Enjoyment of Scenic Drives

Our family spent our latest Saturday, on a scenic drive from New Braunfels to Boerne , Texas. The drive on 46 West is just 40 minutes. We enjoyed every minute of traveling the rolling hills of the Hill Country. In the sections with expanses of trees I was hoping to see some colors but it being just the start of Fall, and with the hot dry Summer here in Texas the leaf colors need a few more weeks.

A scenic drive is an enjoyable way to spend a day. The curvy roads of a state route are harder to drive than a major highway but the scenery shows the beauty of the countryside. The drive brought back memories of when I was young in Ohio. My mother had a family friend and his wife who would take us on Saturday drives and picnics in Southern Ohio. That area of Ohio had rolling hills just like the Hill Country of Texas.

You can do a scenic drive anytime of the year but I always preferred in Ohio, Illinois and Michigan to do them in the Fall to view the Fall foliage change. That is why even though we moved here in Summer to New Braunfels my wife an I were waiting until Fall to do our first local drive.

We spent a few hours in Boerne shopping and ate lunch at a Local eatery, The Peach Tree Café . The staff were very friendly and the food was fresh and delicious. The décor was simple, clean and quaint.

On our way out of Boerne back home we stopped at a riverside park. We took some pictures of ducks and geese being fed by a family. We noticed as well in the water a large number of turtles trying to battle with the geese for crumbs of bread. Of course the geese won out most of the time.

Our scenic drive day was a change of pace from our regular Saturday routine. Breaking from routine is part of Living More Than OK. Overall even with high gas prices it was a relatively low cost day. The important part is we were together enjoying the beauty that is scenic America.

The internet is a great place to obtain ideas for scenic drives. Here are a few websites you can go to for ideas:

In Texas -- http://www.trails.com/toptrails.aspx?area=12302

In USA -- http://www.scenicdrivesusa.com/

http://byways.org/explore/byways#index_T

You can also take a map of your state and be more daring by charting out your own scenic drive through local country roads.

Reflection: Take a Saturday or Sunday drive exploring a new area you have never driven before.

Life Moves and Life Poems

My family is making a move from Brownsville, Texas to New Braunfels, Texas. We have visited many times in the past the Hill Country area and my wife and I thought it would be a good place to retire. As happenstance has a way of doing, events transpired for the move to occur now when we are still a distance from retiring. When you have settled in one place as we have been in the Rio Grande Valley for 10 years, it is hard to move to another place; even if it is a place you like. For me there is trepidation in that I am stepping out with no set job yet. My wife has a new opportunity but even that for her -- she has to face a new situation.

I find solace in that recently at church and other spiritual readings we have encountered, Faith has been a topic facing us. Any change takes faith to step out to try something new. In our faith we know in our heart that God has opened this new direction. So even though all the pieces are not together we know the puzzle will fall into place.

I was recently practicing a Michael Card song for a speech at my daughter’s school and it made me think of God’s direction in our lives. I have the words below for The Poem of Your Life. Click on the title hyperlink to listen to a Youtube video of Michael Card singing it. He is being accompanied by my favorite guitarist Phil Keaggy.

The Poem Of Your Life by Michael Card


Life is a song We must sing with our days A poem with meaning
More than words can say A painting with colors No rainbow can tell
A lyric that rhymes Either heaven or hell

We are living letters That doubt desecrates We're the notes of the song
Of the chorus of faith God shapes every second Of our little lives
And minds every minute As the universe waits by

The pain and the longing The joy and the moments of light
Are the rhythm and rhyme The free verse of the Poem of life

So look in the mirror And pray for the grace To tear off the mask See the art of your face Open your earlids And hear the sweet song Of each moment that passes And pray to prolong

Your time in the ball Of the dance of your days Your canvas of colors Of moments ablaze With all that is holy With the joy and the strife
Of the rhythm and rhyme Of the poem of your life
Of the rhythm and rhyme Of the poem of your life

Poems have various stanzas that make up the whole meaning of the poem. Viewing our life journey as a poem we see each turning point segment begins a new stanza. Recently as I prepare for the move I look back at the memories of our home here, friends and co-workers who will be missed. In faith I look towards a new stanza of the poem beginning in our new setting of New Braunfels (click to view the N.B. Visitors website).

It is comforting to know that God is guiding the minutes of my life. God helps create meaning in my poetic journey. In a way I can see Him as the Poet and Artist behind the shaping of my life. Yet through the pains, the joys, the plans, the serendipitous surprises He allows me to make personal Choices, which creates as the song says, “the rhythm and the rhyme the free verse of the poem of life.” Based on our choices we can make our life a heaven or a hell.

Reflection:
Take time to write a Poem about memories of a previous Poetic stanza in your life or write a Poem about the next stanza you see yourself stepping out in Faith towards.