5 October 2014

Happy Sunday!

This morning started off awfully rainy. Warm, but rainy. As a result, no one came to the Blackwoods worship service. Seawall campground has closed down for the season so no service there either. We decided as a team we should go get a real breakfast. A cheddar, avocado, and potato omelet from Two Cats sure hits the spot on a rainy Sunday morning.

Afterwards, we temporarily split up. Luke and I had man-time by watching a soccer game online. He advocated for that. The gals went shopping with the 5,000 cruise ship passengers in Bar Harbor today. We then met up to find what turned out to be a well-hidden abandoned apple orchard in the park. Sabrina had heard about it from a few co-workers. We had grand dreams of filling our backpacks with apples, hiking them out of the forest, and then making apple cider and pie. I think Sabrina's sources really didn't want us to find it because they gave terrible directions that led us nowhere.

Eventually, we cut our loses and went for a walk on the carriage roads instead. By early afternoon when we went for our walk there was already some peaks of sun. Another gorgeous fall day.

Here is an elaborate beaver dam which caused a pond to form and kill a bunch of trees. Upon gazing upon the collection of dead, bleached out tree trunks, Luke and I simultaneously and independently decided to nickname it "The Elephant Graveyard." Ally, being a huge Disney fan, immediately saw the humor in our well-timed pun. 

After our walk in the woods we came back to Ba Haba for some food. We ate at a local deli and then had dessert at Sabrina's ice cream shop. We headed up to Cadillac Mountain at 5:00 (!!!!) to set up for the sunset service. No one came, though, and by 6:15 we were headed down the mountain.

It was my week do deliver the talk/sermon/message. Obviously, I didn't deliver it today, so I modified it to a devotional instead. I discussed Matthew 7: 24-27 which is the parable of the wise and foolish builders. One built his house on the rock while the other built on sand. We have to assume they both constructed the same house with the same materials, and we read that the forces the houses dealt with are the same. But the house on the rock stood firm while the house on the sand fell down catastrophically. What matters is truly the foundation. I discussed how we can, by definition, only build our lives upon one foundation. Jesus instructs his audience to use the foundation of his words put into practice. I wrapped up by exhorting the team to spend the week studying the preceding "Sermon on the Mount" that Jesus delivers which are the words he says to put into practice and serve as our foundation. Feel free to do that, too! It's Matthew chapter 5, 6, and 7 up until the parable I preached on.

Not only has sunset become a full 2 hours earlier than it was back in June, but it has also moved approximately 45 degrees to the left on the horizon. I guess it goes with the territory when you watch the sunset from a latitude of 44 degrees.