Alafia River State Park, Lithia, Florida
Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar . . . whose mother was Rahab . . . whose mother was Ruth . . . Solomon whose mother (Bathsheba) had been Uriah’s wife . . . Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. ~ Matthew 1:3, 5, 6, 16 You may or may not realize it, but the fact that these women are even mentioned by Matthew is significant. Back then, women weren’t considered equals with men. They weren’t considered important. Jesus changed that. Jesus came from, and called people to Him who the world considered “lower class” and “sinners” and “unwanted” and even “distained”. He still does. Jesus taught that the Father Loved and used all types of people – even those considered unworthy by society. Tamar pretended to be a prostitute in her search for justice and righteousness (Genesis 38). Rahab was a prostitute who harbored and aided Israelite spies and because of her faithfulness to them, she was accepted (Joshua 2). Ruth was a Moabite; a people group whose women enticed the Israelites into immorality and idol worship (Numbers 25:1-3) and consequently were excluded from those who met to worship and serve God (Deuteronomy 23:3). Bathsheba was married to Uriah, but King David coveted her and took her and had her husband killed. She was now a used and broken woman (II Samuel 11). And then there’s Mary, who would’ve been considered an adulterous woman in her community, and was in fact, even by Joseph for a time. The penalty for adultery then? Stoning until dead. Matthew, himself (considered a “sinner” and “unworthy” by society because he was a tax collector), knew firsthand that God can and does, use anyone to further His Kingdom. Even the lowly “sinners” of the world. And Matthew knows what it’s like to be Loved by the One Who created him. Do you know that Great Love that covers every sin we’ve ever committed or will commit? Do you know that Great Love that longs to take you in, regardless of what society may think?
Today was a walking day. There were a few bikes, as well as fellow hikers, to dodge along the way, but it was a good walk today. We even had hills!
Really? In Flatland Florida? You may ask. Yes, really! It’s because of the mining that went on here that I mentioned the other day. Not only did they use those manmade hills for making mountain bike trails, but they kept one just for hikers.
It was such a gorgeous neon chartreuse color!
God made this dragonfly truly special!
One surprise along the way? It contains a buzzard roost area. We could tell before we got there. When buzzards are sitting in committee, their collective smell is really bad. I don’t know why. I tried to find out, but all they talked about was how the feces smells like ammonia. That’s not it. It’s the birds themselves. I suppose I’d smell bad too if all I ate were dead and rotten things.
Another big surprise we came across? A small school of large fish swimming and splashing in the shallow Alafia River! (yes, part of it runs through here, but no boat could ever) We think they were catching bugs on the surface. Fun to watch!
It was just sitting there.
We think they’re some kind of catfish maybe??
And finally, we came to an area where you could sit or stand to observe the extreme bikers do their thing, so we did that for a while. The same bikers were going around over and over again, practicing their skills. Fun! (to watch anyway! 😊)
