Cycling in the Mountains ...

One of the enjoyable gifts Our Lord has given me is the freedom to run and bike regularly. The physical fitness it provides is only one of its benefits. It gives me solitude. And, invariably, that time alone becomes a valuable opportunity to be with Our Lord. If ever there were doubts that He is “always” near these hours on the road have removed them!

Just this morning I ran. I took one of my favorite loops through neighborhoods of Estates and the beautiful gardens that surround the Huntington Library. The great trees and luscious Gardens are beautiful. They were especially gorgeous this morning. The sky was clear blue. The rising sun gave depth and rich hue to the myriad colors. And the majestic mountains on the Northern perimeter of our Valley were as vividly detailed as the sun can make them. Noticing canyons and ravines meandering through the rocky slopes and over ridges and tree ridged plateaus not often visible here in the Valley I was taken back to a memorable Thanksgiving group ride into those magnificent Mountains.

The roadways that crisscross through these Mountains are numerous. This ride included several dozen riders. The course was rigorous. We climbed continuously to over 3000 feet. It was cold but sunny. The alpine scenery is always breathtaking. But it seemed more so that morning; even more so as we turned and pushed the pace along a stretch of road that appeared to be flat but turned out to be a real optical illusion. Our pace was daunting until we came on a stretch where there'd been recent rainfall. Safety demanded that we slow down. As we did I became more aware of the scenery in this plain like setting. Purple sage glistened with raindrops. A fragrance I had never experienced filled the air. The rain on these gorgeous wildflowers had somehow given rise to a most pungent exhilarating aroma. I was so enthralled with the stimulus of such beauty surrounding me on every side and arousing virtually every sense that I couldn’t help but release the handlebars and raise my hands in praise to the Great Creator who’d given me that moment of sensation. I saw a deep blue dome over my head and a sun so bright I couldn’t look into it even through my dark racing glasses. The slopes shimmered with the purple and green of sage. Trees framing glimpses of ridges and cliffs in the distance glistened with droplets of freshly fallen rain. The damp soil and pungent vegetation filled my nostrils with their scintillation. I felt the refreshment of the cool air after the rigor of the high-paced climb. I was “tasting” and “seeing” the glory of Our Lord.

In this blissful moment it struck me that I had just come close to Heaven itself! And it occurred to me that I’d have never experienced it in quite this way if I hadn’t been free to ride into such heights and mountainous regions. Our Lord had given me both the well-being to “ride with the pack,” and these inimitably splendid surroundings, as a sensational reminder that, no matter where we may be, or what we might be doing, He is “beautiful beyond description; too marvelous for words!”

And I stood on the pedals in “awe” of Him and “worshiped him.”

It's Thanksgiving: God Signs ...

* The rain washed, sparkling, radiant land; mist rising from the ground and vegetation, drifting into the canyons and over the ridges of mountains, splendidly blanketed in snow, etched against the azure sky

* A beautiful Baby Girl who, 14 months ago, almost certainly would not survive the ravages of a major stroke that crippled the entire left side of the Mother in whose womb she was growing …

* A lovely, loving Mother crippled by a vicious stroke now all but fully recovered and providing care for a 5 mo. old Daughter, a 7 yr. old Son, a 4yr. old Son, a lovely Home, and a Man, our Son, who has become to her as special as he is to us!

* 3 Young Men – genuinely noble men – whom God has given us as Sons! Each of them living influential lives as Christ-followers, who are finding fulfillment in a life of service. Two are Pastors to Christ’s Church. The other serves in the world of Adventure Sports. For all 3 of them the people they serve are most important!

* 3 lovely women, exemplary Wives and Mothers, each of them skilled in Professions where they’ve excelled, who love our Sons deeply and devotedly. They too are genuinely noble and live their lives first for the people they care for. Together they have borne 10 Children – 6 boys and 4 girls – who are the finest, most intelligent, delightful noble young men and women ever to be born! Why I can’t remember ever having to change even one of any of their diapers …

* A venerable man of 87 now completely dependent. Once strong and a compulsive walker he can now barely shuffle from his recliner to the bathroom. He’s incontinent. Dementia has reduced him to virtual oblivion. He’s pleasant but doesn’t know it’s you he’s giving a smile.

Admirable in his Prime with a record of achievements as a pilot for Academic, Medical, and Religious Service agencies in the Nation of Paraguay, he literally blazed trails and made possible developments that gave access and hope to many in the remote regions of that Nation who’d had little of either. A Nation which had become Home for him and his Family for over 25 years.

Today this great Man is no longer the cavalier, resourceful, caring “flyer” who brought help and hope to thousands. His dignity is all but gone.

Yet, in the shadows, marginalized by his growing incapacity, a subtle light reveals the true Man that cannot be denied. A small group of Torchbearers, convinced that no person is a cipher, regardless of their age, have committed to caring for him; a man of undeniable dignity.

They attend to him as they would a King. Every aspect of his life, even the most intimate, is seen as of highest importance. And they do what they do with such skill and kindness that he is never humiliated or demeaned.

Caring for “Ernie” in this way they not only affirm his worth. They demonstrate the dignity of our race supremely!

Jesus of Nazareth said, of Heaven’s Citizens, “Those who are greatest among you are those who serve one another.”

THANK YOU! LORD JESUS THAT IN YOUR SACRIFICIAL LOVE YOU DEMONSTRATED HOW THIS LOVE WHICH SERVES NO MATTER THE COST IS WHAT MAKES US TRULY HUMAN … THE NOBLE BEINGS YOU’VE DESIGNED AND CREATED TO BE LIKE YOURSELF!

A Patch of Sunlight in the Woods

When Lewis writes about a “patch of sunlight in a wood,” memories of time “in the woods” flood my mind.

The most pleasantly memorable times of my growing up years were lived on a small island in the Great Lakes region of Northern Ontario, Canada. I enjoyed the forest. We’d hunt and fish. We regularly set snares and traps for food, and in some instances, marketable furs. But the times I treasured most were those in solitude.

I remember spending an afternoon watching Beaver build lodges and a dam. I marveled at their skills. They literally chewed through the 12 inch thick trunk of a tree with such precision that it fell into the stream. Then they just left it there lying in the water. “Why?” I wondered, “would they go to all that effort and then just walk and swim away?” So I made a point of revisiting that spot periodically. Some time later, when Fall had settled in and signs of Winter were stealing into the “Indian Summer,” I went back. The Beaver had obviously returned. A lot of the branches that were submerged had been chewed off and taken away. Sitting on a log nearby I thought about what had happened with those branches. My musings were interrupted by the appearance of two of those industrious critters. Each of them chewed away at a submerged branch and removed it. I watched intently. When they’d detached their branch they swam downstream to the dam with it. When they reached this now substantial levy they dove to the bottom of the pond their labors had created, pushing the larger end of the branch into the base of the structure.

It was then that it hit me. These phenomenal creatures instinctively knew that tree branches float on water. They had built lodges that stood mostly above the water. These edifices were havens for them and their offspring. In order to make them safe, and preserve underwater/ice access, they’d need to be submerged keeping out predators, and the cold winds of winter. They had to dam the stream until it became a pond or lake deep enough to provide that cover. Of course, if you’re going to build a dam out of wood you can’t have the timber floating downstream. It must stay where you put it alongside the other logs and branches. So, what do you do? You drop a tree in the stream and leave it there until most of it is completely soaked – water-logged – and take that “heavy” wood to places in the dam where it will have to remain submerged.

I stood amazed!

I had just seen “a patch of sunlight in a wood!”

Nature’s Engineers had demonstrated, for me, a young student, that a very wise Creator has shared His intelligence with all of Creation and there is no end to the wonders of His ingenuity!

It's Thanksgiving!

IT’S THANKSGIVING 2011!

And I am deeply grateful. Most of all for the “Gift of Life!”

I am!

However the Pseudo Sophisticates -- the alleged “wise,” -- choose to analyze, or “demythologize, or discredit the idea, I am experiencing something real even as I think and write this very moment.

Some time ago – I don’t remember when – I wakened in the night. There was nothing but darkness and frantic terror! Then it was gone! I was wide awake and shaken!

The rest of the night I contemplated the prospect of dwelling in darkness. I struggled with the thought of “not being.” But, with that thought came the realization that even an existence without light would, still, “an existence be.” A “dagger of the mind,” “proceeding from the heat oppressed brain,” or not, would still be a “dagger” to the person who sees it. My “contemplation,” all by itself, was, for me, a form of being. In that moment a very reassuring semblance of existence! To imagine “not being” was impossible because to “not be” would expunge the imagining itself. Without the “Gift of Life” there would be no consciousness at all!

That night I learned to value “thinking” and what an important role our thoughts play in our existence. Then and there I resolved to take an Ancestor’s advice seriously; to “think about” things that are “true and noble; right and pure; lovely and admirable; virtuous; deserving praise and honor; the kinds of things great yet humble minds contemplate.” I remembered God’s word to Asaph. “Those who bring thanksgiving as a sacrifice honor me!” (Ps. 50: 23 NRSV)

Since then I have determined to think thankfully, routinely. How amazing this “Gift of Life” becomes when we see our “being” as the “bountiful care,” of an extravagant Benefactor! Life’s pure and spontaneous pleasures,” writes C. S. Lewis, “are ‘patches of Godlight’ in the woods of our existence.”

This “Thanksgiving Week” I’ve decided to share, with anyone who reads these “Weekly Life Words,” daily “patches of Godlight.” Tasty delights along the “Way of Life.”