On June 27, 1999, I became a Christian and my life has not been the same since. I never could have imagined then what path we would be on 15 years later, and certainly didn't envision then how straight and crooked, mundane yet varied, the road would be. The night I accepted Christ as my Lord and Savior is etched in my memory because I was part of a Sunday night Praise in The Park worship event in Fort Collins, Colorado where I was in a crowd of thousands, but felt as if I was alone with God and being spoken to personally and privately. There have been many times since where I have felt the same way, and as I post this blog, I am by myself in a cast dressing room doing laundry and relaxing from a 5 performance week with a similar week ahead. The Passion Play will be starting its third month of the season with four full months still to go. We don't know yet how long we will stay here or where we go next, but we trust God for the plan and His revealing it to us.
Karen flew back to Colorado four days ago for medical appointments, taking care of damage to our house from the recent hail storm, selling a vehicle and buying another, I am guarding the traveling house, supporting the Passion Play ministry and performing in the Play. I have the easier duties and am grateful that Karen can be in Colorado to do the "dirty work" and also have time with her sister and our family back there. I miss her already, but we have spent a lot of time together these past 6 1/2 months on the road and it will be good, not great, to have time apart. Hopefully she will be back in Arkansas by mid-July and we will make plans for our ministry and travel plans, with God the final and deciding voice in the matter.
It's such a blessing to be where we are in our spiritual journey. Our 15 years of following Jesus and His presence in our life even before we accepted Him have been evidence that we are loved, protected and provided for. Thank You, Lord, for this anniversary and for the promise of infinitely more to come. To You be all praise, honor and glory.
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Sunday, June 29, 2014
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
June 25, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. Focus
We learn a lot when we look at life from a perspective different from the way we normally look at it. Monday night was one of only two Monday "play days" we have this season here at TGPP. It was also the wedding anniversary of one of our regular Disciples and his wife who is part of the "Mary" group. They decided to take a "watch night" which meant they could take a night off from performing in the play, enjoy the buffet dinner and be in the audience to see the play rather than being in it. It had been an overcast day, with intermittent periods of fairly heavy rain. When performance time arrived, it was misty and cooler than usual. There was no threat of lightening, so the performance began as usual with a small but enthusiastic audience. All was going well, until the final scene, The Ascension. As we gathered around The Christ figure and heard the final monologue, someone sitting on the damp ground behind him excitedly said there was a snake heading from the foot of the Cross toward Aaron and James and a few us on "stage left". While we tried to focus our attention on the Ascension which was going to take place in a matter of seconds, we were concerned about those of us who would be "left behind" for the final few minutes and have to contend with a potential encounter with what appeared to be a copperhead. All came out well, and as we walked off the set there was an admonition to keep focused on exiting the set in the usual manner. We found out from the play couple watching from the audience and others who are assigned to usher, prayer and various other audience duties that there was no indication of anything out of the ordinary. How we see the same incident depends on our perspective, our position and our focus. The potential for danger, the fear of the unknown and our relationship to it at the moment determine the focus we give the moment. By the way, the couple said the play was really good and better than the one they took a "watch day" to see last year. It's good to have a good review from your peers.
Right now, I'm in a very unusual situation as I blog. I try to blog when it is very quiet and I can focus on one thing.......the blog. But in the last few minutes my focus has been shattered. Karen woke up, her phone was buzzing excitedly as it revealed a series of pictures of our hail-damaged house in Colorado, the Gospel music at the ticket office up the hill from us came on with louder than usual and "busier" music, Karen has been talking with friends and family at home about the hail storm and we are getting ready to take Karen to the airport in Branson to fly home for a series of doctors' appointments and medical tests. Needless to say, my focus on being focused has been destroyed. What started out well, like the play on Monday, has turned into a jumbled mess. Thank You, Lord, for Your sense of humor and for giving me a topic which we all can relate to in our too-busy and too-multi-tasked world. I hope this makes sense..........I can't go on.......I've lost my focus. See you in a few days when the focus returns, maybe.........
Sent from my iPad
Right now, I'm in a very unusual situation as I blog. I try to blog when it is very quiet and I can focus on one thing.......the blog. But in the last few minutes my focus has been shattered. Karen woke up, her phone was buzzing excitedly as it revealed a series of pictures of our hail-damaged house in Colorado, the Gospel music at the ticket office up the hill from us came on with louder than usual and "busier" music, Karen has been talking with friends and family at home about the hail storm and we are getting ready to take Karen to the airport in Branson to fly home for a series of doctors' appointments and medical tests. Needless to say, my focus on being focused has been destroyed. What started out well, like the play on Monday, has turned into a jumbled mess. Thank You, Lord, for Your sense of humor and for giving me a topic which we all can relate to in our too-busy and too-multi-tasked world. I hope this makes sense..........I can't go on.......I've lost my focus. See you in a few days when the focus returns, maybe.........
Sent from my iPad
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Whirlpool Galaxy
See Louie Giglio for more images of this
Galaxy over 23 million light years from earth. How great is OUR GOD!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Smartphone
June 21, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. Light
I have gotten into the habit of posting an entry on our website every three or four days. I begin thinking of a topic to write about the day before I actually sit down to compose it, sleep on the idea and usually wake up with the title and a first sentence. And then the words just come out and as Pilate says at one point in The Great Passion Play script, "what I have written, I have written". I proofread for spelling, but edit very little, if at all. Two days ago, I began to think about "light" as a topic, because we were approaching the summer solstice and the day when we have the most daylight of the year. But the topic took on a different slant as Karen and I took a ride at sundown that evening into The Holy Land and saw a host of fireflies flickering in the approaching darkness. It has been many years, 19 in fact, since we last recalled seeing fireflies on the Ole Miss campus in Oxford, MS. What a peaceful sight those little flicks of light are as they flit about and light their immediate area but can be seen and enjoyed from a distance. Remember how we used to capture them in a glass jar, poke small holes in the top and try to appropriate some of that light more closely to us?
Last night, as we were performing the crucifixion scene of the Passion Play, there was a lightening display visible to us on the set and directly in the sight line behind the three crosses on Calvary. The audience was treated to a light show only God could have staged and timed as it was. The God of Light creates the tiniest of light in the firefly, the light of our longest day of the year, and the spectacular lightening of a breezy, rainless evening in Arkansas.
After finishing my daily reading this morning, and before sitting down to blog, I looked in my mini-concordance for an appropriate scripture about light and settled on the entry "1Jn1:7 But if we walk in the light......" and when I turned to it in my Bible, I noticed that it was highlighted in yellow, but was not the entire sentence, so it was obvious it was yellow which had bled through from the other side. And when I turned to read the sentence I had highlighted, I found 1John 2:17. "The world and it's desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever". Interesting how God calls us to a verse, which bleeds through to a call for each of us as Christians, which came from a topic for a blog which originated from one of the smallest sources of light which God created. Praise You Lord for Your creation and Your creatures. Help us to truly do Your will, to be the light you call us to be and to know that this may be our home for the moment, but we have so much more to look forward to. This will all pass away, will be a fleeting memory in the light of eternity and we will live with You in that eternal light in new and glorious life? Praise You and thank You, Lord.
Sent from my iPad
Last night, as we were performing the crucifixion scene of the Passion Play, there was a lightening display visible to us on the set and directly in the sight line behind the three crosses on Calvary. The audience was treated to a light show only God could have staged and timed as it was. The God of Light creates the tiniest of light in the firefly, the light of our longest day of the year, and the spectacular lightening of a breezy, rainless evening in Arkansas.
After finishing my daily reading this morning, and before sitting down to blog, I looked in my mini-concordance for an appropriate scripture about light and settled on the entry "1Jn1:7 But if we walk in the light......" and when I turned to it in my Bible, I noticed that it was highlighted in yellow, but was not the entire sentence, so it was obvious it was yellow which had bled through from the other side. And when I turned to read the sentence I had highlighted, I found 1John 2:17. "The world and it's desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever". Interesting how God calls us to a verse, which bleeds through to a call for each of us as Christians, which came from a topic for a blog which originated from one of the smallest sources of light which God created. Praise You Lord for Your creation and Your creatures. Help us to truly do Your will, to be the light you call us to be and to know that this may be our home for the moment, but we have so much more to look forward to. This will all pass away, will be a fleeting memory in the light of eternity and we will live with You in that eternal light in new and glorious life? Praise You and thank You, Lord.
Sent from my iPad
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
June 18, 2014. The Great Passion Play, AR. Back on the Boards
When we came to Eureka Springs to volunteer at TGPP, I was prepared beard-wise and with longer than usual hair to be part of the cast of The Play, but my heart was telling me no. For three weeks we were part of the "up top" volunteers and were busy with a host of chores and tasks necessary to make sure the grounds were in good shape, visitors were transported to the various venues and our Play duties were not in the "talent" realm. But things changed when one of the "Christ figures" a 25 year veteran of TGPP, asked me to use my former acting gifts as part of the cast. I thought I would be put into a crowd role or some minor part, but was surprised on that very day to be cast as the disciple Nathanael with a few lines of dialogue. Since that first appearance, I have been cast as Phillip, Thomas, Jimmy(James the Lesser), a witness against Jesus before the Sanhedrin, a leper healed by Jesus, always doubling as a member of the crowd at the trials before Pilate and Herod. I have had the responsibility of being the "right arm take-down" man on several occasions , also carrying Jesus to the tomb. Tomorrow I will be cast as Andrew and will have the "left leg take down" duty.
It has been a real honor to be part of the cast, to be given such roles in my first year in the Play. Most of the cast has many years of experience, and almost all are paid for their participation. Karen and I have always served in ministry as volunteers and our service here is no different. There are a total of 84 performances this season and I have been in 15 of the 21 already completed. The cast members are a joy to be around. They range in age from a month old baby to a 91 year old crowd member. I have learned a great deal about large scale productions and what it takes to make this a professional quality presentation. I am the oldest disciple by four years and with the size and steepness of the set, the physical nature of the roles, and the heat and humidity, it is not unusual to be pooped out at the end of the day. We are trying to cut back on our heat of the day duties, and it helps to have Team Effort young people to help the past two weeks and for the rest of the summer to handle some of the ongoing chores. Some of our volunteers who left will be coming back, and we still hope for additional workers for the harvest to arrive. Even though the play days increase from now thru the end of July, we should have a lighter load than we have carried so far.
It has felt good to relax with my feet up the past four hours after a morning of getting caught up the my riding-mower duties, to look forward to a watermelon party this evening with our fellow volunteers, and have a real non-play "easy" day. Yesterday was a rough day and tomorrow will be busy again, but for now it feels great to sit in our "house" watch the temperature outside rise, see the lush trees rustle in the wind and be blessed by our presence here at TGPP in the service of our Lord. And how abundantly blessed we are.
Sent from my iPad
It has been a real honor to be part of the cast, to be given such roles in my first year in the Play. Most of the cast has many years of experience, and almost all are paid for their participation. Karen and I have always served in ministry as volunteers and our service here is no different. There are a total of 84 performances this season and I have been in 15 of the 21 already completed. The cast members are a joy to be around. They range in age from a month old baby to a 91 year old crowd member. I have learned a great deal about large scale productions and what it takes to make this a professional quality presentation. I am the oldest disciple by four years and with the size and steepness of the set, the physical nature of the roles, and the heat and humidity, it is not unusual to be pooped out at the end of the day. We are trying to cut back on our heat of the day duties, and it helps to have Team Effort young people to help the past two weeks and for the rest of the summer to handle some of the ongoing chores. Some of our volunteers who left will be coming back, and we still hope for additional workers for the harvest to arrive. Even though the play days increase from now thru the end of July, we should have a lighter load than we have carried so far.
It has felt good to relax with my feet up the past four hours after a morning of getting caught up the my riding-mower duties, to look forward to a watermelon party this evening with our fellow volunteers, and have a real non-play "easy" day. Yesterday was a rough day and tomorrow will be busy again, but for now it feels great to sit in our "house" watch the temperature outside rise, see the lush trees rustle in the wind and be blessed by our presence here at TGPP in the service of our Lord. And how abundantly blessed we are.
Sent from my iPad
Sunday, June 15, 2014
June 15, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. 6 months
Exactly six months to the day and date we began out Ministry of Miles journey. No one could have predicted or orchestrated where we have been, what we have done and the "coincidences" we have encountered except the Almighty Travel Agent and His Co-Agents.
Our blog has recounted only a few of the highlights, but there have been so many more and we cherish the entire experience and are excited about where we will be called to go or where we will be called to stay.
Our time at The Great Passion Play has been our longest time without adding miles to our vehicle. The odometer has read 18,158 and has remained there for the past 50 days and we have traveled just over 5,500 miles in six months compared with nearly 7100 miles on our 42 day trip last July and August in our SUV. How blessed and protected we have been and how grateful we are for God's grace and provision. We have made some friends we will have for years to come and have learned so much about living on the road, gained new mechanical and technical skills, been able to make friends with camels, donkeys, sheep, dogs, cats, horses and endure the critters of the South and Southeast. We have learned so much more about obedience, faith, love, contentment and each other. God has been so Good, and even though there have been rough times, expenses we had not anticipated and some injuries, sore bodies and close calls, we have always felt God's presence and peace and give Him all the glory and praise for our past six months and all that preceded that and has brought us to this time and place.
Pray for God's favor for The Great Passion Play ministry and all the staff, paid employees, volunteers and attendees. I've mentioned how much this area needs this ministry to continue and to prosper. There are so many needs in order to bring it back to the place it enjoyed in the '80's and '90's and allow more people to be blessed, as nearly 8 million have already been, since it began in 1968. We'll visit again soon. Bless all of you, and thank you for your prayers and support. You have blessed us tremendously.
Sent from my iPad
Our blog has recounted only a few of the highlights, but there have been so many more and we cherish the entire experience and are excited about where we will be called to go or where we will be called to stay.
Our time at The Great Passion Play has been our longest time without adding miles to our vehicle. The odometer has read 18,158 and has remained there for the past 50 days and we have traveled just over 5,500 miles in six months compared with nearly 7100 miles on our 42 day trip last July and August in our SUV. How blessed and protected we have been and how grateful we are for God's grace and provision. We have made some friends we will have for years to come and have learned so much about living on the road, gained new mechanical and technical skills, been able to make friends with camels, donkeys, sheep, dogs, cats, horses and endure the critters of the South and Southeast. We have learned so much more about obedience, faith, love, contentment and each other. God has been so Good, and even though there have been rough times, expenses we had not anticipated and some injuries, sore bodies and close calls, we have always felt God's presence and peace and give Him all the glory and praise for our past six months and all that preceded that and has brought us to this time and place.
Pray for God's favor for The Great Passion Play ministry and all the staff, paid employees, volunteers and attendees. I've mentioned how much this area needs this ministry to continue and to prosper. There are so many needs in order to bring it back to the place it enjoyed in the '80's and '90's and allow more people to be blessed, as nearly 8 million have already been, since it began in 1968. We'll visit again soon. Bless all of you, and thank you for your prayers and support. You have blessed us tremendously.
Sent from my iPad
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