Springs Of Living Water 08/16/20

Cheyenne Mountain State Park, Colorado Springs, Colorado

By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down. ~ Proverbs 29:4

Our sunrise this morning was a bright, neon red/orange ball in the sky.
Of course, our phone cameras didn’t pick it up quite right. : (

We had balloons . . .
and reveille again, as we’ve had every morning. : )

Since today’s Sunday, and we’re still not attending worship services in person (Can’t WAIT to get home!), I’m including another excerpt from that dating study I mentioned a week or so ago.

JESUS – –
   Jesus is either a fraud, or He’s insane or He is in fact, who He claimed to be. He can’t be just a “great teacher/prophet”, but not the Son of God, since He proclaimed Himself to be God’s Son (Matthew 16:15-17).
   One of the incredible, mind-blowing things about Jesus, is that He was fully man and also fully God – both at the same time! (Romans 1:1-4). As a man, who was born of a virgin (Luke 1:34-37), He lived among us and went through the same trials, temptations, emotions and daily needs we do – but was without sin (Hebrews 4:15). He was born (Luke 2:6), grew up, learned ((Luke 2:52), had limited knowledge of heavenly things (Matthew 24:36), got tired (John 4:6), hungry (Matthew 4:2), was sometimes surprised at the depth or lack of human faith (Matthew 8:10, Mark 6:6), was physically challenged (John 4:6), grieved (John 11:35), suffered anguish and anxiousness (Luke 22:44), was hesitant to follow God’s plan (Matthew 26:39), felt abandoned by God (Mark 15:34), and was tempted to sin (Mark 1:13). As God on earth, He was omnipotent (all-powerful) – able to calm storms (Luke 8:24), multiply food (Mark 6:38-41) and turn water into wine (John 2:7-9a). He was omniscient (all-knowing) – knowing people’s thoughts (Matthew 9:4) and motives (Matthew 6:1-4). And He was God (John 10:30), the great I AM (the Bread of Life, Light of the World, The Door, The Good Shepherd, The resurrection, The Way, The True Vine). He was the way to the Father, truth and life (John 14:6), and love (John 15:13-14) and righteous (I John 2:1) and eternal (John 1:1-2). He was all these things, and so much more during the approximate 33 years He spent as God-man on this earth.
   His purpose for coming was to ‘testify to the truth’ (John 18:37). To those who put their faith in Him, He said they would ‘know the truth and the truth would set them free’ (John 8:31-32). Jesus was and is Truth. To know Him in a personal way is to be set free – free from the bondage and punishment of sin and death (Romans 8:2).
   He came here to show us how God wants us to live and to take on the punishment for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to. We don’t really understand why God requires a blood sacrifice to cover sin, but He does (Hebrews 9:22). He always has. The first time was for Adam and Eve in the garden, when God sacrificed an animal(s) to make clothes to cover their nakedness and the shame of their sin (Genesis 3:21). The last time, was Jesus Christ Himself (Hebrews 10:4, 10). He was resurrected from the dead to prove His victory over sin and death so we can have eternal life (John 3:36) in the presence of God in Heaven (I Corinthians 15:3-4).
   Jesus now stands as a personal mediator between us and God (I Timothy 2:5-6). He intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25). He will come to earth again to demonstrate final victory over Satan (Revelation 20:10) and to separate believers and unbelievers (Matthew 25:31-32) and to create a new heaven and a new earth where He will reign for eternity (Revelation 11:15).

After we listened to Pastor Mike’s message from the book of John (they celebrated Easter back home today!), we left in search of fossils.

We didn’t really know what to expect from Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. We were hoping for dinosaur bones, or something. No dinosaur bones, but there was other interesting stuff!

Because of COVID, the Visitor Centers at all the National Park places are closed, but this Park found a way to bring some of their exhibits outside! This one and the next, are two of those exhibits that they brought outside. Pretty cool stuff! Especially when you consider they’re ancient!

Below are some pictures I took of their brochure:

Back to the “real” stuff we saw while we were here. . . .

This is the area they’re monitoring. That mass in the “hole” is a petrified redwood tree stump. Yes! In Colorado! Evidently, these trees used to be all over the western states, not just in California.

Before this became a National Monument , it was fair game for scavenging for over 100 years.

We sat Blaine on that bench to try give the picture some perspective.
That’s another petrified redwood stump. There are quite a few around.
I think the Ranger told us there are 16 the public can see, and an additional 16 we can’t.

These are the ‘clones’ they spoke of in the previous picture.

They have some of these protected from the elements as much as possible.

If you want a giggle, be sure to read the entire sign. : )

The signage was a little different here, but at least there were signs!

Walking the trail, in search of more redwoods.

Wonder how big they plan on letting this tree get?

Can you imagine?!? We thought it terrible,
but truthfully, we (and probably you, too) would’ve been right there with them if we’d had the chance. . . .

Just a tall dead tree.
But it looks very cool, don’t you think? : )

Same stump, I’m on the other side of it.

See the old saw blade stuck in the petrified wood?

That’s mudstone, the rock the fossils are found in.
It’s under a tree near the Big Stump

Another trail, with some petrified wood, but it was all pretty deteriorated. : (

A tree growing in the middle of a petrified redwood stump.

We liked the contrast between today’s trees, and the ancient redwoods.
Quite a comparison!

We found a picnic table in the shade for lunch, and this beauty got really close!
It’s a Stellar Jay.

Blaine took a lot of pictures trying to capture his beautiful blue feathers,
but he hopped every time he snapped. lol!

And then finally! A perfect pose! Thanks, Jay!

This homestead is also part of the Park.

They have the house open with a Ranger to talk with, but we arrived at lunchtime, so we missed out. : (

There’s a path to what was probably either an ice house, or a fruit cellar, it was also locked and had no sign, so we’re not sure, but anyway, there are tons of prairie dog holes all over the place!
This is the closest and stillest dog we saw. : )

On the way back home, we made a stop in Manitou Springs to check out their water. I’d read about it when I was looking for things to do in the area, and it certainly sounded intriguing. And definitely something we’ve never done before!

This town was built on it’s mineral springs, and you can walk around town and see – as well as taste – eight of them. (For some unknown reason, we thought there were only seven, so we missed one. ☹) Supposedly, they all taste different, and back in the day, people drank the waters based on their health issues because each one had different mineral content. They were very popular until pharmaceuticals became available.

Driving into the town of Manitou Springs.

This was on a corner near where we parked.
It was raining when we arrived, then stopped, but the sky still looked menacing, so we carried an umbrella.
Just in case. I used it for a bit on the way back to the Jeep.

This is the brochure they make available for you.

We began at Shoshone and worked our way up.

We began our tour planning to taste every one of the springs, but we missed one of the eight, and the first one didn’t have any water in it. It certainly wasn’t something we’d relish doing again. If you’re old enough, you most likely remember terrible tasting medicine. This was no different. But these were all unique, in that they were naturally carbonated! It was really obvious, and left your tongue feeling tingly!

One of us really should’ve thought to take a picture of the other’s face when they tasted it. Stand in front of a mirror. Scrunch your face up, squint your eyes, and pucker your lips. That’s what we looked like. Every time. Hahaha!

Most of the sidewalk downtown was decorated.

Cheyenne Spring
It’s right in the middle of the sidewalk. : )
Since it’s our first, we discovered that I took too much.
From now on, teeny sips only!

Should we try it? Nah! But we’ve noticed that these types of shops are all over the cities of Colorado.

I think in this case, our picture is much better. : )

There was no information board explaining this one.

Now, we walk a ways up the street to find the Iron Spring.

Oh, my! They seem to have a major erosion problem in this section of the street!

The hill seems to be sliding right down into the road.

Ha! Is that in case we get tired of walking?

This one and the next tell of the minerals in each of the springs. Pretty interesting!

During our walk around town, we also discovered that this is the place where the Cog Railroad originates, so we were able to look around at some of the construction stuff for that.