After a series of rainy and cloudy days, finally, there was a break yesterday – it was a beautiful and sunny day.  Accompanied by several families, we took the opportunity to visit the Minnewaska State Park in order to see the famous Fall foliage. Apparently, this is on everyone’s mind too. We ran into a huge traffic jam trying to pass through the town of New Paltz area. Subsequently, we couldn’t even enter the park as all the parking lots were full when we arrived. We had to wait outside and circle around to search for any available parking spots. Finally, our friend called and informed us to enter a packed parking lot with few spots just became available. It was a grand occasion that we have ever had.

The view of the foliage and scenery in the park is spectacular. We enjoyed a lot while kids were busying in chasing and jumping. Even with the temperature was a little bit on the chilly side, everyone’s spirit was high. Seeing many people in the park hiking, BBQ-ing, and sightseeing, I was thankful that I could enjoy the beautiful scenery with them.

Some of you may have the experience in visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is a long graphite wall engraved with names who had scarified their lives for this country during Vietnam War period. The simplicity and elegance of the wall touched many people’s heart. As a result, it raised interest from the public to find out who is the designer of this memorial. The designer, Maya Lin, soon became a famous person all over the country. You may ask, “Why to learn who is the designer of this memorial has anything to do with the foliage in the park?”  Let me give you two personal viewpoints.

The first viewpoint is we should be grateful that we were created with an inquisitive mind – we like to search for answer when a question comes to our mind. The second point is more intriguing to me if not to you, “Why we are so eager to learn the designer of something is famous in this world but are reluctant to learn who is the designer and creator of this universe?” My possible answer is the god of this age has blinded the minds of people (2 Corinthians 4:4) – a scheme that the evil one has exercised successfully in the past to block our inquisitive mind. This may explain why we are more eager to learn famous person in this world than to learn the designer of this universe.

When we recognize that the beautiful scenery is a God’s handiwork and He gave us the opportunity to get pleasure from it, we then could learn how important He is in our life and His great love to us. This is an important first step for us to know our designer and creator. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, let’s be thankful for everything that God has provided for us. The more we know Him the better we can follow His will truthfully. May you have a great fellowship with Him!