Respite

Three weeks ago Pam and I headed to Rawley Springs, Virginia, about 11 miles west of Harrisonburg, for a week of relaxing alone and together.  The parents of some friends in our church have a cabin there, and they allow us to use it to get away from it all.  This was our third trip, and it remains one of my favorite places in the world.

It has a screened-in front porch, but my favorite spot to hang out in is on the screened in back porch.  There is a stream about 15ft behind it that provides the most relaxing backdrop for reading, and that's what I like to do.  Here's the chair where I'll blow through 3-5 novels in a week:

 Problem is, with the drought this summer, the stream had dried up.  When we arrived on Sunday afternoon, there were some standing pools of water, but the stream wasn't running.  I should have taken some pictures so you could see what I'm talking about, but who wants to take pictures of a dry stream?  Besides, I couldn't anticipate what would happen and the need for a before picture, so all I have are after pictures.

See, when we arrived Sunday afternoon it had just started sprinkling.  Some time during the night the sprinkling turned to sho'nuff rain.  Monday morning it was raining pretty hard, and stayed that way until late afternoon.  

I wasn't sure how much rain it would take for the stream to start running, but by Monday afternoon it had reached that point.  It was flowing.

But then the tropical storm rolled in Wednesday night, and by Thursday afternoon the stream wasn't just flowing, it was practically raging.

Here's the view from the porch:

 Here's a view from behind the cabin, and you can see how close to the back porch the stream runs.  It's hard to believe that just a few days before this was dry except in a few places.

I want to retire to a place like this.  Don't know that I'll be able to, but that's what I want.  I feel close to God in places like this.

What a blessing to have generous friends.