Always Winter Adventure

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

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

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!

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

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?