I'm Excited to Have My Favorite Traveling Writer With Me on My Blog Today!

Please make sure to check out her blog here:
http://karenrobbins.blogspot.com
And look for her interview on November 23, right here!

Welcome, Karen . . .

The Wandering Writer

If I were to brand myself, it would be The Wandering Writer. My husband and I have been blessed to be able to travel the world. It started out as business trips but it wasn’t long before we were hooked—addicted to be precise. We have been able to set foot on all seven continents. Yes, even Antarctica! And we have almost completely circumnavigated the globe.


Along the way, God has given me much to write about. We have met people who have inspired us and been to places where God has seen fit to bring to light lessons that have drawn me closer to Him. I thought I might take this opportunity as Carole’s guest blogger to share a couple of those with you.

A few years ago, we were in a beautiful place called Cinque Terre on Italy’s west coast. The area has five little towns built along Italy’s rugged coastline, each nestled into or on top of the cliffs. Along the narrow path in one of the towns, we were able to see the base of a few homes built on the cliff’s edge. The solid rock cliff met with the base of the house and was secured with mortar. There was no digging into the earth. The base of the home sat on a rock-solid foundation.

Later, we visited Pisa and of course, the famous leaning bell tower. The foundations of the building there are somewhat precarious and the tower is not the only building that leans. It is just much more dramatic because its base is not as large and therefore the weight is not distributed as evenly as other buildings. Sighting down the exterior wall of the cathedral there you can see where a part of it also has sagged. The reason: a mushy clay base beneath it. Not necessarily a sandy foundation but one just as unstable.

Within a few days, we had two great examples of what it says in the Bible about a man who builds upon rock versus one who builds upon sand. The rock foundation stands through centuries. The other leans and threatens to collapse without continual reconstruction. While the less than solid based foundation may boost the tourist industry, it’s not a good philosophy of life.

The next year, we toured a large part of Australia. The Red Center of Australia is a desert area similar to our Southwest in landscape. It usually receives a bare minimum of rainfall as you can imagine but the days preceding our visit and during our time there, rain poured down. The area experienced horrible flooding and roads were blocked with red mud.

We were unable to get to the resort we were to stay at along the way between Ayers Rock and Alice Springs. The resort was about 3 ½ hours from either place and when we were finally turned away with no hope of the road being cleared enough for us to get through, we did the only thing we could we drove on to our next stop, Alice Springs.

Picture miles and miles of nothing, the sun quickly setting behind us, no lights on the two lane highway, and no moonlight. All we could see was what our headlights picked up in front of us.

I heard Bob say, “I wonder how dark it is?” And in the next instant, I was plunged into total darkness. HE’D TURNED OFF THE HEADLIGHTS!

We’re tooling along at 120 kilometers/hour (about 65 mph) and he turns off the lights! It was only for a second but it seemed an eternity. I’m not a screamer but I screamed. It was the blackest black I have ever experienced. I’ve worked in a darkroom developing pictures but that was not even as dark as this. I could literally not see my hands in front of my face. It was as though I had no body and there was just this consciousness of me.

When the lights came on, my heart was pounding. I tried to shake off the sensation of being in total darkness.

Separation from God is said to be total darkness—an eternity if you have never accepted Jesus as Savior. I can certainly see now why Jesus’ words were so important: “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

God enriches my life with each new travel adventure, each new personality met along the way, each new wonder revealed. Wandering the path He has set before me keeps me writing.

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Karen writes of her travel adventures at the Wandering Writer (http://karenrobbins.blogspot.com/). She is the coauthor of A Scrapbook of Christmas Firsts (Leafwood, 2008) and A Scrapbook of Motherhood Firsts (available April, 2012). Murder Among The Orchids is her first ebook novel and is available for download at http://smashwords.com/.