I have asked to be relieved of my amphitheater clean-up duty the morning after our Passion Play performances. I have really enjoyed the early morning exercise of walking up and down the 40 rows, 4 times, picking up the "left behind" mess, finding lost or forgotten items and trying to reconnect them with their rightful owner. But I have other early morning duties, and would like to have someone else take over the duty I have handled the past five years.
The other task I would like to find someone else for, is the weeding of the 4000 seat amphitheater. I have pulled them by hand, sprayed them with weed killer or the spray which destroys the root system for good, and most recently have tried to spray them with white vinegar.
I will need to wait a few more days to see if the vinegar works. Then I can spray the remaining 3500 seats or, ideally, find someone else to vinegarize them. I can't believe how big some of the weeds are already and our trees, bushes, flowers and plants have barely begun to blossom out.
Between the leaves, weeds and spraying for insects there is plenty to keep a small army of people busy for the entire season and well into the off season. If you want to join us for a week, a month, or even longer, we would be glad to share the fun. I remember our plan to just spend a short time here in Arkansas.........and six years later.......we're still at it.
The best laid plans............
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Tuesday, April 9, 2019
Saturday, April 6, 2019
April 6, 2019. Eureka Springs, AR. Doing the Wash
One of the perks of being at the Passion Play is being able to use the cast laundry facility to do our personal laundry. One of the drawbacks of being at the Passion Play is that during the winter, the water on the set is turned off and the cast laundry facility isn't operational. Thus, from November to late March I had to drive about 10 miles to Berryville to do laundry and do our weekly WalMart run on the same trip. But as of this week the PP laundry is back up and running and I can do the wash about 200 yards from our motor home.
Tomorrow I will have the laundry rooms to myself, and not have to do any cast laundry from the previous night's performance. But that too will change when we get into our regular play schedule. Over the winter, wash day varied because of weather and projects being worked on. So wash day could have been Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Now it will most likely be Sunday afternoon, and made part of my regular routine.
Yes, we are getting close to opening for 2019. Much still to be done and willing hands needed to get them done. God has always provided, and we have every confidence that He is getting things in order for His vision for TGPP to be implemented and become reality. More than conquerors.........Praise The Lord.
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Tomorrow I will have the laundry rooms to myself, and not have to do any cast laundry from the previous night's performance. But that too will change when we get into our regular play schedule. Over the winter, wash day varied because of weather and projects being worked on. So wash day could have been Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday. Now it will most likely be Sunday afternoon, and made part of my regular routine.
Yes, we are getting close to opening for 2019. Much still to be done and willing hands needed to get them done. God has always provided, and we have every confidence that He is getting things in order for His vision for TGPP to be implemented and become reality. More than conquerors.........Praise The Lord.
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Wednesday, April 3, 2019
April 3, 2019. Eureka Springs, AR. A Beehive
With our first volunteers here, there is a beehive of activity on the property. Over the winter the list of projects was pretty long, but the number of workers was not large enough to do more than a few tasks and didn't make a big dent in the list. But now it is small groups working on each project and seeing it to completion.
Leaves are being raked and burned; props are being repaired or additional ones made; garden areas are being cleaned and mulched; water has been turned on in The Holy Land and on the set with leaks located and repaired; the washers and dryers for cast laundry have been hooked up and checked; merchandise for the gift shops is arriving daily, being checked in, entered in the computer and put out on display; play animals are coming back from their winter quarters; trees are going to be planted; painting is being done; the Sea of Galilee is being dredged; grass is being grown where there has not been any before; the main entrance to the Play amphitheater has been "beautified" with a large decorative planter; vehicles are being brought up to speed; the buffet is serving lunch to staff and volunteers and is ready for the beginning of the season; costumes have been repaired and new ones made; a retaining wall has been built at our set's Eastern Gate to keep some trees from possibly falling.
Most of the volunteers from Campers on Mission (Illinois and Missouri) will be leaving over the weekend so it shouldn't be as hectic next week. But it's been good to have them here, helping in so many areas and getting us "ready-er" for the new season. Other groups will come......and go. The youth mission groups and other church groups will come......and go.......as will some of our regulars from Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and other states. Thank You , Lord, for bringing willing hands and hearts, for watching over us as labor for Your Kingdom and seek to honor and glorify You with our efforts. All Praise to You.
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Leaves are being raked and burned; props are being repaired or additional ones made; garden areas are being cleaned and mulched; water has been turned on in The Holy Land and on the set with leaks located and repaired; the washers and dryers for cast laundry have been hooked up and checked; merchandise for the gift shops is arriving daily, being checked in, entered in the computer and put out on display; play animals are coming back from their winter quarters; trees are going to be planted; painting is being done; the Sea of Galilee is being dredged; grass is being grown where there has not been any before; the main entrance to the Play amphitheater has been "beautified" with a large decorative planter; vehicles are being brought up to speed; the buffet is serving lunch to staff and volunteers and is ready for the beginning of the season; costumes have been repaired and new ones made; a retaining wall has been built at our set's Eastern Gate to keep some trees from possibly falling.
Most of the volunteers from Campers on Mission (Illinois and Missouri) will be leaving over the weekend so it shouldn't be as hectic next week. But it's been good to have them here, helping in so many areas and getting us "ready-er" for the new season. Other groups will come......and go. The youth mission groups and other church groups will come......and go.......as will some of our regulars from Louisiana, Oklahoma, Arkansas and other states. Thank You , Lord, for bringing willing hands and hearts, for watching over us as labor for Your Kingdom and seek to honor and glorify You with our efforts. All Praise to You.
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Sunday, March 31, 2019
March 31, 2019 Eureka Springs, AR. It Won't Be Long Now
Tomorrow is April 1st and we'll be on the same page as our first performance of the 2019 Passion Play season. Dress rehearsal (we only have one) is Tuesday April 16 with the first actual for-real performances on Good Friday and Saturday, the 19th and 20th. We will have our Holy Land ready to go with costumed presenters, our Marketplace presentations and buffet up and running as well.
It seems like only yesterday that we ended the 2018 season, but since we never left Arkansas for the off-season, I guess the seasons have just melded together into one long one. There is much still to be done. our volunteers groups are starting to come and as I sit here writing, two more motor homes have come over the hill into the RV area and will be ready to join those already here to get to work tomorrow morning. Our good friends, Jerry and Renee, should be arriving later this evening and it will be good to see them since Jerry's stroke in Branson last August and his recovery time in Missouri and Florida. What a time they have been through the past seven months.
The time really zips by. The older we get the quicker it seems to go. Karen's dad was right when he told us that, and we are now witnesses to it ourselves. Enjoy what we have because it will change or disappear before long. All we can be sure of is the moment we are now experiencing and we will never have it to "do over", so live it to the fullest.........each day we are one day closer......... to God's ultimate call...........Thank You, Lord.
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It seems like only yesterday that we ended the 2018 season, but since we never left Arkansas for the off-season, I guess the seasons have just melded together into one long one. There is much still to be done. our volunteers groups are starting to come and as I sit here writing, two more motor homes have come over the hill into the RV area and will be ready to join those already here to get to work tomorrow morning. Our good friends, Jerry and Renee, should be arriving later this evening and it will be good to see them since Jerry's stroke in Branson last August and his recovery time in Missouri and Florida. What a time they have been through the past seven months.
The time really zips by. The older we get the quicker it seems to go. Karen's dad was right when he told us that, and we are now witnesses to it ourselves. Enjoy what we have because it will change or disappear before long. All we can be sure of is the moment we are now experiencing and we will never have it to "do over", so live it to the fullest.........each day we are one day closer......... to God's ultimate call...........Thank You, Lord.
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Thursday, March 28, 2019
March 28, 2019. Eureka Springs, AR. Here We Go Again
Last year we didn't have Spring. We went directly from Winter to Summer. Cold and humid to hot and humid. We had some decent rain at the end of April and the trees went from bare to fully leafed out in a flash. This year we had some pretty cold weather, including a bomb cyclone, but the past two weeks have been just like Springtime. Trees are showing some white blossoms, bulbs are starting to pop through the surface, and we are staring to have the critters in evidence.
We have had tiny ants, regular ants and large carpenter ants. Bug spray is at the ready. I have a number of chigger bites. All my remedies are at the ready, too.. Ladybugs are starting to invade us and there have been quite a few attracted to The Christ of the Ozarks Statue. We've had wasps on our Holy Land Tour bus, and Karen was tormented yesterday by a dive-bombing fly. The tree pollen count is high, thus the watery eyes. I've been wearing short pants and in two days I have ripped one pair in the back end, and got roof mastic all over the back end of a second pair while replacing a roof at the kiosk behind the COTO Statue.
Spring has sprung and it is great to know that we can have Spring in Arkansas. I'm sure we'll have some cold weather ahead but, for now, it's great to sit with the windows open with no space heaters needed, but I do wish those pesky chiggers would leave me alone............
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We have had tiny ants, regular ants and large carpenter ants. Bug spray is at the ready. I have a number of chigger bites. All my remedies are at the ready, too.. Ladybugs are starting to invade us and there have been quite a few attracted to The Christ of the Ozarks Statue. We've had wasps on our Holy Land Tour bus, and Karen was tormented yesterday by a dive-bombing fly. The tree pollen count is high, thus the watery eyes. I've been wearing short pants and in two days I have ripped one pair in the back end, and got roof mastic all over the back end of a second pair while replacing a roof at the kiosk behind the COTO Statue.
Spring has sprung and it is great to know that we can have Spring in Arkansas. I'm sure we'll have some cold weather ahead but, for now, it's great to sit with the windows open with no space heaters needed, but I do wish those pesky chiggers would leave me alone............
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Monday, March 25, 2019
March 25, 2019. Eureka Springs, AR. Too Little Time
The sun hasn't come up yet. The work day has really not begun; and yet, it seems like I have been "at it" for a while, working on new plans for today, stuffed into a day I've already fully planned out, but trying to see if I can do more than I already am going to do. I don't think that makes much sense, other than to say, there aren't enough hours in the day to do "everything". So.........I started earlier and have done some things I would have done later in my original plan for the day. It still doesn't make sense.
Sometimes we try to do too much at the expense of taking our time and making sure we don't goof something up by not thinking it all through before we act. The Bible has many examples of individuals who went too quickly, got ahead of God and paid the price for their impatience. Think of Moses and the taskmaster, King Saul acting as a Priest when he wasn't one, David and Bathsheba, Peter and his "know it all" tirades, the children of Israel in their 40 year "death sentence"in the wilderness, Ananias and Sapphira, Lot's wife.............
We still act on impulse far too often, measure once and cut instead of checking ourself, dig before we check for water lines or underground cables, say something before we think of the proper words, spend money before we actually have it........but there is a remedy. God has a Plan B, Plan C, even a Plan Z for our impetuousness.. He has control of the time and can remedy everything we do wrong, or do too quickly. He has it all figured out........hurry up and wait on HIM, And in everything, God can work it out for our good and His glory and still have the time to anticipate and fix our next blunder. What a gracious and merciful God we serve.
And, look at this......it's only 7am and my blog is already written and posted............Thank You, Lord.
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Sometimes we try to do too much at the expense of taking our time and making sure we don't goof something up by not thinking it all through before we act. The Bible has many examples of individuals who went too quickly, got ahead of God and paid the price for their impatience. Think of Moses and the taskmaster, King Saul acting as a Priest when he wasn't one, David and Bathsheba, Peter and his "know it all" tirades, the children of Israel in their 40 year "death sentence"in the wilderness, Ananias and Sapphira, Lot's wife.............
We still act on impulse far too often, measure once and cut instead of checking ourself, dig before we check for water lines or underground cables, say something before we think of the proper words, spend money before we actually have it........but there is a remedy. God has a Plan B, Plan C, even a Plan Z for our impetuousness.. He has control of the time and can remedy everything we do wrong, or do too quickly. He has it all figured out........hurry up and wait on HIM, And in everything, God can work it out for our good and His glory and still have the time to anticipate and fix our next blunder. What a gracious and merciful God we serve.
And, look at this......it's only 7am and my blog is already written and posted............Thank You, Lord.
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Friday, March 22, 2019
March 22, 2019. Eureka Springs, AR. Richard Ludig (1927-2019)
Pastor Dick, the Tabernacle Priest at The Great Passion Play Holy Land, my friend and fellow-Jew-turned Christian has gone to be with his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Tomorrow we will honor him at the Lone Star Bible Church in Eureka Springs.
Karen and I visited Dick, Joan and their daughter Sandy on Monday night. He passed away Wednesday morning at about 11am. On Tuesday morning I journaled the following:
"Thank You, Lord, for being our hope, our peace and our comfort in this journey and transition to the eternal journey. I pray for Sandy and David and Joan as they watch Dick take his final breaths of this life and begins his new life with You. I pray that we all are touched by the experiences we shared with Dick and that his example of gentle courage in trying situations will brighten our desire to serve and praise You in the calling You have placed on us. Let Your will for each of us be our path, let Your path be one we relish and rejoice in, no matter the difficulty; and let us trust that the best is still before us as we live, love, endure, persevere and finish this race to rejoice in our eternal reward. Go with God, Dick, my brother and my friend........Shalom."
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Karen and I visited Dick, Joan and their daughter Sandy on Monday night. He passed away Wednesday morning at about 11am. On Tuesday morning I journaled the following:
"Thank You, Lord, for being our hope, our peace and our comfort in this journey and transition to the eternal journey. I pray for Sandy and David and Joan as they watch Dick take his final breaths of this life and begins his new life with You. I pray that we all are touched by the experiences we shared with Dick and that his example of gentle courage in trying situations will brighten our desire to serve and praise You in the calling You have placed on us. Let Your will for each of us be our path, let Your path be one we relish and rejoice in, no matter the difficulty; and let us trust that the best is still before us as we live, love, endure, persevere and finish this race to rejoice in our eternal reward. Go with God, Dick, my brother and my friend........Shalom."
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