Skywatch Friday

North to Alaska

 

 An amateur photographer/hobbyist once asked a professional shooter what was the secret to making his photographs more interesting.  The seemingly abrupt answer was, "Put  yourself in front of more interesting subjects."  That may sound like a cop out, but there is great truth in those words.  While God can paint an amazing sky anywhere in the world, it is most beautiful when surrounded by amazing landscape.  I can photograph some beautiful sunrises and sunsets in my hometown, but they pale in comparrison to the landscape of Alaska.  My wife and I took a cruise to Alaska last week and I have to say, I can understand why someone would want to move there.  Southeast Alaska, which includes Juneau and Anchorage actually has a rather mild climate, not unlike Seattle.  In fact, Ketchekan is in a rain forest.  That's right, they get over 72 inches of rain per year.  While Juneau has the Mendenhall glacier and Glacier Bay is in the area, you have to go further north before that 72 inches of rainfall actually turn into ice and snow.  If you are thinking about a once-in-a-lifetime vacation, I would recommend an Alaska cruise.  You will wake up each morning to an amazing landscape.  For the children of the Lord, there will come a day when we will wake up in Glory!   Have a blessed week-end.

 



Inspiration Thursday

Have you ever felt that God didn't answer your prayer?  Have you ever prayed that God would heal someone you love, only to see them pass away?  In the past year, we have lost two friends to cancer.  Both were under the age of 55 and had loving families.  One will not walk his daughters down the aisle, nor see his grandchildren.  Neither will see their grand children grow up and graduate high school or college.  Both will not experience family vacations with those that they love the most.  Many, many people prayed for God to heal these two, but it seems that it was not in His will.
Each journey started with a diagnosis.  Upon hearing the news we immediately began to pray for a healing.  We prayed for the doctors to have the wisdom and the knowledge to bring the disease into remission.  After some time had passed and treatments were administered, both friends were given the news that the cancer had spread and that the prognosis was not good.  Our prayers moved to the next level.  We gathered with friends and prayed.  We petitioned the Lord for a miracle.  In both cases,the day came when we received the news that our friends had been moved to hospice and that the battle was nearly over.  Once again, our prayers changed tone and urgency.  We prayed that God would give them peace, comfort and courage for the journey ahead.  Finally, the news came that each had passed away.  In each case there was a sense that our prayers had not been answered.  After a few days of mourning over the most recent loss of a friend, I came to realize that perhaps my prayers had indeed been answered.  My desires had not been granted, but my prayer had been answered.  How is that possible, you might ask.  We prayed for a healing and the person is gone.  Where is the healing?  I would tell you that when God gathers one of His children and takes them home, they are HEALED!  They are healed internally, externally, and eternally!  They have gone to a place that Christ has prepared for them and the Bible tells me that that there is no more pain and no more tears for His children.  Those of us who are left behind, mourn the loss of our loved ones.  We experience the pain of separation because we are going to miss the relationship that we had with the one who is gone.  Still, we need to understand, God is in control and His perfect will has been accomplished.  A healing has taken place, just not the way that we expected.  In those times when we don't understand God's plan, we just have to trust His heart.