Worlds Collide

My heart is absolutely happy from this morning's surprise. It made my day. But first..

Since Sunday, we've been staying with some of our friends in Telluride. I feel so blessed to be refreshed by views of the mountains, fresh crisp air, and walking the quaint streets of this mountain town. God knows me well - He knows I need breaks from the city (though I'm coming to like it more and more), and He knows how much I admire His creation, especially the mountains!

Anyway... Mom and I have been taking walks down to the local coffee shop in town every morning, enjoying lattes, talks, and splitting a Clif bar as the day begins. 

As we were walking today, we were not only making our way to the coffee shop, but also keeping our eyes out for the "famous" Telluride Free Box that we heard about from our friend who lives here. Even the NY Times and the Denver Post wrote about this Free Box phenomena in Telluride. Apparently, people drop things off there, and you can take anything for free. You never know what you'll find! (The Denver Post says that one person once found Prada shoes there!)

After our leisurely morning coffee, we stumbled upon the Free Box, wondering what we might find. I was first drawn to the book section, and my mouth literally fell open and I laughed gleefully when I found this:

A book about Czechoslovakia. IN TELLURIDE. A book about Czechoslovakia, in the Czech language. How??! Who put it there??! It's beautiful! I couldn't contain my joy. A piece of home, in this little tiny mountain town in Colorado. What are the chances??

I snapped a picture of the place I picked up the book from, and then noticed something else. 

TWO MORE BOOKS in Czech. 

First, Czechoslovakia. Then it got closer to where we live: Ostravsko. Ostrava is about half an hour from where we live in Czech.

But then it got even closer: Beskydy. Those are the mountains that we live in!! Really, how could there be a book that was more perfect for us than the Beskydy?! That's about as close as you can get to our home. 

Flipping through those books, which are 40 years old, gave me butterflies in my stomach. Here I am, in Telluride, looking at pictures from home. What a sweet blessing from the Lord. I love Him, and I love these books! 

I wonder who put those books in the Free Box? Are there Czechs living in Telluride? I guess I'll never know... but I'm sure glad we stopped by the Free Box today!

P.S. As I was looking through these pictures just now, I noticed that there was one more Czech book on that shelf that we didn't even notice! It's about the "Narodni Divadlo" - the National Theatre in Prague. Maybe we'll have to go back!