MUCH LIKE what was done prior to my first long journey, before making this journey, I must needs prepare myselƒ by disposing all of what I possess except for the essentials and that which belong in attic storage. Before the previous journey, I had sold, given away or tossed into the garbage all of which had previously been gathered into my possessionship, except for my keepsakes stored in the attic and the necessary things to be carried upon my back, which came to be called my burden. Later, the word burden came to describe all of my possessions.

With 1369 days remaining before my application for social security benefits can be made and begin my official retirement, my hope is to quell my present burden so that I may soon embark upon a new wayfaring journey free again from the intrusive encumbrance of many possessions, both material and mental.

Hopefully, with the sale of the majority of my burden, including my home, I should have money sufficient to travel to Mexico and search for a place where I will be able to live when the 1369 days have expired. With this first trip, I hope to find a location both where there is a need for publishers of the good news and at the same time has a climate well suited to my preferences.

After 29 years since his first visit to Yellowstone National Park, Thom returns during May of 2009 to visit the park for a second time. This visit he carries what he has never carried before while wayfaring, a camera.

By doing this, he veers from his previous determination that to carry a camera while wayƒaring is too expensive and too heavy. However, now he has found that with the new digital cameras both of those concerns have been nearly if not entirely eliminated.

This is because today, the photos do not need film processing and the cameras are much lighter than those of years past.

So, he changes his previous maxim not to carry a cameral and allows himself to purchase of a digital camera. Too, he especially desires to capture on photographs the wonders that are Yellowstone, in fact all of the creation.

THIS JOURNAL serves the same purpose as previous handwritten journals, that is to provide a media whereupon I may write my thoughts and observations down as oft as I am able to do so during the journey. Albeit a daily record, this online journal serves an added purpose, which is to allow me to share these thoughts and observations with my family and friends or any others who may happen upon them.

And to the former, my family and friends, no amount of thanks is truly adequate for their calling, writing, or otherwise inquiring about my well being.

A note about the online journal format: each daily entry will start with the date and the location where I wake up. The next line will be the day count connected to that day, a day count, such as (Day 1369 BR) that will be displayed in the color associated with that time period. Addition information, if any about the day which finds me waking up to it will be record directly to the right of the day count.

Further, as for the format of this online journal, a detailed explanation can be found at the Tips and Notes page in the Journal Passage.

According to the Bible at Psalms 90:10, we have "70 to 80 years" to live our life journey. If these limitations are converted to a number of days, that would mean that we, as humans, all humans, have from 25,568 to 29,220 days to live as our life span. Furthermore, ever since I began to count my days by a Journey of a Thousand Days as a time period, I recognize that the time that I have in my personal Life Journey is some 25 to 29 of these time periods.

Today, in my Life Journey, I enter into the 21st Journey of a Thousand Days, which by doing so, I realize that I have remaining of my Life Journey, only four to eight more of the time periods that I have come to know as a Journey of a Thousand Days.

Too, depending on the exact day we are born in any given month, their are some 864-5 full moons during the first seventy years of our life. If we are blessed with 80 years of life, as previously mentioned is 29,220 days, then if we your our Life Journey by the number of full moons, then we would live to see about 990 full moons in our eighty years of our Life Journey.

Well, I did not stop there, because I became curious about when I will see my 1000th full moon and found out that will occur on the 30th of September 2031, immediately after I arrive in the 81st year of my life

During the many months I have remaining here, I will be preparing for my retirement. Until the time when I do start my retirement, I will be minimizing the amount of possessions that I own. Most of these possessions will sold in several garage and/or estate sales in the upcoming weeks and months. My goal is to reduce this volume of possessions down to an amount that I can carry with me in my vehicle.

Too, along with many other question, many wish to learn of the progress of this new journey, some asking if the journey has begun yet, this one to Mariposa and no, this journey is yet a future event even though preparations for the journey have long since begun.

So, in an effort to answer these questions and keep all of my dear ones current as to my progress, It is my desire to provide entries to this journal and thereafter publish it frequently to this web site.

Furthermore, in using the ‘Journey to Mariposa’ in connection with this journal, Mariposa thus represents for me a metamorphosis, a major life transformation as it could be called for me and the Journey has come to represent the great distance and perils I am willing to forgo in my life as a Christian. Too, this pathway is a metamorphosis that I purposely have chosen; one that involves my retiring from secular work and beginning the path of using my energy, resources and time in serving the Most High over all the Earth. (Psalms 83:18)

Verily, the most asked question is: What is Mariposa? So, I will address this one first and explain why I have chosen Mariposa for a name of one of the Quests of this journey. First, mariposa is the Spanish word for butterfly and this journey has been so named because I have the strong desire to visit the monarch butterfly sanctuary in the south of Mexico and see them there during their winter hibernation.

However, like all of the previous journey titles, each of the titles chosen have had both a literal and a figurative meaning for that specific journey. For instance, Katahdin is an indigenous language word that means mighty mountain, and while I was struggling afoot for month after month towards this mile high monolith, I was also searching for the "Mighty Mountain" of God.

In other words, I was seeking for both the literal mighty mountain as well as the figurative mighty mountain; the figurative one being the place where I would find people who worship God in the same way as did those in the Bible. Yes, I was learning about these very ones by reading every day in my Bible and so it became my quest to locate and summit this mountain of God. (Exodus 3:1)

True, I had only just begun to read the Bible in earnest and found it often hard enow to comprehend what I was reading let alone understanding it in anything but a literally way. Despite being unaware of my many misconceptions, I nevertheless persisted with my daily Bible reading, searching for both the truth from within it′s pages and for this brotherhood of God′s worshipers it ofttimes refers to. This quest afoot was one that I had heartfelt resolve to obtain, but then, by the spring of 1980, the quest for spiritual understanding and fellowship had entered the third year, which also began what I later entitled volume two of this episode, Journey to Zion.

Hence, the title chosen for the second volume, employs the word Zion which also had both a literal and figurative meaning. This word as used in the Bible represents God′s Holy Mountain and the place of God′s dwelling with his people. Too, it also refers to the place from where He sustains and provides for His worshipers. Amazingly, it was during a backpacking trip in Zion National Park, (the literal usage of Zion) while I was fasting and supplicating God for an answer to a question that had incited me to meditate often during the previous weeks.

My relationship with God at that times was such as I was in expectations of His answer and thus I was pushing for the answer to come sooner rather than later by fasting on the mountain in Zion. Four days in while camping above seven thousand feet, I was awaken before dawn by snow fall, no, more liken to a blizzard, which forced me down from the ridge I was backpacking upon in order to keep from perishing atop that mountain.

Later, I came to believe wholeheartedly that in answering my prayers, it was God who sent that late spring blizzard driving me off of that mountain down to a location where at there was waiting, one of His servants who then would provide me, by means of a publication containing the answer to the question that I had been long praying to Him about. Doing thus resulted in the fulfillment of my original quest, directing me to the pure worship at His mountain in association with those within the brotherhood. (Psalms 20:2)

So in choosing the word Mariposa for this new journey title, it is not unlike all of the previous journey titles in that Mariposa has both a literal and figurative meaning. The literal meaning as mentioned above is my desire to travel a great distance to visit the monarch sanctuary. Withal, these butterflies, the mariposa monarca, are truly amazing creatures who in their brief 4 to 5 week lifespan first undergo a major metamorphosis and then travel great distances through numerous perils so that their offspring will be born in a suitable location, one that has the necessary nourishment only found on the milkweed plant and only during springtime.

Therefore, in using the Journey to Mariposa as the title of this journal, mariposa thus represents a major life transformation for me and the journey has come to represent the great distance, and perils I am willing to forgo in my life as a Christian.

Too, this pathway is a metamorphosis that I purposely have chosen; one that involves my retiring from secular work and beginning the path of using my energy, resources and time in serving the Most High over all the Earth.

Interestingly, it was on the very day of the blizzard on the mountain in Zion National Park that the Most High revealed himself to me in a new way. In as much as I had been fully expecting an answer from the God that I had come to know and love, never in my whole sober reality did I expect the answer that I received. On that day, He did this by having one of his earthly servants direct me to read one solitary verse in my very own Bible.

Thus, from reading that verse, I came to know God in a new and profoundly different way. This was truly an awakening for me to learn that the God of the Bible, my Bible - the King James Version, had a personal name and that his name was right there at Psalms 83:18. Yes, it had been right there during my entire three year Journey and yet somehow, I had totally missed it.

It was at that moment when I came to realize that the same God that I had been learning about through my Bible reading, the reading which I had been doing every day of the last several years, was a God that I previously had rejected, cast off as part of what many termed the cult of Jehovah′s Witnesses. Too, it was on that day, the very day that Jehovah brought the blizzard upon me that I found compelling need to rethink all of my previous determinations.

Yes, I had been worshiping a God that I really did not know, one that had waited for almost three years of my personal quest to find Him before He finally revealed himself to me. Had I somehow found out about him during the first or second year of my quest to find Him, I might not have accepted this strange Jehovah God to be the one I was on the quest for; instead I might have just cast His true religion aside much like those many other religions that I had examined and discredited as not even being close to the true worship I have been reading about in the Bible and so desperately yearned to be a part of.

Now, as I begin this new Journey to Mariposa, it is Jehovah that is the God my heart compels me to serve. Yes, and even to travel great distances through numerous perils. Yes, Mariposa has a deeply embedded figurative meaning for myself.

The second most asked question, Why do you want to go to Mexico? is one that deals with a concern I have given much prayerful consideration over the years. The short answer is: I am going to Mexico to search for a place for me to live, a place where I can both afford to live and one in which I may live in a comfortable climate.

My search for a comfortable climate is probably more important to me than the location being affordable but I must say that I would never move to or stay in a place I could not afford and not being able to afford Oak Harbor is one of the primary reason why I must needs leave this island rock.

Too, the search for a comfortable climate, one that suits my needs is a concern that has been ongoing for most of my life. Early on in my life, maybe even before I turned twenty, I thought much about the hot climate where I have been reared and then later determined that I no longer desire to live in a hot climate, nor where there is high humidity. These two factors alone are the reason why I left Texas so many years ago and also why my family who still live there will normally only see me visiting them during the three non-summer months of December, January and February, those being the only months that I now will even deal with the uncomfortable weather in Texas.

I had departed from Texas numerous times but always returned because Texas is where it seems that I could always find a job. So, I would work during the winter and then, with money in hand, continue my search to find the ideal climate for me to move to. Some time later, I settled in New England, first Maine and then Vermont. However, it did not take long for me to realize that I also do not care much for locations with the other extreme climate, where it is ofttimes necessary to shovel snow every day, month after month during their winter.

A few years later, in the summer of 1986 while living in Centerville, Tennessee (and not because it was an ideal climate but because the circumstances allowed me to serve full time where there was a need) I journeyed to the Pacific Northwest for a backpacking trip and came upon the Banana Belt of northern Puget Sound. Too, it was there that I found a location where average summer daytime temperatures are in the 70′s and average winter daytime temperatures are in the high 50′s. I liked the prospect of living in that type of climate so much so, that by October 1989, I found Myselƒ living in the midst of the banana belt at Oak Harbor, on Whidbey Island, Washington and to this day, I still love the year round temperatures that presents itself here.

Even on the hottest of days, during the dog days in August which here last about two weeks, even then, the temperature only get up into the high eighties. Then during most winters, there are usually only a few weeks where temperatures drop below 40°. Yes, with the normal temperature range between 55° and 75° year round having only a twenty degree spread between the highs and lows, methinks that this location is a literal paradise for me.

What more could anyone ask for? Well, I found the answer to that question after being here just over fifteen years when my sinuses began to cause me all kinds of problems. Previously in my life, I had never had any sinus problems, nor allergies, nor any respiratory problems at all until after fifteen years of living in the Pacific NorthWEsT! (emphasis put on the WET is my own!)

Thus, due to a combination of high humidity, dust, mold, pollen, the constant overhead jet trails and probably other irritants, pollutants and toxins that by the year 2004, I began to have major respiratory problems, first it was flu-like symptoms that lasted for a month in the spring, then these symptoms began increasing in both duration and frequency.

Well, at least for me, the perfect climate here in the Banana Belt had expired!

I began to ask myselƒ: Could I find a climate similar to this one but with less humidity and irritants? For me to want to move again, the location would have to be mild in both the summer and winter with no extreme highs or lows; too, it also needs to be a dry climate without the high humidity that is found here on the coast of Washington and yet, not a desert dry. It was then that I began searching for a new perfect place, a virtual paradise on an earth far from being even near to perfection.

When I first gave consideration to the possibility of moving to Mexico, it was because I had heard of this tropical belt of high altitude that never gets hot or cold, and I wanted to find out if this was true. I did not think that anything such as this existed until another person told me about Michoacán, a state in the mountainous region of the South of Mexico.

I immediately began to research this location on the internet and everything I found continued to give me positive results. All indications lead me to believe that there is a mountainous region in south central Mexico where the climate is warm and dry during the winter but cool in the summer. Further research revealed that the summer has a three month rainy season during which the rain falls almost entirely at night. Too, this area is primary a hardwood and evergreen forested area with elevations ranging from 5000 feet to over 10000 feet on the mountain summits, but most of the livable areas are between 5000 to 8000 feet. So, it was then that I decided to check this place out for myself!

Much like what was done prior to my first long journey, before making this journey, I must needs prepare myselƒ by disposing all of what I possess except for essentials and those things belonging to the attic storage. Before the previous journey, I had sold, given away or tossed into the garbage all of which had previously been gathered into my possessionship, except for my keepsakes that I put into the attic and the things to be carried upon my back, which came to be called my burden. Later, the word burden came to describe all of my possessions.

With 1362 days remaining before my application for social security benefits can be made and begin my official retirement, my hope is to quell my present burden so that I may soon embark upon a new wayfaring journey free again from the intrusive encumbrance of these many possessions, both material and mental.

Hopefully, with the sale of my burden, including my home, I should have money sufficient to travel to Mexico and search for a place where I will be able to live when the 1369 days have expired. With this first trip, I hope to find a location both where there is a need for publishers of the good news and at the same time has a climate well suited to my preferences.

So, I will begin my initial southward trip into Mexico and go up to the mountainous area to spy out the land, (Numbers 13:17) and see this land, and determine if it is a good land where I may henceforth live. Yes, even before this big countdown ever becomes close to ending, while the count still stands as a quadruple digit giant, The Journey of the Me™ will begin my quest for a suitable location in Mexico where I hope I may call home.

However, if my estate sale does not go well or it does not provide me with enough to retire this year, then I may need to return here and wait until this thirteen hundred and sixty-plus day giant dwindles down to a single digit midget and thus allow me to journey on. At any rate, then I will have already traveled to Mexico in my effort to locate the place where which I may move.

Finally, some have asked me, What is the purpose for moving to Mexico? What immediately comes to my mind is the question God asked Isaiah some seven hundred years before Jesus came to the earth. At that time, God needed someone willing to preach his message and so God asked Isaiah, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Hence, the purpose in my wanting to go to Mexico is so that I will be able respond to a similar call to preach God′s message to the people in Mexico. Therefore, I do so greatly desire to respond with the vigor as Isaiah responded even then: "Here I am! Send me." (Isaiah 6:8.)

Too, I have long desired to resume the work of the full time ministry and much like in the past, I would endeavor to do so where there is a greater need for such preachers of God′s Word. Such a noble cause!, some have said, but noble is not my strongest suit. Even others have said that moving to Mexico is an outlandish move. Veritably, the reason for this outlandish move is that it has become harder and harder to support myself here in Oak Harbor, or for that matter, methinks anywhere in the United States in the normal way of living and especially doing so while trying to serving in the full time ministry.

Furthermore, because of my desire to resume the work of the full time ministry and having not succeeded in this country for many years, there still seems to be hope for me to do so in Mexico. Yes, a move to Mexico could possibly drastically reduce my expenditures and thus the little savings and income that I do receive could then support me in the full time ministry until social security begins.

Notwithstanding my strong desire to journey on, it seems to me I have been running into one road block after another. First, the initial estate sale in December is a total fiasco because this island has the winter storm of the century, breaking all records. The worse part about the storm is that it occurred right during the same two weeks the sale is advertised for. This storm dumped on this island and on my home, fourteen plus inches of snow with below freezing temperature the entire two weeks; a very rare winter indeed.

This may not seem like much to some but for this Island, it is more than even the highway crews can handle. We are all completely snowed in but at least during this storm, we do not loose the electricity like what happened a couple of times in past storms. Needless to say, very few people come to the sale and I still retain almost all of my things.

Since then, I have been tossing some of my things into the garbage, which I find is truly easier said than done. In addition, there seems to be a never ending amount of things that keep coming out of the closets. So, I have begun examining my heart for any reason for keeping these possessions and prayerfully question myselƒ about the need for every item. Each time I do so, the very same scripture that came to me in 1977 when preparing for my initial journey, the one to Katahdin, now keeps coming back full force to my mind once again. (Luke 18:22)

Yes, I have way too many possessions for me to be able to follow in the life Jesus lead. Too, I reluctantly accept the fact that I have so many possessions and never thought that it would be thus hard for me to get rid of them all! As I keep staring around my home teeming with box after box of these many things, I find that I need to continually remind myselƒ that they serve no purpose other than to dishearten me during this time of the end and especially now that I have a heartfelt desire to be better able serve God more fully.

Furthermore, much like I did in January of 1978 prior to the Journey to Katahdin, when I secured my photos and keepsakes in my Boy Scout summer camp chest and then stored the chest in my Mom′s attic; during this Journey, I plan to do likewise with these same items. However, since my Mom passed away in November of 2008, that summer camp chest is currently in the attic of the home of my sister Susan and sometime in the not to distant future, I hope to visit Susan and return many of those very same items back to their place in that chest just as they were in my Mom′s attic.

Howbeit, it puzzles me to no end how possessions such as these are meant to be kept in the attic inside of a chest; only upon occasion to withdraw, gaze upon, remembered by saying "Ah, Yes, I remember this!", and then promptly put back into the dark confines of the chest until their owner must needs withdraw them once more again. I dare to say that many keepsakes are possessed to be used in like manner, and because of this realization, I come to question their real purpose, if any in my life. Moreover, I have come to ask Myselƒ if in fact they are not just part of what the Jesus calls "the other things" (Mark 4:19) that would prevent me from being fruitful in holy conversation and godliness. (2 Peter 3: 11)

ALONG THE JOURNEY that is our life, if one knows how to look for it, ofttimes this one may catch a shine of a rainbow and yes, I am a rainbow seeker. This is an expression which means that a person is evermore cognizant for the special conditions that provide for the creation of a rainbow.

During both this journey and all previous ones, I have found there are many types of these natural occurring rainbows, sixteen in all, or at least that is the number that I have come to know about. I have seen twelve on this list and will continue on constant vigil for the remaining four. The rainbows in my list that I have yet to see are the following: Cloud Bow, Red Bow, Supernumerary Bow and the Twinned Bow.

Withal, there is a figurative side to being a rainbows seeker. While taking steps upon the way, I have come to identify that within friendships there are three feathers. Although there exists untold differences within each feather of friendship, all three feathers prove beneficial for each person involved. However, there is only one of these three feathers that is contained fully within the rainbow.

The primary feather is a friendship of The Me and usually one of acquaintance; which, no matter how intense the closeness that results from it′s inception, this feather almost always fades when the departure of one person from the other ensues because this friendship is often superficial in nature despite however mutually beneficial for whatever reason.

Never does this friendship come near to the heart, nor is it even close to being a feather of friendship within the rainbow.

The secondary feather is of The Myselƒ and this friendship betokens a true and lasting feather of friendship in that it may stand the test of both elements of distance and time, continuing for many years even gaining closeness to the reality of the rainbow.

However, it is because this friendship from the moment of it′s inception has never met the test of the touchstone for spiritual genuineness, this friendship too, will pass away just like those of the primary feather.

The tertiary feather is of The I and this friendship is the only one fully contained within the rainbow. This is so due to the fact that the origin of this feather is from the heart and the author of this feather is the creator of both the rainbow and the principled love dwelling within the bond of this feather.

Further, at any future absence and subsequent reuniting, this feather will continue unbroken by the elements of time, distance and even imperfection. Yes, this feather will resume in spite of any length of endurance within the elements, to the full measure of the previous jouissance experienced. Too, this tertiary level of the feather is comparable to the rainbow covenant God made with people on the earth after the flood in that when God makes a promise, it is forever. Genesis 9:13, 14

Some marriages experience the tertiary level of the feather even now in this imperfect world. Further, there are also a few other (non marriage) friendships that rise to this level of the feather of friendship.

THE DAYS continue for what seems to be unceasing in this wait for my home to sell, even after lowering the price a couple times. The waiting is tough for me as I strive to conclude my life here in this city.

Oh, yes, Oak Harbor has grown too big and too crowded for this wayfarer and there is now pressing need for me to journey on. (James 4:15)

When I do begin taking steps on this journey, it will be like Episode One which is in three parts: the Journey of the Me; the Journey of the Myselƒ; and the Journey of the I. The first part, the Journey of the Me, beginning upon my departure from Oak Harbor.

During this journey, I greatly desire to make my way to visit some the most intimate of my friends Within the Rainbow. Of these many ones, there are those in Tennessee that I especially look forward to seeing; Bob and Reneé in Centerville and Joe and Sarah in Spring hill because both couples have previously made the journey to share with me here on this island. Bob and Reneé are special pioneers who adopted me when I made my first journey to where the need was greater.

Also, these initial steps would have me visit Texas where I hope to visit more of those friendships of ones within the rainbow. In Texas, there are too many to name that I greatly desire to see, but I especially look forward to seeing Ed, Cathy and their grown children in Houston.

Cathy shared going to the pioneer school with me in 1985; both Ed and Cathy adopted me during my stay there and then later also came to this island to visit me. Even their boys, Chris, Philip and Jonathan came to the island for a visit. I know that my visit with all of these ones will ne′er be long enough, however, I shall take to heart these brief moments with each of them.

Then too, before I know it, I will be crossing into Mexico in search of the Mariposa. The drive from Houston to Mexico City is about nine hundred miles (1450 Kilos) and I anticipate stoping at the border to visit a congregation on Laredo, Texas for suggestions on the best way to cross over to the Spanish side of the Rio Grande river.

After I first began to pray about the possibility of this journey, I also began working towards this goal. One of the things I did was to write to the branch in Mexico City and request a list of English congregations that I could visit in southern Mexico.

Months later, I received the list which contained a total of eight congregations. I hope to start with the three in the western part of the Federal District. Then I will travel west to the state of Mexico to visit two congregations in the cities of Valle de Bravo and Toluca.

Finally, I will journey farther west to the state of Michoacan and visit three congregations in the cities of Morelia, Patzcuaro and Uruapan. After finishing the list from the branch, I will drive west to Jocotepec on Lake Chapala in the state of Jalisco and visit a brother from Tacoma, Washington who with his wife have already begun this way. Also, by the time I arrive in Jocotepec, I hope to have prayerfully made my decision on where in Mexico I shall want to call my home.

TWO WEEKS AGO , my mini van died and my best guess for the problem is a blown head gasket, of which my determination is from seeing radiator fluid flowing out from the mufflers's weep hole.

Though I have the ability and knowledge to replace this gasket, however, since my estate sale, I now lack the all of the specific tools and more importantly, the desire to do the repairs myself. Neither do I wish to pay someone to do the repairs because it would cost more than the car is worth, so the need is to search for a replacement van.

After looking at several mini vans here in Washington, most with way too many miles, I contact Joe, my friend who lives in Spring Hill, Tennessee, who by the way is not only a best friend but also a great mechanic. He told me that he has a 1994 Ford Aerostar on which he had just done a lot of rebuilding and then went on and on describing many of those things he did.

Then he offered it to me at a price that I couldn′t refuse, so I prayed about it and then called him back to confirm to him that I would like to buy it from him. Next, I called the airlines to get a ticket and found a flight from Seattle to Houston to Nashville on the ninth of March for just ninety-nine dollars. Since I had already prayed about buying the car, I confirmed the flight and the shuttle to the airport.

Currently, the lack of having a car is making me bum rides everywhere, and have been doing so since my car died last month. It has been tough without a car, but I must say that the friends have been wonderful in helping me get to the places where I need to be.

Regarding this matter, once again, I am slowly beginning to gain back appreciation for the difference between the want and the need, especially now since I am in preparation for the possible move to live in a foreign country.

Even though the ability to determine this difference between the want and need can be developed with time and effort, that same ability can be easily lost when a person does not keep the urgency of our time to the fore.

Nevertheless, that difference will usually stand unseen but blaring directly in our face until we put forth the effort to understand it′s importance. And blurred it will remain until our focus is clearly set to examine the spiritual principles with regards to this life.

Decades ago when I walked upon the mountain, the difference between the want and the need was clear and expedient. However, since arriving in Oak Harbor twenty years ago my Vision, that ability to see the difference between the want and the need, has grown dim because I have begun to accumulate possessions, many things, yes even items that clearly have been acquired by invoking and then paying tribute to the Want.

During that time when my vision was so dimmed, I felt that it was justified to build, not one but two storage sheds to hold all my things.

Now as my preparations are under way for this new journey which will enable me to and return onto the mountain, I must redevelop my vision so as to reacquire that ability to focus on spiritual principles and clearly see the difference between the want and the need. Too, I must again learn to appreciate that the only possessions that should be ascertained as part of the burden would be wholly embody within the need.

This ability to discern which things are of the want and which things are of the need is an ability which is one of the life lessons learned years earlier during my backpacking journey on the Appalachian Trail but lessons, nevertheless, that I sadly allowed myselƒ to forget.

For a wayƒarer, is is a must needs to have and develop fully this ability to discern the different between the want and the need.

I am fully aware that it is late in what the Bible referred to as the end of the world. (Matthew 24: 3; Luke 21: 7; 2 Timothy 3:1-4) Still, I have only recently come to fully recollect that the want is contrived totally from those desires that are from within The Me whereas both the understanding of the difference between the want an the need and how to develop the need into an art form may only be gained (1) by striving for and obtaining the upper level of The Selƒ and (2) by drawing upon the strengths and stability of the Creator while learning and doing His will more fully. (Matthew 7: 21, 1 John 2: 17)

WITH REGARDS TO THE BURDEN, the upcoming journey will be different from previous journeys in some ways but similar in other ways. Unlike my first journey, instead of pen and paper, (Quill and Quire) I will be carrying a laptop computer to make entries into my journal which at a later time will be uploaded to the online journal.

Too, on this new journey, a major difference is that I will be traveling across the country by car instead of by foot and thumb. Still, herein lies just one more of the road blocks that have appeared since the inception of this desire to journey on; currently I have no car.

However, when my car came to it's end last month, I have come to conclude that cars too have joined the ranks of what this society now considers to be a throw-away possession. Yes, in this world, once a possession becomes a must have or what I refer to as a Need, then soon afterwards it also becomes easily discarded and replaced. Amazing, it is nothing like when I was a boy and I acquired a merit badge in Boy Scouts to learn home repairs so that I could fix toasters, mowers, furniture and many other items which now have joined the ranks of the throw-away.

Much like on previous journeys there is the need for preparation prior to the journey. This preparation has been an ongoing task prior to this journey. Yes, there has been much time spent in prayer, thought and work that has gone into achieving the start of this new journey.

Too, I will carry the same kitchen that I have carried on previous journeys; including my MSR stove, stainless steel pot and sierra cup. The lexan spoon has been replaced with a bamboo one. These will be useful to me for cooking my Repast and daystart and for making a cup of hot to drink. Also like previous journeys, I will put my gear into stuff sacks, or rather now, plastic tubs kept in the back of the van.

As I travel, I intend to keep to the basics when it come to the pantry, mostly dried food that does not require refrigeration, again like the previous journeys, but now plan to carry canned food as well. Also, I will bring nutritional supplement to take in my effort to loose a few pounds, because it has become evident to me that I have for a long time been lazy when it comes to satisfying my hunger, by stopping at the fast food restaurants. Eating at these places must needs cease because to succeed on a journey such as this, one should travel not only with good spiritual and mental health, but also should have good physical health.

There is one thing about the journey methinks will never change, is my need to have a Bible with me wherever I go. Yes, and I will have my candle with me to be able to read it when the evening comes early.

Therefore, each evening before my sleep, I will be able to "seek the Lord, seek righteousness, and seek meekness." (Zephaniah 2:3) It remains my sincere desire to walk as a wayfarer that the Bible speaks of, as one who would walk on the way of holiness. (Isaiah 35:8)

It remains my firm conviction that to be able to walk on this way, a wayfarer must obtain and maintain spiritual focus. This is the only real need.

In fact, after my three year search afoot for this way of holiness, I came to understand that one does not need to walk for months upon a mountaintop pathway, nor be one who forgoes the comforts of a home, nor be one who leaves his friends and family to go to distant lands, instead, to locate the way of holiness and then succeed in walking upon it, that one must in his heart walk the path that God describes in His Word as the way of holiness.

Nevertheless, no matter what path one ultimately chooses, I have found it most beneficial to always keep close to mind the life lessons learned with regards to walking on this way.

Moreover, with respect to what is carried upon the path, I find the words of the master most helpful, especially what Jesus said with regards to that burden which a follower of Christ whould do well to carry. In the King James Bible, his words at Matthew 11: 30 are: "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (italics ours)

Therefore, with reference to my possessions, the load that I choose is of course my personal choice. However, I have found that by not owning a log of things, it does make it easier to move when necessary, especially when my goal is to serve in an area where the need for publishers of the good news from the Bible is of greater need. (Commonly called a need greater.)

EARLY THIS MORNING, I leave Whidbey Island on a bus by way of the Clinton Ferry, crossing to Everett while all along the way, snow turns the entire area into a winter white.

TODAY, I BEGIN driving west from Centerville, Tennessee on IH 40.

Upon entering the easternmost part of Oklahoma, I called my brother Robert, tell him where I am and asked him for a weather report. He looks online and then says "turn right" and then he explains to me that there is a large ice storm in western Oklahoma, the Texas panhandle and all parts westward. He also tells me that this storm is moving southward and is completely below IH 70.

So, I turn right (north) at Oklahoma City on IH 35, drive thru Wichita and do not stop until just before Salina on IH 70, a total of about 1000 miles from Spring Hill, Tennessee. It is during this late night drive that the headlights on the van begin to falter and I have to constantly jiggle the switch to keep the headlights on.

This morning, upon returning to the road, I turn left, west on IH 70, to begin another day of driving westward. After crossing the continental divide and climbing down the back side, I arrive at my brother Robert′s home at six this evening and together Robert, Ellen and myself go out to eat. Afterwards, we return to their home and stay up late talking and visiting.

Except for a little rain in Spring hill, TN, the entire way thus far has been under a clear sky.

Today, I awake at early dayspring and have coffee with Robert and Ellen. Soon, they have to head to work and so I proceed on my passage west on IH 70 and while in Glenwood Canyon see a herd of Bighorn sheep and soon afterward, the now waning moon over snow dusted mountains.

I continue west into Utah, then turning north on US 6 through Price canyon, a path I have traveled many times before, to arrive at IH 15 in Spanish Fork and from here drive north. At IH 84, I proceed west again entering Idaho where I stop at dusk just south of Boise because the light switch has quit entirely leaving me without headlights which now will only allow me to drive during daylight hours.

The headlight switch can wait to be replaced until I arrive back in Oak Harbor.

I sit here in the moonlit predawn twilight and read for some time while waiting for the sunrise. Then, the darkness of the night begins to slowly transforms into the light of day as I watch this dayspring unfold.

First there is the slightest increase of luminosity in the sky highlighting as a backdrop the mountains surrounding me. Next, I begin to notice some of the features of these mountains, even some of the higher valleys. Then I start to discern some of the flora growing about me, first the tallest trees, then the ones closer to the ground. Finally, the sunglow begins to illuminate the rest stop where I patiently await for the light to travel. Suddenly, this new day springs forth into existence from the nocturnal darkness as the sun peeks out from below the horizon.

I have been awake for over two hours at this truck stop waiting for the sunrise so I may begin driving. Here, the sunrise comes at shortly after eight am and last night, the sun set at a little before eight pm. Yes, the days are still a couple minutes shorter than the nights, but that all changes this Friday, the twentieth day of March which is the vernal equinox.

Soon, the route crosses into Oregon over another range of mountains and there is snow forecasted along this route. At one point there is a complete white out and even the road is totally covered with snow but I just keep my tires in the tracks made by the car ahead of me and drive through it safely. Then the roads clears up and the next thing I know, I am coming down to the Columbia river valley. I continue on IH 84 until I reach Cascade Lock, OR and cross the Columbia River on the Bridge of the Gods. The last time I crossed this bridge, I was afoot, carrying a backpack and walking on the Pacific Crest National Scenic Trail.

Later, when I am in rush hour traffic on IH 5 near Fort Lewis a few miles below Seattle and my wheels are motionless, I say a silent prayer for help in getting home before sunset, thinking that if this were to happen, then I would go out in the ministry tomorrow morning. Upon saying my amen, the traffic ahead of me immediately takes off at a high speed and I follow moving at over 50 miles per hour. My though is that this can not be happening and that it will not last very long because I still had to go through Tacoma and Seattle. Am I wrong, the traffic never slows down! You know that I could only thank Jehovah continually through this passage of the highway. Then to top it off, there is a rainbow in the sky for a while and then I continue to see a rainbow in the mist coming up from the road spray.

Also, when I arrive at the exit for the express lane, which I normally take, it is backed up for about a half mile and I choose not to go that route this time. Then on the radio I hear a traffic report that says there is a slowing in the express lane route due to a major accident. I continue to thank Jehovah all the way home arriving at a little after seven pm, well before the sunset. I will go to bed early tonight after such a long hard drive which has been three thousand miles in four days.

Finally, I have arrived safely back in Oak Harbor.

I awake early, prepare breakfast and then go out in the ministry. Later, when I return home from the morning ministry, I go to buy parts to do repairs on the windjammer. After replacing the headlight switch, find that the low beam still does not come on even though the high beam works. I surmise that I will also need to replace the multi-function switch which is used to switch the headlights from low to high beam.

I just ran out of daylight again.

With only just arriving back in Oak Harbor, now being here only one full day, the onslaught from the jet fuel has begun affecting me again. It started first by causing me to cough, and now my eyes are getting that same puffy feeling I have been experiencing for over five years. Again, I can not believe what is happening to my sinuses, and this has begun after only being here just one twenty-four hour period.

As yet, I have not had to resume taking the anti-histamines, but more than likely it will be necessary soon as time will tell. Too, when I tell my newfound insight to a few of the local friends, most react with rejecting the idea entirely, saying that the jet fuel can not be the cause and that it must instead be the mildew and mold.

I do so hope and pray for the paradise to come soon.

An Equinox occurs twice a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn and both equinoxes are at the precise moment when the tilt of the Earth′s axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the sun. Also, this is the precise moment when the sun is vertically above (directly overhead) a given point on the Equator.

Furthermore, the equinox is that precise moment when the amount of daylight and darkness are each exactly twelve hours long. This is an astronomical event that occurs all over the earth at the same moment.

However, this precise moment does not occur at the same time each year. The vernal (or spring) equinox occurs during in the period between 20-21 March. The autumnal (or fall) equinox occurs in the period during 22-23 September.

This evening, I return home from spending two long days in Canada at a circuit assembly. What a great spiritual feast this weekend has been! This weekend has truly been a high point in my life.

I especially enjoyed the encouragement from the District Overseer to read God's Word prayerfully and worshipfully so as to reach the heart and not just the eyes.

As to the problems with the lights on the windjammer, I found out that it was not any of the switches, rather, the problem was the receptacle that the headlight switch plugs in to. It had overheated, probably due to not having a good connection and now the connections is faulty. So, I call the dealer and he says that there was a replacement receptacle available. Later, after install the receptacle, the lights work just fine.

The windshield wipers had also stopped working during the drive back to Washington and it turned out to be the rubberized mounting hardware that came apart allowing the motor to drop. Again, only the dealer had the replacement parts and when the parts arrive, I am able to start driving it in the rain as well as after dark again.

Next, I begin to clean the windjammer inside and out. I can not believe how much of that red dirt from Tennessee remains in the carpet. Even after cleaning the carpet several times and thinking that I have got it all, when it dries the carpet still has a red tint. Particularly in the driver's floor area, no matter how many times I clean the carpet, another cleaning still produces more red dirt. Now that the days are warming up, I am able to wash the interior more often.

Nevertheless, the motor is running strong and I am thankful that it is not one of my woes.

The Lord′s Supper, also known as the Lord′s Evening Meal is a literal meal, which is to commemorate the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus celebrated the Passover just before he died, he commanded his disciples, "this do in remembrance of me." This event stands as the only event in the scriptures that Jesus himself commanded his followers to celebrate. (Luke 22:19) Hence, this meal is a memorial of his death and is therefore named the Memorial of Christ′s Death.

The Memorial of Christ's Death is the Annual celebration held worldwide to commemorate what Jesus accomplished when he sacrificed his life here on this earth. Paul in his words at 1 Corinthians 5: 7 was inspired to say "For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us." Therefore, this memorial celebration corresponds with the day that God commanded the Israelites to commemorate the Passover. Thus, like the Passover, this memorial is held after sundown on the day which corresponds with Nisan 14 on the ancient Hebrew calendar.

Therefore, it is appropriate and important to celebrate his death on the same day that God commanded the Israelites to celebrate the ancient Passover.

In my previous journals writings, I have endeavored to describe the different parts of the dawning of a new day, that is the sometimes lengthy period when night slowly transforms into day. However, now after considerable thought and research, I have come up with what I believe are the three divisions that the dawning of day is divided into: (1) even; (2) sunglow; and (3) suntouch.

When the nocturnal darkness begins to give way to the light of day, the entire event is called the Dayspring. However, some time before the actual sunrise there are noticeable and distinct changes in the night sky.

The first part of the dayspring long before the actual sunrise, called the even, is that time when the faint glow of sunlight is first seen on the eastern horizon. This is when the light coming from the sun is not bright enough to overpower the light of the stars.

The second part of the dayspring, still before the actual sunrise, called the sunglow, is that time when the sunlight does overpower the stars, slowly removing them for our vision. However, during the sunglow, the light from the sun is still not bright enough to overpower the planets nor the moon.

The final part and last event of the dayspring, called the suntouch is the event when the sun seemingly touches the earth. The suntouch only lasts for a few moments and marks the beginning of daylight. It is also the time when light from the sun now fully cloaks the planets from our sight. However, the moon, if it is in the sky, will continue to remain visible.

Likewise, the day′s end which herein is called evenfall, but in the vernacular is know as dusk. Evenfall is that time of day when the procedure of Dayspring is reversed and which begin immediately at sunset or the evening suntouch.

Light from the sun slowly dims to sunglow, which allows the planets to be seen in the sky. Later the sunglow diminishes even more, changing into the even and allows the stars to be seen, first only the brightest and then the dimmer one can be seen.

When the sunlight leaves the sky completely, even transforms into evening, in the vernacular, night time. The moon, of course, if it is out is seen throughout the change from daylight to night.

Reference to the days end is found in the Bible in several books, but one reference at Leviticus 23:5 uses the Hebrew word transliterated nesheph which is translated as "even" in the King James Version. This word literally means "between the two evenings" or twilight and represents that time when the Passover was to be celebrated. This same word is referred to at Deuteronomy 16:6 and explains that the time between the two evenings begins at sunset and therefore must end after the last remnants of the Sunglow.

DURING THE LATE night when sleep altogether evades me and I find myselƒ pondering about, no, in truth, this is when I find myselƒ beseeching God fervently for relief from all these great woes that now beset me each and every day of my life, woes partially brought upon me because of finding myselƒ still here in Oak Harbor nursing a mountain of possessions that has yet to be dispensed, a house that has not sold, lodging where I no longer wish to live and a heart full of regret because I continue helpless in my ability to make the needed changes happen.

Still, I am having success at selling bits and pieces. After selling my storage shed that I had used in my vending business, I begin to replace the hole with paver bricks in order to have a patio and vegetable garden. The work improving my home at least keeps me busy and my mind somewhat occupied.

It is during these times, usually in the late evening or early morning hours in my half-awake thoughts that I begin to examine my existence: where I have been; where I am now; and where have I yet to go. I know that I have traveled extensively in North America for many years, but I feel that I have yet to reach the real destination I desire and want.

So, in these lethargic times I become engulfed with sadness because of my inability to correct what is wrong in my life, and that there is no other person on earth who has the power to do such. Too, I find that my sadness is not from the examination of where my life exists, but from knowing that the destination I desire to come may not be here as soon as I would wish it.

Then, upon awaking this morning, bereft of repose, I continue to beseech God for the answer to the cause of my sleepless and contentious nights.

For the last several months, it has been my goal to rid myselƒ of the colossal burden that I have amassed during the past twenty years here upon this rock. I have come to recognize that I was fooling myselƒ in thinking that I could dispense all of it in just a few weeks or months. Although I have made great headway in this task, there is still much left to do.

Yes, this burden that I bear is one I have encountered from years of picking up coins. Previously during my first Journey I learned a valuable lesson that coins were never to be carried, instead they were either spent while off the mountain or tossed on the ground at the trailhead. Although coins are of the smallest things to carried, they still add weigh to the burden. So, by tossing coins, I would comply with the old backpacker'′s proverb "If you scrutinize the ounces, then the pounds will take care of themselves."

The lessons learned during that earlier time upon the mountain were to be transposed after the Journey and meant to become life lessons to live by. Sadly, along the way, by forgetting many of these important hard learned lessons, I somehow reacquired the old burden, like the one possessed before the first journey. Now, I have to reacquaint myselƒ with these lessons all over again; yes this is the primary burden I now bear

When is this journey to begin? That seems to be the burning question and I do not know the answer yet, but I must needs continue to pray that it will be soon. As I reread the article on page twenty of the April 15, 2009 study magazine, what keeps coming to my mind are that those words are calling out to me to step over into Macedonia (or in this case, Mexidonia) to gain the blessings.

I pray that soon I will be able to answer the call.

When this is complete, all the bricks in the patio will be at the same level as the entrance walkway and the only steps will be those leading up to the wooden deck.

Methinks the next task will be to raise the garden and ready it for planting my vegetables so they may get an early start on the growing season.

Today is just one more day waiting for retirement and working on getting my home ready for sale.