North Carolina weekend

I drove on the Cherohala Skyway and Foothills Parkway this weekend. It is a fabulous drive with some amazing views. There are stunning overlooks off each side that really make you realize the beauty of this part of the country. God's awesome creation is on full display. I was again in awe at His brilliance and love and His generosity. It could have been simple and purely functional, with maybe a few decorative touches put in. But He chose to lay a whole world of interesting plants and animals to look at and a whole colorful environment to walk in and touch. There is also the very interesting "Dragon" with its 300 turns in 11 miles. This road and the skyway are true engineering and human achievements. A road (the Skyway) that hugs mountains and climbs a 1,000 feet at a time in a burst of not over a mile in length, then after the rises descends down the other side at just the same rate. A lot of pioneers went first to pave the way for us later adventurers to come and be able to get up to these excellent places. One particular spot at "The Spirit Ridge" allows you to look back down the road. There you witness a road popping through a gap and you imagine the early settlers negotiating those passes and entering a whole new land laid out beneath their feet.

It is then interesting to think about later people and connect the history further. At times, the conversation of the weekend (on our camping trip) turned to the Civil War and you think of the military objectives of reaching the high ground and trying to get cannon to those points. The continually stunning revelation to me is that this beauty and this history are all around us. This very land was not always used as it was, for enjoyment or development. It has a historical past. Growing up, I missed that in indifference or arrogance. It is now a delight to enjoy it in a community experiencing it together.


In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was in the beginning with God. Through Him all things were made . . In Him was life, and that life was the light of all men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." (John 1:1-5)