The West is the Best

I’ve always been a proponent of vacationing in the west, or more accurately the northwest.  I guess it comes down to personality, but I know I’m right about this!  Oregon, Washington, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana are simply wonderful.  I know from personal experience.  I look forward to adding Idaho and northern Montana to the list soon.  Why, you ask?

1) Badlands, hills, mountains, caves & volcanoes
2) Lakes, streams, rivers, waterfalls and springs
3) Astounding amounts of wildlife
4) Dunes and coastline
5) Islands, forests, deserts and plains
6) National Parks, National Monuments, National Recreation Areas, National Forests & Scenic Byways….these are endless in number
7) Oodles of tourist attractions based on all the History of the area
8) My favorite – stupendous Bed & Breakfast locations.

All of these details make for one huge vacation must: Opportunity!  Rain or Shine, Hot or Cold you have places to go.

Raining?  Hit a cave or a dense forest for a hike.  Take a look at some of the many visitor centers, museums or indoor attractions.  Easier yet, just…take…a…drive and enjoy nature’s museum.  Otherwise, put on a poncho and head out!

For me, these last two weeks were spent in SD, WY & MT.  We hit the Badlands and tried to walk 500 miles of tough terrain, okay, it just felt like it (you’ll need to watch my video of the rattlesnake). Next,we came to the Black Hills of SD for 5 days.  The Black Hills offer endless options as we toured Jewel Cave and Wind Cave, Mt. Rushmore, the Crazy Horse monument, Custer State Park, Needles Highway [see Camden pictured on top of a needle], Bear Country USA, rode an old 1880’s train, panned for gold and toured a mine, had fun with The Flintstones, went on a Chuckwagon supper tour, visited Hot Springs and stayed in a great Holiday Inn Express that had a waterfall right out our window in Custer, SD.  Did I mention the wildlife?  From there we came to Devil’s Tower and then off to the wonderful Big Horn Mountains.  There we hiked Tongue Canyon & River, as well as headed into a short cave.  Next, we drove into Montana to the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn (Custer’s Last Stand).  The town of Sheridan, WY offers some neat options as well, like King’s Saddlery where Camden got a chicken lasso.  Spahn’s Big Horn Mountain Bed & Breakfast took great care of us for three nights.  Thanks Ron and Bobbie!  The 100 mile view is still breathtaking.

The second half of our trip took us over the Big Horn Mountains to Big Horn Canyon National Recreation Area.  We hunted for wild horses, stood in awe of the canyon and checked out an abandoned ranch.  This area spans both WY & MT.  I almost stepped on a 4 ft Bull snake in the parking lot (WY).  I love excitement!  What’s up with snakes?  Now we were off to Yellowstone National Park.  We hopped around Yellowstone for two days and then headed to the Grand Teton National Park to stay in a Cabin a few nights.  Mountains, wildlife, hydrothermal features, canyons, rapids, cascades, buffalo and their calves, moose, elk, pronghorn deer, mule deer, white tail deer, prairie dogs and their babies, black bears and baby blacks bears, wild horses, wolves, coyotes, rabbits, three snakes and lots of family fun left us with great memories.  The only thing we could have done a lot more of was sitting by a rushing stream or creek and just hanging out in nature in the crisp mountain air.  The West is the Best.  “Kowboy Keith” says so!

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Two Minute Bible Study: Vol. 1, Issue 2

Ezekiel, Manure & Questioning God:

Ezekiel, Ezekiel, where shall we find another prophet willing to go through what you went through?  Ezekiel definitely had a unique ministry.  In Ezekiel 3:16 – 5:17 I found two good points to write a quick study about.

1. Warn the lost

2. Question God (if you are willing)

Warn the lost means we are to do just that, “Hey, you got Jesus?!  If not, you are heading in the wrong direction!”…  Ezzy (my affectionate name for Ezekiel) is given the words to speak and they entail, “WARN THE LOST, IF NOT, THEN THEIR BLOOD IS ON YOUR HANDS TOO!”  Now, we must recall this directive is during the time of the Old covenant with God, before Jesus’ time.  BUT… it’s still a relevant teaching, after all, if you call yourself a Christian, then our directive is to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” (Matt 28:19 NIV)  Yes, in essence, get your rear in gear, and work on the hearts of the lost!

Ezzy also details to us that we are to warn a righteous man before he does something unrighteous.  I would like to warn myself more often, but, alas, I tend to be deaf to my own screams!  Of note, if you fail to warn this man, he will die for his sin and ALL of his good deeds will be forgotten.  Boy, doesn’t that hit the nail on the head!  I’m thinking of OJ Simpson, MANY politicians, etc.  People mess up big, and their past doesn’t matter any longer it seems.

Now, Question God…. you may be thinking I have a screw loose…. I’M NOT SAYING QUESTION GOD ABOUT EVERYTHING!  Here is why I say this….  Yes, Ezzy did it.  I love passing the buck (not really but it sounded funny to say that).  In Ezekiel 4:12+ God has told Ezzy to bake his bread using “human excrement”, ahhhh gross, man.  If God told me to do that, and I was glowing like Moses and on a spiritual high after talking with the big man himself… I would say, SURE!  But NOT Ezzy, oh no, he goes nuts talking about how he has never eaten anything impure, unclean or smelling like poop (I added that last one).  Yep, he back talked to God in a way I suppose, but he was heard!  God noted his passion for the LAW (God’s law by the way) and allowed Ezzy to use cow manure instead.  That sure helped I’m sure.

Was it a test?  I think so…. but who knows!  Either way, I thought it was interesting.  If you ever feel God is calling you to do something that may not be quite right (like burn down an abortion clinic, or beat up an atheist), MAYBE you should question it a bit!  No harm in that, right!  I AM being a bit facetious, if you know me I have my moments of insanity.  One other moment of insanity may have been expecting you to have read this in two minutes.

Acknowledgements: Image: Danilo Rizzuti / FreeDigitalPhotos.net Image: Tim Beach / FreeDigitalPhotos.net