a view through annie's eyes

We waited until today to book our fall vacation. We will have to call and see if the hotel is still there. Hurricane Dean is slamming the area as a Category 5 storm as I write this. I stop and pray for their safety and for their livelihoods not to set back an already impoverished, oppressed, yet pristine and beautiful country. Toward the end of next month, we’ll head to the Mayan “Riviera” to recharge and relax for a few days. Years ago, we went to Mexico to dive almost every year, and it truly is one of the most fascinating and gorgeous underwater gardens I have seen.

I’ll never forget the first time I saw the vibrant colors of fish and coral to depths of clear water some 40 feet or so down. I felt like the little mermaid with a Caribbean steel drum band playing “Under the Sea”, except for the Darth Vader sounds coming from my snorkel. Soon I adjusted to the ominous sound of my own breathing, and I explored with awe and pure fascination. It was only a few days ago, I posted a blog about the enormity of the universe, but just trying to grasp the vastness of this world is almost too much to take in. I had this same feeling a couple of years ago when we made our first trip to Africa, and I took in the stories behind the eyes of the exotic and striking native people and those majestic zoo animals in their natural bush habitat.

Truly, God’s World is beyond every comprehension in the magnitude of beauty and adventure it holds. I fail to see how anyone could believe it is not Divinely orchestrated. Each time we travel and see something so different than our own familiar territory, it not only opens my eyes to a whole new world, but it joys my heart to imagine what Heaven will hold. Truly He is the Great Artist from which all others are inspired, and yet can only dimly replicate.