Yosemite Falls, California - “Be Not Conformed to this World”

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Romans 12:2

Sonoma Coast State Park, Bodega Bay, California - "All Scripture is God-breathed"

 

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

2 Timothy 3:16-17

O Lord, My Strength and my Fortress

 

O Lord, my strength and my fortress,
my refuge in time of distress,
to you the nations will come
from the ends of the earth and say,
"Our fathers possessed nothing
but false gods, worthless idols
that did them no good.
Do men make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods."

Therefore I will teach them--

this time I will teach them

my power and might.

Then they will know

that my name is the LORD.

Jeremiah 16:19-21 NIV

Pacific Coast Highway - "Who Else has held the Oceans in His Hand?"

 "Who else has held the oceans in his hand?  Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers?  Who else know the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale?"

Proverbs 40:12 NLT

Yosemite Falls - Rivers of Living Water

 

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink.  Whoever believes in me, as scriptures has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

John 7:37-38

Olmsted Point Yosemite

 

God doesn’t look at things like humans do.  Humans see only what is visible to the eyes; but the Lord sees into the heart .

1 Samuel 16:7 CEB

Sierra Nevada Mountains - “The Sleepless Guardian”

“He is an almighty Watcher, a sleepless Guardian, a faithful Friend.”

C.H. Spurgeon 

You will not fear the terror of night,
Nor the pestilence that stalks on the darkness,
Nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
Ten thousand at your right hand,

But it will not come near you.

Psalm 91:8-7 NIV

Yosemite - “ I am the Door”

 I am the Door.

If anyone enters by me,

He will be saved.

And will go in and out

And find pasture.

John 10:9

California Coast - “Blessings and Woes”

 

Looking at his disciples, he said:

"Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

Blessed are you when men hate you,

when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.

Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,

because great is your reward in heaven. 

For that is how their fathers treated the

prophets.

But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received 

your comfort.

Woe to you who are well fed now,

for you will go hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep.

Woe to you when all men speak

well of you,

for that is how their fathers treated

the false prophets."

Luke 6:20-26 NIV

As if The Sea Should Part

As if the Sea should part

And sow a further Sea--

And that--a further--and the Three

but a presumption be--

Of Periods of Seas--

Unvisited of Shores--

Themselves the Vere of Seas to be--

Eternity--is Those--

By Emily Dickinson

Walking on the Sea

 

But the boat was now in the middle of the sea, tossed by the waves, for the wind was contrary.  Now in the forth watch of the night, Jesus went to them, walking on the sea.

Matthew 14:24-25

For He Shall Give His angels Charge Over You...

Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.

In their hands they shall bear you up,

Lest you dash your foot against a stone.

You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.

Psalms 91:9-13

Secret Place of the Most High

 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust."

Psalms 91:1

Glory of the Heavens

"O Lord, our Lord,

How Excellent is your name

in all the earth,

you who set your glory

above the heavens!"

Psalms 8:1

Among the Vineyards

Afternoon On A Hill 

by Edna St. Vincent Millay

I will be the gladdest thing

   Under the sun!
I will touch a hundred flowers
   And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds
   With quiet eyes,
Watch the wind bow down the grass,
   And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show
   Up from the town,
I will mark which must be mine,
   And then start down!

"How my light is spent"

“On His Blindness”

 by John Milton (1608-1674)

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

"And Into the Forest I go"

And into the forest

I go, to lose my mind

and find my soul.

Unknown

Deep Rivers and Trackless Forests

"Her mighty lakes, like oceans of liquid silver; her mountains, with bright aerial tints; her valleys, teeming with wild fertility; her tremendous cataracts, thundering in their solitudes; her boundless plains, waving with spontaneous verdure; her broad, deep rivers, rolling in solemn silence to the ocean; her trackless forests, where vegetation puts forth all its magnificence; her skies, kindling with the magic of summer clouds and glorious sunshine - no, never need an American look beyond his own country for the sublime and beautiful of natural scenery.”

 
― Washington Irving, The Sketch Book    

Tangled Woods

 

“Oh, but you must travel through those woods again and again... said a shadow at the window... and you must be lucky to avoid the wolf every time...

But the wolf... the wolf only needs enough luck to find you once.”
― Emily Carroll, Through the Woods    

Sonoma Coast

 
 
 

The Eagle 
  

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson  

         

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ring'd with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.