Tionesta Lake COE, Tionesta, Pennsylvania
But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children. And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them. ~ Genesis 50:19-21 I’ve always found the center of these verses to be one of the most reassuring in all of Scripture. Paraphrased, “Harm was intended, but God used it for good, to accomplish what is now being done.” Good can be found in everything that we determine is harmful, we just have to keep our hearts and minds open to notice it. Why? Because God is Good. All the time. Sure, most of us don’t have a ‘Joseph story’ to look back on, but we have a story nonetheless as long as we stay true and close to the Father. And this also brings to mind Mordecai’s response to Queen Esther that she ‘came to royal position for such a time as this’. (Esther 4:14) Most of us don’t realize the intentional or even unintentional impact we have on others’ lives. May we always strive to make it a good impact for God’s Glory.
He left me alone for two hours on the banks of the Allegheny River with nothing but a boat and my e-reader. . .
At least, that’s how it was originally planned.
It ended up only being about an hour, because we cut our 5-hour tour down to a 3-hour. (Are you thinking about Gilligan right now? I’ll bet he crossed your mind. 😊)
So here’s what happens when we kayak rivers. We drive to the dock to put in, we blow up the boat and prepare it for sailing, then he drives by himself to the take out point and rides his bike back, locks it to a tree or some other stationary post, and away we go. Once we take out, we pack the boat up, put it in the Jeep, then drive to the bike, pack that up and drive home. Whew!! Sounds confusing, but it’s not. However, sometimes the reverse needs to happen, so at those times, you can just read this backwards.
The biggest issue is always his bike ride. He’s gone up to ten miles before, all while I sit and read. Today it was six miles – – along the highway! I was concerned today. But prayers were answered and he arrived safely.
I took it on the way home.
It was a nice float down the Allegheny, until we came upon one large, very shallow area and had to get out and drag the boat.
Weird since this is the only place we saw/smelled it, and we saw no smoke coming from anywhere!
I got lucky! : )
Not a problem, especially since it had a perfect lunch spot!
One of the most exciting parts to our morning on the water was spotting a Golden eagle!
As soon as we re-entered the water after our lunch stop, a strong headwind hit us, but we’re headed down stream, so it was okay. And then the wind stopped. Kinda weird.
We also saw a bald eagle, osprey, two good-sized flocks of Canada geese, and heard a rafter of turkeys in the woods during our six-mile river journey.
And we had to get out and pull the boat once again at the take out spot.
We have to pull it around that corner and back up the other side.
It’s not as far as it looks. : )
After dinner, Blaine decided he needed more exercise, so he rode his bike to the top of the dam. I felt no such need.
The idea was to show perspective and how far the water came up, but it kinda flopped those goals.
Still, it was fun watching Blaine most likely breaking some kind of rule about climbing on the dam.
No sign though! : )
Tomorrow we’ll be off on another adventure because it’s supposed to rain for the next few days after that. We feel bad for all the myriad of campers coming in for the holiday weekend.