News and Update
I know it's been way too long since I've blogged, but it has been a combination of laziness and not really having much to say. However, now I do have some things to say (I'm still lazy).
First, anyone who attended the Going Home Celebration for Becky will tell you what a great "event" it was. I thank God for Becky and her family and will keep them in my prayers. It is amazing how many lives Becky touched. She will be greatly missed, but I am thrilled that she is in the presence of her (and my) savior.
We have finally discovered what was causing Lucy's hearing "problem." (Jenna, at least I put the apostrophes in the right place.) Believe it or not, her allergies were causing the intense pain during the services we were attending. Her allergies act up severely whenever the weather gets rainy (that does happen here quite a bit), when the pollen in in the air and many more things. That explains why some weeks it was worse than others. Finding the cause is the good news. The bad news is that she is allergic to all antihistimines that could help. So, after much thought and prayer we came to the realization that the only solution is to move to a place where she didn't have the allergies (I think many people would agree that Tallahassee almost seems like the allergy capital of the world).
We have decided to move to El Paso, TX. We lived there from 1997-1999 and there really isn't anything there to be allergic to. :) In fact, its annual rainfall is 8 inches (that's right--8 inches a year!). I think we can get that here in a bad weekend.
The other kind of good news (only "kind of" because it will be temporary) is that since we now know that allergies are causing the hearing problem and not specifically the acoustics in the Joy Dome we will be back at NBC starting this Sunday until we move. Todd even said I was welcome to show up at ROC again.
I guess that's about it for now. Hopefully, it won't be as long until my next blog.
A Lesson from Job
In my last blog I said, "God is so hugeous that it is sometimes impossible to comprehend what His will is and why some things happen." I've been reading Job during my quiet time the past couple of weeks and, as always when I read Job, I don't truly understand everything. This past Sunday, the Pastor where we attended church happened to use Job as an example actually mentioned the fact that Job is a hard book for a lot of people.
Anyway, he said he could sum Job up for us by paraphrasing God's response to Job near the end of the book. He said that basically God told Job, "I'm God, you're not, now get over it!"
At first, that might not sound like what a loving God would actually mean, but as I thought about it--it is true. He is God and His ways are not our way, they are better whether we like it or not.
God is Hugeous, but...
As you can tell by the subject, I learned a new word by reading blogs. Actually, I do like the work "hugeous" to describe God ( "awesome" is also great, but it's been used a lot). Anyway, back to the subject. The "but" in my subject refers to the fact that God is so hugeous that it is sometimes impossible to comprehend what His will is and why some things happen.
I'm specifically thinking about our changing churches and wondering if God is truly calling us somewhere else. I've really been depressed (not clinically depressed, but very sad) since Sunday when we left Northwoods knowing that next week we'll be somewhere else. We know for a fact that God called us to Northwoods three years ago. The string of events that led us there on the opposite side of town from where we live was definitely divinely done. That has proven itself out in how He has used us, blessed us and grown us during this time.
I know my blog about leaving Northwoods left many people wondering the reason (because I've been asked many times). The reason might seem trivial to some, but as least it has nothing to do with doctrinal issues (Scott :)). Over the past few months the sound (not just the music) in the Joy Dome has been extremely loud--to the point of distracting and even painful for Lucy. We've discussed this at length with the Pastors and it really dates back to when their "sound guy" left (if was fine our first 3 years there). During these months we've tried everything from sitting in different areas of the dome to Lucy wearing earplugs (I don't want this to sound like it is all Lucy because it believe it is also too loud--it just doesn't cause me pain). I've been assured that they are aware of the issue and will continue to work on it.
So, is God using this simple thing to lead us elsewhere or is it simply an audio problem that will be fixed and we can return to Northwoods in the future? We will continue to pray and can sure use others' prayers also. Also, please pray for me that I'll continue to have an open mind/heart as we start attending a new church Sunday. Right now, I'm not really excited about the possibility and have almost made up my mind that I won't like it. I know--wrong attitude, that's why I need prayer.
Great Vacation and Then...
We returned from our Alaska cruise on Sunday night. The trip was great and we were amazed (although others had told us) how beautiful and big Alaska is. It really is, for the most part, an unspoiled area. Our flight to Seattle was long with two intermediate stops. Because we were going coast-to-coast we decided to fly to Seattle the day before the cruise started so we wouldn't be hurrying to make the ship and then be tired at the beginning of the cruise.
We set sail on Saturday and sailed straight to Juneau, Alaska docking there mid-morning on Monday. As I mentioned before, we booked this cruise through Inspiration Cruises who handle Christian groups. Ours featured David Jeremiah and singer Steve Green. We were all booked on the ms Osterdam from Holland America Lines which holds almost 1800 passengers and was sold out. We were amazed to find out that their were 583 people signed up for the David Jeremiah group--almost 1/3 of the ship.
We had our first service on Saturday evening and we immediately knew it was going to be great. Besides David Jeremiah and Steve Green, they also brought their drama team, Gus and Gladys (if you listen to David Jeremiah on Faith Radio, you might have heard some of their routines although they are much better in person), and the new worship leader for Dr. Jeremiah's church--Charles Billingsly, who also happens to be a solo Christain artist and was formerly the lead singer for Newsong for 2 years. In fact, Charles just joined Dr. Jeremiah's church the 1st of July so that was truly an added bonus. In fact, although I like Steve Green, sometimes I find him too mellow, so I actually liked Charles Billingsly more.
Throughout the week (we met everyday for 1 1/2 hours) he preached a great series on Heaven. During each session, they had drama, worship led by Charles and a song or two by Steve Green. All the sessions were in the evening except for our Sunday morning session. The only difference throughout the cruise was that on that Wednesday, the entire 1 1/2 hours was a concert by Steve Green.
After arriving in Juneau, Lucy and I took a helicopter flight that was absolutely awesome. We flew over mountains and glaciers and eventually landed at a dog sled camp on a snow-covered glacier. Once there we had the opportunity to ride on dog sleds. We all got to both ride sitting down and standing up in the back driving the dogs. What a great, fun experience. After that we took a different route back to the helicopter service and got to see more parts of that beautiful area. You can hear stories and see pictures/movies, but until you see it with your own eyes, you cannot imagine the immenseness and beauty. Only God could create something so magnificent.
Tuesday was an entire day of sailing and we sailed up to and explored (from the ship) Hubbard Glacier. Again, that was very breathtaking.
Wednesday we docked at our second port, Sitka. We didn't take any excursions/tours, but simply got off the ship and walked around sightseeing and shopping. On Thursday, we docked at Ketchikan, our next port, and did the same thing we did in Sitka.
Friday evening we docked in Victoria, Canada. We had visited Victoria when we lived in Tacoma, Washington so we stayed on the ship and rested and packed. On Saturday morning we docked back in Seattle and disembarked.
Again, because of the time difference, we couldn't get a decent flight back to Tallahasse that day so we had arranged to stay in Seattle on Saturday night and fly home on Sunday.
The flight home on Sunday was long, but unevently. Then, the fun started:
- If you've flown into Tallahasse much you probably know that they are notoriously slow in handling baggage. We arrived at 7:00 pm and were the only flight waiting for our luggage and it took 45 minutes for it to start showing up on the carousel. Then, my main suitcase was missing. I spend 32 years in the military flying all over the world and never had a suitcase not get to my destination with me. Now, this had happened to me twice in the past couple years with this same suitcase (the first time was going to Guatemala last year). To make it worse, mine wasn't the only one missing so I had to stand in a line for almost another hour while the one girl filled out all the paperwork. (NOTE: My suitcase was delivered to my house the next morning).
- After I finally finished with the suitcase paperwork, we lugged the rest of our bags out to the long-term parking where we had left our van. The good news is that the van was still there; the bad news was that it had a flat tire. Needless to say, we go home very that night.
- Despite getting home late on Sunday night and being tire, I just had to play golf on Monday morning. We got 8 holes in before the heavens opened up and we got rained out. Not only that, now the battery in my van was dead and I had to call roadside assistance and then go and buy a new battery.
- We had left our cats at the kennel while on our trip and when we picked them up one was sick due to something she had picked up there. She didn't get better the next day, so Wednesday, I took her back to the vet (same place as the kennel) and when we went to leave there, the BMW had a flat tire. The vet was great and since our cat had obviously caught something in the kennel he didn't charge us for the visit or the injections.
I didn't do much today because I figured if I just sat around the house, nothing much else could happen. The bottom line is that the vacation was great, but after these last few days I need another one.
