Ordinary Paths, Extraordinary Gifts

    Steps are taken, everyday.  Sometimes on purpose.  Sometimes thoughtlessly.  Often with mixed mindfulness.  I've been moving a bit more intentionally this trip, looking forward and looking back.  There always seems to be a gift in the most unexpected places...when I look!
     Yesterday was basic from-here-to-there travel, starting in New Orleans and ending... I'm not sure where.  I know I drove atop ocean-side sea walls and paralleled beaches.  I noticed 2nd home communities on tip-toe atop 2 and 3 story stilts to avoid the dangers of rising waters.  My intended destinations got changed.  My mid day hunger changed the path.  And mosquitoes changed where I slept.  It was a good day.

     I'm writing from my Texas office with the Golden Arches and free WiFi after awaking to a misty sunrise in a Walmart parking lot.  It brought to mind an old hymn that says, "When morning gilds the sky, my heart awakening cries, let Jesus Christ be praised!"
     I got to the Walmart parking lot for a little car camping because when I stopped for the night at Galveston Island state park, the only other tenter there had to fire warning shots at the Texas mosquitoes that were trying to carry off my GMC Terrain. 
     Unarmed myself, no bug spray or itch control, and unable to sleep in the humid 80 degree night with the windows closed, I moved on.  First stop a drug store to stop the itch and prevent further invasion.  Then done I drove on, thankful for adventure, resources and the hope of a better land ahead.  God Provides!
      When I left New Orleans in the morning I drove on miles and miles (I lost count after 15 miles) of stilted roads built over marsh and water.  It's not always easy for me to trust.  I kept wondering if they checked every support after Katrina.   Trust can be an issue for me on any journey.  Trusting support of people and plans.  The road held! (Should I really be surprised?) Perhaps it was a lesson in trust.
          Then came the houses upon stilts, some as high as two story sticks before ever getting to living space!   After that, allowing a boat to hold a cargo of vehicles and carry them safely across new water.  Steps that  warned caution and so much more.    Coastal Texas is B I G !  Now my head knows that the Gulf and the Ocean are big, but driving along the water for hours drives home the point.  In all of this all is well, there are lessons to learn.  Onward.