In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.(ESV) (John 1: 1-3)

My View for the Month: I usually go on a lot of Iowa adventures and day trips, but this has been pretty much a stay home summer for me. However, I've discovered you don't need to travel a great distance to enjoy the day. Here is an example! Today I stopped at the drive through at Smokey Row and picked up coffee and a monster cookie to go. Next I headed for one my fave places in the world, the Iowa State Capitol Grounds. I staked out my claim to a bench under a tree overlooking beautiful downtown Des Moines. No book, no music, "no nothing"--I just wanted to be outdoors on this beautiful Iowa day. All of the photos above (except the Capitol picture)  were taken with my iPhone camera from a TWO SQUARE FEET area on the bench . I have discovered when you hang out alone--you don't just sit--you also think. Today, as I sat and looked in each direction, my thoughts focused on the beauty of nature, beauty of architectural structures and the beauty of mankind--in every direction. Then I thought "WOW-I see all of this beauty from only TWO SQUARE FEET on the bench." Now, to put all of this in prospective! As nearly as I can determine, there are 1,597,675,921,459, 200 square feet of habitable land on planet earth. Looks like if I'm going to see the whole world--I'd better get busy!!!!!!!!