Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills

Last week with a little time to spare before a wedding ceremony in the Black Hills,my husband and I took a short trip to nearby Spearfish Canyon.

Bridal Veil Falls was just one of several waterfalls we visited.

Little bridge pathways,

...picnic tables nestled in shady spots,

...easy access to the falls with railed pathways,

and gorgeous scenery were all present.

What a great prelude to a wonderful day!

My husband and I both love waterfalls.

The sound of running water is music to our ears.

The Book of Revelation in the Holy Scriptures tells of the

"River of Life",

which flows from the very throne of God.

To read about it, click HERE.

To find out how you can see that RIVER OF LIFE yourself,

click HERE to hear it explained by Billy Graham.

Thanks for your visit.

I hope you enjoyed coming along with me to beautiful Spearfish Canyon!

I look forward to meeting you someday as we view the River of Life!

And HERE is where you'll see my latest Rock featuring the Names of God on Rocks.

Little town of Everton

Last weekend as Gary and I were heading home from my high school reunion,
we took a slight diversion from our route to peak into an old town.

This old hotel with a "No Vacancy" sign
was one of the first buildings to catch our eyes.

It had some very interesting features,
...like this old washing machine on the wrap-around porch.

When taking a picture of the side-view of the old hotel,
something else caught my attention...

...I had to take a closer look...
Yes, it really was a parking meter!
But I don't think it's used any more...

Just down the street was the "Old Everton Bank".

Beside the bank was a building called
"The Little Store".

It had a little home-made sign advertising
another home-made Southern staple!

My husband decided to see if
"The Little Store"
was actually open as the brightly colored flag stated.

Since it was a hot late July afternoon,
we opted for a vanilla ice cream cone
instead of their famous biscuits and gravy!

What a neat little side-trip!

Thanks for coming along on the tour!

For another type of tour,

why not take a trip through the rocks in my rock garden?

You'll find them HERE!

Flowers from my Garden

Well, I promised a look at the flowers I've been growing this summer...

I'm not sure of the name of this one,
but I think it's a pink peace lily.

This is a New Guinea Impatience that my daughters got for my birthday.
The flowers are so brilliantly pink!

I love the purple cone flower.

For the shady spot under my peach tree,
it's hard to beat regular impatience.

This spider wort keeps sneaking in among my daisies.

This is actually celery stalks going to seed!

I think this is a pumpkin of some sort.
I grew it from seeds collected from our harvest display last fall.

Blossoms from my Kentucky Wonder Pole Beans!

Daisies...

Why did I put this one in?!!!
Because I've been having a fight with the moles this year.
I've tried many ways of getting rid of them,
even flooding their tunnels with the water hose!
Do you have any suggestions?
If so, please leave me a comment!

This is one of my favorites...
the "Star Gazer" lily...
The fragrance it gives off is so beautifully strong
that it is almost overwhelming!

I thought this lily was a star-gazer,
it smelled just like one,
but I didn't remember planting bulbs that matched this description.
When I looked it up, I found it was called a
"Snow Princess Stargazer".

I think King Solomon must have liked lilies,

When he decorated the temple, he had lilies engraved into the pillars.

Also in the Song of Solomon, he compares his beloved to a 

lily among the thorns and speaks frequently about gardens.

It seems that much of his wisdom had to do with plants and gardening!

(1 Kings chapter 4)

God also must like gardens,

because that's where He first "planted" man!

Genesis 2:8

To me, gardening is relaxing,

and makes me feel close to God

as I work with Him in getting plants to grow and enjoy their beauty.

I put together a little "Lily Album" on my FaceBook page.

Click HERE if you'd like to see it.  

Just click on each photo to move through the album.

Thanks for dropping by!

To see my latest Name of God on Rocks, click HERE!

Update on my nephew Joel

Encouragement from my nephew as he fights glioblastoma        (a fast-growing type of cancerous brain tumor)

For any of you that might be wondering how my nephew Joel is doing,

he recently made the post featured below.

(To see this on his original blog post site,

and any of his previous posts, click HERE!

...or click HERE for a look at his Facebook page.)

July 2, 2014 

 

May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, (‭Romans‬ ‭15‬:‭5‬ NIV). I am so thankful for all the people or encouraging and praying. This is been a roller coaster ride by your prayers have been so uplifting and encouraging. Please don’t forget to bring up those of you know are going through tough times your prayers and encouragement mean more than you know. God bless you all have a wonderful day love and prayers from the team Hedlund



And from one of his first blog posts:

Good news sounds the best when you need it most. If you are feeling discouraged and a loss of hope today my encouragement to you today is don’t give up. There is hope on the way. And God’s promise is that he will never ever let you down. And you can count on him!!!

A New Look at the Crucifixion...

From a "PK"!

Okay,

so I was brought up as a preacher's kid,
or commonly known as a "PK".

I have no idea how many sermons I have heard ---

not just from my dad or my brother Bill,

but from years of Bible Camps, Vacation Bible Schools, Revival Meetings, etc.

Many hours of my adolescent life were spent in Yardell Chapel,
where my dad pastored from 1956 to 1969.

Sometimes for people like us,

we seem to have a harder time actually getting the truths

that we have been hearing for so many years from our heads into our hearts.

When I was very young, I believed on Jesus as my Savior.

I knew I was a sinner...

couldn't deny that...

frequent "spankings" from my Mother confirmed it!

So I didn't need the words from Romans 3:23

("All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God")

to prove that I couldn't make it to heaven without a Savior.

But I had trouble understanding how Jesus,

who was a perfect man and knew no sin,

could become sin for us so that we could have His righteousness.

(2 Corinthians 5:21)

How could Jesus take on my sin, especially when He died so long ago?

Yesterday as I did my exercises on my mini trampoline,

I also got some exercise of my spiritual muscles as

I watched Joseph Prince, the pastor of the largest church in Singapore.

Wanting to watch it again and to share it,

I was so happy to find it had been posted on youtube.

If you, like me, have struggled to picture Jesus taking your place,

I think you will be blessed by taking time to watch the short animated video.

Maybe it will give you #anewlookatthecrucifixion also!

Click on the hash tag above to take you there!

The Message Translation from Isaiah 53 gives a word picture of that video.
"...it was our sins that did that to Him,
    that ripped and tore and crushed Him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
    Through His bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
    We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
    on Him, on Him."

This new look at the crucifixion causes me to take a new look at Jesus.

My younger sis gave me a little book with 365 names for the Lord.

So many of them speak to me that I am having a hard time choosing

which to post on Rock4Today, but I plan on posting one soon!

Thanks for your visit!