logo
Login Subscribe
Google Play App Store
  • News
    • Obituaries
    • Lifestyle
    • Opinions
  • Sports
  • E-edition
  • Calendar
  • Archives
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertisers
    • Form Submission
    • About Us
    • News
      • Obituaries
      • Lifestyle
      • Opinions
    • Sports
    • E-edition
    • Calendar
    • Archives
    • Contact
      • Contact Us
      • Advertisers
      • Form Submission
      • About Us
The many paths taken in life
Opinions
February 7, 2024
The many paths taken in life

There are so many paths one can take in life and these paths often lead you to other places – some good and some not so good. I’ve always been intrigued by all the different paths we can take. Some are rocky. Some are smooth. Some wind through the forest, while others are straight down the highway. Some take you to faraway places, while others lead you back home. Yet amazingly each path has its own particular beauty to behold and a lesson to be learned when you decide to take it.

I have always been in love with nature and have loved hiking and taking pictures of His magnificent creation. Even though my health has brought some obstacles in itself and my endurance is sometimes lacking, I still figure out ways to enjoy as much scenery as I can get in. I especially love the road less traveled.

Through the years though I’ve realized some of the paths I’ve taken weren’t easy. In fact, many times I had to stop and rest just to keep going. But even in the hardest moments when I’ve felt defeated, God has given me strength to get up and keep going.

However, this year has proven to be even more difficult for me in several ways. It’s not just been physically exhausting, it’s been emotionally exasperating with my health holding me hostage to the point I want to scream – ENOUGH ALREADY!

February is a hard month for me now. Even though it’s a month that I get to celebrate my mother’s, my niece’s and my husband’s birthdays, it’s also a month that I miss my second mom, Melba’s birthday and my daddy’s birthday. He would’ve turned 81 Feb. 11 but instead he left us all when he was only 67 which is still way too young to me.

It’s hard to believe my dad has been gone for over 14 years now. It’s surreal that I still miss him every day in some way. Not only do I miss his advice, I have missed his sense of adventure too. He always enjoyed road trips and outside adventures too. He really enjoyed the view from the highest point, often taking us kids to lookouts when we were on vacations. So I guess from heaven’s perspective, he now has the absolute best view. Unfortunately though, it was hard to let him go on ahead of me. It’s like he traveled around the bend where I couldn’t see and I’ve been trying to catch up with him ever since. So maybe this is why I often find myself walking down God’s mystical path, searching for answers that still seem out of sight sometimes.

Yet it’s been down some of the loneliness paths that I’ve taken, that oddly I’ve found peace with God in the quiet places of my heart. Yes, I’ve found Him down the winding path in the stillness of a lake’s reflection, even in my own reflection that often reminds me of my father’s. I’ve found Him in the cool waters that I can wade in when I’m thirsty and dry. I’ve found Him in the beauty of the wildflowers that dance across His palette coloring the landscape. I’ve found Him in the snow-capped mountains and the billowing clouds overhead that my daddy taught me to look for animal shapes in. I’ve also found Him in the stars, which my father was especially mesmerized by, as we laid out on top of the hood of our car and tried to count them all.

Back then my daddy would say, “Come on, it’s time to get some rest.” Now, it’s my Heavenly Father that’s saying “Rest for a moment, my child, but then get up and keep walking this path called life.”

Many of the paths I’ve taken have led me in wrong directions, but thankfully my Father God has always shown me the path back to home and to Him.

Oh the many paths I have taken and the many paths I’ve still yet to take! He shows me the beauty of this journey and the lessons I’ve learned along the way. It’s made me understand the 23rd Psalm so much deeper.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul: he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anoints my head with oil; my cup runs over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”

We all get to choose our own paths in this life. May we choose wisely and choose to see the beauty down every bend until we reach our final destination.

Jefferson Highway keeps on rollin’
A: Main, news
Jefferson Highway keeps on rollin’
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
Long before Route 66, there was the Jefferson Highway. Route 66 was a federally funded, 2,448-mile highway that crossed the country going east and west from Chicago, Illinois to Santa Monica, Californ...
A: Main, news
Jacob Foos re-hired as Eufaula City Manager
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
It was a surprise hire, but not a total surprise as former Eufaula City Manager Jacob Foos was rehired as Eufaula’s city manager. The hiring took place following an executive session at a special meet...
A: Main, news
Complications of finding a city manager
June 11, 2025
Jeb Jones resigned as city manager in April. He was hired in 2022 to replace Jacob Foos, who had resigned months earlier and became assistant city manager in the City of Shawnee. Andrea Weckmuel-ler B...
A: Main, news
LEA Poker Run Saturday
June 11, 2025
The Golden Eagle Poker Run, one of the most popular events on Lake Eufaula, is Saturday, June 14. This year’s theme is Pirates & Parrots, so get your crew and costumes ready for a day of high seas adv...
McIntosh County Democrat wins Sequoyah Award
A: Main, news
McIntosh County Democrat wins Sequoyah Award
June 11, 2025
The Oklahoma Press Association presented its Better Newspaper Contest Awards during the OPA Annual convention June 6-7, at the Grand Casino Hotel and Resort in Shawnee. The top award a newspaper can r...
A: Main, news
Commissioners getting an increase in road spending
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
Rep. Tim Turner, R-Kinta, announced some good news and some bad news at the Monday morning Monthly County Commissioner meeting. First, the bad news, at least for those who oppose wind turbines in the ...
ePaper
google_play
app_store
Editor Picks
Bridge dedicated to World War II veteran
A: Main, news
Bridge dedicated to World War II veteran
By JERRY FINK MANAGING EDITOR 
June 11, 2025
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation recently honored the late veteran William “Bill” Antrum Fox Jr. by naming a bridge after him. The William A. Fox Jr. Memorial Bridge is on SH 9 East at Nine M...
A: Main, news
Ten Mile Yard Sale this weekend
June 11, 2025
Bring an umbrella Bargain hunters set your alarms. The annual 10-milelong yard sale begins at 7 a.m. Sunday, stretching from the east end of Eufaula, down SH 9 east through Longtown and past Enterpris...
Preliminary set for 2 suspected of killing Eufaulan
news
Preliminary set for 2 suspected of killing Eufaulan
June 11, 2025
Two Muskogee men charged with killing a Eufaula resident were ordered to appear at a preliminary hearing in district court at 10 a.m., Thursday, July 3. Suspects Kyren Omari Boulware, 19, and Michael ...
2 dead, 4 injured in pileup
news
2 dead, 4 injured in pileup
June 11, 2025
Two people from Marshall, Texas were killed, and four others were injured in a harrowing four-vehicle pileup on U.S. 69 half a mile south of the Muskogee City Limits at about 2:20 p.m. on Monday, June...
Fink inducted into OPA Half Century Club
news
Fink inducted into OPA Half Century Club
June 11, 2025
Managing Editor Jerry Fink of The Eufaula Indian Journal and the McIntosh County Democrat was inducted into the Oklahoma Press Association Half Century Club on Saturday, June 7 at the Grand in Shawnee...
Facebook

THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL
100 2nd Street
Eufaula, OK 74432

(918) 689-2191

This site complies with ADA requirements

© 2023 THE EUFAULA INDIAN JOURNAL

  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Accessibility Policy