Most
people get off of a ship after a rough journey and kiss the ground. Those of us
on that 8 day tour of China in 2007 got to the cruise ship and kissed the deck. I wonder
if Mrs. Noah kissed the ground on top of Mount Ararat where the ark came to
rest? The Bible tells us Noah’s family worshiped there at an altar they built. And what final advice would Mrs. Noah have from that mountain top?
Lots
of good things happen on mountain tops. That’s why we call them mountain top
experiences. My literal mountain top experience came on a trip to Alaska.
We
were in Denali National Park and halfway up a mountain when our tour bus made a
rest stop. By the way, even the porta-potties there were better than the squat
toilets in some places in China. There were cups of hot chocolate passed out
and I took mine and stepped away from the people surrounding the buses to take
in the beauty of the landscape before me.
As
I stood in the stillness of that moment and took in the valley below me filled
with gentle streams and lush green grass and tall fir trees and caribou grazing
quietly and then looked up to the rugged mountain that was before me to its
snow capped peak that rose to the sky as a tower of strength, I heard the word
“majesty.” And I suddenly understood. When we are asked to worship God’s majesty,
it is his strength, his beauty, his watchcare over us, his touch of love, that
calls us to give our hearts and our lives to him.
He
calls us to “Be still and know that I am God.”
The
journey God has put me on has not only included the wonderful opportunities of
traveling and writing and speaking but also of being a Grandma. I've told this story before but it is a favorite:
When
Tyler was three, we arranged to meet him and his sister and our DIL, Lori, for
lunch one day halfway between our house and theirs. Bob and I arrived a little
early and so we were waiting for them at a table when they arrived.
Now Tyler, being the self-confident young man that he was, always entered a place as if everyone was poised, waiting just for his
appearance. It wasn’t any different this afternoon. He strutted up to the
table, nodding at people as he went along, then made his announcement to us.
“I’m gonna be a daddy.”
“You’re gonna be a daddy?” I asked hoping for
clarification.
“Yup.” He shook his head and sighed as if it were a
heavy burden. “Mommy will tell you.”
Well, you don’t mention becoming a daddy and not perk
up a grandmother’s ears. I immediately looked for my daughter-in-law to confirm
what I suspected.
“Tyler’s gonna be a daddy?” I blurted out as my DIL
finally caught up to him.
“You can thank
your son for the daddy idea,” Lori said. “Tyler noticed the hair on Ron’s chest
the other day. Ron told him it was daddy hair and when he got hair on his
chest, he could be a daddy, too. The other day in the bathtub, he noticed he
had hair on his legs and he figured that was good enough—he could be a daddy.”
It wasn’t the answer I was expecting, but there was no
disappointment. Ron and Lori haven’t planned past two and those two promise to
provide a lifetime of entertainment.
“Well, if we shaved the hair on his legs, does that
mean he could be a mommy?” I asked.
To her credit, Lori politely asked me not to
plant that idea in his head.
Whatever
lies ahead for Tyler—daddy hair and all—I hope he will learn:
A
-- Adventures of a spiritual nature often come in unusual and unique ways.
R
--Remember God’s grace in all the storms of life and take refuge in Him.
And K-- Know that God is God wherever the journey
may lead.
No comments:
Post a Comment