Day Forty Two

One of the interesting aspects of being in Montana is that there is a two hour time difference between here and Archbold, so as the congregation worships on Sunday morning, we are still waiting to go to worship this morning.  I began with prayer for our congregation's worship, for the worship leaders and for the worshipers.  We will go with my mother to her church once again, as it is a rare blessing to worship the Lord alongside my mother.

The past week has been filled with activity, and with times of relaxation and renewal.  We spent Monday thru Wednesday traveling to, enjoying and returning from Glacier National Park.  Driving by a snow field 10' high in the mountain pass was wondrous!  We saw some fantastic scenery, saw a mountain sheep, hiked to some beautiful water falls, and were fogged in at the summit!  The formation of the earth truly is amazing, with glacial affect and the variety of God's vast display of rock, water, vegetation and animal life.  The trip up and back was about 7 hours one way as we took the less traveled routes and enjoyed scenic drives.

The past four days have been spent at my mother's house - a cottage apartment that is part of a large senior citizens complex.  When my older sister and I helped move my mother last year to this new place, several things were left undone, not knowing my mother would wait for the next visit from one of her children!  So we have rearranged furniture, hung pictures and curtains, and fixed a few odds and ends.  My mother's failing eyesight has stabilized, but she has trouble reading printed instructions or reading her thermostat, so we have been helping her learn and remember various items to help her on a day to day basis.  It's a blessing to help her around her home

Tomorrow, July 1st, I will begin to follow more of a regimen in my daily schedule as I start to put in place some of the guidance I've been reading about in my pastoral books.  For the past couple of years I have been less than systematic in my morning and evening schedules, which I attribute to a wearing out of my soul at times.  This blessed time of sabbatical has given much restoration and I look forward to getting back to earlier routine, with additional focuses pointed out in my reading and from my time at Moody.  Waking earlier, at the same time, reading and praying for a set time, with more emphasis on personal prayer, and a new regimen on worship and sermon preparation will be some of the aspects I will be addressing.  Into that mix will be more of a physical exercise program, too!  Lynne has been very helpful in prompting daily walks!

Lynne and my mother get along tremendously, which makes living together for more than a few days much easier!

I find my river of life being renewed in so many ways as God directs the course of my days as a river is directed by its banks.  The Lord is channeling my energy and devotion while I splash over and around activities and lessons, just as a river splashes over and around rocks in the river bed.  How blessed life is to be so directed by the Lord,

And yet so many don't have such direction.  As we went to a farmer's market yesterday, I saw a man wearing a disturbing t-shirt.  Pictured on the front was a group of men sitting around a poker table.  One of the men was portrayed as Jesus - with a halo around his head.  Two words on the shirt - "ante, Christ."  The depiction of the meaning of Jesus putting in his ante for the hand of poker was disturbing - what a sad, sad jibe at our Lord.  One of the lessons I'm reading about has to do with evangelization - sharing the truth of scripture with those who don't know Christ.  I look forward to God's continual leading in our mutual ministry.

I will try and be more regular in posting to my blog!  Just got my laptop back as the hard drive crashed!

Blessings on this Sabbath day.

Erich