April 28, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. House Sweet House

Yesterday, Karen and I made an offer on a house about 8.5 miles from the Passion Play. It has almost 11 acres, has had one owner for the past 40 years and is just what we started looking for after we sold our Colorado house last August. In that eight months we saw a number of homes, changed our minds on size, location and price any number of times, but came back to our original plan when we saw this house two days ago.
The house has been the pride and joy of the owners since they purchased a rustic cabin on this property in 1980 and lived in it for about five years, and then began building, renovating, developing the property and making a home for themselves and their family. And now, forty years later, they don't want to leave, but it's "time" to move because of health and family considerations. We feel so blessed to have been the first to see it after it was put up for sale, drove by it on Sunday, saw the inside yesterday and had our offer accepted today. It was meant to be.
We hope to be able to close on June 5th. The plans for the Passion Play are "on hold", so we don't know what will transpire with our schedule for the season, our going to Colorado to recover our belongings from storage and the plans to live in the house and commute or live in the motor home on the PP grounds as we have for the past six seasons. It will all take place as God directs and leads us. House sweet house........soon to be Home Sweet Home........
Thank You, Lord.

Sent from my iPad

April 27, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. See You Tomorrow

Today was not a typical day and there was no time to sit down, compose myself, or make sense of what was going on. In fact, it was a day when there were too many things happening to digest what had just happened before something else took place to make me forget what went before.
I'm going to forget trying to write any more now and hope tomorrow will afford me the opportunity to talk and write about today and tomorrow which will then be yesterday and today. I'm ready for bed. See you tomorrow.

Sent from my iPad

April 24, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. One Man’s Meat.........

Lucretius was a Roman poet and philosopher who lived from 99BC to 55BC. We don't know much about his life, but he wrote at least one thing which people quote, even if they don't know who wrote it or when it was written. Personally, I didn't know anything about Titus Lucretius Carus, but know the expression: "One man's meat is another man's poison".
As we go about "opening" America, we are seeing many people (mayors, governors, health officials, President Trump and virtually every American, with an opinion on what should be opened, who should stay at home, who can return to work and who wants to take a "go slow" approach. Meat and poison mean different things to each of us. That's what makes America, America and that's what we call "freedom". We do have laws. We do have rules. And we also have a spirit which "allows"us to disobey the law, make our own rules and "all of you be "&#)"@+".
I don't consider bowling alleys, tattoo parlors, hair salons, gyms "essential" but, then again, I don't own a bowling alley, tattoo parlor, hair salon or gym. I would exercise my discretion and not patronize them under the conditions which now exist. I'm not thrilled about going to the market, shaking hands, getting close to co-workers and visitors who have been "who knows where and with who knows what".
Call me paranoid, OCD, over-cautious or an isolationist........but I'll be patient, content with life as it is and trust that God will handle each of us as HE wills and see us through this situation to a better tomorrow and a better future after that. One way or another............praise God............the best is yet to come.


Sent from my iPad

April 21, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. New News

With the local and national news dominated by the virus/economic situation, I have blogged almost exclusively on it and haven't related much about the Passion Play, the weather, the gnats, chiggers, leaves, Garden of Gethsemane grass or the projects being done to maintain and upgrade TGPP facility.
The State of Arkansas has limited our activity since it's impossible to social distance doing what we do. Our volunteer groups have not come, the few who came before the virus have stayed and limited their off-site activities; the gift shop has been closed and there are no Holy Land Tours being offered. The petting zoo has four new lambs, all super cute, with one more still "in the hopper". Traffic to the Christ of the Ozarks Statue is down considerably, and it looks like the earliest we will have a performance day is May 22, if the State permits us to do so.
We pray for our country, our leaders, those on the front lines and those who have been directly affected by the virus, lost jobs or been forced to stay at home and away from friends, church, social activities and life as we have known it. This is a new and challenging experience and one I hope we never repeat. Stay strong, stay safe and trust God for the good (and the New Good News) He has in store for us. Thank You, Lord.



Sent from my iPad

April 18, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. Whoa there, people

When the topic of the press briefing yesterday was reopening America, it was a foregone conclusion that some people were going to jump the gun and start "opening" on "take your mark" and "get set" and not wait for the starting gun to sound. It's obvious from the news reports today about beaches in Florida up and running; protests in many hard hit communities, and individuals and businesses moaning "show me the money", that we are not a patient people.
It took months to get to the situation we are in, and we will not get it turned around in days or weeks. As we have been told, this is a marathon.....not a 100 yard dash. We need to ease into the cure or we are destined to see even more tragedy before we see the end of our pandemic and economic collapse. We've got to exercise discipline and be sensible in how we interact with others, how and when we go back to life as we knew it before social distancing, staying at home, wearing masks in public, doing church on the phone or YouTube, and all the other "new normals".
Take a deep breath, folks..........we will get through this.........be safe........don't put yourself, or others at risk.........THIS, TOO, SHALL PASS........there will be a better tomorrow........

Sent from my iPad

April 15, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. Hindsight

The reality of American life for most of our lifetime is that we have been spoiled into believing that we are invincible. We believed that we could have anything we wanted as long as someone was willing to extend us the credit to acquire it. We believed that we had an endless supply of food, would always have a job and that we had enough "in reserve" to handle any crisis.
The reality is, we have too many people living hand to mouth, are one or two paychecks away from disaster, our jobs are not guaranteed and many of our people are hungry, homeless, or under-insured, not insured or dependent on someone else to bail them out of trouble when it occurs. The current Coronavirus pandemic and economic ramifications which have resulted are proof that we were not prepared for what has happened. Our past leaders have fed us a line and we have been lured into taking the bait.
Joe Biden's latest political ad tells us what he would have done if he were faced with the current situation. Well, in his eight years as Vice President, I don't recall him or his "boss" taking any preemptive action to put in place a plan to handle any such a catastrophe as we now have. Hindsight is 2020 except when you were in a position to do something about it before it happened, and did nothing. I'm sorry Joe, you didn't prove yourself in those eight years, you didn't have your Party's support as its nominee in 2016, and I don't believe you have the ability to do the job you aspire to have, as well as you think you can. Sometimes reality is a tough pill to swallow and hindsight is nothing more than political rhetoric. We need more than words, finger pointing and "spin doctors" and sound bites. We need honesty, humility, prayer, common sense and..............FAITH. We need to work together, as many are now trying to do, not tear us further apart as our "politicos" are gearing up to do.

Sent from my iPad

April 12, 2020. Eureka Springs, AR. He Is Risen.....