Sorry that it has been while since I have written. Was on vacation for the past two weeks and fully intended to write, but my laptop decided to fritz, so...... (it is fixed now; it was waiting for me when I arrived home).

We traveled to Tennessee to stay for a while in the mountains. We rented a place that was on the side of a foot hill of the Smokies, a few minutes off the main drag.

It was a week of stark contrasts. The place where we were staying was off the beaten path, winding roads, pastoral settings (with the occasional dumpy place thrown in), hills, etc. Not a lot of people around.

It struck me as I drove through the Smoky Mountains, that there is intrinsic beauty in God's creation. Walking through the Smokies and finding waterfalls reminded me that God did us a HUGE favor by creating such a beautiful place. What if He had created everything in black and white? What if He had created everything flat? What a boring place this planet would be.

But He didn't. He created and said that it was good. It is good. It is beautiful. It is amazing to see the creativity of His handiwork and understand that he gave me eyes to see this and a place to experience it!