I didn’t attend church today, because I’ve got a cold and didn’t want to get anyone else sick, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t have worship. Around 2 o'clock took a bicycle and hit the New River Trail. I biked the first two miles like a madman, quickly tiring myself, so I turned to go back. On the way back, I put on some Christian music I haven’t listened to in forever, such as TobyMac and Disciple, and just sat down and took it easy, looking around and relaxing. It was such a beautiful day, and for the first time in months, I felt God’s presence in full force. Don’t get me wrong, I know He’s been there the whole time. I just haven’t stepped away from this world’s madness long enough to notice. Here I was, in the middle of nature, away from the Internet, away from Facebook, texting no one, no distractions, and now I could focus on God. Everything suddenly seemed so beautiful, or rather I finally noticed it’s beauty. I turned into a 7 year old girl with my phone’s camera, pulling to the side of the trail, taking pictures of everything, wanting to share this with everyone. I got back to my vehicle, and turned back around to ride those two miles again. Now, I could give you several different devotions from this, but I think I’ll just sum up two things I want you to take away from this.1. Only when I stopped riding so quickly and heavily, deciding rather to relax and take it slow was I really able to enjoy the ride. When I was going slow, I was able to take the time to enjoy the beauty God has put in this world. Only when I took time to notice this beauty, did I feel Him, showing me that He is ALWAYS there, I just have to step away from everything and make time for Him.2. When I was on that trail, I was texting no one. I was not on Facebook. I had no Internet access. All I had was a beautiful day, a bicycle, and some uplifting Christian music. That’s when I felt God. To be close to God, to really feel Him, you have to put your phone down, step away from your computer, turn off the TV, and find somewhere that you can enjoy the beauty God has put in this world. I felt closer to God alone on that trail than I have in a long time, and that’s because I had no distractions. I love God very much. Even after rebelling against Him as I did, even after doing the awful things I’ve done, even after ignoring Him as I did, He still does this for me. He is indeed merciful and loving. I’m very thankful for my zillionth 2nd chance. I encourage you guys to go out and meet God today. Put your phone away, turn off your TV and computer, and just step outside your house into God’s beauty. It will overwhelm you. “Today is the day the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it.”
Dykes most frequently occur as igneous rocks which once were liquid magma that intruded older rocks. Dykes form as sub-vertical to vertical linear sheet-like features and can be millimetres to kilometres wide.
Dykes can contribute to formation of interesting landscape features. For example, in above photograph, the dyke was more resistant to weathering and erosion than the rock it intruded, and so, it gave rise to a tall protruding wall known as the Breadknife, the Warrumbungle National Park. Whereas, in the photograph below, the dyke is less resistant to weathering and erosion, and so erosion of the dyke resulted in formation of a slot or a gully in the cliff near Kiama, south coast NSW.
Erosion of surface features (such as rocks) at different rates is referred to as differential erosion.
The dark coloured rock is a sedimentary rock and the bright coloured rock is an igneous rock (used to be a magma) which intruded the sedimentary rock. This intrusive igneous rock is called dyke or dike.
This dyke is bright coloured because the minerals that make up this rocks are breaking down to clays due to exposure to water and oxygen. Original minerals in rocks such as this one are usually black and so dykes often appear dark (but, definitely not a rule!). However, when these minerals breakdown they produce clay minerals, which are usually bright coloured.
The white-orange marks that you can see on the close-up image of the dyke used to be minerals that floated in the magma before it turned into a igneous rock. These minerals were called plagioclase, however, now these too have been converted into clays.
You might notice that approximately all these tabular minerals are aligned in one up-down direction. This the tell-tale sign of magma movement which aligned the mineral according to its flow direction. From this photograph you can narrow down the magma movement direction options to either to up-down and towards-you/away-from-you.
Do not be fooled by this incredibly well preserved shell, it is not a recent shell, but a 250 million year old fossil.
Many different mollusc fossils are very well preserved at this outcrop which consists of layer upon layer of sediment which slowly accumulated on the sea floor during Permian times. Organisms such as this one, would have thrived here, feeding on the organic matter settling down to the bottom of the sea.
Ancient sea bottom exposed along a modern seaside rocky platform. This immense amount of fossilized shells is preserved in ~250 million year old sea sediments which would have been a feeding grounds for all these bivalves.
