"Where Eagles Soar" UPDATED on Saturday, 7-25-2026

Yes, an American Bald Eagle in flight. Nov., 2016.  Read on for more information.

As most of you are aware by now, I've been participating in the July "Photo-a-day Challenge" this month, which was started by our blogging friend Chrissy T., at One Season to the Next.  It has been a fun way to zero in on special photos, kind of like a scavenger hunt.  Well, today's challenge is for something 'far away'.  I have lots of far away pictures that, with thanks to my handy dandy digital camera with a zoom lens, I can bring things up close.  

Today I decided, since it is  extremely hot outside and we are under a heat advisory, that I don't want to go outside searching for the best far away photo. Therefore, it's a good excuse to go back in time and find something extra special that was worth revisiting.  This post goes back almost 10 years, to November of 2016, when we were in the middle of a very important Presidential election.  Don't worry, this is not going to be a political post, but there are references to that event in the original post, and they tie in very well with the subject of the far away photos you will see.  So once again, I ask for your indulgence as we travel back in time to see something "far away".  It's interesting that this original post was also a part of a weekly photo "challenge" of sorts, our "Friday Foto Friends". We are no longer organized as a weekly meme, but many of us still do this on Fridays.  

Original Post written 11/4/2016:

Today our Friday Foto Friends, via our friend Deb at Breathing in Grace, is celebrating a one year anniversary of this weekly gathering of "photo-genic" friends, sharing our favorite photos of the week with you and the world.  Click on the link above to see what others are sharing today.

I only recently joined this pictorial group...and was so happy to become a part of a lovely new family of friends who share more than just pictures.  We've become friends who share our lives with each other with words of faith and encouragement along with our photos...giving each a glimpse into our personal lives and the world as we see it.  With my love of photography, and my desire to make new friends as well, it was a win-win blessing!!

The other day I wrote about our visit with some new friends on Lake George, Florida...and "Walking in the Light of His Countenance". (Click here for that story).  The views from our friends' pier and yard were amazing, and I was so excited to share them with you.  However, those weren't the only pictures I was able to capture that day.   I hope you will be blessed by these additional views God provided for me to share with you.

When we first stepped out of our vehicle at our friends' lovely lakefront home, I couldn't help but notice a large bird in the tall pine tree just above us. At first, we couldn't tell exactly what it was, and some thought it was perhaps a buzzard.  How surprised we were when I zoomed in on him with my camera and discovered that this was actually a juvenile American Bald Eagle!  He just hasn't developed his white head feathers yet!!! What an amazing sight!  I was excited to see this beautiful young eagle, because I knew that he was just the beginning of even more interesting sights yet to see!!  And also, because I had never had the privilege of getting a picture of a juvenile eagle before...so this was another marvelous gift from God!

Well, after our long walk on the pier out to the fishing dock...(yes, it was a very long walk out over the water with no hand rails...but that's another story!)

our friends started fishing...and actually catching fish:

Hubby and I sat and mostly watched them fishing , because we are not experienced fishermen, and hubby was suffering from some inner ear issues (which almost kept him onshore...but he made it out on the pier in spite of the feeling of being unbalanced).

I did try to fish, but I was too interested in watching all the activity around us and just couldn't concentrate on sitting still with a fishing pole...


So, while they were catching fish, I was hearing the eagles calling each other in the sky...

and then I noticed that the two eagles landed in a large pine tree back on shore:

Can you see them up there?  No?  Well, let me zoom in on the tree with my camera...and here is what I saw...

Oh Wow!!!! Isn't that marvelous??? And so, I just had to stand there on the pier and continue taking their pictures 

Oh, look at this one!  They moved closer to one another, and seem to be having a conversation.  Probably talking about the crazy lady standing way down there on the pier watching them...

Then they moved together on the branch and seemed to enjoy being close together...perhaps this is their mating season?

Isn't that sweet????

And then they took off and soared above the lake, back and forth, calling each other and watching us...probably hoping we would give them some of our fish...

In seeking a scripture verse about eagles for this post, of course there was the most well known and beloved verse from Isaiah 40:31

"But those who wait on the Lord 

shall renew their strength;

They shall mount up with wings like eagles,

They shall run and not be weary,

They shall walk and not faint."

During these hectic and stressful days preceding the presidential election...those of us praying for our nation need to remember and heed the promises of this wonderfully encouraging message.  If we wait on the Lord...and put our trust in Him...He will renew our strength...give us the wings of eagles to soar above the cares of this old world. 

But I found another, perhaps less known set of verses that I found interesting and maybe even more pertinent to our current situation:

"And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying,

'Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, 

and tell the children of Israel: (and perhaps the children of America?)

'You have seen what I did to the Egyptians,

and how I bore you on eagle's wings and brought you to Myself.

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice 

and keep My covenant,

then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people;

for all the earth is Mine."

Exodus 19:3-5

Wow!...What a message to America indeed! Oh, how I pray that our people will truly obey the voice of God...and keep His covenant...and remember that we are a special treasure to God. I wonder if this is why the Bald Eagle is our National Bird?  Something to think about...

One more set of verses I found that spoke to me about how special the eagle must be to God. In the book of Revelation, chapter four, and particularly verses six through eight, we see a vision of the four living creatures who worship our Creator Who is sitting upon the throne.  Verse seven tells us

"The first living creature was like a lion, 

the second living creature like a calf,

the third living creature had a face like a man,

and fourth living creature was like a flying eagle."

Verse eight tells us that these four living creatures do not rest day or night, saying:

"Holy, Holy, Holy,

Lord God Almighty,

Who was and is and is to come!"

The Eagle is actually going to be represented in heaven in such a marvelous way...one of the four living creatures chosen by God to be encircling His throne night and day, calling out His praises and worshiping Him without hesitation or rest.  

Awesome! Now I really feel blessed by this special visit with the eagles! To think, these magnificent creatures are a part of God's eternal home...calling out day and night

"Holy, Holy, Holy! Lord God Almighty, Who WAS, and IS, and Is to come!"  

I wonder if that is what these eagles were calling to each other as they flew around...and if they were sharing words of encouragement to us to keep looking up to God...don't lose hope...don't grow weary...God is bearing us up on Eagle's Wings...right up to the throne of God!!!

Whoa! How can we be discouraged, when God sends us such powerful messages each day through so many special messengers?  I wonder what God might be using to send you words of comfort and hope today?  Are you listening and watching for His messengers?  They could be soaring right above you right now! Keep your eyes on Him, and He will not fail you.

Do you know this little hymn?

ON EAGLE'S WINGS

by Michael Joncas

1. You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord, who abide in his shadow for life, say to the Lord: "My refuge, my rock in whom I trust!"

REFRAIN: 

And he will raise you up on eagle's wings, 

bear you on the breath of dawn, 

make you to shine like the sun, 

and hold you in the palm of his hand.

2. The snare of the fowler will never capture you, and famine will bring you no fear: under his wings your refuge, his faithfulness your shield. (REFRAIN)

3. For to his angels he's given a command to guard you in all of your ways; upon their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. (REFRAIN)

For previous posts regarding eagles: Click HERE,  And HERE

Thankful Thursday ~Strange Things Happening In Our Land...

It's Thursday, and I must say I am very very thankful...Yes, "strange things ARE happening in our land"...A Hurricane/Tropical Storm hitting our state in November is very strange.  The winds and rain have been very powerful...much more so here than they were in September for Hurricane Ian! We listened to the wind and rain hitting against our house all night long last night, and just prayed that God would protect our home and our family and friends from any harm.  Thus far, as far as we know, He has truly answered that prayer, and we are extremely grateful.

These pictures are really nothing...I should have taken them this morning when it was really blowing and raining, but it was too dark to get a good picture.  Just trust me when I say it has been a steady, blustery, brutal day...but we are still very thankful for no damage and no power outages (yet). It's not completely over yet, so I don't want to be too exuberant.

Our thoughts and prayers are with those along the coast who are again experiencing much flooding and beach erosion and severe damages. Many had not even had a chance to repair the damages from the September storm (Ian). So this is like adding insult to injury for them. My heart truly goes out to them.

Yes, we are very thankful indeed.

We've had another kind of "storm" this week in our nation...the mid-term elections have taken place and the outcome is still not completely certain. Many are perplexed, some are giddy, and many are thoughtful and prayerful. We know it isn't over until God says it is over.  We continue to pray for God's will to be done in our land.  We know that He is still in control, no matter what the outcome. And we will put our trust in Him no matter what.

Here's some thoughts from God's Word...written by a mighty king many centuries ago...as he gave praise and honor to the Mighty King, Almighty God:

Praise to God in His Holiness and Majesty

A Psalm of David.

Psalm 29

 1 "Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones,

Give unto the Lord glory and strength.

2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;

Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is over the waters;

The God of glory thunders;

The Lord is over many waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is powerful;

The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars,

Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.

6 He makes them also skip like a calf,

Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.

8 The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness;

The Lord shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh.

9 The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth,

And strips the forests bare;

And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sat enthroned at the Flood,

And the Lord sits as King forever.

11 The Lord will give strength to His people;

The Lord will bless His people with peace."

Amen.

Now, switching gears a bit, I know some of you may be anxious to know how the saga of our new floors is coming along...Well, let's just say it is a real saga...and it continues...slowly, but hopefully surely...The work that was supposed to get started sometime on Monday didn't really begin in earnest until Wednesday...(yesterday).  They started off with good intentions and ran into a few "issues" that needed to be corrected as they went along...by the time the men left our house last night around 7:00 p.m., they had only completed the first room, our bedroom, and even that still is not totally complete.  They had very good intentions of returning at 8:00 this morning to work all day, but Tropical Storm Nicole changed their plans. One of the men had a major roof leak develop overnight, and so of course that was more important than working on our floors...and then the wind and rain was so bad this morning that  it would have been a futile effort to try and keep working when they would need to go in and out to cut the pieces of flooring, and even with our covered porch they would have been drenched.  So....hopefully tomorrow they will be able to get an early start and work all day again...and I expect they will still need to come back on Saturday to finish the job. (Hopefully, "Lord willing and the creek don't rise..." literally!)  

So here's a few pictures so you can see what progress has been made:

There's our floor! LOL.  The "before" picture...

Here is our bedroom, work in progress, but an issue developed. Where you see the two pieces of black felt on the floor, they are on either side of the seam that runs down the middle of our house because this is a manufactured home. When they started laying the flooring, they realized that the floor was not real level where that seam is.  So they had to install the felt on either side of the seam to help fill in the gap so the floor tiles (vinyl planks) would be able to lay evenly over it. After working with it, it seems to be doing the trick, so they were able to continue working...

In order to move some of our very heavy dressers, they needed to take out some drawers...one is my nightgown and undie drawer, of course, exposed for all the world to see...

Well, while the drawers were out in the open, they also needed to do some sanding on the plywood subfloor to smooth out some places, and never thought to cover the open drawers...and of course I never realized it either until it was too late and the damage was done...and so now I will need to wash everything in those drawers once this job is done.  Not to mention the very fine layer of sawdust that is all over everything in that room and yes, even out into the living room...and probably in our nostrils and lungs, because we were sitting in there watching TV while they worked and didn't realize what was happening until it was too late.

But even with all the "issues" and setbacks and delays...I do love what I see and I know it will be worth it all when it is done...and hopefully that will be soon!   

Oh, today, because of the storm, our kids decided to close Dixie Cottage for the day and they invited us to come over to their house for lunch (they only live a mile away, so it wasn't a dangerous trip).  Rose had cooked a Boston butt for pulled pork and so we had BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and coleslaw for lunch and played Dominoes! What a blessing that was! Then we came home and took a much needed nap, because last night we slept in the guest room for the first time and even though the bed was comfy and cozy, the storm outside was howling, and my hubby was uncomfortable because he had to put his 6'2" body in a small double bed instead of our usual queen size bed.  I reminded him that he never seemed to mind the double bed we had when we were newlyweds 53 years ago...LOL.  Of course we were both quite a bit thinner and lighter back then...

And so, with that I will bid you good night.

P.S. Oh, we will be at Dixie Cottage all day tomorrow because it is Rose and Benton's 5th anniversary, and they hope to be able to do something fun, depending on the weather.  So while the men are working here at home we will have a place to stay out of the way of the noise and dust.  And then on Saturday we are expecting some very special company to come meet us and go to lunch...some of you may know her as Simply Linda.  A couple of months ago she and her hubby purchased a piece of furniture from Dixie Cottage, but couldn't take it with them because they were still waiting to move into their new house, and if you follow Linda, you already know all about that story!  So now that they are moved in they hope to come pick up the desk from our shed.  I hope this strange weather doesn't change their plans, but we shall see what develops. Hopefully we will remember to take some pictures to share with you!  Okay, now I'm done.  Good night for real!

Happy November!

Well, it's November, folks!  We made it this far in 2020, and if we can survive this week we just might make it to the end of 2020!  Praying and trusting that God will be with us this week as we cast our ballots (most of us already have) and as we wait on the results and pray for God's will to be done. That is my prayer. Regardless of what people may think, God is still in control and we will trust Him to do what is best for all concerned. But that still doesn't mean that you shouldn't vote. Do your part, but most of all, pray and seek God's wisdom first.

Okay, that is all I will say about that for now. I may have a lot more to say after tomorrow.

I see Thanksgiving on the calendar...and I have no clue just what we are going to do yet. Haven't talked recently to my relatives who are close enough to come and share Thanksgiving with us as they usually do, to see what they are thinking and what they feel "comfortable enough" to do. What are you folks doing this year? 

Here's the picture from my John Sloane Country Seasons Calendar for November. Today I really could have used that firewood to build a fire...it got pretty chilly here in Florida...in the 50's this morning and currently this evening it is 56, and it has been quite windy all day. At least it was sunny, so that was nice. I know many of you are much colder where you are, so I'm not complaining. But this is Florida, after all!  (And it is expected to go down into the 40's tonight!)

And here's the picture from my Tea Times calendar for November:

Cute tea set with the fox hunters on the hunt.  Poor widdle foxy.

I think I'd rather do as C.S. Lewis says here:

Yes, on a chilly fall day, put a fire in the fireplace (ours is electric) and sit down with a cup of tea and a good book and just relax and enjoy!!

My cup may not have been that fancy fox hunting group on the English countryside, but it is an "Olde English Countryside" design...

This cup is very old and has cracks in it, but I love the pictures on it.

See? I told you it was an "Olde English Countryside"!

So, what have you been doing today? We spent the morning at Walmart buying groceries. That was our walk for today as it was just too cold and windy this morning to walk outside. Then I went to our church Ladies' Bible Study this afternoon...still studying Joshua, and the discussion today was from Joshua 5, and also Leviticus 26:40-42,  talking about "circumcision of the heart".  God says of the Hebrew people, that if they will "confess their sins and the sins of their ancestors...their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward Me...then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land." (Leviticus 26:40-42)  In essence, when we turn back from our sinful ways toward God, He will forgive us and remember His promises toward us...

I believe our nation is in need of this kind of humbling and repentance and then forgiveness and healing from God.  Tonight, on the eve of this very important election, we really need to pray for our country to turn back to God so that He will heal our land.

In the meantime, how about some pictures from my weekend?

We took a nice little ride back down to the area where we used to live and stopped in at the boat ramp onto Big Lake Kerr...a lovely place where I've taken many beautiful pictures in the past.  I noticed these pretty yellow flowers along the shore and when I went to take a picture of the flowers I realized there were these very different looking butterflies flitting all around them.  Not sure that I've ever seen this particular butterfly before, but I looked it up and it is a "White Peacock"

This one below looks a little battle scarred:

But they both were enjoying their dinner of nectar from these lovely flowers. They didn't seem to notice me at all!

Then I turned my sights to the gorgeous smooth waters of Big Lake Kerr, and the perfectly clear blue skies above:

This lake has a very nice white sandy bottom, making it a nice place for swimming and boating.

It was a perfect morning!

Then we came home to our own Still Waters Pond and I noticed this very unusual bird swaying in the weeds along the shore.  It is an American Bittern, and this was my first sighting of this particular bird. 

I noticed that he seemed to be swaying in the weeds, and then I read in my Audubon bird guide that "when an observer is nearby, he will often stretch its neck up, point his bill skyward, and sway slowly from side to side, as if imitating waving reeds."  And that is exactly what he did for a very long time.

I was able to watch him from a distance for quite a while, and then decided I'd best go away so he could get back to his fishing and stop the swaying...

Not long after this he moved on to different parts of the pond, but I felt honored to be able to watch him for so long. I believe our Still Waters Pond would be a perfect habitat for him! Maybe he'll be back!

Interestingly enough, we read the 23rd Psalm in our morning devotions today. Perhaps it is good to review this Psalm again as we prepare our hearts for the upcoming events this week:

"The Lord is my Shepherd; 

I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside the still waters.

He restores my soul;

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil;

For You are with me;

Your rod and You staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You anoint my head with oil; 

My cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life;

And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

May the Lord give us peace of mind and soul no matter what.

Have a blessed week my friends.