A Trip to Tennessee

The calendar says it's still summer, but the thermometer tells another tale.  It's been very fall-like here in the mountains this week.

I took a trip to Tennessee yesterday.  It was time for another visit to the rheumatologist, so off I went.

Getting to Kingsport from here is an over-the-river-and-through-the-woods trip.  Narrow winding mountain roads, up hill and down, through a part of the Cherokee National Forest, until eventually I reached I-26 for the rest of my journey to Kingsport.

It was a beautiful drive through the mountains.  Leaves on the trees were beginning to turn.  There were fields of goldenrod.  I saw red barns and white barns and unpainted barns.  There were white wooden churches and brick churches and even a stone church.

On previous trips to Tennessee we have seen black bears and deer crossing the road in these woods.  But there were no wildlife sightings yesterday.

I had not been looking forward to the trip.  I didn't dread the doctor visit as much as the drive over there.  But it turned out to be a very pleasant drive.

A time to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

To celebrate the change of seasons.

To worship.

 

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,

Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above,

Join with all nature in manifold witness

To Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.

 

("Great Is Thy Faithfulness", verse 2,

words by Thomas Chisholm)