I got to see a Great Blue Heron up close this morning on the greenway while it was hunting for food. They eat fish and small frogs. Usually, they stand frozen in one spot, and you don’t get to see them move around. Today, he was all over the creek looking for food. Enjoy and may God bless your day!
Month: May 2021
Greenway Companions – Turtle Day!




KODAK Digital Still Camera 
KODAK Digital Still Camera 
KODAK Digital Still Camera
Today was Turtle Day! on the greenway where I ride my bike. Normally, you only see the turtles in the water or on rocks sunning at the water’s edge. But today, they were right at the greenway. I caught a tiny, tiny, baby one in the middle of the trail, a large grandfather glaring at me from inside his shell and a medium sized one right at the edge in the grass. I guess they just felt like socializing with us intruders into their territory. I did not dare to pick one up because here in Tennessee we have a lot of snapping turtles so you don’t want a finger close to their mouths.
Just threw in a couple of pictures of some red clover that has come into full bloom just now. Have a great day and Praise God for the beauty and variety of His earth!
Pick up Your. . .


Pick Up Your. . . As children we get told Pick up your things, your mess Clean behind yourself Oh, how our parents we can test As older we grow But as we become adults By someone much wiser than I From an ancient book of old We are each & every told To pick up our cross and Follow Him Notice. . . He did not say Pick up your money Or your pleasure Or your lusts for Material possessions He said Pick up your troubles, Pain, suffering And follow me anyway Try each & every day Within His footsteps to stay

Christ did not live a life Of luxury Pleasure While here not even particularly loved Except from the Holy Father above
Denied Himself Became obedient Even when He was sent To that tortuous cross! Counted it all as nothing, all a loss For us paid a most excruciating cost! Cannot we do the same To follow His Glorious name? To find your life you must lose it And if you are not willing. . . ? Not willing to sacrifice for Him Then worthy of Him are we not His words, not mine! Matthew 10:37–39 Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it. Christ does not mean not to love your family or neighbors, only to put Him first! Praise God for his love, mercy, grace and forgiveness!
The First Calm

The First Calm It happened under the skies Of the very first dawn Rays of light breaking Placid horizon in yellows, Pinks and reds It was the first Calm A new world, pleasant To the eyes and soul Broken out of deep, dark Nothingness By ancient words and voices told In a Holy Book Life exploded Upon a spinning globe Of dirt, air & water Animals, man & plants To each by a loving hand Did the Creator grant Relationship With Himself, The Ones who stirred The darkness Into life Nothingness Into something Desired to associate Fellowship With our forms of dust Only asking for a return Of love, respect & our trust This was the first Calm This perfected peace Between all forms of life And the Creators Between all of Their creation & Themselves There was not a hint, scent Of strife Until man, Supposedly the highest, Decided to rebel And follow the wrong voice Made the ultimate mistake Available, the worst choice And everything fell Plants, animals, earth Spun out of the original plan Subject to terrors Never meant or intended By our Creator’s gentlest Of hands And so we lost All of us Paid a dearest cost To suffer in pain, Showed disdain for the Ones Who made us And so in tears we lived And lost The First Calm
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The Light!

This a repeat of a blog I have posted before on my site, but this experience was so dramatic I feel I should share it once again. I know I will never forget it.
For years now, I guess about 7 or 8, I have been wanting to talk about, tell, something that happened to me one night. I have only told family members about it since I’m not very good at standing up and talking in front of people or telling things to people. I guess I was afraid they wouldn’t believe me.
I have sleep apnea. I don’t know if you know what that is, but that’s where when you lay down on your back to sleep the muscles that hold up your soft palette at the back of your throat relax so much that the palette itself collapses downward and completely closes your airway. In other words, you stop breathing. It is dangerous and can kill you. I do not think I could sleep with one of the breathing machines they use so I sleep with the head of my bed raised and try to stay on my sides.
However, one night I went to sleep and somehow must have gotten off my side and into a position that was not safe. I woke up suddenly, fully awake and conscious, and was in a different place.
I remember feeling a slight tinge of fear but was mostly confused, thinking where am I?? All around me was nothing but deep blackness until suddenly I could see this spiral of beautiful, puffy white clouds spiraling off into the distance. I did not want to look at the far distant end of the spiral because I had this sudden knowledge that if I looked at it, there would be no going back. Somehow I just knew that. Don’t know how, but I just did, but I was not given a choice. I had to look at the end of the spiral, and so I did.
Next, let me say that I had no physical sensation at all. I was fully conscious, but there were no physical sensations. I had no awareness of a body.
To get back to where I was, as soon as I looked at the end of the spiral of clouds, I was in the other place, but this one was different. This beautiful, beautiful light was everywhere. It glistened and shone like nothing I have ever seen. But the light was alive. There was an intelligence or presence inside the light. Like nothing I have ever experienced.
It was so bright it almost hurt to look at it and the colors of the rainbow were moving through it constantly. It was so bright that I turned to look away, but again, I was not given a choice. I had to look at the light so I did.
When I turned to look at it again, suddenly it felt like somebody had taken me and thrown me as hard as they could up against a brick wall. There was this really hard boom, and I was back inside my body. Totally awake but back inside of my body going “What just happened to me?”
I laid there for a few minutes, thinking about what I had just seen and experienced. I moved around a little trying to get my bearings back and then decided the only thing it could have been was for a few minutes or less, because it happened so quickly, so very quickly, is I think I died! It is the only explanation I can think of.
I believe for a very few brief seconds, I was allowed to see some of the glory of the Living God. The light was beautiful beyond words. I wish everyone could have seen it. Unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.
The only reason I wanted to tell this is I hope it will reassure everyone that there really is life after death, and that God is more beautiful than any of my weak human words could ever express.
I pray that the living God Himself will bless your day and your whole life and that you can get to know Him better. He really does love you profoundly, passionately and completely. God Bless You.
Greenway Walk












Again, I could not resist taking pictures on my early morning bike ride on our greenway system. I managed to catch a cardinal in flight and a small school of minnows. Hope you all enjoy looking at them as much as I enjoy taking them. Have a blessed day and Praise God for his kindness in making His earth so beautiful to look at on such beautiful sunny days.
