Welcome to my new blog, entitled Life Is A Journey. We are all on a journey through life, in so many different ways. Some journeys are filled with challenges, and some of us experience more challenges than others. There is no question that as I look back over the slightly more than seven decades of my life, there have been various challenges, some more devastating than others. But through it all, I can see that God has been with me the entire way, and has even orchestrated, or at least allowed, some of them. And as devastating as some of them have been, I am also firmly convinced that God is always with me, and loves me in His perfect love, and the blessings resulting from His plans have been incredible!
I don’t know exactly how this blog is going to unfold, but I have had myriad ideas going through my mind and heart, as I seek God’s will for my life. I chose the photo for the heading for a reason. Life is like a shoreline, which is constantly undergoing change, as the wind, waves and water currents continue to impact it over many years. I took this photo in 2010, and it has changed. For example the large White Pine tree that is a fairly major feature in this photo is now gone. Similarly, a person’s life is constantly undergoing change. This photo is from the southeast corner of Rondeau Provincial Park, a place that I have been enormously blessed with being connected to in various ways for almost the entirety of my life. I used a similar photo for the cover shot of one of the books I produced in the last few years, called Life on a Sandspit, a book intended to portray the incredible diversity of this awesome part of God’s creation.
I currently plan for this blog to focus on how my life has changed, been blessed, and been challenged over the decades, dealing with things (and in no particular order) such as:
-early life and growing up on a farm;
-losing a year of my life in high school;
-going to a university that was not initially my first choice;
-getting married to someone I met at the university I ended up going to, and once I got to know her, I could hardly believe that such a wonderful person was available for me and have thanked God thousands of times for that blessing;
-having an incredible job available to start in after I graduated from university, only to have it taken away from me a few years later even though I had so many ideas and things I wanted to accomplish in it;
-some very major challenges in what my job was changed to, and the significant blessings along the way;
-the importance of forests to God, and therefore to all of us;
-the challenges and blessings of having two kids become part of the family;
-the financial blessings of realizing and trying to live in a way that acknowledged all I had belonged to God;
-and most recently trying to understand some devastating things that my dear wife had to deal with over many years, that eventually contributed to her demise. And of course dealing with the grief related to this enormous loss, and getting used to the new normal, which has resulted as much as a spiritual journey as anything.
First of all, I have been a firm believer in God for many decades, and more on that in another post. But God’s plan, His creation and His love for all that He created, including us, is truly remarkable, and words cannot adequately express the magnificence of it all. I have been enormously blessed with being able to explore God’s creation in so many places, in Ontario, elsewhere in Canada, as well as various parts of the USA and even to Costa Rica, and also have been able to capture numerous photos of many parts of it. My other blog, Nature Nuggets has well over 700 posts and almost 12000 photos featuring various aspects of the natural world I have been blessed with being able to see firsthand. An explanation of how I got to explore so many places may be part of one or more future posts.
One of the things I have recently reacquainted myself with is a song, called So Will I, by Hillsong Worship, via some email correspondence with a co-host of UCB radio (89.3 FM), a station that I listen to almost entirely (thank-you, Sarah!). It is quite an uplifting song, recognizing God’s role in creation of the world including us and how He loves us and has planned for us to spend eternity with Him. The music, lyrics and presentation are wonderful to listen to, over and over again. So inspirational, powerful, worshipful and reverential.
Here is the link to one that I listen to quite often. It has had almost 150 million views. I haven’t listened to it that many times yet, but the number is growing!
Some of my favourite lyrics in it, along with some photos that I feel reflect them, (click on the photo to enlarge them) are:
-if the stars were made to worship, so will I
 |
| Dark sky preserve, Grasslands National Park, SK |
-if it all reveals your nature, so will I
 |
| McKerrall Woods, C-K |
 |
| McKerrall Woods, C-K |
 |
| Nodding Pogonia, an Endangered Orchid |
 |
| Prothonotary Warbler, Endangered |
-every painted sky a canvas of your grace
 |
| Chenal Ecarte sunset |
 |
| Erieau sunrise |
 |
| Lake Erie sunrise |
 |
| Sunset over western end of Lake Erie |
-if the mountains bow in reverence, so will I
 |
| Mt. Rundle, Banff NP |
 |
| Peyto Lake, Banff NP |
 |
| Yosemite NP, CA |
 |
| Yosemite NP |
-if oceans roar your greatness, so will I
 |
| Lake Erie surf |
 |
| Virginia Bluebells |
 |
| Leaves emerging of Shagbark Hickory |
-I can see your heart in everything you’ve done, every part designed in a work of art called love
 |
| White Trilliums, Fish Point Prov Nature Reserve, Pelee Island |
 |
| Wood Lily |
God is so good, and He loves each of us with His perfect love!
Thanks for reading! There is much more to come in future blogs about Life Is A Journey as I feel led! They won't all have this number of photos, but that will vary depending on the topic.
If you would like to subscribe to Life Is A Journey, send an email to: prairietramper@gmail.com
