New Blog Title and the Beginning of a New Journey

Now that the big 6-0 has come I have officially entered "My Sixties."  I grew up in the 1960s and that tumultuous decade shaped me.  Now I am in another sixties decade, but this one coincides with my chronological age.  I look ahead to an interesting decade with a new role for me - grandfather and hopefully new challenges.

Always the planner, I really want to live more day to day.  There are so many moments lost because they don't fit into a schedule or plan.  I hope to slow the pace a little and find those moments with my wife and friends.

Travel is in the plans and I will keep this blog updated with those trips. The US National Parks quest is still a goal.  Perhaps a Google Map of parks visited is in order.

Time to Rename this Blog

Today is my 60th birthday, so this blog is no longer a "Prelude to the Sixties" but is about "My 60s."  The official change will be made the day after my birthday, December 29.

Giving Thanks this November

Nov. 19 ‎"It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone." Ephesians 1:11-12 - I am thankful today for God's purpose in my life and that I can continue to seek that purpose on my journey

Nov. 18 ‎"I love those who love me, and those who seek me find me." Proverbs 8:17

I am thankful today that our God is open to us seeking Him and resting in His hands.

Nov. 17 ‎"Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies." Psalm 103:3-4 - I am thankful today for a loving God who forgives my sins.

Nov. 16 "And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 - I am thankful today for the journey I am on and the awesome invitation to walk humbly with God.

Nov. 15 "My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge." Psalm 62:7-8 - I am thankful today for a God who never changes and wants us to trust Him.

Nov. 14 ‎"The Message is as true among you today as when you first heard it. It doesn't diminish or weaken over time. It's the same all over the world. The Message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you." Colossians 1:5 - I am thankful today for the Good News yesterday, today, and always.

Nov. 13 "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" Hebrews 12:1 - I am thankful today for the "cloud of witnesses" in my life.

Nov. 12 "I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains? No, my strength comes from God, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains." Psalm 121:1-2 - I am thankful today for the beauty of God'a creation.

Nov 11 “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 - I am thankful today for Veterans who were willing to lay down their lives for country.

Nov. 10 ‎"The LORD is my light and my salvation—whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life—of whom shall I be afraid?" Psalm 27:1 - I am thankful today for the steadfast confidence we have through God's strength.

Nov. 9 “But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.:" Giving thanks today for Hope.

Nov. 8 “Be still, and know that I am God!" Psalm 46:10 - I am thankful today for moments of stillness used intentionally to sit in the presence of God.

Nov. 7  ‎"I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High." Psalm 9:2 I am thankful today for the gift of music used to praise God. Beautiful worship service of music today. Gods is Good!

Nov. 6 "You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light." Psalm 18:28 - I am thankful today for God's Light in my life.

Nov. 5 ‎"And don't let anyone put you down because you're young. Teach believers with your life: by word, by demeanor, by love, by faith, by integrity." 1 Timothy 4:12 - I am thankful today for the youth and children - past and present - who have taught me so much on my journey.

Nov. 4 "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Collisions 3:15 - Thankful today for the peace that passes all understanding.

Nov. 3 ‎"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7 - Giving thanks today for God's love that allows us to love one another.

Nov. 2 ”I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.” Psalm 119:45 - Today I am thankful to live in a country that values freedom and liberty.

Nov. 1 ‎"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." Ps 136:1. I am thankful for our daughter-in-law Kris on her birthday today. Happy Birthday Kris!

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

 

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying 

A word. 

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. 

Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what you see." 

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. 

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. 

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma the daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?" 

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water. 

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? 

Think of this:  Which am I?  Am I the carrot  that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? 

Am I the egg  that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? 

Or  am I like the coffee bean ? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? 

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. 

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches. 

When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. 

Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. 

You might want to share this message to those people who mean something to you; to those who have touched your life in one way or another ; to those who make you smile when you really need it; to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendship you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life. 

                                        May we all be COFFEE!!!!!!!! 

Perspective

Two or three things that I came across in the past day or so caught my eye.  I'm not sure where they are leading me, but here goes.

First, one of my former students and heroes has begun a two-year stint with the Peace Corps in Cape Verde, Africa.  She has dreamed and planned this for quite sometime.  She has made a commitment that few of us would make - to travel to a distant place and give of her talents in a way that will impact the lives of others in a positive way.  Her blog has told of her first few weeks in Cape Verde and the very different life there.  Roosters on or under the table, bucket baths, hand washing clothes, learning an entirely new language, and many other things.  People in developing countries make do and survive on so much less than we do.  A few of us would be inconvenienced by the demands of life there, but most of us would find surviving difficult, if not impossible.  I have no doubts that this hero of mine will not only survive, but she will thrive as she begins teaching and loving the people of Cape Verde.

Just after reading the blog from Cape Verde, I came across a map titled "Billionaires of the World."  Here is the map.

As a geographer, the spatial distribution intrigues me.  As a person living in a developing country, it makes me realize that the developed world has more than its share of the world's wealth.  I'm no billionaire, but to the developing world I may as well be.  The World Bank estimates that 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day.  You don't have to travel far to see poverty; to see people struggling.  As a Christian, this inequity is something I know we cannot ignore.

Finally, there was a devotion I was reading from Psalm 50.  In it God tells His people that all the world is His.  What is offered to Him as a sacrifice already belongs to Him.  Verses 7-12:

 ⁷ "Hear, O my people, and I will speak,
       O Israel, and I will testify against you:
       I am God, your God.

 ⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices
       or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me.
 ⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall
       or of goats from your pens,
 ¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine,
       and the cattle on a thousand hills.
 ¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains,
       and the creatures of the field are mine.
 ¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you,
       for the world is mine, and all that is in it.


We offer God what is already His.  Seems a bit arrogant doesn't it?  Verses 14 - 15 we read:


14 Set out a sacrifice I can accept: your thankfulness.
     Be true to your word to the Most High.
15 When you are in trouble, call for me.
     I will come and rescue you, and you will honor Me.


The Message closes Psalm 50 this way:


23 It is the praising life that honors me.
    As soon as you set your foot on the Way,
    I'll show you my salvation.


We who have so much in this world cannot keep it beyond this life.  Our neighbors - our brothers and sisters - are in need.  Each of us can find a way to help, to share, to ease someone's pain. Not all of us can join the Peace Corp, but we an all find a way to help others.  It starts with giving thanks to God for all that He has provided. Through that thankfulness, that "praising life" we can find ways to "act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

The Grand Canyon from the Colorado River

  
I recently spent a week on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.  I have visited Grand Canyon National Park several times and I have seen it from several perspectives.  From the river the canyon took on a wholly different character.

My last two visits to the canyon were rim-to-rim hikes, traversing the Grand Canyon from the South Rim to the North Rim; a kind of cross section of the canyon at one of its widest points.  On this traverse, one starts at the top, descends through the rock strata to the inner gorge and the river, then ascends through the same rock strata on the opposite rim.  One rim appears to mirror the other in that the rock strata progresses from youngest at the top to the oldest at river level.

Traveling the length of the canyon from Lees Ferry (Mile 0) to Diamond Creek (MIle 226) reveals the rock strata is a different way.  Rock strata were exposed at river level and then rose as the river cut deeper into the Colorado Plateau.  Just below Lees Ferry we saw Coconino Sandstone exposed at river level.  Much farther down the river the Coconino is 3,000 feet above the river.  The deeper we traveled in the canyon the more rock strata were revealed.  In the Inner Gorge, or Granite Gorge, Vishnu schist and Zoraster marble towered above the river.  These are the oldest rocks in the canyon; up to 1.8 billion years old.

The Grand Canyon is an awesome place from any perspective; but seeing it unfold mile after mile as I traveled downriver, made me even more aware of the geologic processes that created it.  Following the river also set a pace that lent itself to times of reflection and action.  To drift along still waters watching the canyon walls slip quietly by left one with a sense of peace.  There is a spiritual quality to still waters. God instructs us through the psalmist, "Be still and know that I am God."  Slipping by one billion year old rocks in quiet solitude brought me close to that ideal.

In other places the river provided us with a sense of its great power.  Dropping several feet down a rapid gave one the sense of the eroding power of the river.  Erosion and debris from side canyons and drainages create the rapids, and the river riffles, cascades and falls as it passes over the submerged rocks. In some places huge rocks block part of the river, leaving only a tight run to the left or the right.  Uncertainty in these rapids can lead to disaster rather quickly.  Our raft guides expertly negotiated the rapids, leaving us both thrilled and wet.

My time on the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon proved to be a greater experience that I had anticipated.  The river guides and my fellow river runners were excellent travel companions.  Listening to the sound of the river at night was calming and produced restful sleep.  The descending call of the canyon wrens in the evening is a sound I can still hear in my mind.  Most of all the colors of the canyon, changing with morning and evening light, are my overriding memory.  Film does not always catch the nuances of shadow and light; the canyon is meant to be seen and experienced.

I know I will return to the Grand Canyon another time.  There is so much more of it to experience.

On Missions and Being Missional

The mission team from First Baptist Church of Marion returned from its annual mission trip to Belize last week.  Like all mission trips this one was both fulfilling and challenging.  Fulfilling in that we met or exceeded our mission goals and expectations and we deepened relationships with our friends there and built new relationships.  Challenging in that we attempted more and varied projects.  You can read about the facets of our trip on the Belize Mission blog at http://fbc-belize.blogspot.com/.



Upon returning home I began to reflect and process the previous week-and-a-half I spent in Belize. I also began to think of missions and being "missional." My Facebook status the day I returned was:

Home from Belize. Our week there was probably the best ever. The transition back to "normal" will take a few days. Maybe doing missions should be the norm.

That got a few responses from friends about missions being the norm.  If we look at missions as a week here and a day there, we can say we are doing missions.  But if missions becomes the norm; if we daily seek ways to minister to and help others, then we become missional.  The missional person or the missional church is when doing missions is what is routinely done.  Seeking out opportunities or just responding to needs as they arise is being missional.  We don't need to do big things all the time.  Missional behavior is also in the small things we do.  A phone call to a friend, a note to someone we know has a particular need, visiting with loved ones, caring for an elderly family member, sharing a laugh with a friend.  We don't need to look far for a mission field; it can be next door, in our church, or anywhere there is a need.

We are all called to use our gifts to help others and to build the Kingdom of God.  We build the Kingdom with each act of compassion we show, with each nail we hammer, with each meal we share, and with the words we say.  A caring hug suffices when words fail.

Going on mission trips opens one's eyes to the needs of people everywhere.  We can't fix all the problems alone.  But as a wise person told me, "Focus on doing one thing for one person."  A good mantra for being missional.  

INSIGHT

A Star Gift for 2010

Last Sunday we celebrated Epiphany at church. At the beginning of worship everyone was invited to take a "star gift" - a star cut out with a word printed on it. The words were different and it was a random choice as to what word you received. Words such a HEALING, ENDURANCE, COMPASSION, TENDERNESS, SHARING among many others. The word you receive is your word for the year. A word to ponder, a word to apply in one's life, a word to guide, and a word to lead one through the year.

My word is INSIGHT. What will it mean for me this year? How will God use that word in my life? How will I apply INSIGHT in my life?

It was suggested that we first use a dictionary to understand the meaning of our word. One definition for INSIGHT is "the capacity to gain an accurate and deep intuitive understanding of a person or thing." Some synonyms yielded by the thesaurus are: discernment, perception, awareness, understanding, and comprehension.

How appropriate that we all received a star gift on Epiphany; the day the Church celebrates the adoration and gifts of the Magi for the Christ Child. Those Wise Men who sought Jesus were led and drawn to Him. They were not of the Jewish faith, yet Matthew's Gospel records their following His Star until they found Him and worshipped with joy. How did that encounter change them? That we don't know, but one meaning of epiphany is: "a moment of sudden revelation or insight." There's that word again!

Perhaps I will find moments of insight - an epiphany - during this year. It could be a star blazing in the sky, but it likely will be in the "still small voice" - even a whisper. Being open, being still, and listening are the disciplines I need.

If you received a star gift last Sunday, I look forward to sharing our experiences this year. If you did not, choose a word that you want to pursue during the year.

Waterfalls on the Stream

It is often said that the years go by faster and faster as we get older. Much like a river or stream, time flows on. Our perception is that time flows ever faster and more swiftly with the passing year. The truth is there are 365 days in 2010; the same number of days as last year.

Often my hikes take me on trails that parallel a mountain stream. There is something soothing about the sounds of a stream tumbling down a slope. I can walk for miles beside a stream and just listen to the sounds it makes; moving with the stream, not stopping, just flowing along. But a waterfall changes that. Hikers always stop for a waterfall. They even go out of their way to get close to a waterfall. Something about falling water captivates us. A waterfall alters the flow of the stream in a dramatic way, and it causes us to stop and take notice. We linger, watch the water cascade over rocks, and try to track an individual drop of water from top to bottom.

As 2010 begins we will soon feel the pull of the stream of time. We can get caught up in the swift passing of the days. Or we can listen and look for "waterfalls" along the stream of 2010. We can take a few minutes to stop and observe the beauty of the moment: a conversation with a friend, a hug from a child, a smile from a stranger, a feeling of peace. I am going to look for the waterfalls along the stream of time this year.

Happy New Year!