Dad as Copilot

We took our first ride in a small plane recently.  Alaska is well known for their large number of private pilots, due to the fact that much of Alaska is not reachable by car.  Many of these planes are float planes designed to land on water, and we felt this may be one of our rare chances to get to ride in one.  Thus we took a float plane ride to get an aerial view of Misty Fjord’s National Monument.  

I have known since the beginning of our relationship that my husband has always wanted to fly a plane.  He had childhood dreams of flying fighter jets, yet learned early on that his lack of perfect vision would make this dream impossible.  He had never had the chance to go in a small plane prior to now, and there is no question that he enojoyed our flight the most.  On the last leg of the flight he sat up front next to the pilot, and got the chance to listen to the air traffic control banter and watch the pilot adjust the nobs and dials.  My kids and I thought the flight was kind of neat, yet my husband thought it was amazing.  I have no doubt he would regard it as one of the biggest highlights of our two week trip to Alaska. 

What should we make of these childhood dreams that never get realized?  While my husband may have the chance to take private pilot lessons at some point in the future, the fighter pilot dream is out of reach.  Many of us may have childhood dreams that will never be realized.  Sometimes when we get to adulthood we realize that our initial dreams were silly and don’t miss them much, yet some of us still may have an inner longing for something beyond what we are doing now.  The Apostle Paul told us his secret to dealing with such things in Philippians 4:12 when he said “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation...”

Another secret is submission.  We are where we are because God wills us to be there.  We submit to His plan, not ours.  We might have unrealized dreams of being a rock star, yet maybe we can sing worship music in church, or teach a children’s choir.  We might have unrealized dreams of being a superhero, yet maybe we can be a hero to our kids, or help others in a critical time of need.  We might have unrealized dreams of being a fighter pilot, yet maybe we can lead in other ways, in other kinds of battles.  When I think of my husband, he leads our family mightily, with precision and strength that far surpasses anything that can be registered in a flight plan. His fighter pilot dream, although unrealized, helped to form him into the wonderful husband and father he is today.

What are you doing with your childhood dreams?  How are you adapting these interests to your life today?  Are you using contentment and submission to open yourself up for use by God for His purposes?  If we faithfully assign these childhood-derived interests and talents for use in God’s plan we might just find that these “silly” childhood fantasies were not so silly after all. 

Don’t Kill the Bear

One fun thing on cruises is the towel animals that the cabin attendants leave on our bed in the evening.  On our next to the last night we had a cute bear left for us which was endeared to my son.  Since our room was small and we did not have much space to store these creations, I would usually disassemble them every night and hang the towels in the bathroom.  On this particular night, however, I was met with a plea to not “kill the bear.”

The bear moved from our bed, to our son’s bed, to our daughter’s bed, then back to our son’s bed.  I even got a silly picture of my son cradleing this towel animal in his arms, protecting him from destruction.  The room was small, so we had to find a safe crevice to place this new friend while we slept.  He ended up on the floor, safely nestled next to the trash can.

One of our goals for this trip to Alaska was to see wildlife, including bears.  We did see a few far off in the distance during our bus ride in Denali National Park, yet my husband was hoping to snap pictures from a closer distance.  We traveled a bit too early in the season, before the salmon come back to streams and rivers to spawn.  Thus the bears are hidden deep in the woods, collecting berries and other such food, rather than out in the open streams and rivers.  Spotting them was difficult.  In fact one of the “bear-watching” excursions organized from our cruise line came up totally empty seeing no bears at all.  Yet at this moment, we had a bear up close, one we could hold, cradle in our arms, and protect.  

I spoke to a family today who went on one if the doomed bear-seeing expeditions, where they spent several hundred dollars in the hope to see bears yet saw none.  They said they passed the time making bear puns:  the land was not bear-ing fruit; the ride was unbearable; the land was bear-en (barren).  These puns made them laugh off their frustration.  Here we were at the end of our cruise, still lamenting that we did not see a bear up close, yet now have one sharing our bedroom!

Things do not always go as expected.  Sometimes silliness can make a positive difference.  Often the alternative is disappointment, frustration, or anger, which is not good for anyone and does not lead to a joyful or restorative vacation.  Sometimes the simple joys can mean the most.  May we continue to find happiness in such things.

Grandma and the Village People

It is a great blessing to go on vacation with extended family members if one is able.  My husband, kids, and I were blessed to have my parents join us on a cruise to Alaska.  Joint vacations provide rich opportunities to get to know each other better and spend time together.  I very much enjoyed that opportunity last month. 

Most people who are close to my mom know she loves to dance.  The cruise’s 50s and 60s dance party, and the 70s dance party, gave us the chance to do this together.  It is like the music is in her veins, and makes her legs and arms move regardless of how tired she might otherwise be beforehand.  

Music also infuses her spirit and opens her up to silliness in a crowd of strangers, regardless of how many are watching.  The smile on her face brings joy to others and provides life to the party.  What fun we had at these two cruise dance parties. 

During the 70s dance party they had actors dressed up as the former music group, The Village People, complete with the construction worker, police man, sailor, cowboy, and the scantily-clad Native American.  At the end of the party we had the option to take pictures with the actors, and her sillines was still active and open to my prompting.  We got a great picture of her with these attractive young men.  The picture was awesome, and her smile was inspiring.

How restorative it is to be open to such silliness!  The emotional high after a laugh like that is far better than any drug or alcohol can provide. Not everyone has my mother’s gift of selfless silliness to liven up a party.  How blessed I am to have been a part of it. 

Lady of the Lichen

My daughter has always loved being in the woods.  She heard from her aunt that Alaska has thick moss that is spongy when one walks on it, and she was excited to get to see it.  Our hike in Chugach State Park near Anchorage, Alaska did not disappoint. 

Earlier in the week we learned that lichen was an important part of the Alaskan ecosystem, and is the primary food source for caribou and other animals in the winter.  While hiking in Chugach State Park we saw a large build-up of rocks with lichen on them in various shades of green and yellow.  The scene was something you might see in a Tinkerbell movie.  It was beautiful, and my daughter said she had seen something like this in her dreams.  As she climbed among the lichen-covered construct, she happily declared herself to be “Lady of the Lichen.” 

It is interesting to know that lichen is formed in a symbiotic relationship between algae, fungae, and cyanobacterium.  It grows over large numbers of surfaces using the underlying plants and rocks as a substrate, usually causing no harm.  It is an example of how successful life can be when it cooperates with others, in balance with neighbors around them.  We could learn something from lichen.

What if we lived in such harmony with others around us?  How vast and how powerful would the people of God be if they worked alongside each other in unity.  What if we sacrifically gave ourselves to others as this vast expanse of lichen does with caribou and other animals in the winter?  The majesty of this kind of unity would truly be a dream come true.

Dandelion “Snow”

My son and I had an interesting experience when we were walking out of the hotel room to breakfast during our trip in Alaska.  White tufts were floating in the air, similar to what we see during the scant snowstorms in Texas.  It would seem that Alaska has another kind of “snow” that falls in the spring, which is the white seed tufts from dandelions and willow trees.  It was pretty, yet it was not snow.

It is interesting that everything is not always as it seems.  It seemed to be snow, yet clearly was not. My daughter had said she hoped to see snow during this summertime trip to Alaska.  Thus far this is as close as she has gotten.

Later on our hike in the woods we saw many dandelions and willow trees with seedheads a plenty, and my mind went back in time when I would blow dandelion seedheads and make a wish.  I was impressed how hard it was to blow all of the seeds off of the seedheads with one blow.  My family and I had fun trying.  I even took a picture of my husband and kids all blowing the seedheads together, creating their own tuft of “dandelion snow.”

These simple things can easily take us back in time to the innocence of childhood, and remind us to marvel over the glorious details in the Earth’s creation.  What a blessing to be a tiny part of it. 

Here, Kitty Kitty

During our final hike in Denali National Park, we did a trail which was known to have some muleshoe hares and lynxes.  We knew seeing wild cats is a very difficult thing, as they are very sly and agile.  There also are not very many of them, and Denali National Park has 6 million acres for them in which to roam.  It is unlikely to see one in the middle off the day, yet there are only 3 hours of darkness in Alaska in June so we had hope of seeing one out and about during the day.  We traversed the trail quietly and focused, intent on seeing a lynx.  As we went farther and farther with no sightings, I said under my breath, “Here, Kitty Kitty.”  It didn’t work.

We saw plenty of muleshoe hares during our bus trip in Denali, yet not while hiking on that trail.  And the only lynx we saw was taxidermied in the Visitor’s Center.  Yet the hunt was fun, and the silliness of saying “Here Kitty, Kitty” brought a smile to my face and joy to my heart.  

There is no shame in trying things that have rare odds.  And there is no shame in not meeting the goals for things that have rare odds.  One fun thing on vacation is to try things you usually cannot do, like pretending you are on the “hunt” for a wild carnivorous feline.  Getting a picture of an elusive lynx would have been amazing, yet just being together with my family in a beautiful natural park was pretty amazing on its own.  

Go try something new!  It may be more fun than you think, even if the odds of success are slim. 

Doing the Fandango

On our trip to Denali National Park in Alaska I told my husband I wanted to see a moose. I started thinking about a line in the Queen song, Bohemian Rhapsody; “Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the fandango.” I thought to myself, if I “see a moose,” I will do a “fandango.” 

Apparently a Scaramouche was a clown character from 16th century Italian literature.  A fandango is a lively Spanish dance for two people, or a “foolish or useless act or thing.”  Somewhere in my head I believed that a fandango was a silly dance, and knew I could do one.

We waited all day, and traversed the long drive from Anchorage to Denali National Park.  We drove into the park, and did a short hike near the entrance.  I told my husband I wanted to see a moose, yet there was no moose to be found along the trail.  Then we were steps away from returning to our rental car when a mother moose and her calf crossed the road right in front of us!  We grabbed our cameras and had a bit of a celebration. 

I saw a moose, and I did a fandango!

There is something exciting and restorative about doing a “foolish or useless act or thing.”  My husband took pictures which I posted on social media, and several replied with silly emoticons confirming that I made them laugh or smile by my silliness.  Then a few others posted the next line from Bohemian Rhapsody, “thunderbolt and lightening, very very frightening,” suggesting they entered into my silliness with me.  

I hope anyone reading this remembers to every now and then do a “foolish or useless act or thing.”  True silliness, and the laughter than comes thereafter, is a blessed gift of God.

Surely I Am With You

As I prepared this morning for my Sunday School Easter lesson, I reviewed The Great Commission recorded in Matthew 28.  When we face trials of many kinds, be they illness, grief of loss, financial hardship, parenting struggles, job difficulties, relationship issues, and numerous other challenges of daily life, what is the path to peace, joy, hope, and love?  How do we find peace despite these difficulties?  How do we find the path to joy and hope?  How do we look beyond ourselves and our circumstances to the higher reality of all that is and all that will be?  How do we put our struggle into proper perspective of God and His power in our lives?  The answer is summed up beautifully in Matthew 28:20b:

“And be sure of this:  I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

He is with you in your sorrow.

He is with you in your loss.

He is with you in your trials, your struggles, and your grief.

He is with you when you succeed, and he is with you when you fail.

Rejoice, for He is risen!!

The Futility of Worry

This past week, I entered the weekend still awaiting the result from my mom’s CT scan.  My mom’s clinical presentation of persisting pelvic pain, weight loss, and recent stroke was highly suspicious for advanced cancer.  I know this with the thinking, doctor part of my brain.  I kept a packed suitcase in my car for several days while we awaited the results.  I am grateful to report that her CT came out fine, and we are still working out the mystery of her pelvic pain.  Yet during these days of waiting I slept well at night with this scripture tucked in my heart from Matthew Chapter 7:

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your live, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear?  Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap, or store away in barns, and yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”

Should we prayerfully make smart decisions?  Yes

Should we communicate these changes and ask others for prayer and advice?  Yes

Should we make prayer-inspired plans?  Yes

Should we worry?  We should not worry!

I do not know what you may be going through personally right now.  These problems are big to us, yet our God is much bigger.  He cares for you, and He loves you.  He will get you through your struggle.

Searching for the “Real”

This past week, our church youth group spent their spring break serving at Mission Arlington.  We slept on cots or air mattresses on the floor of a borrrowed church and cooked meals on site to spare costs.  We then did service projects in the morning, and taught a child-friendly lesson to kids at apartment complexes.  In the process of teaching the kids, we knocked on doors to meet people, made a list of people who participated, and built relationships with the kids.  We know that after we leave, the Mission Arlington administrative leaders will reach out further to these families and meet identified needs.  Many of these apartments have on-site apartment missionaries who live in the apartment complex, teach Bible classes, and reach out to these families.  

The work projects in the morning are many and varied.  The workers might pick up used furniture from neighboring homes who have reached out to make a donation, or deliver furniture items to local apartment residents who have a need.  They might package items, deliver food, or prepare for a local community Easter egg hunt.  Sometimes they sort cans of food or clothes that have been donated.  They are instructed by our youth pastor weeks before to have a heart for service, and not be choosy about their work projects.  When they are asked to do something, they are to think “this is my very favorite thing!”  With that heart for service, we can meet needs cheerfully, acknowledging that all of these work projects, whether big or small, are meeting a need for a well-entrenched ministry.  

To prepare our hearts for service each day, there are worship sessions at the start of the morning and at the start of the afternoon.  There is also a daily sermon.  I continue to think about the comments from the last sermon that week.  The teacher asked us to consider  “What would it be like to live like this all year?”  Our church’s backyard Bible lessons that week resulted in 7 kids making a decision to follow Christ.  What if our actions saved 7 souls per week?  I think most Christians think they would be lucky to save 7 people in their whole life. 

I overheard one of our church kids telling another that what we are doing here this week is “real,” and it is easy to fall back to our old ways.  Serving and witnessing to others is what we were created to do, yet we get so busy with the other stuff of life that we are distracted.  The book of Acts tells us that the some early Christians lived communally, shared all that they had, and served the cause of Christ.  I suspect many of them had trades, which they did in service to others and to earn money to donate back to the church community.  At Mission Arlington, living out of suitcases and eating low cost but nutritious food, we learned what it is like to live with much less than we live with today.  We also see what life could be like if we lived communally, shared our resources, and served as though what we are doing “is our very favorite thing.”  

Now we are back home, sleeping in our own bed, showering in our own shower, and enjoying the privacy of our own home.  How much Mission Arlington will we keep with us?  How often will we serve as though it “is our very favorite thing?”  We must never forget that the “real” value to our lives, and the “real” task that lies before us, is what we were made to do.