Too Much of a Good Thing...
We haven't been on a lot of vacations, but these past few years we've realized that we need to stop and take the time to enjoy the world a bit more, so we began travelling. One year we went to the East Coast, other times we've gone on motorcycle trips to the Black Hills, Yellowstone and Glacier Park, we've taken a nice road trip with our boys and of course there's always the Manitoba favorite, camping.
It's been really good, really really good.
And we've met a lot of people, some we've had lengthy conversations with about where we come from, where we've been, our families and so on. The conversations you have with someone you meet on vacation are generally not very in depth, but yet somehow when you are on vacation generally the people you meet are very open, happy and ready to have a conversation with you mostly because your all excited to be exactly where you are...somewhere different. Though it's fun and rewarding for the moment those conversations rarely stick with you.
This past summer we took a cruise to Alaska, it was an Inspirational cruise so there were a few hundred other Christians on the boat with us. But, since the boat can hold just over 2,000 people there were also many other people we would have the opportunity to converse with. It was great!
We had many conversations with other couples, we met a 90 year old gentleman who still played the saxophone at his local coffee house, we met some who were on board celebrating anniversaries, family get-togethers and on the stories went. We also met some who were not so happy when they found out that we were one of the 'Christians' on the Inspirational part of the cruise, but, that's OK, we had a great visit with them anyway...whether they liked it or not!
We chatted daily with our stateroom attendants Agus & Ari, learning a little about their families and their home in the Philippines.
Every evening we had dinner in the Vista Dining Room, it was very high end, but you could go in jeans for a couple of the nights, however, there were formal nights when they expected you to dress up in evening wear.
As part of the Inspirational cruise we were given the same table to sit at every evening with 8 other people. We were together with three other couples, one from Florida, another from North Carolina and the third from Pennsylvania, then we had a father and son who were from Australia.
The faces around our dinner table never changed for those seven days. Our conversations became less superficial and chatty and began to morph into deep meaningful talks. One couple only came the first night, the father and son would only come certain evenings, but the other two couples and ourselves remained constant. We would laugh and joke around, we would share meaningful and sometimes not-so meaningful pieces of our lives or the day we had just spent touring. We would break into huge grins and wave to one another when we would see each other on the boat, as though we hadn't seen each other in weeks when in reality we had just been together the night before around the dinner table.
The one couple who's names are Greg & Susie, were from Pennsylvania and they became really good friends. We began to periodically share lunch and breakfast together. When we landed in Ketchikan we all took off in different directions. But, it so happened that when we arrived at the helicopter pad getting ready to take off to see the Mendenhall, Greg & Susie were just landing. Their faces lit up the minute they stepped out of the whirly bird and saw us standing in the line-up waiting for our helicopter. Susie and I ran into each other's arms laughing, so excited to see one another, even though we had just been together the night before. Before she walked away Susie yelled in my ear, because those helicopters are really loud, "Go, enjoy your time with God's creation! See what the Lord has done!"
This morning I was feeling kind of down, the week hadn't seem to start quite the way I had planned, certain things had been happening in different areas of work over the past few weeks that felt really disheartening. I kept telling myself that I couldn't please everyone, if people step on you and hurt your feelings it doesn't matter, you'll survive. I would remind myself to obey God, because in the end, this is what matters most and on that final day, God is not going to ask you about what anyone else did or didn't do, but about what you did.
I talked to God last night on my way home, asking Him for some answers or some direction, even some encouragement of some kind would be appreciated.
When I got up this morning there were still words of discouragement and hurtful scenarios rumbling through my mind and I couldn't seem to quite process everything. I told God, 'I want to do Your work, but sometimes I have to admit, it's just not that easy'. I tried to focus on what I needed to get done in the office, but thoughts of failure kept pushing themselves forward making it hard to concentrate.
Wes had called earlier that morning and asked if I would pick up the mail on my way home from work. He always has to remind me...it's never been one of my favorite things to do so I have to have those gentle reminders. Of course the mailbox was jammed full, newspapers, flyer's, bills and who knows what else. I was nearly out the door when I thought I should flip through everything to make sure that I didn't have a parcel. It was strange that I would have that thought because we weren't expecting anything and typically I bring the mountain of papers into the truck with me and sort through it when I get home. I stood in front of the post office doors awkwardly rifling through the mail and sure enough there was a parcel notice. Cool or maybe not...we've had a speeding ticket show up that way too, so you never know it might not be a good thing.
Well, I walked over to the counter and the woman ran to get my parcel, but, came back empty handed. She went to the envelope drawer behind the desk and my heart sank, that's where they keep the registered letters...oh boy! But, she simply smiled and handed me a large envelope and waved me off. Phew! That's not a ticket! I balanced the load of mail in both hands holding the envelope between two fingers away from the pile. I glanced at the return address just as I was ready to cross the street and my heart skipped a beat. Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
I ran to the truck, OK, I jogged, well, to be honest, it was more like a fast walk. Anyway, I quickly climbed inside and tore open the envelope. A card! A handmade card, from Susie & Greg. The top line read, 'We had a lot of good things happening on our cruise. One of my top two is meeting you both. What a blessing.' and the letter continued from there.
I sat back in the seat after I had finished reading her letter in the card and I could feel the dark cloud of discouragement begin to lift. The card flooded my mind with so many memories from our time together on the cruise, my favorite was when we were witnesses to Susie's baptism on the cruise ship. She was baptized in the hydra pool in the spa by Dave Stone one of the pastors.
We were a small group, huddled around the small pool, but what a Holy moment we had in that spa. Dave gave a short synopsis of Susie's testimony and then he baptized her in the ultra warm water. No pomp and circumstance, simple obedience on Susie's part to make her relationship with Christ public. She had told Dave earlier, "You have to baptize me otherwise I just can't get off the boat!" Her conviction by the Holy Spirit was so very strong.
Sitting in the truck I could feel the warm sunshine heating up the interior, so I turned up the air conditioning, I could feel the tears forming behind my sunglasses, so I grabbed a Kleenex from the back seat, I could feel God gently reminding me that He hears and He answers prayers.
There have been times I have thought about sending someone a note, an email or a card or given them a quick call and I haven't always followed through and I should have. God gives us those little nudges for a reason. He gave that nudge to Susie and though she is hundreds of miles away, her obedience to Him warmed my heart, brightened my day and gave me just that little boost of energy that I needed to continue pushing forward.
On our cruise we had the privilege of seeing different glaciers and what I remember the most is when we were parked in Glacier Bay in front of one of the glaciers, the captain stopped the cruise ship's motor and in the silence the most tremendous thunder would roll from the glacier. It was a gorgeous sound and I remember feeling so at peace hearing it. It was as though God was saying, "Look! This is my handiwork!" It wasn't your regular little thunder, but the long loud roll of thunder that bellows from the depths of these gorgeous glaciers.
I read the following verse today and I just loved the visual it gave of God exulting over you with loud singing...made me think that about His voice being like that thunder in the glacier and that maybe, just maybe that's how He drowns out those voices of discouragement.
Thank you God!!
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17
It's been really good, really really good.
And we've met a lot of people, some we've had lengthy conversations with about where we come from, where we've been, our families and so on. The conversations you have with someone you meet on vacation are generally not very in depth, but yet somehow when you are on vacation generally the people you meet are very open, happy and ready to have a conversation with you mostly because your all excited to be exactly where you are...somewhere different. Though it's fun and rewarding for the moment those conversations rarely stick with you.
We had many conversations with other couples, we met a 90 year old gentleman who still played the saxophone at his local coffee house, we met some who were on board celebrating anniversaries, family get-togethers and on the stories went. We also met some who were not so happy when they found out that we were one of the 'Christians' on the Inspirational part of the cruise, but, that's OK, we had a great visit with them anyway...whether they liked it or not!
We chatted daily with our stateroom attendants Agus & Ari, learning a little about their families and their home in the Philippines.
As part of the Inspirational cruise we were given the same table to sit at every evening with 8 other people. We were together with three other couples, one from Florida, another from North Carolina and the third from Pennsylvania, then we had a father and son who were from Australia.
The faces around our dinner table never changed for those seven days. Our conversations became less superficial and chatty and began to morph into deep meaningful talks. One couple only came the first night, the father and son would only come certain evenings, but the other two couples and ourselves remained constant. We would laugh and joke around, we would share meaningful and sometimes not-so meaningful pieces of our lives or the day we had just spent touring. We would break into huge grins and wave to one another when we would see each other on the boat, as though we hadn't seen each other in weeks when in reality we had just been together the night before around the dinner table.
 |
| Glacier Bay |
This morning I was feeling kind of down, the week hadn't seem to start quite the way I had planned, certain things had been happening in different areas of work over the past few weeks that felt really disheartening. I kept telling myself that I couldn't please everyone, if people step on you and hurt your feelings it doesn't matter, you'll survive. I would remind myself to obey God, because in the end, this is what matters most and on that final day, God is not going to ask you about what anyone else did or didn't do, but about what you did.
I talked to God last night on my way home, asking Him for some answers or some direction, even some encouragement of some kind would be appreciated.
When I got up this morning there were still words of discouragement and hurtful scenarios rumbling through my mind and I couldn't seem to quite process everything. I told God, 'I want to do Your work, but sometimes I have to admit, it's just not that easy'. I tried to focus on what I needed to get done in the office, but thoughts of failure kept pushing themselves forward making it hard to concentrate.
Wes had called earlier that morning and asked if I would pick up the mail on my way home from work. He always has to remind me...it's never been one of my favorite things to do so I have to have those gentle reminders. Of course the mailbox was jammed full, newspapers, flyer's, bills and who knows what else. I was nearly out the door when I thought I should flip through everything to make sure that I didn't have a parcel. It was strange that I would have that thought because we weren't expecting anything and typically I bring the mountain of papers into the truck with me and sort through it when I get home. I stood in front of the post office doors awkwardly rifling through the mail and sure enough there was a parcel notice. Cool or maybe not...we've had a speeding ticket show up that way too, so you never know it might not be a good thing.
Well, I walked over to the counter and the woman ran to get my parcel, but, came back empty handed. She went to the envelope drawer behind the desk and my heart sank, that's where they keep the registered letters...oh boy! But, she simply smiled and handed me a large envelope and waved me off. Phew! That's not a ticket! I balanced the load of mail in both hands holding the envelope between two fingers away from the pile. I glanced at the return address just as I was ready to cross the street and my heart skipped a beat. Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
 |
| Susie's handmade card |
I sat back in the seat after I had finished reading her letter in the card and I could feel the dark cloud of discouragement begin to lift. The card flooded my mind with so many memories from our time together on the cruise, my favorite was when we were witnesses to Susie's baptism on the cruise ship. She was baptized in the hydra pool in the spa by Dave Stone one of the pastors.
We were a small group, huddled around the small pool, but what a Holy moment we had in that spa. Dave gave a short synopsis of Susie's testimony and then he baptized her in the ultra warm water. No pomp and circumstance, simple obedience on Susie's part to make her relationship with Christ public. She had told Dave earlier, "You have to baptize me otherwise I just can't get off the boat!" Her conviction by the Holy Spirit was so very strong.
Sitting in the truck I could feel the warm sunshine heating up the interior, so I turned up the air conditioning, I could feel the tears forming behind my sunglasses, so I grabbed a Kleenex from the back seat, I could feel God gently reminding me that He hears and He answers prayers.
There have been times I have thought about sending someone a note, an email or a card or given them a quick call and I haven't always followed through and I should have. God gives us those little nudges for a reason. He gave that nudge to Susie and though she is hundreds of miles away, her obedience to Him warmed my heart, brightened my day and gave me just that little boost of energy that I needed to continue pushing forward.
 |
| Alaskan Glacier |
I read the following verse today and I just loved the visual it gave of God exulting over you with loud singing...made me think that about His voice being like that thunder in the glacier and that maybe, just maybe that's how He drowns out those voices of discouragement.
Thank you God!!
The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing. Zephaniah 3:17
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Shirley B
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