Risky Travels

International travel is always an adventure even when all goes perfectly.  Our recent trip to Spain included many hours waiting in airports.  This gave us plenty of time to worry about which gate we should be waiting at, if our luggage would follow us or if our flight would arrive on time.  No, our flight was late getting into Jerez where our son was waiting for us.  Yes, all our luggage arrived with us.  No, we had no idea which gate we needed to wait at but no one speaks English in Madrid!

In times of disaster, extended travel can become a nightmare for travelers and their families left behind.  We were not the only parents horrified by the natural disasters in Japan on March 11.  Our other son was riding a subway in Tokyo when the city began to quake!   Suddenly we are forced to wonder if the ground beneath us is solid?  3/11/11 gave us a resounding “NO!” to that question.  The Bible testifies to that truth in Romans 8:19-22:

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

Nothing in this world is really “safe”.  In Tolkien’s Fellowship of the Rings, Bilbo Baggins advises his nephew, Frodo, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.  You step onto the road and, if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

We take so much for granted, assuming our immediate environs will remain static.

ie: There will always be electricity when we flip the switch:

Fresh water will run from the tap each time we turn the faucet:

Even such mundane assumptions as our luggage always being on the plane we are riding in!  God gives us fair warning in Hebrews 12:25-29:

See to it that you do not refuse Him Who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from Him who warns us from heaven?  At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens."  The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.  Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."

I take great comfort in a verse from an old hymn:

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale, My anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand,

All other ground is sinking sand.

Love as always,  Elaine (standing on the Solid Rock)

The Unexpected Victory

Although it doesn’t look very spring-like today and the cold wind is blowing snow across the fields, the birds aren’t fooled.  They are determined it’s their time to be here and are bravely pecking through the snow for their daily sustenance.  This reminds me of Rich’s Palm Sunday sermon last year.  He noted that the “Triumphal Entry” wasn’t really one of triumph for Jesus.  The people mistook the signs and prophecies, molding them into their own vision for freedom.  But God had a different plan in mind:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. 

"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”   Isaiah 55:8-9

 Jesus came to Jerusalem for a final confrontation with the Jewish leaders and to complete His Father’s plans.  What the common people viewed as the beginning of a new era for their nation was actually the beginning of the end.  In this final week, Jesus wrapped up all the loose ends of His ministry.  Separating the wheat from the chaff, His teachings were confrontational and pointed.  Warnings of judgment to come, the cleansing of the Temple, denouncement of the priests and scribes; all pointed to His authority as God’s chosen Son.  The establishment of the LORD’s Supper and His prayerful preparation of His disciples were His final arrangements made before the fulfillment of all the prophecies concerning Messiah.  Later that week, when Hope hung dead on a Roman cross, the darkness closed in over mankind.  But, wait!  What appeared to His followers as defeat and despair was actually victory!  Jesus Christ conquered sin and death, rising from the grave, never to die again! 

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

  1 Cor. 15:55-57

Love as always,  Elaine

Icebergs Ahead!

I wrote the following seven years ago when I was more mobile than I am now.  But, as you can see from our current photos, these truths still hold true.  And God is ever true to His Word!

  Let's see now, it's late in March, north of Syracuse and east of Lake Ontario -- Yep!  That would be lake effect snow!  Some of you have been complaining that spring is dragging its bright green feet about arriving.  Here in the north country, we don't expect to see anything green until mid-April and even that's optimistic!  The past week brought us about 8 new inches of snow but we’ve had some glimpses of the warmer weather to come.  The snow pile in front of our house is down to only three feet (or was before today's snow!)  A small group of horned larks has been scuffing around the church house parking lot for at least a week now.  I have no idea what they're finding to eat over there but they flutter up in front of me every time I drive up to the building.  When I take my walks, I stop to enjoy the rushing stream that crosses under the road.  It's so nice to hear running water again and the snow melt swells the stream between icy banks.  The little marsh I pass is showing green moss in the hollows where a secret spring feeds the swamp even in the driest season.

  Only ten days ago I went walking at Selkirk State Park.  I couldn't wait to see the beach caught in winter ice.  I had to leave the car at the Ranger's station and go in on foot, using the cross country ski trails.  It was hard walking because the snow was getting soft and often gave way to my weight.  Snow shoes would have been nice!  But it was such a nice day (almost 40 degrees) and it was a short detour from my Pulaski grocery run.  The beach was eerie and foreign piled with pack ice.  The lake was still and flat and I could see a distant band of ice way out at the horizon.  Nearer to shore, large icebergs made it look like Antarctica.  After studying the shoreline for a while, I could discern familiar landmarks disguised by icy cloaks.  There was the rocky break-water out beyond the sandy beach.  In a few months sun bathers would be spread out on the shore soaking up the summer sun.  Hard to believe in such a frozen moonscape!

  The promises of God are sometimes like that.  We stand on a shoreline changed by the storms of life and, like the Psalmist in Psalm 119:82, we cry out,

 "My eyes fail, looking for your promise; I say, "When will you comfort me?"

  

Little do we know that God has not moved or changed at all.  No matter how forbidding the icebergs of our daily trials, we can always count on God.

 

"There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides on the heavens to help you and on the clouds in His majesty.  The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."   Deut. 33:26,27 

 Underneath all the turmoil of life on earth are God's everlasting arms.  The sunshine of His love and blessing can melt down all the obstacles that look so overwhelming just now.

  I find it amazing that spring will finally melt away all these piles of snow collected over a long winter.  And where do they go?  Do they take up space anywhere else?  Do they move off to trouble other travelers?  No, they simply melt down into the earth to help replenish it.  They make the green of spring all the greener and nourish growth even through the dry seasons. 

  That's the way our troubles are.  They don't move off to trouble others but God melts them down so they will nourish our own character.

 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."  James 1:2-4 

  God can melt down those ominous icebergs that trouble you so.  Not only will you be lifted up by His everlasting arms, but you'll find growth and strengthening through what you've endured!  Take heart -- spring IS coming!

Love as always,  Elaine

In The Grip

Last week a tease of spring brought rain and thawing 40 degree temps.  By evening the wind was roaring down from Canada and we plunged to zero for the next several nights.  Snow whipped around us every day, sandblasting the house in icy shudders.  Maybe you've been shopping for spring finery but we're stuck in mid-winter!  A thick layer of ice hidden under dry blowing snow keeps us stepping gingerly in our boots.  R was out on the back patio Sat. swinging a maul to break a path to the bird feeder.

Everyone I meet yearns for spring as if winter has gone on forever.  But the sun rides higher and longer in the sky now and I open the windows to the noon sun with the snow too bright to look at.  The cold settles back in as the sun sets, throwing long blue shadows that make the snow look like a sparkling wooly blanket pulled up tight around the bare winter trees.  In spite of its persistence, winter will eventually give way to mild and muddy spring (my least favorite season here).

Winter hates to loose its grip just like that ancient agent of evil, the devil.  Once Satan gets his hooks into us, he wants to make sure we share his miserable fate.  The Apostle John warns in 1 John 3:8,

"He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil‘s work." 

What a relief that Jesus came to destroy his wicked work and set us free from his devices!  As the warming sun drives winter into the past, Jesus Christ can make Satan's influence on us a thing of our past, too.  There's no reason for us to continue in his icy death grip of.  James 4:7 promises, if we,

 "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." 

Then spring will bloom eternal in our hearts!

Love as always,  Elaine (Blooming, whatever the season!)   

Blizzards of Life

I wrote this back in January, 2003.  As you can see from our latest photos, the sentiments still apply.

            This morning we awoke to calmer conditions and about a foot of new snow.  Lots must have fallen during the night.  All was white and still as the wind had turned and was now bringing us lake effect snow from the back side of the storm.  That’s the way it goes up here.  First it blows one way and then turns and blows the other.  Either way, it all means more snow!  It’s quite beautiful, though.

            It all reminded me of the way the past year affected us.  We had many blizzards blow by us.  Ephraim was sent to Afghanistan and then my mother died suddenly.  In early Oct. we buried my cousin, struck down in the prime of his life by a massive heart attack.  By the end of Oct., we buried a sweet young woman from the Church, killed instantly in an auto accident.  At 21, she left a broken marriage and a daughter less than 3 years old.  Two of our members faced unexpected battles with cancer.  The wintry winds were certainly blowing!  They whipped the frozen snows of grief and loss across the landscape of our lives and all but obliterated the Eternal Purpose of God.  It’s not that God isn’t there any more, it’s just that these blizzards blind us!

            We often find ourselves driving through a “blinding” snow or "white out".  Our eyes become mesmerized by the flakes rushing out of the dark at us.  Instead of seeing what lies in our path, or even where our path leads, we are focused on the falling snow.  We are paralyzed!  And so it is in times of crisis.  We squint and lean into the wind, thinking only of the power of this storm.  We forget the landscape beyond – our world becomes small; full of turmoil and noise.

            God is not moved by such storms.  He doesn’t shift or turn His back on us.  Outside the small circle (and it really is small) of our chaos, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Hebrews 13:8   He is not fickle like men or distracted by the drama of our lives.

            I don’t know about you, but I find great comfort in Malachi 3:6, “I the LORD do not change.  So you, O descendents of Jacob, are not destroyed.”  God IS always the same.  He is always our Rock, firm and steady no matter what storms are blowing between us.  And it is His steadfastness which saves us.  Let’s not be swept away by sudden storms.  Hold firm to the Rock.  Remember He is always there, just beyond the blowing snow.

  The LORD watches over you – the LORD is your shade at your right hand;  the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.  The LORD will keep you from all harm  -- He will watch over your life;  the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121:5-8

Love as always,  Elaine (sheltered from the storm)

Frozen in Time

I wrote this a few weeks back…

Although this is our 13th winter up north, I'm still amazed by the weather.  We've had a several days of occasional brittle blue skies and frigid nights.  Sunday night it dropped to minus 27 F.!  There are often days between snowfalls but, because of the intense cold, the snow still lays as sparkling and fresh as the day it fell.  Long icicles hang off the house with nary a drip falling.  Great armloads of snow continue to rest undisturbed on our trees out back.  Even in the woods, the snow still coats the bare branches.  I feel as if time has stopped -- each morning glitters in the sub-zero cold.  Our metal roof booms and buckles as the temp. rises and falls from 10 degrees.  I can almost walk across the back yard on top of two feet of snow without sinking, the crust is so hard!  Has January really passed by?  I'm reminded of C.S. Lewis's land of Narnia where it was "always winter and never Christmas"!  Who can imagine spring or the color of green?

No matter what it feels like, time really is passing.  In just a few weeks I will turn 60!  All of us are moving toward eternity.  So what is the substance of our days?  Are we accomplishing anything that really matters?  In the dead of winter, it's hard to imagine that our efforts will bear fruit.  But there is always work to be done in God's Kingdom.  No matter what the weather, we're here to do the LORD's work -- it's the only thing that will last!  There are many ways you can be involved in God's vital work, too.  There are amazing rewards to be reaped!

  "Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.  Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever."  Daniel 12:2,3 

Love as always,  Elaine (sparkling in the snow)

Mystery Revealed

Merry Christmas!  How blessed we are…

"concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow.  It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven.  Even angels long to look into these things."  I Peter 1:10-12.

Imagine!  The prophets of old longed to know and see what we have the opportunity to look into every day!  We hold the revealed and final Word of God -- His message of love to the world!  And through this word we can come to know the Living Word, Jesus Christ.  We can look back upon His birth, life, death, resurrection and glorification.  For centuries the ancients prayed to see what we have laid out before us.  What an awesome privilege it is to live in this time and celebrate the arrival of the Incarnation of God on earth!  May you be overwhelmed by the goodness of God in allowing us to see these things that "even angels long to look into.."

May Christ be the Light which brightens your holiday this year!  After all, His life is the light of men. (John 1:4)

Love and blessings,  Elaine