November seems like a long time ago. Forgive me for not being consistent with this! No apologies, however. I have been busy living the wonder of this life with the ones I love .

Christmas passed peacefully and with deep thankfulness for the coming of the Savior into the world to save sinners like I. January began, with a new year and new beginnings, which really do not seem all that different than what was progressing the day before, the last day of 2009.

But this New Year has brought more and heavier snows, which I personally have enjoyed very much. And February was maked by the continuation of this trend, and the snow on the ground lingered on and on due to the consistently lower temperatures. This is a winter that will, because of it, be well remembered as the one when the heavier snows returned to earth, all by a providentially motivated Creator!

But February was marked by another occurence which brought much pleasure and adventure into our lives. Mary Lee and I were finally able to take a long anticipated trip to Florida. And our departure on the sixth of the month was inadvertently timed to happen the day before the deepest snowfall of the winter.

Good timing, huh? We thought so and went rejoicingly on our way south, stopping over for a couple nights with Mary Lee's Aunt and Uncle, Colena and Lonnie Richardson. We had been wanting to do this for some time and enjoyed it immensely. Lonnie, being a theologin at heart and a pastor by practice, now retired, and I had some very stimulating discussions on matters in the spiritual realm. I might add that what made this even more stimulating was the fact we so seldom agreed on the things we discussed. But I was never really sure if he were not just taking opposing views just for the sake of, not just argument, but to make it more interesting.

We traveled on southward where we drove back and forth and up and down in Florida, visiting relatives and beloved friends and spending two occasions of several days with our daughter and her husband, Alethea and Charlie Adkins. What surprised us and somewhat diappointed us about this trip was how cool and sometimes downright cold the weather was. It was said by every single resident we met that this was most unusal and was indeed one of the coldest winters in Florida in recent memory.

But this had no cooling effect upon our enjoyment of our trip, which was probably the most enjoyable of all we have experienced to Florida.

What Have I Been Doing?

Where have I been since my last posting? And what have I been doing?

Well, for one thing, I have been concentrating on a painting as time permitted. In fact, a total of 23 hours and 45 minutes of time, spread out over a number of days, with many intervening duties and pleasurable things occurring. I must say, however, it seems like many more hours went into this particular painting! But I do not usually spend more than an hour at a time in a painting session.

I have never before kept a record of the time spent doing a painting, and people are constantly asking how long did such and such a painting take to accomplish. So, I decided to "take the time" to keep a record. Perhaps a more appropriate question would be over what span of months or even a year has it taken to finish some I have done. The ones I have painted purely for my own pleasure usually take longer in this regard, because their execution usually gets interrupted several times for intervening works for someone else. This is true at this time as well. I had been working on a particular painting for about a year. This was one which was inspired by the death of a woman who gathered and ate some poison mushrooms by mistake. More about this at some future date.

As my landscapes go, the one I have just finished was one of the larger ones, being 24x36 inches. I don't mean to make it sound like it has been a drudgery, because it certainly has not. But toward the end of a painting, my enthusiasm has a tendency to flag a bit and I want to get it done, and start something fresh. For instance in this case, I am ready to begin another one already. It is also a commission, and is of a totally different subject and having an entirely different color scheme. This will be a seascape with a lighthouse. More about this later also.

Prayer Changes Things

Whoever said that prayer doesn't change things has never prayed and been aware of God's affirmative answer to their petition! God delights to answer the cries of our heart. When David cried out to the Lord in times of trouble and, as he says, "He heard me," the word in the Hebrew literally means "to shriek." And it carries the idea of calling out in danger or anguish!

This is just one example of the kinds of prayers to which God delights to respond when one of His children utters a supplication.

Moses says in Psalm 90 that He "saves our life from destruction." I dare say He has often done this even before I have had time to "cry out to Him". Praise His name, His eye is always upon us, and He cares for us in ways that we can never imagine. Nevertheless, He is thrilled when we call upon him in our desperation in troubling times. In such times, we are critically aware of our dependence upon Him.

Does Prayer Change Things?

The Scriptures never tell us, per se, that "prayer changes things".

However, there is the implication that one may deduce from the examples of holy biblical characters by the course of events and circumstances which certainly seemed to be affected by what they asked God to do. And therein lays the crux of the matter, does it not? It was not effected by the asking. Even the act of their asking Him was an action which was brought about at His own instigation. He had to tell His creatures to ask. And they did so by a conscious decision with the minds that He had given them and empowered them to use. And it was not in the power of their words, ever so artfully spoken, to their Lord God and Creator that affected the occurrence of the winning of a battle, or the stopping of time, or yet the raising of a dead child to life again, as examples. No, the power that effected and brought about these happenings was that of an all wise God and Creator of all things out of nothing.

God has never relinquished His Divine control or sustaining power over the universe which he brought into existence just because He introduced time into the realm of His eternal greatness and glory. No, it is not the prayers of men that change things, as the popular saying implies. It is the still all powerful God of the eternal ages Who is still in control Who changes things when it is His will to do so. It is true, however, that He delights to do so in answer to our prayers. And He encourages the redeemed to come boldly to His throne of grace.

And truly it is a constant act of grace on His part toward His ever undeserving creatures to act benevolently on their behalf, indeed, on our behalf!

Fall Again

Leaves incessantly are falling, slowly falling to the ground,
Falling quietly, softly landing, see them now as they abound.
Red and orange, yellow gold, and now and then a somber brown.
Verdant once the trees they parted now appear as nature's frown.

Such is Fall as we behold it at the seasons' changing guard

Wearing now its own bold colors laying mostly in the yard!

Who could stop it, who would dare take on a task so very hard?

Rather relish we the scene as though if Nature's fair reward.

Every year with expectation we await this grandest show,

Just like clockwork it will come, and just like clockwork it will go.

Breathless, we will drink it in, and all the while we surely know

Once magnificent the colors, soon may they be under snow.

October 2009

Valley of Death

"VALLEY OF DEATH"

On our way home from Tennessee recently we took a side trip off our "beaten path", so to speak,

and drove due north on US 52 from Rurual Retreat to the top of the range of mountains which were engulfed in a sea of multi-faceted fall colors. Every turn of the upward winding highway seemed to outdo the last vista and enthralled us with its beauty. Upon approaching the height of the top of the mountain, near where the road intersects with US 42, we observed a fire tower and as we drew closer we found a store at the base of the tower. There was an adjoining overlook which afforded a view over the whole valley below from which we had just ascended.

"Valley of Death," the historical marker proclaimed! How ironic, I thought, for such a beautiful place viewed from such a panoramic height. And if it were in the fall of the year, as when we were there, it is bound to have evoked at least a little dismay in the hearts of the Union soldiers who were sent here to destroy the salt mines and the railroad on which the southern armies, during the war between the states, so heavily relied. I suppose the lives of the eight men who were forfeited to the ravages of war in the ensuing battle was the reason this beautiful, and now serene, place has been designated "The Valley of Death," here in Wythe County, Virginia, all those many years ago.

From this distance in time, one gains a different perspective of a war which consisted of a people in a single nation between themselves. One can appreciate an evaluation of such a war as being anything but "civil." Ironically, there is no such thing as a "Civil War." And anyone who continues to harbor true and deep seated feelings of antipathy between a mass of people in one section of the same country against that of another mass of people of the same country, delineated by such terminology as "the North and the South," has their priorities crucially misplaced. It is one thing to joke about, but it is quite another to sincerely hold grudges over any number of years.

Mary Lee and the Large Tree at Sugarland in the Smokies