My wife suggested going to the Texas gulf area or going to visit our daughter, her husband, and four children in Lubbock, Texas.  The beach would probably be windy and rather cool and visiting our grandkids would be nice, but not be all that restful.  Again, as I prayed, I felt that God was saying to go to the mountains.  My wife worked Monday night, then had three nights off from her work. I thought about driving the eight plus hours to Cloudcroft on Tuesday and having my wife sleep in the car on the way, but I also felt exhausted and didn't feel like driving that much. After praying again, I felt that God said to go about half way to Hobbs, New Mexico. I thought that maybe we could possibly a bit beyond Hobbs also.  Therefore, I told my wife to get some sleep and we would leave when she awoke.

    I awoke my wife about 12:30 p.m. and we were on the road by a little after 1:30 p.m.  About 4:30 p.m., the engine light on my car came on. We were about 20 miles away from Lamesa, Texas.  I got my car manual out to discover that warning light probably was indicating an engine performance problem.  Continuing to pray, we found a Ford car dealership at the edge of town.  I pulled in and told the service department manager the problem and that we were traveling and had plans to spend the night in Hobbs, New Mexico a couple of hours away. The repair department manager was very gracious to check the code to discover that the radiator thermostat was stuck open to cause the motor to run too cool. He said that if I could give him another hour, he could replace the thermostat. We agreed.  We considered going beyond Hobbs, but the Lord seemed to say, "No."  My wife borrowed a computer at the dealership, found a motel in Hobbs, called and got a reservation.  In about an hour, we were on the road again.

    It was quite cold, cloudy and was beginning to snow a bit when we arrived at Hobbs.  We got our room and drove down the street a mile or so to look for a place to eat. When we came out the restaurant from eating, heavy white snow was falling, and the streets were beginning to get white with snow and ice. If we would have decided to go to beyond Hobbs to Artesia, New Mexico, we would have been on a deserted road in a snow storm at night. God was watching over us.  When we went back to our motel room, I got my laptop out and looked at the weather and road conditions at Cloudcroft. It looked terrible for driving.  Cloudcroft was expecting very heavy snow and the New Mexico Highway Department was saying the roads were very dangerous (of course that was for a 4 wheel drive vehicle and ours was a 2 wheel drive).  We went to bed, not knowing what to expect the next morning.  We were thinking that we might just be stuck in a motel room in Hobbs, but that would be better than stuck in the middle of nowhere on a lonely road in a snow storm.

    Wednesday morning, Valentine's Day, we awakened to a cold, heavy sky and a ground covered with snow; however, the main highway going past our motel seemed O.K.  Again, I got on my computer to discover that Cloudcroft had received about 8 inches of snow and the highway up the mountain to Cloudcroft was extremely dangerous. Furthermore, the forecast for Hobbs and Cloudcroft was for more snow.  We thought about going to Lubbock to where our grandkids live, but they also had quite a bit of snow. Please understand that I am not used to driving in snow and the towns in the area are few and far between.  Now, desperately praying, I still felt that God said to continue toward the mountains.  My wife agreed, called, and got reservations at Cloudcroft, not knowing if or not we could get there.  God would just have to take care of the situation, if we were obedient.

    We headed out West again on a rather lonely road toward Cloudcroft.  When we began, the ground was white with snow, but the road was clear.  Farther, down the road, we again ran into some light blowing snow and considerable fog which meant dropping the speed down to 40 mph for a number of miles. We stopped a place or so along where we could to take some pictures of cactus in the snow.  When we got into the mountains, the snow became heavier, but the road crews had cleared the road for the most part.  We arrived at Cloudcroft early in the afternoon. It was cold and cloudy, but the town was beautifully layered with snow. We found our motel and got a late lunch.  We talked with a waitress who said that the roads were so bad the day before that she couldn't make it to work.  Of course, if we had tried to drive it all the way there in one day we would have gotten stranded in the snow.  We took a drive down the major road toward Alamogordo, New Mexico.  Again, the scenery was beautiful and we stopped where we could and took photos.  We also drove in the other direction from Cloudcroft to the ski area, but it was snowed in and we only saw one skier on the slope.   Soon the sky became very gray; therefore, we headed for our motel which happened to be a short way up a hill.  Just as we arrived, very heavy snow began to fall. It was beautiful, but we had to walk about a block down the hill  in the heavy blowing snow to a gas station to get a few groceries.  It continued to snow heavily past our bed time.

   Thursday morning we awakened to a bright, cold, sunny day, but with an additional 4 inches of snow on the ground to make a total of 12 inches. We could hardly see some of the cars which had been parked for a couple of days because they were so covered with a deep blanket of snow.  Of course, it would have been futile for me to try to drive up and down the hills in the snow.  My wife and I bundled up for the 20 degree weather, grabbed our cameras, and headed up an icy, snowy road walking. We had a leisure 1/4 mile hike up the hill taking pictures along the way.  We had previously been to the Lodge at the top of the hill years before in the summer, but didn't realize that road that we were walking on led to the Lodge where we actually wanted to go. When we got there, it was well time to get warm and eat a good breakfast.  Again, the scenery from the Lodge was terrific.

    By the time we walked back down the hill and to our motel, the main road was clear enough for us to do some more driving.  We headed again down the steep grade toward Alamogordo.  Of course there was more snow on the ground, trees, and roofs of buildings than the day before.  We wanted to park at the viewing area for the railroad trestle in the above photo, but the parking area had a foot of snow on the ground.  Our hearts desire was to get a photo of the trestle in the snow.   In order to get the photo, I had to drive a long way down the mountain, turn around, and drive back up the mountain (as slowly as I dared), and allow my wife to use my camera shooting out the passenger window.  She did quite well!  God again provided as He did all the way on the trip.  We turned around and headed back down the mountain to Alamogordo and arrived just in time to take in an amazing IMAX movie about under water creatures.  We headed back up the mountain to Cloudcroft and wanted to go to the ski area, but the off road to ski area was open only to 4 wheel vehicles, so again, I drove slowly past the area and my wife took some telephoto shots out the passenger window.  Actually, because the roads had been so bad, there were only a few skiers that we could spot. We took another hike up the hill to the Lodge from another direction taking still more photos.

    I was somewhat concerned if the roads would be icy again Friday morning from the snow melting and freezing back over night. We needed to leave early Friday morning so that my wife could get back in time to go to work Friday night.  When we left Friday morning, the temperature was only about 13 degrees near the ski slope area, but the road was for the most part still clear.  We had a good safe eight hour drive back home with the wind mostly behind us.

    God blessed us from the beginning to the end in spite of a short time schedule, car problems, snow storms, and an icy road. We got some great photos including the one at the top of the page and had a refreshing break from daily routine. Most of all, we saw God work through it all. It is God's will to bless.

    I am convinced that God desires to bless His children when they are simply obedient to him.  "For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring" (Isaiah 44:3). "And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God" (Deuteronomy 28:2).

    I am convinced that God wants to give us good gifts.  "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17).

    I am convinced that God wants to bless us so that we can bless others.  "Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give" (Matthew 10:8).

    I am convinced that as we are obedient in faith to bless others, God will again bless us in return.  "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38).   "I have shewed you all things, how that so labouring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said, It is more blessed to give than to receive" (Acts 20:35).