What - or Who - should we trust?

 Some trust in wagons and some in horses. But we will trust in the name of the Lord, our God. (Psalm 20:7, New Life Version)

Last spring, I bought a newer vehicle. It has a ton of safety features, all of which blow my mind. It tells me if I veer from my lane and when someone moves into my blind spot. It yells at me if another car approaches me when I'm backing up. How can a vehicle know all that is happening?

Of course, it also has a light that comes on when I have a low tire – a feature my last three cars have had. Unfortunately, the light didn't go off even after Hubby put air in the tire. Hmm? How trustworthy is that?

Or, actually, how much should I trust all these other features? If I pull over in front of someone because one of those lights didn't come on, who's liable? The manufacturer? They put enough trust in all these safety features that my car insurance is lower because they believe the chances of me having an accident are lower.

But what – or who – can we trust 100% of the time? Who warns us every time we stray into the other lane? Whose lights always come on when there is the need to be cautious?

God is the only One we can trust with everything, all of the time. As long as we put our faith in Him, He will not let us wander. He will keep us from harm.

Minnesota in the Fall

Nearly every season allows us to spread joy in our outside places. From patriot flags in the summer to snowmen, Santas, and penguins during the winter. Granted the lights of Christmas win all decorating contests, but autumn, with its parade of pumpkins, satisfies all our senses. The smell of fallen leaves, the crunch of those same leaves underfoot. The taste of pumpkin spice on our lips. Cool nights and turning our faces to the fleeting warmth of the afternoon sun.

Many people say that fall is their favorite season. I would say mine too, except that it’s followed by a miserable winter. But anyway. Pictures. 

A few weeks ago, I visited a friend in Minnesota. Those small towns along the banks of the Mississippi River take their fall decorating to a new level.  Especially in quaint Wabasha. 

Perhaps we embellish our surroundings so much this time of year because we revel in the beauty mother nature supplies. Not that we could ever compete with her.

Get outside and enjoy this season, before we are blasted with frost and snow. Maybe make some new friends along the way.

A Visit to A Toy Store and More

I haven’t been blogging much lately. I don’t know if I’m just being lazy or what. And when I have posted about any trips I’ve taken this summer, I mostly just share pictures and not the long stories I used to write. But maybe you like just pictures instead of my ramblings anyway. Let me know.

            I’m going to try to start writing more, whether you find that boring or not. I’ll still always try to include pictures.

            The last road trip I took was to see my friend Julie in Minnesota the weekend of Sept 29.

            On Saturday, she took me to Lark Toys, which is a huge toy store, but is also way more. 

               

   First inside is Memory Lane, with multiple displays of toys from the past.

All of us older adults kept pointing to toys, exclaiming, “I had that when I was a kid.” And any of today’s kids who were being dragged along were like, “Where’s the Nintendo?”          

               But I think everyone likes a carousel. I don’t care how old or young you are.       

 

An otter for me.

               And a loon for my sister Judy.   

            Oh, hello there, Mr. Stegosaurus.              

 And of course, it’s autumn, so everywhere outside, there were pumpkins and mums, haybales and corn stalks.           

     Happy Autumn, Everyone. I only wished it didn’t mean that winter is next. 

The Perfect Body

 

 It is the same way with the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies are planted in the ground when we die, but they will be raised to live forever. Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory. They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength. (1 Corinthians 15:42-43, New Living Translation)

I know. Nobody wants to think about dying or what is going to happen next. If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have nothing to worry about.

But here’s what I take from this passage.

Our bodies on earth aren’t perfect. On the outside, we have scars, wrinkles, our teeth are crooked, our noses are too big. We may even be missing fingers or toes. 

Inside, we may be worse. We could have diabetes, cancer, or chronic pain. Worse than missing fingers or toes, we could be missing a kidney, a spleen, or part of our colon. We may have someone else’s heart beating in our chest.

And then there’s the emotional baggage we carry inside. The fear of the future, the pain of regret, the sorrow of loss. Depression, anger, worry. So much going on in our heads, or at least in mine.

But someday, when God is ready to call us home to heaven, we will have eternal life with a new body inside and out. We will still be us, but we won’t have any pain, fear, or anxiety. We won’t be broken or weak.

I’ve been writing this blog for over thirteen years, and I’m unsure how many of those years I’ve been writing my Sunday inspiration. If you’ve been reading these for long, I hope you have turned your life over to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that you know Jesus as your Savior and have asked for forgiveness of your sins. I’m praying you all go to heaven someday.

I’m just one small-town girl living in a big world and praying for you all.

Pike’s Peak in Iowa – Camping at Wyalusing, Blog post #4

For a couple days back in August, Hubby and I camped at Wyalusing State Park in the southwest corner of Wisconsin.

Across the river from there is Pike’s Peak State Park in MacGregor, Iowa. Not quite the same as the Pike’s Peak I’ve been to in Colorado, but the view was still stunning here in the upper Midwest.

I don’t know if you can read the plaque on the rock, but this is where the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi. The first white men set foot in this area in 1673. Just a few years ago.

Back on the Wisconsin side at Wyalusing, there is a sad memorial –  

-        extinction of the passenger pigeon. 

How horribly tragic and senseless.   

The next morning, we packed up camp and headed home. Last camping trip of the summer. 

Bring Back Justice

You say that God is with you, so you should do good things, not evil. Then you will live, and the Lord God All-Powerful will be with you. Hate evil and love goodness. Bring justice back into the courts. Maybe then the Lord God All-Powerful will be kind to the survivors from Joseph’s family. (Amos 5:14-15, Easy-to-Read Version)

I had a different Bible passage picked out for today; in fact, it was an entire chapter from the book of Psalms. Psalms has a lot of beautiful and moving verses. But what about the book of Amos? We never hear much about the prophet Amos or the book he penned.  

Seventeen books of the Old Testament are written by men considered the “prophets”. Most of these books are painful to read in their entirety. You need to know and understand much of the history of the Jewish people for these books to make sense to you. I would love to delve into them, but it can make my head spin.

So, we pluck out a few verses that sound good. We may not know what the words mean from the perspective of the ancient Jews, but we use what we can. Doesn’t it make sense to us all to “hate evil and love goodness”?

And sometimes, sentences such as “bring justice back into the courts” are so fitting to this time period that we have to believe that the word of God is as prevalent today as it was millennia ago.

Historic St. Feriole Island – Camping at Wyalusing, Blog post #3

 St. Feriole Island is the site of the earliest activities in Prairie du Chien. It was the center of the fur trade, home of the first Fort Crawford, site of the Battle of Prairie du Chien in 1814, and home to Villa Louis.

While we were camping at nearby Wyalusing State Park, we spent an afternoon visiting the Island.

Currently named the Dousman House and used as an event venue, this grand building was originally a hotel. Built in the mid-1860s, it served railroad passengers traveling through the area.

This is the Depot Bar and Grill. I’m not sure if it’s the original depot from the 1800s, but it sits along the old railroad tracks.

The Mississippi River flows across from the Depot and Dousman House.

Lawler Park Interpretive Rock Building.

The Brisbois House. I don’t know where my head was that day – oh, yeah, I was just whining about my back ache. Anyway, that whole area has a massive amount of history and each of the many 1800s buildings has a long story to tell. Unfortunately, I was too hazy that day to put it all together.

Here’s a good website which lists most of the buildings on the island: https://www.prairieduchien.org/historical-sites/#:~:text=St.,the%20Chicago%2C%20Milwaukee%20%26%20St.

The original Fort Crawford.

Villa Louis is the chocolate chips in the chocolate chip cookies on St. Feriole Island.

Unfortunately, it was closed the day we were there, but with all the road construction around it, I’m not sure it would have been open all week.

But I’ve been in lots of old houses. The sculpture park nearby was just as fascinating, I thought.

But I’m not gonna lie.

I thought these guys playing Frisbee golf were the most fascinating. I never in a million years imagined that they would have different sizes of Frisbees for each “hole”. I lead such a sheltered life.