Thursday, September 12, 2013

Memories of Another Trip

Our recent trip took us along the top side of Western MD, into
West Virginia, and then into Pennsylvania before dumping us
into Ohio. Traveling through the Allegheny Mountains brought
up memories from my childhood. We grew up outside of
Philadelphia and each summer we traveled to Chautauqua,
located just over the Pennsylvania border in the far west corner
of New York State. Chautauqua was a place outside of time
tucked next to a beautiful lake, full of stately houses from the turn
of the century. Each July, my dad would pack the car, his wife, the
three kids, the dog into the car and we would head into mountains
that would lead us to sounds, smells, falling rain, that simply did
not exist anywhere else, not like Chautauqua! (The rain always fell
hard and straight down.) We drove with open windows, hair blowing,
on winding mountain roads where we would hold our collective
breath every time we passed a truck, then the collective sigh with
each success. I can remember the light slanting through trees, and
the smells of the forest. I also remember our lunch break where we
ate the best hamburgers in the world and supped on the nectar of a
vanilla shake. Did we eat inside? I don't think so. Did we fight or
fidget in that narrow back seat? Maybe. As the afternoon waned,
Dad would tell us it was time to look for the lake. The road continued
to take us up and down and with every crest of the hill we watched
with eager anticipation for a glimpse of  bright blue sparkling water.
It was always sunny, wasn't it?

http://www.hisvictoriousindwelling.com/stories.html



Wednesday, September 11, 2013

The Creation Museum

The Museum opened in 1994 and was in my bucket list of
things I wanted to do. It was put together by Ken Ham who
is the founder of Answers in Genesis which focuses on a
young earth of 6,000 years or so. Since most believe in
evolution of some sort and a time frame of some 4.9 billion
years, I was curious as to what I would find there. It was a
wonderful two days of poking into the past. The first thing we
noticed, besides the dragon that greeted us, was both the
cleanliness of the museum, and the friendly helpful staff. The
second thing that impressed me was how they had utilized
technology in the way they presented the exhibits, and the
special shows such as in the Planetarium. It was first rate. I was
not prepared for the beauty of the lake and Botanical Gardens.
They were stunning. The museum had a petting zoo of some
pretty interesting animals: two camels, a couple of llamas, a
wallaby, a zorse (cross between a zebra and a horse), a
zedonk (cross between a zebra and a donkey), and then the
typical sheep and goats.

In addition to the 2-3 hour tour of the museum itself, they
had live speakers each noon and a concert for families at 3PM.
We heard two speakers, both qualified in their subjects. The
first speaker, a Ph.D biologist, talked about the genetics of
Adam. It was a packed hour.

I came away with the following:

If there was no real first Adam, which many in evangelical
circles are teaching today, then, how can we have a second
Adam? (ICor. 15:21,22)

If there was a time when "God saw that it was good," then how
can you have death, fossils, destruction, sin in the billions of
years before Adam and the Garden?

If the first 11 chapters of Genesis are not true--remember, God
was the only one present during creation--then how can we
trust that the rest of the Bible is true?

It is estimated that 70% of churched children will leave the faith
after graduating from high school. Secular Humanism is teaching
them that they are descended from animals; the church is hedging
about whether or not the book of Genesis and a six day creation
can possibly be true. There is tremendous pressure on our children
to believe in evolution, and it leaves them without meaning or
purpose.

Did I hit a sore spot for some of you? The Bible is the foundation
of our faith and Genesis sits at the very bottom. If the foundation
is rotting then the building will eventually collapse. ( Ps. 11:3)
Answers in Genesis has some incredible material. Check it out!
www.answersingenesis.org






Tuesday, September 10, 2013

More Irritations

Even before our Anniversary I had been looking at
what it means to give thanks and I had not gone
into our trip with high expectations--which, as it
turns out--was a great place to be! Added to yesterday's
list:

Exhaustion after only three hours of travel
An e-mail clash with a good friend that left both of
     us with shards of glass in our hearts.

Irritations at our motel in Indiana such as:
A cracked coffee pot--heavens--
A plugged toilet,
A dripping noise in the bathroom ceiling,
The smell of cigarette smoke drifting into our room.
Running children throughout breakfast the second morning,
A crazy hostess who ran a vacuum the last morning.

A song echoes from my childhood:

"In everything give thanks,
For this is the will of God
In Christ Jesus concerning you."

"Lord, in everything????









Monday, September 9, 2013

Our Crazy Trip!

The first of September found us hitting the road on our
way to Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky? Now which was it?
Always check a map and distance BEFORE setting out.
I thought we were going to Columbus, but Glen got an
e-mail saying that we were booked into a hotel in Indiana!
What?
Our destination was The Creation Museum in Kentucky.
Our plan was to leave on Monday, tour the museum on
Tuesday and Wednesday and then head back home on
Thursday so Glen could finish a huge project due that week.
Our anniversary was on Thursday the 5th. By now, are you
totally confused? Instead of a six to seven hour trip, we were
looking at a nine to ten hour trip so we decided to leave on
Sunday and make Thursday a long day.

Sunday we drove three and half hours and then checked
into the lodge at Wisp mountain located in Deep Creek, MD,
where we had celebrated our anniversary back in the nineties.
There was a delicious restaurant waiting for us, whose name
we had forgotten. (The whole landscape had changed since the
nineties.) We looked and found what we thought was the right
place, but certain things did not add up. The door was on the front
side, up two flights of stairs, and the menu seemed odd, but we
were very hungry having missed lunch. When we left, after
not so good food, we walked around the next building, and
there it was!

The trip the following day ended up being more like eight
hours instead of five. It turns out that Lawrenceburg, IN was
only eight minutes from our destination in Kentucky and we
used the beltway around Cincinnati to get there! So, we had
landed where three states touch.

I hate to leave you hanging, but today's blog is long enough
and there is so much to tell!

Check the stories:




Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The Choice

In the second chapter of 2nd Samuel, David is
anointed King; civil war breaks out, good men
are murdered. During these events David
continues to write:

"I will give thanks to the Lord with all 
     my heart
I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
I will be glad and exult in thee,
I will sing praise to your name,
     O Most High."
(Psalm 9:1,2)

David might not be there yet in terms of his
emotions, but he makes a choice.
He worships.

Great new story on brokenness:


Monday, September 2, 2013

Death

 King Saul and his son Jonathan are slain on
mount Gilboa. David's best friend is dead.
David's heart is broken. He moans:

"How the mighty have fallen," not once but
three times in eight verses, 2 Samuel 19-27.

We catch a glimpse of his grief in Psalm 6:

"I am weary of my sighing,
Every night I make my bed swim.
I dissolve my couch with my tears.
My eye has wasted away with grief..."
(Psalm 6:6,7)

I cannot leave David. Every page of his life
is awash in tears, or fear, or failure. He is no
different from me. He bears the mark of God.

Please go to the story page and read about
Beautiful Brokenness:







Thursday, August 29, 2013

For God Alone

David wrote Psalm 62 during the events described
in a previous blog. Horrible, mind numbing events!
I quoted the first two verses but in verses five and
six David says the same thing, only this time he speaks
to his soul. David's heart is toward God and is rock
solid, but his emotions and his behavior are all over
the map. God looks at David's heart, not his outward
behavior.

"My soul, wait in silence for God only,
For my hope is from Him.
He only is my rock and my salvation,
My stronghold; I shall not be shaken.
(Psalm 62:5,6 ASV)

I took these two verses apart and looked up the
definitions of the words in bold, and then turned
them into a declaration of hope:

"Soul, wait for your deliverance on God who
is your only hope. You cannot trust man or 
circumstances. Be intertwined with Him. He only 
is your refuge at the edge of this precipice. He is 
your only deliverer, your Savior. He is like a lofty 
inaccessible place of safety to you, your refuge." 
"I will not be shaken.
I will not be cast headlong down this precipice."
(paraphrase of Psalm 62:5,6) 

A mousetrap--see previous blogs--that is focused
on God instead of man, is an unset mousetrap. It
will not fly apart when the ball drops! But, if it
does, there is always God....

Be sure to check out the new story:
Beautiful Brokenness--with a video: