Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 46 - Go

This is the final day in the Lenten Photo Challenge. The last one. It has truly been a challenge for me. Not that the words were hard, but the thoughts behind them certainly were. For those that have been reading these blogs, I hope you have enjoyed them, but now it is time for me to go. At least for a short while. A bit of a break. I am going to go on a trip to New Orleans with the high school band members and we are going to have a great time! But before I go I wanted to share something from the TV show "Outlander". (fantastic show by the way...) I found it captured a lot of what I think I talked about in the last 46 days in this challenge. Anyway, it is what I will leave you with today with the word, "Go". Thanks for following along with me.

When I was a lad I saw no path before me, I simply took a step and then another. Ever forward, ever onward, rushing toward someplace I knew not where. And one day I turned around and looked back and saw that each step I'd taken was a choice, to go left, to go right, to go forward or even to not go at all. Every day every man has a choice between right and wrong, between love and hate, and sometimes between life and death and the sum of those choices becomes your life.

Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 45 - Refuge

Hopefully you have a refuge. My refuge is a comfortable home in a wonderful little town called Paxton. I love living in a small town. I grew up in a small town. (Really small. 50 people) I love everything about my small town.

When Cordelia and I decided to buy a home, we knew that we could not live in Champaign. One, we could not afford to live there and two, I just had had enough of the big city. We decided to look outside of Champaign, but I wanted to make sure we were not any further away from my family home in Claytonville and not to far from Champaign for travelling to work.

We looked at a number of houses all over, and eventually we looked at homes in Paxton at the suggestion of our realtor. Thank goodness we did.

Moving to Paxton was the best thing we did as a couple, next to having kids. Living in Paxton has been more rewarding that you can imagine. This town and its people have given us so much in the way of comfort, friendship, social activities and community.

When people bad mouth small towns and say how much they hate them, it makes me mad. Maybe the town isn't the problem. Maybe they are. Maybe they are not giving the town a chance, or maybe they are looking for something that cannot be found in a small town. Maybe they need the anonymity of a big city or have bigger needs.

I for one could not imagine having the life I have in a town bigger than were I am living now.

My town in my comfort. It is were I feel safe to be what I want to be. It centers me.

When the world looks so scary and upside down, it is my refuge.

Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 44 - Prosper

I could so easily refer you to my blog post of a few days ago and the Lenten challenge word of LIVE but I won't because that would not be in the spirit of the challenge.

To truly prosper, and I mean this in a financial, physical, spiritual, familial and relationship way you will get out of that what you put into it.

If you don't work hard or don't care to work. Don't expect to be rich.

If you don't take good care of yourself and exercise everyday, don't expect to be in good physical shape.

If you don't hold firm to your beliefs and work on your relationship with God, then don't be surprised when you find your faith failing you.

If you don't work on strengthening and uplifting your family (even your extended family), then don't expect them to be there when you need them.

If you are not a friend or don't act like a friends, then don't expect have any friends.

You get out of life, what you put into it.

Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 43 - Breathe

"Keep Breathing. That's the key. Breathe."

Gimli, son of Gloin, says this in the Lord of the Rings movie. It's a light moment in a otherwise stressful point of the movie.

But there is truth in that statement. When things seem out of control, your ability to move on hindered or restricted, and there seems to be only chaos all around, all you must do is, breathe.

Breathe. Gather your thoughts, your power, and keep moving forward.

And breathe. That's the key.

Lenten Photo Challenge: Day 42 - Peace

Peace

The absence of war.

But in order to have peace, you must be either willing to bow to a superior force, or be a superior force.

Or you must compromise and a let one another live in peace.

But how often does that happen?

I was told one time in a political science class that if humans were angels we would not need laws or armies. That is why we have laws and armies.

I am a believer that a in order to stop a war, someone has to render a combatant no longer able to, or willing to wage war.

History proves this so. Unless you put your enemies down, you will not have peace.

Currently, my country is at war.

I understand that in this world we cannot and must not be conquerors, but we must not allow others to bring war to us or continue to make war on us.

We have superior firepower.

Why are we still at war?

Peace through superior firepower.

(That is what the above photo is roughly translated to.)