Ft. Myers, FL to Portland, OR

We began our trip at the Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers. My excitement was enormous. My thoughts had not left this trip for the past few weeks. My mind was a swirling funnel filled with the thoughts of beautiful places, adventurous times and physically challenging feats. Of course, I had hyped this up to be a lot bigger than it really was. In my mind this was epic...but truthfully it wasn't.

I need to make that clear. I understand that my journeys are no greater than anything anyone else has done. I often find myself shying away from sharing my experiences because I know that everyone has their own phenomenal happenings; however, I find that experiences don't need to be extraordinary to be shared. In fact, we are called to share our lives with one another regardless of how "awesome" we think they are. What I was able to be a part of was great. And I understand that it isn't climbing Mt. Everest or anything like that. The true magnifence of my travels is found in the beauty and magnitude of God my King and seeing more and more of His wondrous creation.

That is really what this is all about. If I am able to share the glory of God through my ordinary experiences, I can count them extraordinary for the sake of Christ.

I began to think through this on the plane. I started to wonder about the WONDER of God. Was what I was about to embark on really that incredible? I felt swallowed up in the largeness of this universe.

I wrote in my journal:
"This trip has already captured my thoughts to the wonder and majesty of creation. Up in the sky right now I am reminded of the great might and power of Yahweh God. As the sun begins to rise and shine through the fluffy clouds in a soft pink tint, I am reminded that God holds this all in His hand, and again I am feeling quite insignificant. This universe is HUGE...yet He took upon flesh and made Himself nothing and dwelt among us. The God who created this vast cosmos chose to take a human body and enter into our tiny world, in one particular place in time and geography. How crazy?! He literally made Himself nothing...
I think it is so awesome how all of creation speaks out toward the beautiful process of renewal and regeneration. Every flower and every sunset is a microcosm of the Lord's hand. It proclaims this process of creation, fall, redemption and points us back to the original perfect creation and the second fulfilling redemptive re-creation.
This trip has me excited for several reasons but there is none greater than the opportunity to be intimately engrossed in nature, a constant daily reminder of the Creator, His vastness, His sovereignty, but also His meekness, humility and simplicity."


Fort Myers, Florida to Portland, Oregon -2590 miles http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=2

the Marvelous Obsession

It is a new summer for me...in fact, this summer is almost over. I look back at this past year since I last wrote in this blog and I have realized that I have had a ton of great experiences and adventures. Unfortunately I didn't keep up with them in this blog; however, that is something that I would like to change.

Over the next few weeks I would like to unfold my certain adventures in brief stories or synopses...they may be creative and capture your interest, or they may be simply boring and dull descriptions of occurrences. Whatever the case, I feel that I would like to share some of this with you as I continue this great adventure of life day by day.

I find that the world revolves around beauty. It is the concrete foundation for which we function; a motivator. It grabs hold of us and takes us through life...

Creation is the pinnacle of beauty, for in creation we not only see and marvel at beauty, but we find purpose for ourselves in the midst of it all. It is in this God-given, Creatively designed and purposed marvelous obsession that we see our Creator glorified in the beauty of creation.

The next few posts I will put up are from a recent backpacking/roadtrip that I have just recently come back from in the Pacific Northwest. In it all I have been blessed to be surrounded by the beauty of God's creation and to soak up His glory in rain and shine. Through these posts I will unfold my understanding of the purpose in beauty and the design for it in our lives; how my experience and encounter with the beauty of creation has brought me along in my walk with the Lord.

There is a reason for this marvelous obsession...it leads us to our Sovereign Lord. If you are open to it, please join me on this journey as I go from the stunning Colombia River Gorge to the gorgeous Oregon Coast to the vast country of Mount St. Helens.