Love This Time Of Year…

I so enjoy this time of year. I like the cooler weather, where long sleeves or a sweatshirt feels good, or sitting by a campfire watching the flames dancing. One of the things I love the most is the changing color of the leaves. It amazes me how many different colors a leaf can go through. And I know a lot of people have a scientific explanation for it, but I refer to it as God’s Handiwork. He is amazing! No one can do it like Him!

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1

This year the maple trees are absolutely beautiful. There are so many colors and they are so bright! There is a cemetery here in Springfield that is full of maples. It is a yearly stop for us and yesterday afternoon we caught it at its peak. Stan let me out of the car at the entrance and I proceeded to walk and enjoy the colors, taking pictures as I went, and talking to the Lord. I took over 300 pictures between 2 locations. I know, but I just can’t help myself.

Amongst the beautiful trees there were a few that were not as pretty. As you can see from the pictures below they had lost a lot of their leaves, the branches were bare, or just had leaves right on the end, and it made me wonder… Is that how Jesus sees us? When we accepted Him as our Lord and Savior, we were so excited. It seemed we were hungry for His word; we couldn’t do enough to satisfy our thirst, our hunger. But then the excitement tends to die down, we tend to get back into our daily routine, hopefully we do not fall back into our daily ruts, or the sinful life we were living. But are we doing enough? Or are we like this tree, bare limbs with leaves just on the end. Are we just Sunday Christians?

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” Revelation 3:15-16

I hope and pray that Jesus finds us thinking about Him all through the week. I am sure we all have areas we could improve in. I know I for one need to read my Bible more. I need to fill my mind with His written word every day! How bout you? Are there areas you can improve in?

“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit with me.” Psalm 51:10

If you would like to view any of my other Autumn photos just click on the link on the sidebar and it will take you to my webshots page.

Until next time...

Technology...You Gotta Love It!

I am so excited. I got a new toy and it totally blew me away! Pretty obvious I don’t get out much…lol.

I have been on a mission, trying to free up some space on my hard drive. Pictures take up so much space…try 10 GB. Hmmm a few pictures, what can I say. So I started putting them on CD’s, which I was not thrilled about, because when you want one then you have to find the CD it is on. And when you have that many CD’s…

I had a return at Staples, so while we were there I took a look at their storage devices. Of course the flash drives would work, but I found the coolest thing. It is a portable hard drive. And yes a lot of you may have already known about these, but I thought I was in heaven. These are the cutest little things. It is 3” x 5” x ¾” with unlimited capacity, with a USB port. This was the answer to my problems. Free Space here we come. The one I chose holds 250gb. They are so easy to use. I just dragged and dropped my folders of pictures onto it using “My Computer”. Now I can share my pictures with my daughter when we go to Arkansas. I have to make a confession though; I am still making a copy of my pictures on CD’s and will put them in storage for safekeeping. Just in case…

I have to tell you I was excited and still am, but while writing this post, I questioned myself. If this feels like heaven, what is heaven going to feel like? If I am this excited about material things, do I get this excited about Jesus and about eternal life? I feel I fall short at times, as a lot of people do. We get so caught up in our every day lives, but that’s just it…Jesus should be with us in our every day lives. He promised when we accepted him as our Lord and Savior, He would walk with us, as long as we want Him too. He does not force Himself on us; we have to be willing vessels. Lord, I pray that I can be a willing vessel for you and that my light shines so others may see.

"Then spake Jesus again unto them saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." John 8:12

Where is the blanket...

It is beginning to look a lot like fall…but it sure is feeling like winter! We are in a freeze warning tonight and tomorrow night. What is up with that? We have had a rainy, gloomy week here in Willard. The sun did shine for a little while today, late afternoon. Almost did not know what it was… Below are a few pictures of the sunset, definitely worth waiting for!

I am ready to get out and take some pictures of the changing colors. We are so lucky and take so much for granted. There are some fabulous parks in the Springfield area. Last Saturday, hubby and I did some exploring. We stopped at a favorite spot, which is Xeriscape Gardens. Unfortunately, the flowers are about done for this season. I did capture a few good pictures though. From there we happened on to Phelps Rose Garden. We definitely put that on our keeper list. I can only imagine how pretty it was in the peak season.

After Phelps we ventured over to Scenic Avenue and stopped at the Nathaniel Greene/Close Park. I was very impressed. There were so many different areas to look at. It sits on 60 acres. And it is beautiful. It definitely is on our keeper list. There are several different garden areas. Drummond Lake is a very pretty area with all the hungry ducks and geese. There is a rose garden that was still in bloom. A Japanese Stroll Garden was very pretty, very relaxing. And the Gray/Campbell Farmstead is in the park area. There is a lot to do and see, a perfect way to spend a great day relaxing. If you would like to see pictures, click on the picture link on the sidebar and it will take you to my webshots page where they are posted.

"Neverless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17

And Then There Were Pictures...

As most of you know, we recently had a month long adventure. We put a total of 4,984 miles on the car in our travels. We had a wonderful time even with the car problems. Which reminds me, I still need to write my letter to the mechanic in Reno, who said the car was shot, that we would not make it to the Utah border, and we needed to plan on flying home. Just wanted to let him know we made it home in case he was concerned...lol.

Anyway, just wanted everyone to know all of our vacation pictures are posted on my webshots page. You can reach that by clicking on the sidebar where it says "Pictures I Have Taken." Don't have a heart attack, there are 19 albums of our trip. What can I say, I am a picture freak! Hope you enjoy! Until we meet again...

"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." 1Peter5:6-7

Book Review: What difference do it make?

Book Review: What difference do it make? By Ron Hall, Denver Moore, and Lynn Vincent. Stories of Hope and Healing from the authors of “same kind of different As me.”

This story tells how two people from completely different walks of life were brought together. Ron is an international art dealer who lives the life of luxury and Denver is a homeless man, born in Louisiana, a sharecropper who never learned how to read or write, and spent time in the Angola Prison.

In the story they share how Ron’s wife, Debbie, through her vision, love and faith made a difference. Ron also realizes that strangers are not only on the street but sometimes are in our immediate families. Throughout this book, there are tales and stories of how Debbie’s vision made a difference in lives, and in turn how those affected are trying to make a difference.

On page 168, Ron is talking and he says: “They taught me not to ask myself what would happen to me if I stopped to help someone in the street but to ask myself what will happen to them if I don’t?” Honestly the majority of people feel that way, or we ask ourselves “why can they not find a job?” This book will change the way you look at the homeless; it will change the way you look at troubled relationships.

What difference do it make? I would like to answer that question, this book has made a big difference in the lives of a lot of people, including myself. I will never look at a homeless person the same way again. If everyone would read this book, and apply it to their lives and their broken relationships with others, what a quality of life we could have.