Grayton Beach State Park, Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, “…Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied… “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. ~ Genesis 37:12-14a For some unknown reason, Joseph didn’t go off with his ten older brothers to graze the animals. And now, just as we read a few verses ago, Israel (formerly Jacob) has sent Joseph off on a spy mission to check up on his brothers. Not a great way to build family unity. Do not look to Jacob for parenting tips. So just how far was Joseph’s journey? I checked, and the distance from their home base in Hebron to Shechem was about fifty miles. We’ll read next that the brothers weren’t there, but had moved on to Dothan which is another fifteen miles. Depending upon whether he was diligent in his mission or was the “Family Circus” kind of son, would determine how long this journey took him. If he was diligent, he would’ve traveled 20-25 miles/day, meaning locating his brothers was a 3-4 day walking journey. Unless he took a camel or donkey, but nothing in scripture alludes to him riding anything. (By the way, a camel can also walk 20 miles in a day.) Assuming he walked, it surely gave him plenty of time to ponder his life and mission. I wonder if he enjoyed his time alone? Wonder what he thought about? Did God speak to him at all during this time? All we can do is speculate. And now, I’m changing my mind. I’ll bet he was on a camel and we just don’t read about it. Jacob had camels. I can’t imagine that he’d send a favored son to walk in the elements for 3-4 days. Especially when a camel can withstand those elements so much better, plus carry 200 pounds, and go a long time without food or water. Now my question is – – how’d Joseph know where to find them in Shechem? You know the saying, “The devil’s in the details”? That seems to be me today; so caught up in figuring out details, I miss the point. Israel (Jacob) sent Joseph to spy and tattle on his brothers.
Our day began with frost on everything metal. Our Jeep, our coach, our neighbor’s stuff…. It’s been cold here at night, but not too awfully bad during the day. Definitely not shorts weather, though!
The second, smaller TV was installed today with little effort. (sorry, no pictures) Once that was done, we packed them up in the Jeep to get rid of them.
The Bible tells us to ‘do good’ in a number of places. Today, we had the opportunity to do just that; and how that made our hearts swell! Our two working TVs ended up in good homes! The larger one to Habit for Humanity, the smaller (after being rejected by Habitat) to one of the Park Rangers who said he was donating it to his church. It felt so good to find homes for them rather than the Park dumpster. And the best part? With the smaller one, it took some effort on our part, but God guided us right along with circumstances beyond our control. I love that about my God! He’s involved in even the smallest details!
On the way back home, we stopped to check out a public beach access area and had a wonderful walk!
But today, they’ve changed to ‘Be careful in the water’ and ‘watch out for stinging critters’.
I waited a long time for a gust of wind to pop those flags out. : )
I imagine someone put this together, or maybe several people,
because we added the alligator we found, and one or two other things.
When we walked back, it was all gone! Washed away by the water.
If you look close at the picture, you’ll see two pelicans on the right,
and a dolphin fin on the left, near the middle!
There were actually three of them!
Or at least we assumed that’s what made these prints. : )
We drove the rest of the way home via a Jeepin’ road through the Point Washington State Forest! Fun!
Late afternoon, we cleaned up and went out to dinner – The Great Southern Café. It was excellent! Except for the occasional hard rock music over the sound system – not very conducive to a nice dining experience. But the food was amazing! Every morsel could’ve drawn moans of delight, if we weren’t so proper, or our names were Bob! (From the movie “What About Bob”. You should watch it if you haven’t – Richard Dreyfus and Bill Murray.) 😊
We enjoyed grilled mahi, blacked shrimp, fried oysters, hushpuppies and fried green tomatoes!
certainly not because we’re gluttons. : )
And then we returned home and watched the movie, “News of the World” with Tom Hanks, on our new TV, using our new sound bar. Looked and sounded great! We thought the movie was very good, and educational. We had no idea there were people who went around the country reading newspapers to townsfolk, nor about the resistance after the Civil War in Texas.