.....it was kinda eerie being on the opposite coast of where I am from gazing on a lighthouse in Maine...I am reminded of being on a chairlift at Alta while 18 and fulfilling one of those dream/bucket list items....best one yet was locating and snatching up my gracious firecracker of a wife....as cheesy as it sounds she has become my 'Nubble'....as I sat there yesterday for a brief 30 mins or so I recalled deciding to move to Connecticut....take a position at the yale law school and get thrashed upon the proverbial shores.....I was also thinking about a passage in that oh so evil Book of Mormon from Helaman (chapter 5 verse 12)
"And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God,that ye must build your foundation that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."
Which prompted me to think about a parable about a certain wise man and one that was foolish....
(Matthew 7:24}
" 24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 2I have come to learn thru life of a simple verity, that the 'rock' which is christ who was the revealer of pure doctrine must have a conduit by which he could continue to reveal His truths....this is revelation and I am ever grateful for the tools provided and offered to all mankind...the challenge, of course, is maintaining that rock, because if whithered it becomes broken and degraded and finally becomes sand, and following the parable, not where I want to be....
5 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: 29 For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes."
I will be the first to admit that dogma and broken religious rites are oft-times the most frustrating, however, sometimes things just smack you in the face.
....like on that chairlift, sitting looking at the 'Nubble, being in awe on the beaches of Normandy, standing in the American Cemetary in Normandy, reveling at the great cathedrals in and around Paris, or simply reflecting on the providence that I have received because I know the heavens are not closed and I have access to deity today is something I am rather grateful for....
Also, having a beautiful wife and a stellar son just makes things even better.....
looking across the ocean there I also caught a glimpse of the notions those great explorers must have felt being impressed that the world wasn't just flat, and what more is out there beyond the horizons of their simple gazes......
how grateful I am to just be, and just know of the simple truths and realities I have witnessed in this mortal life.....here's to many more years and to the 'lighthouses', that their lights may never go out and continue to patiently direct us as we sojourn through this experience of life......
how's that for a jumbled 30 mins of reflection and a few pictures, while a meager boy fulfils yet another dream...to see, visit and view the 'Nubble' lighthouse in person.....
--below are the photos I captured using my Samsung galaxy tab 10.1.... nubble lighthouse in York Maine...I really like the juxtaposition of the power lines leading up the small island and lighthouse.....I like that I got the bench to lighthouse in the one panorama....
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