Virgin Falls

You ever have one of those days when you're reminded of what the simple things in life should be and why you should simplify your own life immediately upon the completion of the day or, at the very least, at the close of business for the specific event of which you might be in the middle?

A four and a half mile hike into the woods to see a 100+ foot waterfall appear from some hidden water source at the top of its descent and then disappear into the ground at its hungry base is an incredible way to have a wake up call with your wife.

Thursday was a perfect day to go into the woods: blue skies with an occasional white, puffy cloud, fall colors interwoven among the branches of towering trees, the rustle of fallen leaves under our feet as we made our way to our destination, and silence ... The silence that can only be found in the deepest parts of the forest - the silence that makes a twig sound like a sonic boom when it snaps under your foot.

The time away from "civilization" makes me appreciate things like that because right now I'm in the Imaging Center at CRMC with my Dad who's finding out how spread his Hodgkin's is. The silence - when it is quiet - is not reassuring. It's almost threatening because of the enemy which is being scanned - the fear that will always come with the word "cancer."

Some of the noise that is present is elevator music ... As if that genre of music is reassuring in the least. I love Edwin McCain's "I'll Be" but its words and melody do nothing to comfort the uncertainty in my mind about what's going to happen with my Dad. I have faith that he will be fine. God is good ... And his WILL will be done so there's no fear ... But that certainty only comes by faith in Jesus Christ!

All that to say ... Go out into the woods. Get back to your core