Torreya State Park, Bristol, Florida
After a breakfast of veggie omelets, we started the day watching our new neighbors. They came in after dark last night with an enormous 5th-wheel (that’s the one that hooks into the bed of a pick-up truck) and a new truck. This morning, we watched as they pulled forward, opened the back and rolled out a brand spankin new shiny silver sport-looking motorcycle. They’re pretty young to have all this stuff – like mid-thirties/early forties. Blaine thinks they won the lottery. : ) They have one of those US maps on the side and the only state they’ve filled in is Alabama. The trailer has temporary Indiana tags. Their rig is so long, we can’t see the pick-up from inside our coach. She was out there directing him and puffin’ on one of those e-cigarette things (we think). I’ve never seen so much smoke come out of one person! Then again, maybe it’s some kind of vaporizer she needs for her lung condition. . .
Thew new neighbors.
Don’t have the bike, though because they took off on the noisy thing early this morning.
Just look how long this thing is! Even longer than we are!
Grrrrr . . .
We don’t always speculate and spy on our neighbors like this. In fact, the last time was in Bar Harbor, Maine. 😊
Church this morning was a return to The Chapel and the end of Pastor Mike’s series on the Reformation. The topic today? Soli Deo Gloria – For the Glory of God Alone.
Everyone and everything is to be for His glory. We are saved – for His glory. We can study the Bible our entire lives and still not get to the deepest part of it. Salvation is not like that! It’s so simple! God doesn’t sweep our sin under a rug and He doesn’t forget about it. He PAID for it with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And once we receive this great and glorious gift? Then what? We are to live for His glory. (“In Him we were also chosen . . . in order that we . . . might be for the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:11-12 paraphrased)
What does “glory” mean? So as to reveal Him, expose His character, to credit to Him, make Him famous.
We often prefer to be “glory thieves”. We often do things because we want the glory for ourselves (intentional or not) which takes away from God. (“For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” Romans 1:21)
Science doesn’t answer “Why?”, science answers “How?” .
God answers “Why?” – – Why am I here? Why should I _______ (fill in the blank)? Why? Why? Why?
For the Glory of God. And we are called to live that way. That everything we do and say, be for His glory. (“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I Corinthians 10:31)
After “church”, we hiked part of the Torreya Trail backwards. It was a beautiful day! Sunny, temperature hovering just below 70, no wind. Ahhhhhh . . . . .
We sat here enjoying the quiet for about 30 minutes.
We had to enjoy the quiet, nothing else was going on. Literally. Nothing.
We did take note of a couple of things we didn’t really notice the last time, but isn’t that what usually happens when you go a different direction?
We’re up high enough that we’re just about at tree-top level.
This was one of the things we missed before.
Look how big this vine is!
See where that blue arrow is pointing? Remember when I told you the other day that the Ranger pointed out a tree and said that’s where we were headed?
Well, that’s the tree!
Since we’re going backwards, we just left there.
Gently lapping waves.
But . . . we’re on a river.
Actually, just before we arrived, a boat went speeding by.
Blaine says we passed this way before, but I don’t remember this fence at all. Maybe I had my head turned the entire time?
As we neared the end, we passed a lady who told us there were two eagles in the nest today. But by the time we got there (she was walking really slowly), the nest was empty. ☹ We stood around for a while, but . . . nothing. Bummer!
Since Blaine was going to be watching playoff games, I got out a puzzle. I was looking forward to working on it for a few hours, then rolling it up in the storage puzzle mat. One problem. We couldn’t find the mat. What?!? Where is it? We bought it after retirement specifically for this reason!
I got the puzzle out anyway. Then I texted my oldest son and asked him to come help me. He’s a bonafide puzzle wizard! We first discovered it when he was 5 and declared that the bottom right piece and the upper left piece of two separate puzzles was the same and that they were just “upside down” as he called it. To this day, he can just walk up to a puzzle in progress, pick up a piece and place it without hesitation. It’s astounding to watch!
Where, or where, is Chris?
Anyway, he couldn’t make it. I did what I could. It was fun while it lasted. 😊
TOTAL MILES: 5.25
Year to Date: 70.25
Daily Average: 3.35