Please forgive me, I don’t mean to seem pushy by not following convention, but I am unable to post the challenge via the “entry page” and I’m not sure what else to do… I need to post this morning as I’m going to be out of town this weekend and won’t be back home until late Sunday evening.  Maybe one of the editors will put this post in the correct place.

These past two weeks we’ve seen a lot of examples of pain and suffering in our posts…and sadly enough, pain and suffering touches all of our lives at some point in time.  There were those here within our family that have suffered loss, sickness, physical pain, mental pain, anguish, fear, doubt.  Sometimes it seems that the 529 is right on time and is taking us straight through Hell …and it feels as though we can’t get off.  Ahhh, but there is something within each of us that drives us…that makes us hold on…that presses us to the finish line…….and we endure.  Webster defines it as a …”power to last, continue, remain…the ability to stand pain, distress, fatigue, hardship...”  I think that it is something that was created within us…..our spirit.  There are some many types and examples of endurance all around us….monuments of the past…the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China…testaments to some of  man’s achievements.  

The heaven’s….they remain…endless…boundless…untapped…unexplored.  Nature…wild, untamed…peaceful….soothing.  We’ve seen some wonderful examples of an enduring Nature…in the pictures of Surfer Guy depicting the beaches enduring the beating of a timeless, steady ocean.  We’ve seen the pictures of Wilk displaying the Grand Canyon...where a river endured to cut and carve it’s way through the mountains to find it’s way to the sea….and the end result of this natural endurance is breathtaking beauty.  
Snoqualmie Falls Sunset We see the endurance in soldiers on the field of battle convinced of the “right” they fight for…and in athletes on the fields of competition driven with a will to win.

Sadly, there are many other things in this life that also endure…hunger, hatred, war, poverty, sickness, greed, corruption…..we see it told and retold in our history books.  So why do we endure????  What drives us to go on?  I will leave that for you to answer…and for you to display in your pictures in the next two weeks.
Anything Goes

I think...I know, that Truth endures…and will continue to endure long after we are gone…long after this earth is gone.  In one of the most enduring Books that belong to us it says…”Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”  This speaks two things to me…1) There is always going to be trials…pain and suffering here…and 2) there is a better day coming.  That’s what keeps me going!!!  Hope and faith!

No matter how dark it seems around you, if you look hard enough you’ll find the Light.  Light In the Forest

The next challenge will be brought to you by Pablo57