Texas has some extremely diverse landscapes.
If you love the ocean life we can deliver it with, or without, a barrier island.
If you prefer hills and trees the east side is for you.
Vast farm land is in our western counties.
Rugged hills are in our mid-section.
I live in Plano. It was so named by the founders of the city because they thought the word plano was the Spanish term for plane. I don’t know what it would have been named if they’d done their homework.
Two weekends ago I enjoyed time in God’s green nature near Tyler. The stately pines along Lake Palestine always re-ground this old country bumpkin.
Last Thursday I was finishing a painting job in Plano when I received a phone call from a dispatcher I bailed out by covering for a driver who couldn’t drive his route earlier in the week.
I was given a choice of where he needed a driver on Friday. I could go to Shreveport in the afternoon or El Paso in the very early morning.
I’ve been itching to experience the awesome mountains God placed in our western panhandle. I chose west.
Normally I either get my breath taken away on the trip out or the return home because of the ten hour layover the federal government mandates me to take.
Notice I said “normally.” Those of y’all who’ve been following this blog for very long know that normal and Wade Webster don’t coexist very long on the same plane.
The three and a half hour nap I took that evening was barely sufficient to keep me awake through the flat stretch of my journey.
Once the sun was up and I saw those mountains I was wide awake.
I shut my truck off while they unloaded my trailer. Too many hours and a new alternator later I was on my way to set that empty trailer at the post office then off to my motel room.
El Paso is situated on a very interesting geographical setting. The post office is next to airport. That’s on the north side of the city because it’s also the highest part of the area. Apparently there’s also enough of a plano for the planes.
The sun was setting behind both the Mexican and American mountains as I drove up to the post office. By the time the government paperwork was complete it was dark.
Coming down McCrae hill at night holds an extremely interesting phenomenon. El Paso is where the Rio Grande begins to separate a first-world nation from a third-world one.
The yellow and white street lights in Juarez cover several square kilometers. It reminds me of a sequined dress a shapely senorita would wear to capture the attention of everyone in the same room with her. Almost as breath-taking as God’s mountains.
I wish there were fewer business signs in America screaming for my attention. They block too much of my view. I’m pretty sure there aren’t any such signos south of the border, just street lights.
When I left with my load Saturday morning I had to lower my visor to block the sun from my eyes. The view to my right was shrouded in a thick layer of dust. Last night’s senorita had become an old hag know. The dirt road dust aged the girl too quickly.
I wondered if they knew how poor their air quality was. Then I wondered how bad the scene looked that I was driving in.
Several years ago I lived in Tucson, Arizona. I worked as a day laborer. That meant I often was on building sites picking up debris. When I worked in the city I didn’t notice any changes in the air.
Then one day I worked on the mountain range on the north side of town. I could see the entire city from there. It was impressive in the morning.
As the day progressed the view regressed and I became depressed. The smog that engulfed Tucson stole the southern view completely.
The world we live in is like that. The dirty filth we live in is all around us. It’s such a part of our life we simply ignore it. We go about our day letting it cover us. We breathe it in without filtration. It ages us too quickly while we do nothing about it.
Jesus shocked his followers one day with the remedy for this predicament. One day after a meal He quietly stood and wrapped a towel around His waist. Then He proceeded to wash each foot in the room.
When Peter made a fuss and demanded a complete bath Jesus told him only his feet needed a regular cleansing. The daily dirt accumulation was what needed constant attention.
The Creator of man wrote a guidebook for us to live by. Daily time taking in God’s truth will do remarkable things for your health, both your spiritual and physical health.
Don’t just read the Bible to say you read it. No. Look for what God is telling you to do. It’s often the opposite of what everyone else is telling you to do.
Filter your actions through what God wants you to do first. If it contradicts what the world asks of you then let the Bible rule in your decisions.
Don’t be surprised when you stand out as a shining example to others. As God’s children we’re called to be different.
The jewels we’ll receive in our heavenly crowns will far out-shine anything this filthy world has to offer us.
Prepare your head for your heavenly destiny. Fill your crown by living for God now.
Keep smiling. Wade
