Some of the best times I have spent in the last 20 years were right in my own back yard. It will soon be almost five years since Pat and I moved to be closer to our daughter due to health problems that were becoming harder for us to adjust to as we got older. So…you might say I have a new back yard but oh how I miss my old back yard. This week I got off the porch, well in my mind and memory and went back a few years to White Water Center, on highway 64 E of Cleveland Tn. That was part of by old back yard. Here also was located Big Frog, a mountain located primarily in southeastern Tennessee in the Big Frog Wilderness, within the Cherokee National Forest. It is located within the Blue Ridge Mountains, part of the Appalachian Mountains. All of this within 30 minutes or less of my home and to make it even sweeter just 8 miles from my home was Red Clay State Park. Located near Cleveland in Bradley County, it is along the Tennessee-Georgia state line about 17 miles east of Chattanooga. It is part of the Trail of Tears and was a part of their council grounds and meeting place for the Cherokee Nation at one time. Blue Hole Spring, a natural landmark in the park, was used by the Cherokee for their water supply during council meetings. 

Br’er Rabbit, a character from the Disney movie “Song of The South” said every body needed a “happy place”…Welcome to mine…all three. To me the mountains are about as close as you can get to God, well you know what I mean. The majesty of the mountains and the peace I find in being there is to me the clearest example of what our God created. Scripture tells us that as God looked at his creation on that sixth day… He said “it is good”… There in those mountains I found a peace I have yet to capture anywhere else. How I miss all of that and to think it was all there, all around me. I spent a lot of time there but never enough. My wish is that you not pass over or by the treasures of your back yard. Enjoy, relish and be thankful for what God has provided right in your backyard.

jk