WARNING: Long Post… But it’s EZ reading.

In the past when we traveled we carried along a small Tupperware container filled with coins. It was for paying tolls as we rode whatever toll roads were between us and our destination.

The whole paying toll thing is okay. The money is used to pay for usually nice smooth roads and I’m here to say that we’ve driven on some mighty smooth toll roads. The challenge sometimes is actually paying the toll. For example, approaching the toll booth area you might get a sign that says “Pay Toll – 65 cents.” We would scramble through the Tupperware and see if we had the exact change. If we did, we tossed the coins in the basket and moved on.

One time, on a Chicago area tollway, we approached the toll area with exact change. Apparently, unknown to me, I missed the basket with some of our coins. We figured that the green we’ve-counted-your-money-and-you’re-good to-go light wasn’t working, so we continued on. It just so happened, several miles down the road, the car that was behind us at the booth pulled up next to us, people grinning and holding up a sign that read, “you owe us 10 cents!”

Sometimes, we needed to deal with the toll booth person. We’ve made it a practice to try to write down the names of our TBP’s in our trip log. They’re people too after all. Let’s see… Indiana, Deb… Ohio, Frank… New York, Donna… Some took our money with a smile, some not.

Our recent trip brought us a whole new toll paying experience… the EZPass! It’s a remarkable little device that you attach to you windshield, tucked behind the rear-view mirror, no bigger than a Twix bar. By some technological wizardry it takes care of all the toll paying! All we did was slowly make our way through the tollbooth lane, waited for the green we’ve-deducted-your-money-from-a-virtual-Tupperware-container-and-you’re-good to-go light. It’s awesome!

There’s no more hunting for correct change. No more missing the basket. No more stopping. You can just keep right on rollin’. I do miss Deb and Frank, though. But the Tupperware container can now be used for its rightful purpose – storing a bit of mayonnaise or collecting that pile of change that gets emptied out of my pockets at the end of the day.

Orion Nebula

On a clear night last April this is what we saw… sort of. My colleagues and I were on the roof of the observatory at Boston University looking through telescopes at different objects in the night sky. One of the telescopes was focused on the Orion Nebula. Granted we were not getting the Hubble Space Telescope version, but our view of this nebula 1500 light-years away was still pretty awesome. It was a small glimpse of the cosmos on a cool April night.

It’s July now and as I type this I can look out my window for a glimpse of a different cosmos. These flowers are planted along my driveway, about 15 feet away. I’m pretty sure that my colleagues won’t be making the trip across town for a view of my “cosmos,” but I must say they are pretty awesome as well!

Cosmos – The Flowers

In less than a month… yikes!… school begins again. I’ll be making the drive across town to teach kids about the wonders of God’s creation from cosmos to the Cosmos. God made it all. It’s his world. There’s awe and wonder to be found among the stars and delicate beauty to be enjoyed among the flowers. We’ll learn about the power and providence of our creator. The God who placed and directs the planets, stars and nebulae in the vastness of space also cares for the flowers which are here today and will be gone with the first frost. He cares deeply for his creation… and even more so for us.

My wife says she can tell that the new school year is getting closer, yes, by looking at the calendar, but also by how I act! My stress and anxiety level increases she says. Maybe so. Maybe I should take a lesson from the creation. “Therefore I tell you not to worry about your life… Look at the birds of the air…. See how the flowers of the field grow… Seek first his kingdom…” Matthew 6:25-34

The hymn, “This is My Fathers World” is a song about creation but more so a song about God’s sovereignty. It’s also a comfort hymn.

“…why should my heart be sad (stressed, anxious, worried)?
The Lord is King;
let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let the earth be glad!”

Click here to listen to the Dordt College Concert Choir’s wonderful rendition of this hymn.

The wedding was the reason we were there… Not our wedding. We took care of that almost 41 years ago. Nor our kid’s wedding either. They’ve been ‘hitched’ over ten years already. Where does the time go?

Our nephew’s wedding was on Sunday. We flew to Colorado on the Friday before. We saw some of the sites, visited with family and friends and enjoyed a wonderful wedding. A good time.

To me, viewing from the seats, one of the wonders of the weekend, was how this event was successfully pulled off – finding the venue, choosing the food, the ceremony, rehearsing, the Saturday picnic for us out-of-towners, the music, the photography, the reception, the dancing. All of the things that needed to be done got done and a good time was had by all. I’m sure it was a stinkin’ lot of work by a lot of people. Obviously a team effort.

The other wonder of the weekend was the weather. Since Plan A was to have the afternoon ceremony under the glorious Colorado sky, we closely watched the weather. The weather pattern leading up to the big day went like this: in the morning, sunny, beautiful blue skies, clouds building around noon and then thunderstorms later in the afternoon. Hmmm… There was a wee bit of weather worry among the folks to be sure! I’m here to tell you that on Sunday afternoon the weather was glorious. When the storm did come we were safely in the shelter of the reception hall.

Now at this point in the blog one might expect a whole thing on the meaning of marriage. You know, something like… A successful marriage, like this wedding, takes a lot of work and it’s a team effort. No doubt. Or, like this wedding, marriage may be stormy at times. All too true. And then, marriage can be a great time just like we had this weekend. Amen to that!

Unlike this weekend’s wedding, the work continues whether one’s been married 41 years or 41 minutes. However, there will be no preaching from me today. I’ll let the apostle Paul wrap this one up with some words for living, including marriage, that we heard during the ceremony.

“… then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking only to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.” Philippians 2:2-4

Today’s trip to the Farmer’s Market was a complete success!  Some days I can go, battle the crowds and come home with nothing.  Today? I battled the crowds and came home with treasures… Blueberries – the first of the season.  Strawberries – the last of the season.    Green beans – always in season.  Zucchini – not sure why I bought this…  Anyway, mission accomplished at the market and on to other Saturday stuff like mowing the lawn and then lunch.

There’s nothing special about my lunches, really.  Sandwich, chips, apple… It just gets it done.  However, coming in the house I smelled something good.  Something new.  Something roasting in the toaster oven.  I peaked through the window and saw one of the zucchinis cut in half lengthwise with some good stuff my wife put together and spread on top.  There it was toasting away.  Smelling good.

Now I’m not the most adventurous eater in the world.  I’m not one to go out of my way to try a new zucchini recipe, for example.  But, I’m here to tell you that roasted zucchini with the crunchy topping, well,  it was good!  I ate the whole thing and enjoyed it! Something new.  Something good! Today’s gift for the taste buds.  What could be next?  Salmon?

This post is the first one under the new blog name, “Walk as Children of Light… Israel 2013 and Beyond.”  The name is something new.  I hope the blogs, when they happen,  like the zucchini, can also be the day’s gift.