Hidden Beauty in an Urban Jungle

When you least expected it you run into something that is really neat right in your own back yard.  We had heard of this place called Macaw Landing but never got around to checking it out.  Well we did this weekend and boy was it worth the effort.  Macaw Landing is located about 10 minutes outside of Portland on Marine Dr.  You have to call and make a reservation by phone or e-mail.  Go to their web page if you want to know more macawlanding.org

Dad's Big Catch

My dad is 83 but he still has enough energy to do what he loves… fish.  He never is as excited as when he is telling you about the last fish he caught.  This is a Spring Chinook he caught the other day off the beach on Sauvie Island.  We didn’t weigh it but it must have been at least as big as Lea.  I remember growing up my dad and I did not get along sometimes, but we could always talk about fishing.  Lea on the other hand was a little freaked out by it; she would not even touch it.  

To Live and Love

What is love?  How many times has this question been asked over time?  I don’t know what love is, but I am learning.  I think that some things are just too big for one to say, I get it, and then feel that they have it down.  I have learned that love means sacrifice, that love means giving of yourself fully to another person.  That you can literally feel the pain that another person is experiencing and that’s OK.  In fact if you could you would take all the pain away and take it upon yourself.

This can only be fully experienced by walking down a painful road along side a loved one.  The realization that you are no longer one person but part of something greater and more beautiful than can be experienced alone.  As strange as this may seem I feel closer to God by walking this painful paths with my wife.  As difficult as it may be, this is part of giving yourself to another.  I pray that God will guard my heart and, with his help carry me through this difficult time.  One can never know how one will react in a situation like this but I know the Lord is with us and will see us through.

This whole business of pain and love is something one needs to understand in order to fully understand what Jesus did on the cross.  I am convinced that God feels our pain and that by having his son die on a cross he took that pain that was meant for us and placed it upon himself.  I am thankful that God made me able to love and feel pain even the pain of others.  What a great and wondrous God we serve that he walks with us during trying times so that we may gain insight into the mysteries of his divine nature.