Our Astronomers have been working overtime.
We had this to report:
2 Praise him, all his angels,
praise him, all his heavenly hosts.
3 Praise him, sun and moon,
praise him, all you shining stars.
4 Praise him, you highest heavens
and you waters above the skies.
Psalm 148:2-4 (NIV)
Biblegateway.com
Check out My Great Aunt B’s site for other pairings of pics and verse.
I had Friday off. I decided to go run a few miles on Turkey Mountain on the running trails there as change. I’m sorry about so many posts about running lately. It could be worse, I could be posting about geocaching. Or the latest evil plot by our President to make all our future children be born naked.
I love it Turkey Mountain. There are not too many people there. I just love trails.
Every once in a while you can get a get good view of the Arkansas River and the city of Tulsa beyond. Kind of hard to imagine. Somebody over there is getting mad about something trivial. Not me, I’m totally zoned out.
Lots of rocks on Turkey Mountain. I haven’t seen any turkeys yet. I saw a beautiful whitetail doe while running. But she wouldn’t stay put until I got my camera out.
I had a short lived interruption on my running prayer at the turnaround point.
Woops, ugly, I’m glad the trail turned back into the woods. I know that we need electric power, sewage treatment plants, and ugly streets but it makes for a jarring transition.
Soon enough the trail turns back to the woods and my equilibrium is restored.
“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.”
Psalms 119:32
Went for a run this morning. When I started the sun had just risen.
But the moon was still up
The Arkansas River was running full
I got there a little late. One of the guys I ran with went ahead without me. We said hello, he headed back to the parking lot, I still needed to run a few more miles. That’s him down the bridge.
Self Portrait
Time to quit fooling around, I still have some running to do.
I had some help from my friends Diana Krall, Korn, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Metallica, Martina McBride, Eric Clapton, and Rage Against the Machine.
I hope your early Sunday was as good as mine. I didn’t set any records running but it was very peaceful.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12: 1-2 (NIV)
For other pairings of photographs and verse check out my friend Baloney.
“This is my Father’s world, and to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world: I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas;
His hand the wonders wrought.”
From “This is My Father’s World” by Maltie B. Babcock, 1901
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The family loaded up #1 MIL Nana and went across the river to the Jenks Herb Festival.
SuperPizzaBoy and I are not too much into gardening. He decided to chill for a little while.
So I joined him to see what things looked like from the curb. I love those clouds.
They sell stuff besides plants.
Some of the stuff was actually pretty cool. I loved these baskets.
I don’t need one but they are fun to look at.
I loved these cacti
Hey look at this, and wouldn’t you know, right by a wine tasting booth.
Miss McGillicutty where are you? No matter where I go, the RHOK girls have been there. Go check them out; they are a hoot! They are looking for guest bloggers, if you are brave enough, give them a shout.
And then it was time to go home. Sweetie and Nana loaded up on lots of stuff. SPB and I satisfied ourselves with Boy Scout root beer.
“Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so.” (NIV)
Go check out That’s Baloney for other links to photos and scripture or contribute your own.
What can I say about Easter? If there were no resurrection then we would have had a wise man who said and did a lot of great things and who was killed for it. Big deal. The resurrection is why we have hope.
I always wondered though about how it looked first hand to those who first saw Jesus after he was resurrected. I think he tried to break it to them gently by using angels but people were shocked nonetheless. I mean its one thing to be told about something and another to experience it.
Jesus himself didn’t say much when he first appears alive after his death. In the Matthew account he says simply “Greetings.” In John, he says “Mary.” He had to know that the shock of his appearance would be beyond overwhelming.
How great is it going to be when we get to say “Hello” to those loved ones who preceded us in death?
In the meantime we celebrate Easter as a time of new beginnings.
Have a Blessed Easter from the Yogi’s.
We had a racket going on the other day. SuperPizzaBoy was giving his cat, LJ, piano lessons. Lots about this picture need fixing: one can hardly see the cat for example, and the piano is way too dark especially where his shadow falls on it, and his face is too dark, but I love the light on on son’s back and head and didn’t want to change that at all, so the image is right out of the camera.
“Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.”
Psalm 100:1-5 (NIV)
Check out That’s Baloney for other pairings of scripture and images.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.”
NIV
The verse is from my Pastor’s sermon this morning. The photo is from a combination run and geocaching outing last Summer.
Check out my friend Baloney’s site for other pairings of verse and images.
The cross above looms over Interstate 35 north of Oklahoma City. It was erected several years ago by a church. I remember that it was kind of controversial at the time but I think everybody is used to it by now. I mean it sits on private property and doesn’t have neon lights or anything on it so, what does it hurt.
In my own mind I’ve turned it into a memorial for a good friend of mine who was hit by a car and died while jogging on a freeway frontage road a few miles away. He was one of the nicest guys I’ve ever known. A devoted family man and a much loved friend and colleague by almost everybody that knew him. He died over a decade ago and I still cannot believe he is gone and miss him very much.
One thing I know is that one day I, and many of his other friends and certainly his family, will see him again.
But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared,
he saved us,
not because of righteous things we had done,
but because of his mercy.
Titus 3:3-5 (NIV)
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Saturday was an errand running day for SuperPizzaBoy and I. His Mom spent the whole day preparing for a fund raising event at SPB’s school so she didn’t get to join us. Lucky for her she says.
I made breakfast believe it or not. I used a recipe from “The Pioneer Woman’s Cookbook” by Ree Drumond of the blog “Confessions of a Pioneer Woman“. Check her blog out, I’m a big fan of MommyBloggers and that blog is a MommyBlog on steroids. Back to breakfast, she has a dish called “Egg in the Hole” which is simple enough.
Instead of egg and toast separately, you cut a hole in a piece of bread and then toast the bread in a skillet in a pool of butter and then put an egg in the hole and cook it. So its a combo type thing.
The way it actually works out is that it is a stick of butter with toast and egg added for texture. I made one for him and I ate two. I used a whole stick of butter. Its a good thing I hadn’t seen my dietitian in a while. I’m not sure how heart healthy it is, but they are good and they are filling.
I wondered if SPB would like it. New food is a sometimes thing with him, but hey he ate it!!
Then we set out to run a few errands. The main thing we were interested in was getting ready for the upcoming “Great Backyard Bird Count” We thought it would help out if we restocked our bird feeders. I’ve been wanting to get started bird watching for sometime now and I guess this will be our introduction. In our geocaching ventures in the woods and fields we come upon lots of birds and I really couldn’t tell you waht 90% of them are except in the most general way.
Anyway the great backyard bird count looks like a fun way to get introduced. They have bird lists by area and all sorts of references. Basically you just count the birds by species for at least a 15 minute period during the February 12-15 dates and submit your count online at the web site. I can handle that.
So we bought some sunflower seeds, some finch food, and a suet cake and set them out.
I know, I know, there are all sorts of guidelines about how high, and how far, and what kind of cover. Our neighborhood doesn’t have cats running around and my main guideline was I wanted to see the feeders from the kitchen.
We had an immediate customer. The little suckers are hard to photograph. I don’t know if Sweetie is going to put up with a tripod full time in the kitchen. On the other hand I washed the window I was shooting out of. I didn’t wash the ones adjacent but maybe later.
It looks like LJ want to help us count birds. Can cats count?
Then SPB and I took down our Christmas lights. It may seem a little late for that but we have had a messed up winter. Oklahoma winters are normally pretty mild. It may get cold for a while but it almost always warms and we get bright clear days with temperatures in the mid 40’s or so. Hey, sunny, no wind, and 40’s is a great day. Its almost shirt sleeve weather. So that is when I take the lights down.
Not this year, it stayed cold. So we got them down. SPB helped. I was up on the ladder and he took the gutter tabs off. We had a good time. Once you get him started he is like the Energizer Bunny on a task.
Later on SPB went to spend the evening with his Nana and Sweetie and I went to the fundraiser at the school. Sweetie had been putting together a table for a Silent Auction. She is queen of hospitality and presentation.
“And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth and across the expanse of the sky.”
Genesis 1:20 (NIV)
Check out That’s Baloney for other pairings of scriptures and photographs.