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.

Today’s gift…

Enough said.

As we made our way west to visit the kids, we chose to take the back roads across central Oregon.  We like back roads.  They get you away… away from the busy, crowded highways into places that you might just whoosh by on an interstate. They also get you away from ‘making good time.’.  Oh well, we have time. We’re on vacation.

We discovered places that are dry and and places that are wet… Wide, expansive  places and places that have things tightly packed…  Some were full of hard things and some filled with soft things…  We saw things from far away and some things up close… None of which we would have seen from the interstate. We like the back roads. They take you places at a pace that allows you see and appreciate things… Like these in the following slide show…

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Now that the summer travel season is upon us … Let’s review a bit before I give you today’s timely travel tip.

The Rules
1. Generally, the time traveled is less than or equal to the time stayed.
2. Always live in the time zone you are in.
3. Pack what you will use and use what you pack… ordinarily

How did we do today…?
#1- No problem for this trip. Today was a long stinkin’ day, but a good one!
#2- Maybe the rule should be embrace the time zone you are in. We left the house early this morning and after eight hours of travel arrived at our destination before noon! Love the time zones!
#3- Shouldn’t have a problem with this one unless the temp drops!

Now for a timely, travel tip. When staying at a motel, sometimes it’s hard to remember the room number. Do what we do. Associate the room number with its corresponding number in the gray Psalter Hymnal. For example, room 620 = “By the Sea of Crystal.” Today’s room number is ”When Moses Raised the Serpent Up.” If you want to know what the number is, I guess you’ll have to look it up.

It’s funny how things work out sometimes what with… the bloody nose… branting … “Who me? Sing with the choir.”… a big hug… I’m telling you, my mind is just spinning. I don’t know where to start, but I’ll try…

I really didn’t need to go, but I did and it’s a good thing! I like a good choir and the Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys, a great choir, sang in our church tonight.

So there I was enjoying the concert when suddenly one of the boys, about age 8, went down in the middle of a song! Actually, he went up… up the aisle pinching his bloody nose. A perfect branting situation I thought.

There are only a few people, my immediate family to be exact, who know about branting, the origin of which I’ll save for another time. Anyway, branting is a sudden, unexpected substitution for… say, a performer with a bloody nose, by another…say, me, who is sitting there ready and able to jump in and save the day.

Imagine this… The director, seeing the kid go ‘down’ and realizing that the song is now in jeopardy, turns and catches my eye. I give him a quizzical, ‘Who me?’ kind of look, then a little nod. Without missing a beat, he points with his left hand to the now empty spot into which I coolly slide and seamlessly continue the song, singing the once vacant soprano part. That’s branting. It didn’t go down that way, though. I was asked to sing a hymn with the choir, along with the other 250 people there…. Not exactly branting.

It was a great concert. Afterwards, as I was heading up the aisle, heading out, a much more remarkable thing happened… Outa the blue, a mom of one of the boys, Michelle, former student, East Christian 8th grade class of ’88, zipped across the sanctuary and gave me a huge hug! We had a great time reminiscing and catching up! Michelle is doing well. So am I thanks to a fine concert and a wonderful reunion. Funny how things work out. I didn’t need to go tonight, but I’m glad I did.