Meandering Moments by Elsi

In thinking about running joyfully through the part of God’s glorious creation called Israel, I’ve been researching a bit (typical for a Senniger, I suppose!). It’s the size of New Jersey; Colorado is 13 times bigger. Its population is about the same as Washington. The altitude range is about 5,300 feet (3963 at the highest; -1368 at the Dead Sea). Colorado’s is 11,000 (14,440 to 3315), and Israel’s highest point is slightly higher than Colorado’s lowest. It’s half desert, and about 70 miles at the widest—that’s closer than Colorado Springs is to Boulder!

Jesus the Life Saver

from the 2nd and 3rd grade class, 1st service, Boulder Valley Christian Church:

(to the tune of “Frosty the Snowman”)

Jesus, our Savior, oh! His love will always shine!

He helps us with our troubled days!

Yes, He helps us all the time!

Jesus, the Savior—to our problems He’s the key!

He answers when we pray to Him,

And He died to make us free!

I had the privilege of presiding over the Oral Spelling Bee at Elk Creek Elementary School in Conifer this morning. They’ve invited me to run it every year since I retired in ‘02—such fun! I choose the words from the official website, write sentences, and drive to Conifer to lead the Bee. This year we had 30 students, ranging from seasoned 5th graders down to three little kindergartners, one of whom survived clear into 2nd grade words; Max got spontaneous applause when he correctly spelled sparkle. Our winners were well into the 7th grade list when we finally, after an hour and a half, got a champion: the winning words were remorseful and emphasize. Such excitement … such astoundingly talented spellers … thank you, Principal Joanne Marion and Elk Creek staff and parents!

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Revelation 21:5

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

God is all that is true,

            all that is right,

            all that is pure.

He is Savior,

            Redeemer,

            Covenant-maker.

God is the Rock,

            the Lord,

            the first and last,

            the only One.

He is light and love and power,

            Spirit, eternal, unchanging,

            revealed, proclaimed, un-dying.

God is.

Granny—my mother’s mother, Ethel Crane Wilson—traveled widely. When I was small, she brought me a cuckoo clock from Switzerland and wooden shoes from Holland. When she finally retired from teaching high school, she went to Africa, where she patted the lion who played the lead in Born Free and learned to ask to “drop a penny” when she needed to go to the bathroom on safari. And she went to Israel, bringing us an olivewood creche, which I still have.

Recently I found the only other memento I have of that trip, a photo, dated 1962. Granny had just turned 66 then … and I will be almost 65 when I visit Israel this spring. There’s some sort of congruence here, a bit of synchronicity, perhaps.

Now, if I can only figure out where the picture was taken, I could duplicate the pose …

Praise the Lord for what He gives to you.

He will love me forever and ever.

He will be in your heart.

I will praise Him forever and ever.

He is all-powerful and untameable.

I will praise in His glory.

He is amazing.

Praise God for everything He does and gives to you.

There is no beginning and no end for Him.

I will praise You forever and ever because You loved me first.

I will always want to praise You, oh Lord!

You are my dear Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Our writing critique group went in several new directions last night. Only two people brought pieces to share, and both were new ventures for the authors—Lisa had a fiction piece, and Sharon a response to an op-ed column. Robert brought a list of writing rubrics, and I had an exercise on adding stylistic decorations to a paragraph. So we shared, had a lesson, and left early and happy!

This is a review of Insider Thought Trading by James and Blake Bar. I received my copy through the BookCrash book review program in return for my writing this review. I hope they’re not sorry …

I think there’s good information in this book, useful tools for changing your thoughts and your habits. It’s just that it’s almost impossible to find them.

The first part of the book is a convoluted story. If it were a true story, it would still be hard to follow, as the tenses and quotations ramble. But the author states, “the story portion of this book is a parable-style journey that roughly resembles the author’s life. … This story is not meant to be autobiographical.” Which means the unlikely portions of the narrative can’t be accepted as fact, and this reader kept trying to figure out what the point of the parable was. As best I could decipher, it’s a preachy little story meant to teach simple people—the sort of thing that was popular in children’s writing in the 1700s and 1800s.

The second part is supposedly the how-to part, a step-by-step explanation of something called the “3-3-3 You Are Free Lifestyle Design.” However, the authors assume we know more than we do. It seems to be a self-behavior-modification program, where you give yourself points for changing your thoughts and take away points for wrong thinking … or something like that. There are references to “grace notes” and “love notes” and keeping score, with little explanation of the application of the system. Personally, when I’m trying to change a bad habit or, much harder, a bad thinking pattern, keeping a tally score of goods and bads isn’t going to help.

Nonetheless, I’m convinced that—somewhere in here—there’s good stuff. I hope the authors will do another rewrite for clarification and application.

My church is taking a tour group to Israel during spring break, March 24 through April 2. And suddenly I was intrigued by the thought and was actually considering going! Silly me … but I emailed to ask if I could still sign up.

Oh, my! I missed the sign-up deadline by a couple of weeks, so felt quite safe in saying, “Lord, if You want me to go, let them accept me. And if You think I shouldn’t try it, I’m perfectly fine with that, too! Oh, and … by the way … make it real clear that this is from You, okay? Thanks!”

Just got an email from Jerry Schlatter, the church elder in charge of planning the trip. I’m in. Please send paperwork and money. And … by the way … because I’m so late, they won’t have a roommate for me, so send extra to cover a single room. And that’s the confirmation from the Lord, because the lack of privacy and space at night was my biggest concern! I guess He does want me to go … now I have time to get scared, but I’m excited at the opportunity, too! Wow …