Fall is here (and Elise's birthday)

Here in Southeast Alaska, at about 56'N latitude, the Fall season is upon us. I woke up this morning to a completely fogged-in Narrows. Throughout the early morning, as the larger boats (like the ferry) went past, they would sound their fog horns. Even though our heater is kept at 60F, it frequently kicked in as the temperature dropped below that. The morning flight could not land (although it did try) because of the fog.

Late afternoon the fog started to burn off. As it approaches sunset, the skies are partly cloudy, though Petersburg Mountain right in front of us still has low clouds around most of it.

Since tomorrow is Labor Day and all the stores will be closed, I made sure to go out and do some grocery shopping. Today is Elise's birthday so I also looked around for a card and a gift. Since she might read this before she opens the present, I'm not saying what it is quite yet.

Elise worked today - early morning until, well, until she gets back home in an hour or so. Shelley also worked today from mid-morning until this evening. Amy spent the greater part of the day over at her garden, doing whatever she does there... She called this evening to have me pick her up because she had so much stuff to bring back: 3 large zuchinnis, a large shovel, dirt sifter, tarp, buckets, some flowers... Way too much to fit into her backpack and come home on her bike.

While I was going out to town (I was walking because Elise drove to work), I bumped into the newly-arrived Catholic priest. I met him last Wednesday. He comes from, most recently, Chicago, and has spent his entire priesthood in urban areas. So Petersburg is quite a change for him. I don't think he's quite decided whether or not he likes Petersburg yet. He will be here for three years.

He invited me in to the church and parsonage for a cup of tea. I accepted the invitation, and got a quick tour of the building -- my first time inside this particular church. We chatted for a while, talking about home schooling, the community, and so on. I mentioned to him about holidays and stores closing. He thought it would be prudent for him to go pick up a few supplies today.

I can't help but believe that somehow this was my divine appointment for today -- to just chit-chat and warn him about stores being closed tomorrow.

I just finished cooking a from-scratch pasta sauce a few minutes ago. Amy is busily creating a version of minestrone soup. I thought about making my own pie, but after looking at the prices for pie filling and all the time making it would take, I decided that $8 for a pre-made 40 oz. pie was worth the cost. I also picked up some butter-pecan Tillamook ice cream -- just for Elise because she's the only one that really likes nuts in ice cream.

We are hoping that our Ukrainian friends who spent their summer working here were able to make it out on the afternoon flight. But the flight is going the wrong direction. They were supposed to go to Anchorage today. We are once again entering the time of year when travel is frequently at the whim of the weather.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 36

This week's Bible readings are in Jeremiah 26-29; Isaiah 58-66; and Revelation 19-22.

LeConte Glacier

After church this afternoon, as we were getting ready to have lunch, we got a call inviting us to go out on the boat to view the LeConte Glacier. It's about 25 miles southeast from Petersburg.

We changed into some warmer gear and headed off to the harbor. The waters were quite choppy on the way there. The boat was bouncing up and down. Along the way, we saw a few icebergs floating about. Once we got into the bay, there were icebergs, small and large everywhere. The trick was to get through without crashing hard into them. The boat is able to glide over the small ice floes, but we did not want to hit any of the larger ones (note that only 1/8th of the iceberg is visible above the surface).

The day was mostly rainy and wet. But as we rounded the final corner to get our first look at the glacier, for just a brief moment there was a bit of blue sky and sunshine.

Our first attempt to approach the glacier ended up being blocked. So we backtracked up a bit, and a couple of us (I wasn't personally involved) used oars to row the boat around the ice and push away the larger ones to try to get the boat situated on the other side of the bay to try to make an attempt to approach the glacier that way. This attempt eventually succeeded. While paddling about, we saw a large number of seals, probably wondering what we were doing in their ice...

We finally made it to about a mile from the edge of the glacier. This is where we stopped to spend quite some time just watching the glacier and the surrounding area. We saw quite a number icebergs being calved away from the glacier.

There is tremendous power unleashed when a large hunk of ice breaks off and drops into the water. We didn't experience any that required us to make a quick getaway, but there were a couple that results in large swells - 2 to 3 feet in an otherwise calm bay.

Here are a few photos from our outing. Click on the contact sheet to go to the image gallery.

And here's a 1-minute video from the trip. The quality isn't that great since it was taken using my little snapshot digital camera. It's a taste of what you can see in Southeast Alaska. You'll just have to come here to see all this in person. There are five segments: Our trip in, glacier and seals, padding about the floes, calving ice, and trip back.

Click HERE for video. The file is just under 1MB in size. The bit rate is about 100 Kbps. You might want to right-click and "Save Target As..." to your local disk if you're on a slower connection.

Sermon: Convictions

(Click HERE for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today's sermon looks into Daniel chapter 3. This is the story of Nebuchadnezzar's golden image; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; and the fiery furnace.

I discuss some of the historical and cultural background of the story, do a bit of speculating in filling in some details in the narrative, and then draw out a few principles that we might think about and apply.

The questions for which the sermon tries to provide at least some direction in finding answers are: What should a follower of God do when he or she thinks that his or her faith is being challenged? Is it necessary to respond to every perceived challenge? When are responses appropriate? If a response is appropriate, how should he or she respond?

Children's Story: A Flat Earth

The following is a work a fiction. Any resemblance to persons real or imagined are purely coincidental... you get the drift.

---

There was a man named George. He believed that the earth was flat. He believed that the North Pole was at the center of a disc that made up the earth, and the edge of the disc was ringed by a tall wall of ice which made up Antarctica.

Throughout the years, many people tried to convince George that the earth is really a sphere, more or less a ball, but George would have none of that.

The others would try to argue and explain how the turning of the earth is how we get days and nights. George would respond that it was really the sun that was going around the earth. At night, the sun would be on the bottom side of the disc, and in the morning, the sun would come up on the eastern edge of the disc.

The others tried to argue about the ocean tides. They tried to explain about the moon and how the gravity from the moon causes the tides to rise and fall. George would simply say that the disc tilted slightly on each end a couple of times a day and that cause the tides to change.

"Well, what about how objects disappear as they get more distant on the horizon?" the others asked. They used balls and toothpicks to try to get George to see how objects on a curved surface eventually disappear out of sight when they get far enough apart. But George simply said that mountains and waves simply ended up hiding the objects the farther away they got. And not only that but eyesight wasn't good enough to see things that far.

There finally came a time when astronauts went up, away from the earth, and took pictures and videos of the earth from space and allowed everyone to see what the earth looks like. The others thought, "Finally, George is going to have to admit that the earth is a sphere."

George looked at the pictures and the video and simply said, "They're fakes. Someone from Hollywood made those up." And then he asked the others, "Were you there? Did you actually see for yourself? How do you know these so-called astronauts are telling the truth?"

After so many years of trying to convince George that the earth wasn't flat, the others had reached the end of their ropes. They were exasperated. They went through all the earlier arguments, but in much louder voices. They began to make fun of George, call him all sorts of nasty things, let him know that he was an idiot and stupid for not believing that the earth is a sphere.

Soon, not only were they making fun of George, but they were threatening to do him harm unless George believed like they did. Some even began to physically attack and assault George, trying to force him to admit that the earth is a sphere.

Seeing that they weren't getting anywhere, they called the authorities who had George arrested for "holding to beliefs that undermine and threaten an orderly society." Those who had attacked George were questioned but let go because they had helped bring into custody "a person dangerous to society."

A trial was held and the judges once again attempted to force George to admit that the earth is round and not flat. For days this went on. They had him whipped. They made him go without food and very little water. They threatened to keep him locked up until he died. One of the judges even suggested that maybe George should be hanged for causing such a disturbance in society.

On the final day of the trial, the authorities brought in the astronauts that had brought back the pictures and the video of the earth. The authorities hoped that by hearing directly from the astronauts, George would finally be convinced that they were right and he was wrong.

The astronauts gave a detailed story of how they had traveled away from the earth and saw for themselves the spherical earth. But George was not convinced. He accused them of being paid by the authorities to make up the story. The courtroom erupted into a mass of chaos as the people tried to get their hands on George, to try to once again beat him into submission.

As order was finally restored and a bloodied George sat on the bench nursing fresh wounds, the astronaut commander asked the head judge if he could speak. The judge granted the request.

The commander got up and addressed the court, "Your honors. It is quite clear that no amount of logic, no strength of argument, no physical force, and no threats are sufficient to convince Messr. George to change his beliefs about the physical form of the earth. Even eyewitness evidence and testimony are not sufficient for him. May I request the court to allow him to accompany us on our next mission? Perhaps if Messr. George sees and experiences for himself, he might come to see the possibility that the earth is spherical. After all, Messr. George does have some valid points for his beliefs. And if afterwards he chooses to continue to believe that the earth is flat, what real harm is done?"

There was some grumbling and arguing and debate about this unusual request. But after some minutes, the judges granted the request.

Some months later, George found himself strapped in a seat inside the cockpit of a spaceship. The engines came to life. 5-4-3-2-1… The engines roared and they began their ascent, away from the ground. Faster and faster they traveled upward. George could see the ground getting farther and farther away. "The earth looks like a disc," he thought to himself. But as they got higher and higher, the disc started to warp around the edges, starting to take on the look of a sphere. Soon they were far enough away that the entire earth could be seen. Not all of the continents could be seen on the visible surface. And as time passed, he could see that the earth looked as if it was rotating… Continents disappeared from view while new land appeared. George looked at the stars in the distance and could see that the spaceship hadn't changed position…

The End.

Generating more time...?

Here's a bonus reflection for today.

I'm reading a book, The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath, by Mark Buchanan. (BTW, I'm finding it to be insightful -- seeing an intepretation of the Sabbath from a different perspective.)

In this book, on p. 83, Buchanan quotes Proverbs 11:24 from The Message, by Eugene Peterson:

24 The world of the generous gets larger and larger;
the world of the stingy gets smaller and smaller.

Now this is usually quoted and understood in terms of money and possessions. But Buchanan raises the question: Does it apply to our time also? He suggests that indeed it does. The more time we choose to give away (to God, to others), the more time we will actually find. In terms of normal space-time continuum, this sounds impossible, but maybe something miraculous happens when we choose to give God all of our time and let him direct our daily appointments.

What do you think?

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like an Onion

The Kingdom of Heaven is like an onion. There are many, many layers to it. I'm sure you think I'm going to say that as we peel the first layer, then go deeper in, we discover something more. But if I follow that logic, eventually I get to the center where there are no more layers. When I get to the center, I've discovered all that I could possibly find and know.

No, the Kingdom of Heaven is like an onion, but not in the way just described. Rather, we start in the center -- we are born there. It is a place where rules and regulations govern every aspect of our lives. It's a place where we are very certain of how things in this world work, how everyone is supposed to relate to us, and how people and organizations are supposed to behave and act.

But then, we discover that the world can be a bit unpredictable at times. We discover that the onion we live in is a little bigger than we first imagined. Peoples and things don't quite work and behave like we thought they should. Rules, which seemed so black and white at first, we discover now cannot be applied indiscriminately in every situation. There is a different force at work. Things become a bit more uncertain.

At this point, we have a choice: We can refuse to accept that the world is a little bigger than we are comfortable with, and choose to explore this new layer; or, we can refuse to acknowledge that there are some things which we don't know yet and retreat into the comfort zone of what we already know.

Those who are courageous enough to venture outward discover that there are even more layers. And unlike onions in this world, this metaphysical onion is infinite in size and layers. The more you choose to venture outward, the more you discover. The more you choose to explore, the easier it becomes to explore. Your world and universe continue to get bigger and bigger. You can't imagine what it was like when you were trapped in the center -- when that was all you knew of the universe. As you travel outward, you discover more and more freedom.

As you travel outward, you discover and experience more and more of this force that more and more strongly attracts you and drives you outward. The force is love -- the force is God himself. To those still in the middle, the attraction of God is minimal, but as a person begins to move outward, the attraction becomes stronger and stronger until it becomes nigh impossible to even consider a retreat. You become less and less certain of your own knowledge, but more and more certain of God's love and the true freedom love offers.

I think it is better to imagine God and his love surrounding all of us and all of his creation, rather than the more standard metaphor where God is at the center and we are all trying to find the one right and perfect answer. In the model described here, where God surrounds, no one will ever have the one complete, right, and perfect answer. Because if any person ever achieves that, then he or she is, in essence, God. No, if God is infinite as he claims he is and we believe he is, then our spiritual journeys never end. It always moves into new territory as we discover and experience more of who and what God is.

Each spiritual journey is different. There is none identical. In the model where God is at the center, the implication is that eventually all spiritual journeys converge and become alike. With God surrounding, no spiritual journey ever can be alike. Every person will have a differing understanding, knowledge, and experience with God for eternity.

The Gospel according to John in the Bible seems to describe this -- in different words, of course. Every person starts out in the same place. Those who choose to accept Jesus Christ, even a little bit, begin their journeys outward.

But those who refuse to believe and accept Jesus choose to retreat. They distance themselves from the only force that can help them grow and find freedom. The more they distance themselves, this force that use to attract they now find repels them further inward. The more they move inward, the more trapped and smaller they become. They become slaves to themselves and to their knowledge. They find it becomes impossible to even acknowledge that some other viewpoint could be more correct. They shrink until they cease to exist. This is the judgment that John writes about Jesus speaking. It is the decision that people make for themselves.

Those who choose to accept Jesus, as John describes Jesus saying, escape judgment. These people find freedom. But those who choose to retreat until they disappear, enter into the judgment of infinite nothingness, deciding for themselves that freedom and life is not what they want.

Where are you in your journey through the onion?

Trouble comes in threes

Okay, so tell me, when things go wrong, why do multiple things go wrong all one right after another -- usually in threes?

Everything was going along fine today. Nothing terribly unusual. I met with an individual who came to our Sabbath worship for the first time this past Sabbath. I purchased some under-cabinet lights and despite a few hiccups, got them successfully installed this afternoon (first set) and this evening (second set). I thought that was quite an accomplishment for someone (me) who is clueless when it comes to handyman and home improvement projects. I usually end up causing a worse mess than before I started. But that wasn't the case today.

Tonight was a different story, however. The girls (and I include all female members of our household plus a guest) were putting together a puzzle this afternoon in the living room and somewhere in the process had also gotten some chocolate drinks in tall, unstable cups. They were not necessarily emptied at the time and they sat around until late this evening. As one cup was being carried over (it could have only been carried horizontally), there was a trail of chocolate liquid from the edge of the living room and across the dining room. After chewing out one girl, then scrubbing the floor and using some Spotshot on the small carpet portion, things seemed okay.

Well, no, that was just the beginning. As I was slicing a loaf of bread and putting it into a bag, one of the girls yelled out that some chocolate drink had spilled. I expected just a little bit was left at the bottom, like the earlier cup. WRONG! Somehow the cup had been placed beneath the coffee table, and got kicked, and it was perhaps half full, or more. There was a huge brown puddle, and then a splash 18 inches long. I got out some paper towels and had one of the girls blot (although apparently the difference between blot and scrub was unknown, so I had to show what blot meant) the spill while I tried to figure out what to do with the stain.

I first thought Spotshot again, but there was just far too much of the spill. We do have a Kirby vacuum cleaner with carpet shampoo attachments. I got it out, but that's always a huge amount of work to set up, shampoo, and then clean all the attachments. So I got out the sprayer that comes with it to see how it works, and I couldn't figure it out. So back to the full shampooer. It's probably a good thing I did go with it because it took a dozen or so shampoo passes to finally get it to where the big stain is barely noticeable. The splash stains appear to have been erased.

I then had to go down to the basement to get the extra dehumidifier (which Grandpa Tom so fortuitously brought this last visit) to set it up in the living room to help speed up the drying of the carpet. I cleaned up the attachments.

And then came the next evil of the night. The vacuum cleaner dust bag was full, so I went down to throw out the bag and replace it with a new one. For the last several months I've been puzzled as to why so much dirt and dust was ending up outside the disposable bag and inside the outer bag. I went outside the basement and shook out much of the dirt and dust that had collected in this outer bag. And then I saw that the dust hose had cracked near the base. That certainly explains the problem I've been seeing.

It looked as if we might be out a vacuum cleaner now. I recalled seeing replacement parts for sale online, so I checked it out. Probably about $30 for all the parts. But how in the world do I replace the dust hose? What if I don't order all the necessary parts to reassemble the dust bag? Arrrggg! Maybe we should just get another vacuum cleaner? As I'm dealing with increasing frustration, stress, and rising blood pressure, I go back to examine the dust bag and hose. There's plastic tape around the top of it, probably to reinforce it or something. Then duct tape comes to mind. Hmm... Can I duct tape the base of the hose and patch up the crack? Will it hold? I don't know. So I gave it a try. I'll know over the next few weeks if the thing holds. If it does, great. If not, I guess it's back to figuring out how to replace the hose.

With all that went on (understand that all the troubles began after 9 p.m. and by the time I've gotten things settled down, it's about 10:20 p.m.) I never did get more than 1-1/2 loaves sliced. I finished slicing the remaining portion of the second loaf and bagged it. I wasn't about to slice the remaining loaves so I started bagging it. And then I discover that I'm two bags short... Sigh (or is it AAARRRRGGGG!?)... I try a gallon Ziplock (actually it's made by Glad...) but the loaf is too big. I try a the Western Family gallon bags -- same size as the Glad, so the loaves won't fit. But the Western Family bags are the cheaper kind, so I stick the remaining two loaves into these bags with an open end. I'm tired of fighting all the things that go wrong.

So as I write this, it is 11:15 p.m. I'm so worked up at that I can't fall asleep. So I might as well put my wakefulness to some use and do some therapeutic blogging and venting my frustrations.

Oh, and a new rule -- no stain-causing drinks are allowed outside the kitchen and dining areas -- unless they are contained in stable cups or mugs. Which brings me to a question I've had for some time now (because accidents have happened before) -- why are so many drink glasses tall and unstable?

Bible Reading 2007, Week 35

This week, the readings are found in Isaiah 49-57 and the Gospel according to John.

Reading a part of Isaiah this morning, I came to the following verses in 50:10-11:

10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant? If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, trust in the Lord and rely on your God.
11 But watch out, you who live in your own light and warm yourselves by your own fires. This is the reward you will receive from me: You will soon fall down in great torment.

I don't think I've really noticed these verses before. The message is quite profound:

It's better to be living in darkness, trusting in God, than to be living in lights of our own creation.

It's better to be uncertain about our lives here in the visible world, but certain of eternity by trusting in God; than to be certain, or trying to make things certain, in this world but lose sight of God in the process.

That which is might be taken for light in this world may turn out to be deceptive -- like some of those ocean creatures that live in constant darkness... It's better to be in darkness, trusting in God's leading, than to be lured away by false light.

Feeling at home

This evening, I got out a number of the candles that we unpacked this week and lit them. For the first time since we started our moving process back in Portland a year ago, it feels like we've finally come home. Just staring at the flames glowing around the room gave me a feeling of peace, relaxation, and home-ness... if you know what I mean.

These images don't convey the full sense of what I felt, but it's the closest thing you readers are going to get.

Sermon: Honor Your Father and Mother

(Click here for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today's sermon looks at the fifth commandment as found in Exodus 20:12; Jesus' exchange with scribes and Pharisees recorded in Mark 7:5-13; and a Proverb, 23:22. All these say something in regards to honor and respect for parents and those who are older, particularly those who are elderly.

As mentioned in a couple of earlier blog posts, this sermon uses material from the supplied sermon for today provided by the North American Division.

Children's Story: Tony's Discovery

This Sabbath's children's story comes from the Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day resource kit. Download the Word document and you will find the story in there.

A brief synopsis: Tony, an elementary school boy, dreads a field trip to a Senior Center where they are required to interact with some of the elderly people there. Once there, he is assigned to a man named George. Tony discovers that they have more in common than he realized, and that he even ends up enjoying the time spent with George. Tony learns about some of the difficulties faced by the elderly, and about what he can do to help.

A week's worth of tales

It's been about a week since I last posted anything in regards to how we're doing, so I guess today's the day. Believe it or not, I've been somewhat busy this past week.

But prior to this week, now that we actually have a water faucet that I can connect a hose to, I washed our pickup for the first time since I drove it through a car wash in Tualatin last September. Believe me, it really needed a wash. I don't know if some of the dirt will ever truly come off. It think some of it is embedded into the paint itself now. After the wash, I could see quite a few scratches and such that we're hidden...

This Monday I picked up a lawn mower that I had ordered. It's a... manual reel mower. Why on earth would I get something like that, you ask? Because I don't like gas-powered mowers and all the costs and maintenance that go into one. I don't like having to breathe exhaust fumes while mowing.

The model I got is a Sunlawn LMM-40. It's about as maintenance free and environmentally friendly as a lawn mower gets. I used it and was quite happy with it. Some of the grass in the back was quite high, so even afterwards there are pockets of them sticking up. I need to get a string trimmer (which I need anyway to trim the edges) and whack off the tops so that the mower can be used on them more successfully.

While mowing though, I got bitten by a bunch of noseeum flies. My lower arms are covered now with little red circles that can itch like crazy. I've been using Benadryl topical ointment, hydrocortizone ointment, and taking Benadryl orally to try to keep myself sane. It's especially bad at night when the itching wakes me up. Benadryl taken at night seems to help reduce the itching, but I have a problem in that when I take it, I don't sleep well at all. The itching seems to be a bit better today, so I hope it will go away in the next day or two. I need to spray on some bug repellent the next time I mow.

Grandpa Tom could not locate a satellite signal at our house. He tried the big 9-feet dish but still couldn't find a signal. The good news is that the equipment at the church is now working. Since we have to tape the programs anyway (our time zone is so far away that all the broadcasts are over by the time our time zone comes around), that isn't too much of a big deal.

We discovered that one of the church members here (who currently doesn't attend regularly) used to know Grandpa Tom, Gummy, and Elise when Elise was a little girl. Grandpa Tom and he were in the Army together in Virginia. (Cue up, It's a Small World After All...)

This week we also started bringing up boxes and unpacking. So instead of the basement filled with boxes (well, it still is) we have a house full of stuff, on the floor, waiting for a home. We still have a large quantity of boxes at the church that we will need to haul back to the house. My (very ambitious) goal is to be completely unpacked by the end of September.

Yesterday morning, our kitty Stripey paid a visit to the hospital. Not as a patient, mind you, but as a visitor. It was "take your pet to the hospital" day and Stripey was one of a number of pets from town to pay a 15-minute visit for the residents to enjoy. The residents and staff may have enjoyed it, but from what I hear (from Elise, who took him there), Stripey was more than ready to come back home.

I got a call last night from Elise asking me to put a bit of the "good" rice (which our my aunt mailed late last year) in a Ziplock bag for an exchange student from Japan. Apparently the one thing she really misses is good rice. The usual stuff just isn't satisfactory to a discriminating palate.

Her host drove her to our house this morning and I gave her the rice. I went out to converse a bit with the girl in (my ever diminishing) Japanese. She came here originally for two-years in college, but apparently has decided to stay for a full four years. She is returning to Bellingham on the ferry tomorrow.

We are nearly out of bread, so I suggested to Amy that she make the bread. She's gotten to where the bread is in their pans, rising. We'll know in a couple of hours how they turn out.

We are definitely starting into an autumn weather pattern. We've had fog, rain and showers, mixed with periods of sun. Daytime temperatures are in the low 60's now.

I spent a few hours today putting together tomorrow's sermon. I have it a bit easy this week because this Sabbath is Abuse Prevention Emphasis Day and the North American Division provides a prepared sermon that can be used as-is, or adapted. As with the previous few prepared sermons that I've used, I've chosen to adapt it so that about half of the sermon tomorrow is original content.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 34

This week's Bible readings are in Isaiah 40-48; 1, 2, and 3 John; Malachi 1 and 2.

A few improvements

Grandpa Tom from Idaho arrived last Wednesday, bringing with him a large assortment of tools and various items from Gummy in Oregon.

The main task for Grandpa Tom was to try to see if he could get a satellite dish set up so that we could receive the Hope TV and Esperanza channels. These are the Adventist Television Network channels that broadcast a number of community outreach and evangelistic series programs throughout the year. There are a couple of programs coming up this September through November that I am planning to use at our church and home, and I had hoped to get a satellite receiver working.

Grandpa Tom tried to get a signal at our house, but so far he hasn't had much success. He looked at the one we have at the church and discovered that the LNBF on the dish had gone bad there. After replacing it with a good one, it looks like we have good reception at the church now. As long as the receiver at the church is working, we will be okay. Because our time zone is so far to the west, all four daily broadcasts of the upcoming programs will have taken place hours before we need to use them here. So I can simply record the programs onto tape and take them wherever they will be shown.

Elise got an early birthday present on Friday. It took Grandpa Tom the entire day to install it. "It" is a garbage disposal unit for our kitchen sink. Having to put kitchen scraps into the garbage can gets old rather quickly when we've been used to putting them into a disposal. To put it in required adding a switched outlet under the sink. His result was much more professional looking than what I would have ended up with -- assuming I would have been able to complete the task.

Grandpa Tom also replaced a couple of light switches. The one in the kitchen and our bedroom had been buzzing unless they were fiddled with until they were at just the right position. It turns out that the on/off switch was actually connected to dimmer switches... I didn't care to have them on dimmers (at least for now), so they were replaced with real on/off switches, and now they no longer buzz. I'm sure that I would have gotten fed up with the buzzing eventually to figure out what was going on, but well, now they're fixed.

Yesterday evening, we went with some friends to take a look at a house raising. The family building it had harvested local trees (residents can get permits to harvest a limited number of board-feet each year for free), taken them to one of the local mills, and had begun putting it together. When we got there all of the wall framing had been put up, and several people were working to install roof boards. The whole area was perfumed with freshly cut timber. The house overlooks a creek and a bit of the Narrows. It is located amongst the forest.

However, the visit reinforced my conviction that I am not a construction worker, nor do I ever want to be one. I climbed up the ladder to the second floor, and as I looked down to the ground some 20 feet below, and then watched the workers putting on the roof, I couldn't help but be amazed how comfortable they were dancing about on the beams and boards. And here I was, trying not to let the fear of falling get to me...

I'm seeing a bit of sunshine this morning. The rest of the day looks like it might be dry. The fall rains are trying to push out the summer sun, but maybe summer will fight on a little longer.

Summer is drawing to a close

Well, it looks like our summer is quickly coming to a close. We started getting rain yesterday and it's continued today. Prior to that we had about two weeks of straight sunshine and warm temperatures.

The weather forecast says that we'll see a few more days of sun this coming week, but starting about Thursday, the sun will go into hiding behind the clouds for a looooong time. By then, we'll be approaching our fall season -- which means more clouds, fog, and rain.

I do recall from last year that we did see some sun during the October and November months (before we got socked in with all of the snow).

Sermon: Offensive Grace

(Click here for MP3 sermon audio.)

Today I discussed a few thoughts based on John 6:60-71. This is where, after Jesus declares himself as the Bread of Life and that his flesh must be eaten and his blood drunk, many of his disciples turn away and leave.

The main question is: If the message of Jesus Christ's offer of grace, the Gospel, is such good news, why do so many people reject it?

John's recording of this incident shows to me that having the most perfect methods and words (i.e., think evangelism) still won't guarantee everyone will choose to believe and trust in Jesus Christ. Who could be a better evangelist than Jesus himself?

John's record also tells us that the most perfect discipleship program won't guarantee complete success either. Jesus knew perfectly how to help each of his disciples in their spiritual journeys. Yet we could say that Jesus failed when it came to Judas.

When we choose to share the gospel message, we should expect that not all of our efforts will result in success, at least the way it's usually measured. And we shouldn't take rejection of the message as a rejection of us.

I think rather, that evangelistic success might be based on whether or not the receiver of the message came to a point of decision. Did he or she make a decision? Did he or she make a choice to either draw nearer or move farther away from God? If the answer is "yes" to these questions, then regardless of the outcome, the evangelism was successful.

Children's Story: Jesus Loves You, Warts and All

How well do you know yourself?

• Do you know what kind of job you'll have when you're 25?
• Do you know who you'll have for friends in a couple of years?
• Do you know whether or not you'll even like some of the friends you have now?
• Do you know if you'll be making good or bad choices over the next year?
• Do you know what your great-great-great-great grandparents were like?
• Do you know who you'll be marrying? (Assuming Jesus hasn't come back yet.)
• Do you know who your great-great-great-great grandchildren will be?
  (Again, assuming Jesus hasn't come back before then.)
• Do you know if you will continue to follow Jesus all through your life?

There's a whole lot that we don't know, even about ourselves.

There was a man named Judas, who had a father named Simon, and who came from the town of Kerioth. We usually refer to him as Judas Iscariot. Judas was one of the Twelve specially selected by Jesus to be close to him everywhere he went.

When we read the Bible, we learn that Judas was the one who helped the Jewish leaders capture Jesus in the middle of the night and put him on the cross. Why would Judas do that?

I don't think he really knew himself -- what he really wanted. Judas thought Jesus could give him what he wanted. When Jesus didn't do what Judas thought Jesus should be doing, he tried to force Jesus into doing the things he though Jesus should be doing. Judas thought he was doing the right thing -- that he was helping Jesus. But Judas didn't really know himself, nor did he really know Jesus, even though he had been with Jesus nearly every day for a few years. And when Judas realized that Jesus would allow himself to be crucified, Judas didn't believe Jesus would or could ever forgive him.

One of Jesus' other disciples, John, wrote:

(For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) ... “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a [the] devil.” He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him.

You see, Jesus knew from the very beginning that Judas was going to help put him on the cross. But that didn't stop Jesus from loving Judas, from allowing Judas to be close to him.

Why? Because Jesus wanted Judas to get to know him, Jesus. And Jesus wanted Judas to get to know himself, so that he might choose to allow Jesus to change his heart. Jesus wanted Judas to come to know and trust him. Jesus wanted Judas to know and believe that even after he had chosen to betray Jesus, he loved Judas so much that Jesus could and would forgive him.

Jesus hasn't changed in the two-thousand years since then. He's chosen every one of you to be with him. He wants you to get to know him and to learn to trust him. And as you get to know and trust him, he wants you to learn about yourselves. To get to know things about yourselves that disappoint and hurt Jesus, so that you can let Jesus change those things for you.

Jesus already knows all the ways in which you will hurt him. But he has chosen you anyway. That's what the Bible calls grace. Jesus has already chosen to forgive you. Even if you choose to turn away from Jesus, if you want to come back, He's there to welcome you back.

Judas couldn't believe that someone who turned away from Jesus could ever come back. But Jesus isn't like us people. It doesn't matter what we do to him, or how many times we turn away from him. If we want to come back to him, he's there to welcome us back.

Thoughts on the story of Job

Some of last week's Bible readings were in the book of Job. This story is frequently interpreted and seen as one where:

• Job is the hero of the story. He is the one who shows patience amidst all the calamities and suffering. He is the one who defends God against the accusations made by the friends.
• Job's wife is the faithless one. She gives up too easily.
• Job's three friends (though there were actually four) say all the wrong things. They don't know what they're talking about. They're useless as friends.
• The fourth friend (Elihu) is often overlooked. Or he gets lumped in with the other three. What he says is usually seen as not very different from the first three friends.

While reading through Job again, the usual interpretations were challenged. Here are some observations that I made:

• None of the human actors in the story, including Job, had a very clear picture of God. They were all under the impression that blessings are always the result of good behavior and calamities always the result of bad behavior. The difference between Job and the first three friends is that Job began to question this impression and assumption, whereas the three friends held rigidly and adamantly to how they thought God acted.
• Much of what the friends said about God were correct -- some of it most of the time, some of it some of the time. The problem as I see it is that they held to the view that God must always act in ways that they (humans) thought God should act, because that's how God acted in the past (their experience taught them).
• Elihu, the fourth friend and it appears the youngest of all of them, came closest to understanding God's ways. Even though Elihu, too, does not understand fully (who does?), he leaves open the possibility that God acts in ways that run contrary to human thinking and understanding. Perhaps that is why Job does not respond, nor does God condemn Elihu.
• It seems that the three friends, in their zeal to defend God, ended up slandering Job and accusing him falsely. They also, in their desire to be "right" about God, ended up slandering God. They seemed to have a problem with pride in self-knowledge (about God, even). They could not accept that they could be wrong. It seems that this was the core reason why God spoke out against them at the end.

There are several lessons for us today that I hadn't seen during previous readings of Job. These are:

• When we speak about God, his character, and how he works, we should be very careful to speak about what we really know to be true, rather than what we assume to be true.
• We should leave open the possibility that our view and understanding of God's ways are, in fact, quite different from what we believe. Just because in our experience God works in certain ways does not mean that he always works that way.
• God does not need us to defend him. Our compassion and love for one another is a far greater defense of God's character than any word, argument, or logic that we could bring to the table. It may even be that in our zeal in attempting to defend God, we become so rigid in what we view as "right" that we stop defending God and rather end up slandering both the person we took offense from initially and God, because our "right" view of God allows no room for God to be otherwise.
• It is okay to question God. It is not okay to demand that God respond.
• Our theologies, doctrines, and beliefs can become a source of self-pride; i.e., idols. Part of true humility is to acknowledge and admit that we really don't know much, that others, possibly younger and less educated (and perhaps even of a completely different religion), might actually have a better understanding of God's ways than we do.

Southeast Alaska Campmeeting 2007

So we survived the weekend campmeeting, August 10-12, at Camp Lorraine on Vank Island. (Click here for map. Vank Island is the bean shaped island in the middle of the map. Camp Lorraine is located in the north of the island, where it looks like someone chewed a piece off the bean.)

Mitkof island, where Petersburg is located, is directly north, and the boat launch is located directly north of Camp Lorraine. The boat launch is about 28 miles from the center of Petersburg. The last eight or so miles are on dirt and gravel roads and some places are quite rough due to the ongoing construction. It takes about 45 minutes to get from the city to the launch.

Friday morning, we picked up the speaker, Stan, and his wife at the airport. They were supposed to arrive on Thursday, but due to airport delays, they didn't make their flight and ended up staying a night in Juneau. Their luggage had already made it on Thursday. We waited for the passengers to come through, and then waited for a couple to retrieve their luggage and look lost. The problem was that since their luggage was already here, they just got it and made their way outside. We waited until most of the passengers had retrieved their luggage and left the building. Since we didn't see anyone that needed picking up, we wondered what happened and went out. Which is where we finally met the couple.

We had lunch at home, and then took them over to the church to sort out the luggage that they would leave behind. Since we had a little bit of time, we walked into the city. We walked Sing Lee Alley and onto North Harbor where we watched a crewman doing maintenance on a fishing tender (tenders collect catches from smaller fishing vessels, and then take the load to one of the canneries), and watched a few people catch herring (used as bait for larger fish).

We returned to the church, loaded up, and went to the ferry terminal to wait for the other people going to campmeeting. At about 3:45 p.m. we left for the boat launch. There were a total of fifteen of us that headed south.

Once at the launch we unloaded the cars and loaded the boats. There were too many people and gear to fit into both boats, so several of us waited for one of the boats to make a return trip. The boat ride itself takes about fifteen minutes. The water feels quite solid when traveling on an aluminum skiff. It feels almost like a roller coaster with the bumps, drops, and jumps. It was 6 p.m. when all of us finally made it to the camp.

The camp consists of a main lodge (kitchen and dining, rooms upstairs), a bathroom building, camp director's house, and eight cabins. This camp is on the rustic side. All electricity is provided by a generator. None of the cabins have power. And once the generator shuts down at night, there is no power at all. During the summers though, that isn't too much of a problem since twilight lasts until 11 p.m. or so, and the day begins to light up around 3:00 a.m.

We located an empty cabin (on the boys' side) for our family and then headed off to supper. Supper consisted of hotdogs (vege and beef) and chili provided by the Craig church.

We were responsible for the music. I chose not to bring an electronic keyboard. I kind of wish I had, because the piano was in pretty poor condition -- sticking keys and out of tune notes. We sang songs during all of our meetings.

The theme chosen by Stan was Waiting. The first evening's message was about waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus and the importance of keeping that hope alive while we wait. Sabbath morning's message was about how Jesus voluntarily chose to wait 20 years in order to fulfill the mission of salvation for which he came to this world. Sabbath evening's message was about how we should relate to one another while we wait for Jesus to return. The final message on Sunday morning was about how we should welcome the waiting period that we are in, so that many more can be brought to salvation. The final challenge was for us to be active in our waiting.

Sabbath breakfast was a fairly standard cereal breakfast, hot and cold. This was followed by Sabbath School where the topic of discussion was the life of Samson. I found an error in the Sabbath School lesson guide: Samson was a Nazirite, and not a Nazarite. Unfortunately the discussion went predictably to someone saying that Jesus was a Nazirite like Samson, which has no Biblical basis. Jesus was a Nazarene, which is quite different from a Nazirite, even though the words may look and sound similar.

I also took issue (silently, in my mind) with another statement made: that at the very end, Satan would suffer much longer than any other being before finally being destroyed. This statement is found in The Great Controversy, chapter 42 (and only there or its derivatives in other books). I looked at the context of some of the scriptural references, phrases, and allusions around this statement. If any case of scriptural support can be made for this statement, I find it extremely weak. It is based on quite a few assumptions of other biblical texts that are open to multiple interpretations. What I find troubling is that this particular statement is assumed to be fact by many Adventists and is in fact present in quite a few Bible studies, and was found in one Sabbath School lesson guide. We criticize other Christians for creating doctrine out of isolated, singular statements, and here we seem to be doing the exact same thing.

What I also found rather troubling is that a number of the participants in the Sabbath School discussion appealed to Ellen White as the doctrinal, theological, and historical authority for their positions. Did they realize that there was at least one non-Adventist (excluding children) present in their midst? It was a perfect example of practice (placing Ellen White in the position of interpreting the Bible) above our stated position (Ellen White is not an exegete of the Bible). Again, the better part of discretion seemed that I should just let this go -- but should I have spoken up and created dissension...?

Anyway, off of my soapboxes...

Between breakfast and Sabbath School, and also between Sabbath School and worship, several of us Petersburg-ites made lunch preparations. We assembled the Sweet Potato (actually most of it was yams) Gratin; sliced up zucchinis, yellow squashes, and eggplants for some Fried Vegetables. Deloris sorted the lettuce, and Ronnie sliced tomatoes.

Following the worship, we dove into the final preparations and then the cooking and baking. In addition to the above two dishes, I also cooked some Corn with Mustard Seeds. Deloris finished the salad and prepared the bread.

Lunch was at 1:30 p.m. and we were able to get everything in place. Elise and I continued to fry the vegetables for another 20 minutes or so. It appeared that the meal was a hit with everyone. A number of people commented that it was an unusual meal, but good.

Sabbath afternoon was free time. With the sunshine out, most people opted to sit outside and enjoy the sun. A number of the children donned wetsuits and went out for a swim. Several people took out kayaks and canoes for a short jaunt in the ocean.

Supper was haystacks followed by the evening meeting, which was moved outside for everyone to enjoy the last hour of sunlight.

Sunday breakfast was pancakes, potatoes, and eggs. This was followed by the final meeting, camp cleanup, and then loading onto boats for the travel back home.

Our Petersburg group required two boat trips back. After getting back to Mitkof Island, the boat owner discovered that his wife, who was given his truck keys after the first trip, had left. This meant there were three people and a boat stranded. Cell phone coverage is spotty and intermittent at best in this part of the country. I called and left some message on answering machines.

I took three kids that were left and the speaker and his wife and headed back to Petersburg, leaving Elise and two others behind. This was turning out to be another rather warm day, and noticing that the kids had a couple of water bottles, left them for the people left behind.

I raced down the road, dropped off one child, then the speaker and his wife, and finally ended up at the home where the truck keys would likely be. At the same time, the wife discovered that she had the keys, phone calls were being made, and preparations made to go back out to the boat launch.

I volunteered to go back. Taking their car and taking Shelley with me, I stopped by our house, dropped Shelley off, got several water bottles filled with water, and then rushed off again to the boat launch. I discovered that in loose and deep gravel, there is a huge difference between two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive. Control with a two-wheel drive vehicle on gravel is much more difficult. On the same road I was able to go 55 mph in my pickup with 4WD, but in a FWD car, I was lucky to do 40 mph.

I made it back to the three stranded ones, handed out the water bottles, made sure the boat got back onto the trailer, and then Elise and I returned to Petersburg.

It was quite the weekend. I think the worst part about going away from home is the going away part -- the travel. If there was some way to avoid the travel and get to the destination without it...

Fried Vegetables

• 1 - 1.5 lbs. zucchinis, yellow squash, or eggplant
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. turmeric
• 1/2 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp. cayenne
• Vegetable oil for frying

1. Slice zucchinis and squashes into 1/2-inch slices. Eggplants should be quartered first, and then sliced into 1/2-inch slices.
2. In a large bowl, combine the sliced vegetables with the salt, turmeric, black pepper, and cayenne. Mix well so that the spices are evenly distributed.
3. Pour oil into a large saute pan (10-in. or more) with high sides to a depth of about 1/2 inch and place on medium heat.
4. When oil is hot, carefully place vegetables slices into it in a single layer.
5. Fry until the bottom of the vegetables are well browned, and then flip each slice to fry the other side. When both sides are well browned, remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper-towel lined plate.
6. Repeat 4 and 5 with remaining vegetables.

Note: The frying temperature needs to be medium so that the vegetables can fry slowly to cook out the moisture and turn them soft and buttery.

More Camp Lorraine photos

 
Panorama of Camp Lorraine lawn, lodge, and Sumner Strait

Sunset, first evening

Sunset, first evening

Tidal marsh, low tide, day two

Amy searching for ocean life, day two

Girls' cabins (west side)

 
Sunset, second evening

Bible Reading 2007, Week 33

This week, the readings are found in the book of Daniel; Ezekiel 1-3; and Revelation 1 and 4.

Returned from Campmeeting

We did return this afternoon from our campmeeting at Camp Lorraine on Vank Island. The return trip took longer than it should have, but I'm too tired to go into length about it.

I might have more to say in a day or two.

Here are a few photos for you to enjoy.

Sunset, first evening
Misty, first morning	Camp Lorraine beach
Evening talk, second evening	Sunset, second evening

Kids back home, etc.

The kids came home from camp this morning. They arrived back in a not-so-pristine condition...

I was told the speaker for our campmeeting this weekend was flying in this morning also. So after picking up the kids and loading their luggage, I rushed back to town, unloaded, and then drove up to the airport. But there was no one waiting there... I checked the church, went back to the airport, but nothing. I called the Conference office and left a message. About an hour later I got a call back saying maybe they might have just gone to one of the hotels when they didn't find anyone at the airport (because I was a bit late). I called, but nothing. Then a little while later, I got a call again telling me that I was given the wrong date. The speaker is flying in tomorrow morning.

Shelley learned to water ski at camp. Now she wants to get some water skis and then find someone to take her out... Hmm... We'll see.

Shelley also picked up her very first paycheck this afternoon. A nice bit of pocket change for 1-1/2 weeks of work. We'll go to the bank tomorrow and see about getting her a bank account.

At camp, Amy mostly did art and craft type activities. One of the things she did though, was life skills which apparently included how to build a wilderness shelter. This afternoon and evening, she's been busy at work in our backyard forest, building a shelter.

I went grocery shopping for the Sabbath lunch meal for campmeeting: 9 lbs. of zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplants; 16 lbs. of yams and sweet potatoes; 1 gallon of vegetable oil; 2 quarts of heavy cream; 10 lbs. of frozen corn. The menu involves fried vegetables, yam and sweet potato gratin, and corn cooked with mustard seeds. Another family will provide the salad, bread, juice, and dessert. Tomorrow I'll start some of the early preparations of the food -- mostly peeling, cutting, and freezing the potatoes. Friday morning, I plan to cut the squashes and the eggplant and season them.

This evening I was curious about where, approximately, our property lines are. I took out our 25 feet measuring tape and did some rough measuring. The front to back depth was about where I expected, but the side to side width was much more than what we thought. Our house only covers about half the property width. There is almost an equal amount of property adjacent to the house. This is the part currently filled with salmonberry vines and a forest.

To give you a rough idea, I took some photos and stitched them together into two panoramas. (They are not meant to be good panoramas -- the lines are distorted and you can see the seams between frames.) Click on each image to see a larger photo.

This one was taken from the back southeast corner of the lawn (which you can see on the right side of the second pano image). It covers about 120 degrees of view. Our property is 100 feet wide. The halfway point is just a few feet in from the end wall. There is another close to 50 feet of shrubs, vines, trees, ferns, and skunk cabbage to the right of the house.

This second pano was taken from between the hot tub and the barbecue grill that you see in the first pano. It covers a field of about 90 degrees. In the dark shadows underneath the trees, you can see Amy (easier to see in the larger image by clicking on the image below) building her lean-to shelter. All of that forest is on our property. The back property line is a few feet behind the playhouse structure that you see.

Earlier this evening, we saw a few deer grazing on our lawn. One of them might have been a six-point buck. (I did see one walking about in the front later, so I assume he came from the back.)

The Relationship of Prayer

I spoke this last Sabbath on the importance of prayer -- on how those who accomplished much in the service of God usually spent much time in prayer with God. Other than give some of these examples, I didn't speak on why prayer is important or why there is power through it. In fact, I didn't have any good responses if someone had asked me.

The same Sabbath afternoon, I was reading through Lenswork No. 70 when I came across two items -- an editorial and a portfolio by the editor -- that provided me with some ideas about prayer.

The article was about a fictional e-mail exchange between the author and an alien being from outer space. The premise was that this being did not understand music -- to him it was just plain noise. How does a human explain music to a being that cannot understand and appreciate it? What is music? Does music serve a practical purpose?

The article goes on to have the human explain that music is not necessary to life, but that when present, it adds a transcendental element to life. It can be a basis for shared experiences between groups of people that otherwise might not be able to communicate nor understand one another. A slow, minor key melody; a soft, lyrical passage; a building, rhythmic, crescendo symphony -- they communicate universal experiences. They bypass the limits of human language and communicate at the heart level.

The portfolio, titled Wakarimasen ("I don't understand" for those whose communication facilities lack Japanese) was a set of abstract images. The introduction to the portfolio asked something to the effect of: When we see something, read something, hear something, how do we know we understand? What if language fails us? What if we don't know what the symbols mean (after all, written language is just a set of visual symbols, and auditory language is just a set of audible symbols). What if the world is trying to tell us something, but we don't recognize nor understand the symbols?

Putting the article and the portfolio together, I began contemplating on how they might explain the dilemma I was having with prayer. I believe that God is trying to communicate with us. He has left us with quite a few artifacts that tell about him. But they are all symbols, and not the reality. Symbols can go unrecognized and they can be misunderstood. I believe history shows plenty of examples of both. Even Jesus, who was the perfect revelation of God, is not present physically in this world today. What we have left are records in the Bible, and again, they are words -- symbols -- with all their inherent limitations and possibilities for error.

I think that's where prayer comes in. Through prayer, we are somehow able to transcend the inherent limitations of our own experience, knowledge, understanding, and language. When we pray, we are no longer speaking English, or Japanese, or French, or Swahili, or whatever. I think that Romans 8:26-27 allude to this transcendent communication that takes place during prayer. Through prayer we are able to get a glimpse into the reality of God, and we are able to, if briefly, communicate in God's native language. The communication is no longer mouth to ear, but heart to heart.

Through prayer God is able to bypass the filters of written and audible language, of physical symbols, and give us a glimpse into his heart. And as we increase our time looking into God's heart, our own hearts are changed -- our hearts grow closer go God. As our hearts come closer to God and begin to resemble his, we understand his purposes for us in this world.

The more our will and our actions come into alignment with God's, the more he is able to work through us. I think it is instructive and illuminating that the rest of Romans 8 (vv. 28-39) talks about how nothing can stand in the way of those who truly seek to follow God's will, and nothing can separate such people from God.

(BTW, I've mentioned this to a number of people in the past, but I don't think I've written about it here:  I find Lenswork to be a frequent source for spiritual insights.)

Bible Reading 2007, Week 32

The Bible readings this week are in the books of Job and Lamentations.

Sermon: Chew on This

(Click here to download and listen to MP3 audio.)

In today's sermon, I discuss a number of different things, but the most time is spent working through a progression of action verbs present in the passage from John 6:22-59. This progression tells me the steps taken whereby God becomes a part of a person's life.

Much of the discussion is on the one part of this progression where I know I have the most problem, and which I suspect many other Christians also share.

There were no children in church today as they are all away at camp. We had yet another dry day for the children to enjoy at camp.

Is the garage opening tall enough?

We did more hauling of boxes from the apartment to the house. All of the book boxes and nearly all other boxes have now been moved. There are still quite a few items back at the apartment, however. These will need to be placed into boxes and moved over the next few days.

Today I decided to find out once and for all if our pickup, standing at 6-1/2 feet, fits through the garage door opening. I took the antenna off (because that makes it too tall) and pulled in slowly. I called on Elise to watch to make sure the roof remained clear of the door as well as the hinge. Everything was okay until the rear wheels came to the edge of the garage floor concrete slab.

The garage floor is about 2 inches above the ground. When I tried to slowly pull forward, the rear wheels just spun. The wood molding for pouring the slab is still in place, and the wheels just splintered and broke chunks off of the wood. I had to place the transmission into 4WD to be able to pull forward. It looks like I'm going to have to build a ramp up into the garage.

Anyway, the pickup did make it all the way in. So it gets to sleep there tonight. This is actually the first time that it gets to permanently make a home inside a garage. There was one other time, when we went on vacation a few years ago, that it saw the inside of a garage for a few days.

We've had dry weather and sun since Wednesday. The forecast for the next week still looks pretty good with just occasional chances of rain. The next weekend, however, looks like it might end up being quite wet. At least the kids should be enjoying the dry weather at camp. 

Kids off to camp

The kids (our two, plus thirteen others from Petersburg) headed off to camp yesterday. The kids and gear were piled into three vehicles and we headed off together to a boat launch area 24  miles away on the south end of our island. The last five or so miles are dirt and gravel (which I think they are working to pave).

The kids and gear were unloaded from land transports onto two water transports. And then they were off. Vank Island is about a 15 minute trip over water. We can see the island from the boat launch.

We didn't hear that there were any problems, so I'm assuming no news is good news. They'll be back next Wednesday.

On the way back, once we got onto the paved section of the road, I turned on cruise control for a few miles. It still works! I'm pretty sure this is the first time it's been used since our trip up I-5 last September.

For our campmeeting next weekend, our church is responsible for Sabbath lunch. I worked a bit last night on putting together an itemization of food that we'll need to purchase and prepare. One to one-and-a-half pounds of food per person adds up to quite a bit.

Dust (lack of), heating oil, etc.

One of the little details that I noticed almost immediately was the lack of dust in the house. I'm sure there is still dust, but compared to the apartment, it's as if there isn't any. In the apartment, everything was always covered with dust. Even after dusting, wiping, vacuuming, a new coat of dust would settle on everything in a matter of a couple of hours. I'm not sure what all the reasons are behind it. I thought maybe it was simply that Petersburg is more dusty, and that it was like this everywhere. Or maybe it's just the apartments. Or because it's right next to the main road.

I'm happy to discover that the dust in the apartment was probably an anomaly. After the move, I haven't noticed much in the way of any dust settling on things. This is probably a lot better for the computers, too.

Last week I set up our heating oil delivery service and the truck came in to top off the tanks today. It came to a little over 300 gallons... and $1,000. I hope our coming winter is mild...

Even though the sun came out today, I only moved a few items. I moved all of the book boxes from the bedroom into the front room, but when I tried to get the handtruck under the boxes, it wouldn't slide underneath. The boxes are no longer very stiff from being opened and restacked many times. So the bottom box won't tilt when the top box is leaned away. I'll just wait until I have someone else to help me.

I've been adjusting to the new cooking temperatures on our cooktop. I think that "medium" is really medium now (instead of medium-low in the apartment), and the lowest setting is still enough to maintain a good simmer.

There is open space on either side of the cooktop, which means much more freedom to use large pots and pans, even simultaneously. In the apartment there was a refrigerator immediately on the right and on the immediate left we had our toaster oven on the counter because there was no place else to put it. It was quite cramped. Now we have open countertop on both sides. Until I've lived with cramped quarters, I never realized how important open space is for cooking.

The girls are getting ready to go to camp. They leave around noon tomorrow on the camp boat to Vank Island.

All day rain...

It was fortuitous that we chose to go ahead and move the couch yesterday instead of waiting until today. If we had waited, it wouldn't have happened because it rained fairly heavily all day long.

Instead, I got some grocery shopping done. I also replaced our very worn out skillet with two saute pans, a really big one and a small one. I was hoping to find stainless steel pans without the non-stick coating, but the only ones like it that I found here were $100 and up each. I think the cheaper ones with the non-stick surface will work just fine for now...

There was a power failure this evening -- a fairly common occurrence during bad weather. Shelley returned home from work right in the middle of it. She wasn't too pleased that she wasn't able to reheat her dinner. She chose to wait until the power returned.

Meanwhile, since I couldn't do much else, I organized the canned and dry goods cupboard by flashlight. When I was nearly done, the power returned. After finishing with the canned and dry goods, I went ahead and organized the spice cupboards.

In the apartment, trying to find the right canned item or the needed spice almost always involved some detective work -- pulling out half the spices, or searching through multiple cupboards to find the desired can... I think that nuisance is a thing of the past.

Both girls will be going to summer camp starting this Wednesday. Our highly unreliable weather forecast says that there could be sun during the second half of this week. That would be nice for the campers.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 31

This week's readings are found in Nehemiah (the whole book); Ezekiel 40-48; and Psalms 136-143.

More furniture moving...

Today we resumed our move. Not only did we resume it, but we were able to complete moving all of the big pieces of furniture.

The dining table was the first and easiest. The dining buffet (the bottom of the china cabinet) was next and also not terribly difficult. The next item was the china cabinet top. With all the glass, not only was this the most fragile piece, but also one of the heavy ones with very little in the way of good handholds. The rain also started to come down at this time. With Shelley helping out, there were four of us moving all these items. With care and plenty of hands, the china cabinet was successfully moved and placed atop the buffet.

Our digital piano was a bit heavier than we expected. Though again, we were able to move it out and in successfully. The neighbor across the street helped us with this item and the buffet.

By then it was well past lunch time, so Deloris returned home and we had some lunch. Elise took a nap (she works tonight), and the rain started up again. I called to say that we probably would hold off on moving the couch until tomorrow.

The children and I went to the church to pick up a few items, stopped at the hardware store to purchase a short utility hose to hook up to the dehumidifier in the basement, and then came home. I was down in the basement connecting the hose and routing the other end to the sump pump, and then worked to connect the phone jacks in one of the bedrooms to the junction box.

During that time, the kids must have gotten into a little argument, because when I came up to test the phone connections, Elise was awake. The skies had also dried up. I asked if she was up to moving the couch, and the answer was yes, so I called Deloris and inquired if she was willing to come and help us with the couch. She was, and not only that but our upstairs neighbor at the apartment was also willing to help.

I measured the door opening again and thought that we might be able to get away without taking off the doors. It would be worth a try, anyway. The refrigerator was on wheels, so after emptying it to lighten it, it was a simple matter to roll it into the middle of the kitchen.

We got the couch out of the apartment, into the truck, up the hill, and then out of the truck. The five of us made our way up the narrow path, crushing ferns, salmonberry canes, and skunk cabbage along the way.

We got it to the back door and began to make our way in. It was fine until the very end of the couch. We couldn't swing the couch about enough to get the legs inside. The screen door was fine, but the main door had to come off. The pins couldn't come off without first taking the door trim off. And then our neighbor suggested that we simply take all the screws off the hinge. (Duh...)

With that done, the couch again made it almost all the way again. It was caught on something -- the spring attached to the screen door. By backing up a bit and moving the whole couch down, it made it all the way in.

The next challenge was to get it past the wall and kitchen cabinets. Would it make it? With just a fraction of an inch to spare, it made it through and off to clear sailing. The only remaining obstacle was the counter that the couch had to be lifted up over. Just a few more steps, a few turns, and the couch was set down in place.

There are still plenty of items and boxes left to move, but the most difficult and challenging items are done. The washer is probably the only other difficult item. I did get the laundry room door unstuck, and discovered that it was not meant to be used. There is a plastic barrier sealed all the way around between the interior and exterior doors. In order to move in the washer and dryer, we will have to remove the plastic and then put it back after the move.

After all this, I don't ever want to move again...

Here is what the living and dining rooms look when furnished.

Yesterday Afternoon

Following church, we had the whole church over to our house for lunch. Deloris provided all the food -- quite a bit in quantity, and I'm sure a lot more in time and effort. It was well appreciated by everyone, especially us. I'm still wondering how she managed to get it all done, and help us move, too.

There were fifteen people in our house, and it didn't seem crowded at all. That's a good thing, because the primary reason for wanting a large house was to be able to host different gatherings and events -- church and otherwise. Our first, test run went smoothly.

Later, we went to Blind River Rapids with another family. We spent some time there, chatting and watching the fish in the water. There were schools of different types of trout (Cutthroats, and Dolly Vardens) jumping around quite vigorously just a few feet from where we were standing. In the deeper waters we saw quite a few late King Salmon and possibly some Pinks and Dogs (Chum) moving upstream.

Our hot tub has also been getting some use. (I have not been in it yet.) The mom and a daughter that we went to the Rapids with came over later in the evening for some supper and a soak in the hot tub.

Sermon: Common and Ordinary

(Click here for sermon audio.)

This sermon is a discussion of John 6:22-42. This passage is the first part of Jesus' discourse about the Bread of Life with the Galileans in the synagogue at Capernaum.

Because of our property purchase settlement, followed by the move, it was one of those weeks where I simply could not focus enough to prepare adequately. So I went through the passage, discussing some of the things I learned during the week, and prayed that God would lead the discussion along to an adequate conclusion. I don't know how successful I was in communicating my thoughts.

I didn't have much of a children's story prepared -- just a short illustration about a few items that we often take for granted and to us appear common and ordinary can, to someone else, be a life saver -- a miracle even. This is the first part of the sermon audio.

Some of the thoughts and ideas I spoke about in the sermon included Jesus' perspective on the relationship between faith and works; a side discussion on how we can better understand and interpret New Testament writers' use of Old Testament references and allusions; and how things that we might see as common and ordinary, when set apart for God, becomes holy.

21st Century furniture in early 20th house...

We continued our move yesterday. Elise and I moved a number of things in the morning. I couldn't focus on putting together the sermon, so while Elise got some sleep, I went back to load up and transport a few more things.

Seeing that it was getting to be late afternoon, I went to the grocery store to pick up a few items I needed for supper. And then I went back to the apartment to get another load. While there, Deloris caught me and said she would be back to help move some furniture.

I unloaded our pickup, and then returned to the apartment to move some of the furniture. Deloris thought we should move the couch -- 42 in. x 33 in. x 7 ft. and weighing quite a bit. We got it moved around and ready to go. I had picked up my end and began to move, but Deloris wasn't ready, and so her end dropped to the floor. I checked the couch to see if it was okay, and as far as I can tell, it still looks fine. But we decided that we should move some of the smaller and less bulky items first.

It was a good thing we did, because after getting to the house, we measured the front door width. It measured 30 inches... The couch will not fit through the front door. The back door, when the door and the screen door are off their hinges, has a 34-inch width. The problem is that between the back and the living room, there is a kitchen. The path that we have to take is constricted by a refridgerator. There is a possibility that by standing the couch on end and spinning it around, it might get through the space without moving the refridgerator. If not, then it will have to be moved out. And then after getting past that point, the couch has to be lifted up and over counter to get it into the dining area after which the move into the living room will not be a problem.

The other options are much less desirable -- such as remodeling the front door to increase it to say 40-inches. Or taking apart the couch and reassembling it... Houses in the 1930's were not designed to handle furniture designed for 21st century homes.

I also measured for the washer and dryer... There is a set of doors on the room that leads directly out, but it is stuck and we haven't been able to open it. But in order to get the washer and dryer in, and the old ones out, we will have to get those doors unstuck. We could try to bring it in through the back door, but we would then have to lift the units over the heater. I didn't really pay attention until now, but now I see how much narrower entries and hallways used to be.

One full day in the house

Yesterday, we spent our first full day in the house. Towards the end of the day we got an e-mail letting us know that the closing had completed and the property is now officially ours. (Well, except for that little minor detail called the mortgage, where the lender has a stake in it as well...) We also received a small boquet of flowers from the broker congratulating us.

While Elise was getting her sleep, I moved the contents of the refridgerator and freezer, some other food items, and a few other things. Our kitchen, at least, is in a fairly usable state now. We really do need to replace the dishwasher, add a garbage disposal, and replace the faucet/sprayer unit. I don't know if the latter can be done by itself, or if the whole sink needs to be replaced...

Did you also know that butter remains pretty solid at 60-65F? We have a butter bell which is supposed to keep the butter at room temperature and soft. It does the room temperature bit quite well, in fact we have the butter just sitting out in the open now, but soft, it is not.

I guess I didn't get enough sleep the night before, because yesterday afternoon, I was nodding off while doing some work on tomorrow's sermon. I got into bed and took a nap for a couple of hours.

I slept much better last night with half of the blinds drawn down. The back of the room faces quite a few trees so it doesn't get too bright, but the front side, open to the view is where all the light pours in.

Shelley seems to be enjoying working. She doesn't say much about it, even when I ask... (Typical of teens...?)

There's more moving to be done. We need to get more of our clothing moved in.

Another thing...

One other things that kept me awake last night was a drip, drip, drip... in the middle of the night. I wondered what plumbing was leaking in our bathroom. I looked around and could find nothing. Was it inside the wall? I went to the downstairs bathroom and could hear the same sound. But it was in an area where there shouldn't be any plumbing.

Hmm... The thought occurred to me that it might be raining. I looked out on the deck and saw that it was wet. Unless I find some other cause, I'm going to assume that the sound is from water dripping into the downspout.

Yesterday was a bright, clear, sunny day. Today, it is very wet again.

The cats were rowdy...

The cats were rather rowdy overnight, becoming one of the reasons for me not sleeping very well. They were running around, dashing up and down the stairs, meowing, etc. Even our normally lazy, big, sea cucumber-like Stripey has been quite active in his explorations, and has been meowing more than Vivvy.

The other reason for not sleeping well is that I didn't close the blinds, and discovered, with all the windows now in our room, that the skies get quiet bright around 3:30 a.m. Amy discovered that also. She, normally one to stay in bed until 9 or 10 a.m. (and later if we let her), was up and about around 6 a.m. this morning.

The heaters are set to 60F, and the house is pretty close to that. With heating oil at over $3/gallon, we do what we can. It really isn't too bad -- I'm in a pair of shorts and a seatshirt. After living in an apartment where it's been difficult to get the temp below 75F, it's a nice change (at least for me).

More moving to do today, but I should also do a bit more work on this week's sermon.

Moving in...

We began moving the contents of the apartment into the house. We first brought in a table and some folding chairs from the church so that we would have some place to eat and for me to use the computer until our big furniture got moved.

We then began moving some of the kitchen contents. We weren't planning on moving too much more than that, but one of our church members was so eager to help us move tonight that we ended up moving the beds and bedding. So we will be spending our first night at the house.

We thought we might spend a few more days at the apartment, but our Internet connection was moved over this afternoon. When I went in this afternoon to ask for the transfer, I was told it would probably get done Friday. Just an hour or so later, I'm sitting at the kitchen table in the apartment and I see the cable truck drive in. A few seconds later, I no longer have an Internet connection. I make an educated guess that the two things are not just coincidence and so I packed up my cable modem and WiFi router. As soon as I plug all the equipment back in inside the new garage (which is where the cable and CAT5 connections are), I see that the connection is live.

I didn't get around to calling the phone company until late this afternoon, so the phone line transfer will take place some time tomorrow.

We've never done a move where it's only a block from the old to the new. It's probably not the most efficient way, but we've been doing quite a bit of, "I need that," or, "I forgot that," and moving things on foot.

When we realized we were going to be starting our stay at the house tonight, we decided that it was time to move that cats. They were carried in the car for the short trip over and then they were shut in the bathroom for a few hours while other things were moved in and to get them used to their new home. They were let out this evening and as expected, they are slowly getting acquainted with their new surroundings.

I spent the evening replacing most of the incandescent light bulbs with compact flourescents. I'm going to have to order another 25 or so CFL bulbs to finish the job. I'm debating whether or not to spend a rather pricey sum to replace the candle bulbs in the kitchen fixture. That and a light fixture in Shelley's room are the only ones where regular CFL bulbs won't work. I discovered a little while back that CFLs and bathrooms don't seem to get along too well. Something about the moisture significantly reduces the bulb life. So our bathrooms won't get the CFL treatment -- but then, those lights usually don't remain turned on for too long.

We discovered that the hottub cover is very heavy. The roof over the hottub is constructed in such a way that the cover simply can't be lifted up and over -- it hsa to be slid away and out from under the room completely. One person can slide it out, but to put it back on requires at least two.

It's a good thing our large pieces of furniture will remain in the front rooms. There is no way anything of that size could go around some of the corners and up the stairs. Houses from the 1930's and current furniture designed to fit today's huge houses simply don't go together. It took a bit of creative maneuvering to get the queen mattress and boxsprings up the stairs.

We have the keys

Our funds were received by the title company today. The broker dropped off the keys this evening.  We can begin our move tomorrow. The big effort will be moving all the large pieces of furniture out of the apartment, up the hill, and then into the house. There's also our washer and dryer. Besides those items, everything else should be fairly manageable. We have another month to move out of the apartment and get it cleaned.

Papers signed, almost there

We signed the closing documents this morning, scheduled insurance coverage to start, faxed wire transfer instructions for closing funds, and hopefully the documents will be on their way to the title company and the recording agency today.

The title is scheduled to be transferred on Wednesday.

Shelley is at her first day of work today. Amy is picking wild blueberries in the rain. So that's our Monday.

Bible Reading 2007, Week 30

This week's Bible readings are found in the book of Ezra; Proverbs 30-31; and Isaiah 2-35.

Sermon: Falling in Trust

(Link to audio click here.)

Yesterday's sermon is based on John 6:16-21, the story of Jesus walking on the water. I bring in details from the parallel accounts in Matthew and Mark to flesh out the story a bit more, and to see what John was trying to communicate to the readers of his account of the story.

Children's Story: Falling

Here is the outline of the children's story. Here is the link to the audio as it was told yesterday. The children's responses are difficult to hear and understand since they weren't speaking into the microphone.

• Ask the children if they would trust you to catch them if you told them to fall backwards into you. Ask why or why not.
  • Make any observations that are appropriate and germane.
• Demonstrate trust by asking someone to close their eyes and fall backwards into your arms.
  • Make sure it's your own child, or you clear it with the parents first.
  • It might be a good idea to try a couple of times before the story.
• If there were any children that didn't trust you at the start, ask if they would trust you now.
  • Why or why not?
• Ask what the child would do if you didn't catch them. Would they trust you again?
  • What if you caught them sometimes, but sometimes not?
  • Ask the other children also.
• God is much bigger than any of us. He can catch even the biggest of us, even if we fell from a great height.
  • We might find ourselves in difficulties.
  • It might feel like we're falling because of our troubles.
  • But God is always with us to catch us and break our fall.
  • Let's learn to fall in trust with God.

Ten Months

As of today, our time in Petersburg has reached ten months. We've experienced Fall, the snowiest Winter in decades, all of Spring, and are now in midst of Summer.

It's nearly unbelievable that just a year ago we were still trying to figure out how we were going to accomplish the move. We were so overwhelmed with all that had to be done, that we hadn't really done much. We hadn't even contacted any Real Estate brokers...

But that is all past. And speaking of Real Estate... Patience is the watchword around here. The documents that we have to sign are finally in the mail to Petersburg this afternoon. The schedule now is for us to sign on Monday, and then the transfer of title to be recorded on Wednesday, which is when we take possession of the property. I'm still not holding my breath... I'll believe it when we actually get the keys.

Shelley found out that one of the girls she knows, who is just a month older, started her first job yesterday. Shelley also accidentally washed her Tamagotchi.

I tried to take it apart, dry it out and get it working again, but discovered that the connections between the PC Board and the LCD panel is done via some sort of thin layer of conductive adhesive. In the process of taking it apart, it no longer stays together, and there isn't enough pressure in the case to force it together. So unless someone out there has some ideas, the Tamagotchi is dead.

Anyway, Shelley discovered that Amazon sells some versions of the V4 Tamagotchi's for around $15. (They are available here, too, for close to $30 + tax.) But she needs a few more $$$ for that.

Shelley also is getting a little tired and bored of hanging about the house. So all the pieces came together and she found out that Trading Union might have work that she could do. This morning, she left early and returned with a job application. She filled it out and took it in, had her first job interview, and it looks like she will be starting a job next week.

Our little girl is growing up... Though she still says she doesn't want to drive. She's getting close to where she can get a learner's permit...