Old Motel Signs in Arizona

My teenage years where spent in the shadow of this sign. I grew up in a motel. I know that sounds strange and it was. My parents managed the Hacienda Motel on a street called the Miracle Mile in Tucson, Arizona. Recently I went to Tucson and spent some time talking pictures of some of the old motels on the strip. I share them in black and white because it feels like they are as old as they really are. I am amazed that many of these small motor courts and motels are still there and still in business. The Miracle Mile was a strange place in which to mature and an even stranger place to develop a ministry mindset. God used my parents to minister to many people and lead many to faith in Christ. A motel on the strip was a great place to meet desperate people in search of mercy and grace. Some found both in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am grateful for a very difficult place in which to grow and mature.
Ed Litton

Happy Birthday America

This picture was taken this last weekend in Baldwin County's Magnolia Springs. There is no more beautiful flag in the world than the flag of my nation. There is nothing like being in a foreign land only to see a plane with that flag on the side or that flag waving over an embassy. There are few things more heartbreaking than the rows of this flag at Arlington Cemetery. Few things more moving than to see an aging verteran stand with tears slatuting all that those red stripes, white background, blue sky and star represent.

It is a grand old flag and it still makes my heart stir.

Ed Litton

Yes Santa Clause There is A Virginia!

My family is from Virginia. That means more than the place from which we hail or the place of our origin. Virginia is in the Litton DNA. I always complained as a child that my parents lapsed when they stepped across the state line and gave birth to me in Tennessee making me the only member of our family not born in Virginia. I love to visit my native state of Virginia as often as possible.
My son Josh reminded me this week as he drove his belongings to New York City and passed through Virginia that when we crossed the state line I always said these words. "Yes Santa Clause, there is a Virginia" or "This is the greatest state in the Union."

Recently Kayla and I went on a College Road Trip. We went to the great state of Virginia and I want to share three pictures from our journey. One is a shot of the Shenandoah Valley from the Blue Ridge Parkway. The next is a Dog Wood Tree blossom. Finally a water fall near my boyhood farm in East Tennessee.

The legend of the Dog Wood is that when Christ died on the cross, that the cross was made of Dog Wood. The bloom of that tree is shaped in a white cross and there is a splash of red where His head, his feet and his hands bled for our sins. The legend of the Dog Wood is a legend but the reality of His death is more real now that it was two thousand years ago.
Look for His mystery and beauty wherever you travel. His glory is everywhere.
Praise the name of Jesus!

Ed Litton

Stop Beating Yourself Up

Several years ago I was jogging in a neighborhood in Panama City, Florida, when I came upon this stop sign. Someone had added their own commentary. I can only imagine what they where going through at the time. Whatever the circumstances, they did many of us a favor with this added commentary. I have enjoyed this picture and its message many a time. We can all use a few commentaries on stop signs. Stop blaming everyone else! Stop the destructive behavior! Stop spending what you don't have! On and one we could go. I think the greatest Stop Sign Message would be one that Jesus said kneeling next to a woman condemned and judged. Stop sinning and stop condemning yourself. For a person who cannot escape the obvious nature of being caught and condemned in sin those are sweet Stop Sign Words indeed.

Thank You Jesus for those Good Words!
Ed Litton