Most days, I am absolutely clueless as to what I am doing here in this life. 😂 It feels like I am living in the Twilight Zone 24/7. I keep thinking of a conversation I had with my spiritual brother Jeff once. I was sharing with him I wanted to keep getting closer and closer to Father…so close that one day…I just stepped into Heaven. No dying and crossing over…no sudden transportation…but just one step closer until I stepped in.
It makes perfect sense to me. We are walking with Him, right? It is a walk. We don’t stop…we keep walking…keeping in STEP with His Spirit. Where am I walking to? Ummm…Heaven. To be with Father. That is my destination…to be with Father, Son, and Spirit in our home in Heaven. The goal is to spend eternity with my eternal family. Real family. A family that surpasses natural blood family…is connected by His blood…family. His blood supersedes man’s blood here on Earth. There is a greater blood family. An eternal one. No more breakups and abandonment. No more death and separation. Always together with His blood family…forever. Wonderfulness! Beam me up, Scotty…I am ready to go. Pure fellowship and communion. Blissful.
Fly Me to the Moon
Father woke me up this morning singing the lyrics…Fly Me to the Moon by Frank Sinatra…OVER AND OVER AGAIN. It is on repeat in my head. He does that…often. Some days…I feel like His repeat is going to make me lose my mind. He reminds me that He has been repeating Himself for thousands of years and still people won’t listen to Him. He appreciates the fact I do listen to Him. All day long…all night long. He never shuts up. He talks way more than I do. 😜
Father is preparing all for the changing of the guard…for truth to reign supreme in the land. I am waiting. Very tired of lies and deception reigning. I am ready to take the enemy down and shove his lies down his throat. So over the pandering to the people…the propaganda…the “my truths.”
Sickening stuff.
Photos
I have a backlog of posts I am ready to do. My thoughts this morning were to work on the posts in my queue. Nope. This is the post He put in my mind to work on instead. Back to the very first sentence I wrote…I am clueless as to what I am doing here. I have no idea why I am sharing what I am sharing here…but I obey.
He is the painter, and He is painting a picture. He uses my hands…so I paint what He says to paint…with the colors He has chosen…in the order He says.
These photos were taken with the phone I had when traveling out West a few years ago. The Galaxy Note 10 Plus. I wasn’t fond of the camera in it…but was thankful to have it. 😉 It was portable and convenient when I didn’t want to drag my Canon out. I am rethinking how I am going to do pictures when I start traveling again. Even my iPhone doesn’t warm my heart in some photos. There will be an upgrade on camera equipment, so changes are coming here.
In some of the photos, the lighting is poor. You do what you can man. Then you snap the photo and are grateful to have a saved image of the memory. THAT is my purpose…to save some of the memories in image format for my own pleasure.
Some of the photos lack dimension. The phone doesn’t have the capacity to get a large amount of data resulting in a flattening in my photos. I loathe that flat look, instead, I prefer the depth and dimension in photos.
Bug Guts
For some reason, I take photos through the windshield at times. The view is out of my mind spectacular and I just snap. This mountain view from the road was one of those times. This is why if you look closely at the photo, you will see bug gut smears.
Look to the top left…a good smear there. I don’t even care. The view is worth it and the bug guts add character. A little protein if you want to say it that way. 😂
Strangers
To the point of this post…my Black Canyon experience. It may be a repeat…but as I said…Father has been repeating Himself for thousands of years. I am in good company. When my son has said to me…mom…you repeat yourself…I say…just call me repeat son. 🤷♀️
Sometimes when I travel, I run into the same people in different places. That is part of tourism. When you are visiting an area, you may bump into people you saw at a nearby attraction. If you are hiking, you will run into the same people at different places along the trails. In the photo above, you will see a young girl in the photo with me. She was one of a group of three girls I bumped into several times along this trail as we moved along the canyon.
The first time I ran into them…the girl taking the photo commented on my Chaco sandals. She liked them. I was sharing with her that I recently bought them in Washington state to wear for my fly-fishing excursion.
Later, I was hiking down toward this canyon edge when I spotted the girls again. They were all together down below me. I was at a higher elevation than they were. As I continued to move forward and downward, later I came upon my camera girl who had separated from the other two. They had moved to the right out of my field of view.
The Edge
I will never forget what I saw. It was just her and I in this area. I am above and she had no idea anyone else was around her. When I come out of the brush…she is like a snake in the grass…on her belly…completely flat…SLOWLY inching her way to the edge of the canyon.
I am in stitches watching her. Fascinated with her. She is obviously VERY terrified of heights BUT DESPERATE to see over the edge. Thinking she was alone…she gets down on her belly to see the view. I could not help myself…I had to watch her. Finally, I asked her if she was enjoying the view. It was the same girl I had the sandal conversation with, so I felt comfortable enough to converse with her. She was surprised but opened up with me about her fear of heights. We had a great conversation there about fear. Conquering fears. Growing through them. I will never forget her.
In a bit, the other two came back and joined our conversation. My new friend offered to take some photos of me along the edge where we had been talking. I handed her my phone. She started posing me. Had me laughing again. I told her…you remind me of my daughter Hannah. She acted a lot like her.
Hannah
At the time of this trip, I had an account on social media. I posted the photo of me alone along the edge. Hannah had an appointment to see our friend and massage therapist who had been checking out my travel photos on my page. I had posted this picture the night before. My friend knew I was going out West and actually had told me I was supposed to collect small pebbles along the way. She was hearing from Father. I would be collecting small truths from Christ as I journeyed along. She knew I would be traveling alone.
Yet…when she saw this photo, she was confused about who took it. She asked Hannah…does she have someone traveling with her? Hannah then educates her on what it is like to travel with me when it comes to strangers. Hannah’s rendition of this story sends me into fits of laughter every time I think about it because Hannah has traveled a lot of miles with me. She is well versed in how I am always hugging and loving on total strangers.
Hannah told our friend…I GUARANTEE whoever took that photo is posing Crystal. Spot on and accurate. Hannah KNEW. It is EXACTLY how Hannah would do me. 😂😂
The Store
I remember my ex and I went to the store for the first time together. When I was talking to the cashier, he looked so confused. I kind of dismissed his look. Didn’t know what that was about. As we get to the vehicle, he says to me…did you know that person. NOW I am confused. No…I don’t know them. Why are you asking me that question? His response…you ACTED like you knew them. He didn’t think you should treat strangers like you knew them. 🤣
I was highly amused.
Hannah learned this concept with me pretty quickly. This is how my dad was…how I am. I know no other way to walk and be. For me personally, I find life way more enjoyable to be warm and friendly with people than to be standoffish and hateful. Or scared and distant. I prefer to BE the light wherever I go…instead of casting darkness on the people.
Now…if you are going to attack me…I will stand my ground…but mostly…I am a very friendly and welcoming person. My former landlord told my neighbor…Crystal is awesome…but don’t make Crystal mad. 🤣 I knew the exact reason why she was sharing that with Debbie. I shared the story with Debbie who understood why. As mothers…you don’t come after our children. Mama bear can get really ugly. If my child is at fault…they will get an ear full…but if they are innocent…all Hell can break loose. It is how mothers were created to protect their children. Very effective instincts. 🤣
My Little Cabin
After leaving Black Canyon, I had to find a place to stay. Most generally while traveling out West, I had no idea where I would be staying each night. Sort of the fun of it all. Part of the great adventure. I tried to stay at campgrounds. Some were privately owned. Some were within the National Forests I traveled in. Unfortunately, at times, those campgrounds were full or there were no campgrounds available in my area. When that happened, Father would have me stay in a hotel…very rare…or rent a cabin. I spent two of my nights in little cabins. This is one of them.
It worked out great for me because I had just run out of cooked food and needed to do some cooking. Instead of cooking over a camp stove on a picnic table, I got to use a real stove. WONDERFULNESS! AND…I had a nice shower too.
I would batch cook each time. Cook about a week or so worth of food in one setting. For the trip, I would use Ziploc bags and I would always double bag everything to keep the water from the melting ice out of my bags. That is how I always travel with my food. When at home, I don’t use baggies. I use glass containers but when traveling…baggies…double bagged are the best way to do it for me. It is super convenient because I can pull out a bag from the cooler. I eat what I packed in it…and then I pitch it in the trash. No dishes to wash up. Super-efficient for me. No fuss. No mess. Cook once…eat a bunch. Dishes only one time when I cook.
Below are some of my photos from the little cabin I rented for the night after leaving Black Canyon. They aren’t the greatest, but they are authentic and tell my story.
Thanks for stopping by!
