Day 9

Tuesday. April 14, 2015

Quinton, VA-Trappist,KY

I managed to load the car and secure the house by 8 am. After a final trip to the dump and post office, I stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite. I was now on my way.  It felt like my sabbatical had final begun.

It was raining cats and dogs all day which slowed me down.  The mountains of Virginia and West Virginia were very foggy.  The weather seemed appropriate for on this day in history, President Abraham Lincoln was shot at Ford’s theater in Washington DC. This was also the day when the Titanic hit an iceberg.

I cannot tell you what time I crossover over the state line from West Virginia into Kentucky but the sun seemed to come out at that very moment.   The blossoming of springtime could be seen everywhere I looked.

Kentucky is known as the Bluegrass state because at times when the sun is just right the pasture lands seems to be a bluish green. This day the I encountered one beautiful pastoral scene after another. The cattle were grazing and the horses were frolicking.  The Psalmist reminds us in Psalm 50:10: The cattle on a thousand hills are mine.

I arrived at the Abbey of Gethsemani during the final evening prayer know as Compline. A joyful peace always comes over me when I enter Gethsemani. Here is where I always find God.

I count it all joy,

Pastor Vallerie