British writer Freya Stark was not only one of the first Western women to travel through the Arabian deserts (Hadhramaut); she often travelled solo into areas where few Europeans, let alone women, had ever been.

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.

People will call it our conscience, but I feel its though we have this little alarm devise inside us that is constantly monitoring what we are doing. When we do the things we are supposed to like being honest, keeping promises, etc., it stays quiet. But, when we get close to doing the wrong, the things we know we shouldn't, it comes alive. The buzzer sounds, the lights flash and it starts jumping all around. At first, it's subtle and barely audible, but then it's blaringly loud and I just can't ignore it any longer. It's when guilt sets in.

I don't know if we can always control our emotions, but I do feel that we should be able to control our actions, and we must. Seeing is not believing. Believing is doing.

The humble CS Lewis writ,

“God, who foresaw your tribulation, has specially armed you to go through it, not without pain but without stain.”

Psalm 27:3-5.

General and first American President George Washington is honored this day of his birth in 1732. He is considered one of America's founding fathers and he had these words to say.

“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion”

Though he also made mark in saying,

“It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible.”

To me these words live on...

“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained”

Amen, I say to that.

There's a book I'm reading and in it, this line spoke to me. I've discovered this thought prior in my own recent writings, yet with other literal phrasing. Author James McDonald says it this way.

I don't want an "A" for appearance - I want the real thing in my heart. I don't want to look right - I want to be right.

In further thought, I can undestand the meaning Dr. McDonald may be trying to express, but it must be taken a step further from being 'right' to 'righteous in living'.

Author Dave Dravecky noted,

I've come to realize that real growth of character takes place in the valleys of life.

The last place I wanted to be was in the valley and to feel the heartache of the descent with blinded sight and an ignorant mind, alone.

However, what is learned in the valley can only be experienced there, in person. That knowledge, that wisdom cannot be felt by reading or contemplation. Nor is the descent ever experienced alone.

Is it written in 2nd Chapter of James, verse 24,

You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.

I believe that 'action of faith' is part of the climb. It is an exhilerating adventure that He has always desired His children to experience.

This statement from Dr. King hits me especially hard.

“Take the first step in faith. You don't have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.”

What he must have went through to overcome the obstacles he faced, and the faith in God he must have had to take that first step. The times and circumstances are different, but the obstacle is the same. The obstacle is not the haters or the bashers, or the unholy triad of the desires of this flesh, worldly powers and the devil's temptations, but the depths of my faith and everlasting belief, to take the first step.