Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Giving Thanks #156

Who says you can't hike 4 miles along the Napali coast in hours of constant rain?  
Dangerous? Yes. 
Maybe stupid? Yes. 
Worth every step? ABSOLUTELY!

Giving Thanks #155


Giving Thanks #154


Giving Thanks #153

Nothing like checking into your hotel room, then finding this out your french door "windows". 
What a WONDERFUL surprise!

Giving Thanks #152

After a morning waking up in a car at the foot of a mountain in a town in another country than I thought we were in, we passed this as we tried to find our way back to Switzerland. :)

Giving Thanks #151


You know how it goes......living life that feels so twisted and you never know what will be coming around the next corner. Then at some point, you're able to look back and see how all those twists and turns actually turned into something beautiful!

Giving Thanks #150


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Giving Thanks #147

Oh my brothers. This captures them JUST right.

Giving Thanks #146

This temple is in Kauai, and the stone has been carved and shipped from India, then the stone carvers in Kauai chisel the pieces together so they all fit in place. It is amazing.

Giving Thanks #145


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Giving Thanks #143

We wanted some adventure, so we started driving up a mountain, and when we decided that we really didn't know where we were going or where this road would take us, we found a huge field and decided to just have a picnic and enjoy the alps. It was great.

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This sign was at the top of a mountain over 9k feet up......my only question, is what dumb person wore heels up here, to warrant them putting up the sign? Dumb....and funny.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

I Cry

So nearing on one year ago, someone who had been very close to me decided to end their life.  Even now as I type this, the reality of this story ended is a hard one to swallow....and I don't think I've really shared or written about it much here, but tonight something changed in my perspective and so I thought I'd share.

After the message I received that he was forever gone, only to be seen once we're all joined in heaven, a song became the words that I heard him crying out in the last room he saw.  These are the words I could hear him crying out "Oh great God of power, I have lost my strength, this is my desperate hour, I'm calling out Your name. I cry are You out there tonight? Or am I all alone. This time it's the fight of my life so I cry I can't do this on my own...."

It made me sad to hear these words, to hear a cry like this and think of how he died without waiting to hear God's answer, or God's promise that indeed He was there, that He did hear, that He was fighting for his life.

Tonight as I listened to this song on my drive home, thinking of how I placed that into the unknown story of his last few hours, I realized that really....as I sang that song, it really was MY cry at that time.  None of us were there to know what he cried out, but as I cried alone and cried out to the Lord in my grief, this was MY prayer....."Oh great God of power, I have lost my strength, this is my desperate hour, I'm calling out Your name. I cry are You out there tonight? Or am I all alone. This time it's the fight of my life so I cry I can't do this on my own....".

And thankfully that is not where the song ends. It goes on to say "I am giving you control....God, I'm holding on to You. Lord, I'm holding on." That night and the days & weeks to follow his death I was at a point of complete & utter brokenness.  It seemed that all around people were gripping to things that ultimately was leading to death, and even I myself didn't know where else to turn....so in the empty space of my questioning, this is what I cried out to God.

It's funny how God can work in these ways...speaking to you in the stillness, meeting you in the darkness, it constantly amazes me how He does that.  Here as I listened to this prayerful song and projected it into someone else's story, I realized how much it was MY story, thinking of how I needed the Lord then, and now and always, and how I cannot do this on my own.  As independent and stubborn as I can be sometimes, I'm constantly reminded of the fact that there really is nothing to do or anywhere to turn without the help and sustenance of God to bring me or us through.  And when we fail to see that....when we can only see ourselves and start to believe that life is dependent on us, that is when we truly feel alone and hopeless.

Cry out to God tonight. He hears you. He is with you. He loves you and yearns to be known by you.

**Song "I Cry" is by Leeland, on the Great Awakening album. CHECK IT OUT!!!!!

Tuesday, October 09, 2012

Giving Thanks #137

The moments when you get home just as one of your favorite tunes come on and you refuse to leave the car until its finished. :)

Sunday, October 07, 2012

Giving Thanks #136

"If you don't like the lighthouse, you suck!" :)

Giving Thanks #135


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Giving Thanks #132

The moment when everyone in a room breaks out into unison rap when you see this picture....

Giving Thanks #131

Attending a concert & NOT working at it! ;)

Giving Thanks #130

A corn maze with lots of options. :)

Giving Thanks #129

Pumpkin picking! @WhitePineBerryFarm

Giving Thanks #128

A breakfast of specialty donuts!!!

Giving Thanks #127

PUMPKIN MUFFINS!!!!!

Giving Thanks #126

The view from atop a ferris wheel!

Giving Thanks #125


A tight & strong cable that allows you to soar through the clouds into the mountains!

Giving Thanks #124

Going to a midnight showing!  (This was the Hunger Games.....and yes, I'm cool.) :)

Giving Thanks #123

Having "Breakfast at Tiffany's"......AT Tiffany's in NY. :)