We may have driven past the “Alien Museum” in Bolder City, NV, on our way to the Hoover Dam but this cast of these characters within my travels here to Vegas are NOT alien to me, they are especially good to see!!! Yes, extended church family, that moved west, including my transplanted friend’s growing kiddos, and the cats are very familiar to me too. Every time I get in bed, Miss Kitty stares me down, her face literally six inches from my face, thinking that I’m going to give her some food… haha… Miss Kitty and Peanut are both big loved kitties and I fed them back home before my friend moved, often when she was traveling or in knee replacement surgery etc… they surely know my familiar face too… and they know that familiar pop-top food can sound. 

That’s the thing about being in a new area, is if you have familiar faces, you can find familiarity! You know how to interact, know expectations, appropriate or not, and one can simply “make do”. You got people and they got you. 

However when you’re alone in a new situation, you may not feel that comfort… and sometimes you WANT to be in a new situation where you can start fresh… 

Remember, in all these places and all these faces and in everything, the Lord is ALREADY HERE, was already THERE, will always BE. Familiarity in FAITH should be our Familiar Face. It’s our relationship with the Lord that is good to cultivate – seeds of faith in all places and spaces to grow. 

I certainly did cultivate my prayer requests while dangling ready to zipline! So my best advice is to praise first! “Lord, You got this!” (And He did)… we have a direct zip line to His ears! Actually He knows our requests ahead of time. 

So, with this crew, we went to the Hoover Dam, 45 minutes outside Vegas, big, open roads and some winding ones on the mountain. For me, this place is brand new and the mountains are so interesting, plus the red rocks, and how dry it is and how HOT, 116 degrees. My friend’s daughter was our driver, as she has grown to love and thrive in Las Vegas ever since college. However, she didn’t like the winding roads. But I, on the other hand, it felt a little like my hometown in the very steep winding hills and even though the scenery was very different, the “HOLD ON” for the drive feeling was the same and I felt OK, actually I would have enjoyed that driving challenge,  but that’s just me. The heights and cool overlooks, I don’t mind, but others do. Perhaps I’m just accustomed to OVER trust… So after the amazing trip to the dam, we made the necessary amazing trip IN FAMILIARITY and let the kids play in a McDonald’s Playhouse with happy meals… mmm… my cheap hamburger and orange drink were reminiscent to familiarity, but I think forty years ago of course they tasted much better… 59 cents is now 3.29, oh well, it was the priceless protein I needed…

Another familiar thing was the Dairy Queen ice cream with the chocolate coating. Oh so good… familiar and good. I have been craving that. Familiar food…

And FAMILIARITY is key with our Lord. We are to know “God’s got this” and had it before and will continue to hold us, just like that zipline: TRUST and pray in that order. Familiar Faith-ness is facing issues that we’re sure God has gotten us through before.  Familiar Faith should always be our approach – APPRECIATING HIM.

TRUST and PRAISE from our ears are surely the familiarity God wants from us IN dazzling heights and in lows. Praise God always – He is the FAMILIAR in all situations. 

AMEN 

(zipline photos coming later)

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139