The Most Beautiful Time of the Year

This is the prettiest time of year.  This is the time of year for reserving weekends to take walks in the beautiful autumn landscape.  That's what we did today.  After a leisurely morning, we headed off to Panera Bread for lunch.  Afterwards, we made our way to a park that we haven't visited for some time.  The park had a Toddler Trail with activities for kids about every 20'.  Since I'm married to a big kid, we took the trail, and my 49-year-old toddler did her best to engage me in all of the activities ... every 20' 😏.

The trails throughout this park are lovely.  Since our last visit, they added a 1.0 mile loop through some grasslands.  The nature trail is about 1.3 miles, so putting the two together makes for a great walk.  The leaves are in full color here in Bowling Green, KY, and they are amazing.  Our Creator God certainly made some awesome things.

Just before lunch, we stopped at Meijer and found these LED lights that are installed easily into existing light sockets.  WOW!!! What a difference!  Our garage space is no longer too dark 🌞.  Working out in the winter time will now be a much brighter experience!!  They were on the clearance rack for 50% off, so that makes the whole thing even better.

For the last two days, I've been meditating on this verse ...

"Wait on the LORD, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it."  

                                                                                                            Psalm 39:1

In Jesus Christ, I'm forgiven; I'm safe; I'm victorious, and someday, I'll be with Him in His eternal Kingdom.  Will you?  I don't need to be agitated and worried about life with all of its uncertainties and disappointments.  I just need to wait on God.  I need to serve Him faithfully.  Someday soon, the wicked will no longer be in control.  

The Fiery Hammer and the Useless Dreams

"The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.

Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?"

                                                                                         Jeremiah 23:28, 29

I've always been fascinated by these words.  God spoke these words to His prophet Jeremiah almost 2500 years ago.  Jeremiah was dealing with people who valued their dreams over God's Word.  Did they have dreams about the future?  Maybe, but it didn't make any difference.  The false prophets were telling the people that Jerusalem wouldn't be destroyed, and they convinced the people that Jeremiah couldn't be trusted.  God's Word was clear, unmovable, and inerrant, but the "dreams" of those religious people were fallible and untrustworthy.  In the end, Jerusalem was levelled, just like God promised would happen, and all the dreams of the prophets came to nothing.

This reminds me of what's happening in our society.  I talk to people and I hear about their "thoughts" and "dreams" that they have on truth and religious matters, but personal thoughts and dreams aren't the things upon which we can build a foundation.  Only God's Word stands.  Be careful about putting stock in anyone's dreams or thoughts.  The Bible is the only information that you can trust.  Be especially careful when someone tells you of a dream that is in direct contradiction of biblical truth.  If they truly had a dream like that, it didn't come from God!

I like the way the Lord simply said, "Have your dreams, and the one who has My Word, let him keep proclaiming it faithfully!"  God's word is the wheat, and our human dreams and opinions are the chaff.  Only the wheat will survive.  Only the wheat will nourish.  Only the wheat is worth keeping.

In the coming day of judgment, God's Word will burn through the false and break in pieces the opposition, and every "dream" upon which so many people place so much value, at the expense of loving and obeying the Bible, will be completely forgotten.

Discovering a Nearby Waterfall

You can't live in an area and never visit the local landscape, so today we decided to check out the local waterfall.  It was a great one-time-and-done adventure.  It's quite small, but the terrain was a nice distraction from the concrete and buildings of bustling Bowling Green.

Yeah, the falls was more like a trickle.  The hillside sprung a small leak 😛, but it was still a nice walk through the woods.

After lunch, we added some matting to the gym space in our garage.  My coated dumbbells were sticking to the sealer on our concrete floor, so we resolved the issue by cutting an old workout mat and fitting it to the space.  The mat also prevents the other rolled up mats from sticking to the floor.  It works great!!

Having our own equipment and space has saved us thousands of dollars in gym membership fees; plus, it's nice to have privacy and avoid the excessive skin exposure that you normally find in a gym 😏.

In study today, I was encouraged by God's provision for Daniel as he took a stand in his heart against the influences of Babylon.  The Lord is more than ready to help someone who wants to hold on to God in faith.

"But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.  Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs."

                                                                                                Daniel 1:8, 9

Adventures at the Shedd Aquarium

On our way to a wedding in Wisconsin, we decided to stop at the Shedd Aquarium on the east side of Chicago.  Once we emerged alive from the abominable traffic and arrived at the aquarium, the day was great.  The temp was a perfect 75F.

We enjoyed every display inside the aquarium.  If you stop and look at everything, the entire aquarium takes about 3-4 hours.  Sandra's favorite was, of course, the otters.  She's a big otter fan.  We doubled back to them for a second look, needless to say.  I didn't get any pics of the otters, but here are some pics of the 2 story aquarium.

The aquarium is located inside of a very large green space that stretches for well over 9 miles along the coast of Lake Michigan.  A greenway encompassed the isthmus on which the aquarium was located, so we walked it of course.  The entire day was a great adventure, but we are both grateful for the fact that we don't live in Chicago!!

"O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.  So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts."  

                                                                                                     Psalm 104:24, 25