At the end of a long day, I was rewarded with this striking sunset enveloping the dusky sky last night. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.
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This week, my family and I took an eventful walk through Benson’s Park in Hudson, NH. This nature-full park used to be a zoo from 1926-1987, but was transformed into a public park and nature area in 2009. The empty animal cages are still scattered beside the trails and walkways throughout the park. As we walked the trails, I spotted these intricate morel mushrooms. Such fabulous works of God! Although they are edible, I wouldn’t want to risk it if I perhaps identified them incorrectly. Plus, dogs walk these trails very regularly. Continuing down the path, a beautiful song reached our ears. It was coming from a crab apple tree on the side of the path. We searched the many blooming branches, and finally spotted the singer. It was a bright Baltimore Oriole! What a vibrant orange. Unfortunately, I was unable to photograph this beautiful bird. Here is a photo from Wikipedia.org of the Oriole. Resting between the limbs of the crab apple tree was this encouraging message painted on a stone. What a happy thing to come across! As the path ran along the side of a pond, I spotted a Canada Goose which seemed very comfortable with us so close to it. I slowly approached it, and to my surprise, it didn’t move at all. It just looked at me, and even leisurely took a drink of the water. I was only inches away from the bird. I could have stroked its feathers. After looking at me one last time, it slowly stepped into the water and paddled off. I don’t know why this bird was so comfortable around humans, but it was truly amazing. Also, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Benson's Park supports the American Chestnut Foundation. There were at least two new blight-resistant saplings planted on the side of the trails! See my post on the American chestnut. Benson's park is an amazing place to go to see God's wonderful creation. I will definitely be visiting again soon, and I hope you will too. This week, the backyard bird feeders were teeming with activity. Sparrows, titmice, cardinals, doves, and finches. The usual. But there was one bird that particularly caught my eye. It looked like a sparrow, and I first noticed it by the unique way that it moved. Very much unlike the regular feeder attender, the House Sparrow. After snapping a few pictures and matching it with those in my bird guide, I discovered who the stranger was. Ah! A White-Throated Sparrow! A happy addition to my life list. This beautiful bird must have been passing through, for I haven't seen him since. Anyhow, I am most pleased that I had the chance to see this wonderful work of God. Also, it seems as though a pair of Goldfinches live nearby. They sit at the feeders, feasting, for hours at a time every day. Such strikingly colorful creatures. So beautiful. Life can be hard. It’s true. These past three weeks have been more than hectic for me, as I have spent nearly all the time in the Mass General Hospital in Boston. I have been suffering from sporadic neurological attacks which effect my ability to think, talk, and to use the whole right side of my body. The first time this happened was about three weeks ago, and my family rushed me to the emergency room terrified and unsure of what was happening.
Eventually, the attack subsided and I again gained control of my brain. I could move and talk normally, but the doctors still couldn’t tell what was wrong with me. They were considering diseases such as MS or Lyme, but the tests kept coming back negative which was good but also worried us. What could be causing these attacks? After many days of ignorance, the doctors came back with an answer: I had mycoplasma pneumoniae which infected my central nervous system causing encephalitis. My brain was inflamed. It was good to finally know what was wrong with me, but it was also scary. After putting me on medication, I was finally sent home from the hospital after a ten day stay. I was very glad to be home, but I was still experiencing some tremors and other bad signs. This wasn’t reassuring. After two days of being home, my body gave in to another attack. This one wasn’t subsiding. We again rushed to the ER and it all started over. Why wasn’t the medication working? Would I ever recover from this attack? It took almost 48 hours for me to regain my voice and my arm remained very weak. The doctors decided to try to put me on steroids, which, thankfully, have seemed to be working. I have had no other attacks since that last one, and I don’t plan to have another anytime soon. My voice remains slow even now, and my arm is still recovering, but I believe that I will fully recover over time. Okay, so I will survive this. But sometimes I find myself asking why God let it happen in the first place. Why did he let me go through so much fear and pain? Did it do me any good? Well, yes. It did me much good. On one of my three ambulance rides, I did some thinking and recalled asking God for a trial a few days before. Something that would build my faith. Something that would draw me closer to God. Well, guess what? This certainly did that. During these past three weeks, I have felt the Holy Spirit inside me more than I ever have before. I felt his comfort during the pain, and his peace during the fear. It has been miraculous. At the hospital, I asked God for a rainbow in the sky, and the next morning there was a rainbow. God doesn’t always answer prayers this obviously, but, for whatever reason, he chose to this time. I am still in awe. Our God is a kind, loving god. Let’s put our faith in him, because life can be hard. In my last post, I complained about the season and what seemed like everlasting cold and snow. I hope you didn’t get me wrong; I love winter. I love snowflakes and warm fires and hot chocolate. I don’t even mind shoveling the snow for my family, but sometimes all this cold gets old. Sometimes I think of spring and summer and long to see it. It has snowed since my last post, and the accumulation has piled up to two or three feet now. I don’t mind much. I’m safe indoors with a hot cup of coffee and a warm fire. I don’t have to mind. I imagine this is a whole other story for the local animals who are awaiting spring to wake up the sun. I’m sure that they don’t think of the winter as a cozy, warm time. All they know are cold, frozen lives during this white season. I love this quote from Richard Adams, the author of the famous novel Watership Down: Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it. If I think about it, that is exactly what I like about winter. The proof against it. I don’t like the bitter cold. I don’t like the hard ice. I don’t like the lack of outside life. I only like my cozy, warm, sheltered life.
Animals have it differently. They can’t walk into a warm house for a bit of comfort. They can’t sit next to a cozy fire. They are stuck in the frozen, icy snow until Spring brings the warmth. |
Caleb JamesHi! Welcome to my blog. Get my free eBook!Categories
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