DOG LAKE to DESOLATION UPPER TRAIL

New upper trail from DOG LAKE connecting with the DESOLATION trail.  This is a great connector route for mountain bikers who do not want to use the old lower trail, which drops down 500' to the trail sign, and climb back up on the Desolation trail.

WOMAN @ SYCHAR

Jesus and his disciples left Judea and headed back to Galilee and stopped in Sychar, by Jacob's well at Noon.

"In Samaria, Jesus came to the town called Sychar, which is near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there. Jesus was tired from his long trip, so he sat down beside the well. It was about noon.   John 4:5-6  ERV

Perhaps a late sleeper, a woman goes to the well for her daily water at Noon.  Jesus asks politely for some water.

"A Samaritan woman came to the well to get some water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” This happened while his followers were in town buying some food.

John 4:7-8  ERV

The woman was suprised that a Jewish man was asking a Samaritan woman for water.  Jews don't associate with us.

"The woman answered, “I am surprised that you ask me for a drink! You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman!” (Jews have nothing to do with Samaritans.)  John 4:9  ERV

Jesus said, You don't know who I am, and the Living Water that God can give you.

"Jesus answered, “You don’t know what God can give you. And you don’t know who I am, the one who asked you for a drink. If you knew, you would have asked me, and I would have given you living water.”  John 4:10  ERV

The woman replied,  This is a deep well and you don't have anything to get water with.  Tell me, how are you getting the living water?  Do you think you are greater than Jacob, who gave us this well?

"The woman said, “Sir, where will you get that living water? The well is very deep, and you have nothing to get water with.  Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob? He is the one who gave us this well. He drank from it himself, and his sons and all his animals drank from it too.”  John 4:11-12  ERV

The woman may have given Jesus something to drink. Jesus, if you drink this water you'll get thirsty again.  

"Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But anyone who drinks the water I give will never be thirsty again. The water I give people will be like a spring flowing inside them. It will bring them eternal life.”

John 4:13-14  ERV

The woman said, OK, I don't want to be thirsty anymore.  I won't need to go to the well anymore if you give me your living water.

"The woman said to Jesus, “Sir, give me this water. Then I will never be thirsty again and won’t have to come back here to get more water.”  John 4:15  ERV

Jesus asked her to can you go and get your husband?

16 Jesus told her, “Go get your husband and come back.”

John 4:16  ERV

The woman said, I don't have a husband.  Jesus replied, I know...you have five ex-husbands and currently living with an unmarried man.

"The woman answered, “But I have no husband.”

Jesus said to her, “You are right to say you have no husband. That’s because, although you have had five husbands, the man you live with now is not your husband. That much was the truth.”  John 4:17-18  ERV

The woman answered, You must be a prophet.  My people worship on Mount Gerisim, and you Jews tell people they must worship at your temple in Jerusalem.

"The woman said, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain. But you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”  John 4:19-20  ERV

Jesus told the woman, there will be a time coming when you don't have to be on Mount Gerisim or at the Jerusalem Temple to worship the Father.

"Jesus said, “Believe me, woman! The time is coming when you will not have to be in Jerusalem or on this mountain to worship the Father.  John 4:21  ERV

Jesus continues, telling her that Jews understand salvation and true worship.

"You Samaritans worship something you don’t understand. We Jews understand what we worship, since salvation comes from the Jews.  John 4:22  ERV

Jesus tells the woman, God the Father is Spirit.  And the true worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.

"But the time is coming when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. In fact, that time is now here. And these are the kind of people the Father wants to be his worshipers. God is spirit. So the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”  John 4:23-24  ERV

The Samaritan woman said, When the Messiah comes, he will explain everything.   Jesus told her that he is the Messiah.

"The woman said, “I know that the Messiah is coming.” (He is the one called Christ.) “When he comes, he will explain everything to us.”

Then Jesus said, “He is talking to you now—I am the Messiah.”  John 4:25-26  ERV

When the disciples returned, they didn't inquire why Jesus was talking to the Samaritan woman.

"Just then Jesus’ followers came back from town. They were surprised because they saw Jesus talking with a woman. But none of them asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?” John 4:27  ERV

Leaving her water jar, the woman went to town to tell people to come and see the Messiah.

"Then the woman left her water jar and went back to town. She told the people there,  “A man told me everything I have ever done. Come see him. Maybe he is the Messiah.” So the people left the town and went to see Jesus.  John 4:28-30  ERV

As Jesus and his disciples entered town, they begged Jesus to go and eat.  Jesus said, I've got food you don't even know about.  The disciples thought he had all ready eaten.

"While the woman was in town, Jesus’ followers were begging him, “Teacher, eat something!”

But Jesus answered, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”

So the followers asked themselves, “Did someone already bring him some food?”

Jesus said, “My food is to do what the one who sent me wants me to do. My food is to finish the work that he gave me to do.  John 4:31-34  ERV

Jesus gives an illustration of planting and harvesting.

"When you plant, you always say, ‘Four more months to wait before we gather the grain.’ But I tell you, open your eyes, and look at the fields. They are ready for harvesting now.  Even now, the people who harvest the crop are being paid. They are gathering crops for eternal life. So now the people who plant can be happy together with those who harvest.  It is true when we say, ‘One person plants, but another person harvests the crop.’  I sent you to harvest a crop that you did not work for. Others did the work, and you get the profit from their work.”  John 4:35-38  ERV

Many people believed in Jesus just because of what the woman had told them.  While other people believed in him, because they heard what he said.

"Many of the Samaritan people in that town believed in Jesus. They believed because of what the woman had told them about him. She had told them, “He told me everything I have ever done.”  The Samaritans went to Jesus. They begged him to stay with them. So he stayed there two days. Many more people became believers because of the things he said.

The people said to the woman, “First we believed in Jesus because of what you told us. But now we believe because we heard him ourselves. We know now that he really is the one who will save the world.”  John 4:39-42  ERV  (Easy to Read version)

TM Trail

TM is a new trail in the ROUND VALLEY Trail Network in Park City, Utah.   This 1 mile trail begins at the intersection of RADEMAN RIDGE and RAMBLER.  After decending 271' it ends at HAPPY GILMOR.   The trail is rough and rocky, and an Intermediate Technical ride for Mountain Bikers.   
Sorry, No horses allowed on this trail presently.

PONDEROSA PINE

NATIONAL PARK TREES

Young PONDEROSA PINE at Bryce Canyon National Park.   These trees have a reddish bark and long pine needles. Some folks like the smell of the bark.  It smells like vanilla.

BRISTLECONE PINE

NATIONAL PARK TREES

GREAT BASIN BRISTLECONE PINE  at Bryce Canyon National Park.  These are some of the longest living trees.   Some of the oldest Bristlecone pines are 5,000 years old; about the time the worldwide flood ended.

COLORADO PINYON PINE

NATIONAL PARK TREES

COLORADO PINYON PINE in Bryce Canyon National Park.  

Pine nuts from the Pinyon Pine ripen in October.  

CHILDLESS COUPLE AND ELISHA

STRANGEST THINGS OF THE BIBLE

A WOMAN IN SHUNEM OFFERED
ELISHA A MEAL EVERY TIME
HE CAME THROUGH TOWN

                                                    

"One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a prominent woman; and she persuaded him to eat bread. So it was, that as often as he passed by, he turned in there to eat bread.   

2 Kings 4:8  WEB

The woman talked to her husband about

 building a guest room for Elisha on the roof of

 their home, since he was a frequent visitor.

"She said to her husband, “See now, I perceive

 that this is a holy man of God who passes by

 us continually. Please let us make a little room

 on the roof. Let us set for him there a bed, a

 table, a chair, and a lamp stand. When he

 comes to us, he can stay there.”  

2 Kings 4:9-10  WEB

Elisha greatly appreciated the guest room and

 hospitality, and had his servant Gehazi, come

 up to talk to him.  Elisha asked the

 Shunammite woman if he could speak a kind

 word to the king or to the captain of the army

 for her.

"One day he came there, and he went to the

 room and lay there.  He said to Gehazi his

 servant, “Call this Shunammite.” When he had

 called her, she stood before him. He said to

 him, “Say now to her, ‘Behold, you have cared

 for us with all this care. What is to be done for

 you? Would you like to be spoken for to the

 king, or to the captain of the army?’”

She answered, “I dwell among my own

 people.”  2 Kings 4:11-13  WEB

Later, Elisha talked with his servant about how

they could bless this couple.  Gehazi, this old

couple doesn't have a son.

"He said, “What then is to be done for her?”

Gehazi answered, “Most certainly she has no

son, and her husband is old.”  2 Kings 4:14  WEB

Elisha told Gehazi to tell the woman, 'I want to

speak to you.'  Elisha told the woman she was

going to have a son.  

The woman replied, 'Don't tease and lie to me.'

"He said, “Call her.” When he had called her,

she stood in the door. He said, “At this

season, when the time comes around, you will

embrace a son.”

She said, “No, my lord, you man of God, do not

 lie to your servant.”  2 Kings 4:15-16  WEB

She gave birth to a son at the season Elisha

predicted.

"The woman conceived, and bore a son at that

season, when the time came around, as

Elisha had said to her.  2 Kings 4:17  WEB

Years later, the child was grown and helping

 the reapers.  Running to his father, he cried

 out, 'My head is hurt.'  The father had his

 servant carry the injured boy to his mom.

"When the child was grown, one day he went

out to his father to the reapers.  He said to his

father, “My head! My head!”

He said to his servant, “Carry him to his

 mother.”  2 Kings 4:18-19  WEB

Mom comforted the child until he died at noon.

She laid the body in the guest room, on

Elisha's bed.

"When he had taken him, and brought him to

his mother, he sat on her knees until noon,

and then died. 

She went up and laid him on the man of God’s

bed, and shut the door on him, and went out.  

2 Kings 4:20-21  WEB

Rushing to her husband, She said, 'Quickly I

need a servant and a donkey, so I can find

that man of God and bring him here.

"She called to her husband, and said, “Please

 send me one of the servants, and one of the

 donkeys, that I may run to the man of God,

 and come again.”  2 Kings 4:22  WEB

Her husband replied, 'Why do you need a man

 of God?  It's not a holy day.  She said, 'It's all

 right...don't worry.'

"He said, “Why would you want go to him

today? It is not a new moon or a Sabbath.”

She said, “It’s alright.”   2 Kings 4:23  WEB

The woman told the servant to hurry and not

 wait for her if she lags behind.

"Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her

 servant, “Drive, and go forward! Don’t slow

 down for me, unless I ask you to.”  

2 Kings 4:24  WEB

Elisha saw the woman coming in the distance,

 so he told his servant Gehazi to run out to

 meet her and ask her if if something is wrong.

"So she went, and came to the man of God to

 Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her

 afar off, he said to Gehazi his servant,

 “Behold, there is the Shunammite. Please run

 now to meet her, and ask her, ‘Is it well with

 you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well

 with your child?’”

She answered, “It is well.”   2 Kings 4:25-26  WEB

When the woman reached Elisha, crying, she

 grabbed the man of God's feet.  Gehazi, was

 about to pull her off; but Elisha told him to

 leave her alone.

"When she came to the man of God to the hill,

 she caught hold of his feet. Gehazi came near

 to thrust her away; but the man of God said,

 “Leave her alone; for her soul is troubled

 within her; and Yahweh has hidden it from me,

 and has not told me.”

"Then she said, “Did I ask you for a son, my

 lord? Didn’t I say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”  

2 Kings 4:27-28  WEB

Elisha told his servant, 'Take my staff and lay it

on the child's face.  Tuck in your cloak and get

going'.

"Then he said to Gehazi, “Tuck your cloak into

 your belt, take my staff in your hand, and go

 your way. If you meet any man, don’t greet

 him; and if anyone greets you, don’t answer

 him again. Then lay my staff on the child’s

 face.”

"The child’s mother said, “As Yahweh lives,

 and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.”

So he arose, and followed her."  

2 Kings 4:29-30  WEB

Gehazi arrived first, laying the staff on the

child...nothing!

"Gehazi went ahead of them, and laid the staff

 on the child’s face; but there was no voice and

 or hearing. Therefore he returned to meet him,

 and told him, “The child has not awakened.”  

2 Kings 4:31  WEB

When Elisha arrived, he went up to the guest

room and found the child dead, lying on his

bed.  He shut the door and prayed.

"When Elisha had come into the house,

 behold, the child was dead, and lying on his

 bed.  He went in therefore, and shut the door

 on them both, and prayed to Yahweh.

He went up, and lay on the child, and put his

 mouth on his mouth, and his eyes on his eyes,

 and his hands on his hands. He stretched

 himself on him; and the child’s flesh grew

 warm. Then he returned, and walked in the

 house once back and forth; and went up, and

 stretched himself out on him. Then the child

 sneezed seven times, and the child opened

 his eyes."   2 Kings 4:32-35  WEB

After the child sneezed and opened his eyes,

 Elisha told his servant to bring the woman.

 

"He called Gehazi, and said, “Call this

 Shunammite!” So he called her."   

2 Kings 4:36  WEB

Elisha told her to pick up her boy.

When she had come in to him, he said, 

“Take up your son.”

"Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed

 herself to the ground; then she picked up her

 son, and went out."

2 Kings 4:8-37  WEB (World English Bible)