The gifts....

So....we are on the train to Prague...it's first class and much nicer than what we have been used to.  Thank you Jesus that we were put on the right train....I was so scared that we weren't going to make it but we did. As I am sitting here...I keep thinking of all the things that has happened in the last few weeks...and I can't believe all of the places that I have been to...but Ireland still is my favorite place....I can't wait to get back.. However, the other places have been good...Venice was probably my favorite so far aside from Ireland.  The beautiful vineyards... The sea smell.. The sunflowers..well, only a few but they were quite big.. Everything is so fresh there...the eggs were from the chickens out back, and the milk was so fresh I was looking for the cow outside too :)  Riding a bike that morning and heading to the water taxi area to wait for the boat was probably one of my favorite things. It was so simplistic and the breeze was lovely.. I really felt young again and just felt like it took me back...the simple things in life are the best.  I don't need extravagant things...just give me a bike with a basket, a good view, and lovely weather and I am happy....just being in my own place and my thoughts... Over looking the ocean and the vineyards .....it was awesome. I wish sometimes in real life, in those special moments that you have in life that there would be music playing in the background like movies.... Sometimes it might make the moments a little better and more memorable. And also, give me an ocean and I would be very happy...walking along the coast of our little Venetian island (island of San Erasmo)..the little waves trickling up to my feet and feeling the salty breeze on my skin... I love it.  Being at the beach makes me feel closer to God more than any other thing in this world.. Well, besides Ireland of course ;) Seeing everything that God has created in the world...the different parts..He really is an incredible artist.. The difference between each place and definitely different from North Carolina.. The way the mountains have come up from the ground and the way the trees are...the flowers...the smells of the flowers... The difference in the flow of water and the colors.. The sands are different.  Th way God paints the sky at night and the different times in each place.  The different faces and languages....the ways of life are different.  The things we take for granted..  Like a cup of ice for instance...not free and not freely given.  Bathrooms in places are not free and not easy to find where as in the states they are everywhere. I am so glad that God decided to make us all different...the different places.  It's an amazingly frustrating and awesome experience all wrapped in one. We need this from time to time to have our souls refreshed and to also see the differences...in Life....in ways of living.  God has ordained and designed every part of this earth and it is all so magnificent. We were born and designed to experience it all....it's good for us.  I think it is good for our relationships with Jesus and with finding your own.  I feel like I have come to realize my own things in life that I need to check.. The pressure I put on myself and the things that I do and don't do..the chances I take and the chances I don't.  How will we ever know or live if we just let opportunity after opportunity slip by.  Yes, you may be nervous...yes, you may regret...no, not you may regret it...YES you will regret it...life can be a mundane and boring one...or you could live.  Be the person that e everyone wants to be.  Stop just admiring others for what they do and seek to do what you want so you can help inspire others to admire you and do their life...live out their dreams and adventures.  Help them have the strength and courage to get out...to smell the roses in Venice... The walk the coast of France..to see the amazing green beauty and cliffs of Ireland... To touch some of the most pure waters in the world..to taste the different foods of the world..the delicacies.   Live people... Live your life.  Do it for yourself...do it for others..do it with God..he made it all for you.  Enjoy his gifts to the fullest..the ones in the world and the ones within yourself.