yosemite

snowden folk

there is a family that pours out grace like a fountain, overflowing with it. time is not spent with the snowdens, it is earned. we gained a few good moons with three generations of this vibrant family - three with luke, amy, emma, and adam and their colorful housemates, dallas and stormie; and two with jim and lynn, whose house has always been a refreshing roadhouse for unlikely and often uninvited passersby.

luke and amy do parenting as they do hospitality: easily and with simple generosity. they are kind and gentle with emma and adam, even in their distribution of consequences, and have a much-laughing appreciation of their developing curiosity and response to life. they are a family of deep, various conversation, and of frequent laughter. they are a family living on purpose.

jim and lynn, likewise, have their eyes wide open as they live. they are a couple dedicated to generosity, of any variety of resource, of spirit, and of the gifts of the spirit. theirs is a christianity committed to the activity of love, and the community of those blessed by them continues to grow. we are inspired by both generations of snowden to understand and imitate the lifestyle of jesus, to be generous, to be joyful.

death to life

"for the anxious longing of creation waites eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God... even we ourselves groan within ourselves , waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." rom. 8:9,23.

the dramatic drive through the seirra nevadas and south around the western divide was like death to life. death valley, fantastic and beautiful but also frightening, brought us to the lowest point in the western hemisphere - to a salty crunchy floor with puddles of "badwater"

application of chapstick = once every quarter of an hour.

My sould seemed to cry out for something... water? life? hospitality? we camped part way through the park under a huge sky (mark - adam and i saw a "did you see THAT?" shooting star). this place was truly the beauty of desloation...

the next day we drove down around the western divide and up through the national forest that became greener and greener at every turn of the winding mountain road. cows and hourses in pasture, lush fields of rolling mountains... water, flowing freely, and sun and shade both - it was like the promised land. the smell of the orange tree orchards was like sweet jasmine tea. this was a crossing over into new life -- a thirst quenching taste of living water.

clearly seen

having pulled ourselves with aching calves out of the huge crack, where we had a bit of an expensive encounter with r.j., the skinny ranger on the last 2 mile stretch, we started walking back towards the canyon village, eventually getting picked up by the buckles, a couple of carefree, retired wisconsinites. they gave us a nice loaf of stale bread.
we realized that our urban existence has left us unconscious of some of the intimidating and inhuman attributes of our great God, during this drop into the crack. our understanding of God has been shaped by a new analogy, here. we are aware of the immensity of God, and of His inapproachableness. he is too great to reduce to a map, a documentary, or a tour, let alone a postcard or an engraved spoon. he rests in places we are not even able to see, and to which we are definitely not able to climb. we see the terrible and frightening aspects of his nature. we are terrified by what we see here. our breath is taken from us, and our only response is speaty palms and a dry mouth. God is the designer of this, both directly and indirectly. every attribute of this place is but a dim reflection of the same attribute to an infinite degree within his supreme nature. he is immense. he is infinitely layered. he is frightening in his beauty and in his potential to be dangerous. he is higher than we can ever reach and lower than we can find a way to descend. he is complex in detail. he is wild, but always orderly. he is vast beyond human observation or habitation. he might be around any bend or on the top of any stone tower. i am afraid of him, and don't know how to go about finding him.
i am glad i have a guide. i am glad my guide knows the path...is the path.

grapevine creek, grand canyon

alive, well.

The mothers will be glad to know that the canyon did not defeat us. No snakes or scorpions, merely friendly frogs, lizards, and funky beetles. It was an awe inspiring experience that has wet our appetites for more of the west. So, we continue on through death valley after a refreshing visit with the snowdens and a decadent trip to the 'delights hot springs resort' (and RV park ---).

opportunity of crisis

we sometimes allow the pressure of time rather than the love of some end to motivate us forward into action we also sometimes stay wrapped in ourselves so tightly that we miss the opportunity for new connections with others. we realized this yesterday.
it was a few past a few minutes past 11am. our ride was coming at 12 to bring us to the airport. we had a shortening list of things to do and an even more shortening amount of time to do them in. only a few loose ends lay untied on the fabric we were about to leave on the east coast.
as we ran up the stairs to get the last few remaining things out of our pad, i flipped through the keys on my ring and realized, perhaps in different words, "mmm. the house key is not on here." "where did you put it?" "i must have put it on the other ring, in your purse." "is the sliding door open on the balcony?" "i don't think so." "i'll climb up and see. you check the trunk of the car for another spare." "the sliding door is locked." "there's no spare in the trunk." blast. curse. spit.
for the past week or so we'd been seeing a guy with his sprawling family come pouring out of their family van like a circus act, and had been saying to ourselves, "that dude's gotta be a christian. we should talk to him." but, alas, we hadn't taken the initiative.
as we stood fretting outside of our pad on this day, this man was loading up his van with the help of his many children. we had no key, no phone, and no one around with a spare to get in our place...and the clock was ticking. we were compelled to ask this guy if we could use his phone to call our realtor and ask for a miracle. tracy asked...and called. no answer. the guy, kevin, suggested we try using a credit card to get in.
as i tried the card, tracy talked to kevin and his kids. as it turns out, kevin works with wycliffe and is a bible translator. he's been up here with his family visiting some friends. he works with an organization called jaars in north carolina, and recommends that we go check out their facility to see if we'd like to work there.
i'm often hesitant to say that events are the result of direct divine intervention. i am often weak in faith, perhaps. i can't help but wonder, though, if we were supposed to meet kevin, and since we hadn't taken the initiative, God had to orchestrate the occasion.
we ended up getting in with the card trick. loose ends were tied up and stored. we and our flights were on time and ultimately untroubled.
lesson one: we want to make things happen instead of waiting for them to happen. we want to take initiative with others in our life, seeing good opportunities and entering into them. we also want to be motivated by love, rather than by fear--which is what "the pressure of time," or procrastination, is all about.