Pennsylvania!

Since my last post, I have driven almost 600 miles, surprised my relatives by showing up at the Glick Family Reunion in Pennsylvania, visited the farm once owned by my great, great, great, great grandfather (hope I got the "greats" right; if not pardon my slip), seen some absolutely beautiful countryside and farmland in the valleys of PA, and spent some good time fellowshipping with family and friends. Good news is that my car got 28 miles a gallon on the last tank and that was with driving on winding, hilly, slow mountain roads and while driving with the air going full blast. This is an amazing thing since the car is quite old and has over 180,000 miles on it - not to mention that it is a full size car with an 8 cylinder engine.

My trip started around 5:00 pm on Friday afternoon. I drove 410 miles to Penn Valley Christian Retreat Center in McVey Town, PA, arriving about 1:15 am. The point was to surprise my relatives who were having a Glick Family Reunion there. They did not know I was coming. My brother from Indiana did the same except he arrived about 8:30 this morning. 

Here are a few shots from the day:

Sun arising in PA.

Another shot with a different hue.

One last one.

Too bad there was a post in the way. This panorama shot would have been all the better if the sun would have been in it. It is from the back balcony of the retreat center.

My uncle and I went for a walk and I snapped these along the way.

Have you ever wondered where those stock photos came from with a single tree in the middle of a field? Well there is the answer.

This little hummer let me take a couple pictures.

Family Photo!

Wanna play?

Afterward, we went on a tour of local Glick history sites. We took a long caravan of vehicles over the mountains and into the next valley.

The view from the top of the ridge was incredible and made me wonder why I have to live near a big city like Raleigh. :-(

This is the valley in which my great, great, great grandfather had a farm.

The farm once owned by John Glick.

The believed site of the old cabin that John Glick built.

Wood beams under the house.

John's grave on the property.

The family around the grave site.

The old spring that John used for water (not original shack).

After this, I drove about 130 miles to Gary Martin's home in Ephrata, PA to spend the evening/night with him and his family.

Well, that's all!

Beautiful Night

Some severe storms just rolled through with lots of close lightning. Unfortunately, it was so rainy and humid, that the lightning lit the whole sky in blinding flashes so no spectacular lightning shots. I did get a couple neat pictures though:

Lightning and city light lit storm clouds.

Lightning lights the sky and reflects off my Crown Vic (used a short flash to light the sign in the first image - unfortunately is is a little distracting, but the background and reflections still look neat).

Lightning flashes in 30 second exposures.

Biblical Revival - A Vision for a Life Lived to the Glory of God

Revival - we must all agree that we cannot cause it. Revivals are not things we schedule for a week in the spring. Nor for Saturday night. I think of Gardiner Spring who said,

“Revivals are always spurious when they are got up by man’s device, and not brought down by the Spirit of God.”

They start with a genuine, Spirit produced hearing of the Word of God. At the same time, an awakening within the people of God, while the work of the Spirit, can be the result of obedience to the Word. We recognize that the Spirit must prepare our hearts, but we should leave that to God, trust that He will prepare our hearts, and then obey the Word.

Obedience must come in many areas. God calls us to humility, prayer, an open heart to the Word of God, genuine faith, and then obedience.

The Lord says,

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

This evening, the Lord brought to mind a passage which I believe would bring revival to the church if the church actually grasped the depth and meaning of this passage and the ramifications it has on everything we are about, everything we think, everything we do, everything we say, everywhere we go. The passage would first promote humility as we realize how we have sought after that which is worthless and maybe sinful more than the true riches of God. It would humble us as we consider just how little we live life for Christ and His glory alone. It would promote prayer as we seek the Lord's forgiveness and as we praise Him for His greatness, giving glory to His name. It would cause us to seek God as we beheld His infinite value. And it would cause us to turn from our wicked ways as we came to an understanding of our purpose for existence and the greatness of the knowledge of God.

That passage is Romans 11:33-36:

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

How often do we seek after that which is not the true riches? How often do we value the world more than the treasure hid in the field, which when the man found he sold all that he had to buy the field? Do we love the world's wisdom more than the wisdom and knowledge of God? Do we delight more to learn some new thing the world has to say than to dwell upon the Words of the great shepherd?

Further, do we really view all things - including ourselves, our families, our churches, our jobs, our properties, our conversations, our thoughts - as for Christ? How might that change our life? If we realized - not just in word, but in real understanding - that all of life is for the glory of God and God alone, would that not change the way we live our lives? If our thoughts were constantly on whether we are glorifying Christ, we would redeem the time. That thing which is unprofitable, it would become worthless in our sight because our vision is filled with the true riches. That conversation with our neighbor would become an opportunity to glorify our King and to tell of the riches of knowing Christ. Wrong treatment would now be an opportunity to glorify Christ. All of life would be changed if we just grasped that we are here because of, through, and for Christ and that that means everything is to be for His praise and His glory, no matter what.

Oh Lord, send revival to your people. Let us humble ourselves under your mighty hand and let us develop a God glorifying vision in which your glory is our highest goal and your knowledge and wisdom the greatest riches.

Volcanoes - Mammoth Displays of the Power of God

We have to admit - Mt. St. Helens was a powerful eruption. It was the most destructive in US history and unleashed power equivalent to approximately 20,000 Hiroshima sized atomic bombs. No small feat. But how does this volcano compare in the grand scheme of things? A little diagram might help us to see just what we are looking at a little better.

Mt. St. Helens produced an impressive amount of ash - .25 cubic miles. The ash plume reached 80,000 feet in 15 minutes and the east coast in 3 days.

But in sheer volume of expelled material, is this actually all that much? Not really.

A fissure in Iceland opened up in 1783-1784 that produced a whopping 3.8 cubic miles of basalt lava. Not as violent for sure, but in terms of actual material, that is a huge increase.

But about 1,800 years ago, a New Zealand eruption dwarfed even that.

Mt. Taupo produced 8 cubic miles of ash. That is a lot of ash compared to little old Mt. St. Helens!

But is it the biggest eruption? Not in the least, soon after the flood, our own Yellowstone erupted and produced at least 480 cubic miles of ash producing a hole so big, you have to use satellites to discern its edges. So how does that compare with the above? Well, powerpoint won't let me zoom out that far, so this screen shot is the best I can do.

Mt. St. Helens now is so small we can't even see it. The cube for Yellowstone is 48 inches to a side while poor little Helen is only .025 inches to a side.

The next illustration does not exist because I am incapable of producing it. Imagine the cube for Mt. St. Helens to be only .00025 inch to a side. This is 1,000th of an inch = 1 mile. Then imagine that the Yellowstone cube would be only .48 inches to a side. Then imagine a cube 480 inches to a side - where 1,000th of an inch still = a mile. Now we are talking an eruption! Presumably during the flood, an eruption in Russia covered 130,000 sq. miles with over 480,000 cubic miles (in volume) of basalt lava. Another one in India covered 200,000 sq. miles over a mile deep.

What an awesome God we serve. Shall we not glorify the Great King? Praise the Lord and give Him the glory due His Name.

What Am I? Can you Guess?

I am:

1. One who declares the greatness of God by displaying His creativity and provision in a way distinct from other animals.

2. I am so distinct from other animals that I belong to my own phylum.

3. My kind can be found from the Himalayas to the tropics.

4. Small

5. I can be frozen to almost absolute zero and thawed back out - and live through it.

6. I can be boiled alive - and not die.

7. I can withstand pressures at six times the pressure of the deepest ocean trench.

8. I can be completely dehydrated for nearly 10 years. To resurrect me, just add water.

9. I can survive the absolute vacuum of space and direct exposure to the sun's radiation.

10.  I received my name because I walk in a way similar to my namesake (a land animal) but live in the water.

What am I?

The Grand Canyon in High Speed!

Grand Canyon and Louisiana from Ryan Glick on Vimeo.

I took these time lapse video clips on the road trip while hiking into the canyon and while driving across elevated roadway in the swamps of Louisiana. The bridge may have been crossing from Louisiana to Mississippi, but I don't recall. 

Ultimate

After doing some house work and yard work, I slipped over to the Hope Baptist Ultimate game which happened to be held in spite of the high temps. It is held just down the road from me so I grabbed my camera and snagged some pictures.

In our church, you never know what the deacons may drive to the ultimate game. :-)

Two of the deacons went together (completely independent of Hope Baptist) and bought this on Memorial Day (several were brought out for the big event we host each year and this one happened to be for sale).

Tyler and "Ike"

The Ultiman!

The Ultiman and Anthony face off.

Ike does a crash landing and Timothy snags the disc.

A split second after the previous shot.

Sterling makes a kill.

The Ultiman winds up for the throw...

And he's off! Strain just a little bit harder Mr. Ultiman....

Ike and the Ultiman.

Perpetrator hidden pending notification of his parents. Ok, maybe not. Identity concealed to preserve his reputation.

Sterling and Ike.

He's got it!

After the game, all hands in the water.... Including the monster truck.