so live your life. (no tellin' where it'll take ya)

Sunday night, we meet again. Sometimes, more often that not actually, I cannot believe how quickly time passes. I actually thought about writing yesterday, but the procrastinator lives on. :/
It really would have made sense for me to write this yesterday, since most of what I'll be rambling on tonight happened yesterday...but I digress. 

If you ever drive out to my house from town, assuming you're not coming from Sanger, I'll tell you to watch for a curve in the road and the flashing yellow 30 MPH sign, you'll make a right turn off of the main 168 to get to my house. Well if you miss that turn off, or choose to pass it by like I did, you head straight up towards Prather, Auberry and eventually Shaver Lake. I decided to take the short drive up to the San Joaquin River Gorge just outside of Auberry. Beautiful place, short little hikes. It's best in the summer/early fall to explore the little(very little, think shimmy, not walking around) caves, but since I was alone and knew the sun would be setting in a few short hours, I decided to take the shorter trail to the bridge. All that babble to get you here:

After I had been walking for awhile, actually it couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes, I felt like the trail seemed to be longer than I remembered. I knew I was on the right trail, but I guess I was just impatient to get to the destination. I kept walking and heard water flowing, and it sounded quite close. Excited, I walked a little faster, only to find that the source was only a stream running down the side of a slope. I stopped to take a few photos and just listen to the water run by, but after a few minutes I got up and kept going. Although it was pretty and right there it wasn't what I had come for. 
Eventually I heard the faint sound of the river rushing and several minutes later I could see the bridge. Beautiful view. So worth the drive, the walk, the chill in the air and the light drizzle from the sky.

You know when you hear a message/sermon/devotional and the speaker just seems to have the perfect life example that fits in with what they're talking about? I always wondered how they always found such great examples. What I realized is that it's not that their lives are any more exciting or spiritual than mine, but rather that they were intentionally aware of how God was moving and working in their lives, from grocery shopping to taking a hike. On this hike in particular, I realized I had encountered some of those "really cool life examples":
-Even though the "trail" you're on may seem long and even daunting at times, remember God's past faithfulness. Keep going.
-God's voice isn't always the loudest one. There will be sounds/voices that seem a lot louder and closer, maybe even some that sound like what you're looking for. Be discerning. Keep listening.
-God is quite the Creator. Not really a metaphorical way to tie that in..but seriously, He makes some beautiful things. 

Again, mostly notes for myself. I guess it would be pretty cool to share these with a group. Or kind of terrifying.  Anyway, let's open our ears and be encouraged by His still, small voice.