Joining the Heavens

Snowflakes

2012-02-11T01:52:00.001-07:00

God thunders wondrously with his voice; he does great things that we cannot comprehend.
For to the snow he says, 'Fall on the earth,' likewise to the downpour, his mighty downpour.
~Job 37:5-6

Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
~Job 38:22-23

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
~Psalm 51:7

He gives snow like wool; he scatters hoarfrost like ashes.
He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs; who can stand before his cold?
He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes his wind blow and the waters flow.
~Psalm 147:16-18

Praise the LORD from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps,
fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word!
~Psalm 148:7-8

Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
~Isaiah 1:18

A (belated) Year in Review: 2011

2012-02-08T02:18:00.000-07:00

I fear that I have rather fallen out of the habit of blogging. This will have to be remedied. This also means that I never did my annual "Year in Review" summary of the previous year.

So, about a month late, here's my highlights from 2011:

In the winter months I worked at odd jobs, like tutoring and cooking (lunch for 100+ at MBC):

I took a couple small trips, one to Arizona. It was not as warm as one on vacation from Montana could have hoped.

On Feburary 9th we celebrated my Grandad's 82nd birthday,

a month before he passed away, on March 9th. While it was hard to say good-bye to him, it was a blessing to be able to spend time with various members on that side of the family. I have a pretty great family.

A week later my Great Uncle George passed away also. I didn't know him very well, but we were able to join his family in remembering his life for a short time also.

Probably the highlight of the year was the trip I took in May-June.

It started off in Greece, a couple hours drive from Athens, on a boat.

After about a week on the boat, we ended up in the area of Ephesus (in Turkey) for a few days.

Then back on the boat, and headed back to Athens. The Acropolis is truly spectacular.

We took a day trip to Corinth. This picture is from the top of Acrocorinth, with a good view of the Isthmus of Corinth (now the canal) separating the Aegean from the Ionian Sea.

From Athens I headed to Delphi, probably one of my favorite places in Greece (aside from some of the Islands I visited).

After other Greece adventures I ended up in Istanbul. Here you can see the Golden Horn across the way, with both Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque visible. The Blue Mosque is towards the right and has more minarets.

After an over-night bus ride from Istanbul I found myself in Goreme, Cappadocia, which has some of the most interesting and spectacular geology I've seen. I enjoyed a few exploratory hikes in the area.

After stops in Ankara and Antalya, I paused in Olympos, a magical and Care Paravel-like ruin.

The trip finished off with short stops in Finike and Hierapolis, before heading back to Istanbul and then home.

Shortly after I arrived home, my uncle passed away on July 11th.

Again, it was hard, but we took great comfort in knowing that he was home, with his Savior. I also enjoyed re-connecting with cousins I hadn't seen in some time.

At the end of July I went to a Family Reunion/50th Wedding Anniversary in beautiful eastern Montana. We took the time to visit the old ranch, Sleepy Hollow. (Yes, yes that is its name, and no, there are no headless horsemen.)

We even flew some kites. :)

We spent time with Uncle Walt and Aunt Arden at their family reunion.

We cousins enjoyed playing some games together.

Most of the rest of the summer I ended up spending at camp, helping in the kitchen and re-connecting with old friends. This is some of my camp "family."

I even got to go on the annual rafting trip. Most summers I would have missed it, but with the high water we had in the spring and early summer, it took much longer than usual to be safe enough.

I never get tired of the scenery up there.

After camp I celebrated my birthday...and somehow we all managed to wear just about the same color.

And to go with all the purple...we had our first grape harvest. Pretty exciting because grapes aren't really known to grow here...

This fall especially I started experimenting with various knitting techniques. I'm getting better.

I've also tried to experiment more with cooking, like this lime cheesecake I made for my birthday:

or this lemon souffle I made, just to try a souffle:

We haven't had much snow, but I've tried to enjoy it a little. (This is me building a fort.)

It wasn't all just fun and games. I also worked at MBC, including starting to help in the library. I've cataloged...lots of books...

For the holidays (Thanksgiving and Christmas) we spent some time at our place in Lewistown. (It's very cold at first.)

And, of course, we visit my Grandma when we get a chance. (This picture isn't all that flattering...but the situation made me laugh.)

The year wouldn't be complete without a mention of the Christmas stroll and the Christmas spiders.

And, of course, throughout the year I've enjoyed experimenting with capturing various places, moods, and seasons in Montana with my camera. (I've added some new lenses and filters to experiment with, which is fun. If you want a bigger view, click on the picture.)
Lightening:

Sunsets:

Wild berries:

Harvest:

Autumn:

Stars and moon:

And, of course, barns:

And now we are on to 2012, which I'm sure will be full of its own adventures, and I trust God will be at work through everything.

Always Winter Adventure

2012-01-18T00:59:00.001-07:00

This morning, braving the snow and wind and cold, a friend and I headed to a town three hours away to visit a former roommate. Fortunately, the roads were passable.

But as we drove, the wind buffeted the landscape around us, obscuring outlines and giving us a glimpse of a magical fairy world.

Pictures never quite do justice to the scenery here, and snapshots from a moving car achieve even less, but it's better than nothing.

The snakes of snow sometimes obscured the road as well.

Nearer the river the trees were covered in frost.

We found our friend - and discovered that we were all wearing close to the same color.

Many other adventures were had, but I'll close with this: McDonald's, as owned and operated by the White Witch.

Yes. Yes, those are statues in a snow covered courtyard. Better get those fries served on time.

January Morning

2012-01-13T23:48:00.002-07:00

The Spanish Peak bask in the first rays of the morning sun.

Within a few minutes, the warming light has spread to the rest of the landscape.

Spectacular clouds float across the lightening sky.

Another unseasonably warm and snowless January morning.

Lessons from Patmos

2012-01-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

Since returning from galavanting around Greece and Turkey, I've often been asked what my favorite part was. It's a question that is nearly impossible to answer completely, but I find myself often mentioning the Island of Patmos as landing high on my list of favorites. It may have been partly the fact that it was absolutely beautiful.

It may be partly that we spent a longer time there, giving us an opportunity to explore and experience more.

Ancient customs observable today didn't hurt it either. (These men are harvesting hay with sickles.)

I think, though, that much of the reason that Patmos is a cherished memory has to do with its Biblical significance.

Patmos is actually only mentioned once in the Bible, in Revelations.

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."
~Revelation 1: 9-11

That doesn't give a whole lot of information. Church History/tradition explains a little more.

According to tradition, the book of Revelation was written by the Apostle John who also wrote the gospel of John and the three epistles of John. All four of these books were likely written towards the end of the first century - the last of the New Testament to be completed. If tradition records all the activities of John between the cross and his imprisonment on Patmos, I'm afraid I'm not familiar with everything. However, it seems that at some point John went to Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) where he took a leadership role in the new churches springing up there - especially the church at Ephesus. John was the Bishop of Ephesus, and judging from the love and compassion demonstrated in his writings, he loved the people there. He cared for his "sheep."

Of course, at some point late in his life, the Romans, fearing and persecuting Christianity, banished him to Patmos. Patmos is a tiny island, less than 40 miles off the coast of Turkey (and about 60 miles from Ephesus, as the crow flies). On land, even at that time, that distance could have easily been covered in less than a week, and John could have been back with his beloved church. But with the sea intervening...such a distance was insurmountable. John would have seen nearby islands, maybe even the coast of Turkey, from his cave, but for him they would have been as unreachable as the moon.

As we sat on Patmos and talked about John it was easy to imagine his discouragement and despair. He had been busy all his life, serving God, sharing the gospel, offering counsel and encouragement to fellow Christians. And now he was separated from everyone and everything he held dear. His ministry opportunities were reduced to almost nothing. And, possibly worst of all, he knew he was the last apostle: the last of the generation that had actually known and walked with Christ. He attempted to pass on some of this knowledge in his writings, but he must have wondered, when all the apostles were gone, would the baby church survive? With persecution growing worse and no actual witnesses to the resurrection left, would it become easier and easier for believers to deny the faith when faced with death? And, with time, would this precious church slowly cease to exist?

Traditional site of St. John's Cave

Surely such doubts assailed his mind from time to time while he was imprisoned on Patmos. But then something miraculous occurred. John was given just a glimpse of what the future of the Church would be. It wasn't all good. There was danger on every side. Even now the church was threatened, from within and without: bad doctrine, lovelessness, immorality, and persecution all posed problems. But far in the future a light shown brightly. However you chose to interpret Revelations, one thing is clear: in the end, God wins. The last enemies will be utterly defeated, and the Church will take her place as the Bride of Christ.

No wonder John's response was worship. What a joy it would be for him to know that in spite of all the bad in the world, and in spite of his own helplessness, God's plan would prevail and all would be made right. What joy to know that God cared enough about him to chose to send this encouraging message to him.

And I think this is an appropriate reminder as we head into the new year. So many people I know are suffering; though their circumstances may differ from John's, some of the discouragement is certainly repeated. But John's experience on Patmos serves as a reminder of God's love and grace in trials. And the message that went from Patmos, first to the seven churches, and then down through the ages to us, assures us that in the end, all the wrong will be righted. God has a plan, and He will triumph.

Fredrick the Christmas Rabbit Returns!

2011-12-21T22:56:00.001-07:00

Fredrick the Gingerbread Rabbit of Christmas was lovingly (re)formed in the presence of not one, but two Christmas Camels.

His life was threatened early on by a rolling pin wielding fiend, but he escaped with minimal damage to life, limb, and ego.

And so Fredrick the Gingerbread Rabbit came to be. Again.

The process of gaining consciousness was not quite as odd the second time around, and he danced in celebration of life with Ginger the gingerbread girl, and Prince Halferdimple the gingerbread boy.

The boy and girl ran off to play with other gingerpeople, and Fredrick began to explore his surroundings. The first thing he ran into was a Gingerbread Snow-Lion. The lion growled and Fredrick's nose trembled.

"Hello? My name is Fredrick the Gingerbread Rabbit who saved Christmas last year. Please don't eat me!" he squeaked.

The snow-lion growled again and smiled. "Of course I won't eat you!" he said. "I'm a carnivore, not a cannibal, and gingerbread is not part of my diet. I'm Leonardo, the Gingerbread Snow-Lion."

Relieved, Fredrick smiled back and suggested that they make a snowperson together. Leonardo agreed and the two of them set to work. Being a snow-lion, Leonardo was especially skilled at forming snow and soon they finished and stepped back to admire their beautiful snow...girl?

For indeed, somehow she had turned out to be a girl. A British Gingerbread Snowgirl. "Hello," she greeted them. "My name is Sandra the snow-girl. It's a pleasure to meet you both." She bowed, as only a gingerbread snow-girl can bow. Fredrick and Leonardo bowed back.

"Would you like to go get a candy cane with us?" Fredrick asked.

"I'd be delighted," Sandra replied.

Soon the three of them were happily licking and nibbling away on a large candy cane.

They made short work of it.

Then it snowed on them. Snowflakes in gingerbread land are excessively large, and it took a while for them to escape from underneath it.

When they finally removed themselves from the snowflake they found the were in the presence of a gingerbread camel. A very old and loquatius gingerbread camel.

"My great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great.........great grandfather came to Bethlehem with the wisemen about 2000 years ago," he began. Fredrick and his friends listened as Camus the Camel continued and told them of Bethlehem and the Angels that spoke to the shepherds, and the brilliant star that his ancestor's master followed.

By the end of the story it was getting late. Camus the Camel fell asleep where he was and Fredrick, Leonardo, and Sandra sneaked off and headed for bed themselves. Fredrick thought he was quite alone when suddenly he found himself nose to nose(?) with the oddest creature he'd ever seen.

"What...ah, I mean, who are you?" he stuttered, trying to stay polite.

"I'm Alfonso Henri Shlomo Ling the 7th," the creature replied. "I'm a bacteria. Let's go make yogurt!"

And they did.

The End.

*In case you want to make gingerbread adventures of your own, here's the recipe:

Dark Cookies:
1 c. sugar
1 c. crisco
1 c. molasses
3 eggs
(Mix together, then add:)
3 tsp. soda in 1/2 c. boiling water
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp ginger
Flour (about 6 cups - enough so the dough can be rolled out and cut)

Mix together, roll out, cut, and bake at 350 for about 9 minutes. Then frost and decorate. Or you can try decorating before baking too.

Marshmallow Frosting:
1/2 c. boiling water
2 c. sugar
Boil until it spins a thread out of a spoon - not long.

2 egg whites, beaten

Pour syrup into whites slowly, while beating. Add 10-12 large marshmallows (cut in pieces).
If not stiff enough add powdered sugar and a little butter.
If too stiff add a few drops of hot water.

Christmas Stroll, 2011

2011-12-03T20:03:00.001-07:00

General feeling of Christmas cheer? Check.
Quickly chilling cider or cocoa? Check.
Seven layers of clothing and still frozen extremities? Check.
Visions of draft horses and people in odd costumes? Check.
Strains of Christmas music floating through the air? Check.

Congratulations, you must be at Bozeman's 31st annual Christmas Stroll. Here's some things you might see.

The Spiders. It's not Christmas until the Christmas Spiders are up.

Families bundled up for a chilly evening.

This is HOW chilly. (That's about 26F, fyi.)

Cake Boss, eat your heart out. We have Gingerbread houses by 7 year olds.

And sometimes we have Gingerbread Pyramids.

People admiring the children's handiwork.

Starting at one end of downtown Bozeman, heading to the other.

Elves warning that Santa's home is melting.

You can count all the different types of hats.

There might be a carrot caroling.

Or marshmallows roasting on an open fire.

Or small ones hitching a ride on dad.

There's Norwegians...

...and Bobcat fans. (GO CATS! :)

A living Nativity Scene with a choir...

...and, of course, with animals.

And awed children who try to pet said animals.

You might catch a ride on a "sleigh" pulled by draft horses.

Or run into dozens of women drumming on buckets! (That was almost a Seuss moment.)

Some bikers sport (very little) athletic clothing...

And musical groups abound.

All this, and more, at the Bozeman Christmas Stroll! See you next year?

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T14:46:00.001-07:00

I took advantage of our Thanksgiving celebration to try out a new lens.

Lovely food. :)

Good friends and

good conversations

Neighbor putting up Christmas lights.

I have a cute sister. :)

Walking before dessert.

Playing games.

Aw...

Lewistown Trip

2011-11-25T23:40:00.001-07:00

With the Thanksgiving vacation, we managed to get away from town for a couple days and head to Lewistown. It was nearly 10pm when we got there, and the house was about 47 degrees. It took a while to warm up, but we were glad to be there.

The stars were out full force...there's really no place like Montana for stars, especially on a clear winter's night.

We had a relaxing time, playing games...

reading...

and of course we had to head into town to do a little shopping. I liked the orange glassware at an antique shop we stopped at. It looks good enough to eat.

The same store had these cups. I seem to remember having identical ones when I was a child.

Another store had some funny baby items, like this bib.

And no stay would be complete without a little walk around the property.

All in all, I think we rather enjoyed our time there.

Snow attack

2011-11-17T23:38:00.001-07:00

We were deep in enemy territory when the snow hit. We could not afford to pause to wait out the storm, so we continued on quickly and silently, almost like the ghosts we would rapidly become if we were caught.

Unfortunately, in this much snow even ghosts leave tracks. Snow is a mixed blessing for those being tracked. If enough falls, it might cover your tracks again. If not, you might as well leave neon arrows pointing after you pass. You'll be found just as quickly.

Luck was not with us. The snow was abating, and we were not close enough to safety to make a run for it. We would have to make a stand.

We built the fort at the base of an ancient spruce. We worked with an energy and efficiency borne of panic, our movements almost too quick to follow. It was a small fort, but sturdy. We cleared the ground around it so the enemy wouldn't be able to come close without being exposed.

We knew the attack would come at dawn.

Fortunately, ammunition was plentiful.

Finally, we were ready. When the enemy attacked he would be met with deadly force.

There was nothing left to do but take turns at the watch and try to catch an hour or two of sleep before the battle was joined. We slept, dreaming that we were ghosts already.

And the beautiful, silent night slowly slipped away...

Fires of Autumn

2011-10-30T00:58:00.000-06:00

The fires of autumn burn

In each leaf

Giving its utmost

Before the death of winter.

One last joyous explosion

Of flaming life

Before their souls depart

Scenting the air with the fragrance

Of dying leaves.

Teaching, Take 2

2011-10-16T20:47:00.002-06:00

This last week I had the opportunity to substitute teach at the school where I used to teach. I even got to teach subjects I used to teach - Algebra II, Earth Science, Physical Science, and Biology.

The first day wasn't so bad - I gave tests in three of the classes, which, while it might have been a strain on them, was very little strain on me. The second day I came home exhausted. It wasn't that it was a hard day, or that the kids misbehaved, or anything like that. It really was probably a much easier day than my average day when I was teaching. I just had forgotten how very much talking is required in teaching. I think I talked more that day - explaining concepts, answering questions - than I had talked in the proceeding three months. And I must admit that I find that much talking rather exhausting. It was a lovely day, but I was glad to go home and sit in my room and say nothing to anybody for a while.

By the end of the week I think I had become more accustomed to the amount of talking required and was able to feel less exhausted.

All in all it was a fun week.

*I got to work in the new building that they just moved into. The science room has actual windows, and it's 90 degrees in the afternoon. It is, believe me, an unbelievable huge improvement over the last science room. It also has better storage and an emergency eye wash/shower station. And hopefully someday it will have actual lab benches with Bunsen burners and the like.

* I got to see a few of my old students...though most of them have graduated. And I got to teach a few students I knew from when they were in the elementary grades. My how fast they grow. And I got to meet a few new ones. They were all pretty great.

* I got to do a few labs. Play with water bottle rockets. Test acids and bases. Learn about pigments in leaves. Figure out how respiration and photosynthesis work in a plant. Graph results and analyze data. Ah, how I've missed those days.

If you've never tried it, I really would recommend teaching as a line of work. All in all, I still think it's just about the best job a person can have.

Knitting

2011-10-04T20:49:00.001-06:00

I've had some extra time on my hands lately, so this is what I've been doing:

Lots of knitting and experimenting with various things, like using different colors:

Common Books?

2011-10-04T20:38:00.000-06:00

Seeing these book selections at a second-hand store the other day made me smile.

When I was in Greece and Turkey, it seemed like every hotel or hostel would have a small selection of books for guests to borrow, or I would find a second hand book store catering to tourists. Almost all of these little libraries and stores would have "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown in their inventory. I'm not sure what it is about that book, but it was everywhere. Apparently, travelers never want to be far from a good Dan Brown supply.

The W.C.

2011-10-04T20:30:00.000-06:00

You feel a little silly at first, asking where the "W.C." is, but really, it's a much more reasonable euphimism than the ones we use. "Bathroom?" Well, I suppose there are at least sometimes baths in the room to which we are referring but how often do we actually use the baths? And then there's "Restroom." Seriously? Who in their right mind would go into said room to rest? Where did that term even come from? "Water Closet" is clearly the superior term, and much more likely to be understood internationally...and of course, international W.C.'s are the most interesting...

Many times on my most recent trip, I found myself in various establishments that served beverages...and with the beverages, they would provide a wireless key, thus allowing me to check email and other internet-y things. Of course, after a long enough time drinking beverages and writing blogs and checking facebook, one would begin to wonder where the W.C. was. Most of the W.C.'s in these establishments were pretty typical, but there was one...

We were in a sort of cafe (with a disco flavor) in Litochoro, Greece. I went in search of the W.C. and found one of the most bizarre ones I've ever seen. Most of the surfaces were of a reflective black material. This was actually fairly common in Greece, (though still sort of weird). The strangest part of this water closet was the sink. Unfortunately, I failed to get a picture, and my description will probably not do it justice. Basically, the water flowed from the odd water spout into the basin of the sink, which was a clear, shimmery piece of plastic or glass, under which could be seen pictures moving. Specifically, the movie "Ice Age" was playing in the sink. Who needs a TV when you have a sink?!

In Turkey, I lost track of the number of public W.C.'s I visited, most often in bus stations or the like. Often these place would charge a lira or two before they would let you in (or out). Of course, when you have to pay that much to simply use a toilet, you rather hope for a few basic amenities. Like, maybe, evidence that the place has been cleaned in recent memory. Or paper products and soap. Unfortunately, this hope was often disappointed. Now, I realize that the Turkish expectation for toilets is quite different from the American, but it was still a little sad when with 20 stalls available, the only type of toilet to be found was this:

The facilities at Priene had similar amenities, but they, at least, were free...

...and there was the added bonus of a cute bug on the sink.

Of course, something must be mentioned about toilets on boats. It's always fun to try to use the W.C. when the boat is rocking. Having to pump your own water to clear the bowl adds to the excitement.

The nicer bathrooms I used were, of course, in hotels. Mostly in the hotels during the first part of the trip, because the places I booked myself were not nearly as nice. Still, it was exciting to stay at a place that had an actual BATHroom...because then it was laundry time!

Grape Harvest!

2011-09-26T23:27:00.001-06:00

This will doubtless come as a surprise to most people, but Montana doesn't exactly have what could be called a "Mediterranean" climate. Places that do have a Mediterranean climate are France, Italy, Greece, Israel, and California (among others). Which is probably why most raisins and wines and other grape products come from these regions.

I think it's something about the soils, precipitation, and lack of -40 degree weather. There are, however, a very few hardy varieties of grapes that, with a little tender care, can grow in Montana.

We have just such a vine, and today we had our first grape harvest.

We got around 4 cups worth. Not bad for a two-year-old vine that had all visible flowers plucked off.

Yeah, those are grapes. Not blueberries.

Birthday Adventures

2011-09-26T00:01:00.002-06:00

To start off topic, one thing about Greece that I did not understand was the restaurants. For one thing, they were all always almost totally empty. I mean, I suppose it was May and the tourist season wasn't in full swing...but there were a lot of restaurants with a lot of empty tables...

The other thing I didn't understand were their table coverings. Most places would have tablecloths, and on top of the tablecloths they would place paper coverings. I guess I was under the impression that tablecloths are there to protect the table - or at least that's the purpose they served when I was growing up. If you add another lay to protect the tablecloth, it just starts to seem a bit redundant. Just lose the tablecloths if you're so worried about them getting dirty. It's not like the tablecloths improve the look of a place when they are covered by cheap paper coverings. I just didn't understand.

Apparently, though, places in America do the same thing.

Tonight I went to Ted's Montana Grill to celebrate the birthday of one of my closest friends. They not only had paper straws, but they also had paper covering their tablecloths covering their tables. And they didn't even give us crayons. They were, however, quite a bit more crowded than any Greek restaurant I visited.

Enough with table coverings, though.

The surprise party didn't quite go as planned, but Katie still seemed surprised. We had a nice meal together, and she opened a few gifts.

Everyone else was long gone when the last four of us made our way out to our cars - and to one last adventure. One of the girls had locked her keys in her car. So we, of course, tried to break into the car. However, since (ironically) none of us had any previous car breaking experience, we were rather unsuccessful. Fortunately, a guy driving by noticed something odd was going on, and Brandon the mechanic became our knight in shining armor, with a van instead of a horse and a car-opening kit instead of a sword. It was a blessing and an exciting end to a fun night.

Happy Birthday, Katie!

That one difference

2011-09-20T04:10:00.000-06:00

One of the joys of traveling is seeing all the different ways of thinking and doing things other people in other places have. It can be interesting, frustrating, terrifying, or hilarious - or a combination of all those. These are some of those "one things" that struck me this spring in Greece and Turkey.

One of the most frustrating things about Greece (and possibly one of the things we found most humorous) was the fact that every site of interest (to tourists) was closed every Monday and after 3pm the rest of the week. And when they said they were closed at 3, that really meant that they wouldn't allow anyone to enter after 2:30. Now, I can understand wanting to have a day off, and I can understand the desire for a siesta... But considering how huge tourism is in their economy, I feel like it would make sense to hire a couple more people for each site, so they could be open Mondays and maybe a little later in the afternoons. The general (half-serious) consensus was that if Greece bothered to be a little more accommodating to its tourists, maybe it wouldn't be in quite so much economic trouble.

One thing that really struck me is how much of an international language English really is. We met people from all over Europe, Asia, and the Americas, and English was always the common language used. It struck me even more when people would ask where I was from. The fact that I spoke English was not a dead give-away (and apparently to non-native speakers, accents aren't as readily distinguishable). Sometimes in Turkey men wanting attention for their shop or restaurant would inquire as to our country of origin and then begin offering guesses. To my surprise, some of the most common guesses were Irish or Australian. We didn't usually bother to correct them. It was a pleasant surprise to not be immediately tagged as American.

One of the funniest (and most annoying) parts of Turkey was their election process. Here in America we vote for the guy who can sling the most mud at his opponent. Apparently, in Turkey, they vote for the guy who can blare the loudest music from vans making their rounds of the larger cities. Yes. I know it sounds weird, but it's true. Everywhere we went (Kushadasi, Istanbul, and Ankara, where we were when the election took place) we would see vans, plastered with the face of their candidate, blasting loud music as they made their rounds. Once we even saw an armada: dozens of boats draped with flags and posters, rounding the Golden Horn. Yes. I will vote for you because you have boats. And I like your music better. Okay, I have to admit, I don't get it (and I didn't care for the loud music). But really, it might be an improvement over a mud-slinging competition.

One occurrance that would never been seen in America took place when we were walking down by the Bosporus. There was a bit of a traffic jam, probably caused by unruly election vehicles. Traffic was at a stand still when we saw one man get out of his car, pop the trunk, grab a beer, and get back in the car. (Apparently he then handed the beer to his companion, but still!) I think I burst out laughing at that.

One word must, of course, be said about the call to prayer. It was not a new experience for me to hear it five times a day. However, the calls in Turkey were, in general, much more attractive than the calls I had heard in Israel. Much more melodic. There were, however, what we dubbed, "The Dueling Muezzins." As one of the most famous mosques in the world, I suppose that muezzin of the Blue Mosque would want to stand out. And, of course, in that area of Istanbul, there are several mosques in ear-shot of each other. The Blue Mosque would start out, "Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar." Except it would be more like "Allaaaaaaahuuuuuuu Ikbaaaaaah-aaah-aaar, Aaaaaaaah-aaaah-llaaaah-aaaaaaaaahu Ikbaaah-aaaah-aaah-ah-ah-ah-aaaaar!" But longer. Once that first line was completed, that muezzin would pause and the muezzin from the nearest mosque would reply with the same line, but with more musical improvisation. Back and forth they would echo. Too loud to attempt to hold any sort of conversation. Fortunately, they usually kept the total time to under ten minutes. That was still quite long enough. It got a little ridiculous. Kind of like some worship bands in America.

One of the most randomly fun things was the birds that would fly above the Blue Mosque after dark (and to a lesser extent above Hagia Sophia). I loved to sit and watch them circle in the lights. It was a sad night when there was a power outage and the walk home past the Blue Mosque provided no circling birds.

One food that deserves a special mention is, I think, durum cig kofte. (Forgive the lack of accent marks and the like.) From my understanding, this dish used to be made from finely chopped raw meat, but that practice has become more rare. Now it seems to be made mainly from bulgar and maybe lentils or potatoes. Totally vegetarian. One night we were out wandering when we were approached by a vendor with some street food we hadn't seen before: some sort of wrap. We asked him what it was and he said, "chicken." We figured later that was probably the only English word he knew that would fit at all. At any rate, we bought some and tried it out, delighted to find it rather spicy (a flavor distinctly lacking from Greek foods.) It was, however, clearly NOT chicken. We ran into it several more times on our trip, and eventually figured out what it was that we tried that night. It even became one of our favorite cheap foods - a welcome change from doner.

One thing is certain: many more "one things" could be pointed out, but to sum up, "It was quite an experience."

2011-09-03T23:08:00.001-06:00

crunch, crunch, crunch
flip-flap, flip-flap
scrush, scrush, scrush

Even with my ears muffled against the sudden fall chill, I can hear the quiet cadence of my feet as they plod along on different surfaces on this still night.

The pond is still as I jog by. So still that not only are the outlines of the darkened mountains clearly outlined, but a few stars are even clearly reflected, and - yes - for a moment, there's the moon's reflection, barely seen above the reflected horizon.

The milky way keeps me company overhead. It's a dark night and the moon is failing, but the stars provide enough ambient lighting for me to keep my equilibrium.

As I run on the path through the field, the moon waves to me through the trees. We encourage each other to continue on our respective races. In the distance the trees already look like the naked skeletons they will soon become. It's a night that promises autumn. Time is also racing.

I pause to bid the moon farewell as it begins to descend behind some distant hills. Soon the crescent looks like a triangle, and the triangle fades until it resembles a candle on a far hill. A moment more and the candle is snuffed - but an ember still burns! And then that too is gone, and the stars hold full sway over the night sky.

Montana Day

2011-08-27T23:47:00.002-06:00

Public Transportation Abroad

2011-08-22T14:43:00.000-06:00

Publictransportation is still something of a novelty to me. There are some places in American where thereis decent public transportation, but Montana is not one of them. With a population density of about 7 peopleper square mile, it just isn't practical. Perhaps this lack of experience has warped me, because one my travels, Itend to be excited and entertained by the various modes of travel employed.

Of course,every trip (almost) starts on an airplane. I've been on a number of airplanes, so the novelty has rather wornoff. Still, it's always a bit of anadventure: making connections, hoping for a nice seat partner, wondering ifthey'll serve anything to eat or drink… You know the drill. But the realadventure starts when you reach the airport of your destination.

In myjourney through Greece and Turkey I traveled by bus, barge, sailboat, ferry,airplane (again), bus, car, van, metro, train, bus, tram, dolmus (like a bus),and did I mention bus? (I think that wasmost of them…)

Buses werethe most common mode of transportation we used, and were used to cover thelargest distances. A shocking number ofmy memories are from these many buses.

I think wefirst used public buses in Greece. Ourfirst really memorable experience there was trying to find the bus station inAthens. If anyone knew where it was,they weren't able to explain it well, and I couldn't find it on a map. "Take this bus to this stop and thenwalk to this street" or "take the metro here and then catch thisbus" was the closest we got…and as we didn't understand or even read Greek(at least not quickly enough to recognize stops and streets), we opted to take a taxi.

When we finally got to the station, I made sure to mark it on my map. Coordinates: 38.010118N and 23.722913E

Once wefound the bus station, the rest of that trip (to Delphi) went relativelysmoothly.

Our bus in Athens, once we finally found the station

The bus driver even announceda 10 minute stop in English. I thinkthat may have been the only English I heard on a bus (in the form of anannouncement) over the course of the trip.

The lovely view inside a bus

Once inDelphi we at least knew where the bus station was, but it was also small andhad a very limited number of buses leaving each day, and, to top it off, it wasclosed the only time we tried to go there to ask for information. Nevertheless we managed to leave the day weintended. We had an unexpected buschange (and no warning or explanation for us stupid tourists), but we managedto get (and stay) on the right bus. (This, of course, resulted in the adventure recounted here: To the Home of the Gods)

Being dropped on a highway exit still ranksas one of the worst moments of the trip. Still, we survived. But the nextday we took a train.

Arriving at the Litochoro exit ramp

The nextbus experience was our flight from Thessaloniki to Istanbul. We had begun to be afraid that we would neverfind a way to leave Greece, so when we finally found a bus that went to Istanbul, wemade quick use of it. Purchasing ticketsended up being a bit of a fiasco, but once we were on the bus (which was run bya Turkish company) things started to improve. The journey started with a beverage service (tea and coffee). It was the first time I had ever been serveddrinks on a public bus.

It was anuncomfortable journey in general, but that's to be expected when you're on abus all night, unable to sleep well, and making frequent stops to pick uppassengers, have bathroom breaks, and go through border crossings.

Our first stop inside Turkey. They seemed to like to wash the bus at every possible place.

We took several other buses in Turkey, some big, some little, some local, some cross-country, some during the day, and some at night.

Departing the Denizli bus station on our way to Istanbul - our last night bus.

Night trips were always exhausting, but saved on time and money (didn't have to pay for a hostel those nights!) Some bus experiences were better than others, but none were as bad as the Delphi-Litochoro run.

Our longer bus rides were from Istanbul to Goreme, Goreme to Ankara, Ankara to Antalya, and then Denizli back to Istanbul. We used a number of different companies, but the experiences were much the same.
1. There were personal TV monitors in the back of every chair. Every seat would have (or be given) headphones and you could select which channel you wished to watch. Some of the movies were even American, though, of course, they had been dubbed over in Turkish. Still, I ended up watching "Up!" about one and a half times on one journey, and it was entertaining even without understanding the words. Other recognizable shows were "Ice Age 3" and "Smurfs." Most of the other shows seemed to be Turkish in origin.

There was usually a "bus-cam" channel too, so you could watch the progress the bus was making as the driver saw it.

2. They would offer a snack and beverage service every few hours. Sometimes we got ice cream, sometimes cookies or crackers or cakes, along with tea or coffee or cola. This would happen about 1-3 times, depending on the length of the journey.

3. They would stop about every 3 hours for a bathroom/food break. These tended to be rather frustrating and inconvenient, for a variety of reasons.
i. They would usually be too soon (because you were just starting to fall asleep) or too late (because you'd already needed to pee for about an hour).
ii. They never told us (in English, at least) how long we were going to be at each stop. So stops generally ranged from 10 minutes to 1 hour…we didn't want to wander too far, just in case it was short, but the longer ones seemed quite excessive. How long do you need to use the bathroom, purchase/eat food, and smoke several cigarettes to make up for the last three hours?
iii. They were usually at gas station type places in the middle of nowhere…which meant that there were no options and they could charge whatever they wanted for everything. Bathrooms were usually extra (a lira or so, which did not guarantee that they would be clean or have TP). Food was, of course, vastly overpriced.

More local buses and dolmuses we used around Goreme, Ankara, and from Antalya to Olympos to Finike to Pammukale. They also had some similar characteristics.

Riding a bus around Ankara.

1. They tended to be rather crowded. Not too surprising, but sometimes it was a bit of a challenge fitting two extra bodies and their luggage (small though it was) aboard.

We had to share a tiny rear-facing bench on this bus to Olympus. I was squeezed against the door and was afraid I would fall out every time the driver opened it.

2. The drivers (and passengers) seem to have something against using AC and/or opening windows. Sometimes they would turn on enough air for you to just start feeling comfortable…and then it would be gone again. It made for long, sweaty rides.

3. Since we hadn't really been to any of the places where we were going, it was a bit of adventure going, stopping, and wondering if this was our stop or not? Should we get off here? I think so…but… Oddly enough, it was times like this that having a GPS along was most handy.

Yes, all in all, we road quite a lot of buses. I feel like I rather became an expert on Turkish buses. Someday I hope to go back and see more of the beautiful scenery that flashed by my window as we journeyed on those buses.

Sunrise from the bus window as we made our way back to Istanbul.

Tubing

2011-08-07T22:47:00.001-06:00

The first shock of cold hits your toes and shoots up your spine to your brain, making you start to wonder if you'll make it through this ordeal with all your phalanges and limbs intact. By the time you are in to your knees you think that you might just escape with a sever case of hypothermia. You search your mind for possible excuses to leave: "Uh, hey guys, I just forgot, I left the iron on. I gotta go!" *dash out of the river and down the road back to your warm cabin and bed* Unfortunately, such excuses are not to be found, and peer pressure is such that you continue to wade deeper. And then you sit down on your tube and know: you are going to die. This river is SO COLD that you will be lucky if you escape with your life.

The river pulls you along as it plunges over and between huge boulders. It's not called the Boulder River for nothing. If you are lucky, you avoid falling off your tube and escape banging body parts against rocks and tree branches reaching into the water. If your are unlucky, the waters around you, just fresh from the snow packs on the mountains, will keep the wounded areas numbed until you leave their embrace.

You paddle wildly with your hands, in an attempt to avoid the scarier looking parts of the river, while at the same time trying to keep your hands out of the searingly cold water. It doesn't work very well. In spite of your best efforts you are almost certain to hit some rocks and go over some rapids that are a little intense for an inter-tube. However, if you are lucky, you may see some ducks shooting the rapids with you.

The only sounds you hear over the roar of the river are the whoops and hollers of people freezing, banging into rocks, and going over rapids. And the delighted and slightly terrified laughter: "I don't know what I was thinking, but this is awesome!"

Once your whole body is almost entirely numb, you will reach the point where you emerge from the river and sprint to the 88 degree pool. Dropping your tubes and stripping off your life jacket you leap into the life-giving warmth of the pool. Ahhhhh.

That may have just been the best part of the summer.

Montana's Song

2011-07-25T00:04:00.001-06:00

Tonightthe road roamed under a night sky splendid with stars. The milky way shone with an icy brilliance assatellites silently traced their paths across the sky. The grass lent its scent to the night air,giving it an earthy aroma. The pinessilhouetted against the starry sky added spice to the air.

The roadmeandered by a small river and listened in as that swollen stream whispered itssecret sorrows to the shore in the still places and roared out its joy at beinga river in the rapids.

The roadwas joined by a brook, babbling as it made its way to the river, passing on thegossip from the icy springs and melting snows further up the mountain.

A nearbycampfire burned with joyful abandon, lighting up the trees and fields nearby inthe excess of its exuberance. The crack of the wood being chopped to give theflames life punctuated the river's monologue.

Creation sings the Father's song.

Hallelujah! Let all creation stand and sing,

"Hallelujah!" Fill the earth with songs of worship;

Tell the wonders of creation's King.

Sailing with Paul

2011-07-22T20:28:00.002-06:00

Oddlyenough, it turns out that life on a boat (or island) is quite distinctlydifferent from life on the mainland.

I'msure that will shock and amaze everyone reading this, but really, it's true. Of course, one expects some differences (smaller beds and bathrooms, forexample), but some of the differences change one's understanding of theworld (and enlighten one's understanding of much of the New Testament,especially Paul) in ways this landlubber didn't expect.

Weatherhas a huge impact on how plans are (or aren't) realized in ocean travel. Here in Montana, I can travel from one cityto another on pretty much any given day. I may have to wait for snowplows to clear the road, or I may beendangering my life in icy conditions, but for anyone really determined, travelis possible. The same is not true on aboat - especially a sailboat, like the one Paul would have been on. If the wind is against you, you might noteven be able to get your boat out of port. With the motor on the Morning Starwe were able to travel and maneuver in and out of port, even in the absence offavorable winds, making our travels much easier than Paul's. Still, weather did cause us a fewdelays. It gives a whole new perspectiveon passages like Acts 27.

And putting out to sea from there we sailed under the lee ofCyprus, because the winds were against us.And when we had sailed across the open sea along the coast of Cilicia andPamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia. There the centurion found a ship ofAlexandria sailing for Italy and put us on board. We sailed slowly for a number of days and arrived with difficulty off Cnidus, and as the wind did not allow us to go farther, we sailed under the leeof Crete off Salmone. ~Acts 27:4-7

One canimagine being cold, cramped, and tired of the constant motion as the sailorslabored to make headway against contrary winds. A trip that in good weather would have taken a couple days now tookseveral, and those ships were not built for comfort.

Speedand, tangentially, distance also take on a whole new meaning. You may have only 50 miles to go, and you maybe able to see your destination from where you are, but if your sailboat has atop speed of 7 knots (or about 8mph), that's a long trip! If the wind is in the right direction andnothing breaks, there's a good chance you may reach your destination thatday.

We were never out of the sight of land during our tours of the Greek Isles - but just because you can see it, doesn't mean you can reach it.

Ofcourse, in modern times we've found some ways to manage. Airplanes travel between some of the Greekislands, making some speed possible. Ferries travel between almost all the islands, some moving at an excessof 20 or 30 knots (which is still not very fast). I just find it amusing that even with all ourtechnology, the sea finds ways to thwart our plans and slow us down.

Another aspect that I didn't give much thought was theclose proximity you have with everyone else on the boat - and you don't get tochoose who you travel with. On our boat we were blessed to at least sharethe same faith - though backgrounds differed wildly. The thing is, on aboat, as in much of life, you're not together based on where you come from, butwhere you're going. Sharing the same destination may not give you much incommon, but it's a starting point. One can imagine Paul beginning thereas he conversed with sailors, soldiers, and other pagans on his travels. And perhaps by the end of the boat trip, they had more in common, thistime an eternal destination.

Ingeneral, on a boat one begins to realize how very out of control we humansare. We can make plans but they caneasily be thwarted by wind, waves, mechanical problems, or even interpersonalproblems. Yet, even as our human plansfall through, we begin to realize that God has plans for us that are better andwill never be thwarted.

A time to be born, and a time to die

2011-07-18T22:50:00.000-06:00

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

What gain has the worker from his toil? I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil--this is God's gift to man. I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him.

~Ecclesiastes 3:1-14

The last week of my uncle's journal records his musings on this and other passages. I don't think there's any way he could have known how soon or sudden his own time to die would be, but I think he was about as prepared for death as a man can be. His reflections on the passages display his appreciation for the sovereignty of God and the seasons that He has prescribed in our lives, always remembering that,
The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. ~Romans 8:18b

The last words he wrote echo the promise in Philippians 1:6 and his desire for its fulfillment: for God to complete His work in his (my uncle's) life.

A few short hours later God did complete the work he was doing in my uncle's life, and he took him home. Those of us who have been left behind for now miss him, but we rejoice in the knowledge that he is now complete and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord he loved and served, and we look to follow his example.

He left behind a wife, three daughters and a daughter-in-law, one son and three sons-in-law, and six adorable grandchildren, as well as a mother and a sister and various other relatives. It had been a long time since we had all been together, and we enjoyed each other's company, though we wished it had been for a different reason.

His love of hunting and fishing will be remember by his son and oldest grandson who carried on that tradition together while we were there.

He will be missed, but we look forward to the day when we shall see him again, when death is swallowed up in victory, and when our time with him then will be far longer and far better than our time with him here on earth.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. ~1 Corinthians 15:53-57

*The obituary can be read here.

Narnian Adventures

2011-07-05T21:49:00.001-06:00

Something that I have found to be true in my own life is that just about any adventure you have can be, in some form or another, related to one or more of the Chronicles of Narnia (or to one of C. S. Lewis' other books). On my lastest adventure I was accompanied by a fellow adventurer who loves Lewis almost as much as I do, and it was not uncommon for references to be made to the books and similarities pointed out. For your literary enjoyment, I will point out a few of those similarities here.

Lucy was, of course, barefoot, having kicked off her shoes while swimming, but that is no hardship if one is going to walk on downy turf. It was delightful to be ashore again and to smell the earth and grass, even if at first the ground seemed to be pitching up and down like a ship, as it usually does for a while if one has been at sea. It was much warmer here than it had been on board and Lucy found the sand pleasant to her feet as they crossed it. There was a lark singing.

They struck inland and up a fairly steep, though low, hill. At the top, of course, they looked back, and there was the Dawn Treader shining like a great bright insect and crawling slowly northwestward with her oars. Then they went over the ridge and could see her no longer.

Doorn now lay before them, divided from Felimath by a channel about a mile wide; behind it and to the left lay Arva. The little white town of Narrowhaven on Doorn was easily seen.

~The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Chapter 3

When one spends time on a sailboat, one cannot help but draw comparisons to the Dawn Treader. We felt, as Lucy, the delight of being on shore again after a few days on the boat - though the solid ground did feel funny. I even like to imagine that Lewis modeled some of his islands after the Greek Islands: grassy hills, more goats than people (on some), white towns, and from the tops of those hills, a view of our boat, shining in the harbor. We failed to meet pirates, sea-serpents, or dragons, but we did experience stormy weather, a damaged boat, and limited water rations.

I had been wandering for hours in similar mean streets, always in the rain and always in evening twilight. Time seemed to have paused on that dismal moment when only a few shops have lit up and it is not yet dark enough for their windows to look cheering. And just as the evening never advanced to night, so my walking had never brought me to the better parts of the town. However far I went I found only dingy lodging houses, small tabacconists, hoardings from which posters hung in rags, windowless warehouses, goods stations without trains, and bookshops of the sort that sell The Works of Aristotle. I never met anyone.

~The Great Divorce, Chapter 1

"How did you like Athens?" has been a common question over the past month or so since I left Athens. The best answer I've found is a comparison I made while there: it reminds me of the grey town in The Great Divorce. The historical sites are great, but the modern town itself... It's kind of dirty, covered with graffiti, the streets go on an on, each with a few of the same little dingy shops open (but more places closed than open), and as far as you walk, nothing changes, and you never get to a better part of town. It's not eternally raining and not eternally twilight, but apart from that, the description fits pretty well.

At first Shasta could see nothing in the valley below him but a sea of mist with a few domes and pinnacles rising from it; but as the light increased and the mist cleared away, he saw more and more. A broad river divided itself into two streams and on the island between them stood the city of Tashbaan, one of the wonders of the world. Round the very edge of the island, so that the water lapped against the stone, ran high walls strengthened with so many towers that he soon gave up trying to count them. Inside the walls the island rose in a hill, and every bit of that hill, up to the Tisroc's palace and the great temple of Tash at the top, was completely covered in buildings: terrace above terrace, street above street, zigzag roads or huge flights of steps bordered with orange trees and lemon trees, roof gardens, balconies, deep archways, pillared colonnades, spires, battlements, minarets, pinnacles. And when at last the sun rose out of the sea and the great silver-plated dome of the temple flashed back its light, he was almost dazzled.

~The Horse and His Boy, Chapter 4

Apparently Lewis modeled Calormen after Turkey. I have to say that I liked Turkey quite a lot, while no one, probably not even Calormens, like Calormen. That aside, similarities can still be seen, and this discription of Tashbaan sounds a lot like what I imagine the Golden Horn of Istanbul was like during the time of the Ottomans. A walled hill, surrounded by water (not quite an island), topped by Topkapi palace and mosques instead of the temple.

It is also worth noting that "aslan" is the Turkish word for "lion" and thus it was not uncommon to come across places like "Aslan Tourism" or "Aslan Cafe."

But it was a queer city. The lights were so few and far apart that they would hardly have done for scattered cottages in our world. But the little bits of the place which you could see by the lights were like glimpses of a great seaport. You could make out in one place a whole crowd of ships loading or unloading; in another, bales of stuff and warehouses; in a third, walls and pillars that suggested great palaces or temples; and always, wherever the light fell, endless crowds: hundreds of Earthmen....The City was as quiet, and nearly as dark, as the inside of an anthill.

~The Silver Chair, Chapter 10

The underground city we visited in Cappadocia was nothing like the one described here, being merely a series of tunnels, rooms, and passage ways - nothing like a cave large enough to contain a whole city. Still, one could get a sense of what a relief it must have been for Jill, Eustace, Puddleglum, and Rilian to find themselves above ground, free to move and breath, rejoicing in the light of the sun and moon. Apparently there are around 100 such underground cities all around that region of Turkey. It's hard to imagine that many people living that deep underground, buried alive with all their animals, self-sufficient in their caves for long enough to avoid whatever enemies troubled them.

Pressing their way between the laden branches they reached the wall. It was very old, and broken down in places, with moss and wallflowers growing on it, but it was higher than all but the tallest trees. And when they came quite close to it they found a great arch which must once have had a gate in it but was not almost filled up with the largest of all the apple trees. They had to break some of the branches to get past, and when they had done so they all blinked because the daylight became suddenly much brighter. They found themselves in a wide open place with walls all around it. In here there were no trees, only level grass and daisies, and ivy, and gray walls. It was a bright, secret, quiet place, and rather sad; and all four stepped out into the middle of it, glad to be able to straighten their backs and move their limbs freely.

~Prince Caspian, Chapter 1

Visiting the ruins at Olympos felt almost as if we'd stumbled upon the ruins of Cair Paravel. The sun soaked stones, overgrown with trees and vines, stood near the sea, abandoned and unused for centuries. We kept expecting to find a treasure room and have to rescue a dwarf from some hostile Telmarines. Instead, the most threatening creature we came across was a large toad.

Tirian looked and saw the queerest and most ridiculous thing you can imagine. Only a few yards away, clear to be seen in the sunlight, there stood up a rough wooden door, and round it, the framework of the doorway: nothing else, no walls, no roof. He waled toward it, bewildered, and the others followed, watching to see what he would do. He walked round to the other side of the door. But it looked just the same from the other side: he was still in the open air, on a summer morning. The door was simply standing up by itself as if it had grown there like a tree.

~The Last Battle, Chapter 13

Here and there, wandering around ancient ruins, one will happen across something like this: the walls and ceiling crumbled away years ago, but the doorway is still standing (though usually not with a door still hung in it). Though you know it doesn't go anywhere, it's hard not to imagine that it might be a door to other worlds - maybe even to Aslan's country!

Wandering Turkey

2011-06-29T22:59:00.000-06:00

I've been physically home in Montana for nearly a week now, but a part of my mind seems to still be wandering around Turkey, because every morning when I wake up, I realize that's where my dreams have taken me: wandering Turkey, in search of...something. Sometimes food, sometimes confused dream searches, but always wandering Turkey.

It really isn't that surprising when you consider that the last 22 days (or so) of my life previous to arriving home were spent doing just that: wandering around Turkey in search of...something. (And an additional week was spent wandering Greece in search of similar things).

More often than not we were in search of food. Cheap food. Sometimes we would wander for hours, up one street and down the next, pausing occasionally to check prices on a menu.

"Not bad," one might say. "Wanna stop here?"

"Mmm, whatever," the other might reply. "I'm not starving yet. Why don't we walk down this street a little further and if we don't find something better we can come back."

"Okay."

Eventually we would get so hungry we would have to pick a place.

Sometimes we would wander in search of a specific type of food. One time we wandered down toward the Galata Bridge area, in search of fish sandwiches (balik ekmek). We must have walked past every booth that sold those sandwiches before we finally went back and got one at one of the first places we passed.

Other times we would search for a specific grocery store or restaurant. Our first day in Istanbul, wandering mostly aimlessly, we happened upon a grocery store which had peanut butter, a substance which apparently doesn't exist in Greece and barely exists in Turkey. Our rejoicing was great. However, it took us several tries and more than one hour of wandering to find that market again on a different day.

When I finally found it again, I took pictures to make sure I would recognize it.

It was not uncommon for us to go in search of a specific place: a bus station, a hostel, or a museum or other tourist site. Many of these places were actually labeled on maps, which didn't always decrease our wandering time. I was usually the navigator on these expeditions (by virtue of being the only one who paid attention to where we were going) and using a combination of maps and GPS, I usually managed to make our wandering last at least an hour longer than necessary. Not that it was entirely my fault. Some places were mislabeled on the maps and other places had enough windy streets that you could be close to your destination and totally miss it as your little street wound in the opposite direction. Eventually, though, we always managed to get to the right place.

We passed some interesting areas as we wandered in search of the Spice Market (having missed the right street),

but eventually we found it:

Sometimes we wandered just for fun, seeing what there was to see,

in the city,

A house in Istanbul - with the laundry out to dry

in the country,

A more rural place in Cappadocia

and even in historical cities.

Ruins in Hieropolis

Other ruins in Olympos

Sometimes we would pause to watch the sunsets,

In Istanbul

and Goreme

or the bird circling the mosque after dark,

Sometime we'd stop to laugh about the things we found, like the "Underpants Street of Istanbul,"

or a water park with two small slides and a hose,

We'd often pause to admire the view

...or to admire the view while trying to find the trail we were looking for,

or to eat ice cream

or watch the moon rise.

In Antalya

and in Olympos

Sometimes we would wander around in the wilderness, hiking, exploring,

Pigeon Valley near Goreme

Part of the Lycian Way near Olympos

even stopping to play with the occasional tortoise.

Sometimes we even wandered around shopping areas (though we did very little actual purchasing), always searching for a slightly better deal on the few items we wanted.

All in all, I guess it's a good thing I like wandering.

Return

2011-06-23T21:51:00.000-06:00

The way home was wrought with perils and adventures including a hand dripping copious amounts of blood, baggage drama, a seat mate who could have been almost my twin, crowded terminals, and delayed flights. Fortunately, in the end, I (and all my bags) arrived in Montana, only about an hour late.

However, now that I am home and have a little more time to think and write and sort through pictures, I will hopefully be posting a few more blogs about my adventures in Greece and Turkey. If any of you out there reading this have any specific questions or want to know more about any aspect of those countries, feel free to ask and I'll try to answer as well as I can.

Moon Magic

2011-06-17T02:59:00.001-06:00

Story #1:

Flashlights bobbed along the trail before and behind us. It was a warm evening, and as we moved quickly up the hill, sweat beaded on our foreheads and our lungs were put to good use. For about 20 minutes we hiked and then, as the light of several campfires came into view we stopped. For they were not actual campfires. Instead, holes in the earth allow a strange mixture of gases to leak out, and they combust when they reach the surface. The dancing flames are the remains of a phenomena that has awed travelers for millennia: the Chimera.

As we stopped to take in the flames, the star encrusted sky, and the black outlines of the mountains against the horizon, we looked also at the moon, struck by it's odd shape. It had been almost full the previous night, but now it appeared to have decreased in size again - but in the wrong direction. The conclusion was inescapable: and eclipse! So we sat there, by ancient dancing flames and watched the moon be fully eclipsed by the earth's shadow. Years ago there were pagans who worshiped on this mountain, at these flames, awed by the magic of fire from the earth. What would they have thought on such a night, with the fires burning and the moon growing dark? We, however, are blessed to know and are known by the God who ordained these wonders.

Story #2

Under a darkening sky we made our way down the road towards the beach. Most of the tourists had left with the sun and anyone who might return after dark was still at dinner. So it was that we were alone when we rounded a curve and came into sight of the bay. A point of land stuck out, black against the twilight, and on the tip a campfire seemed to burn. As we walked closer to the water, however, we realized that the yellow light was not that of a fire, but of a huge orange moon that hung just above the horizon. The reflection in the water shimmered with the same orange glow as we sat down on the pebbled beach to watch it rise higher.

The frog's song, accompanied by the plunk of pebbles in the quiet waves made a perfect accompaniment to the silently, majestically rising moon.

Together with Innocent Smith, we celebrated being alive.

The Ruins of Paradise

2011-06-15T09:10:00.000-06:00

It is, perhaps, slightly off the beaten track, this ancient ruin at Olympos. With no four or five star hotels in sight, the atmosphere could perhaps be best described as summer-camp-for-grownups. Hammocks and cushion-lined booths dominate the scene,

and a dirt road (periodically crossed by a dry riverbed) leads sun-burnt travelers through Cair Paravel-like ruins to the pebbled beach.

At some point during Greco-Roman times, this was a fairly important city, with a bath, a theatre, a port, and a couple necropolises. Perhaps because of pirates, or perhaps because of earthquakes, or perhaps because of some other combination of reasons, the city went into decline. Now the mostly unexcavated remains are overgrown and mainly visited by Europeans and Turks seeking a holiday but not wanting to pay resort prices.

It's a great place to explore and to imagined among the ruins, without the aid of archaeological constructions (or misconstructions), what life might have been like.

And one can understand why pirates seemed to prefer the place.

Now the most ruthless inhabitants are the chickens which parade around regularly, crowing and cackling and searching for bugs and stray crumbs.

This one seems like he could be a reincarnated pirate :)

A few highlights

2011-06-13T09:54:00.000-06:00

So many things are constantly happening that I'm afraid I've fallen a bit behind in updates. Here are a few highlights from the last week.

1. Hiking around the beautiful area of Goreme:
a. The Open Air Museum

b. Pigeon valley and the nearby Castle, guarding the Silk Road

c. Rose Valley

2. Successfully using public transportation to go to the underground city at Derinkuyu.

3. Seeing old friends (and meeting some new ones) in Ankara and getting a taste of their lives there. Plus, getting to stay in a house with laundry facilities instead of a crowded hostel. :)

4. Trying new foods (sometimes with the advice of people who know Turkish) including manti and ayran and always doners.

5. Visiting various museums

Ethnographic Museum

History of Anatolia Museum

Museum in Antalya

6. Eating cherries...and having a seed spitting contest.

7. Seeing the mountains and waterfalls around Antalya

8. Seeing and experiencing parts of Turkey - it's very beautiful.

Goreme

2011-06-07T05:34:00.000-06:00

It was close to 7am and we had been traveling all night. The sun had risen and was lighting up the pleasant land scape of field and a few gently rolling hills. A few hot air balloons hung in the distance, the only indication that we were nearing our destination, famous for its unique geology.

Suddenly the bus took a turn and began descending. At last we could see the funny pointed rock formations that make this region so unique. Within a few minutes we had arrived in Goreme, famous for its rock formations and for the large Christian community that inhabited them in years past.

There seem to be no end of places to explore. Apart from the scenery, which is spectacular,

many of these little rock teepees were carved out and used as ancient houses or churches. (Our hostel room is in one of these many caves.)

I'm sure that months could be spent exploring everything. We've been here but a day and have yet to see much of anything but the most famous site: The Open Air Museum

They say there are thousands of churches in this region, which may or may not be true (perhaps depending on one's definition of church? We don't necessarily know how all these churches and chapels were used).
Nevertheless, there are certainly a number of churches, and some of them have dramatically preserved frescoes (or something like frescoes) decorating their walls. Probably the best preserved of these are in the Open Air Museum.

Fresco from (I think) The Dark Church

Lots of groves and niches...and not sure what everything was used for. Maybe this was a table?

Really fun blue color in this one.

So far Goreme is pretty well worth it.

Hagia Sophia

2011-06-07T05:32:00.000-06:00

It's probably one of the largest and oldest churches I've been in (and I've had my share of large, ancient churches). It's also no longer a church. As a museum, on a Sunday morning it was filled with people of all faiths, marveling at the decorations and architecture.

Since the book of Revelation had been written to people in this region nearly 2000 years ago, I found a quiet corner and read a few chapters to myself.

In a part of the world so deceived by Satan's lies, with reminders of his falsehoods everywhere...

this verse stood out:

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. ~Revelations 20:10

In a dark and hopeless world, Revelation offers an abundance of hope. The Kingdom of God will prevail. Hagia Sophia may now be filled with people from various tribes, tongues, and nations, merely marveling at a beautiful building, but someday a similar group will sing praises around the throne of God.

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. ~Revelation 22: 3-5

Istanbul!

2011-06-01T23:48:00.000-06:00

There came a breaking point. A point where we said, "Enough is enough!" A point when we rolled up our bedrolls, saddled our horses, and rode into the sunrise.

When we arrived in Istanbul after taking a night bus out of Thessaloniki, there was great rejoicing.

And we had food and tea to celebrate.

We had a little trouble figuring out the metro system, but helpful people seemed abundant, and soon we came to Sultanahmet and to our hostel with this window view:

Yes, that is Hagia Sophia. Rough life? Yes.

After a long night on the bus we took it pretty easy that day, just strolling around a little, but not trying to see any major sites.

After a good nights rest, Wednesday morning we were ready to go.

We first headed to Topkapi Palace, only to discover that the line was longer than a lightyear (well, not really, but it was long) so we diverted our plans and went first instead to the Archaeological Museum.

I may as well tell you right now, so you are not under any false impressions, that I am a total geek and that visiting the Istanbul Archaeological Museum has been a dream of mine for a while now. I blame Gabi really. He would tell us about some interesting find from somewhere in Israel and then say, in his thick accent, "That is in the museum in Istanbul." Basically, it was an exciting day for me.

While there were many fun and exciting things to see (and many less fun and exciting things - I find that sarcophagi and gravestones get repetitive after a while), one of the most exciting for me was to finally see the original inscription from Hezekiah's tunnel:

I know, it's not much to look at, but that's ok. It was cool. :)

Among many other famous things, we also saw the sarcaphogus of Alexander the Great.

After a lunch of peanut butter and nutella sandwiches (finding peanut butter = another exciting event in Turkey) we decided to try the palace again, this time with better luck.

It was an interesting experience. The treasure rooms still display some of the wealth of the Ottomans and are packed with people, ogling at the jewel encrusted swords and lamps, rings the size of two of my fingers, and a diamond not much smaller than my fist. Who knew that so much wealth existed?

The portrait room displays paintings of the various sultans, like any proper landed family in England displaying their ancestors.

They also have a room with the Sword of the Prophet David, the Staff of the Prophet Moses, the hand and head of John the Baptist, and several hairs from the Beard of the Prophet.

With all that, I think I still liked the garden best.

It was strange, but everything - the towers and turrets, the family portraits, the treasure rooms and jewel-encrusted whatever reminded me more than I expected of fairy tales and stories of European royalty. I suppose I shouldn't have been surprised, but they were more similar than I expected - just with a few twists, here and there.

A meal on a rooftop was a good way to conclude the day, with the sun setting over the city,

and the Blue Mosque lit up for the night.

Yeah, Istanbul is pretty cool.

To the home of the gods

2011-05-28T14:25:00.000-06:00

Have you ever traveled by bus in Greece? Yeah, neither had I. Now, having experience it, I can say that it is the only way to experience Greece in all its glory. And by glory, well, I mean more discomfort and inefficiency and, yeah, that sort of thing. I don't mean to complain, but I don't think I've ever had to pay more for a less enjoyable experience in my life. Well, drilling cavities might compete. I suppose it could have been worse, but...the day went something like this:

It seemed like a reasonable proposal: head to Thessaloniki by way of Mount Olympus/Litohoro. In hind sight...

The bus was late. Maybe that should have warned us. (That and the outrageous ticket prices.) But it was only 15 minutes late, and it is Greece, after all. At least this time we didn't have to wander the streets of Athens searching for the bus station.

Still, the bus came and we dutifully piled onto it and began our decent down the mountain. We paused various places, picking up and dropping off passengers as we went.

We stopped in Amfissa, where, we eventually found out, we were supposed to change buses. Nice of them to mention it.

On the next bus we headed out again, still hopeful that we would make it to Litohoro before nightfall, but a little uncertain as to how many more unexpected bus changes we might have to make.

At least the scenery was beautiful.

Another stop...in Lamia...but eventually we figured out we were to stay on the same bus. A little disappointing, considering how unhelpful the driver was...and how little he liked to use the fan or AC. (So hot!)

We stopped again near Larisa and finally had a bathroom break.

Now, at this point, I should explain something. I've never been in Greece before. Thus, I've never been to Litohoro (our ticket destination) before. It may be surprising, in light of this, that I had no idea what to expect. I barely knew where Litochoro was on the map, and I had a vague understanding that the hostel we booked was near it. In retrospect, I should have studied several maps of everything before embarking. I also should have modified my expectations of the bus to actually take us there.

It went something like this. We were on a highway, about an hour after passing Larissa, when the bus driver actually made an announcement: "Litohoro!" We started gathering our things. The bus slowed to a stop...near an exit...on a two lane highway...with no town apparently anywhere near. They let us off and gave us our bags and drove away.

....Uh...thanks? But where's the town? Where are we? Where do we go from here? We figured walking up the exit would at least take us in the right direction...

"Litohoro, 5km" the first sign stated. A 5km hike uphill with a 30lb pack on a warm day was a daunting prospect, to say the least. We trudged to a nearby gas station hoping to ask directions, when suddenly a man pulled over and offered us a ride. Gratefully, we accepted and he dropped us off a few minutes later in Litohoro. A quick lunch of gyros helped further boost our lowered morale.

It was about then that we found out that our hostel was by the sea - back in the direction we came from. *sigh* There was nothing to do but laugh, thank God for kind people, and regroup. We debating waiting for a bus or walking. Taxis were out of the price range. In the end, we walked: 7.67 kilometers we walked, until we finally found our hostel. (That plus the walking we'd already done puts us over 5 miles.)

At least there's a good view of the Mediterranean and Mount Olympus. And good food and hot showers.

Yeah, it was quite a day. But reflecting on it (after the class I just took) makes me think of the Apostle Paul. He had to walk everywhere (unless he was sailing). And he probably had his fair share of unhelpful people (like the bus driver) and helpful people (like the man in the car and the girl at the hostel). He probably had good days of relatively easy travel, and bad days when nothing seemed to go right. And yet, somehow, he learned to be content in every circumstance. Lord teach us that contentment!

Just for fun, this is approximately our route from bus station to hostel (7.67km).

Transitioning

2011-05-26T23:25:00.001-06:00

Yesterday was a long, exciting, slightly stressful day of transitions.

The class "Christian Movement in the Mediterranean" had been successfully concluded with a final and a feast the night before, and most people took off to the airport or other destinations in the morning. It was sad to say good-bye to some people who had become good friends in such a short time, but hopefully we will meet again - maybe some of them in Turkey.

As a last 'hurrah' some of us visited the Acropolis on our last night.

Then came the adventure of trying to find the bus station. No one in Athens or online seems to know exactly where the bus station is (like a street address or some such thing), and everyone who has a vague idea of where it is gives very different directions on how to find it. Maybe I should write my own guide book, now that it has been found. :)

The bus ride to Delphi, once out of Athens, was quite beautiful. We passed through cloudy, mountainous areas, and finally arrived at Delphi, a picturesque little town perched on the sides of one of those mountains, overlooking a bay of the sea.

I haven't yet had a chance to explore much of the ruins (everything closes at 3...), but it is a beautiful area. I wouldn't mind spending a few days here, just hiking and exploring.

Alas, I don't have that much time. So today I'll explore the ruins, and tomorrow...???? Well, plans are still in the works. :)

Aphrodite

2011-05-24T14:55:00.001-06:00

Panting, we raced through the tall grass, ever upward. Thorns poked at our bare hands and legs, and rocks inserted themselves in our shoes as we thrust ourselves through the thick growth. Still we pressed on, startling grasshoppers with our rough passage. Finally the top was in sight. We leaped and scrambled over the last rocks, finally arriving at our destination: the Corinthian Temple of Aphrodite. Centuries (even millennia) ago, worshipers had made the same trek, probably through less grass, but to the same destination with the same views of the isthmus of Corinth and the Aegean and Adriatic Seas on either side.

When Paul came to Corinth, did he make the climb up the mountain to the temple, just to see what he was up against? When he worked at a tent maker and lived there for a year and a half, did he see the lines of worshipers making their way up to commune with their god?

Interestingly enough, in his letters Paul never specifically speaks against the worship of Aphrodite. (Some of his sayings could apply, but that is not the same thing). Instead, he shows them a better way. "Love is patient, love is kind," he tells the Corinthians who, with that temple dominating their landscape, knew something of the value of love and had all longed for it at some point. Paul affirms their value: "the greatest of these is love," but first he redefines it. The love of God is not like the love of Aphrodite. It's better.

That was probably the highlight of our day - the hike and the view from the top. We also saw "lower" Corinth, which was pretty cool. We saw the canal that now cuts through the isthmus.

And we saw Cenchrea, one of the ports that Paul sailed from.

Mars Hill

2011-05-22T15:44:00.000-06:00

I figure by naming this post "Mars Hill" I'll probably double the amount of hits my blog gets. The name seems to be very popular these days, what with all the church-type-organizations borrowing it. But in reality, that is where I started my day (or really, where I started the educational part of my day...I didn't wake up on Mars Hill, don't worry).

To recap, in the last week we have visited Samos, Patmos, Syros, and Kea on the Morning Star. Yesterday we sailed (or rather, motored -- the wind has been on our nose pretty much the entire trip, and with a timeline to keep, sailing has been impossible) from Kea to Raphina where Hellenic Ministries graciously met us with vans and transported us to our hotel in Athens. Saying good-bye to the boat and its crew was a little bittersweet...but it is nice to have daily hot showers, a regular twin-sized bed, and somewhat more regular mealtimes. :)

This morning we walked from our hotel, past Omonia Square, and on to the area of ancient Athens, including Mars Hill where we stopped and talked for a while. We were then given a list of sites to see and sent out on our own to see what we could.

I ended up with Michael, Ian, and Jeff, and the four of us decided to visit the New Acropolis Museum first. It was a little overwhelming. The number of artifacts seemed nearly infinite, some of them so similar and with so little context it was difficult to know what to look or how to process what you had seen. I was probably most interested in the pottery and other little artifacts. Some of them were very similar to things that have been found in and around Jerusalem, but in Israel such exquisite finds are much rarer. Metal statues, for example, from around the same time have been found, but much fewer and in general not as well preserved. The pottery was also striking, some of it from the 6th and 7th centuries BC (and some even earlier) was delicately formed and intricately painted. In contrast, most of the pottery I've seen from Israel from those times is serviceable but not very attractive. The ruins here are also much more spectacular than ruins from Israel dating to the same period. Greece definitely achieved a higher level of art and craftsmanship earlier than Israel did. I don't mean to exalt or condemn either culture, but the contrast really struck me.

After the museum we headed to the Acropolis, stopping at a couple places along the way, including the theater of Dionyses, which is quite possibly the oldest theater in the world. Oedipus Rex may have premiered there.

We bought gyros for lunch and found that the Agora was closing and wouldn't let us in. Instead we went to the Pnyx where Athenians had their democratic meetings. Shortly after that we managed to find our way back to the hotel without getting lost...which was quite a feat.

Athens is quite a city. The area around the acropolis is quite beautiful, and the booths selling things are as diverse as I've seen anywhere. It felt a little more like a town fair (American Indians and all) than a city bazaar. The area around our hotel is a little less beautiful, reminding me a bit of the "grey town" from The Great Divorce. The streets just seem all pretty similar, lined with the same types of little shops, most of which seem to never be open. It's an interesting place, but my bed calls, so for tonight...

More adventures

2011-05-19T14:54:00.001-06:00

Wednesday, May 17th

This morning we went up to the monastery at Chora, a rather long and steep walk…so we took the bus up. The monastery was, I believe, founded in about the 11th century. Supposedly the island of Patmos had a big problem with pirates, so when pirate ships were seen, the monastery would sound the alarm and the people in the town surrounding it would flee into its protective walls.

The fortress helped to keep them safe, as did the town itself, being rather maze-like. By the time any pirates found their way through the town to the monastery, they were too tired and lost and separated to do any real damage.

The monastery seems to have quite a lot of history, as demonstrated by it's museum which is full of manuscripts and icons from the 5th century on.

From the monastery we made our way, individually and in groups, back to the boat for lunch. Then we had free time until evening. I went to the beach with a few fellow students and splashed in the cold water for a few minutes before basking in the warm sun. Then I headed out to do a little exploring.

I had seen a sign labeled "acropolis," and when I saw another one, I veered off the road I was on and headed up the hill. Soon I ran out of road and into fields occupied by goats and people harvesting hay with sickles. Thinking that I may have missed the path, and not wanting to disturb them, I headed back down the hill.

Only to run into another sign, pointing at another route. I figured I'd try again. Up the hill I went. The road changed to a path which ended at a church, which had gates. But by then I was determined. I climbed over a few low stone wall/terraces and bushwhacked my way up the hill, finally coming into sight of what was clearly the remains of a city wall. Not many other ruins were visible (at least not ancient ones), but from the top the view of the island was spectacular.

Thursday, May 19th

We left port at midnight (see previous post). It was a beautiful night, at first anyway. It got fairly windy and wavey after I had gone to bed. I managed to not fall off my bunk, which I consider quite a feat, but I don't think anyone slept really well with the rolling and bouncing. Some of the portholes leaked too, and I don't think my bunk was the only damp one come morning. Of course, even when morning had come, our voyage wasn't over. Dale constantly reassured us that it was only 'two hours more!' for about four hours. Still, we did make it to port at Syros. We were glad to tie up to the dock and find some relief from the constant motion. We had a lovely lunch with some believers on the island and rested and worked on homework most of the afternoon.

Tomorrow we continue on towards Athens, praying for good winds so we can sail.

Night Travel

2011-05-19T13:53:00.000-06:00

It was midnight when we pulled away from the dock of Patmos. The moon had risen and was playing hide-and-seek with its watery twin behind intermittent clouds. The water was like glass and the lights from the town and monastery sparkled on the water as we slid out into the night.

The wind was but a breath that filled our nostrils with the smells of sea and land, fresh and clean. The sea and sky were shades of slivery grey, merging into a blurred line of mist, half water, half air, barely discernable.

As we neared the mouth of the bay we altered course, heading directly up the moonbeam, sailing into the moonrise.

As we rounded the island, lightening flashed in the difference, warning of inclement weather ahead.

Harnessed and clipped onto the new bowsprit I watched the night slide by until my eyelids grew too heavy and I headed to my narrow bunk to sleep for a while.

Samos and Patmos

2011-05-17T14:07:00.000-06:00

The last two days have actually been spent on (and around) Greek Islands. Not only that, but these specific Islands are actually mentioned in Acts.

Acts 20:15 mentions Paul "touching" at Samos before Miletus. Samos is also (probably) the birth place of Pythagoras.

On Monday we went from Turkey to Samos where we rented cars and spent the day exploring the Island. Aside from the gorgeous views and other adventures, a highlight for me was telling a joke about Pythagoras in Pythagoria near the statue of Pythagoras.

There are quaint Greek Orthodox churches every 10m or so.

And in general it was beautiful.

This morning we got an early start and headed to Patmos. We were going into the wind, and with our ship sailing wasn't possible, so we motored the whole way and made good time, arriving about 3:30.

The trip itself was beautiful with clear blue waters, dolphins, and beautiful sailboats passing by.

I also got to steer our ship for a while. That was pretty cool.

At one point we were (roughly) on a collision course with another vessel (as the radar image sort of shows). We didn't hit him, and he didn't hit us. It was good.

Once on Patmos we climbed one of the many hills to visit the Cave of St. John. This is supposedly where John was when he had his vision of Jesus. It was interested to reflect on his circumstances. He was forced to be separated from his church in Ephesus and near the end of his life. He must have felt useless and probably wondered, as the last of the apostles, what would happen after his death? Would the Kingdom of God prevail, or would the Kingdom of Rome swallow it up? How encouraging to him this vision must have been. Not only did it give him something useful to fill his days, but it reminded him that in the end God wins.

The island of Patmos is beautiful. I think one of my favorite things, though, is the smell. It's something of a mix between fresh mountain air and more tropical/oceanic smells. We're spending the day here tomorrow as well, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it.

No Such Thing

2011-05-15T15:34:00.000-06:00

It has been apparent on this trip that things are often very much out of our control. This phenomenon is especially apparent on boats when you're rather at the mercy of the wind and weather. Because of these types of circumstances which were very much out of our control we arrived in Turkey later than planned and had to push our tours back a day.

Thus, today (rather than yesterday) found us sitting in the theatre at Miletus, talking about Paul and Jews and "God-fearers." We had just concluded a discussion on the social and economic importance of the "God-fearers" as a buffer between Jews and Gentiles...

...when who should walk into the theater but John Crossan, the originator of the theory we had just been discussing. It was a good moment.

After Miletus we visited the Temple to Apollos in Didymus. It was pretty spectacular. Plus, I managed to trip and fall on my rear end. Very graceful of me. We climbed on some pillars that had fallen down.

And we admired the pillars that excavators had set up again.

We also ate lunch.

Lastly we visited Priene. In many ways I suppose it was one of my favorite sites. There weren't many people, and it was in a more hilly region with trees and cows and goats around.

It was a more Greek flavored city (not as Roman as Miletus) which made a difference in the theatre and a few other architectural elements.

As a surprise to us we stopped at a certain place that was (I think) in a row of houses and didn't look particularly significant. However, it had apparently just been identified as a first century Synagogue. We found a menorah inscribed on a stone and what might have been the remains of a mikveh. That was pretty exciting. Perhaps Paul once taught in that very room, or at least one like it.

Tomorrow we take the ferry to Samos and hope to meet the Morning Star there and then spend the day exploring the Island. Then we hope to hit Patmos and then make our way to Athens - Lord willing.

If you want to see the "official" blog of our travels go here: http://emu.edu/now/holyland/category/mediterranean-2011/

(I took most of the pictures.)

Ephesus

2011-05-14T15:37:00.000-06:00

Six hours is about as long as I've ever spent at any one site (at least in one day), but that's how long we were at Ephesus today. And with good reason. It's a huge site with lots to see, even if your group doesn't wile away time on discussions of Roman citizenship.

We left our hotel at 7:30 with three cruise ships already at the docks,

hoping to beat at least some of the crowds. We did, but not for long. Ephesus is the most crowded archaeological site I've ever been to. We saw most of the usual sights:

the Library:

the Theater:

and the terrace houses:

all of which were pretty sweet. We also saw some more unusual sights, including
Bugs:

Owls:

and the "Cave of Paul" - only recently discovered and shown only to special people. (Our guide had a connection with the former archaeologist of Ephesus who gave us a personal tour.) The cave dates to about the 5th century AD, but the frescos of Paul, Jesus, and others may be later. There is evidence of a Christian presence here until the 19th century.

Once we finished with Ephesus we visited a carpet factory. We felt a little guilty that none of us bought anything, but it was fascinating to see the process of how carpets are made, as well as where silk comes from.

We also visited the Ephesus Museum, St. John's Basillica:

and the Temple of Artemis:

Thought for the day:
As we were going through Ephesus I tried to read through Ephesians. I came across this passage:

Ephesians 2:17-22
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

We had just learned in the library how buildings were "joined together" then. It involved making groves or drilling holes and pouring in molten lead to seal the two blocks together.

Ephesians would have seen this done many times, probably on the numerous temples that graced the city, if not elsewhere. The picture in their minds would have been very clear, and it would have drawn a sharp contrast between them, a living temple, and the pagan world around them that worshipped false gods in temples of stone.

Now off to bed and on to more sites tomorrow!

Surprises

2011-05-13T14:26:00.000-06:00

*I thought I had sent updates before but they don't seem to be showing up, so I'll try to catch you up now.*

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Our bowsprit arrived today, just before breakfast. I spent most of my morning watching and assisting. Most of my assisting involved keeping the boat from bumping the barge, but hey, it was assistance. Eventually the bowsprit was relatively attached, and the barge was sent to collect Andrew (the first mate of the Morning Star) with the food and water.

Feeling more useless, I went inside and read. When Andrew returned I helped unload groceries. Shortly thereafter we finally ate lunch. SO hungry.

Eventually everything was fixed and in place and put away and ready and at about 4:00 we pulled away from Porto Astro in Scorponaria Bay.

We didn't raise any sails in the three hour trip from Porto Astro to our current port (Halkida), but motored steadily. It was a beautiful day. A little on the chilly side, but full of clouds and sun and ocean spray.

The view from the new bowsprit as we finally headed out.

Once docked at port we waited around for Alex (the skipper) to check in with the local police. Then we made our way to a nearby resturant where we FINALLY had dinner, around 9pm. It was a lovely dinner of gyros and Greek salads.

We went back to the boat where we crashed for a couple hours. We were waiting for a call to go under a drawbridge, and the time varied depending on an unpredictable tide. The call came around 1am and those of us who woke up piled out on deck to watch. The bridge actually retracted under the road. As soon as we had passed through we found a place to tie up for the rest of the night and caught as much sleep as possible.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

It was a good day. We got an early start and motored through the narrow channel between mainland and the island of Evia. Then we sailed.

It was glorious. About half the day we spent heeled over on starboard side, which was an interesting experience, trying to walk, and eat, and read, and function.

The wind was strong all day (probably around 6 or 7 on the Beaufort scale). Eventually we decided to find a place to anchor for the night, and about then the wind and waves increased. Beaufort scale 8 - gale force winds. We safely dropped anchor off of Karystos and spent the night there.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

This morning we had a conference about what was to be done. The winds in our part of the Aegean were the strongest in the whole Mediterranean, and while passage to Samos was still possible, it would not be comfortable or easy. We decided to look at other options for getting to Turkey for that leg of our journey. After much discussion, debate, and calls to travel agents, we purchased plane tickets from Athens to Izmir and arranged for transportation to and from the airports.

Some of our time was spent over cups of Greek coffee in cups with the island
of Evia displayed on the side.

The rest of the day we spend resting, reading, and visited shore for about an hour. It was a lovely day.

A church within the town of Karystos

That evening I spent some time sitting on the newly mended bowsprit, which is quickly becoming my favorite part of the boat.

Friday, May 13, 2011

With all that had gone wrong on the trip, we were rather dreading what Friday the 13th may hold....but it was wonderful day.

We got up early to eat and shuttle to the island where we met a bus that took us to a ferry that took us to the mainland.

The ferry traveled over a stretch of ocean we had already visited. Kind of funny to see it again under such different circumstances.

The bus drove us off the ferry and to the Athens airport where we caught a plane to Izmir. Once in Izmir we bought visas and met our tour guide for our time here who took us to our hotel in Kusadasi. We then had some free time, which was lovely: it meant that we all got to shower. It was the first hot showered I've had since leaving home...and really the second shower total. Ahhh.... I also attempted to wash some clothes, so hopefully I won't be so smelly tomorrow.

After my shower a couple guys and I went out to explore the town, including an Ottoman castle on the sea.

Tonight we had a quiz before dinner. It was probably the best quiz I've ever had in my life. Not because I did particularly well, but, well, in the words of a friend here, "I took a quiz on top of a roof, looking out to sea, at sunset, with beer and hookah!" The trappings of the quiz were priceless.

That catches us up today, and tomorrow it's on to Ephesus!

Finally sailing!

2011-05-11T14:08:00.000-06:00

Today was our first time actually sailing, and we sailed all day. We made good time (I think top speed was around 9 knots with an average of around 6 knots. We started at Halkida and are currently anchored at Karystos, both on the island of Evia. The Morning Star seems to be a very sea worthy boat. Limited time and words now, but we are excited to be on our way.

Dear Diary,

2011-05-09T13:57:00.000-06:00

In the good news, I'm beginning to feel more like I know my way around the boat (which, for those of youbon the know, is a Bermuda rigged staysail schooner.) I've learned several knots, including the bowline, the clove hitch, and a couple others whose names are...irregular.

In the "bad" news, typical journal entries from people on the trip might look something like this:

Dear diary,
Bowsprit broke today. Seasick before it did. Hard bunk. Good food though. I may survive.

Dear diary,
Stuck in the little bay a couple more days. Scratched legs from a forced march through thorns. Outlook grim. Still now shower, though I took a dip in the sea.

Dear diary,
In spite of no shower for days, today we ran out of water. Soooo thristy. Soooo dirty. Food and oxygen seem to be in good supply, but one is bound to run out next.

Dear diary,

We still have no bowsprit, no internet, we're out of water, I had to clean out the greasiest locker ever, I can't tie knots properly, and the puns are getting progressively more painful. Mutiny looms large on the horizon.

Dear diary,

Tonight we washed the dishes in the bilge buckets on the poop deck, sitting on ropes and the trash from the bathrooms. All time low.

In reality, though we often joke about our journal entries, and just about everything that can go wrong has, we're generally in good spirits. I've probably laughed more today than I have in the past month. Still, if you think of it, please pray that we are able to get our bowsprit fixed and reattached tomorrow so we can be on our way. We've had some good discussions and class sessions, but we are eager to be on our way.

Still afloat

2011-05-08T14:14:00.000-06:00

Tonight I sat outside, roughly where our bowsprit is supposed to be, and I watched the crescent moon set over the Greek hills. I wonder how many times the apostle Paul watched the heavenly bodies rise and set from the deck of a Greek ship? Perhaps even over these same hills, or at least nearby.

It was a beautiful day today, and yesterday. We went on a hike yesterday and visited the property of Helenic ministries today. It's a beautiful time of year and the wildflowers remnd me of Isreal. Hopefully sailing wil actually commence on Tuesday. Until then, we just trying to start to learn our way around the boat and discussing Paul a lot.

Expect the Unexpected

2011-05-06T14:31:00.000-06:00

In Acts we read many times about Paul trying to get to some place…and being prohibited by various circumstances. Unfavorable winds, ship wrecks, popular opinion, jail, etc.

The last two we have yet to experience on this trip, but the first two…well, we have a little better idea of what they mean in real life.

But I should go back and tell the story properly.

The trip over was fine. Everyone met up in the airport around 2pm and we took a bus about 2 hours north of Athens to get to the boat. We crossed over the little inlet on a barge of sorts to the HM Morning Star and got all moved in. There are 11 of us in the course, plus our instructor, plus three crew members. It's about a 55 foot boat. It's cozy…and I always feel like I'm in someone's way. It's also about the same size boat Paul would have been on - except with more people and more cargo…. Yeah, we have it good. It's really quite comfortable, and the crew has been very good to us.

Anyway, last night we talked a little about course plans, ate dinner, and headed to bed. We were all pretty exhausted. This morning we got up and were underway by about 7:32. The wind was against us, so we started motoring out of the bay. Estimated waves at 4' high? The bow sprit was often plunged under water. I guess it was more stormy than usual...but only one of us got very sea sick.

Unfortunately, the waves proved to be to much for the bow sprit and it cracked in two places. Nothing life threatening, but we did have to motor back into the bay.

About how far we made it before we had to turn back...

We took the bow sprit off tonight before dinner and the skipper and one of the crew took it to Athens where we are hoping their friend will have it put into usable shape in the next day or two - so we will be able to continue our voyage.

Working on getting the bowsprit off

For those of us chomping at the bit to go places and do things, it's a little disappointing. But it's also a good reminder that we are not in control. It's a reminder that here on the sea, we are very much at the mercy of the wind and waves. Fortunately, we have a God who controls those things.

In spite of circumstances (or because of them) it's been a good day and a good trip thus far. I've seen some beautiful scenery (though I hope the sun is out more tomorrow), met some great people, learned some about the sea and the Bible, and practiced a few sailor knots. Looking forward to tomorrow!

And I'm off...

2011-05-03T16:09:00.000-06:00

My reading for the past couple months has included books like these:

Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter

by Thomas Cahill

The Greco-Roman World of the New Testament Era:

Exploring the Background of Early Christianity

by James S. Jeffers

Cities of God
by Rodney Stark

Sailing Acts

by Linford Stutzman

And why, you may ask, have I been reading such books? Well, for those of you who might not yet know, I am....

*drum roll, please*

....going to Greece and Turkey!

Yes, it's true. I leave tomorrow and arrive in Athens on Thursday.

Roughly the first three weeks will be spent on a sailboat, taking a class from the Linford Stutzman mentioned above. The next month or so will be spent visiting as many sights in Greece and Turkey as I can get to. (Have I mentioned that I'm kind of history and geography nerd?) Unfortunately, my knowledge of this area's history and geography is sadly lacking, so I will be doing my best to remedy that lack.

The map here shows a few sites of historical and/or biblical significance, many of which I hope to visit in the coming months.

With an uncertain schedule and uncertain internet access, I don't know how often I will be able to update this blog, but I will do my best to upload pictures and stories whenever I can for those of you who want to pretend to sail with me. :)

The Way I Am

2011-04-28T22:40:00.000-06:00

If you have met me, and aren't in my family, you have probably at some point thought to yourself, "What is wrong with this girl?!" (Or something along those lines.) Allow me to explain. Last month I was blessed to spend some time with family and I had an epiphany. This is why I am the way I am. :)

Typical mathematical questions, asked by older family members to younger family members:
Q: If a chicken and a half can lay and egg and a half in a day and a half, how long does it take one chicken to lay one egg?

Q: If a cow and a calf eat a bale and a half (of hay) in a a day and a half, how many bales do you need to buy to feed them for a week?

Q: A race car driver takes part in a two mile race (twice around a one mile track.) He goes 30mph during his first lap. How fast will he have to go during the second lap to have an average speed of 60mph for the total race?

Q: There are 12 volumes of an encyclopedia standing in a row on a shelf. They are all the same thickness: each cover is .25 inch wide, and the pages are 1 inch wide (making each book 1.5 inches thick). What is the distance, in inches, from the first page of the first book to the last page of the last book.

Then there are more riddle like problems:
Q: A farmer has a herd of horses, some are black and some are white. He realizes that the white ones weigh more than the black ones. Why is this? (Think about it before looking at the answer.)
A: There are more white horses than black horses.

Q: I have two coins that add up to 30 cents. One of them is not a nickel. What are they?
A: As I'm sure you all know, one is a quarter and the other is a nickel.

Yeah, if you were asked questions like these while growing up, you would learn to think before answering, too.

There are also some fun little games that some of the older generation will play with (on?) the younger generation. They usually begin with strict instructions to do exactly as they are told.

"Put your fingers up!" the older person will exclaim, demonstrating by putting their thumbs up.
The younger person, confused by conflicting example and directions will often also put his thumbs up.
"Put your thumbs up!" the older person will exclaim, this time proudly waving their eight fingers in the air.
The younger person, figuring he must switch also, will put his fingers in the air.
At this point the older person will point out that the eight phalanges waving about are not, in fact, his thumbs.
Feeling slightly flustered and perhaps a little embarrassed, the child will progress on to some other activity, vowing to be more careful next time.

Once said young person becomes adjusted to following directions rather than aping the elder's actions a twist will be added.

"Put your hand up!" the elder will say, suiting his actions to his words.
The child puts his hand up.
"Wave it about!" the elder says, again, waving his own.
Child again follows correctly.
"Make it into a fist!" Again, the elder follows his own directions.
The child begins to think that there may not be a trick this time, and also forms a fist.
"Put it on your chin!" the elder says, firmly placing his own fist on his forehead.
Too late, the child will realize that the trap has just been sprung.

Another less tricky game consists of the elder pointing to some body part, say his eye, and saying, "This is my knee!" The child has to then find his knee, point to it, and say, "This is my eye!" Repeat with new body parts.

The game of Nim also often puts in an appearance, though usually once they've grown too old to be tricked by the previous games. (If you want to play, a sample game is here.)

Then there are the jokes and stories.

For example, my granddad was apparently fond of coming in after a long day of work and saying,
"I'm just like a bicycle. Two tired!"

And you thought I had bad puns. :)

Or:
It was a cold, cold night in Siberia and three men were sitting around a fire. They were telling each other stories, and this is the story the first man told: "It was a cold, cold night in Siberia...."

(For me, sometimes this one took the form of, "Once there was a little girl who wanted her father to tell her a story. This is the story he told: 'Once there was a little girl....'")

Or the ever-popular North Dakotan Jokes. Like this one.
Two North Dakotans were working, digging a ditch in the hot summer sun, while the foreman sat in the shade and drank lemonade. They began talking this situation over and found that they weren't all that happy with it. They decided that they need to talk to the foreman about this unequal division of labor, so one of the North Dakotans went to talk to him.
"Why do we have to work in the dirt and sun while you get to sit up in the shade with cool drinks?" asked the North Dakotan.
"Well, it's just because I"m so much smarter than both of you," responded the foreman.
The North Dakotan was outraged. "Smarter than us? That's not possible. Prove it."
"Alright," agrees the foreman. He puts his hand in front of a fence post with several strands of barbed wire wrapped around it. "Hit my hand," he commands.
The North Dakotan, determined to prove himself, reared back and hurtled his fist as hard as he can at the foreman's hand. The foreman, of course, pulled his hand out of the way, leaving the North Dakotan to slam his fist into the wire covered post.
The foreman smiled and said, "THAT is how I'm smarter."
Sore and bleeding a little, the North Dakotan went back to his friend. "What happened? What did he say?" the friend inquired.
"Well, it was like this," said the first North Dakotan, placing his hand in front of his face. "Hit my hand."

Or there's the story about the rancher in eastern Montana.
The fact was, the border between North Dakota and Montana was disputed and the rancher wasn't quite sure what side of the border he was on. Eventually, surveyors came and offered their final judgement on where the border lay. After making their decision, the rancher is informed: his ranch is in Montana! On hearing that, the rancher smiled and sighed, "Well, that's a relief! No more of those North Dakotan winters!"

So there you have it. I taste of my 'torture' while growing up. And if I have anything to say about it, my younger cousins will have a similar experience - after all, I need a few people in this world as strange as me. :)

Easter Thoughts

2011-04-24T22:50:00.000-06:00

As I pondered the resurrection story this year, I was struck by the relentless pursuit of a God who refuses to give us up, to let sin win. Surely a man pursuing a woman would soon move on if she gave him as little encouragement as we give God. And yet his passionate pursuit of humanity brought him to the cross…and his ultimate victory was gained when he rose from the dead.

Others have said it better than I can, so I will partially quote a couple poems here.

Holy Sonnet #14

John Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you

As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;

That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend

Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,

Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.

Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,

But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.

Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,

But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;

Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,

Take me to you, imprison me, for I,

Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,

Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

The Hound of Heaven (lines 1-51, 151-182)

Francis Thompson

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the mist of tears

I hid from Him, and under running laughter.

Up vistaed hopes I sped;

And shot, precipitated,

Adown Titanic glooms of chasmèd fears,

From those strong Feet that followed, followed after.

But with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

They beat—and a Voice beat

More instant than the Feet—

‘All things betray thee, who betrayest Me.’

I pleaded, outlaw-wise,

By many a hearted casement, curtained red,

Trellised with intertwining charities;

(For, though I knew His love Who followèd,

Yet was I sore adread

Lest, having Him, I must have naught beside).

But, if one little casement parted wide,

The gust of His approach would clash it to.

Fear wist not to evade, as Love wist to pursue.

Across the margent of the world I fled,

And troubled the gold gateways of the stars,

Smiting for shelter on their clangèd bars;

Fretted to dulcet jars

And silvern chatter the pale ports o’ the moon.

I said to Dawn: Be sudden—to Eve: Be soon;

With thy young skiey blossoms heap me over

From this tremendous Lover—

Float thy vague veil about me, lest He see!

I tempted all His servitors, but to find

My own betrayal in their constancy,

In faith to Him their fickleness to me,

Their traitorous trueness, and their loyal deceit.

To all swift things for swiftness did I sue;

Clung to the whistling mane of every wind.

But whether they swept, smoothly fleet,

The long savannahs of the blue;

Or whether, Thunder-driven,

They clanged his chariot ’thwart a heaven,

Plashy with flying lightnings round the spurn o’ their feet:—

Fear wist not to evade as Love wist to pursue.

Still with unhurrying chase,

And unperturbèd pace,

Deliberate speed, majestic instancy,

Came on the following Feet,

And a Voice above their beat—

‘Naught shelters thee, who wilt not shelter Me.’

His name I know, and what his trumpet saith.

Whether man’s heart or life it be which yields

Thee harvest, must Thy harvest-fields

Be dunged with rotten death?

Now of that long pursuit

Comes on at hand the bruit;

That Voice is round me like a bursting sea:

‘And is thy earth so marred,

Shattered in shard on shard?

Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me!

Strange, piteous, futile thing!

Wherefore should any set thee love apart?

Seeing none but I makes much of naught’ (He said),

‘And human love needs human meriting:

How hast thou merited—

Of all man’s clotted clay the dingiest clot?

Alack, thou knowest not

How little worthy of any love thou art!

Whom wilt thou find to love ignoble thee,

Save Me, save only Me?

All which I took from thee I did but take,

Not for thy harms,

But just that thou might’st seek it in My arms.

All which thy child’s mistake

Fancies as lost, I have stored for thee at home:

Rise, clasp My hand, and come!’

Halts by me that footfall:

Is my gloom, after all,

Shade of His hand, outstretched caressingly?

‘Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest,

I am He Whom thou seekest!

Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.’

A Weather Story

2011-04-21T22:52:00.001-06:00

Today I met some friends for coffee around 3:30.

(And yes, shockingly, I actually did drink coffee.)

It was a nice enough day - overcast, it had rained, but warm enough so one of my friends wore Capri type pants and the coffee shop propped its door open. (Probably in the 50's, maybe low 60's, but no wind)

I left there and went to Walmart. When I entered Walmart around 5pm, it was still a pleasant day, though some of the clouds looked rather ominous. I exited Walmart at 6pm, accompanied by driving sleet/hail and a cacophony of rolling thunder and flashing lightening. (Pretty sure that's the first thunder of the year.)

This picture doesn't do justice to the sheets of sleet you could see coming down.

At that point there was already an inch or two of white stuff covering everything and the roads were a bit treacherous.

I thought to my self, "This can't last! It will blow itself out soon."

Clearly, I am not a prophet.

The sleet didn't last, it's true, but it turned to snow. I was running errands, so I would make a mad dash into the stores, slush soaking my pants up to my knees, white snow flakes obscuring the green of my coat. After completing whatever purchases I had to make (rarely more than a few minutes at each stop) I would dash back out to my car where I would have to start the defroster and sweep snow off my car so I could attempt to see out the windows.

Once I finally made it home, my car looked like this:

And outside the garage you could see where the wind had piled snow against the garage door.

It even tried to block up my door.

It's now nearly 11pm and the snow storm is still going strong with several inches of snow accrued already.

It's the traditional Easter Blizzard, just a few days early.

This was the snow storm on Easter when I was probably about one and a half...just as evidence of how common this sort of occurrence is.

Bonus Picture (just because it was on the same page in the scrapbook): I apparently really loved to sing with my dad. :)

Spring

2011-04-06T20:38:00.000-06:00

There is something decidedly bipolar about Montana's weather, especially in the spring. Her mood swings follow no discernible pattern. One moment the weather will be fine, smelling of spring (which is delightful when the smells of thawing manure and deer carcasses don't dominate), and the next moment the only thing visible outside my window will be swirling snowflakes.

She is like a woman, awakening after a long sleep. She slips from between her white sheets and goes to her closet, only to find that the frothy green garb of spring has not yet been readied for her. Unwilling to wear autumn's gown, she slips back under her white covers to doze a little longer.

In Montana, the sleep of winter is indeed long, with many tantalizing false stirrings, before spring finally arrives. Still, signs of the approaching spring continue to appear.

One day there will be a hint of green in the fields or lawns...

Calves and lambs begin to be seen in increasing regularity.

And the time between sun,

storm (like this one rolling in),

sun,

and being able to see the ground again (in the valley, if not quite in the mountains)

Gets shorter with each repeated cycle.

Yes, someday spring will arrive...though by that time, it may be autumn again.

Rejoice in Nothing?

2011-03-28T01:57:00.001-06:00

Rejoice in nothing. These words hit me today as some students talked about their recent trip to Haiti. "They had nothing in the past and they have no hope for a better future, no matter how hard they work, but they rejoice in nothing."

I think what struck me most was the idea of no hope for the future. Here in America we value hard work, probably in part because we believe if we work hard, we can accomplish (almost) anything. The future is ours. What would happen to our worldview if this was no longer the case?

We sang a song in church the other day. I don't specifically remember which one, but it contained the sentiment, "I'll follow wherever you lead, Lord. My life is yours to use as you will." It is an admirable sentiment, and I suppose we even mean it when we sing it most of the time. Or, at least, we think we mean it. What we probably really mean is that we are willing to go anywhere and do anything. "I will even live off of bugs in the jungles of Africa, Lord, if that's what you want," we think, proud of our submission to God's will. GO and DO are big in our thoughts. But what if it's God's will for us to STAY and WAIT? What if His use for our life is for us to be useless (or to feel that way)? We don't seem to have a place for that in our American theology, and yet I know that I am not the only person to go through what feels like a season of uselessness.

We emphasize verses that say "Go and make disciples" and tend to ignore the verses that say "Be still and know." I am not sure how to make room in our theology and worldview for failure and uselessness, but I think we need to do so. God has always used failure, and there may come a time (like in Haiti?) when it is less possible to GO and DO. What happens to our Christianity when we no longer feel useful? Can we learn to rejoice in nothing?

Morning Splendor

2011-03-23T14:20:00.002-06:00

This morning I was up earlier than normal to see my cousins off as they headed back to Oregon. With the sun coming up, the moon going down, the freshly fallen snow, and the elk tramping across my back yard, it was a perfect morning for pictures.

As the sun draws closer, the clouds hooding the Bridgers begin to glow pink.

Pink clouds pour themselves over the Brigers

Warm enough for icicles to start melting

Elk purposefully stride across the field to reunite with the rest of the herd

A waning gibbous moon adds a nice touch of ambiance to the scene.

Yes?

Many elk huddle together under the lightening sky

Fluffy pink clouds gather around these mountains as well

Another icicle

The moon hangs over the Spanish Peaks as the sun makes the snow glisten

The snow is a dramatic contrast to the barren trees under the fully risen sun