world so freely given,

for that great, great love of thine,  peace on earth, and joy in heaven:

Lord of all, to thee we raise  this our hymn of grateful praise.


Hymn: For the Beauty of the Earth

Text: Folliot S. Pierpoint
Music: Conrad Kocher;
photo taken in Gould, CO

"Solitude Sweetened"

Solitude Sweetened


by James Meikle, 1730-1799

If God gives Christ, what can he withhold?

Are believers in the valley of tears? Is their dwelling place Bochim and Baca? Well, God's mercy outstretches all their misery! Promises of grace dispel the mental gloom, and bear away the ponderous loads of grief! The soft handkerchief of love wipes off the furrowing tear! An inspired penman begins the glorious sentence with an unanswerable question. "If God spared not his own Son, but delivered him up to the death for us all, how shall he not also with him give us all things?" (Romans 8:32) Comfort, then; you sons of sorrow; comfort, my soul! There is more in this verse than can be comprehended! And there is more love in the heart of God, than any language, or idiom of speech, can convey to finite creatures!


If, for my sake, he has given his Son, what will he withhold in all the creation? Is his creation—the breath of his mouth—better to him than his eternal, co-eternal Son? Is the work of his hands dearer to him than his well-beloved bosom Son? And has he given him to the die for you—and then will he deny you any necessity? No! He who feeds the soul with heavenly manna—will support the body with daily bread! He who gives drink out of the wells of salvation—will not fail to afford a cup of cold water! He who has provided a robe of righteousness, to cover the shame of my sin—will also give wool in the cold season. He who furnishes my inner man with all the armor of God, will put a covering on my head in the day of battle and war. (At this time the Author had a view of entering into the navy, being time of war, as he did some time after.) He who, in the counsel of peace, from eternity, secured my peace, will also shine upon my path, and decree what shall come to pass. He who has written my name among the living in Jerusalem, will also preserve, (this my faith pleads and expects,) my character, that I shall not shame what I profess in the world. He who has destroyed spiritual death, will also for me unsting natural death, and spoil the grave of its victory!

Again, how can it be possible that God should give his Son, himself, his all—and yet deny me any good thing? Will not he who is to crown me with glory above—strengthen me with grace below? Will he not bless me with peace of mind—who is to be my peace forever? Triumph, O my faith! all things are Christ's, and Christ is God's! And God, Christ, and all things, are yours! Time is his, and in it I have my years numbered! The air is his, and in it I breathe! The world is his—and on it I dwell; its fullness is his—and I am fed! Grace is his—and in it I stand! Faith is his gift—and by it I overcome the world! Tribulations are from him—and in them I glory! Perfection is his—and towards it I press! Death is his—and by it I arrive at home! Heaven is his—and there is my mansion! Eternity is his, and there is my treasure and glory forevermore!

--taken from Grace Gems (http://www.gracegems.org/)
photo taken in Gould, Colorado

What Our Eyes Often Miss

While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~Dorothea Lange

Oh Lord, help us to see what is hidden in plain sight. Help us to look, and search out.
Heal our shortsightedness, Expand our spiritual vision. We cannot see without You!




photo of young moose taken in Gould, Colorado

For Americans on 9/11

I been scared and battered.

My hopes the wind done scattered.
Snow has friz me,
Sun has baked me,

Looks like between 'em they done
Tried to make me--
Stop laughin', stop lovin', stop livin'--


But I don't care!


I'm still here!

--Langston Hughes

Thank God we are still here...

Lord, have mercy, on us who are here.
 

photo taken in the beautiful American Rockies.

Consider Jesus. Know Jesus. Learn what kind of Person it is you say you trust and love and worship. Soak in the shadow of Jesus. Saturate your soul with the ways of Jesus. Watch Him. Listen to Him. Stand in awe of Him. Let Him overwhelm you with the way He is.

- John Piper

photo taken in Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, Colorado

(as always, thanks for driving, Tara!)

“At the timberline where the storms strike with the most fury, the

sturdiest trees are found.” -Hudson Taylor.

photo taken near the Continental Divide, Colorado

Just When God's Ready.....

"Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter."-- Ansel Adams

photo taken near Gould, Colorado

A Stout Heart

Give me a stout heart to bear my own burdens. Give me a willing

heart to bear the burdens of others. Give me a believing heart to

cast all burdens upon Thee, O Lord.

- John Baillie (1886-1960) & Donald M. Baillie (1887-1954), "A

Diary of Private Prayer"

photo taken near Rand, Colorado.

"Asked about my theology, I take the Bible and speak with all my soul. I believe everything written in this book. Asked to state my confession of faith. I refer them to the 'Apostles Creed'. My model of prayer is the Lord's Prayer, my rules of living the 'Ten Commandments.' But what will the sophisticated people of the world say to that? Perhaps they smile at the childish old man. But I have found Christ and he is everything to me. My whole life has been a pilgrim journey. Nowhere have I found an abiding city. But now my heavenly fatherland, to whose threshold my leader, my light, my savior has lead me, looms up before me. For me the thing necessary is to forget what is behind and to hasten toward the prize of the heavenly call of God." - John Comenius (1650 Moravian Bishop)


photo taken on the Rand Cutoff Road, near Gould, CO

From the highest of heights to the depths of the sea
Creation's revealing Your majesty

From the colors of fall to the fragrance of spring
Every creature unique in the song that it sings
All exclaiming


Indescribable, uncontainable,
You placed the stars in the sky and You know them by name.
You are amazing God


All powerful, untameable,
Awestruck we fall to our knees as we humbly proclaim
You are amazing God

--Chris Tomlin "Indescribable"


photo taken on the Rand Cutoff Road, Gould, Colorado

     "It gives me a deep comforting sense that

"things seen are temporal and things unseen are eternal."”

--Helen Keller
photo taken in Garden of the Gods Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado