Lost in a one stop-light town?

Ok, so we weren't exactly lost. Nor did we know exactly where we were. We knew we were on the north side of the river and the east side of the highway, but that's about it.

A few weeks ago Laura and I decided we should be more physically active and since neither of us like to run we decided to go for walks. Most of our walks have been like, "Let's walk to the lake and walk back." Or "Let's walk to Ruth's and sit on her couch for two hours then walk back." One day we started walking and wound up at the coffee shop with smoothies... so much for being healthier. :-)

Yesterday we decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a walk along the river. We contemplated walking to the river or driving. For the sake of time and to control the length of our walk we decided to drive. (haha!) After I got out of the class and she got off work at 2:30 we drove to the river and began to walk. It was really pretty and it made me feel like walking along the river at home (except there were sketchier people here than at home). We got to a certain point and Laura said, "I've never gone any further. Let's make our own trail!" We tried that for awhile but it wasn't working too well. In the middle of nowhere we found this gravel path and I thought it would be fun to follow it (please notice following the path was my only decision about the walk all day). We followed it for a long time before it branched off and the gravel road went one direction up a hill and a grass path went another direction up a steeper hill... Laura felt it would be smarter to follow the gravel path and she was right. They both met up at the top, and our walk continued. Eventually the gravel road ended, but it was not anywhere near where we expected it to. We wandered along the road for a long time still only have an slightly educated guess as to where we were. We refused to ask anyone for directions (mostly because there wasn't anyone to ask) as we continued walking. Around every curve of the road and at every "stop sign ahead" sign we expected to find the highway. However, the closer we got the more we realized it wasn't what we were anticipating. At one point, Laura looked over, "LOOK! I see a steeple! I know where we are! Unless, of course, there's more than one church." Good job, brilliant. We're in the Bible belt, there are eight churches every block. :-) Around four o'clock we finally found the highway we had been looking for and had to walk 1.6 miles back to get her car. We finally made it back to campus around 5:15!

Our walk wound up being two and half hours long with minimal stopping. We estimate it to be upwards of six miles! Even though our legs wanted to kill us at the end and our feet had disowned us, we still had a blast! However, if you are ever walking along the river: don't take the gravel path because it just leads further and further away from where you wanted to go. :-)

<>< Katie

"He looked up and said, "'I see people; they look like trees walking around.'"
Mark 8:24

Letting Go

I read Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls in 4th grade. I don't remember much from that book but part of it has stuck with me and I don't really know why. From time to time I think about the one scene I remember and today was one of those days. I was reading Breaking Free by Beth Moore and all of the sudden there I was thinking about a scene in a book I read nine years ago.

The protagonist (see, I don't even remember his name) was "'coon hunting" with pieces of something shiny. Anything shiny was put in a trap and a raccoon would come by and stick his (or her, I guess) paw into the trap to grab the shiny object. The problem was that once their paw was in around the shiny object in a fist, it was impossible to get it out of the trap again. If the raccoon would open their paw and let of of shiny object their paw would easily come out of the trap, but the raccoon was too selfish to let go and would rather die.

In the same way, we grab onto sin. God tells us all we have to do is let go and we can be free. If only it were that easy! So, here we stand with our wrists caught in raccoon traps with our fingers curled around sin and Jesus standing beside us telling us to let go. We're too selfish to listen to Him and would rather hang onto the shiny sin.

Let go of the shiny sin. Grab God's hand instead. I know, it's hard. But it's worth it!

<>< Katie

"He feeds on ashes, a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, 'Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?'" Isaiah 44:20

New Blog!

I decided getting a blog sounds like fun. Something else to do with my... er... spare time that's already non-existent. It's better than spending countless hours on facebook and the flairs application, right? It's something constructive that takes thought.

However, I am a college student with 18.5 credit hours to take care of (4 of those courses being history... pity me!). I make no promises to update frequently, be inspiring, or even be worth your time. Yet, I will enjoy this blog and I hope you enjoy reading it! Comments make my day so if you take the time to read it, take the time to let me know you read it! :-D Thanks much!

With that said, here's goes nothing!

<>< Katie

"The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.'" Matthew 28:5-6