4th Time is a Charm...well not quite, but close.

This afternoon I paid off all the bills I have received this month after putting it off for about a week. I was running errands and swung by the Post Office and dropped them in the box. As I drove away, a sense of relief came over me. I am free and clear for the rest of the month! Toodling along on the main drag, the thought struck me, "What will the sensation be like when we see Jesus in the clouds and realize we are free and clear?" You know, I am thankful that God offers freedom.

Well, as far as the title goes, today was my fourth time in a week slogging over the sand dunes. My goal at present is for two round trips in an hour - from the car to the waters edge twice. Today was my first time doing two round trips and I might ad, if I hadn't eaten before I left and drunk water on the way to the park or taken pictures along the way and at the beach on the first lap, I probably would have made it in an hour and not 70 minutes. Live and learn...sometimes it takes a belly ache to learn.

Looking up at leaves with the sun shining down.

Beautiful view!

A quote that I ran across recently:

"The elements of character that make a man truly successful and honored among men--the irrepressible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous application, the untiring perseverance--are not to be discouraged. By the grace of God they are to be directed to the attainment of objects as much higher than mere selfish and worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth." --Child Guidance 343:4

We have been separated from the world by the great cleaver of truth. Our wrong traits of character are not always visible to ourselves, although they may be very apparent to others. But time and circumstances will surely prove us and bring to light the gold of character or discover the baser metal. Not one of us is known or read of all men, till the crucible of God tests us. Every base thought, every wrong action, reveals some defect in the character. These rugged traits must be brought under the chisel and hammer in God's great workshop, and the grace of God must smooth and polish before we can be fitted for a place in the glorious temple. --4T 540:3

That is a wonderful quote. Think of a statue - I like to think of the statue of David or the Pieta. Each started off as a block of rugged stone. But, through the application of the hammer and chisel, each was refined into a masterpiece.

It is not a conclusive evidence that a man is a Christian because he manifests spiritual ecstasy under extraordinary circumstances. Holiness is not rapture: it is an entire surrender of the will to God; it is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God; it is doing the will of our heavenly Father; it is trusting God in trial, in darkness as well as in the light; it is walking by faith and not by sight; it is relying on God with unquestioning confidence, and resting in His love. --AA 51

Photographs were taken by a Cannon Powershot G5, 5.0 MP