Trees, Trails and Tupperware

Let me paint you a picture....


It's pouring rain and the trail in the dripping forest is muddy and slippery. It smells like pinetrees and wet earth. The creek is running fast and getting higher by the minute. Good thing her boots are Gortex. Now the rain is coming down harder and she slips climbing out of the creek, her jeans soaked to the knees. She can barely see because her glasses are all fogged up and covered in rain drops. She climbs the hill, slipping and grabbing roots to keep her balance, her fingernails clawing into the hillside to get a better grip. She's almost there. What did the paper say? Inside? Under? Suddenly she notices that something doesn't look quite right. The leaves and branches under that stump look too perfect, laid out in too precise a pattern. She moves the leaves and there it is! She has done it!


That "she" is me and that was me this morning searching for a geocache. The whole time, while I'm pushing my wet hair out of my eyes, I'm thinking, "what a stupid hobby," but then, there it is, in my hands, the elusive hide and what is the thought going through my mind at that moment? "I wonder where the next one is hidden." I can't help it, I just love it! I love what one cacher wrote online after they had had a particular difficult time finding a cache. He said, "All this to find hidden tupperware." That's probably the most eloquent thing I've ever read about geocaching and I can totally relate.


Why do we do it? I know I've always been a curious person and I love puzzles. I love a mystery and trying to solve it. And I love being outside in nature. I am so glad that God created us this way giving us that desire that makes us want to explore and learn new things. It just makes life so much fun. Aren't you glad that He gave us this whole amazing planet to explore?


There's only one thing that scares me about that.... do you have any idea how many places on this earth a person could hide a piece of tupperware?

Anticipation

I am going to Disneyland in a few months. Yes... again.

Those of you who know me, know I love Disneyland and just about anything related to Walt Disney. I've been asked many times why I love it all so much and I'm really not sure but it started when I was about ten years old. My first trip to the Magic Kingdom was in 1976... the Americans were celebrating their bicentennial that year and there was red, white and blue everywhere. One huge celebration! It was incredible.

Walt Disney himself had an amazing imagination and it seemed like he could see into the future. His attention to detail was masterful.

Here are a few bits of trivia that you might not know about Disneyland. Did you know that:

• Gum is not, and never has been, sold inside Disneyland. Any gum found on the ground is scraped up immediately. The moment Disneyland closes the garbage is searched out by crews with flashlights.


• All the gold used throughout Disneyland is real.


• There is a gymnasium inside the Matterhorn. Next time you see me, ask me why.


• The lady who played Tinkerbell during the fireworks jumped off the Matterhorn till she was 65 years old!


• Up until 1982 the Frontier Shooting Arcade was repainted every night. It took 2000 gallons of paint a year to keep it fresh and new looking. (now they use lasers instead of lead bullets)

So by now you're probably asking yourself, "Why is she writing all this? Does she have a point?

I do. I've thought about it all day today. Because I've been wondering why I don't have that same sense of anticipation, the wish that the days would hurry along, before I go to heaven. I know it's going to be incredible. I know that there will be celebrating and singing. God built it with me in mind with a supernatural attention to detail. He is the master creator. The streets will be paved with gold and there will be a mansion built just for me. I will never grow old there and I will feel like a kid all day long.

I really do want to be excited and filled with anticipation about meeting my Lord face to face for the first time. I think I just need to read His "brochure" again...