Getting in Shape!...Day 18!

While most of my friends are sound asleep in North America, I am writing!  It is strange that I am already 'in tomorrow' writing from Finland!  Funny concept!   Anyway...

Taking a 'breather' during a five and a half hour trek in the woods...

After arriving here and battling 'jet lag' which is still hanging on but not so much... I took a walk by Lake Näsi which is just North of the town of Tampere in Finland where my daughter Ashleigh and Vesa live.

It is a beautiful area that is rugged and majestic!

I started out walking along the Southern Shore of the lake just North of town and by the time I was finished I had walked almost 10 miles!  It was not an easy path but the view was breathtaking.  It was such a picturesque walk that I took over a hundred photos.

I had been this way on a bike with Vesa the last time we visited here so the terrain was not unfamiliar to me.  But this time going that direction seemed easier as I was on foot and had 'walking sticks' with me.  The walking sticks helped me steady myself as I crossed a 'zillion' roots and rocks that protruded from the trail!  It made the trek very interesting in that I had to be very careful with every step!   I wish I could show you all of photos but that will have to wait until I get back to the States so I can download them into my computer.  But I was able to e-mail myself three photos yesterday and will post them here today.

As I walked along trying to take in all the scenery and watch my step at the same time, I ran across something that I had not noticed when I was in Finland the last time.  Maybe it was because we were on Bikes,  riding through the woods and as such, you watch for different things.   Who knows... but this time as I walked,  I definitely noticed these huge mounds just off the trail.  So when I went over to get a closer look... 

A 5 foot high ant bed in the woods!

I noticed ants everywhere, they were covering the mound and working like crazy moving twigs and small pieces of pine straw and whatever they could pick up; 'up and down' the mound.  It was amazing that not one ant ran into the other or fell off the mound or one just got aggravated with the other and tried to throw them off the mound.  They just worked like they all knew what they were doing!  It was like they all had something to do and they were busy about their business!

Then it hit me!  They were all working for the benefit of the Queen!  From what I could see every ant was doing something for the Queen and the benefit of the colony!  Not a single ant was standing around!  Interesting concept!  Not a single ant was 'doing his own thing!' I think Proverbs talks about 'the ant.'  They were persistent!  They were going out and coming in!  They all seemed to know that it was vital to be doing something!  As they worked and went from here to there, they all seemed to greet each other on the way and then proceed with what they were doing-but they never seem to fight each other, at least from my vantage point!  I did not see any ants breaking off and forming their own colonies, because they were angry that the other ants were not doing it right!  They seemed to have a sense of not only 'survival' but 'direction' and that work was vitally important to who they were and what they were about!  'God's creatures both great and small!'  These creatures seemed to know their purpose and were about the business of their Queen!  I can tell you this... you would never see this 'wizzing' along in a car!

A quiet scene on Näsijärvi..

I am often told that 'culture' dictates what happens in regards to any particular group of people or nation.  I wonder what these ants could tell us about life in regards to 'their culture,' family or ministry?  I just wonder what a 'dumb' ant knows or are ants just too small for us to learn anything from?   After all, because they are really small, they are insignificant...right?  Just a thought!

With my feet on the ground!

Simply Trey