The West

Nothing seems to emphasize the west more than this picture that I took this morning.

 

I'm going on an adventure

This very famous line penned by J. R. R. Tolkin in his book the Hobbit shows the gayety of an adventure, what I’m feeling right now is the tiredness of the adventure.  My morning started Tuesday morning at 0830EST, and has gone pretty much non-stop since then, with the exception of a few fitful hours of shuteye, I’ve been up since then, this is now pushing 36hr’s, and by the time I actually get into another bed, it will be closer to 42 or so hours. 

That is not to say this hasn’t been an adventure, it has.  I took a bus, a people mover and some long hallways to get to lunch today. LAX is doing some major renovations and their concourses don’t connect anymore, so…they are being connected by bus.  Who knew, runways weren’t only for airplanes, they are for vehicle traffic as well.  They have painted in lines and there is a 4 lane highway going on.  There are signs that I wish I could get a picture of, but they say yield for airplanes.  As if that had to be something you had to actually say.  

The airplane that I’m taking on my last leg is a little commuter airplane that you have to walk out on the tarmac to board, this isn’t the first time, probably won’t be the last either, but its sure not the norm in this tech savvy nation.  

A Year For God

I remember when I started this blog.  I was told that I really needed to have a blog, because communications with the outside world were going to be more difficult.  I started this blog in  May of 2008, the reason?  I was about to embark on a grand adventure, an adventure that would lead me nearly 6400 miles away from everything I loved and held dear…with the exception of God.  I started this blog to chronicle my year in the Marshall Islands, to tell the story of how a “know-it-all” senior in college was going to teach kids, the story of how a “know-it-all” kid learned more about trusting God.  

I look back on this and realize maybe I haven’t come as far as I think I have.  I have broken down many places, literally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  The first year of this blog showed immense growth with huge mountain top experiences and subterranean valleys not unlike the trench that Majuro was just off (if you don’t understand that reference, look up Challenger Deep).  

When I think about how apropos the title of this blog is, it makes me smile.  The only better name would have been “one day at a time” or “one day for God.”  I’ve just realized over the course of time that we are finite, we have to have beginnings and ends, the only thing is God is infinite, He doesn’t see this as a repeated year, He sees it as a fluid continuum of time.  This time will always have its mountain top experiences and its trench experiences as well, but one thing I have learned is that since time means nothing to him, the ups and downs don’t mean anything to him either.  What matters is the direction, continually, step by step, closer to Him.  

Over the next month I’m going to try and do better about keeping this updated.