Daily Archives: August 4, 2012

 

As a photographer you’re never lost, you’re just on your way to a subject you didn’t know existed !  Traveling on the blue highways, (the roads that existed long before the interstates or four lanes, and blue in color on the road maps), is one of life’s greatest adventures, taking the roads less traveled!  America lives on the back roads, our history is tucked away,  just around the bend.  Get off the Interstate and discover our past!

 

For ten years, between 1991 and 2001, I drove over 70,000 miles a year, passing through virtually all the lower 48 states, EVERY year!!!  Many of those miles  were on the blue highways!   Route 66, Highway 50, 421, U.S. 1, and many more historic roads of yesteryear….

 

Traveling America’s Byways is a wonderful way to see the treasures, forgotten, and left behind.  Travel by car has become a race to see how much distance we can cover in the minimum amount of time!  We are so focused on “getting there”,  we’ve lost the joy of the journey!  As a photographer, the journey IS the destination!!!

 

I sat watching my granddaughter, Abigail, sleep in the shade on Thursday, ( two posts back), and my life came full circle.  Life truly is about the intimate  pleasures, the best moments in life are not the costliest.

 

Spiritually, we need to discover the same road less traveled, time on our knees talking with our Heavenly Father.  We need to get off the expressway of life and fellowship in a quiet place with Him.  If we truly want to do His will, we need to know Him better, and fellowship is the only way to do that.  God does not want to yell into your spirit above the ruckus of daily life!  He desires to speak to your heart in the quiet moments of intense fellowship.

 

Slow down and take the next exit from life’s super highway, find “the  rest area” and wait on Him!  Trust me when you seek Him, He will be there!!!”

 

The pilgrim

 

Recognizing treasure?   Here is my list from the five days since I returned from Oshkosh;

 

1.   Watching Abby sleep.

 

2.  Cuddling Sherelene on mornings when the alarm doesn’t  matter.

 

3.   Watching the sun sink into the horizon and then watch the glow spread across the sky.

 

4.  Reading the Word, and hearing God speak directly to my heart!

 

5.  Sitting in the car riding to Lexington looking at my wife’s face, and thinking how proud I am of the woman she has become.

 

6.  Listening to my grandsons, Cade and Elijah talk about their life’s adventures.

 

7.  Sitting at the computer waiting quietly for God to speak to my heart, before I post, and reading Chuck Summers calming words in his blog!       www.seeingcreation.com

 

8.  Taking afternoon naps when you’re exhausted.

 

9.  Talking with Jim about plans for His Light Workshops.

 

10.  Talking and listening to God in prayer…..

 

I don’t know why that is so indicative of me, but I push hard.  That is the sign in the window at the cleaners Igo to in Corbin.  Their door sticks in hot weather and you have to push hard to get it open!  I love to joke with Joe the owner about that sign!  I think in life, many times you have to push hard.  There is a difference in pushing hard after you get God’s go ahead, and just pushing in every direction, without a thought of the consequences!

 

God wants us to trust Him, and listen for His voice, but when the time comes to do His will, I know He wants us to do it with everything we have, which still will  never be enough, but if it is His will,  He will make up the difference!  I’ve often asked myself why I’m so driven to share His love, and to reach the lost!?  It is clear that He inspires us to be driven for Him. I harken back to the great line from the film What If;

 

“Life comes down to just two things; God loves you, so love others, and God sacrificed everything to be with you, so, sacrifice everything!!!”

 

Yes, it is just that simple, and that hard, but with His strength, we can do all things!

 

the pilgrim