Yesterday, the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, I played golf! There’s no need to go into how it came about that on this late fall day I ended up playing golf with my brother-in-law and a former college roommate. But I’m here to tell you that we did and we had some fun.

As far as the golf went… 

I hit the ball far … and not so far…. waaaaaay left, waaaaaay right, seldom straight. On some holes I used multiple fairways, but mostly the rough. I explored woods, swamps, ponds, sand traps and backyards in search of my golf ball. If you’re keeping track, I lost more golf balls than I found….. and … If I can brag a bit, I shot my best score of the year… um … my only score of the year, several dozen strokes above par. High score wins, right? Sheesh.

As for the rest of the experience….

I enjoyed the warmish fall day. It was nice to be outside. We three, all teachers, had good conversations, shared stories, talked golf. We groaned about poor shots, almost got hit by one from the group behind us and praised the good ones (in my case the good one…). We talked school, caught up on life, laughed a lot, had fun. For me it was better than the golf. All in all a good few hours spent on a late November day.

I’m just gong to say this right up front. Don’t look for any profound insights as you read along. I’m on vacation, riding the Amtrak rails to NY for Thanksgiving. So here are some random thoughts as we ride along. 

The sunrise… I can’t say that is was spectacular. I’ve seen better. We’re sitting on the ‘sunrise side of the train. The sun oozed its way through a thin layer of fleecy clouds, getting the job done in its not-to-flashy way this morning. A new day.

The train bathrooms… We got on the train at midnight plus thirty minutes, plunked down in our assigned seats, constructed our nest and went to sleep. My first experience with the Amtrak bathrooms was this morning. What would I find? I was pleasantly surprised. The space was neat, relatively clean. Apparently, my traveling companions adhere to the philosophy of leaving things better for the next guy.

Vineyards... A lot of the view from the train window is of the backsides of towns that you travel through. I guess the folks that build the big, nice houses choose to build far away from the ‘wrong side of the tracks.’ However, this morning as we chugged through a bit of Pennsylvania, we were in the middle of rows and rows of vineyards. Bare vines twining along their supporting wires, resting, taking the winter off, before getting back to the business of bearing fruit. A vacation of sorts for them, I guess.

The car attendant… Here’s my only encounter with the car attendant. As she was bustling up the aisle one of the passengers asked her for some attending. The attendant put her off momentarily with, “I need to be where I am first…” Hmmmmm… aren’t you always where you are? I guess what’s important is what you do with the opportunities you have when you are there.

Free coffee…? Yep, no questions asked.

Why NY…? Since the time my Mom couldn’t travel because of age and health, we’ve spent every Thanksgiving at our house. The family that could trekked to our house. Always a good time. My mom passed away last June, an eternal Thanksgiving for her, you might say. So, we are venturing off….

Thanksgiving…. I will be looking around the table later today and quietly thanking God for the people ‘where I am’ and thanking him also for the others ‘where I am not.’

Final destination….. We’ll be arriving at our stop soon. The nest has been dismantled and we’re ready to go. I don’t know exactly what the plans are for our time there, but I’m sure it will be great.

I wasn’t going to bring this up tonight. Maybe people get sick of hearing the same old thing from me, but…. As I headed east I noticed the rising almost-full-moon, pale, peaking up over the trees close to the horizon. It was HUGE! or at least ‘appeared’ to be huge.

I knew that if I took my hands off the wheel and stuck my arm out toward the moon, thumb out next to it, the moon would shrink back to the normal high-in-the-sky moon size… nice, but not huge.  What I’m afraid some people may be tired of hearing about is the “moon illusion.”

What’s all too real is tomorrow’s funeral. Many of us will attend a funeral for the husband of a close friend. He loved the Lord, was a good husband, father and grandfather. He will be missed by those who knew and loved him.

I’ve been to more than a few funerals. There’s a pattern and a certain amount of predictability that comes with funerals of believers. Perhaps we will hear a story or two that will cause us to smile or lead us to tears, probably both. We’ll hear words of comfort that will be needed now and for the days to come. We’ll hear words from scripture that remind us that Jesus is “the resurrection and the life.” He conquered death and hell and that we belong to him ‘body and soul.’ Through all of it God will be worshiped.

I may sound like I’ve heard it all before, the same old thing. But, I’m here to tell you that what we will hear about and experience tomorrow is real. Real comfort, real truth about the way things are – in life … and in death. Unlike today’s moon, it’s not an illusion.

I really wasn’t going to write this tonight, but it’s a story worth telling and hearing over and over again. And in spite of the pain, sadness and tears of saying good-bye to one much loved, experiencing Jesus’ grace and love will be tomorrow’s gift.

Once or twice a year teachers at my school are assigned an ‘opportunity’ to do devotions for the staff. Not my favorite assignment..

In the past I’ve read a Psalm, picked out something from a book, used a song, wrote a story… and … forgot all about it and just prayed. It’s my turn next Monday. What to do? What to do?

I feel just a wee bit of pressure coming up with something to do devotion-wise for the staff. It can’t be too long (Leave them wanting more, right?), but it needs to be long enough to be worth it. When ‘performing’ in front of one’s peers you want it to be good after all. There’s a lot to think about when trying to produce one of these things…. pressure!

I tell my students that when we do devotions at the beginning of the day we are focusing on God. Devotions help us praise God for what he’s done in the world, in our lives. They provide reminders of God’s providence, giving us peace in trying times. They remind us that we belong to God body and soul. So I guess I should practice what I preach for my edition of faculty devotions. Its not about me… devotions are about God.

So for Monday… I put together a little something about God, the creator. The more I worked through it the more I was reminded how the wonders of Creation point us to God. In our tough times and in the good times, the God who cares for and loves his creation, all the more loves and cares for us.

Tap on the photo or click on the arrow below for  Monday’s faculty devotions.

Here they are… 

On  a cold brisk afternoon.

Sandhill cranes.

Today’s Gift.

   
    
    
    
   

Yesterday was a picture perfect day. It wasn’t because of the sky’s idyllic blue expanse dotted with white clouds scudding from horizon to horizon. There were no pleasant shirt-sleeve temperatures. Instead the sky with leaden clouds like a gray cloak, embraced the horizon. They spit chilled water on those that needed, or wanted to be outside that day. What made yesterday picture perfect for me was… the wind.

The weather report indicated high wind warnings around our part of the state. That meant… big waves on Lake Michigan, really big waves, or so they said. I had to get there with my camera to witness the spectacle, but when? I had a stretch of two hours and a bit among my Parent-Teacher Conferences in the middle of the afternoon. I decided to go for it. It would require an hour and a half on the road for 15 minutes on the beach – a definite violation of the “K—–g’s Rules of Travel.”

When the time came I grabbed my camera and drove into the teeth of the west wind to South Haven, claimed one of the last parking places at the beach and ventured out to shoot the wind.

I was excited! This was a great photographic opportunity. Frankly, between you and me, I already had plans for what to do with the soon-to-be prize winning pictures I’d be snapping… and snap away I did.

The scene was awesome! Great humps of rolling water moved upriver and over the concrete walls lining the Black River which tried to flow down to Lake Michigan where it belonged. Water was pushed and puddled up all along the river walkway heading to the pier and the lighthouse.

The gray lake water rose up and smacked the pier, releasing a frothy white-wash all along it’s length. The lighthouse at its end stood solid against the onslaught of smothering spray drenching it from top to bottom. It was awesome.

I realized about ten minutes into my 15 minute stay (I had to be back for a 5 PM conference!) that I had been shooting pictures through the rain dripping down the end of my lens. Crap! But, not to worry. I wiped the lens dry and shot a few more prize-winners, wiped the lens again, shot a few more. It was time to go.

Once I was in the car I took a quick look at the pictures I had taken… not impressive. Something wasn’t right, but I had to get back to school. Evaluating the pictures would have to wait.

Maybe it was the excitement of actually doing this adventure or my haste in getting to the lake. Perhaps, it was pride in my picture taking abilities. I don’t know. What I do know is that I took over a hundred marginal shots of an awesome scene. None of them crisp and sharp, most were blurry. I discovered that my camera was still on the settings I used to photograph the moon and planets a week ago – long shutter speed for limited light. It was on a tripod then, so no problem with blur. However, that didn’t work for yesterday’s adventure.

This photo is one of the best of the bunch. Blurry. Not a prize winner. Forget about my plans for it. I was disappointed and I still am.

So it was a lesson-learned. I will always check the settings on my camera before shooting, for sure. … and… the wind, water and waves were still awesome, whether I captured them digitally or not. I have recorded the event in my brain using my eyes, ears and the sensation of stinging sand blasted against any exposed skin.

A picture perfect day? Yes.

A perfect picture taker? No.

A wonderful experience to be sure. I’m glad I was there.

Jupiter… at the top

Venus …  next to the waning crescent moon

Mars …. the little one above Venus.

This morning’s gift.

“This is my Father’s World… let me not forget.”

Here’s what I was thinking this morning…

Prayer List

• Family – _____ ?
• Friends – ______ ?
• Work – ______ ?
• Health – _____ ?
• ??

… for the times we don’t know how or for what to pray, the Spirit fills in the blanks.

“But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words… ” Romans 8: 25, 26

Today’s Gift!