In My Father's Shadow

Baby pictures!  The firstborn in a family always has far more pictures taken of him or her than the subsequent children... or so I thought. 

Secondly, I thought my parents didn't take many pictures of my brother and I as we were growing up.  To my recollection, it didn't seem important to my parents to take pictures of us.  The camera they had was old and unreliable, and I didn't think they took the trouble of trying to use it.  How wrong I was! 

On these cold days of winter, I have been reviewing and organizing the family archives ( old photos and letters).  I made a wonderful discovery in the process.  I found out that the two statements which I made above were just not true!  I discovered lots of pictures taken of myself (the second born) as well as my brother as we were growing up.

I found an old photo album- you know- the kind your grandmother had which had black pages between stiff covers held together with a string, the photos in it secured with corner tabs, and the labeling done in white ink.  I don't remember ever having seen this album before.  However, there it was, year after year, a picture of my brother on his birthday on April 3 with a cold, barren landscape behind him and then a picture of me taken on my birthday the next month in May with the evidence of trees budding out behind me.  And there below each photo was my mother's writing putting down the date.  My mother was meticulous her whole life when it came to labeling photos.  She kept a diary and must have referred to it to accurately date photos.  At any rate, there were the pictures of my brother and I carefully labeled.  Always the date.  Always our age.  The pictures were always taken on our respective birthdays, never taken a day early or a day late.

My mother documented the dates of the pictures, but it was obvious that it was my dad who took the photos.  Back before flash cameras, pictures were taken outdoors in the sunlight.  Frequently, as in the photo of me above on my 8th birthday, my dad's shadow could be seen.

Whereas some people grow up without having good fathers to nurture them, I am convinced I had the best father ever!  After seeing my dad's shadow so often in my birthday photos, I've been thinking about what it was like to grow up in his shadow. There were several 'bike' picutres in the photo album on my 8th birthday; apparently my dad was especially pleased with the new bike he had given me.  Our family didn't have much money, so that new bike was an extravagant example of my dad's provision for his litlle girl who was growing up before his eyes. 

In the shadow of my father!  What did my father provide for me over the years?  He gave me the freedom and safety to roam with delight over the farm fields, splashing through the creek bed and exploring the woods. He gave his time at the end of each exhausting day to read books to me, even way past the time I could read for myself.  He piled up mounds of sweet smelling hay on the barn floor for me to jump down into.  He gave me dairy cattle to train and the supporting opportunity to show them at the county and state fair.  He gave me chickens to tend so I could earn spending money.  He taught me how to use machinery and tools- things like an ax with which I chopped down trees, hammer and nails to build things, the use of  a wide brush to paint buildings, and the tractor to drive for doing field work.  He taught me the value of honest labor as I helped him in the summer to bring in the hay and cultivate the corn, and to fork over the beans plants to dry in the fall.  He moved and renovated an old shed to be my 'clubhouse', he bought me my own horse to ride, and he bought my brother and I a pool table and ping pong table in our teen years to enjoy with friends.  In college, he let me borrow the family car (our only car) for a week to drive east to hike the Appalachian trail with some friends.  My father gave me an example of how neighbors are to help one another, of always believing the best in another person, and of going to church regularly to sing God's praises with zest.

I had it very good as I grew up because I was abiding in the shadow of a father who loved me and provided for me. My father gave me an example of what God is like.  The way my dad lived his life helps me to understand the following truths from the Bible-

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the LORD, 'My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.'  Psalm 91:1 

Which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give hims a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent"  If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will you Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!   Matthew 7:9-11

I have to admit that age is creeping up on me.  I can't run, and I don't chop down trees anymore.  I don't have the same sense of well being I used to have to be out on snowy roads in the winter or while driving at night.  I don't feel safe to wander fields and woodlands alone.  It's not that I'm in my second childhood and completely helpless yet.  However, as an older person, I know I am more vulnerable and I need to be in the shadow of someone who is stronger and wiser than me.  Who will that be?  Almighty God!  I need to keep abiding in the shadow of my Heavenly Father just as I was in the shadow of my father on my 8th birthday.  God has promised to give me good gifts, just like my dad did, if I ask God to be my provision and my protector.  Jesus promised me that.

The Tale Of Two Pianos

"On a whim, I thought I'd go back to my old piano and play a song," the pianist said.  "Oh my!  I couldn't believe it.  It sounded so pathetic!  When that was all I had, I was content.  I didn't know any better.  But now that I have a new piano, a grand piano, I know the difference."

The old piano?   Her parents gave the pianist the best they could afford.  It cost $50.  It was a cast-off piano that had been used in a USO recreational lounge on a military base overseas.  In addition, it had been moved from home to home in military housing as the 'first' piano for beginning piano students.  Someone had started to refinish it; half of it was covered with dirty, cream-colored paint and half of it was stripped down to bare wood.  Deep cigarette burns marked up the flat surfaces.  The pianist's mom finished stripping the paint off the piano and refinished it, masking the cigarette burns by painting over them the look of wood grain. The bench was a kitchen bench salvaged from alongside the curb on trash day and refinished to match the piano.

The piano was shipped back to the states with the rest of the family's goods.  Five more times it was moved.  It was heavier than most pianos, but even so, twice it was moved to the pianist's second floor bedroom!  Having it tuned became more and more of a problem because the action inside the frame was German and parts weren't available in the US.  A resourceful piano tuner fabricated replacement parts as best he could. 

The pianist was gifted and despite the quality of the piano she practiced on, music moved her and moved others when they heard her play. 

The pianist married and the piano went with her to her new home.  Her husband vowed that one day he would buy his bride a different piano- a grand piano.  That seemed  to her like a pipe dream- something fun to think about, but something that would never happen.  The pianist still played her old piano and was content. 

The husband loved his wife.  His vow about a grand piano wasn't just idle words.  It always came back to his mind when his wife played.  When the pianist and her husband moved to a farm, the husband made sure the central, light, airy room of the farmhouse was left empty.  He called it the 'piano room'.  He said that one day that was where the grand piano would go and he would install a chandelier above it.

The day came.  The pianist came home in the evening from work and gracing the 'piano room' was a brand new grand piano!  Her beaming husband sat next to it.  It was his gift of love to his bride.  Even to this day, the pianist can barely believe it.  Music has never sounded so wonderful to her! 

And so it came as an utter surprise to the pianist when she recently went back to play a song on the old piano and discovered how pathetic it sounded.  It wasn't that the piano was so much out of tune, but that after a note was played, there was always a discordant twang that lingered.  Additionally, the old felts on the hammers, despite being filed to size, continued to sporaticially hit adjacent notes.  However, most disconcerting to the pianist was the sluggish, unresponsive touch of the keys.  She said it felt like hitting a pillow when she played; there was no instantaneous response of the keys to her fingers tips. She couldn't create the music her soul longed to express.

The difference between the old piano and the new piano reminded me of what the Bible explains about mankind's two natures.  From our parents we inherited the best they had; they gave us our innate human nature.  It was adequate for us to learn how to function (for better or worse) in this world.  However, as we all know, human nature is flawed.  It is not what God had intended from the beginning.  Mankind is unresponsive to the touch of God, just as the old piano is unresponsive to the touch of the pianist's fingers.

However, when we are joined to Jesus Christ, we become new people.  We are literally given a new nature that can indeed be responsive to the touch of God, just as the new piano is sensitive and fully responsive to the pianist's fingers.  This new nature comes to us because we belong to someone new; we are the bride of  Christ and no longer children of the world, just as the new piano came to the pianist from her husband and not from her poverty-stricken parents.  The new nature comes as a gift.  Just as the pianist's husband vowed to provide a grand piano for his bride, the One who died for our sins promises us this new life that is sensitive to God's will.

This tale of two pianos explains for me what the Bible talks about in Romans 4- 8 and is alluded to in Jeremiah 31:31-34 and in Ezekiel 36:25-28.  What a gift!  To be responsive to the heart and soul and touch of God!  I like the knowledge of that!

Tribute To Irene

I was surprised to read Irene’s obituary last week. Irene was 66 years old.

Irene and I were born the same week in the same hospital. Our mothers were roommates, and as a result, a lifelong friendship developed between our families. As a very young child, I remember playing with Irene. The picture above is Irene and I on the lawn of my childhood home. Later on, at the time Irene was 3 or 4 years old, she was placed in an institution for the physically and mentally handicapped. That was what was done with profoundly handicapped people back then. I never saw Irene again.

Over the years, I occasionally thought about this girl who was my own age and I wondered what had become of her. There seemed to be an unspoken understanding that none of us would talk about Irene. I became good friends with her mother, and as an artist, Irene’s mother encouraged me for years in my own artwork. I wonder, now, if my presence in her life reminded her of Irene and made her sad for her own daughter.

A few years ago, someone is the state system of the Office of Retardation, upon hearing what town I lived in, asked me if I knew an Irene who was originally from my town. Yes, it was the Irene I knew. I found out that Irene was in a wheelchair and dependent upon others for all of her care. I was told that she had beautiful snow-white hair. Just like her mom, I thought to myself. I put it on my “to-do” list to travel to see Irene even though I knew she wouldn’t know who I was. Somehow, I always felt a kinship to this early playmate of mine. But, I never got around to traveling to see Irene. Now, it’s too late!

Society changes and its way of dealing with its handicapped citizens has changed. Institutionalizing those with disabilities is no longer the primary recommendation that medical and educational experts advise.

It was 30 years after Irene and I were born, that my third child developed a serious seizure disorder with its resulting retardation. No one suggested that my son be institutionalized. There were government and educational services available to help him remain at home and be a part of his family. How thankful I am for that, because this son is a special blessing to our family. The picture above shows my son as a youngster in his snowmobile helmet with full-face guard that permitted him to play without being injured from his dozens of sudden falls each day. Over the years, the seizures lessened, and he no longer had to wear a helmet. During that time, he had wonderful special education teachers in school and excellent neurologists to monitor his medications. Now, as an adult, he lives in a group home, works at a sheltered workshop, and he has friends and activities he likes to do.

What can be said about the value of a person who had such a limited life experience as Irene or about my son who will need daily help and supervision for the rest of his life? Jesus spoke about these handicapping conditions in a conversation with his disciples. Listen to this episode from the Bible: “As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?’ Jesus answered, ‘It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.’” (John 9:1-3)

I don’t understand how it all works, but Jesus affirms that in some manner, individuals afflicted with severe handicaps are a necessary part of God’s way to display His works in this world. God’s sovereignty to create each human person, as He deems best, and His sovereignty to dispense to them abilities or withhold abilities is God’s right. He is the Potter; we are the clay.

I believe with all my heart that Irene was one of God’s special creations, made above all to display the handiwork of God in some mysterious and magnificent manner. Human eyes would look at her, pity her, and question her worth. But according to the Word of God, in some manner the works of God were displayed in her. What greater worth can anyone have than that?

Irene, this is my tribute to you.

Finishing What Is Started

You are no doubt asking yourself what this is. Let me explain.

Shortly after 9/11 while I was having pizza with my daughter-in-law at DeSalvo's in Warsaw, an idea came into my head for a book. Most of us were still trying to understand the events of the terrorist attack against the US, and I had been doing the same thing. The idea that came to me concerned how Christian young people living in a country completely devastated by enemy occupation could have their faith nurtured if Bibles and churches were outlawed. The idea seemed full blown in my mind as an adventure story like the Hardy Boy books we've all read. Yet it was to be far more. It was to be a lengthy allegory explaining the person of Jesus. Having been a Bible study leader for years, I recognized that the idea came by God's nudge through the Holy Spirit. I grabbed a napkin and scribbled down the main ideas of the book's plot, and then I returned to eating pepperoni pizza.

As the days went by, I thought more about the book I was to write. I knew I had to do watercolor paintings to accompany the storyline and I'd need models to draw from. I bought six artist's manikins and began making faces on them by using light cardboard, freezer tape, acrylic paint, and fuzzy pieces of hair. Then I sewed clothing appropriate for each character. As I did all of that, I thought a lot about each character's personality and how they would fit into the story line. These 'people' became very real to me.

Now, eight years later, I'm on the third major revision of the book. There are forty three chapters, 150,000 words (more or less), sixty watercolors and an appendix of over three hundred of the names of Jesus that are in the Bible. I have plans to self publish the book later this year. The book's called AFTER THE DEVASTATIONS- THE JOURNEY.

I've had a lot!!!! of computer problems in the process of writing, formatting, scanning pictures, etc in the last eight years. It was early this spring that more computer problems brought me to needing high-speed Internet, and as a result of exploring those opportunities, I starting experimenting with writing blogs accompanied by my photos. I have enjoyed this activity and in the future I hope to continue writing more blogs.

However, in the meantime, I need to do something else. As I study the Word of God, I am becoming more and more convinced that the days ahead will be full of great tribulation for Christians before the soon return of Jesus Christ. I really need to get the book finished and published as soon as I can; it is meant to be a source of encouragement to Christians going through hard times. Bibles and gatherings of Christian believers are being outlawed in more and more places in this world. These difficult times are most likely to come upon us here in the United States, too. Believers need to know the person of Jesus better as they face these times. The book I've written is not only an entertaining adventure story, but it highlights the excellency of who Jesus Christ is. The book needs to be finished.

This morning I read in the Bible, God's admonition to us of what we are to do as we begin to recognize the signs of Jesus' soon return: But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Luke 21:34,35

Being weighed down with dissipation- that phrase spoke to my heart. Writing blogs is dissipating my time and energy. I've been scattering my mental attention and efforts. Writing blogs is not sinful. But for me, at this time, it is taking away my focus from publishing the book about Jesus. Revising, editing and formatting a book is incredibly hard, boring work! No wonder I've enjoyed the easier fun of blogging. But I need to finish the book that I started.

I want to thank all of you who have encouraged me in my blogging efforts. Your kind words have meant a lot to me. God willing, I'll return to blogging by the end of the year.

But in the meantime, with God's help I'm going to finish what I started.

Birdwatching Honesty

Double Crested Cormorant

I wanted some kind of excuse to be walking more. Not just walking anywhere, but outside in the woods and fields, the places I loved to roam as a child. So I took up birdwatching last summer with the intent of making colored pencil sketches of the various kinds of birds I spotted. (I allowed myself the liberty of using bird ID pictures to draw from once I spotted a bird in the wild. A picture in a book sits still long enough to draw from!)

In the early part of summer, I had managed to spot in my back yard and draw the common birds: a robin, a goldfinch, a house sparrow, etc. However, as time went on, I knew I had to visit other habitats to find more birds to draw. That endeavor found me and my son strolling alongside the Silver Lake outlet on an old railroad bed. We had our binoculars with us, but not our cameras or bird ID books.

Suddenly, across the water, I saw a large darkish bird on a bare tree branch that kept stretching its neck up high. It had light stripes of feathers on its breast, and it kept fluffing its feathers on its back and nervously jerking its tail. I clearly saw a crest on its head and a large bill when it turned its head sideways. Its feet looked yellow-greenish. My son and I watched the bird for quite sometime until it took off and flew past us, a large and dark bird.

When I got home I poured over the bird ID books. No bird quite fit the description, but at last I decided to settle on the bird being a Double Crested Cormorant. That bird fit most of the features I saw. Quite a rare water bird for our area. I was thrilled to make a sketch of the bird.

Bird watching books warn birders that they have such a great desire to spot new varieties of birds to add to their Life List, that they are tempted to claim to make a sighting when in fact, a clear identification isn't possible. Well, that's what I did! I was dishonest with myself. Because I wanted so badly to draw another bird in my sketch book, I deceived myself that I had made a proper identification. I had done what the Bible talks about- The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it. Jeremiah 17:9

The next week my deceitful heart was revealed to me. I found that my motive of desperately wanting a new bird to sketch made me dishonest with the facts right before my eyes.

Juvenile Green Heron

The next week I spotted a huge, snow white bird take off from a marshy area next to the parking lot where I was standing. The bird flew right past me! A magnificent stately bird with its neck tucked into an S curve and long legs trailing out behind it. Of course, when I got home I looked up what kind of bird it was. There was no mistaking its identity; it was a Great Egret.

However, in the process of identifying that huge, white bird, in my reading I discovered that the dark bird I had seen the week before next to the Silver Lake outlet matched the description of a different bird than I thought! What I had really seen was a Juvenile Green Heron with its yellow-green legs, not a Cormorant, a bird with webbed black feet. (I had chosen to ignore the color of the feet.) Besides that, the Green Heron was far more apt to be found in the wooded, watery location where I was, whereas a Cormorant is found in more open waters of the Great Lakes. (I had chosen to ignore the fact of the habitat I was in.)

To those of you who are reading this blog who are not bird watchers, all these details have, no doubt, been more than you ever wanted to know about birding. However, a birder reading this account would identify with me how easy it is to deceive ourselves when wanting to identify a new bird.

In the same manner, I think it is very easy to deceive ourselves in our motives in almost all the things we do. We might be doing something very nice thing for someone else, when in reality our true purpose is to get that person obligated to us (to owe us a favor). We might give large amounts of money to a popular fund raiser, when in reality we don't care about the cause, but we want to be regarded as generous in the eyes of the public. We might sing praises to the Lord in the church choir, when in reality our motive is to show off before others. We might be friendly to others ,not just because its the right thing to do, but because having other people like us boosts our ego.

Quite honestly, when we begin to examine our motives, I believe that anything we do has mixed motives. The motive of doing things to benefit others is mixed with the motive that brings selfish benefits to ourselves. The Bible speaks of the dilemma this puts us in. The Bible and God can see though the deceptions of our hearts to see the true motives of our hearts. For the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His (God's) sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account. Hebrews 4:12,13

Our motives are a mixture of good and bad, charitable and selfish, especially when we compare ourselves with the living Word of God. God will hold us accountable for those mixed motives. Identifying a bird wrongly is of no eternal consequence. Standing before God with besmirched motives has eternal consequences. The shed blood of Jesus is adequate to forgive this kind of sin. How thankful I am for that!

Looking At The Sky

Majestic! Is there any other word that can describe these clouds?

Awesome! Light breaking through the darkness takes our breath away.

Glorious! How else to describe such a beautiful sunrise?

People respond instinctively to magnificent displays of grandeur in the sky. They use words like 'majesty', 'awesome', and 'glorious'. Yet the words we use usually fall short of the response we feel to view such splendor. And it's no wonder our words aren't adequate. Sunrises and sunsets are a reflection of God's gladness. "You (O God) make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy." Psalm 65:8b

God's majesty! God's joy! These things can be known about God through what we see in God's creation, in this case, in the skies. The Bible says: For what can be known about God is plain to them (mankind), because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in things that have been made." Romans 1:19,20a

Isn't it wonderful that the warmth of spring has arrived so that we can be outside more? We can go out doors without winter coats and boots, and we can see and reflect upon the new life God is bringing forth. In the creation we see the revelation of God's attributes, His eternal power and divine nature. Even when we look up at the skies we see evidence of His majesty. Let us be glad as he is glad!

Little Foxes

"Twenty eight, twenty nine... " the owner said. "Where's chicken number thirty? Another one's missing! What's taking my chickens?"

A week later, lots of white feathers were on the lawn. It was evidence of a struggle between another missing rooster and some kind of animal. Away from the hen house and down in the gully were more feathers, evidence that the rooster wasn't killed immediately and had continued to struggle before being killed. Unfortunately, the rain had washed away the tracks of the aggressor. What kind of animal was stealing and killing the chickens? Was it the neighbor's dog? A coyote? A fox? A bobcat? A bear? There was no way to tell. The chicken owner started to keep a sharp eye out for the culprit, whatever it was. He kept his rifle at hand.

It was a week later. The owner saw a red fox trotting up the gully heading straight for the hen house. Now the owner knew what he was dealing with. However, the fox spooked and ran off before the owner could get his rifle. None the less, now, the owner knew what he had to do to protect his flock. He couldn't be there 24 hours a day with his rifle to protect them, so he did the next best thing. Within hours, he had driven dozens of iron stakes into the ground and surrounded the hen house and field with 400 feet of mesh fence pulled down tight against the earth. Now his treasure was safe from the fox.

Foxes eat not only meat, but also grass and fruit. The Bible has an interesting verse about foxes. It's found in Song of Solomon. In that passage a lover is talking to his beloved. Using the metaphor of little foxes, the lover says that it's vitally important for the two of them to protect their mutual relationship from things that will damage it. In a poetic way, the lover says that his beloved must be especially vigilant to keep their budding relationship intact. He gives her a warning that needed to be heeded. He says to his beloved, "Let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom." Song of Solomon 2:14b, 15

What does this mean, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards? I think it means the little cutting remarks that a wife makes about her husband in his presence or when she is with her girl friends. I hear women belittle their husbands all the time, at places where I have worked and at places where I socialize with other women. I've heard church women put down their husbands just as readily as women outside the church. I wonder how a man must feel to know that the woman whose voice is sweet to him and whose face is lovely to him (that's why he married her!) is habitually bad mouthing him, allowing little foxes of contempt to destroy what is precious in their relationship.

The Bible instructs us wives how to treat our husbands. "An excellent wife who can find?...The heart of her husband trusts in her... She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life. Proverbs 31:10-12 (parts) A major way a woman does good to her husband is to praise him, rather than to bring shame upon him with her words. Women who continue to belittle their husbands are as negligent as a chicken owner who would build no fence, but instead leave his flock to the mercy of a hungry fox.

Heavy Burden

All too frequently we hear of mass murders. The most recent was only a few hours away from here where new immigrants were learning English. We shake our heads and say, "None of this makes any sense! How can man do this to one another?" We wonder where God is in all of this.

Yesterday I ran across a song that was sung at a memorial after sixteen school children and their teacher were killed by a gunman in Scotland in 1996. In speaking to God, the song lyrics went: We cannot measure how You heal or answer every sufferer's prayer, yet we believe Your grace responds where faith and doubt unite. (We Cannot Measure How You Heal- by John Bell)

Indeed there are times when we have to put one foot in front of the other and keep functioning even when life has become a terribly confusing weight. It's at those times that we wonder how we can go on. The burden seems too heavy to carry by ourselves. It's at these times that although we can't understand how God is working, even in all our doubt, we can still call out to God in faith. We need His help. We call out to Him for grace in order to make it through the day, or the hour, or the next few minutes of suffering.

How does God's grace come to us? What is one of the most common ways for His grace to come? I think it's when a friend comes alongside us and lets us talk. A friend who does not judge us or try to fix things. Just simply a friend with a listening heart and time to spare to be with us. The Bible says: Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2 I believe a true friend does this for us and is the evidence of God's grace.

Just like in the picture above where a heavy slab of concrete is being carried by two people, in the same way a burden of the soul is halved when someone helps us carry it. To bear one another's burden is the supreme imitation of Jesus, the ultimate burden bearer, the one who bore all our sins and hurts on the cross.

I pray that God will always bring someone to come alongside of me when I need a friend, and likewise, I pray that I will be sensitive to others and listen with a caring heart when others are in need. As a follower of Jesus, doing the will of God is not a mysterious, unfathomable pilgrimage. Serving Him is as practical and simple as listening to others in their need.

Historical Journal

I kept a journal of our family's camping trips.

Our first camping trip was in Huntsville, Ala. in 1976. Our four children ranged in ages from 3-11. We made three serious mistakes on that first experience with our new (used) pop-up tent camper. First of all, we forgot a can openner. Second of all, we parked at the far end of the campground and found out that in the middle of the night, the walk to the bathrooms is long and dark for us with our young children. Third of all, we found that by parking at the rear of the campground, unknown to us, we had camped right next to a train track. In the middle of the night when the approaching train blew its horn for a nearing crossing, we were jolted awake to hear the train and see its headlight that seemed to be bearing straight down upon us! That's not an experience one forgets!

Our last camping trip was on the edge of the steep gully bank of the family farm in Leicester, NY. in 1984. Our children ranged in ages from 11-19. We left the camper up for the summer. The sap from the trees in the woods and the hot sun ruined the canvas that year, but we didn't have it replaced. We had settled into a different lifestyle, the children were involved in other things, and so, there were no more camping trips. The camper fell into ruin. Just the journal of good memories is left from that time.

In reading through the Bible, I came across an entire chapter that is likewise a camping journal. It's Numbers 33. It reads like this: Moses wrote down their starting places, stage by stage... So the people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth. And they set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, which is on the edge for the wilderness. And they set out from Etham and turned back to Pi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zehpon, and they camped befoe Migdol... Numbers 33:2,5-7 This whole chapter is the camping journal which describes the route which the Israelites took after God set them free from slavery in Egypt.

I continue to be amazed how God has revealed Himself to us. There are spiritual truths about Himself and about us that He wants us to learn. To do that, He took a certain family, the family of Abraham, and has make sure the story of that family has been preserved, camping trips and all, so that we can know for sure the historical accuracy of what has taken place when God interacts with human beings. The Bible is not made-up fables as some people say. It is a historical document of actual happenings.

This week we will celebrate Easter. Easter celebrates the historical event of a man that was resurrected to life after being dead for three days. This man claimed to be the Son of God by His actions and His teachings. He claimed to have overcome death and sin by His death on a cross, and by His burial and resurrection. How thankful I am that the Bible (which has proved to be trustworthy in listing campgrounds in the wilderness) is also trustworthy when it describes this one who has been raised from death. Jesus is the name of this one.

Up To Date News!

Most of us are fascinated by royalty.

How we learn about royalty has changed dramatically in the last 70 years. I remember finding my great aunt Estelle's notebook of important newspaper clippings when my dad was settling her estate in the mid 1960's. In the notebook I found yellowed, crinkled pictures of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. The pictures were pasted in her notebook with the homemade paste my aunt used (flour mixed with water). I remember being surprised at the number of pictures my aunt had found of the coronation. I was even more surprised to realize how fascinated my aunt was with the pageantry of the royal event. She just didn't seem the kind of person to place that much value on the event, but obviously she did!

Then I remember the event of Prince Charles's wedding to Lady Diana. That was before satellite transmission of news. My family and I were glued to the TV waiting for the first plane to arrive in New York from London with a video tape of the event so that it could be telecast in the US. Every hour or so, another plane was dispatched from London with more video. In that manner, we watched the royal wedding only 5 hours after it occurred.

Last night I decided to try to master more of my computer's high speed ability (keep in mind that I am new at surfing the net), and I spent my time locating what I consider the best sources of national and international news (I like to know what's going on in the world). And there it was! A video of President Obama and his wife greeting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip in Buckingham palace. Not only could I see the event, but I could hear their conversation. Wow, I never expected to hear what kind of small talk a Queen makes! But there it was! She asked President Obama if he was suffering from jet lag, and he answered that he had just had breakfast with the Russian and Japanese ambassadors, and he hadn't fallen asleep while talking with them. After that, the next video showed Queen Elizabeth standing in line methodically meeting all of the 20 heads of state convening in London for economic talks. She shook each person's hand and said a few words to them individually. It was fascinating for me to look behind the Queen at the palace furniture and the hallway. I am still amazed this morning to realize I could see the royal demeanour of the Queen in these important matters of state and actually be inside her palace and hear her conversation. How remarkable to be able to do that!

From yellowed newspaper clippings, to video tapes flown in by plane, to instant communication by satellite. Technology and information has improved. I marvel!

But even more, I marvel when I read the Bible! It is more up-to-date than the Internet news. There is so much Bible prophecy that has been fulfilled in the last 70 years. But I believe more is about to be fulfilled.

There is prophecy that before the culmination of this age there will be a charismatic leader who will be given control over the whole world. He will seem to be a deliverer from the violence and the economic woes that are in every nation, but in reality he is a wickedly, deceptive person. Many of the things that will happen when this leader reigns are now possible because of the technology that allowed me to see Queen Elizabeth in Buckingham palace last night. This charismatic, wicked leader will lead at a time when people will go here and there searching out ever increasing knowledge, a time when every human being on the face of the earth can be individually monitored for their activity and purchases, and a time when 2 powerful prophets will be killed in Jerusalem and the whole world will be able to simultaneously view their dead bodies in that place for 3 days. All these prophecies can be fulfilled at any time now because of computers, satellite transmission and the Internet. Never before in man's history have these things been possible. Now these things are possible!

And yet, despite all this mushrooming amount of news, technology, and possibilities, what is the most important news for us? What is the most up-to-date matter all of us need to know. Is it how leaders and royalty interact at conferences and in palaces? No. The Bible tells us the one most important thing for us to know. "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." 1 Corinthians 15:3,4

Easter is a little over a week away. At that time we are reminded of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection. The Bible proclaims that this yearly remembered event in the history of mankind is the news of first importance. That my sins can be forgiven and that Jesus triumphed over death (and so shall I by simply believing in him) is the most up to date news I'll ever hear. Over this I marvel more than over news about royalty.

What Am I Trusting In?

The warmer weather of Spring is beginning to melt the ice off of nearby Silver Lake. However, just last month the lake was hosting lots of ice fishermen. Seeing them out there, I've decided, however, that even in the dead of winter, I wouldn't go out on the ice.

Or would I? Under what conditions would I trust the ice?

Well, I could certainly trust the ice if it was twelve inches thick.

However if I went out on this twelve inch thick ice, I'd be sure to take along some ice picks so that if I fell in, I could get back out. I'd wear a wet suit and a life jacket. Oh, and I think I'd like to have a rope tied around my waist and hooked to a big tree on shore; that way I could pull myself back to land with it. And perhaps I'd take a rubber boat along with me. Then I could climb into it if the ice broke and then wait for the Coast Guard helicopter that I had stationed on shore to pick me up. I've heard air boats that can skim across ice or water are good to have nearby to enact a rescue if necessary, so I'd make sure the pilots of those boats are keeping a close eye on me with high powered binoculars- just in case.

Like I said, I would be able to trust twelve inch thick ice on Silver Lake.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5

We say we trust in the Lord and then we make contingency plans just as thorough as my plans for going out on the trustworthy ice. Doesn't it seem illogical if we say we trust in something, and then we don't? I probably need to think about this some more.

Snowy Owl's Gaze

For many days cars stopped on the shoulder of Route 20A where groups of people would gather with binoculars and spotting telescopes. The draw? A snowy owl that arrived mid afternoons to perch on fence posts, a tree, or telephone poles near the Wyoming-Livingston county line. It was a rare sighting. Perhaps a once in a lifetime sighting. Most snowy owls stay much farther north in the polar regions.

Usually I don't have my camera with me. But one Saturday afternoon I had it with me as I passed the owl's usual hangout. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a huge bird swooping behind some trees. Could it be the snowy owl? I turned my car around and slowly drove back the way I had come. There! Some 200 feet ahead, perched on the telephone pole sat the owl. Knowing how skittish the owl was, I walked forward slowly, taking pictures as I advanced. Glancing at me only occasionally, the snowy owl kept looking all around. (Owls can swivel their heads 270 degrees.) I advanced until I was standing right across the road from the owl. I marveled that my presence hadn't driven him away.

I wanted the snowy owl to look at me, so I whistled. His head snapped around in my direction, and his eyes looked straight at me. I took a picture. Then the owl looked away from me and around at the surrounding fields. I whistled once more. Again the snowy owl looked directly at me, but this time he lifted his huge wings and gracefully and silently took flight.

I thought of the verses I had read that week in Numbers, the 4th book of the Bible. In that place, God revealed the words by which His people were to be blessed. It's the same benediction that we still hear recited in our churches. The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:24-26 Isn't it wonderful to know that God can look directly at us. And in doing that, He wants to bless us.

How interesting, I thought, that we long to have others look at us. Whether it's a snowy owl, other people, or God, we want to be noticed. Obviously, I couldn't be content with just any picture of the snowy owl. I whistled to get his undivided attention. And, likewise, we do all kinds of things to get and keep the attention of people we admire.

I looked up the meaning of "countenance" in Webster's. It means the look on a person's face that shows approval and support. Isn't that what we desire from others? I know I do! Unfortunately, we find that even our most dearly loved family members and friends will eventually disappoint us in this regard. Their faces turn away from us. They may even leave us (like the snowy owl left me). When the approval of our loved one is not upon us, we sense the loss of support, grace, blessing and peace. Not to have our loved ones looking at us with a shining face of love is heartbreak! Devastating heartbreak!

That's when the words from the Bible become precious to us. Although human beings fail us, God won't. He's revealed His heart toward His own in these words from the Bible.

The Effects of Fear

The wind blew hard and the temperature returned to zero. The week of warm weather was over and ponds and rivers turned again to ice. On the Genesee River behind the Mt. Morris dam was a huge reservoir of water accumulated from the recent thaw. At the base of the dam (constructed for flood control in the 1950's) water was slowly being released. This water created a slowly revolving whirlpool of open water. Inside that whirlpool floated circular chunks of ice. They looked like water lilies floating in a garden pond. However, it definitely wasn't the time of year for flowers. And lilies don't slowly rotate like a giant merry-go-round.



However, the scene reminded me of something else. It reminded me of how we respond to fear. Especially in the middle of the night, don't our fears and apprehensions go around and around in our minds? Isn't it as if we're locked into our thoughts and can't see any way out; its just like these chunks of ice trapped in this slow whirlpool.

Icy fears grip us. Around and around our worries go. The thoughts of failing health or impending death. The uncertainty of the economy. The heartbreak of broken relationships. The threat of terrorism and war. The consuming guilt of wrongs that can never be righted.

We should take comfort that one of the most prevalent phrases that God speaks to His people in the Bible is- Don't be afraid! The Old Testament and the New Testament says this dozens and dozens and dozens of times. Isn't it amazing that God wants to help us in the icy fears that trap and paralyze us.

In a few weeks, the ice will leave the Genesee River. The warmth of the sunshine is all it takes. In the same way, all it takes for fear to leave, is to get to know the God who says to us Don't be afraid, the God of the Bible.