Remembering how Dianne loved the beauty of large rocks... and how "The Rock" blessed me with "a rock"!

"A rock" given to me by "The Rock"

Today, I write about "a rock" and "The Rock".

First, I must explain that Dianne had a fascination for rocks... not the diamonds kind... but large rocks.  When we built our home, we were able to import several large boulders to accent our lawn.

When we drove over to the Cracker Barrel in Hamburg, we always passed a landscaping business that displayed a huge rock on the corner of the property.  Dianne would always say something like:  "Can we get that rock?"  Of course, the rock was really too big for us to think about relocating to our lawn, but Dianne always enjoyed seeing it there as we passed by.

I can remember on one of our road trips south on Interstate 81, when we stopped at a motel for our night's rest... the next morning, Dianne spent almost an hour taking photos of the large rocks behind the motel.

OK... hopefully, I have established that Dianne really loved the beauty of "big rocks".

Just two weeks ago, I took my first road trip south on 81 without Dianne by my side.  I stopped at the Quality Inn in Staunton, VA, where I had made a reservation a couple of days before.

I was really surprised at how clean and modern the hotel was.  The room was beautiful.  Of course, I couldn't help but think how much Dianne would have appreciated the very clean and modern room, complete with nice paintings hanging on the wall.  Yes, it was terribly lonely in that beautiful motel room all by myself.  I was definitely hurting through the night.

When I woke up in the morning, I decided to open the curtains in my room to check out the view.  

The view consisted of one huge rock right outside my window!  One of the most beautiful rocks I have ever seen in my life!  I wish the photo above was clearer.  I made it through the window in my room.

After I had checked out and was headed down 81, tears of joy ran down my cheeks as I thought about how unusual it was for that rock to be right outside my motel room.

Consider:

• I don't normally stay at Quality Inns;

• When I made my reservation, I had enough points to stay free of charge at one Choice motel in Staunton (the Quality Inn);

• Earlier this year, the Quality Inn at Staunton was a Microtel.  It was bought and converted into a Quality Inn this spring.  I certainly would have never stayed at a Microtel;

• There was one room in the entire motel that had a rock outside its window:  the room that I stayed in.

When I returned home and went to church this past Sunday, can you guess the song that led off our worship service?  If you guessed "Rock of Ages", you are indeed correct.

My praise goes up to "The Rock" who gave me "a rock" when I was walking through the "valley of the shadow of death"!

"A rock" that "The Rock" planted outside my motel room in Staunton, Virginia