Well. We're nearly half-way through special meetings. I've just jumped ship in Lewistown and arrived in Helena, leaving the rest of the folks there to continue on north and eastwards, whilst I join up with another group and circle around Great Falls.
It's been really nice. So far, I've been in Billings, Round-up and Lewistown; with Helena, Havre, Fort Benton and Great Falls yet to go. The weather has been good, altogether. It snowed in Billings, then was clear until Lewistown, where it snowed Sunday night and Monday. Once I got past GF though, the snow vanished away and sunshine took its place. And today is absolutely beautiful - cold (I like it!), clear and sunny (I like all that too!). The sunrise (yes, don't look so shocked, I did see it - sort of. At least, I saw the sun before it was very far off the horizon, that counts, right?) this morning was like something out of a fairy tale. The sky was cloudy so that the sun was obscured, but it turned the clouds above and the land below into gold. And the valley was slightly misty and frost every where, so that all the buildings and trees that the sun hit looked like golden things rising out of a misty lake.
We stayed out by Winnett last week - out in the country, country. Gorgeous. Not too many trees (hardly any, hee) and lots of grass and wind. And it was a COLD wind, too. And horses and cats and goats and books. Steph and I went together, and we were glad we'd left early enough to have plenty of time, too! All three people who gave us directions said the same thing: Go along this road until you get to a T and our house is right there. Now, it had never before occurred to me that 'a T' might not mean exactly that: a T. Your road comes along and T's into someone else's road and you are forced to stop going forward and must choose a direction to turn. But apparently, it does.
So off we go, assured that we can't possibly miss it. 15 to 20 miles and we'll be there, and plenty early for lunch too. 45 minutes later, we stop talking and look at the now-dirt road uncertainly. The cows are highly impressed as well; I don't think they see many cars. There has been no T, this is clearly obvious because we are still driving. T's require you to stop. There has only been one road that we could have mistakenly not taken - it was a sort of Y'ish proposition, but our road was definitely the straight one, and they most certainly told us to continue going straight...
Well. There's a bit of a knob up ahead, maybe we'll be able to see something useful from it. I am picturing us standing there, surveying a landscape spread out before us, and our eyes landing triumphantly on The House. 'That one!' we will shout and pile back into the car. Alas, from our knob, we only see another knob, a little higher.
It's funny how your inner promptings can turn so swiftly from 'Why don't we go a little farther and see' to 'It's time to turn around...' So back we go, bumping through the cow pasture until we arrive once more at a nicely-traveled gravel road. Most heartening, that. We weren't even late for lunch.
But from now on, I'm getting definitions from everyone who gives me directions! Every single one of those kind people who told us how to find their house, described the T we were to meet - from the other road. They did not say (as they should have, says I!), You will see a road on your right. Take it.
I should really update this more often. All my posts are way too long. But just enough time, surely, for a few thoughts I've enjoyed from the past week+.
*If you're working at being humble, stop it. Work at serving God.
*The marks of charity in I Cor 13 aren't goals to aim at, to think, 'I really need to be more kind, I'd better try harder at that,' but tests to measure ourselves by. If I'm not kind, I need more of the love of God.
*Love is a fruit of the spirit, and God gives his spirit to those who ask for it, and to those who obey him. We ask, and God gives us his spirit. Then his spirit begins to move us, and when we obey it, the fruits of the spirit start to grow. If we don't follow the promptings of God's spirit, we will lose it.
