Category: Worship

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Beagle, Faith, Nature, Thanks, Worship

Paw Paw Tree

When we lived on Siesta Drive we had a pawpaw tree in the back yard. I never once saw fruit on it, but the unfolding leaves were dramatic!! Sadly I did not get a photo.

And yes, there are two acceptable spellings.

We were walking recently at the Cincinnati Nature Center. We took a trail we do not usually take. As we were wandering along I remembered there had recently been a guided walk showing participants native fruits. As we walked amidst the pawpaw trees, sadly I thought,”Huh, I have never ever seen a Pawpaw fruit in the wild.”

As Bob took various photos and the dog moseyed along sniffing the myriad scents along the trail, I noticed a rounded rock. “Hmm,” I thought,”the gravel here is rough not rounded.” I nudged it a bit with my toe, then I bent to pick it up. NOT a rock!! A pawpaw! And they really do smell like fresh bananas!

Bob captured this photo for me and for your enjoyment!

It really smelled delicious! I have had a queasy stomach so I could not bring myself to taste it, though I really wanted to! As the dog and I strolled along I carried it with us. Trying to take a photo of something else, I accidentally closed my hand over it. It had burst the skin. Yep! it was sticky. I put it on a log hoping someone else would delight to discover it. Of course, all of this lead me to look up its details when I got home!

The pawpaw plant can grow up to 12 metres (40 feet) tall and has pointed, broadly oblong, drooping leaves up to 30 cm (12 inches) long. The malodorous, purple, 5-cm (2-inch) flowers appear in spring before the leaves. The edible fruits are 8 to 18 cm (3 to 7 inches) long and resemble stubby bananas; the skin turns black as the fruit ripens. Depending on the variety, pawpaw fruits vary in size, time of ripening, and flavour.

Brittanica

The pawpaw is a patch-forming (clonal) understory tree found in well-drained, deep, fertile bottomland and hilly upland habitat, with large, simple leaves. Pawpaw fruits are the largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States. Pawpaw fruits have a sweet, custard-like flavor somewhat similar to banana, mango, and pineapple, and are commonly eaten raw, but are also used to make ice cream and baked desserts. The bark, leaves, and fruit contain the insecticidal neurotoxin, annonacin. Native Americans used the fiber of the pawpaw tree to weave ropes and nets.

Because of the lack of human propagation and the abandonment of much farmland in the Southeast during and after the Great Depression, pawpaws became extremely rare by the late 20th century, but are making a comeback. In fact, the State of Kentucky has established an experimental farm and agricultural labs in order to develop commercial varieties for international marketing. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and the Catawba Nation of South Carolina and North Carolina have initiated major pawpaw cultivation and experimentation programs in order to encourage Native Americans to grow the delicious fruit.

https://apalacheresearch.com/2021/06/24/the-indigenous-agriculture-of-the-americas-pawpaw-fruit/

Could it be that in my lifetime Pawpaw fruit might hit my local market? Well, after getting a whiff of the fragrance I would encourage you to purchase and taste some if you come to it in the market!

Largest edible fruit indigenous to the United States! Wow!

photo from Apalacheresearch website

Keep your eyes open for those treasures in plain sight!! Never now what you might find!!

 Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9 The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:8-9 NIV
Posted on in Faith, Just do it, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Yield

Have You Turned to Give Thanks

So easy to pray and ask, but thanks after the event?

Each of us have thousands of thoughts daily. When bad news comes we sometimes project the worst possible outcomes. When those worst things never come to pass do you give thanks?

Not talking pumpkin spiced thanks. Every season of every year! Not talking Turkey and pie here – daily thanks. “In everything give thanks for this is the will of God.” But do we? I first Thessalonians chapter 5 Paul writes a list of things we are to do in our walk. “Be at peace, admonish the idlers, encourage the fainthearted, rejoice, pray, hold fast to what is good”, etc. This was set to music when my kids were little. It was a great way to learn the passage. If you want to look it up on You Tube it is usually entitled “Rejoice Evermore.”

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

I love this painting. For me it says so very much! Ten lepers were cleansed. Only one thought to turn and give thanks.

Ten Lepers by James C. Christensen

Have you tried it? Turning back and giving thanks. Spend one week with this as your focus. When you don’t get the thing you were fearing or ‘awfulizing’ about do you give thanks? Will post about same subject a week from now. New habits can be difficult to initiate, but so rewarding when you find it is a practice! Notice how you do!

Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12 As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance 13 and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!”

14 When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed.

15 One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. 16 He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him—and he was a Samaritan.

17 Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18 Has no one returned to give praise to God except this foreigner?” 19 Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.”

Luke 17:11-19 NIV

However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

Luke 18:8b NIV
Posted on in Aging, Challenge, Faith, Illness and Health, Just do it, Memories, Music, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Complain or Praise

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!

Posted on in Aging, Book quotes, Challenge, Collection of Quotes, Faith, Listen, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Verb?

Multiple times I have run across this idea that God is not a noun. God is a verb. Of course, I did not note the places where I first began to hear this. Trying to resource it on-line led to several authors. These are by no means exhaustive!

Perhaps the most commented upon is a book by Rabbi David A. Cooper entitled “God is a Verb.” He bases his book upon studies of the Kabbalah, a branch of mystical Judaism. He writes about God as a verb and our ‘co-partnering in God-ing.’

And as Jason Derr at Huffington Post writes,

God is not a force who acts on the world through coercion, violence or the suspension of physics and free will. God is a verb, an action we bring to the world to make love, justice, mercy, joy and goodness known.

Jason Derr, contributor at Huffington Post

This quote challenges the conventional understanding of God as a fixed entity or concept, suggesting that God should be perceived as an active and dynamic force or presence in the world.

https://www.rarequote.com/god-is-a-verb-not-a-noun-r-buckminster-fuller

When I was re-reading my notes from The Shack I was only mildly surprised to find this one from Page 204!

My very essence is a verb. I am more attuned to verbs than nouns. Verbs such as confessing, repenting, living, loving, responding, growing, reaping, changing, sowing, running, dancing, singing, and on and on. Humans, on the other hand, have a knack for taking a verb that is alive and full of grace and turning it into a dead noun or principle that reeks of rules: something growing and alive dies. Nouns exist because there is a created universe and physical reality, but if the universe is only a mass of nouns, it is dead. Unless ‘I am,’ there are no verbs, and verbs are what makes the universe alive.”

The Shack by William P. Young

Certainly this gives us each food for thought. I will likely never be able to not personalize my relationship with God. Call it anthropomorphism if you want. Just how I was raised and at 72 years old likely too late to undo the thinking. But all of this does make me think hard about the idea. How about you?

There was a statement not long ago saying, “Your God is too small.” Yes! What if our concept of God is not BIG enough? A creation that continues to expand, unfold? I am not certain about any of the arguments for or against this. I do know that the LORD shows me things I never knew before. I want to interact with the participating presence of the Holy One in whatever way I am asked to interact. Will you yield to that?

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Thanks, Traveling, Worship

Massive Tree!

We went searching for this tree when we were on Maui.

Banyan tree of some repute!

There is only one banyan tree in Banyan Tree Park in the middle of Lahaina.  But it is the largest banyan tree in the United States and one of the largest in the world.  Lahaina’s giant banyan tree is 60 feet high and 200 feet wide, filling most of the block that makes up Banyan Tree Park on Front Street, behind the Lahaina Harbor.

https://www.mauihawaii.org/sights/banyan-tree/

So here she is!

Here is my video to try to capture just how enormous this tree is!

Of course, Wikipedia had lots to say about this tree. Here is a portion

The banyan tree in Lahaina, in Maui, Hawaii, United States, was planted on April 24, 1873, in Lahaina to mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of first American Protestant mission. The banyan tree (Ficus benghalensis) known in Hawaiian as paniana, located in the Courthouse Square, which was renamed Banyan Tree Park covering 1.94 acres, is not only the largest in the state but also in the United States. The tree was a gift from missionaries in India. A mere 8 feet (2.4 m) when planted, it has grown to a height of about 60 feet (18 m) and has rooted into 16 major trunks, apart from the main trunk, with the canopy spread over an area of about 0.66 acres (0.27 ha).

In 2023 Lahaina will have a birthday party to celebrate the Banyan Tree being planted 150 years ago.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banyan_tree_in_Lahaina

16 major trunks?!? 1.94 acres!! That is larger than the lot our home is on!

Praise God for such tree wonders, joyous travels and His glory in a growing tree.

Posted on in Amazing Creations, Faith, Nature, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship

Randy Alcorn and Zoon

While writing the post about White tailed deer I came across this post and enjoyed reading parts of it. There is some fantastic art work full of imagination, none of which I chose to post. So with full credit to Randy Alcorn I bring you portions and the link.

Throughout Scripture we read that animals praise God. I don’t know exactly how animals praise God, but our inability to understand it shouldn’t keep us from believing it.

Consider the psalms. Psalm 148 commands all of creation to praise the Lord, including the animals: “Wild animals and all cattle, small creatures and flying birds, kings of the earth and all nations, you princes and all rulers on earth, young men and maidens, old men and children. Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his splendor is above the earth and the heavens” (vv. 10-13). If in some sense fallen animals, shadows of what they once were, can praise God on this fallen Earth, how much more should we expect them to do so on the New Earth? “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” (Psalm 150:6). Since animals are said to have breath, they are included among those directed to praise God.

Passages in Revelation also indicate that the animals will praise their creator: “Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!'” (Revelation 5:13). What are these “creatures” said to do? To sing praises to God in worship. If “every creature in heaven and on earth” includes animals, then animals praise God.

https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/18/are-animals-capable-praising-god/

I sometimes read “every creature” to mean human, but no, it means every creature, Molly! in heaven, on earth, under the earth and on the sea and all that is in them.”

The most striking example of animals praising God in Heaven is often overlooked because of word selection in our Bible translations. We’re told eight times in Revelation of “living creatures” in the intermediate Heaven: “Day and night they never stop saying: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.’… The living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne” (Revelation 4:8-9).

The word translated “living creatures” is zoon. Throughout most of the New Testament the word is translated “animal” and is used to indicate animals sacrificed in the temple and wild, irrational animals (Hebrews 13:11; 2 Peter 2:12; Jude 1:10). In the Old Testament, the Septuagint used zoon to translate the Hebrew words for animals, including the “living creatures” of the sea (Genesis 1:21; Ezekiel 47:9). In extra-biblical writings, zoon commonly referred to ordinary animals and was used of the Egyptians’ divine animals and the mythological bird called the Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2-3 1 Clement 25:2-3 ). In virtually every case inside and outside of Scripture, this word means not a person, not an angel, but an animal. The King James version translates zoon “beasts” in Revelation, but the negative connotations of that word led subsequent translators to settle on “living creatures.” The most natural translation would be simply “animals.” That word would likely have been chosen by translators if it didn’t sound so strange for readers to envision talking animals praising God around his throne!

https://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/18/are-animals-capable-praising-god/

I love it! I just love this sort of Bible study where I learn something I never knew before. I was taught and believed that the ‘living creatures’ around the throne ‘look like a lion, ox, a man, and an eagle’ but Alcorn purports that they are more than just what they look like. They are animals. Now that gives us something to ponder!

“Talking animals praising God around his throne!” Sweet. In the Episcopal church years ago we had a casual Sunday evening service and we were so few in number that we would circle the altar table for communion. The information from Alcorn’s teaching and that Sunday evening experience let me envision praising God with talking animals in an intimate circle of communion.

Yes, the creatures described by Ezekiel come to mind, but as one commentary notes, “The description in the vision cannot be taken too literally, for the prophet constantly reminds his readers that the images used to describe the vision only approximate what he actually saw. The visionary combination of vague, evocative images with concrete but fantastic objects helps the prophet to describe the divine reality that he saw but that cannot ultimately be described.” Harper’s Study Bible

I praise God saying whatever the Zoon are, bring them on LORD. Come quickly I pray! Let’s get Your victory party started!!

Somehow we have failed to grasp that the “living creatures” who cry out “Holy, holy, holy,” are animals—living, breathing, intelligent and articulate animals who dwell in God’s presence, worshiping and praising him. They are greater than the animals we know, and they preexisted the animals we know. Perhaps they’re the prototype creatures of Heaven after whom God designed Earth’s animals. But even though they’re highly intelligent and expressive, they’re still animals; that’s what Scripture calls them.

Randy Alcorn
Posted on in Book quotes, Challenge, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Prayer, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Yield

J. Philip Newell

Listening to a podcast where J. Philip Newell was interviewed, he mentioned that when he teaches and/or writes he is not informing us of anything radically new on the earth. He is simply reminding us of things we already know. I pray you have found this true from reading my blog, (though it is a lofty thing to compare myself in anyway to Newell). If my words ring true from Scripture and the journey of following Jesus, then I would think there should be some familiarity to you. If you are a brand new believer or someone just exploring the faith, then perhaps not.

J Philip Newell

I took his quotes from talk #1 which begins after about 5+minutes of introduction and announcements from Rob Bell.. Here is the link https://www.earthandsoul.org/podcasts

In the interview J. Philip Newell mentioned that he had a new grandchild. When she looked him straight in the eye he was reminded of the idea that Dickens captured:

“It is no small thing, when they, who are so fresh from God, love us. ”

-Charles Dickens

Have you had a similar experience? That piercing gaze of a newborn or very young child? One so fresh from God. Many years ago my husband bought me a bookmark with that sentiment on it. At the time I had raised our children and was working as a nanny to other children. When those babies would gaze into my eyes I was deeply blessed.

There is a story that speaks about a man who went into a church everyday and sat. Finally the priest asked him was he was doing as the priest never heard the man pray. The man answered, “I look at Him. And He looks at me.”

Have you spent time just looking at the Lord and allowing Him to look at you? Could you pause more often during any day or night and turn your eyes upon the Holy One, allowing yourself to be seen, inside and out? Do you love God enough to gaze and rest and be made new with this holy looking?

I think trying it will provide your best answer.

I had a friend named Char. I met her through crochet lessons I was offering. She had lung cancer, but was determined to squeeze every single drop of life out of the time that remained for her. As she came nearer to the end of her life she asked me about prayer. She wanted to know if she was ‘doing it right.’ She said as she went about her day she spoke with Jesus about everything. I was floored. I told her that was absolutely correct as I understood Christianity. We involve God in our every thought and action and even our resting. I have been studying Brother Lawrence for years and trying to practice His presence always. Speaking to Jesus, listening for instruction and direction. Doesn’t get any better than that!

I pray you will enter into ‘continuous communion with God’. Nothing on earth will reward you like that practice!

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Journal, Just do it, Listen, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Worship, Yield

A Living Sacrifice

That has been my word or phrase for the year 2023. I have been pursuing what that actually means. This year I have tried to learn more about this concept. I blogged about it last January. https://wordpress.com/post/treasures-in-plain-sight.org/11031

I do not usually read the Bible interpretation called The Message. I came across this and had to find who wrote it. Yep, it is from The Message!

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Romans 12:1-2 Message

That is it in a nutshell! Guess I need to get out the nut cracker and unpack that?

With God’s help – take your usual life – and place it before God as an offering. Meaning all of your life is given to Him and lived for Him and to Him. An audience of One! I must never think I can do this on my own. I need help and should ask for that help regularly.

Embrace what God does for you. This means I am not taking credit for His work. Remember the gratitude list? All the things in a single day that God does for you and in you. Embrace it all. That can be hard when He does not do the things I want like remove chronic pain and illness. Embracing is ‘the best thing I can do for Him.’ Have you ever asked God how you can please and delight Him? Here is one way!

Do not expect to fit in with the culture around us. As we grow closer and deeper in the Holy One we will NOT fit in with the culture!

FIX YOUR ATTENTION ON GOD. Not easily done, but with practice it does get easier and the more one does it the more one misses it when wandering begins. The Holy One is where I want my attention to remain. It is a kind of super glue for those of us living in the world but not of the world! Fix our attention on the Holy One.

Recognize and respond. I see what You want, Lord and {not I will get to that later} I am on it! The more we love someone the more quickly we will delight to please that one. I recognize what is required of me and I am quick to do it. Not running out before the right time, but willing to fulfill what is being asked in a very timely manner.

The promise is that God will develop well-formed maturity in us. Oh yes, Lord, let it be so! That we will not longer be spiritual babes, infants in Christ.

And so, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. 2 I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, 3 for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations?

1 Corinthians 3:1-3 NRSVA

That is just full of promises and this I am to do and let glory be given to God and just wow.

Are you willing to give it a try? If we stumble and think that is failure we are wrong. If we stumble and do not accomplish the challenge it just means there is room to grow and like the Benedictines we need to say, “Always we begin again.”

Posted on in Book quotes, Faith, Just do it, Listen, Poetry, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Worship, Yield

Perhaps I Should Rewrite This One?

Inside Out © 1988 		Molly Lin Dutina		

I want to live from the inside out,
always within the center-down silence.
Having to struggle to get back 
is not the direction I choose.

Teach me, Lord, and help me 
know how to grow 
from the peaceful
sanctuary within.

Show me please where 
to refresh our love.
Give me attitudes that will unravel me
from the sin which so easily entangles.

Make me one with You, Lord,
so I will know 
how to be close 
to all that is around me.

Help me, Father,
and be glorified in my life.

I have learned more about my journey to the center-down silence since 1988. I have been pondering re-writing this poem but have not attempted yet. Maybe the words will come and I will pursue it.

Until then I pray you will venture into your own journey with the Living Christ. Find your way to quiet your self and rest with the Holy One.

I abandon all that I think I am, all that I hope to be, all that I believe I possess. I let go of the past, I withdraw my grasping hand from the future, and in the great silence of this moment, I alertly rest my soul.

~ from DEEP IS THE HUNGER by Howard Thurman

God clearly gives us a path to His quiet. We must desire this. We must make a move towards Him. He writes clearly through the book of James 4:8. We are to “draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts you double-minded.“

My heart is not proud, Lord,
    my eyes are not haughty;
I do not concern myself with great matters
    or things too wonderful for me.
2 But I have calmed and quieted myself,
    I am like a weaned child with its mother;
    like a weaned child I am content.

3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord
    both now and forevermore

Psalm 131 NIV

Go there, to that place of quiet. Wait for His touch and His wisdom. With practice you will not be disappointed!

Posted on in Challenge, Faith, Family, Listen, Memories, Nature, Spiritual discipline, Spiritual growth, Thanks, Traveling, Worship

When They Were Young

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!