This beautiful scene was the view from the home of friends we visited recently. I was just so sorry that I didn’t have my camera ready to take a series of shots as the sun went down behind my beloved snow-capped Southern Alps, the reflections off the snow and off the water so perfectly mirroring the amazing colours of this glorious setting of the sun the other evening. It became dark very quickly, almost like a Tropical sunset, but the show was even more amazing for the swiftness of the changing light. We are told that God reveals Himself to us generally through His creation, and this revelation of His glory was suitably spectacular!

But where did August go? In two more days it will be September, officially NZ’s first day of Spring. It has been an icy cold winter, some of the coldest temperatures recorded here for a long time. We were fortunate to have six weeks of heat wave in the USA during some of those coldest days, but it was a shock to the system to return to the winter we have been having.

One good thing about the cold has been the necessity to keep moving in order to keep warm. Back in January I launched my new lifestyle of walking for miles and miles every day. It has not been hard to do. I have some e-friends (Internet friends) who have been doing it too. One of them is walking the length of her home state, Michigan. No, you wont find her out there trudging along somewhere beside the I 75, but she is tallying up the steps she takes each day and figures it will likely take her a whole year to do the required number, walking around her local neighbourhood. Just now she has been grounded by a blister and her doctor’s stern words, but some of us are about to roll her over to get her upright and on her way again. Go for it, Donna!

I was walking about 6 miles a day along the beach until the winter weather set in. Not being great at doing it in the bucketing rain, I bought myself a treadmill. It has all kinds of bells and whistles but was small enough to fit through a door and so resides in the corner of a spare bedroom, properly installed and fully operational. Far from rusting under a bed, as so many of these things eventually do, this one is pressed into service every day. The motivation for me is my iPod. I think I would give up from sheer boredom if it wasn’t for the delights of today’s amazing technologies. This keeps me walking… and walking, and walking.

Over here on this page I have made mention of the podcasts that are available for those who wish to further their Christian education and spiritual growth. I have found two Theological Seminary Colleges that provide free podcasts of their course lectures, a treasure trove of gold for Christians with a desire to learn. I have all their available courses now on my iPod, plus many of the lectures of Dr R.C. Sproul, theologian and teacher, of Ligonier Ministries, and Dr John Robbins of The Trinity Foundation. My iPod is positively bulging!

There are lots of benefits to walking. As a diabetic required to take hypoglycaemics to stay well, I have been able to reduce the dosage considerably these past few months. Needing to be very careful with what I eat anyway, I am enjoying a generally more healthy situation through these safe daily work-outs. The beach with the screeching gulls, scuttering clouds, salty sea breezes and crunching shells underfoot still attracts me on fine days. It can feel so good to be alive, to be part of this incredible world, and to be learning from the Big Picture of it at the same time.

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
~ Psalm 19:1