Safe Passage ...

“My home is in Heaven. I’m just traveling through this world.”

   ~ Billy Graham

   ~ 1918-2018

 ~ American evangelist, prominent evangelical Christian figure, and ordained Southern Baptist minister who became well-known internationally in the late 1940s. One of his biographers has placed him “among the most influential Christian leaders” of the 20^th century.

I spotted this “Jesus 2024” sign in front of Friedens United Church of Christ, Slatington, Pennsylvania and had to stop to photograph this uplifting sight as a car sped by on Route 873 on a late May evening in this election year.

In these tumultuous times especially, it is a reminder that when all else is failing, Jesus is still there for us, and a powerful reminder of the hope that Jesus brings as we travel through this world.

 

Heavenward ...

“Here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.”

     ~ from the inspiring Inaugural Address of

     President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

       ~ 1917-1963

     ~ 35th President of the United States of America

        ~ 1960-1963

       & U.S. Navy veteran

An inspiring view of SS. Philip & James Roman Catholic Church in the historic downtown of Phillipsburg, New Jersey on an early July afternoon. The cornerstone was laid in 1860 for this magnificent Gothic structure, & the present edifice completed in 1889.

Phillipsburg, a Delaware River Town, was established March 8, 1861 and named for William Phillips, an early settler of the area.

The Whisper of God ...

 “Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God.”

    ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

    ~ 1803-1882

Illuminated by the setting sun, flowering grasses reach up to almost touch heaven in the soft silence of a beautiful summer evening in late August during the golden hour at the rooftop observation area of Trexler Environmental Center.

Located in the Central Range of Trexler Nature Preserve, Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, the center is at one of the preserve’s highest elevations and one of the spots that offer spectacular views at the 1,100 acre preserve.

 Solar panels provide a significant portion of the energy needs of the building.

When the late General Harry Clay Trexler (1854-1933) established the preserve in the early 1900s, he did it to save the American bison, elk and white-tailed deer from extinction and assure the species’ survival.

A conservationist along the lines of Theodore Roosevelt and John Muir, General Trexler understood the importance of nature and preserving wildlife in its natural habitat.

A successful businessman who amassed a fortune in the timber and cement industries and founded the Pennsylvania Power and Light Company, General Trexler began purchasing small farms in the low hills of Lehigh County in 1906. By 1913, he had transported eight bison and 20 Virginia white-tailed deer to the preserve. The elk followed soon after.

When General Trexler died in 1933, he bequeathed the property to the residents of Lehigh County. Today, the Trexler Nature Preserve is open to the public for passive recreation and nature watching.