January 1, 2020

We left the house just before 5 AM for our trip to Mark and Diane’s house in Maine. New Year’s morning is a good time to travel. We were on the road for fifty minutes before we met other traffic. 🙂 This picture was taken on I-78 – not a back road.

This is what I do in the dark morning hours when we travel – read a devotional book on my Nook. My goal for 2019 was to read Hind’s Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. I read this only when we travel and accomplished my goal on the first day of 2020. 🙂

These are a few notes I made – that I wanted to remember:

“He makes my feet like the feet of deer, and sets me on my high places.” Psalm 18: 33 NKJV

“The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.” Habakkuk 3:19 NKJV

There are no obstacles which our Savior’s love cannot overcome.

Accept – day by day – little by little – the actual conditions and tests permitted by God – by continually laying down my will – by accepting His will it the things that happen to me and in the form of people with whom I live and work.

Every surrender and abandonment of ourselves to His will is a means of furthering us on the way to the High Places to which He desires to bring every child of His.

God is the One who helps us develop hind’s feet.

You cannot walk on God’s mountain top when you are distracted by fear, anger, bitterness, and jealously.

Our Shepherd delights in saving and delivering us from Satan and his tactics.

The development of hind’s feet is a secret process – between one person and God.

Our first sighting of another car was at 5:50 am.

After finishing Hind’s Feet in High Places, I began my 2020 devotional challenge: The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur.

Entering Tappan Zee Bridge in lower New York. The bridge is three miles long and crosses the Hudson River.

Just before exiting the bridge – if you look carefully to the right – you can see New York City.

Our first sighting of snow was at 9:38 AM in Connecticut just before our first rest stop on RT 91.

I messaged our children that we were keeping our promise to eat healthier in 2020. We each got a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit and a Dunkin Donut for breakfast. 🙂

Cerwin got a filled donut and I got a French cruller. I like crullers because they are mostly fluff. We took the donuts along on the road to savor with coffee.

The amount of snow along the edge of the road varied between Connecticut and Maine – I expect according to elevation.

At some point on this trip, I realized that this day would have been my parents 77th wedding anniversary.

Those who travel to Maine from the south will recognize this bridge.

We expected to begin seeing more snow, because Diane said they had 11″ during the previous two days.

I enjoy this part of the drive with the views across bays, inlets, and rivers.

We began seeing the results of the 11″ of snow after getting off the interstate and traveling through the town where Mark and Diane live.

We arrived at our destination at 1:45 pm. That means the trip only took us 8 hours and 45 minutes. That is probably the fastest we ever made this trip. Mostly because of the light traffic. There was no slow traffic in or near towns.

A view from the living room window.

Mark came home from work with lots of flowers for Diane’s 54th birthday.

After supper we went to prayer meeting at Wales Brethren Church.

Josh Minnich’s subject was “Self-Control.” He read from Proverbs 25:28. A man without self-control is like a city without walls. Someone from the audience said, “That means our soul is vulnerable to Satan and open to pillaging.”

2 Corinthians 10:5 “Take every thought captive.” In other words, think about what you think about.

Afterwards they surprised Martha Bucher and Diane with a birthday party.

That was a fun close to the first day of the year.