“Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19

May 2 I posted some images from a walk at the dam end of the Falls Lake recreational complex. Readers loved the photographs (click here to view) and I enjoyed a lot of feedback, including my friend Gayle’s advice to “check out Blue Jay Point.”

So yesterday, in the spirit of “We really must get in the car and go visit more local stuff,” Rebekah and I stopped by the lake on the way home from some Raleigh errands and enjoyed a relaxed walk through the woods down to some beautiful views of the water.

The best thing was the quiet. The afternoon was all ours. 75-degrees, sunshine, trail all to ourselves, a wide-open lake, nobody down at the beach, silence.

Rebekah, who broke her right ankle and both feet a year ago this week, did wonderfully well both with the walking and some careful rock-hopping.

Talk about serenity. This was peaceful and restorative.

Fact is, if I am to survive much more time as a care-giver I am going to have to be more deliberate about engaging the gifts God has placed right at my doorstep.

A little more hiking; a little more golf; finding more parks and gardens and museums and greenways. Places of sanctuary.

Places of sanctuary. “Sanctuary” means holy space, or a place of refuge.

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” But he was also afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! It is none other than the house of God, the very gateway to heaven!”

Genesis 28:16-17

North Carolina! “Surely the Lord is in this place!” – DEREK