Got Snow?

We do!  Brrrrr.  I kept myself warm going up but by the bottom of the mountian I had lost all sense of feeling.  Boy do I feel for my cold weather friends, especially Wendy.  Stay warm out there!

An End but a Beginning

I am now 10 days back from my trip to Israel.  We were actually in the country for 10 days and had to get used to a 10 hour time change.  That's a lot of 10s.  I figured I better write an actual post before it's been too long since I went and before it turns into old news and no one wants to read about it (as if you want to now, but I'll make myself feel better by assuming that you do!).

Theresa Larsen asked me to accompany her as her wonderful husband decided that Israel was too dangerous.  I guess I was to be some kind of bodyguard of sorts. Just kidding! 

So she and I set off on November 3rd with 24 other members of the Packinghouse Church.  We survived the 13 hour flight and arrived to a beautiful afternoon in Tel Aviv. 5,301 pictures, an untold number of experiences, and 10 days later, we arrived back in Tel Aviv and flew out on a midnight plane on our 14 hour journey home.  I could write pages on the trip with obviously a multitude of pictures, but I will just give you the highlights of the highlights. 

We had a really wonderful group.  They dynamic was amazing.   We laughed and joked together.  We sang and worshipped together.  And we shared and cried together.  That alone made the trip a phenomenal.

We first traveled to the Sea of Galilee with stops at Cesarea by the Sea and Nazareth on the way.  We had gorgeous weather and the view of the lake was beautiful but was partially obscurred by the haze of sand that can sometimes blow off the desert.  Our time there was a very personal experience.  It was amazing to have been in a place where Jesus taught and walked.  To connect the land with the Bible stories.  To be washed in the water he once stood in.  We sailed out on the sea and sang, and sat on the seashore and worshipped.  A morning walk along the sea at sunrise treated me to beauty for the eyes and peace for my soul.

After a few days in northern Israel, we traveled to Jerusalem.  There are just too many things I could say about this time.  The history is phenomenal.  Nearly everywhere you walk and every view of the city you get has Biblical and/or historical significance.  The highlights for me in Jerusalem are too many to count.  A visit to the Garden of Gethsemane was a time quiet reflection and peace.  The knarled trunks of ancient olive trees in the garden are a testimony to the true and lasting history of what happened there.  We visited the Garden Tomb by the evening light.  While the exact place of Christ's crucifiction is unknown, based on historical references, this is a likely spot.  Golgatha, the place of the skull.  The garden.  The wine press.  The tomb.  Once again, a time of worship and awe.  As we sang with a worship leader named Paul, we tried to drown out the sound of the muezzin's call to prayer.  We partook of the last supper and visited the tomb of our Savior.  "He is not here.  He is risen!"

Our next destination was the Dead Sea.  The Dead Sea maintains such a beauty, it is hard to believe it that contains no life.  And to float on the water -- it seems so light!

From here, we traveled to the Red Sea.  Along the way, we stopped at Masada, which some of us climbed to the top instead of taking the lift.  While the story of what happened to the Jews here is chilling, the feat of engineering and building by Herod the Great is a testament to the achievements of that time.  Amazing!

The Red Sea is gorgeous.  As we neared Elat, we drove along the border of Egypt and then across the sea you could see Saudi Arabia and Jordan.  The water of the Red Sea is tinted with blues and greens surrounded by gorgeous, sharply rising, brown, rocky mountains.  Under the water are fish and coral of all shapes and colors.  We even met a very shy (thank goodness) octopus.  We had an "interesting" time of crossing over the Jordanian border and then traveling to experience the mysteries of the ancient City of Petra.  While you walk through the narrows of Petra, the magesties of a city built into the rock is awe-inspiring but even more incomprehensible is that 80% of it is still buried underground.

And that is our trip at a glance.  And now, the trip may be over, but the impact on my life is lasting as I process every day, just a little bit more, the things I saw, experienced and learned, the history, and the healing.  Should you ever have the opportunity to visit Israel, you should take it.

You think?

I went on my first mountain bike ride on the new mountain bike.  We went up to Loch Leven and rode up to Angeles Oaks.  For the real mountain biker, this ride is no big deal.  Pretty smooth.  Single track in some places, broken pavement in others.  Only 1 water crossing and only 1 truly unrideable spot.  I will not even pretend that I come close to being called a mountain biker.  I don't even know if I can call myself a "Wannabe."  But, by the top of Loch Leven, my knees had stopped quivering like a scared rabbit, and the pitter patter of my heart had slowed to a moderate thump.  The air was crisp, the leaves are changing, and I was actually enjoying myself. 

Loch Leven is the old Highway 38.  Many years ago, they decided to rebuild the highway and make it straitghter and more direct.  The history on Highway 38 must be top secret because, despite extensive internet research, I couldn't find any information.  As usual, government likes to state the obvious when not necessary (and then skirt the issues when things aren't obvious, which is a whole other story). 

Thank you for letting me know the road isn't maintained....

Hummm....  Not maintained?  Really?  I hadn't noticed....

We then rode down a not so well maintained dirt road toward Morton Peak.  I definitely dislike downhill more than uphill.  I also decided that big rocks are worse than loose dirt, but the jury could still be out on that one.  There were some beautiful sights though.

And, I survived my first mountain bike ride on the new bike.  In one piece, at that.

All Shiney and New

It's here!  And I survived my first ride on the beautiful new bike.  25 glorious miles.  No mishaps.  Quite comfortable.  I didn't crash, and the bike was still sparkling at the end.  Granted, the ride was on the road.... ha,ha!  But it was through Yucaipa, if that counts.  :-)

Kindness...

Random Acts of Kindness and Senseless Acts of Beauty

I saw this on a car recently.  What a beautiful and simple statement.  We need more of this in our lives.

Hyperventilation

Help.  Calling a mountain bike therapist.  Someone needs to teach me positive visualization.  Sure I burn calories on the mountain bike but only because of sheer terror.  Even the smallest dip evokes images of limbs flying, bruises, lacerations, and broken bones.  If the trail narrows or a slope appears next to it, I'm sure I will soon be sailing off the edge.  The adrenaline rush starts, the brakes go on, the limbs get weak and shakey and it's all over.  I'm a mess.  Pathetic.  New mountian bike comes in tomorrow, and, at this rate, it's going to stay nice and shiney for a long time.

To those of us born 1925-1970s

A letter, as seen on The View:

"To all the kids who survived the 30's, '40's '50's, and '70's.  We survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant [not me, but others].  As infants and children we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seatbelts, no air bags, bald tires, and sometimes no brakes.  Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.  We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and bacon.  We drank Kool Aid made with real white sugar and we weren't overweight.  Why?  Because we were always outside playing.  We would leave home in the morning, play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.  No one was able to reach us all day long and that was okay.  We did not have Play Stations, Nintindos, X-Boxes.  There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable.  No video movies or DVDs, no surround sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no internet and no chat room.  We had friends, and we went outside and found them.  We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand.  And no one would call child services to report abuse.  Little League had try outs and not everyone made the team.  Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.  Imagine that.  The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.  Actually, they sided with the law.  Theses generations have produced some of the best risks takers, problem solvers and inventors ever."

Amen, sister!  Whoever you are.  Those were the days.  Sure there are a lot of different risks today, but maybe some of those would have never become so prevalent if our standards and expectations for our children were higher.

New Employment Opportunity

Boy are we missing out!  On my recent trip to Israel, we made a short stop off in Jordan to visit Petra.  I learned some interesting things.  Like: how fast you can make it to the top of a mountain while taking picutres and learning as little information about the area as possible.  Another is that Jesus' baptism site is in Jordan somewhere.  Really?  New to me.  Petra is pretty cool, all these buildings carved into rocks.  Some intricate designs are still left behind.  There's the Treasury and the Monastary -- come to find out that they aren't really a treasury or a monastary but rather a monument or a tomb.  Or at least they think so.  But then they really don't know what anything is.  Thanks for the info.  But now, get ready for it... the Jordanians have really hit on something spectacular:

Here we have a 4 or 5 year old selling rocks.

And another selling rocks and jewelry.

Child labor.  What a way to earn some money by attracting the poor schmuck tourist with the cute dirty munchkin.  Fantastic.  Americans should consider this.

What some people will do for money...

Now, I'm Dutch.  Just a little.  We all know that.  And I've been known to pinch a penny here and there (although I have made vast improvements in the money spending category of late).  But this is going a little too far.

Climbing up sandstone, to the peak of an ancient monument, to the tune of a flute.  300 + feet off the ground.  Surrounded by only rock.  All for a few dinari?  Going a bit too far.  Just maybe.  Tempting.... hummm?  Uh, no.  Even for Dutch me.

The Monastary, Petra, Jordan