August 30, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR.

Today was different. Our Holy Land momma sheep needed to clock out early and return to the barn for some medical attention. Since May when she gave birth to two little ones, she and her kids have been on duty every performance day, expected to be ready for petting and the confinement for the day in a smaller than usual living area. But today momma couldn't stay the full day and she and her children left early. We were short a few Holy Land presenters, so the customers didn't get the normal experience. The show goes on and we adapt as best we can. Even our Holy Land Jesus took the day off and was replaced by another Christ figure from the evening Play cast. Our animals are troopers with the perfect servant mentality, enduring the heat, rain and sometimes crowded or confined quarters with very little balking or complaints. I enjoy visiting the barn to feed or pet them or just talk with the horses, donkeys, camels and sheep, letting them know how much they mean to all of us who interact with them. We talk to the animals like they are members of the family. I'm sorry our momma hair sheep wasn't well, and know she will be looked after, treated and back on duty next week. Maybe she just got into some bad hay, or didn't fully recover from last week's sizzling temperatures which took their toll on a lot of us.
Tomorrow is our second and final Sunday performance day and we will then go into our final two months of the season with fewer performances per week, an earlier start time in the evening and the prospect of cooler temperatures and the fall colors which are beginning to appear with yellow and red leaves on the trees. Hard to believe it will soon be September, school is back in session and football is replacing baseball and soccer as the main sports topic. Our time in Arkansas is winding down and it will soon be break time from the Passion Play and giving a larger portion of our time back to the Ministry of Miles which put us on the road over eight months ago. We still talk to Vets when we see a service cap, when they approach me in the market or restaurant or come here to enjoy the Passion Play experience. It's good to know that in spite of the recent reports about the VA in the news, the Vets are being looked after and are grateful for all the VA is doing for us. Thank You, Lord for the variety of people and situations we are encountering, the chance to witness, encourage and uplift, and be blessed by them in return: and above all to exalt and glorify You. How grateful we are to be Your children and be In Your Service.

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August 27, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. God provides

I've been blogging since November and have posted an entry every three or four days since then. Like some actors who don't watch the movies they act in after the picture is released in the theaters or later on DVD, I don't retread the blogs I've written. I haven't reread my 11+ years of daily journaling and no one has had access or interest in them. Someday, maybe they will be read and my secrets will become public. I know that every journal entry starts with a "thank You, Lord" and that my blogs speak often of being blessed and grateful for the life we have In Christ. I did write before about God bringing the right people at the right time and once again we are seeing God's provision as He has brought some new volunteers and one returning couple from early summer. The skills they bring and the timing are another evidence of God 's provision for the Passion Play ministry.
The water leaks came, and along comes Jerry, the plumber. The backhoe developed multiple problems, the Sapulpa bus wouldn't run, the maintenance truck rolled down the hill and hit a tree, the clutch on Ney's truck needed a more-than-human amount of strength to push in, Miss Jerri's brakes stopped braking, and a few other vehicles needed help and Larry and Virgil showed up with the skills to fix them all in just a few days. Hugh and I continue to step in where things need to be built, repaired or made customer-friendly, or make life a little easier for Holy Land presenters or assist the staff with their tasks. In everything we know that God has a Big Plan and He is calling on us all to implement the Plan and make sure that He gets credit for it and for giving us the skills we need to accomplish what we do. Each one has a role and a purpose. At the end of each day, the tired we feel is a "good tired" and we feel so fortunate to be part of His work here. Tonight's shower will feel wonderful. Thank You, Lord for Your protection, love and for providing, and in all things.......Praise You, Lord.


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August 24, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. How hot is it?

Johnny Carson used to have a truckload of "how hot is it" jokes and many comedians and people who just think they're funny have their favorite lines they use when the temperature rises and patience with it wears thin. But high temperatures are not a joking matter for people who have to work in it or who don't have the means to escape it. Health issues, sanitation concerns, spoiled food, heat-related illnesses and lack of drinkable water make for uncomfortable and dangerous conditions for many. Most of us take for granted an air-conditioned house or car, ice in our drinks and clothing which protects us from the sun and its effect on us.
The past two days here were our only performance days of the week and probably the hottest two days of the season. Most locals say this is typical August weather in Arkansas, and most of them were uncomfortable. For Karen and I, it was a far cry from the single-digit humidity of Colorado and I envied her job in the Sacred Arts Gallery. But she had to come outside eventually and join the rest of us. Our animals in the Holy Land sought the slightest shade and were less than willing to come out of their "comfort" zone to be petted by the customers. Those of us in the play were glad to have a few minutes in the air-conditioned dressing rooms when we were changing costumes between scenes and there were many "just in time" entrances and a less than full cast in some scenes. We always start with twelve disciples and all seats are taken at The Last Supper until Judas leaves, but there were only four of us last night when Jesus appeared to Thomas in the upper room.
The next few days are supposed to stay hot and dry and there will be a number of outdoor projects to be accomplished. How fortunate we are to be serving The Lord through His Passion Play ministry, and regardless of how hot it is, I pray that the Gospel message is preached in word and action and that we remain thankful and grateful for this life we have In Christ. Let us all pray for those affected by the heat and other weather-related issues in this country and around the world, for their well-being and protection as they go about the events of their day and in all things, Glory to God. Thank You Lord.

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THE WINDOW

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August 21, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. The cloud descends

I pray God gives me the words to describe what happened to us in Searcy and conveys how He directed our experience there. As I posted last, we went to Searcy to have a window we had repaired in April repaired again because of a steadily worsening leak. Early Monday morning the repair began. Two other couples we met on Sunday had their repairs completed and we bade them farewell. Our repair took a while longer. By mid-afternoon our repair and the two new windows being defogged were completed and we were ready to leave. We had tentative plans to spend the night at Wooly Hollow State Park northwest of Searcy, but as we were preparing to leave, an ominous storm cropped up directly in our path and the darkening sky, lightening and wind kept us at the shop. The resulting downpour revealed a still-leaking window. When the storm ended, the repair resumed without success , so we stayed the night in Searcy. Tuesday morning, the window came out and the repair continued.
By mid-morning it looked like we were ready to leave and as we set out it started to cloud up and as we headed onto East Race Street and filled up with fuel, it started to rain and once again it came down in a torrent. Karen had trouble with the windshield wipers, so we pulled into the parking lot of an Assembly of God Church and watched the rain seep under our repaired window. As a rainbow appeared directly in front of us we felt that God was once again speaking to us and calming any fears or anxiety we might have. So, back to the shop and the disbelief of the repairmen. Out came the window and back we went to the customer lounge and Karen's jigsaw puzzle and my "cross sewing". While they thanked us for our patience, we thanked them for their's in trying to resolve the leak problem. They kept saying they had never faced a situation like this in their years of business. By about 3:00, and a five minute hose drenching, we were released again and headed for Heber Springs and a Corps of Engineers campsite on the Little Red River. We enjoyed a quiet rain-free night. No rain on Wednesday and a pleasant drive back to our Passion Play home and dinner with ten other PP volunteers.
Was God watching over us? Were the two rainstorms and their timing just coincidence? Does God protect and guide those who seek Him and pray for His will and are obedient to it? Am I reading (and writing) more than I should into the everyday events of life? I know what we believe, and I hope you have pause to think about what happened to us, the key and the lock, the numerous God-moments in your own life and realize how powerful and worthy of praise and thanks is our God. I hope I'm not the only one with "God bumps" right now. PTL.

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August 18, 2014. Searcy, AR. I think we've been here before

Before we settled in Eureka Springs in late April, we seemed to be bouncing from repair to repair and getting familiar with "free" accommodations at the repair facility. Whether it was Jacksonville, Charlotte, Gaffney, Mountain Home or Searcy we met some wonderful and helpful people who were able to get us fixed and back on the road. Our return to Searcy is due to a leaky window and also to have two more windows defogged. Two other couples are having their vehicles repaired and it has been fun to share experiences not only of our travels on the road, but our travels through life.
Our trip from Eureka Springs yesterday was our first time on the road in the motor home since April and it took time to get "road ready" and it was different pumping and paying for diesel as opposed to filling golf carts, tour busses, lawn mowers, work pickups, leaf blowers, tractors, a bulldozer and other Passion Play equipment. It was fun being on the road and seeing the beautiful Arkansas countryside. It seems strange to be behind a shop again, not in our familiar spot with the crickets, coyotes and chiggers. But, we are blessed beyond measure with the freedom we have been given and the ability to go where we choose and serve as God calls us. The folks here in Searcy remembered us and greeted us as old friends. If we're not repaired today, we will probably stay for Ron's bluegrass band performance tomorrow night. We enjoyed hearing them in Mountain View when we left here the last time, and it would be great to hear them again. But each day brings what it does, and as the Experiencing God devotional today said, God provides our daily bread and that is what we should concentrate on and leave tomorrow and beyond in His hands for His will and His way.
God provides, asks us to glorify Him with our lives and tell others about Him and the life we have and the hope we rest in for life beyond the now. Thank You, Lord. We are abundantly blessed and exceedingly grateful.
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August 15, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. Time flies

Thirty-seven years ago today, was a historic day. The world changed for Karen and I as we completed our move from Tulsa, Oklahoma back to Lakewood, Colorado and signed papers which made us homeowners for the first time. We had driven through very violent weather, including thunderstorms and tornados, to reach Colorado and we were obligating ourselves to 30 years of payments of more than $600 per month for a $65,000 house. We had made a trip earlier to house hunt, when my oil company job moved us back to Colorado. We spent just 3 hours looking at houses, moving back into a neighborhood we had rented in before going to Tulsa. Like most major things in our life, we made quick decisions and didn't do a lot of comparison shopping. We lived in that house for fourteen years, so we did okay with our quick decision. It doesn't seem that long ago. As we signed the papers, we heard the news that Elvis had died. It was a historic day.
Since our first house we have had two others plus our current home on the road. Time has really flown by and we have a lot of memories of the places we have lived and the places we have travelled to. Elvis is still as popular now as he was in 1977. It's hard to believe how much we have experienced in our lifetime. Time flies.
Karen and I need to make a trip in the motor home in a few days, back to Searcy, Arkansas where we had our windows defogged before we came to Eureka Springs. I've mentioned the window leak, and we have a lapse in our Passion Play schedule next week, so we can make the trip and hopefully not miss any play days. It's been over three months since we've moved the motor home, so we need to refresh our memory about how to run this thing. I wonder what diesel costs. But for the next few days we are here, and we have our Passion Play duties to perform. See you in Searcy when next we blog. We ask for travel mercies, Lord.

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August, 12, 2014 Eureka Springs, AR. There is no away......

> Years ago, I heard someone say that when we are done using something or an item breaks and is not able to be fixed, we just throw it away: but there really is no away, since we have to put it somewhere. In addition there are people who are just plain messy and don't think about the mess they are leaving behind. As I walk the Passion Play amphitheater the morning after each performance, I've found some interesting items, money, things which can be used if not claimed and Items which have been claimed by their owner since it was of value to them and would be missed. But the items which make me most sad are the ones which show no consideration for the person who has to clean them up: spilled food, sunflower seed shells, popcorn, empty bottles, food and candy wrappers, dirty napkins, torn up paper or chewing gum stuck to the ground. We have a habit of criticizing a place we visit for being unclean or in disrepair, when WE are the ones who are unclean or destructive and have made the mess we expect someone else to clean. Granted, it creates a job for someone and they may be thrilled to have that job, but there are places where the trash becomes an eyesore or a hazard to others. And when we do pick up our messes we have to find a place to dispose of it. It doesn't go away, because there is no away.
> We ask people to pick up after their pets, but some disregard the signs. We put up "no littering" signs and even put the amount of the fine on the sign to deter people from throwing trash on the highways, yet some people toss out their trash anyway. We put trash barrels in parks and bins and dumpsters in strategic places to collect refuse, yet people still toss things on the ground and we see stuff dumped right next to the "no dumping" signs.
I get a lot of exercise walking the amphitheater steps, get to be out in the open air, can think about a variety of things as I do my self-assigned chore, develop blog topics and wonder about the people who left the items behind. But with it all, I'm grateful for being where I am, grateful to have the physical ability to do what I'm doing and the freedom to do it, or not. But most of all I'm grateful I'm not cleaning up some 70,000 seat stadium, yet thankful for those who do, and more aware of what I throw away and where I throw it.
Remember..... there is no away.

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August 8, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. Leaks

No matter the context in which the word "leak" appears, it generally means something bad. And we have been beset with a host of them of late. Our most recent was a water leak near Moses' Tabernacle in the Passion Play's Holy Land. It's somewhat ironic that because of a water issue in the wilderness, Moses was denied entry into the Promised Land, but then again, so were all but two of the original exodusers from Egypt. We think the leak was found and repaired, but it took three tries, a lot of hours of labor and some very tired and weary people.
As we fought that leak, I was fighting a window frame leak in our motor home which has grown steadily worse and will need repair for the second time. My "fixes" have not worked and it will require a trip to Searcy, AR in 10 days to have it looked at again. That will mean our first time on the road since the end of April when we arrived here in Eureka Springs. Hopefully the leak in our right front hub was just an overfilled reservoir and not anything more serious. The opinion of most is that we will be fine.
We've had a steady stream of flat tires due to the nature of the road surfaces here and whether it is a golf cart, a back hoe, a pick-up or a motor home or trailer, we have become very adept at fixing leaky tires and it is important to have a supply of replacements ready or a plug ready to be installed to stop the leak.
Our leaks may not be of the news-making kind like that at UCLA, Edward Snowden, the VA whistleblowers or the computer hackers of recent days, but they are part of the fabric of life for all of us and a diversion from the normal routine we seek and strive for. While I don't enjoy hearing that we've "sprung a leak", I'm grateful that we have the means to fix them and go on with life. We just need to be persistent to find the pinhole which may be the cause of the problem and then stick with it to get it resolved. In 1982, Karen and I went to Hawaii for the Ironman Triathlon and after we toured the Kilauea Volcano area, we came home to find that the Volcano had begun to flow and it has never stopped for the past 32 years. Now there's a BIG leak. I'm glad they haven't called us to try to fix that one. We'll leave that one to the Master Plumber and handle the more routine ones which come our way, always with His grace and mercy. Thank You, Lord.

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August 5, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. Together Again

Karen went home to Colorado, I stayed home in Arkansas and we are home together again. Our life is definitely not typical, nor has it ever been in our 40 plus years together. It would seem that right from the start of our getting to know each other we have led a very nomadic existence. Right after we met, I traveled from Colorado to Chicago with a work friend and came back to begin a relationship with Karen. The day after we were married, we took a road trip from Colorado to Washington, D.C. Within six months of our marriage we were moving from Colorado to Tulsa, Oklahoma and during that time travelled to a number of places, including The Great Passion Play in Eureka Springs, Arkansas which is our road home now. We haven't been world travelers or cruisers, but we have been to every state together, except Alaska and have had a lot of wonderful and unique experiences together.
We have also spent time apart because of some of my work travel and Karen's "calling" to be with friends or family members in times of health issues or personal difficulties or losses. But somehow, we get together again and in our own way, we go on with life and the adventures of it. God has become the cornerstone of our life the past fifteen years and we have been blessed by what He has done in our life, where He has taken us and the people He has brought into our world. We are blessed, grateful and humbled. So, Karen came back to Arkansas on Saturday with a new(2008) car we will be towing behind the motor home, a host of accomplishments from her time in Colorado and good reports from all her medical tests and appointments. Like The Key and The Lock we are together again, yet never really having been apart, just separated for a brief time. GOD IS GOOD.

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The Key and The Lock

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August 2, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. The Key and The Lock

I don't think I've ever posted to our blog two days in a row, but I have an amazing story to relate.
After my post yesterday, I felt that I hadn't done more than let an amazing picture speak what I wasn't able to. I left the motor home on my way toward the first chore of the day, "picking up" the amphitheater from the previous might's performance. As I was crossing the parking lot toward the amphitheater, I was picking up scraps of paper, cigarette butts and other items, when I saw a small key less than an inch long. As I walked by the first trash bin, I threw what I had collected away, including the key. I walked another 100 yards or so to the amphitheater and started my routine, up and down and across the 4000 seats. I was picking up the usual paper cups, popcorn bag ties, candy wrappers, sunflower seed shells, ticket stubs, coins, empty water bottles and other items, when I saw a shiny item which turned out to be a small lock. My first thought was, what are the odds that I might have found the lock which would be the match for the key I had found and then thrown away. I finished my pick up chore, and returned to the trash bin and sifted through it and found the key, and to my amazement and delight, the key opened the lock. I had to tell this sequence of events to someone, and as we prayed to start the Holy Land day, I told them about my find and how it had impacted me. I've told the story a bunch of times already and I have honestly been changed by the experience and the reactions to it from the people I tell it to.
There is no one conclusion which can be drawn from the story. There are limitless lessons to be gleaned from it and as I've heard before, "that will preach". Draw your own moral to the story, see the way God can bring together two items, two people or two events into union and make things which are useless by themselves become useful together. Again, the lessons to be learned are endless, and it has changed me in a way I can only thank God for orchestrating. My eyes have been opened, I may have even found the Master Key. I just need to take time off from telling the story to listening to God for the message or messages He has for me. But I just can't stop telling the story. In any event, THANK YOU LORD. I am listening.

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A thousand words

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August 1, 2014. Eureka Springs, AR. Unspoken

The past few days have been less than summer-like in this corner of the world. After we endured a few very hot and muggy days, we were blessed with two days of rain, temperatures in the 70's, clouds and a foggy start today. It's quiet, the birds are still asleep and the sun is about to burn through the haze. It promises to be a good day, not the typical start of August in Arkansas.
Yesterday, Karen started her trip back from Colorado and spent the night in Colby, Kansas. She had a very productive month in Fort Collins and I am anxious to have her back. We both stayed busy and the time went very quickly, but it will be great to be together again. It will be fun to see what God has in store for us.
I'm going to close for now since the words seem to be hard to come by. The picture with today's post was taken Tuesday morning, the last day we saw the sun and is another one of those pictures you snap and God creates an image that only He can. The picture will be the thousand words I'm not able to create on my own. Thank You, Lord for Your Word, Your Creation and Your Grace. PRAISE THE LORD.

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