Sanctified Saturday: Life Stories

I recently joined a Christian Writers group and it has been full of Zoom meetings, daily writing prompts, new friendships and encouragement. So much fun! Hopefully you'll be able to see an improvement in my writing!

Yesterday we did a new thing for the group, complete with technical issues! They worked to get a Zoom meeting live on Facebook so seven writers could share their Life Stories in seven minutes each. It was an amazing experience, and I enjoyed being one of the seven. I had to be ruthless in my editing to keep it within the guidelines, but I came in under the seven minute limit! Since I don't know if the replay will be available to share, I decided to share my story here.

LIVE!

“Live to be 100?! I don’t think so!” I scoffed. “Why would I want to prolong the agony that long?”. I was reading a book on how your emotions and thought life affects your health. In it, was a series of questions to probe your thinking and bring issues to the surface. Having spent too much of my life already dealing with a chronic, undiagnosable and invisible illness, I didn’t look forward to having a long life.

And, yet, the question lingered, poking at me. I chewed on that for awhile. “OK”, I admitted, “I don’t really want to live, I’m just going through the motions.” Since childhood I knew that dying meant going to be with Jesus, so who wouldn’t want that? Paul says in Phil 1:21 “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain.” I got the ‘die is gain’ part. But that first part? A familiar rallying cry for Christians, but what did it really mean? I had no clue.

Shortly after that, I was jolted with fear. How was it even possible to bleed from lady parts I no longer had? In a panic, I cried out to God, pleading in desperation for answers. Into my mind popped the reference “Ezekiel 16”. I’d heard a message before about this beautiful reference to God’s tender care for Israel. I got out my Bible and started to read. Then I got to verse 6 “... I said to you in your blood, “Live!” Yes, I said to you in your blood, “Live!”. I sobbed with relief. He had heard me! He knows my situation! And he is speaking to me! LIVE! Twice!

OK. Got it. Kind of. Well, not really. What does that actually mean, to ‘live’?

Clearly just going through the motions like I’d been doing wasn’t going to cut it. I had to dig deeper. The first step was to realize that if God My Healer just told me to live, then I wasn’t going to die from this weird bleeding. So, I sent fear packing and the bleeding stopped and never returned. Well, off to a good start!

Then a year or so later came the diagnosis of cancer. That lump near my knee turned out to be a sarcoma, a rare form of cancer. But I had this mandate to live! It was firmly lodged in my head. So, I determined that I would live every moment to the full. I never once thought I would die from it. (Suffer maybe, but not die.) How could I? I was too busy learning to live! Embracing LIFE!

Cancer is wonderfully focusing. All the extraneous things we tend to add to our lives fall away and life becomes about the essentials. I was well on my way to understanding what living is really all about.

A pivotal time came when I felt this tug to step across the line, to be ‘all in’, holding nothing back from the Lord. Up to this point, I had let fear and doubt keep me from being totally sold out to Jesus; playing it safe, not getting too crazy. But finally, his love was so compelling I just didn’t want to hold out any more. “OK! I’m all in, Lord. I’m all yours no matter what. No more trying to play it safe. It’s your way or not at all.”

Wow! Why in the world had I been holding back? THIS is what it really means to LIVE! Jesus at the center, really and truly at the center. Now I understand all the superlatives people use. Now I know what it is to struggle to put into words the sheer wonder of walking closely with him, hearing him speak to me in all the myriad ways that he does. Seeing things through his perspective. Now scripture comes alive like never before. No longer just words on a page, but Life and Truth! How I love to read it. How I love to spend time talking with him. The more I become like Jesus, the more I become my best self, the one God designed me to be, with purpose and joy and wonder.

Thank you Lord! Thank you for this mandate to LIVE, thank you for the Life you have brought to me. For the healing you have done. You have said that when we seek you, we will find you. What a find!

LIVE! There is such a wealth of meaning in this word and I have spent the last decade mining its depths. What treasure I have found! What Life I’ve found.

Yes, LIVE!

Travel Tuesday: Valley of Fire

Valley of Fire State Park had never been on our radar. Only because of staying nearby were we even made aware of it. We are so thankful that we got to see it!. It is the most breathtaking landscape with all kinds of colors of rock and soil right next to each other, sometimes in layers, sometimes in folds, sometimes jutting out. Every turn of the road brought more amazing sights and I was very busy with my camera trying to capture it all.

Below is the best of what I took. We did two hikes which was enough for me, but there are more for next time. The $10 entrance fee per vehicle was easily worth it. 

Driving into the Valley of Fire State Park. Even the drive in is fascinating.

So. Much. Color. Every turn and twist of the road brought more breathtaking scenes!

The Seven Sisters is a series of tall outcropping with nice picnic areas nearby.

It's not hard to see why the destination of this walk is called Fire Wave! What amazing colors and shapes! The walk began on the other side of the large red rock outcropping at the top right. The next few pictures are in the same area, just looking in different directions. The variations of color, texture, shape and height are amazing!

On the left, the red and white striped rock, the next to it a greenish and brown color, and behind that a deep burgundy color! The arid climate makes all of this so dramatic since there is sparse vegetation.

Returning along the Firewave trail, just past the large red outcropping looking into the next valley. 

To the right, this is what is left of a movie set built in the 60s. There is a plaque explaining that this area has been used for many movies over the years. The fantastical shapes and colors makes for great backdrops, especially for filming movies like Star Trek Generations. 

Layer upon layer of different colored rocks. I can't help but wonder what the composition is to create all of these varied colors. Coming from a place where the vast majority of rocks are just grey, I'm always fascinated by the colors of rocks in the Southwest and especially here. 

This slot canyon may not be as large or as deep a red as the famous Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ, but it's still beautiful, picture-worthy and fun to walk through. I love the contrast of grey gravel on the floor to the pink walls. The picture just above is near the entrance to the slot canyon just before it got narrow. There were so many holes and caves dotting the walls. And a very sturdy bush stubbornly growing in the barrenness. What a great reminder that life continues, that life can grow in unexpected places and survive when it doesn't seem possible.

This Valley of Fire is a place that warrants repeat visits. It's hard to take it all in in only a day. They have a campground there which is in a beautiful setting, and staying there would be a great place from which to go on the many hikes. It's first come, first served so you have to be early and quick to grab a spot. We drove all through the park, but only did two hikes: Fire Wave and White Dome. That was enough for me for one day. I'd like to return some time and do the other hikes. It's a place that begs to be explored, photographed and enjoyed. 

Museum time: Extra Post

Because I have plenty of material for blog posts and have great internet connection here, I'm sneaking in an extra post. It's mostly for the grandkids, but you're welcome to enjoy it, too!

Just a short walk from where we parked. Such an interesting place!

A new spot this year for our Boondockers group was Poverty Flats (or Snowbird Mesa) near Overton, NV (some 60 miles East of Las Vegas). Not sure why it has two names, but it's a great place to boondock or dry camp. The views are gorgeous and there are plenty of places to walk and take pictures all around our rig. The nearby town of Overton boasts a nicely stocked grocery store (Lin's) with a pharmacy. Also, there are two hardware stores, and a community park where we could get water for free. We loaded up our empty water bottles and our water filter and took advantage of that. I also visited their friendly Post Office where I understand they will receive General Delivery. Even though I didn't need that this time, it's good to know for the future.

One little gem there is The Lost City Museum which was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corp. Into this delightful place they retrieved many artifacts and reconstructed some of the excavation sites that were later covered by Lake Mead (formed when Hoover Dam was built). The museum building had interesting Craftsman touches inside and was not only well built, but it's been very well maintained. I was intrigued by the many models of dwellings of the Pueblo/Anasazi people. The basketry was impressive. And outside they recreated the round dwellings that are indicated by the rock outlines. It was interesting to get a glimpse into their daily life, their living spaces and their skills.

I didn't capture the time line for the many pictures I took, so some of it is by memory. (!) There was a wide range of dates from some time after 1100AD up until the early 1930s with more information than I could absorb. I am no expert on basketry or the Anasazi people, just the bits and pieces I've picked up in various museums around the Southwest, so my captions are somewhat general. I enjoy museums, but don't really attempt to remember all of it! 

A rather sophisticated 3 level dwelling of rock. So cool!

The view from the top looking into it. 

Round rooms or houses was a common theme among the Anasazi, or Ancient Ones. I could live here!

Still life showing how they ground the corn or maize that they grew. So glad I don't have to do this!

This shows a recreation of part of the walls, some containers and corn found. The exposed rock shows how it was built underneath the covering made of local clay.

Beautiful artwork done on this pottery that's over 100 years old. 

These water jugs were first woven, then covered in pitch to make them waterproof. These are really, really old and my favorites of all of the baskets. How did the get the pitch to cover it so well?

Intricate basketry, most dating back 100 - 150 years ago if not later. I'm amazing at how small the weave is! 5 to 7 loops per inch!

Early black and white ware. Found in the excavations and very old.

Recreation of a storage room. It would make sense to store stuff where you have to get in by ladders to keep out vermin, snakes and other threats to the food suppy.

An interesting mostly underground dwelling. I imagine this kept them cooler in the heat and warmer in the cold. The temperature can get extreme, very hot in the day and cold at night.

A large collection of arrowheads of varying sizes and of different kinds of materials. 

Full size replicas outside of their round dwelling places. All the entrances were blocked with grills to keep us nosy people out. Not doubt to preserve it better.

Rustic ladder that I don't think I'd want to try even if I could! Where's the bottom step?

The typical outline left by ruins. The buildings above are what they looked like when used, but in many places all that is left is the outline like this. 

Travel Tuesday: On the Road Again, 7th Snowbird journey

As the air started to get nippy and the rain began in earnest, we got our lot ready for winter, loaded ourselves up, said our goodbyes to family & friends & headed south. It's amazing that we've been able to do this for six years in a row, with this being our seventh. Where did the time go?!

One of the fascinating things about traveling from the NW to the SW is the variety of landscapes we see. This time I decided to chronicle the changes. When I wasn't driving, I captured several shots from the passenger seat. Although there were a few places where I would have liked to snag a shot while driving, I didn't. I think my collection shows sufficient variety even without them. We typically trade off driving, but Jerry still does the bulk of it. 

I didn't get all of my pictures edited like I often do, cropping for the best view. So, here they are, windshield wipers, glass reflections, screens and all. In the raw! Enjoy the view. It's what it looks like while we're on the road.

Beautiful sunset in Southern Oregon on our way to our first night's stop in Canyonville, OR. In this crazy year of Covid, we didn't do our usual stop for visiting relatives in Oregon. Instead we pushed on while the weather was cooperating.

This is Mt Ashland just south of Ashland, OR. In past years there has been snow on the ground as we drove past. This is the beginning of the big climb over the Siskiyou Mountains. A few miles beyond this is the Siskiyou Mountain Summit at 4310 ft. A rig our size takes this pretty slow! The weather is a big factor in getting over this pass and getting an early enough start helps.

Our first peek at Mt Shasta. No snow to be seen this time! The sign is for Hwy 97 heading for Klamath Falls. We are about 50 miles or so south of the Oregon/California border. We inserted an extra stop in Yreka for the night since the winds were supposed to be very high farther south. Weather dictates when and how far we drive in a day. How windy will it be? What's the nighttime temperature? 

The rolling hills of Northern California is so typical of the area. Lots of grass and deciduous trees

We saw evidence in several places along our way of the devastating fires in Southern Oregon and Northern California. This was the largest burn we saw from the road. Some of the places we saw were a mix of burned and not burned, like the fire did some kind of crazy dance touching down there, jumping up and missing here, spinning to over there.

Because this is out my side window with the screen, it's not very clear, but there are miles and miles of forest, down into a valley or two, up over a ridge. We got pretty high up as we crossed from Northern California up over the Cascade mountain range to Reno.

I loved driving through this corridor of trees. This is likely my last view of huge trees until our Springtime return. These trees feel more like home to me than the desert, but I have learned to love the stark beauty of the desert and the very different vegetation and all of the variety of rocks.

Unexpected rock outcroppings pop up everywhere! 

Here we go into the arid regions. This is just the northern tip of Walker Lake. It is a huge lake and the view as we drove by was beautiful. However, since I was driving, I didn't get to take any pictures. My copilot managed to capture this one. There are places to stay nearby, but we pushed on to make more miles, for a total of 405 miles in one day. We were trying to get to our destination before the big storm hit the whole region. With nighttime temps predicted to drop really low, we determined to push on.

Miles of road like this crosses Nevada. We like to listen to good teaching as we travel which makes the miles fly by. We made a stop for the night in Tonopah, NV at Miller's Rest Area. In the past we've seen several RVs parked for the night and have even run into friends. This year, we had the place to ourselves! The nighttime temps were still tolerable the night we stayed, but expected to drop into the teens the next night. On our way!

Joshua Trees dotting the landscape. I've not seen them before marching along at the top of the hills this way like sentinels! This picture had to be cropped in order to see the trees, so it's a bit of a blur. 

Ah! Finally! After 1268 miles and 5 days of travel, we arrived ahead of the wind and clouds. It sure is a beautiful spot. We were thankful to hunker down and rest up while the wind rocked us for a couple of days. Once the storm passed, it was gorgeous and hot! Finally, Jerry is a happy camper!
 (Photo by Kathy Sweet who joined us after a couple of days.)