We left Albuquerque and headed toward the Scared Woods and the graffiti-ed sand, I mean the Pertified Forest and the Painted Desert. (Somebody told me before I came that he had been to the Painted Desert twice and he felt like the colors were not as vivid as they once were. I told him I bet he had been there before the desert was even painted. That did not go over well.) The Painted Desert was beautiful and different. I am amazed at how different everything is. My idea of the Pertified Forest and I am ashamed to admit this was riding through the woods with the trees all stoned up. I wondered if they had leaves and stuff. I guess I and a lot of first graders in the world are the only people that wondered such things. However it is the truth. The better name for it is the Pertified firewood. It looks like somebody cut fire wood and then left it for it to turn to stone. It is beautiful and amazing, however. There is a lot I don't understand about it. The biggest shock was what happened when we left the park. They had threatened us with our lives not to take any pertified wood ($325 fine). Bigger than that, it is stealing. We, of course, didn't take any. We then saw a sign for car inspection at the back gate of the park. Dawn had picked up two red rocks at the welcome center and put them in her bag. She had written on them where we got them from and all that. When she saw the sign leaving the park, she started shuffling. What if they thought we had taken them from the park! She looked like a pothead at a traffic stop (not that I know what a...). We got to the station and the girl asked if we had been doing any collecting. I said, "no" and we left. We drove 500 yards out of the gate and there was a store selling the precious, rare, hard to come by, national treasure peritified wood like it was yard art...tons of it. Somebody been sneaking around somewhere. I went and looked at a price... a piece as big as a plate was $150. We left without any. Another shock was the plume of smoke we saw coming over a mountain some distance away. We went back and forth about whether it was 'the fire' or not. Dawn said yes and I said it couldnt be. I asked the car 'inspector' and she said it was the big fire that is raging on the state line....150 miles away. That says two things: the land is very flat and the fire is very big. May God douse the flames that effect so many lives with his waters of blessings and protect and help the firefighters that have come from across the country to help.
We drove on to Flagstaff, AZ absolutely gorgeous. New Mexico was pretty throughout. Arizona not so hot when we got into it but when we got into Flagstaff, we saw evergreen trees. First time since OKC. First time to see them crowd you since Arkansas. Good to have our trees back. We got out for supper at a Route 66 50's joint I saw on TV called the Galaxy Diner. It was fine but your restaurant is only as good as your smart aleck teenage waitress. By the time we got done eating, we had been on the road too long. The 3 hour scared woods trip had taken its toll. We drove down the mountain in Flagstaff and dropped 5000 ft to get in the valley in Phoenix. Speed limit is 75 and if you don't do it, they will knock you into the valley. To me it was like leaving Hendersonville, NC and going to Greenville, SC at about 75 mph for about 4 times as long. We got into the valley (Phoenix) just in time to hit a traffic jam. That delayed us another 20 minutes. Longest 400 mile day I have ever done. We got into the room about 9 PM which is 11 PM in Houston, MS. We felt like it was 11. We went in and went to bed. We'll be exploring Phoenix in over 100 degree weather. Ya'll membr us now.
Oh, what a challenge for today. Philippians 2 will get to the heart of the matter. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus- Phil. 2:4-5 Think about it for a moment. How much will it positively effect your marriage if you are making an effort to look at for your mate's interests first? How much will it effect your parenting if you put your child's interests first? How much will it effect your church if you put others' interest before yours and God's Will and interest first in all things? Not only does Jesus show us how to do that. He has given us the ability to do it as children of God filled with the Spirit of God and the mind of Christ (thinking like Jesus). I think we can all be effected positively by being third behind God and others. And do you know what else? Its contagious. Just try it!
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