My Recent February Travels and Views

I arrived home from a short 4-day trip to Florida last night. I was a passenger on an airplane flight down there on Feb. 26 and then back on Mar. 1. Looking out the window of the plane, since I was seated right beside it on both flights, was great. As the airplane gained altitude at takeoff, the cars, buildings, and trees became smaller and smaller. At over 30,000 feet, cars became too small to see with the eye, but roads and some structures, like nuclear power plants and office building were still visible. Large lakes, rivers, and various land patterns displayed the wonder of God's creation. It was peaceful, watching how the wind across the water causes little ripples of waves, and different shapes to form and quickly fade away. The sun was setting under high white sirrus clouds and reflecting calmly off the deep waters of a large lake in South Carolina and off the Gulf of Mexico. Farmers and others that own several acres of land divide it up so that exact squares of different shades of green and brown ground were clearly visible from the air. While in Florida, I enjoyed hiking around Saddleback park near Lakeland on Sunday. That 2.3 mile trail was offroad, consisting of dirt and sand, had a good elevation change and some high overlook locations of a small lake. Such wildlife as egrets, hawks, turtles, and one alligator were visible through my binoculars. On Sunday morning I attended church at Christ Community Church in Winter Haven, FL. The message was about how the Israelites crossed over into the promised land. While riding in a car on Monday morning, I listened to a Christian radio talk show. One of the speakers was taking about watching for the Lord's return and how to be prepared for it at anytime. Because one day Christ's church will cross over to heaven and leave behind the earth. Similar to my airplane flight, I believe that the world will become smaller as the church rises up to the clouds to meet the Lord in the air someday. This world still has sin in it, which causes those wildlife animals that I observed to have to attack and kill to survive, the curse of the fall. On Monday morning, I got to ride a bike for about an hour at Desoto park near St. Pete, FL. I had a short time of prayer and meditation at a brown bench on a nature trail the ran right beside the water. I realized the importance of a daily quiet time to re-gather my thoughts and focus. Without the Lord's help via the Holy Spirit sin will lead your life down the wrong path, one that will result in war not peace. The new month of March is here which includes the start of Spring on the 20th and Palm Sunday, then Passover on the 29th. The Bible verse on my wall calendar is Numbers 24:9- "May those who bless you be blessed..." I know that God will bless and protect His people.