While I would like to be able to share first-hand experience in every case, a sick newborn and sinus infection of my own has kept me on the sidelines this week. Having a newborn often forces me to live vicariously through my friends. Last week was the gun deer season here and there is no sport that relies more on being aware of one’s surroundings and involves almost every sense in the observation of nature. A thousand words may not be enough to draw this picture, and I will have to try in far fewer, but here goes…You’ve scouted some cover on a ridge looking down on a valley spanning 100+ acres. As you look across the valley the sun begins to give you enough light to see the opposing west ridge. Along this ridge you can see the sand that is piled up outside the den of the many coyote that have instinctually recognized this as ideal location for hawking prey. If you are familiar with the coyote’s den, they like to dig into the side of valleys such as this, but also dig a breathe-hole straight up. It is easy to identify the inhabited dens on mornings like these. The moisture from their breath rises like smoke from a chimney condensing on the tree branches and then freezes in the cold night air. The moon has set, but the sun is now rising behind you and the sunlight is beginning to touch the opposing ridge. Focused on the part of the ridge now visible with the rising sun, the light hits the coyote dens and the tree branches above them. A light show begins which shames the Big Bang at Summerfest. A thousand prisms dangle above the coyote dens dotting the entire ridge. In the wonderful peace of a morning, far from the traffic and noise of every other week of the year, the condensation on the branches is refracting and dispersing the light into its constituent colors all along the forest background. No fireworks display, no computer game or movie graphic, no man-made effect will ever stand up to nature. From my best friend Chris who shared this with me, he wanted me to share it with all of you and pass along a thank you that also would take a thousand words or more to express. He could not help but think of the sacrifice our armed forces have made which grants him the freedom of admission to attend nature’s light show. His prayer from the woods offered thanks to God to for the show and Godspeed to you and your mission.