Stuff That! Share This!

Although most of our spare moments now are spent preparing for the Passover Seder, Louis & I snuck a statewide taxidermy show into our busy schedule & I attended the 1st Young Life banquet for the Bitterroot Valley. Sherry will probably tell about the second, so I'll include some photos of the first outing. I considered the banquet a success in sharing the vision of reaching the unchurched youth of the Bitterroot Valley for Christ. The taxidermy show included mounts, paintings & sculptures. Louis took pictures of some of our favorites.

Esther's now in Hampton, Virginia

After visiting relatives & friends, Esther & I drove to Spokane one more time. She boarded the plane for Phoenix, Charlotte & then Norfolk around 7:45 a.m. yesterday. Before I went to sleep back in Florence last night, she had called to say that she had arrived safely. Now she is commited to the Lord, while she is with her birth father, Jason.

When you are 19, the world is one grand adventure. I am praying that "this adventure" will both mature Esther & draw her closer to the Lord. She had one moment of hesitation after buying a magazine to read on the plane. She stopped midway up the ramp to the security area in the airport which you see behind her in the first picture. "Mom, I've decided to stay here." Then on second thought & realizing everything she was taking with her was already loaded on the plane, she sighed & continued up the ramp. Many gestures of goodbye & love followed...waves, blowing kisses, "I love you" in sign language, etc. She placed her coat & carry-on bags in the bins to be scanned & walked out of my view. She cell-phoned at each change of plane. The Lord gave her a good journey, although the plane in Phoenix was delayed over an hour due to mechanical repairs. She barely made the switch at Charlotte to the plane for Norfolk, as a result.

These last two photos were taken at my parents' home on Sunday, as we visited. Thanks to everyone who has been praying for her & me. I listened to & sang praise music as I drove back to Missoula from the Spokane airport. It took away the ache in my chest, but the tears did fall for awhile.

Happy Purim!

Once again we celebrate the fact that the whole order of the universe has to cease to exist for anyone - named Haman, Hitler or otherwise - to wipe out the Jewish people.

See Jeremiah 33:20-26.

I baked several dozen hamantashen to celebrate Purim today at Beth Tephila...actually a day early. Purim starts at sundown tonight. We read the story of Esther & Mordecai, using the grogger noisemakers when Haman's name was mentioned, wolf whistling when Esther's name was read & shouting, "Hurrah" when Mordecai's name was heard. See my Purim 2005 blog entry for the hamantashen recipe.

We have much to celebrate. God was good and gave us four more lambs within the last 24 hours! Now only one ewe has not delivered a lamb this year. Our Columbian ewe doesn't even look pregnant, so she may not be. She didn't have a lamb last year & delivered very late in the Spring the previous two years.

Rejoicing & Mourning

I am still rejoicing that Joe accepted the Lord when our Bible Study group interceded in prayer. We are also rejoicing that he has already gone home to be with his new Lord. We mourn with our sister, Linda, who will miss him. Now all 5 of her brothers are with the Lord, to her knowledge. She & her sister are still here.

I am rejoicing that our lambing season has begun & 2 new lambs are wobbling near their mother ewes tonight. Louis & I are mourning that only 1 lamb survived each set of triplets born yesterday. Four little cold, wooly bodies are bagged & waiting for garbage day because we were not expecting their arrival until March. The ewes had not developed full bags, as they usualiy do before delivery. They also had continued to eat well the evening before the night births, so we were not tipped off that we needed to check any of the ewes closely. God was merciful to spare one lamb for each ewe.

I rejoice that God allowed us the joys of parenting via adoption. We mourn that Esther has decided to move to live with her birth Dad, Jason. We release her to the Lord, knowing He can continue to woo her to Himself in Virginia, as well as here in Montana. Esther's last day at Staples is March 4th - Purim of all things! Esther's feast! Jason has bought a ticket for her from Spokane on March 13th. Tempus Fugit!!

Love & Respect

Two week-ends ago, Missoula hosted a "Love & Respect" Conference for couples. Emerson Eggerich's organization was not sure if it could break even in Montana. Although there were 1600 seats available, they expected no more than 600-800 to be filled. Surprise! Not only did the conference sell-out, more & more couples (especially from Canada) were still calling trying to get into the conference after it was sold-out. Several near-by states were well-represented, in addition to numerous Canadians. Louis & I knew we couldn't attend since much of the conference was on Shabbat, when we lead Beth Tephila. So, Louis went on-line & purchased the set of 4 cassette tapes. Emerson reads his book to you on these cassettes..."Love & Respect: The Love She Most Desires, the Respect He Desperately Needs."

The second & third trips I drove to Spokane recently, zipped by while I listened to these tapes. Louis had already listened to them while driving to & from work. They are now on loan to my sister, who heard two of the tapes while on the second trip with me.

The content is organized into three cycles:
1. The Crazy Cycle - with which nearly all married couples are all too familiar. She doesn't feel loved, so she doesn't react with respect. He doesn't feel respected, so he doesn't react with love. They each step on the airhose needed for the mate to be able to breathe properly. She needs love to breathe & he needs respect to breathe. It goes round & round in most homes, even though both spouses are well-intentioned, at least at the beginning of the interaction. They do not understand each others comments, because the same words do not mean the same thing to each of them. ie. She says, "I don't have anything to wear." (Meaning, I don't have anything new to wear.) He says, " I don't have anything to wear." (Meaning, I don't have anything clean to wear.)

2. The Energizing Cycle - with which a spouse can stop the crazy cycle & energize her/his mate. Emerson gives 2 six-letter acronyms to help a spouse remember what energizes the mate. Men are to remember the acronym "COUPLE" & women are to remember "CHAIRS". I focused on the CHAIRS: C - Men are made for conquest... so support your man in his work &/or other challenges in life.
H - stands for hierarchy. The man is held most responsible for the marriage by God, so he should hold the final authority on making decisions... after getting input from her, of course. They are equal before Him, just with differing roles.
A - represents the appreciation, which he also feels as "respect", that he craves as much as the air he breathes.
I - is for the insight men have so that they are not as easily deceived as women - even with all our intuition. She should be willling to listen to & even ask for that insight from him.
R - represents the relationship that he wants. It is usually summed up in his mind as "shared experiences".
S - sex is the last but not least item of male energizers. God made men with a need for sexual release. If she withholds sex from her spouse, she sets him up for huge temptations. Men also spell "intimacy" as sex. Women spell it as "heart to heart talking".

3. The Rewarded Cycle - is the best part of Emerson's book/tape. Each spouse is expected by God to give unconditional love to her or unconditional respect to him. Why? Because our responses to each other are not really about the mate at all. They are all about our relationship to Jesus. No matter what our spouse does or does not do, we can still react appropriately with the help of the Holy Spirit. It's a matter of spiritual maturity. How we respond to any irritant only reveals who we are inside. If your mate never reacts correctly back, that does not take you off the hook. If you are not rewarded for your correct responses on this earth, you will definitely receive His rewards in heaven, for such unconditional love or respect is what pleases Him!!

All the above points were "fleshed-in" with numerous examples & Scriptural passages. I recommend the book, tapes or conference to anyone who wants to strengthen their marriage.

Safely home with Esther

Just after passing the 10,000 Silver Dollar Cafe in the Haugen area of Lost Trail Pass, I saw rescuers trying to get to a white 4x4 vehicle that had skidded off the road & turned over on its top. A few miles later, west-bound traffic was routed along a secondary route due to a large accident between a semi-truck & one or more vehicles which spread parts all over the highway for a quarter of a mile. Except for those two accidents that both happened just before I drove through the snowy pass on my way to Spokane, my trip to pick up Esther was uneventful. Esther arrived as scheduled at the airport & we both coughed our way through the first part of the night as Esther shared about her experiences in Virginia. (My viral symptoms had returned during my previous trip to Spokane & Esther had picked up a different virus while in the Norfolk area.) Despite the hacking, the night was one of the most intimate times we have shared for a long time. Esther related not just facts, but feelings & impressions & gratefulness for her Montana up-bringing. I rubbed her back & silently thanked the Lord for this quiet time to be with her before she moves completely across the country.

If I can get a couple of the photos she had taken with her birth father & family, I'll try to post them. (They are added now. These were taken while Esther was in Virginia. The photo on the right is of Esther in the back, her birth dad, Jason, & his fiance, Elizabeth in the center & Esther's 1/2 sister, Sarah in the front. Added to the left photo are: Jason's brother, Neal, between Jason & Elizabeth; Jason's parents in the center; Neal's son in front of Esther & Sarah.)

We coughed our way back home... over snowy passes again, but without difficulty. Esther had to be at work at Staples by noon today & we made it in time. Someone had siphoned the gas from her car, so she sputtered her way to Staples from her apartment. I left the Yukon & prayed the Grand Am from Staples to Costco, with a flashing light & a binging alarm letting me know that we were running only on fumes. The gas gauge was below empty. PTL! for small miracles such as getting to the gas station.

Esther is still in Virginia with her birth Dad, although she has tried to get out of the airport there on a couple of different days without success. I finally drove back home from Spokane without her. Her next tentatively scheduled flight to Spokane is on Sunday.

She plans on being home for only a couple of weeks. She & Jason (birth Dad) have decided that she should move to Virginia. She already gave notice at Staples over the phone before she told us of the plans. So I don't say or do anything dumb, I'm just praying a lot.

Neighborhood Bible Study Outreach

My neighbor, Linda, usually hosts our Thursday Precepts Bible Study in her lovely home that overlooks the Bitterroot Valley. Two weeks ago, she & her husband drove to Missouri to visit her eighty year-old brother, who is dying of cancer. Joe is the last of her five brothers. All five were fighting in WWII at the same time, but Joe was the only one to come back hardened & scarred. (One died in the war,though.) Joe has never wanted to hear the gospel from Linda or other family members. During this visit, whenever Linda would try to talk about the Lord, Joe would make a flippant remark & turn to the wall. He is bedridden & looks like a concentration camp prisoner at this point. Joe has refused hospice care or help, as well. Linda returned home discouraged & afraid that Joe was beyond "saving."

Before our study, Linda heard from her niece that she would try one more time to talk to Joe about the Lord if we would support her in prayer. So while the niece shared Jesus with Joe in Missouri, seven women prayed for his salvation in Montana. After 10 minutes or so, we continued the rest of our study. Around supper time, Linda called me rejoicing. Miracle of miracles, Joe not only listened to his niece but also asked Jesus into his life!! How privileged we were to be a small part of this transformation. Don't give up on any of your relatives or friends who still need to know the Lord. Their salvation may only be a few prayers away also.

God's creativity at work

I've been waking up around 3 a.m. recently, so I have the chance to have some great heart to heart talks with the Shepherd. Last night I turned over several areas, asking God to use Louis & me in His way & at His timing.

We were awakened a few hours later by a phone call from a desperate Mom from Indiana asking for our help. "We are Reformed Jews & know you are Messianic, but we need someone to help our son who is a Junior at the University in Missoula. We Jews should stick together, right?" she began. Her son has about three days to do 16 hours of community service for a church or synagogue or he will be sent to jail. She gave us some particulars and the phone number of her son, Ryan. We also got the phone number of the lady handling his court case in Indiana. A couple of hours & numerous other calls followed. The court case manager faxed the paperwork needed to our bank & we lined up 16 hours or more of work for Ryan. By 10:30 Louis had zipped through the animal chores, prepared for work & left to meet Ryan at Lolo Community Church... 2 large lox & bagel sandwiches in hand. Louis supervised the snow-shoveling job there until almost time for him to leave for work. I came to take his place just as they were finishing the lox & bagels. Since Ryan liked the sandwich, my intro. went smoothly as the sandwich-maker. For three hours we chatted on & off as Ryan completed the shoveling of the parking lot, split & stacked some wood for the Rocky MT Mission office & mopped the floor of the church gym. We drank some hot chocolate about half-way through to warm-up & further break the ice in getting to know each other. Tomorrow Ryan will meet us at Lincoln School Baptist Church where Beth Tephila meets. We are not creative enough to think up this scenario for reaching out to Jewish students in our area. God is! (The few signs we have posted on campus are torn down within hours of their posting. We have received only one or two calls from the publicity ads in the campus paper, etc.)

Cantus Firmus

I've just read an article by Jill Carattini about how the telling of our life stories or narrating the biography of someone else is full of awe & complexities. She quotes Roger Lundin, a biographer. To be able to recognize the competing claims & the intricate complexity of human motivation is a gift & a necessity for writing a good biography, just as it is a necessity for understanding fairly & creatively & justly another human life. The task of putting our life or someone else's into words is more difficult than we often admit. How would you describe a deceased grandparent to children who never met that loved one? The lives of historical or Biblical characters are equally challenging. Jill then quoted some from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who spoke in musical terms as he tried to describe his life to a friend. He introduced the idea that life cannot be reduced to one note or a monotone. The cantus firmus, meaning "fixed song", is a pre-existing melody that forms the basis of a polyphonic composition. Though the song ushers in twists in pitch & style, counterpoint & refrain, the cantus firmus is the enduring melody not always in the forefront, but always playing somewhere within the composition. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, life was a great work of sounds & symphonic directions, & the cantus firmus was the essence, the soul of the concerto. God wants us to love him eternally with our whole hearts, not in such a way as to injure or weaken earthly life, but to provide a kind of cantus firmus to which the other melodies of life provide the counterpoint. One of these contrapunctal themes is earthly affection... Where the cantus firmus is clear & plain, the counterpoint can be developed to its limits. (1)

Bonhoeffer was facing execution as he confessed life to be an awe-inspiring symphony, a melody to behold with attention & appreciation for a great array of intricate choruses. In this intricacy, there is no better song composed than one that finds as its ground bass a wholehearted love of God. Where the enduring melody of life itself is a tune written & played for God, the composition can resound even to heaven. This type of melody endures beyond the chorister who sang it.

When Jesus spoke of life, he spoke of multiple realms, of life as it is on earth & in heaven. Like a great composition, there are layers to faith & belief, communion & the Kingdom, story & song. There is a sense in which all of our stories are similar, written by the great composer of music and sound. And yet each song is also uniquely our own. For me, as no doubt for you, there have been minor sounds when God seems absent or life seems removed from any chorus of hope. Then again, there have also been moments when the cantus firmus of truth & love resounds in major tones & God comes near in the doxology.

So how do we tell the story of a human life? How do we articulate counterpoints & melodies & tempos? Like the one after God's own heart, perhaps we start with the song at the center of our own souls, as we listen for the arrangement in our neighbors':
By day the LORD directs His love,
at night His song is with me -
a prayer to the God of my life.
Psalm 42:8

His presence is the cantus firmus, set in the deepest center of a life, discovered & held over a lifetime. His love is the enduring melody that puts our stories to song.

(1) Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters & Papers from Prison ( New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997), page 303.

Life as an octagenarian...

Dad turned 81 on Saturday & Mom will do so in July. When I'm not in their presence, I picture them in their mid-life years. They say that they feel in their 30's inside, constantly being surprised at how limited their bodies are becoming. I praise God for the moderately good health that they have enjoyed to this point. They are slowing down, requiring some rest mid to late afternoon. Dad continues to be the hospice chaplain for Ravalli County & Marcus Daly Hospital chaplain. Such work has been so fulfilling. He & Mom, who also volunteers with hospice & goes on visits with him, are personally known by nearly everyone on the streets in Hamilton. They are universally loved. The Lord so blessed me by sovereignly placing me in their home 57 years ago!

Esther will be meeting her birth Dad, Jason, for the first time in a little over a week. She has been chatting with him by phone since early last summer. I plan to drive her to Spokane on February 7th to catch her flight to Virginia, where he is a policeman. He has a 12 year-old daughter, Sarah, who is Esther's half-sister. Esther is as eager to meet her as to see Jason. Her cell phone bill doubled this month with all the calls back & forth as this week-long visit was planned.

Madison & Jasmine need a home

Esther rescued these kittens from the animal control shelter in Missoula. They had been found half-drowned. Problem #1 : Esther's apartment lease does not allow animals. Problem #2 : Esther named the kittens Madison & Jasmine & kept the kittens in her apartment anyway until a shake-down of her triplex evicted the kittens. Problem #3 : Esther could not find anywhere to take the kittens & we told her not to bring them home. She brought them here while I was at a Bible Study & Louis,
having a soft heart for animals, could not say "NO!" Problem #4 : Is no longer Esther's but ours. Her cat, Rachel, is not accepting these kittens at all. We need to find another home. They are litter box trained & entertain each other well. I would be willing to take them back to the animal control shelter, but Louis & Esther are adamant against that move.

One of the reasons I blog...

A friend sent me this devotional quote today & I just have to send it on. It articulates well one of the reasons that I blog & love to read the blog entries of a few select friends.

Side by Side - Betsy Childs

I was recently reminded of a beautiful poem by Philip Booth. In "First Lesson," the narrator teaches his daughter how to swim. He gently instructs her that she must relax and lie back in order to float; to help her do this, he lightly holds her until she is floating and he can withdraw his hands without her noticing. The poem ends:

As you float now, where I held you
and let go, remember when fear
cramps your heart what I told you:
lie gently and wide to the light-year
stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.

Years ago, when I first read this poem, I was struck by the resemblance the image of the sea bears to God's sustaining grace. When we are fighting to keep ourselves afloat, we cannot feel God's grace, but when we cease striving and trust God, we find that He always gives us "grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).

I still love the image of the sea in the poem, but this time the resemblance that struck me was that between the role of the one giving the lesson and the role of a Christian in friendship. Friendship is a topic that is rarely addressed in Christian teaching. That may be because we expect that it should come naturally and effortlessly. But I have found that most Christians are not exactly where they would like to be in terms of friendships; most of us either move through life independently or fall to the other extreme of being overly dependent on our friends, looking to them for fullfillment that can only ultimately come from Christ.

Consider the image of the father teaching his daughter to swim: he holds her, but the point of his holding her is to let her go. He holds her in a way so that she can feel what it is to be lifted up by the sea, and once she gets used to that feeling, she finds he is no longer supporting her.

That is one picture of what Christian friendship should be. We should be helping each other learn how to live by grace, not in our own strength, and not in the strength of our friends. If the friendship itself becomes the point of the friendship, it will sour. C.S. Lewis (one of the few great Christian writers who wrote extensively on friendship) puts it this way:

[W]e picture lovers face to face, but friends side by side; their eyes look ahead. That is why those pathetic people who simply "want friends" can never make any. The very condition of having friends is that we should want something else besides friends. Where the truthful answer to the question Do you see the same truth? would be "I see nothing and I don't care about the truth; I only want a friend," no friendship can arise - though affection of course may. There would be nothing for the friendship to be about; & friendship must be about something, even if it were only an enthusiasm for dominoes or white mice. (1)

The very best friendships are those that are about God Himself. Friends should bear one another's burdens in a way that lifts them up to God, not in a way that makes the friend indispensable. Some of you who do not feel a keen need to be needed may have no idea what I'm talking about, but if you've ever felt a yearning to know that someone couldn't get along without you, you know what I'm talking about. We must resist the temptation to hope that our friends will come to depend upon us and instead hope that knowing us will help them become more dependent upon God.

If you have been on the receiving end of such a friendship, one that encourages you to lie back and rest your full weight on the sustaining love of God, you have been richly blessed. Do not forget that the purpose of the one holding you up was, ultimately, to release you. There are times when we must hold one another up, but we should do it in the hope that someday we'll be able to float side by side, gazing up at the stars.

Betsy Childs is an associate writer at Ravi Zacharias International Ministries in Atlanta, Georgia.

(1) C.S. Lewis The Four Loves (New York: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, 1960), 98.

Tagged - Though I usually refuse to be so...

Jeannie, I didn't know how to transfer the questions, so I copied them down & will type them in.

1. What time is it? 2100 hours

2. What are your initials & what would you like them to stand for?
CMHL...those who have read the beginning of my blog know my initials stand for my camel old nature, but I would like them to stand for "continually making HaMashiach (Messiah) Lord"

3. What are you most afraid of?
Hearing something other than, "Well done, good & faithful servant."

4. How many children do you have?
1 by adoption, many spiritual children

5. How many grandchildren? Only some spiritual ones.

6. Have you ever seen a ghost? No... I may have seen an angel or 2.

7. Where were you born? Nampa, Idaho

8. Ever been to Alaska? No, but spent the second night of my honeymoon at a quaint lodge at the Columbia Ice Fields & toured the ice fields the next day. Hope you get to do this too, Ed.

9. Ever been "toilet-papering?" No. "Ballooning" was the craze when I was in college. I helped fill friends' dorm rooms or cars with blown-up balloons. My dorm room was filled with balloons on my 21st birthday.

10. Ever loved someone so much it made you cry? I know this feeling well!

11. Ever been in a car accident? Yes, about 3 years ago on our way home from Beth Tephila.
A teen drunk in a large truck crossed into our lane heading straight toward us at full speed. Louis had angelic help to swerve in a split-second toward the lane the driver just left so that he hit our (R) rear panel & took off the back bumper on that side instead of head-on. The 2 cars behind us were less fortunate & were hit head-on & totalled. The passengers had to be cut out of their smoking cars & hospitalized. Thankfully no one died.

12. Croutons or bacon bits? Croutons rarely on a salad or in French onion soup. Bacon Bits? Why would I want tiny chopped pieces of the land garbage animal on my food?

13. Favorite day of the week? Any day I receive a hug from God...or get a glimpse of His working in the lives of those around me.

14. Favorite restaurant? The cafe part of the Missoula Good Food Store; "River Rising" across the street from the Post Office in Hamilton; best steak I've ever eaten was in a Hole in the Wall place in BeerSheva, Israel & I loved the rich camel milk ice cream too!

15. Favorite flower? Salmon colored roses for looks... lilacs, gardenias & plumeria for fragrance

16. Favorite drink? Brambleberry fruit drink from the Good Food Store, mulled apple cider, licorice or green teas.

17. Favorite ice cream? Jeannie, like you, I love Pralines & Cream @ Baskin & Robbins or Coldstone...also Wilcoxsons Mountain Huckleberry

18. Favorite fast food? In the U.S. - Turkey & veggie Subway
In Israel - falafel (with chickpea humus & veggies)

19. What color is your bedroom carpet? light blue

20. How many times have you failed your drivers test? The road test in WA. state once for "being too cautious"! I maxed all similar tests in MT, TX, Kansas, Wa. D.C. & Europe, go figure.

21. From whom did you get your last e-mail? From Carol-Ann telling me how I could contribute to Tin Roof Ventures.

22. What do you do most often when you are bored? Read, take Ari for a walk, hike, do a task I have been putting off.

23. Bedtime? 2100 to 2200 hours (9-10 pm) After so many years in the military when I had to get up by 0500 hours, my mind shuts down around 2200 hours.

24. -26 Don't care to answer.

27. Ford or Chevy? I learned to drive in a '56 Chevy & have bought Chevys ever since.

28. What are you listening to right now? A North Carolina Public Station that broadcasts classical music that we pick up on our satelite dish.

29. What are your favorite colors? salmon in sunsets & earth tones

30. How many tattoos do you have? None & I hope never to receive the type that I have seen on the arms of Holocaust survivors.

31. How many pets do you have? 27 (1 golden retriever, 1 cat, 1 laughing dove, 15 laying hens of several breeds, 1 ram, 5 ewes, 3 Tennessee Walking horses)

32. Which came first the chicken or the egg? chicken - created full grown, like man was

33. What would you like to accomplish before you die?
. Achieve fluency in Hebrew & Greek - am working on this.

. Visit Australia, New Zealand & Petra, Jordan

. See my daughter live up to her name & its meaning.

. Whatever God has planned for me.

Pets enrich our lives...

Have you come into the bathroom & found your pet doing this? Sadly, Ari (our golden retriever) & Rachel (Esther's cat) both do such uncouth things... even when a bowl of fresh water is in two other rooms in the house.

Lolo Peak Hike - Late Fall 2006

The Hallelujah Hikers' last Fall hike was on a nose-biting, ear-chilling day. We drove to the Lolo Peak Trailhead where there was only a skiff of snow and some Fall color left in the foliage. Once on the trail, the snow was 2-4 inches deep with questionable traction for those of us not foresighted enough to wear something other than tennis shoes for the hike. We all hiked for over 2 hours before I started to develop a severe earache & decided to

turn back. I had awakened that morning with congestion & a headache, but had not wanted to miss the hike. This was the first hike that I regretted going on with this dear group. My sneakers had turned from sloggy to ice,
my fingers & nose were numb, I nearly slid over the edge of the trail & down the steep banks when the snow deepened to almost 6 inches & I turned around.
My hike back was alone, so I was able to hear the forest sounds that our chatting had blocked out. I heard & saw several squirrels, a variety of birds & wondered if a bear was following me. I kept hearing snapping twigs behind me. At one point I heard a loud whoosh & the wing of the owl, ( not bear after all), who had been accompanying me nearly grazed my head. This owl flew from branch to branch watching my progress down the snowy trail until I was within a half mile of the trailhead. About that time I saw this neat, almost drift-woody photo opportunity. If I could have transported it back to my yard, I'm sure I could use it as a great focal point in a flowerbed arrangement.


The rest of the hikers returned to the trailhead about 30 minutes later than I did. None of them had reached the destination we had set for ourselves. We'll try again in the Spring to reach Lolo Peak.

God, Our Dwelling-Place for 2007!

The theme for 0ur 2006 Christmas card was God's dwelling-place in us & other cubes. (ie. the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle & temples & in the future in the New Jerusalem, as I blogged in August.) I've been reading Psalm 90 as I begin this New Year. This Psalm starts out with: Lord, you have been our dwelling-place, in all generations. So I am meditating today on my dwelling-place. God is my dwelling-place even as I am His. Moses, who wrote Psalm 90, also wrote in Deuteronomy 33:27: The eternal God is your dwelling-place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. The next Psalm expands on the safety of abiding in the presence of God... 91:1-2 He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust." 91:9-11 Because you have made the LORD, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling-place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling; for He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." What a refuge!
"Ma'on" is the Hebrew transliteration for "dwelling-place" in English. It's root also means cohabitation, to be married & conjugal rights. That's how intimate we are to be with our God in whom we live & have our being.

We think of our homes or dwelling-places as our protective shelter. We are the sheep & our Shepherd is also the sheepfold in which we can lie down safely. David understood this and wrote about it in Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. Psalm 125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth & forever. Psalm 71:3 Be my strong refuge, to which I may resort continually; You have given the commandment to save me, for You are my rock and my fortress. The Psalms are full of such images - Psalm 9:10, 17:8, 27:1 & 5, 37:39-40 and so many others. Other references: Colossians 3:3, 2 Samuel 22:2-3, Isaiah 4:5-6, Jeremiah 16:19, Joel 4:16. I could go on & on.

While facilitating the study in Habakkuk this Fall, I memorized & meditated on a dozen or more Scripture verses. At a time when a well-known Christian TV host is predicting a massive terrorist strike in the USA around or after September 2007, my mind returns to a couple of those verses. Psalm 62: 6-7 He only is my rock & my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken. On God my salvation & my glory rest; the rock of my strength, my refuge is in God.

God is sovereign. He is still on His throne & working behind the scenes to bring about His purposes. Everything that happens in 2007 will in the long run turn out for my best good & His glory as I rest in Him, my dwelling-place.

Questions????

1. Are any of you using the new version of Blogger? I'm just now familiar with the "old" blogger. What do you think of it? Is it worth the switch?

2. Have any of you attended "First Night" activities in Missoula or elsewhere? I'm going for the first time this year because my friend Janie has asked me to go with her & Dec. 31st is her birthday. She was diagnosed with lymphoma last year. Her lab. work remains the same, but she feels better than she has in years. Since the diagnosis, she has gotten more rest, exercised more & really watched her diet. A couple days ago, we hiked over 4 miles in the Larry Creek hills while she trained her Schnauzer puppy to heel.

3. Any suggestions on how to cut financial apron strings after an almost 19 year-old has left home yet still tries to have you foot all the bills?

4. My neighborhood Bible Study for women will be finishing Habakkuk on January 11th & starting in Ephesians with an emphasis on Spiritual Warfare. Does anyone have a favorite reference to recommend for spiritual warfare? I plan to show the Focus on the Family "That the World May Know" series portion on Ephesus as part of the overview.

Any & all comments appreciated!

I'm back...Esther & Tana are gone.

We've finally gotten a new computer, so I hope to post those photos I promised within a day or two. The motherboard on our old computer died, then our monitor went out. It's great to be able to read e-mail & blogs again.

The day before Thanksgiving, Esther moved into her own tiny, but cute apartment in Missoula near the Good Food Store. The Gatewest apartments do not allow pets, so Rachel cat stays put with us. She keeps meowing around the basement...looking for her bedmate. Esther now calls us from her cell-phone once or twice a day. I know more about her daily activities than I have for a couple of years!!

Two hours after Thanksgiving, our almost 14 year old female golden retriever slipped into eternity. Tana always considered herself my dog, although she was super friendly with anyone in her vicinity. Typical golden. She wasn't in pain at the end. Just quit eating & drinking & then breathing. We babied her a few days by spoonfeeding her, carrying her outside to do her business, etc. Finally she would not accept even her favorite spoonfed goodies. Her breathing became more & more labored the last day or so. So we took time to just sit with her, pat & brush her lightly, speak loving words & essentially say goodbye.

Treasure-hunting in the sun

How I love Montana's "Indian Summers"! Clear skies, day temps. in the 50's & 60's, night temps. in the 30's, snow-topped mountains & Autumn foliage declaring God's glory & showing His unsurpassed artistry, the smells of hay & apples & burning leaves... Yesterday, MaryLou & I returned to the Kootenai Creek trail, which we had hiked in the spring. Kootenai Creek was a raging, white frothy river with the spring run-off. Now it was a fourth the size, but picturesque in a totally different way. Light dappled the steep canyon cliffs & golden leaves blanketed the trail, the water & any horizontal plane around. The areas of golden larch/tamarack trees were sprinkled among the other evergreens. For the first time, we saw painters set-up along the trail edge trying to capture the Fall glory on canvas. I tried to capture the mellow feeling of satisfied senses with my new Olympus. (I'll add the photos to this blog if our dying computer will let me. In fact, I took a couple photos of our old apple press when we returned home...I'll add it to the previous blog if I can.) We only hiked 1 1/2 to 2 miles up the rocky, roller-coaster trail. It was a wonderful mini-vacation. It was just too gorgeous!!

Today is similar. I ambled slowly up our lane to the mailbox & back, soaking in the warmth of the sun & fully appreciating the rust & russet bushes. Turning back into our drive-way, I sunk to an all-time low to find a reason to remain outside. Why do I have to find an excuse to continue enjoying this gift anyway? Well, I started the evening chores early. I lingered at the sheep & horse troughs which I had just filled with sweet-smelling third cutting alfalfa & Timothy grass hay. I laughed at the antics of our 8 hens as they each tried to push themselves into the best position to devour the pear cores I had dumped into their outside dish. I even grabbed the shovel - Yes, I did - and started the chore I usually hate...cleaning up the dog doo! Dog doo & golden hair that sheds all over my home are the only two things I don't love about my golden retrievers. When my daughter was 5 or 6 years old, Louis introduced her first outside chore to her. He called it "Treasure hunting". He would try to find more piles than her to shovel up & throw over the fence into the pasture where the sheep & horses freely left their deposits. That game lasted a week or two. Then there were contests of how far they could throw the dog doo into the pasture. This game lasted longer & had wonderful side-effects for my daughter. She developed great upper body strength & won the baseball throw at the Hershey's Track Meet in Missoula so she could compete at State. When Esther got older, she would hurry through this chore. We started to tie letting her do extra things she wanted to do to how many piles we found after she said she was done with her chores. I was extremely thorough today & I'm sure I beat her best low score. I inched my way through our lawn. I almost congratulated Ari when he decided to squat & add a fresh pile. He has become my walk & jogging partner in the mornings...& had shadowed my every move through these evening chores done in the afternoon. I did not sink to rock picking in the field. That chore had been a disciplinary one for Esther. I was treating myself to a slice of rich colored & fully ripened Fall for my memory-bank.