So difficult to remember to praise when your physical being hijacks the intentions of your heart! I want to praise and today it is difficult. Then I remembered I could put on this song while I did at home PT. And in a few minutes I remembered I<Him. He >me.
As he was now drawing near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”
Luke 19: 37-40
We usually think garments on the road. Jesus on a donkey. The crowd cheering. I first heard this song years ago. It is a commentary on Luke 19. Listen to this song and imagine yourself in the crowd singing this one!
The lyrics below go with the YouTube recording.
Now Jesus was going up
On his way to Jerusalem
To be lifted up on a tree
That he might draw all men to Him
The multitudes began to praise Him
While other were trying to stop them
And Jesus said, "If these hold their peace
The stones will surely cry out"
And here is one less stone
One more voice
To praise the mighty name
The name of our Lord
Here is one less stone
One more to praise Him
Blessed is the King who comes
In the name of our Lord
Now David was a man of praises
Praising God in the sanctuary
He praised Him on the trumpet and the harp
And he praised Him in the dance
I don't wanna offend nobody
But I'm gonna worship Jesus
'Cause He said if I hold my peace
The stones will surely cry out
See all the stones in the distance? How many Christians do you know who are praising right now?
I want to be the ONE LESS STONE and one more voice to praise the LORD!
I have been noticing spider strings in the morning sun. These are not “webs” as such, more like hunting lines? I suppose the spider drops out of the trees because these begin high in the air) and drops down into the grass. The sun catches the gossamer line and glistens in my eyes.
Makes me wonder how all the birds frequenting our feeder miss those lines as they come flying in? We have decals and a blotter marker that leaves a residue that the birds can see so they do not crash into our sliding glass door. Does the spider have something like that in its silk?
I forgot to write about all this until this morning when I put the sprinkler on our clump river birch and then the new Mallow shrub. High heat this week and no rain in the forecast, ugh. Trying to unwind the hose and blech! a spider string was caught in my hair. Now I am wrestling the hose, (and I eventually turned the hose storage roller over on its side), trying to get the string out of my hair and remembering that I did not write about all of this.
In high school I did a science project with Becky about spiders. She was an artist and her family lived in a large house with an old stone basement. We sprayed a piece of cardboard with hairspray, captured a spider web . And repeated the process. Not all the captures were successful. We used the good ones as our displays to discuss the various kinds of silk a spider uses in construction.
Likely the most maddening encounter I ever had with a spider occurred at our last address on Siesta Drive. We had bird feeders (as usual) on our front porch. One day we came home from shopping and wondered how the hummingbird was holding this strange position on the porch.
Upon closer inspection, Grr! A spider had captured it and killed it. I was furious that our little friend had fallen prey to the natural order. Then I began to wonder what size spider could do that? I went inside to get the broom. Believe it or not I found that spider hiding along the edge of the porch. I drove it out into the open and beat it to death with the broom. Not exactly proud of that moment, but I felt justified at the time.
Silk so strong. Arachnid so mysterious. I am not afraid of spiders but like many people I do not like when I get their silks in the face. Walking a trail at the Nature Center I am always sort of relieved when Bob goes first and knocks the hunting lines away.
So with all my unscientific lingo but strong interest I guess I could have the title Citizen naturalist?
A man without God is trusting in a spider’s web. Everything he counts on will collapse.
Awoke with ceiling fan and floor fan on full blast. Legs and feet frozen. Temperature outside 62.
Same morning worked in yard and along entrance sidewalk for about 1-1/2 hours. Drenched. Every. Single. Stitch. I was wearing. August in Ohio. Was 76 degrees and humid when I came indoors. Bob says my thermostat is broken.
Here is my new favorite perennial.
Hibiscus or Mallow Shrub
Yes, they are like day lilies in that they drop their flowers every day, but what a delight!
This rabbit is certain if he sits tall and still I either will not see him or think he is a wrought iron statue. (two slots left of Mallow.) Then he turned and ate a pyracantha leaf. No wonder that shrub does not flourish!!
Yes, I know, not the best focus. So far he has not eaten the mallow shrub to the left!
This what I got from an entire package of nasturtium seeds. Lousy ground and lousy year for gardening! Perhaps the wood chips are to blame as I now hear they make terrible mulch for growing things. Ugh!
Yes, the leaves are supposed to be mottled.
Perhaps it is because we did not sow seeds until after May 19th when we returned from Maui? So sad the happenings in Maui. Each time we watch the news we are just stunned. Those poor people. Most of them got out with their lives, but now not only the clean up but questioning if it will be safe to live there with all the chemicals in the soil. Land grabbers trying to buy up the land. The spiritual center of Maui in ruins. Lord may those who lost their lives rest in peace. May those who are still missing loved ones have Your comfort. They say identification may take months or years as in most cases the pathologists are working with dust.
The opening photo was our dinner in Lahaina at Kimo’s restaurant. Totally gone now.
Online photo. Now I wish we had taken more photos of the street!
Scanning videos and photos on line, trying to decide what best to show you. This one photo certainly sums it up. Front street as it is now. And then I find myself overwhelmed with grief for the people there.
Never mind. I have nothing to complain about. We have been told the Red Cross is the best place to give donations. One of the airlines that I had accumulated miles on asked if I wanted to donate the miles to the cause. I responded absolutely! My friend who ministers in Nepal said this Hope Force International is also quite reputable.
Whatever you do , try to give to something to the rebuilding of Lahaina. Such terrible loss.
LORD, uplift and sustain the people of Lahaina and those who love her. Send the comfort of Your Spirit to them. Show each of the readers how to best support them in their losses. May Your will be done in our hearts and in our giving.
I have been wanting to look up this story and share it with since we returned from Hawaii. This is located at the black sand beach on the big island of Hawaii.
The mystical turtle, Kauila, makes her home in the Ka’ū district at Punalu’u Bay according to Hawaiian Mythology, Kauila was empowered with the ability to turn herself from a turtle into human form and would play with the children along the shoreline and keep watch over them. The people of Ka’ū loved Kauila as the guardian of their children and also for her spring that gave them pure drinking water.
The presence of Kauila can still be felt today by the sea turtles that inhabit this special place. The Hawaiian Honu (Green Sea Turtle) can be regularly seen in the bay feeding on limu (a type of seaweed) growing in the shallows. In addition the Honu’ea (Hawksbill Turtle) sometimes enters the bay at night to crawl ashore and deposit eggs in the black sand. Both species of sea turtles are fully protected under the U.S. endangered species act and wildlife laws of the State of Hawai’i. Enjoy watching these marvelous creatures but do not touch or disturb them
The above words can be found at Punalu’u Beach Park, inscribed on a borne plaque along with the beautiful image of a child sleeping on the back of a sea turtle.
Punalu’u Beach Park, in the district of Ka’ū, is a delightful stop, just moments off highway 11 between the towns of Nā’ālehu and Pāhala. The county park is open 24 hours a day and there is no park fee.
The word Punalu’u means diving (lu’u) spring (puna) and comes from the tradition of diving to the bottom of the bay with upside down containers and filling them with the fresh spring water seeping from the bay floor.
Here is the plaque below the memorial. Salt air does tears things up!
Now you know why the quotes are from on line information!
We don’t have to pretend to be fine when we are not. We don’t need to push through and be strong. Gratitude is a soft landing place that requires us to be honest, open, and willing to look at everything we’re facing and not turn away.
Alex Elle
I find that quote really powerful. The tremendous freedom in it! Gratitude “REQUIRES us to be honest, open, and willing to look at everything we’re facing and not turn away.”
A dear friend of many years suffered a fall a couple months ago. She shattered several bones. The pain was tremendous. She was hospitalized, then nursing care, then yet another nursing home/rehab situation. It must have been very hard to look at everything she was facing and not turn away. I know she was relying upon the Lord in this grueling recovery situation. The pain still has not gone, but she is coping. I did not learn about her situation until recently. I would have liked to pray for her especially during the worst of it. I know she prayed for me during the worst part of my life years ago. After that fall, the image of a soft landing place could be comforting.
This diagram was used in several other places, so I used it, too.
A neighbor recently had a bout of falling. Her son thought it was from her back pain and perhaps too many meds. She was taken by life squad to the hospital. In reality it was Addison’s disease with severe dehydration. She was in intensive care for several days. We lifted her in prayer plus her son and husband. She is hom02e now and doing well. I wonder if she knows that gratitude soft landing place?
Is the image a heart or a praying mantis face?
As I draw closer to the Holy One, unhealed things rise to the surface. Lately I have been sorting through some feelings and stumbling blocks that tend to trip me up. I have suffered emotional scarring from several situations with women over my 70+ years. Part of me says, “get over it,” and part of me says “the wounds are still there.” This wounding keeps me from engaging with other women freely. There is always a huge part of me held in reserve. Most of it began in my childhood from my family of origin. Hard to believe those wounds are present so any years later! The LORD knows all my scars and has recently helped me heal another layer. He could not help me if I turned away and refused to face the wounds.
All of this has led me to a place of deeper gratitude. Nothing in our life can be taken for granted. Also, everything can eventually become a source of praise.
“We don’t have to pretend we are fine when we are not. We don’t need to push through and be strong.” I had to ask the LORD for help.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Psalm 139:23-24 NIV
Help me turn every discomfort to You. Show me the cause and help me give it to You for healing. Whether I am in pain emotionally, physically, or spiritually You know and are able to give me wisdom in each situation. If I must return to a topic 1,000 times I realize You never tire of healing and helping, guiding and growing me into the image of Jesus. I also know You are no respecter of persons; You desire to heal every person. Help us each to yield to You. Amen.
When was the last time someone told you to “Go outside and play”? So often we take topics like faith so seriously that I think God is telling us to go outside and play with Him. Perhaps this is something you need? Even if your access to the outdoors is restricted by health, you can still have a playtime.
Ponder for a few moments the Scripture John 3:8. Here is the NIV version
Jesus said, “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
Reading Sensible Shoes and Two Steps Forward by Sharon G. Brown, I found great images about play and flowers. I will retell it in my own words as I do have permission to copy large portions of the books.
Hannah (a busy Christian servant) saw herself as a child running in and out of the throne room bringing flowers to Jesus. Then later she saw herself running in and out of the throne room taking flowers from around Jesus to others. Both times He stopped her, scooped her up and wanted to just spend time with her. He also told her in the second scene that the flowers were for HER! Later in Two Steps Forward she saw a pinwheel and realized it looked like the flowers she had seen earlier.
I have a large pinwheel and several small ones in our yard. A pinwheel can sit still all day or spin frantically in a heavy breeze. It helps me ‘see’ the wind and reminds me of the Spirit of God.
In Two Steps Forward Brown wrote
“There’s nothing useful and productive about pinwheels. They serve no practical purpose. They just wait for the wind without striving. An image of receptivity. And fun. Whimsical delight and wasting time. What a growing edge for me! And to have a pinwheel combined with the image of a flower is perfect. Thank you, Lord. The flowers are for me. The Lover’s gift to the beloved.”
Hannah in Two Steps Forward by Brown
In my Transfiguration Associates fellowship group I shared these ideas and passed out pinwheels for each person. I wish I could hand one to each reader right now! I bought ours at The Dollar Store which is now $1.25! I encouraged each person to go play, (but not to put them out the window as they were driving home.) You see, that is one of my first pinwheel memories, a summer day in the car having the X-mph wind blow my pinwheel.
Can you relax with God and rest in His love enough to just have fun? He has so many aspects to His personality that you will never know all of them. How about learning more about this one? Remember that when you have a fun time with an earthly friend you have a deeper bond. Just imagine how having fun with God will deepen that relationship! Go play!
God is the fountain of life. The only fountain of life. His glorious life is meant to flow through us every day – healing us, filling us with creativity, courage, joy, playfulness, and resilience. It comes through attachment, bonded love, the soul’s union with God.
John Eldredge “Resilient”
The wind is His, but He lets us see it and use it. The wind is one symbol of the Holy Spirit! Go play! The pinwheel brought all sorts of things to mind such as the song “Breathe on Me Breath Of God.” Sit with God and the wind, play and discover where He will lead you. Just don’t put your pinwheel out the car window while driving!!
Most of my life my mother worked at a florist in Norwood, Ohio called Dorl & Fern. I met Mr. Dorl a few times. For years my mother told my sister and I how much she wanted to visit the Hawaiian islands in order to see the flowers. (Also, her only sister lived there.) Many times the arrangement designers in the shop would use flowers shipped from Hawaii. She was delighted with those arrangements. She especially like the idea of orchids growing along tree trunks. There was much delight as she worked with the local California florist to design my wedding bouquet. Sadly, she died before she was able to go to Hawaii.
Our wedding 1970
When we were planning our visit to Hawaii (the Big Island) and Maui we told our friends Dan and Betty that we definitely wanted to see the flowers. They directed us to the Botanical Garden just north of Hilo, officially called the Hawaii Tropical Bioreserve & Garden.
The folder they gave us when we paid our admission describes the place as “a garden in a valley on the ocean.” The land is ‘held in reserve for future conservation, protecting the beautiful Onomea Bay forever.’
I was not disappointed. The beginning of the trail was a downhill boardwalk among fascinating plants, many of which we had never seen before. We were also entertained by tiny colorful geckos along the way.
Anthurium I have seen in floral shops in Ohio but never in lavender!
Geckos often lose their tail when fighting, but can grow them back!
“Pink Maracas”
Bob and I were amazed later when we compared our photos. Some were duplicates and some were things the other had not noticed. My photos of the orchids were the most abundant of all the photos I took. If you are familiar with house plants you may see some growing in the photos. So here is photo album of my still shots. By the time I would learn to make a video from still shots I could likely write 3 blog entries. Hard to teach old dogs new tricks!
If you paste the link below into your browser you can see slides from the garden posted on the Bioreserve website. Sadly, they do not identify the plants.
And then there were the orchids! You have most likely seen orchids in grocery store floral departments or big box discount stores. They are nothing like these orchids!!
See photo to rightOrchid rooted on treeWhat we know as house plant called Peace Lily.Anthurium rooted on tree truckBob’s favorite orchid on treeI do not know all the namesrooted some place on that tree!delicate colorsSplatter painted?Splotched white area unlike belowMy thumb is to show you how tiny this one is!Not identical to white ones above.
Okay, so by then I was weeping. Truly weeping over the beauty my mother missed. Weeping over the beauty of God’s creation and how He arranged for us to have the privilege to see it. I swear at one point it was as if the man who walked away from me in the garden resembled Ted Dorl. I cried because in some way this has been a deep link with my memory of my mother. And now, I had completed it. We sat on a bench while I tried to compose myself. Two women walking past surely looked bewildered by my tears. Bob gladly indulged me while I walked among the orchids again, then I found more plants and started taking photos all over again.
My Christmas tree wishLook closely!There she is, tucked away!At first glance looks like a pansy to me!
You know how people print photos on mugs and phone cases and all sorts of things? I think I want this printed like that!
The flight over the volcano was stunning along with flying over the coast and the waterfalls, but this is my best memory. It was hard for me to leave. It was getting very hot and humid. I was wrung out from the emotional experience. Rarely have I felt so close to my mom since she passed. Our daughter turns 48 this week. That means mom died 48 years and two weeks ago. May she be surrounded by Jesus and flowers in all of heaven!
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it, for he has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers.
This came up in my email today. The same sentiment arose another time and I can’t recall where!
Whatever may be the tensions and the stresses of a particular day, there is always lurking close at hand the trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.
Howard Thurman
“Trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.” With the smoke from the Nova Scotia fires moving into the Cincinnati area and the air quality index indicating the air is dangerous for those with compromised health issues it has been a rough time at our house.
My husband has COPD and, like me with my health issues, sometimes lives in a high state of denial. (COPD stands for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.) The week of June 11-17 was exceptionally bad. Bob has had difficulty getting accustomed to the fact that the air quality index warnings have to do with him. It seemed that each day his symptoms got worse. Finally on Friday evening, June 16th, he crashed into his chair and knew he was ill. We were outdoors for a part of the day on the 17th for a celebration of life memorial for a friend of his. We went home and I locked him in the house. He likely should have seen a doctor on the 15th, but did not. By Sunday evening he knew he had to contact the doctor on Monday morning for at minimum steroids and antibiotics. I was convinced the doctor was likely to admit him to the hospital, though he did not.
The doctor got him in. Put him on steroids and told him if there was no improvement, antibiotics were next. Sent us home.
During that time I did lots of praying and lifting. The Lord told me I needed to yield to Him, too. I was shocked when I returned from retreat how very, very anxious I became about Bob’s health situation. Listening to the voice of the Spirit I realized why.
I had gone from trusting the Lord implicitly during the retreat to anxious and worried. How did that happen so quickly? I was reminded that my Dad had been chronically ill for years with heart disease. (There are many tales about that I could write, but not today.) I grew up living on edge about his condition. At ten and younger I did not quite understand that his condition would be fatal. My husband almost succumbed to flu in 2018. That is when his COPD went from mild to more severe.
Mayo Clinic online says, “COPD symptoms include breathing difficulty, cough, mucus (sputum) production and wheezing.” There were times I could hear Bob’s lungs rattle with wheezing from across the room. His cough became so severe and prolonged that I wondered if he would bring up part of a lung instead of just mucus. Sunday evening his breathing was fast and very shallow. One night he must have coughed in his sleep. I, too, was asleep; however, I came straight up out of the bed thinking he had fallen. He was asleep in the bed. The LORD spoke to me that my anxiety was linked to that childhood experience of my father’s heart disease and subsequent early death. (At the time he was 46 yrs. old, I was 11 yrs. old.) I am no longer that child. The Spirit helped me recognize this and release that childhood scarring to my heavenly Father.
So as Monday morning came I was listening to the LORD, praying, releasing my fears, declaring to God that whatever happened at the medical office my heart was in His hand. I am sorry to report that my praise over the doctor not hospitalizing Bob was not as robust as my praise before the appointment thanking God for giving us good medical care. I think I had braced myself and was not quite certain what to do in the aftermath. Isn’t that sad?
We went out to lunch at his favorite place. Visited the pharmacy for the new medication. Came home, tended to housekeeping duties and took our rest. He was still very sick. That afternoon when my watch rang for the afternoon alert to bring my attention back to Christ, I gave thanks that we were working together on vacation photos and other office matters. I confessed my shame at not being more grateful immediately after the appointment.
This morning he decided to text the doctor as his sputum was no longer clear. Doctor had said that would indicate need for antibiotics. Bob did all of that before I was out of bed! This round of denial is certainly over.
“Trailing beauty of forgotten joy or unremembered peace.” Beauty – we went out to lunch. Were able to celebrate our recent vacation to Hawaii and not get swamped by fears about the illness. Unremembered peace – relief as I texted two people who were praying as we went to the doctor. We each think sending him home was good news.
Having ridden this roller coaster so recently I am trying to maintain an even attitude towards this illness. When he was intubated in 2018 the doctor told me that COPD can ‘turn on a dime’ meaning someone with this illness can go from sick to extremely ill in no time at all. That makes it hard to suspend my fears and hesitation. I am determined though, ‘with God’s help.”
Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.
Isaiah 46:4 NIV
Today (June 28) the air quality is again dangerous. We have closed up the house and are praying this does not exacerbate his symptoms. Stay well!
I mentioned I would get back to the shell on my soul collage.
“The nautilus and the ammonite are similar organisms. Both are aquatic molluscs with spiral shells. Ammonites, however, have been extinct since the K-T event that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago while the nautilus still roams the seas. There are numerous other differences between the two creatures, most of which are minor.”
Since childhood I have been fascinated by shells. Grandma Rush used to bring them to me from her bus trips to Florida. I likely found some on an eastern seaboard beach with my Dad before age 10. Even the land snails I found along the banks of the stream in Kuhner’s field fascinated me with their shells.
The nautilus creature makes a larger shell as it grows. Then it closes off the old chamber where it lived. Once when we were traveling the east coast we found a nautilus shell that had been cut open in a shop. Bob let me get it. For years it was hanging in my office. It was very fragile and got broken on the edges when not packed soundly for moving. From another vacation I now have a small cut open nautilus in a stained glass piece. In Hot Springs, Arkansas we found an ammonite in a rock shop that had been cut open. Again, Bob said, “Get it!”
Ancient to Arkansas to Ohio
Inner ancient chambers
Why are these special to me? When I was learning about the Center down silence, the nautilus showed me a way to do that. Instead of growing outward, to enter meditation and silence I need to travel from the largest chamber to the smallest, dropping things that hinder my listening to God along the way. Also note, the smaller the chamber, the fewer things it will hold.
During the retreat when I finally was able to come to stillness, a stop, I sensed the Lord saying that I had not been going to that quiet place enough with the Spirit for about 6 weeks or so. That is why I was so tired and drained. It was a gentle enlightenment and I immediately knew the wisdom of the statement. I forgot to drink from the Living Water, daily. I failed to enter the center down silence. Before retreat I was so hungry for silence. No wonder! I had not been there consistently for a long time. Yes I checked off boxes, did devotional readings, even read Scripture and Christian books. But no concentrated peeling away of distracting layers and just listening.
God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
Psalm 46:1,4,6 NIV
How could I skip going to the Living Water God offers me? The Word says the heart is deceitful above all else! I am so easily deluded. Help me, Jesus my Redeemer, to rest in Your holy place daily.
Much more important than showing you the photos is to ask you to try entering that center down silence for yourselves. Even Monica Brown understands! Look at the CD cover of hers I found in my favorite colors!
Will you try this for 21 days? Just listening for that still, small voice. It makes all the difference in the world! Give yourself to listening. Quiet your thoughts and heart. Sit still. Be quiet.
This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.”
When our children were young I purchased a poster from American Bible Society that had portions of Psalm 95 around the edges. Every night before they went to sleep I would read it to them after stories and before prayers.
I came across Psalm 95 when reading and praying Morning Prayer from the Book of Common Prayer was my practice. In my personal copy of Common Prayer I wrote the definitions of Meribah – STRIFE or CONTENTION and Massah – TEMPTATION. A few verses of the Psalm are repeated in Hebrews 4. I had studied Hebrews 4 in depth tying to understand the concept of entering God’s rest.
O that today you would listen to his voice! 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.’ 11 Therefore in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’
Psalm 95:7b-11 NRSV
Strife and temptation. Yes, I am so prone to those two! Likely, you are also?
What lead me to this Psalm again was an attempt to express the wonders of the LORD I have found over the past six weeks. I will just let you read it.
Subtitle: A Call to Worship and Obedience
1 O come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! 3 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods. 4 In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. 5 The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.
6 O come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker! 7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
O that today you would listen to his voice! 8 Do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness, 9 when your ancestors tested me, and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. 10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they do not regard my ways.’ 11 Therefore in my anger I swore, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’
Psalm 95 NRSV
I pray you rejoice over the LORD. Make a joyful noise to Him. Give Him thanks. Understand that He is the Great King! The depths of the earth, heights of the mountains, the sea and dry land – all are His for He made them! We are the sheep of His hand. LISTEN to His voice and be renewed in life and strength and grace.
In Hawaii we would begin the day at sea level them go for a drive. Before too long we were at 3,000 feet. My ears began to pop! Then suddenly we could see the snow atop Mauna Loa where the observatory sits. No, my photos did not come out. Just imagine palm trees and flowering shrubs, geckos running around and then seeing snow. Made me go yikes. At first Bob did not believe me. Then he saw with his own eyes and he too was amazed.
USGS reports on Mauna Loa: “Its long submarine flanks descend to the seafloor an additional 5 km (16,400 ft), and the seafloor in turn is depressed by Mauna Loa’s great mass another 8 km (26,200 ft). This makes the volcano’s summit about 17 km (55,700 ft) above its base! The enormous volcano covers half of the Island of Hawai‘i and by itself amounts to about 85 percent of the area of all the other Hawaiian Islands combined.” https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/mauna-loa
online Flicker photo- those look like sheep beneath the trees!
Treasures in Plain Sight, A Christian Blog 