Spring? July?

It's spring in Portland. (These are dogwood flowers.) It's just so weird that the blooms would come soooo much later than our warm midwest, if...if...we could even grow the darn things! Last week was my first visit to Oregon, but hopefully not my last. I was in a convention center for the 3 days I was there, but would love to return again some day. I love the huge trees! In fact, my friends and I were walking to a hotel, and I found myself stopping under a gigantic evergreen (later identified to me as the Lebanon Cedar). I stared up into the enormous branches, just trying to get a handle on how this tree could possibly grow so large right next to a building. Massive! Not seen here in Omaha Nebraska, that's for sure. This week I'm preparing for the first of two back-to-back mission trips to Canada. Saturday I leave for Smithers, then Hazelton, BC, where my friend and I will spend the week with LAMP teams teaching VBS and spending time with youth through sports programs. With all that's been going on this week, I had to remind myself that my God knows "when I sit and when I rise" (among other things, like everything about me!). I sure needed to hear that today. He's got in handled. Ha, yeah, that's right: the battle's not mine!