Every Friday a bunch of bloggers post pictures of the heavens around themselves and call it Skywatch Friday. Find out a little bit about the rules and follow along at
http://skyley.blogspot.com/2008/06/da-rulez.html
While this is no where near where I am today it is a piece of the sky I dearly love to remember!
The Atlantic Sky from the Giant’s Causeway
This week Ailsa has asked us to travel with her to the land of : SLOW.
You can mosey on over to her place and see how others have interpreted the theme by going to:
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/12/05/travel-theme-slow/
Here are my takes on the subject…
Snow is one of the few things that actually slows me down. When it’s impossible to drive you have to say no to activity. I love those mornings when the only sound you can hear in the neighborhood is the sound of snow falling and the slicing of shovels.
These fishermen in Killarney were taking it slow.
“Love has something to do with recognition, We can be fascinated by the unknown, we can be attracted by it, but love is something that grows, slowly, in an atmosphere of trust.” Peter Hoeg
I wonder how slowly this heart was formed and for whom?
The Atlantic Sky from the shores of Doolin- Je Lillie
Discover more sky at:
http://skyley.blogspot.com/2008/06/da-rulez.html
So Cee’s Challenge This week took her through fields of flowers. Check it out at
http://ceenphotography.com/2014/12/03/cees-which-way-photo-challenge-2014-23/
Now, this is the way which I went this week!
The Way By the Cliffs of Moher
Ailsa has challenged us to take the high road and get above our subjects this week.
To see how other bloggers rose to the occasion got to
http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/11/28/travel-theme-above/
Here are my thoughts on the subject
This is a view of the grounds of Blarney Castle from the top of its parapet.
The city of Amsterdam plays out beneath me as I stand on the balcony of
The Vrie Universitie.
Delft From the top of the Nieuwe Kerk.
I am with Ailsa! As the days grow shorter and colder a good shock of color helps bring back the cheer that can be so easily sapped away by the cold and dark!
Colourful Cork!
One of the things I loved about the city of Cork was the bright colours of the homes and shops.
The falls in the rock close
The juxtaposition of these lilies and the green of the falls in Blarney’s rock close made for an incredible splash of color!
The colors of Keukenh of kept me bright and cheery even though it rained the day we went.
But then perhaps the brightest of colours are to be found in the hearts of people. Colorful people can’t be hidden by the dark or the cold of winter. Their hearts bring warmth wherever they go. These folks are from one of the Bible study classes I taught last year. I am so thankful for their colourful personalities and for the bright faith they pour into the world around them.
Check out other oddities at
Cee’s Odd Ball Photo Challenge: Week 36
Dead faces at Blarney Castle.
Howdy-Do! This week’s Fun Foto Challenge From Cee is: BARK OR LEAVES
http://ceenphotography.com/fun-foto-challenge/
Here’s a little leaft over from my trip to Ireland. Don’t worry the bark is worse than the bite.
A tree by the River Martin
The bark at Torc
Giant leaves in the rock close at Blarney
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. I John 1:5-7
When I get to Heaven I expect many surprises. I get more than most that there are things about Christianity that just don’t make sense within the current context of a fallen sinful world. We have never known anything but this so how could we expect ourselves to understand something that is totally other than this?
For instance: How do we work out the concept of eternity (the absence of time) in a universe that measures everything in time. How do we rationalize having complete free choice under the auspices of a completely sovereign God? How can innocence ever return when the knowledge of good and evil is so deeply ingrained within our race? AND how can Something or Someone be entirely light in a universe that is only able to measure light by the amount of darkness it dispels?
We cannot fully explain these things now but we Christians must firmly hold to them because God has taught them in His Word.
As Amanda and I mosied from Moher along the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, we traveled into a place called the Burren.
A veritable moonscape splattered along the Western coast of Ireland, the Burren is the badlands between the green spaces of Kerry and Connemara. Amanda and I were struck to silent wonder as we twisted the corkscrew roads down into the nothingness and back up and out again towards the bay of Galway. Always in our travels there was this light in the midst of the lonely terrain that reminded us that magic and mystery can exist side by side with the natural man.
The sun was setting over the Bay of Galway as we pulled into the SaltHill Hotel along Ocean Dr. As it nestled itself to sleep under a haze of dark black cloud I was reminded that I may not know how time and eternity, sovereignty and free will, innocence and knowledge, or light and darkness can exist perfectly side by side, but there are a great many things I do not know or have not seen; My not knowing them or not seeing them does not make them any less so.
What parts of God’s Word do you struggle with because it doesn’t seem to match up with what you have experienced?
We left Killarney and headed towards the coast and the Cliffs of Moher. It was Wednesday. Once again our GPS directed us on some of the smallest roads I had ever seen through rocky countryside that makes my country town feel like a veritable city. It felt most times as thought we were miles from civilisation and that Ireland was all but empty of human life.
We arrived at the visitor’s center at Moher around 11 A.M. and discovered that a boat tour of the cliffs was launching at three from the town of Doolin some twenty minutes down the road. Since we had the option of making our own way we decided to eat our lunch atop the cliffs and make our way to Doolin for the three hour wait.
I suppose while we saw many grand sights on the Emerald Isle it was the little things I will remember most, those things that made the trip truly unique: The smell of peat burning as we passed through villages in the countryside, the fact that pharmacies in Ireland are depicted by neon green crosses, the mirror at the hotel room in Galway that didn’t fog in the middle, the color of the buildings, the way the country roads all have a strip of the greenest grass growing down the center. It is the little memories that made the place stand out, that made it all so magical.
Lillie-Put 