Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!
Mark 10:14 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.”
Happy Easter
Tag: Scripture
Psalm 27 Valerie’s Version
Light, space, zest – that’s God! So, with him on my side I’m fearless, afraid of no one and nothing.
The Lord is my light and my salvation – whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life – of whom shall I be afraid?
When insecurities start to surface, when thoughts and comparisons attack me, I will turn them over to the Lord.
Though troubles rise up against me, my heart will not fear. He will change my name. My new name shall be Confidence.
One thing I ask of the Lord that is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the BEAUTY of the Lord and to seek him.
For in the days of difficulties he will keep me safe in his arms, he will call me Friend of God and lift me high upon a rock.
God holds my head and shoulders above all who try to pull me down.
My head will be exalted above the inner enemies and I will be called overcoming one. I will sing and make music to the Lord.
Hear my voice when I call, O Lord; be merciful to me and answer me.
My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, Lord, I will seek.
Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior.
You are a faithful God. The Lord will receive me and fill me with joyfulness.
Teach me your way, O Lord; lead me in a straight path. I acknowledge your wisdom.
Do not turn me over to my own understanding, for false lies rise up within me, breathing out untruths.
I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living and he will change my name.
Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage and wait for the Lord.
Stay with God! Take heart, don’t quit and stay with God!
London is…home to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Another place I wanted to visit while in London was St. Paul’s Cathedral. We saw St. Paul’s from on high, from the Sky Garden. St. Paul’s Cathedral is one of the most famous sights in London. It has a long and rich history. The current cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was built in the 1700’s, but there has been a church on this sight since 604. St. Paul’s is England’s national church. After leaving the Sky Garden we walked towards this majestic building.
Little did we know it would be closed to tourists that day, however, “if we wanted to participate in an Ash Wednesday service we were invited to enter and join in”. Of course, we would love to participate in a service there, especially for Ash Wednesday!
It was a gift to worship in this magnificent cathedral. There were ongoing services held throughout the day with different leadership. Our sermon happened to be on The Light of the World, a painting by William Holman Hunt, which was hanging right in the cathedral so we were able to see it after the service.
There is a lot of symbolism in the painting, which was addressed in the sermon. And Rick Steves explains it this way: “In the dark of night, Jesus – with a lantern, halo, jeweled cape, and crown of thorns – approaches an out-of-the- way home in the woods, knocks on the door, and listens for an invitation to come in.”* It was inspired from Revelations 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…”
It was meaningful…and remarkable…and memorable to experience one of Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpieces, and most famous churches, in this way…an authentic worship service.
*Rick Steves London, 2017
Happy Thanksgiving Day
Have a blessed Thanksgiving celebration with family and friends, and perhaps a stranger….
Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
2 Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before him, singing with joy.
3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are his.
We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
and his faithfulness continues to each generation. (Psalm 100)
Sunrise Over Lake Superior
Now that we are back home from our wonderful week on the north shore, I miss seeing the sunrise over the lake…but I can envision it. I have a morning routine when I am up at the cabin. The cabin’s large front windows face east, overlooking Lake Superior. I have checked the timetable to set my alarm accordingly so I don’t miss the sunrise over this big, beautiful lake.
My routine starts with “first light” about a half hour before the actual sunrise. I get up in time to make coffee, switch on the gas fireplace and open a window to heighten the sounds of the water lapping over the rocks. I rearrange a chair so I’m looking right where the sun will come up. I’ve watched it come up so many times over the years I know the spot where it will rise over the lake.
When coffee is done, I turn the lights back off. It’s dark but my eyes adjust and I can see the lake and the shore and the silhouettes of the few trees out front.
I settle in and watch the show. On this morning the sky is dark with a sliver of orange light on the horizon… it turns bright orange-red and slowly fades into sunrise colors by spreading out, and up, to the cloud bank.
I watch with a heart full of gratitude as I wait for that moment when I first see the tip of the sun’s arc and then pop…just like that it’s up. And it’s amazing and it’s quick and it’s wonderful and I am thankful for eyes to see this spectacular daily occurrence that happens whether I am watching it or not.
I sigh with contentment, to be up at the cabin on Lake Superior, ready for a new day.
“This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24 NKJV)
I have hundreds of photos of of Lake Superior sunrises. Here are a couple from the last couple of years, including my all time favorite at the end.
“Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it.” (Psalm 96: 11 NIV)
Gray Skies and Huge Waves
Obviously it’s not always sunny on the north shore. We love it when the sun shines and the sky is autumn blue and the lake shimmers, but there are cloudy days too. We enjoy all kinds of weather on the north shore. We try not to let the weather stop us from doing what we like to do.
On this particular day the skies were gray, the lake full of whitecaps, and the waves were huge. The waves were so loud as they crashed over the rocky shore right outside our cabin windows. It’s exciting to witness the rough seas of Gitchi-Gami (Ojibwe for “the big lake”).
It’s fun to sit back and watch the tumultuous weather from inside the cozy, pine-sided cabin with the gas fireplace lit, looking out through large windows so close to the water’s edge, watching the drama of the waves unfold. The gulls are nowhere to be seen and the trees sway in the wind and the waves tumble to shore.
We’ve experienced a storm on Lake Superior only a couple of times and we’re happy to see it, but we’re glad to have the safety and comforts of the cabin.
Isaiah 25: 4 God, “You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.”
Goodsell Observatory
Several things have to fall into place in order to be able to look through the special telescopes from the 1800’s at Carleton College.
First, it has to be an open house night…
Second, there has to be clear skies…
Third, it has to be warm enough so the dome panels will not freeze shut (we went one time last winter but the panels were frozen shut.)
Fourth, you have to be available.
All this came together for us and we went to Carleton College’s Goodsell Observatory and looked up into sky to see some stunning views of Saturn and Jupiter.
We arrived in time to see them set the larger telescope in place. It‘s the 16.2″ Brashear Refractor, a 22 foot long telescope mounted in the main dome of the observatory. It was the 12th largest telescope in the world when it was built in 1890. It remained the largest telescope in Minnesota until 1969.*
It was focused on Saturn. We took turns climbing a ladder to reach the scope to look at Saturn with the 250 magnification telescope.
After that amazing experience we said if we could view another planet it would be fun to see Jupiter.
We continued looking at displays in the building and talked with a young, Carleton alum there to answer questions and enthusiastically share information from his vast knowledge of astronomy.
We noticed an arrow pointing upstairs to another room with a different telescope from the 1800’s. This telescope just happened to be pointing to…yep…Jupiter. This was a “8 ¼” Clark Refractor” and it was the top of line telescope when it was first installed in 1877. It occupies the smaller dome in the observatory.*
So up the stairs we went to look through the telescope focused on Jupiter. I noticed three “stars” near the planet but the professor immediately corrected me and told us it was three of Jupiter’s four moons. I didn’t remember Jupiter had four moons. They are named Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Fantastic.
Outside there were two modern telescopes set up. One was focused on Saturn and the other on a Globular Cluster – densely packed collections of stars.
What a wonderful gift Carleton College offers to the community…to see the heavens in all their glory.
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world. Psalm 19:1-4a
*information off Carelton College’s website.
Fair Time
Even though I’m not much of a fair-goer (because of the crowds) we heard about the Steele County Free Fair in Owatonna so we decided to check it out. When our sons were young we would go to the Dakota County fair – it was a nice size. And we did go to the Minnesota State Fair a couple of times for the experience of a big state fair.
The Steele County Free Fair was a nice size too. We watched youngsters enjoying the rides in the amusement park. We meandered through the indoor arenas where exhibitors set up booths. We ate some “fair food” from the many food concessions stands. We walked through 4-H and fine arts buildings, animal barns, produce exhibits and flower displays.
As we walked around looking at the animals I kept thinking it’s a very good idea for folks, especially town folks (like me), to see the animals and be reminded of how creative God is…There are so many different types of animals, each one unique and amazing in its own way.
That applies to flowers too. I love flowers. Flowers can be so intricate and delicate and there are so many varieties.
And vegetables…so many different vegetables.
We didn’t get to see everything at the Steele County Free Fair but we saw enough to want to go back next year…and maybe we’ll go to a zoo in-between time to see the long necks on the giraffe, the pouches on a kangaroo, a llama’s big bulging eyes with long eye lashes, a pig’s snout, a bird’s feathers, fishes scales…o my.
Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! Genesis 1:31 (NLT)
The Old Jewish Cemetery
On of the most unusual sites we visited in Prague was an old Jewish Cemetery in the Jewish Quarter in Old Town.
The land is only the size of one or two large city blocks, concealed behind a wall, but there are 12,000 tombstones crammed into this cemetery.
The oldest gravestone recorded dates from 1439 and the final gravestone is dated 1787, with many dates unknown. The inscriptions are mostly eroded and written in Hebrew. During this time the cemetery was the only place where the Jewish people of Prague were allowed to be buried. Because of this, it struggled with lack of space so they would add another layer of soil to add another burial…it is said there are as many as twelve layers in some areas and 85,000 people are buried in this small radius. The land inside actually became higher than the land outside of the enclosed cemetery because of adding layers of dirt. (Graves were never relocated because of Jewish belief that once buried a body should not be moved.)
The tombstones are described as a “dense forest” of stones. They are crooked, leaning this way and that, and are piled right next to each other designating several people buried in several layers below.
It’s hard to describe the feeling as we walked through the Old Jewish Cemetery. It was an impressive sight, yet melancholic as we reflected on the people buried in this cemetery, and those burying loved ones, layering one on top of one another.
Psalm 116:15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful ones.”
Father’s Day
Father’s day has been bittersweet for me since I was a young adult. My father died from an aneurysm when I was twenty – he was way too young. I still miss him and I wish my husband and sons could have met him.
But when I had my own children, Father’s Day became a sweet celebration. It is special to celebrate my husband, who is a good, kind and loving father to our children.
And now, our two sons are fathers and we celebrate them!
Happy Father’s Day!
Sing praises to God and to his name!
Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds.
His name is the Lord—
rejoice in his presence!
Father to the fatherless, defender of widows—
this is God, whose dwelling is holy. Psalm 68: 4-5