March/April  2009 The eagle tell us spring is on its way! * Previous Newsletters    (Archives)  Website Home Page  (Trailheads) Contact  Hiking the Trail of Truth,  Mark's Trail Phone # 909-549-0068,  or e-mail   hikemark@hotmail.com Page 2 From The Editor... Hello, and Welcome to the March/April 2009 HTTOT Newsletter!  We here at Hiking the Trail of Truth sincerely hope this year that you have allowed the loving Spirit of God to be active within your heart, and that you are perhaps able to get out for a hike and consider many of the wonders He has made. We are uniquely drawn to these wonders because we were formed from the very dust of the earth, and, because of that relationship, we have the ability to develop the understanding that will allow us to discover our unique balance with nature. Come along with us on a most profound adventure of learning... WEBSITE NEWS: Knowing God is first seeing Him through the things He has made (Romans 1:20).  Hiking the Trail of Truth is here to help you along in your journey of discovery and sharing. If you have been or are presently unable to get out this season for a physical hike, just visit our website's feature trail for this month; The Desert Trail. Your mental trek there can take you where you may be unable to journey physically. The eye-opening education, inspiration and lasting encouragement which you can find along the Desert Trail will be well worth your time... Just click on the Desert Trail link in this newsletter, or click on the marker at the website's Hiking Maps and Trailheads page. — We sincerely hope that you will hike all of our devotional and educational trails at the website this year. Again, we are here to help you in any way we can and, as always, look forward to hearing from you. Hiking the Trail of Truth is currently one of the most truthfully informative Christian sites on the web. Please, be our guest; explore this truth for yourself and discover! The most important way to begin your day is with a short reading from the Bible. Today is indeed a good time to begin that resolve. For this purpose, the Mountain and Valley Trail was built. There you will find daily Bible readings for the entire year, with accompanying photos, created especially for you. To locate this picture/Scripture calendar, simply click on the Mountain and Valley Trail marker at Hiking Maps and Trailheads. You will find a compass there that will lead you to the calendar of months, and you can then choose a month to begin your day-by-day readings. Your daily journey through life is sure to begin in the right direction!  After all, we live only one day at a time, right?— Why don't you then take the opportunity now and begin a one-year hike along the Mountain and Valley Trail. You will not be disappointed, in fact, your journey will be full of enlightening, life-changing insights! Don't forget that HTTOT offers FREE COUNSELING to anyone who wants it (Lord knows we all need it). Your varied questions are also important, and are given the utmost consideration in answering them. For you to be aware of the truth, in a world where falsehood abounds, is very important to us. Your spiritual struggles are of our utmost concern—we can help!  We serve a loving and compassionate Creator. So just phone or e-mail any time. Contact information is listed at the bottom of the cover page of this Newsletter, or you can visit Questions and Answers Trail Camp at the website, where a ''submit a question" link is provided, or you can visit the On-Line Church to submit your inquiries or learn there how to understand the Bible correctly. Introducing the Book...Hiking the Trail of Truth, Knowing God through His creation. Hello there! The new 330 page book from MS Taylor has just recently been completed and will be published on the HTTOT website, available for you, the website reader, by the end of this coming April. Hiking through the pages of this book is indeed a bold and enlightening journey. We sincerely hope that you will chose to embark on that most illuminiating trek. Many profound discoveries await you there! A 332 page published edition (2009) of Hiking the Trail of Truth is now available from Xulon Press!   Click on the link below to order your personal copy, or Phone 866-909-BOOK. Xulon Press Sincerely, the HTTOT staff. March/April's Letter From the Editor : The Way of the Eagle Does the eagle mount up at your command and make its nest on high? (Job 39:27 NKJV) I've spotted Eagles at different times while on my hikes along various trails, both in the deserts and in the mountains. Perhaps we'll have the good fortune to catch a glimpse of one today. I was hiking along Rush Creek near June Lake in the eastern Sierra Nevada a few summers back. It was there in a somewhat remote and picturesque area of the high country that I had a most unique encounter with a Golden Eagle. The Greek word for Eagle is aetos, which means to blow as the wind or become one with the wind. The Psalms teach us that the way of an eagle in flight is too wonderful to understand (Psalm 30:18,19). I had just rounded a bend in the trail when I saw the Golden. She was soaring at eye level, above the canyon, just about 30 feet west of where I was journeying along the high trail. It was a very large Eagle, so I judged her to be female. She was incredibly close to me. She slowed, almost stopping in mid-air. She was riding the wind, correcting for every deviation of its velocity, all the while seemingly investigating me. She was looking right at me! At one point I believe, or at least would like to believe, that our eyes actually met. It's hard to tell if they're looking directly into your eyes, but just having the Eagle behold me was an honor in itself. I didn't move a muscle or even twitch a finger. I was thinking, 'the good Lord has indeed blessed me in allowing me to witness such a grand and glorious wonder so close at hand. I am indeed humbled by His kindness!' I was suspended in time, hopeful that the encounter might last a little while longer. I was overwhelmed at the Eagle's control—fascinated by it. Then, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye she dipped a wing and turned off, headed down along the canyon to pick up speed. I estimated that she was flying somewhere between 50 and 60 miles per hour. I soon caught her in my binoculars and tracked her until she was out of sight. How majestic and graceful she was! I've known Eagles to attain speeds in excess of 100 miles per hour while in a dive. They can hold those speeds while maintaining focus on the object at which they are diving. They are so well coordinated they can avoid in flight collisions at that speed and can actually drag just a fraction of an inch of talon across the back of another bird, sending it spiraling to the ground in complete shock. I've seen them close their talons, as if making a fist, to strike their prey as they swoop on by. Pilots have reported seeing Golden Eagles in flight above fifteen thousand feet. Eagles have tremendous vision. You and I, according to medical science, have some two hundred thousand of what they call visual receptors, per square centimeter, within our eyes. The Eagle has 1.6 million receptors per square centimeter; eight times that of a human. That makes for an extremely high visual resolution or 'optical clarity' in simpler wording. Let me illustrate: Imagine sitting in the very last row of the Dallas stadium during football season—I mean who can afford closer seats, right? With a pair of binoculars I might be able to catch the main action of the game. From that same distance an Eagle can individualize every blade of grass on the playing field. An Eagle could read three-inch letters on a billboard one mile away. They can see small fish jumping out of the water five miles out to sea. They can spot fish in a swiftly flowing stream from thousands of feet in the air. They have remarkable vitality. An Eagle weighing about twenty pounds has enough strength in its talons to break both of the bones in a man's forearm by just grasping it firmly. Any small, unsuspecting prey would be crushed instantly under that kind of power. If you recall I had an operation on my stomach a few years back and I learned something about the Eagle's talons from my surgeon, after he had stitched me up. He informed me that surgical needles were modeled after Eagle's talons. They are specially crafted to pierce the flesh and not to tear it. I was thankful to the Lord that day for His unique design of the Eagle's talons, and for the both informed and skillful surgeon who knew how to use that particularly well-designed needle. When an Eagle soars it is not by his or her own strength. They effectively extend their great wings and are lifted by the rising currents of air. They just simply make themselves available to the wind. I too can soar within my own spirit like the Eagle, when I make myself available to God and yield to His Spirit. I have soared many times while just thinking about His greatness. I have danced atop desert mesas and high mountain peaks. I see His greatness and feel His presence in all of His wonders. I feel it with each breath that I take along these hiking trails. I can also reach out and touch a variety of His different works at any time. This particular uplifting of spirit has been identified as the Rocky Mountain High by a songwriter, but it is much more than that. I feel kindred to the Eagle in this way. The Eagle-brilliant, extraordinarily graceful, with incomprehensible control, incredible speed, supreme vision and commanding strength. It's no wonder then that God pays grand tribute to their majesty. How well I have learned through my own experiences the immeasurable value of the following Biblical teaching: Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and His understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary, and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar (mount up) on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31 NIV) Thanks for hiking along with me today—see you next month for another letter from the editor! Sincerely, Mark S Taylor   Questions? Please contact me. Home] [Hiking Maps & Trailheads] [Discovery Trail] [Bible Map] [Trail of Time] [New Birth Trail] [Mountain & Valley Trail] [Desert Trail] [Lake Trail] [High Sierra Trail] [Wilderness Trail] [HTTOT the book] [False Trail] [Monthly Newsletter] [Newsletter Archives] [Questions & Answers] [On-Line Church] HIKING THE TRAIL OF TRUTH Mark S. Taylor (909) 549-0068