Hi, all! Just a thought.

Fall is in the air. The colors are changing everywhere. You can see the beauty of God’s handiwork all around you, if only you pay attention.

My family and I recently enjoyed a brief visit to the Smoky Mountains and did a little exploring in an area we love called Cades Cove. It was a beautiful October morning as we made the trek in our car along the park’s one lane 11-mile-long circle. Besides the countless vehicles, we also saw a great number of large turkeys, several deer, and a few black bears.

Animals are especially fun to watch. Perhaps that’s why my dad’s mother loved to sit on a bench in the mall and observe the people as they passed by (Ha!). The park was very busy that day, and our 11-mile route took us very nearly two hours to complete. So many other folks were also interested in spotting the animals and/or the colors of the changing leaves.

But as we left the park, we turned off the pavement and took advantage of a cut-off road which you see here. There were no other cars but ours there. We saw no four-legged animals, but we also saw no two-legged ones either. Only the beauty of God. I will never cease to be amazed at the beauty of the mountains, the open fields and pasture lands, the trees, and the simplicity of a dirt road.

We only saw this particular view because we turned off of the main path. We only had this advantage because we took the simpler route. We only experienced the quiet solitude because we left the crowds behind — and took a dirt road.

My dad grew up on a dirt road, and my memories of visiting relatives down that road are still vivid in my mind. Each memory brings with it the rising dust of the road. My wife grew up on a dirt road. We now live just off our neighbor’s long gravel drive. I can’t explain it, even in my own mind, but there is just something about the simplicity of the dirt road that brings things back into perspective for me. Maybe it’s just the symbolism of the settling dust once the traffic has passed.

As the craziness of the world passes you by this week, stirring up the dust and dirt that always come with it, hold tight. For just beyond the busy thoroughfare of this week’s world is that wonderful settling feeling of the long lone dirt road and the Godly scenery that He provides with it.

Settle in for a great ride with the Lord this week. The views are out of this world!

Just a thought. ’Til later.

Brad Campbell can be reached at mastah.pastah@yahoo.com.