A week ago Sunday, our family embarked on a vacation. We drove to the San Juan Islands on the Washington coast, taking a ferry to get to our particular island, where we stayed at some friends' cabin. I learned a few things on this trip. First off, I learned that you can't judge a gas station by it's company. "I have to go poop!" my two year old niece exclaimed as we were driving down the freeway. I took the nearest exit and saw a Shell station on my right and remembered all the Shell stations I have ever seen, which are almost always nicer than other stations, and would probably have nicer bathrooms. As we pulled into the parking space, the small store had a handwritten sign on the door saying that there were no bathrooms inside. What they did offer were a couple of port-a-potties. Time being of the essence, we had no luxury of searching for better accommodations elsewhere, and the ones provided had to suffice. Another thing I learned is that some jellyfish aren't harmful, whereas others are. The little clear ones don't seem to have any stinging tentacles, and we saw tons of them. We did see a couple of large yellowish ones with long tentacles that would undoubtedly unleash their fury in an excruciating way. Thankfully none of us learned the hard way. Something we did learn the hard way was that paddling a canoe home on the ocean in a strong headwind is not always an easy task. Since the water was too choppy to see much underneath it, we had spent the afternoon wandering the rocky beaches looking for interesting see creatures. On the way back, the wind was intense. I remember paddling over each wave, feeling like I was making progress, only to look at the shore and discover we were barely moving. If we paddled only slightly, the boat would begin to go backward. As we battled the wind and waves, we drew close to a bald eagle on the beach, engrossed in eating something big. Curiosity aroused, we pulled into shore to take a closer look. It appeared to be a seal or otter or some such thing. The bird was probably just scavenging, because catching something that big would be a difficult feat, even for an eagle. To our relief, we made it back to the road where we could load the canoe on the van and go back to the cabin. My last lesson is simply that any car ride near stop and go traffic or winding mountain roads that involves children or anyone who tends toward motion sickness should be furnished with at least one strong, easily accessible plastic bag with no holes in the bottom. Shopping bags don't work well
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AuthorWe are normal people who believe that God would have us serve Him in Brazil. We are saddened by the existence of people who do not have access to the gospel due to their location and language. We want to live among such a people group and plant a church among them, shepherding the believers as they grow to maturity. Archives
November 2019
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