Friday Photos

This was a surprising picture.  

My husband had just brought me some beautiful tulips (my favorite flower), and I wanted to take a picture of them.  I placed one in a vase on a stool and put it in front of a wall I had just painted a textured red. I put a flashlight on the stool aimed upward at the tulip.

When I looked at the picture, I couldn't believe the halo around the tulip.  It was not a special effect.  The wall had previously been yellow, and somehow, that showed in the picture.  This is one of my favorite photos of all time.

Tuesday - All Things Ellie

 

Ellie Jean

There is something about Ellie you might never guess, especially since she is a hound.

Ellie rarely howls.

All our other beagles howled.  Actually, they howled more than we would like.  We could get Sparrow to howl on demand simply by howling ourselves (which looked and sounded pretty unusual).  

But Ellie almost never howls.  I think perhaps she might howl a little when we leave her at home.  If she sees something outside her window, she will bark, but not howl.

Her lack of howling might have been because we brought her home at five weeks of age.  Perhaps she didn't get the chance to learn how or when to howl from the older beagles.

But she can howl.  

Today, I had taken her for a walk and stopped by a neighbor's house to chat for a minute.  Mary Beth was outside talking to a neighbor whom Ellie and I see often walking her two dogs.  Ellie was quite clearly on guard in front of this woman.  The three of us chatted and then Ellie began howling.  A full throated, beagle howl.  She did it several times until I finally decided it was time for us to be on our way.

I was quite surprised to hear Ellie make the woeful sound, complete with the beagle head tilt.  Perhaps Elliie felt threatened in some way and was trying to protect me.  Whatever the reason, I wanted that sound to end as quickly as possible.  Maybe it is a good thing she doesn't howl very often. 

“It’s Coming!”

It doesn’t seem to happen too frequently, but sometimes, after a thunderstorm, when the grey clouds still fill the sky, the sky becomes filled with this strange yellow light.  I think it usually portends more storms.

This happened yesterday.  The night before, thunderstorms broke the silence of the night and, subsequently, frightened our dog.  The storms continued intermittently throughout the day.  Late in the afternoon, after the rain stopped, I took Ellie outside for a short walk and noticed the yellow and grey sky.  As we were walking, I noticed a few isolated drops on my arms. I turned Ellie back toward the house, and the droplets increased.  We were almost at the house when I heard the sound.  It wasn’t loud, but I knew what it was.  It was the sound of advancing rain.

I told Ellie to hurry up to get home before the rain reached us.

“It’s coming!” I said to her.  Just as we made it through the door, another wave of heavy rain reached the house.

The sound of the advancing rain and my telling Ellie that it was coming made me wonder about an event we Christians have probably thought of often in our lives. 

“For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, 

that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: 

and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 

Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”

1 Thessalonians  4:14-18

I wonder if before we hear the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, we will have some sort of feeling, some sense that “He’s coming!” So much of the human experience involves anticipation.  Will we know at all what is about to transpire, or will we be surprised when we are “caught up”?  

I can’t answer my questions, but I do know this one answer. However these events transpire, they will be perfect.  “As for God, His way is perfect:” Psalm 18:30.

 Not only will there be nothing lacking, but it will be “exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think,” Ephesians 3:20.

As we often say, our greatest days are ahead of us.

Friday Photos

 

Appalachian Trail north of Hot Springs, NC

This picture isn't nearly as remarkable as the circumstances that led to it.

It was October, and Glen and I were planning a section hike on the Appalachian Trail in North Carolina.  We had planned a three-day hike ending in Hot Springs, NC.  We had a shuttle driver arranged to take us from Hot Springs to our starting point, and we would hike northward on the trail back to Hot Springs.

We were glad to check in after our 10-hour drive.  We walked around the town, ate dinner, and returned to our room.  That morning, we got ready to leave on our hike.  The television suddenly caught our attention.  

There was a Pacific hurricane, Patricia, that had gone through Mexico, and now the remnants were heading to the eastern US.  Patricia was on a course directly for Hot Springs, bringing tropical storm-force winds with her.

We had no desire to hike three days in the mountains in those conditions, but we hated to go home without ANY hiking.  We prayed, asking the Lord for guidance.  When we finished, the thought came to us that we had one day before the winds were to arrive.  We decided to meet our shuttle driver and pay him for his time.  But instead of being shuttled southward and hiking back, we would just hike out of Hot Springs going northward.  We would go as far as we could go with the time we had and then hike back.  I was slightly disappointed, but I was glad to have at least a little time to hike.

This ended up being Glen's favorite hike ever and almost my favorite hike.  The leaves were at their peak.  This was accentuated by knowing the next day, they would all be blown off the trees.  Part of our hike was along the beautiful French Broad River.  In fact, on our way back, we camped along the riverside and were lulled to sleep by the sound of the roaring river.

The picture above was taken as we rounded a turn in the trail.  The leaves were red, and their undersides were pink.  It looked like the whole trail was covered in Valentines.  At every step, we encountered beauty after beauty.

We were so glad we took the day and a half out on the mountain and had such a wonderful hike.  God always has a way of working things out.