Lavender Sky

sunlight kisses the mountains as the shadows grow long

walking under a clear sky that's still holdin' on

to summer, though green is slipping away

overtaken by yellows, browns, reds – more everyday

though even the warm breeze denies the truth

as I crunch those first leaves I see the proof

that those days are long gone, just memories now

but I've still got the smiles that they endow

and I can look up with joy at the brightly clothed trees

knowing change is beautiful, just like the leaves

in a sudden rush of wind they come cascading down

tickling my cheek and painting the ground

where they scamper about, first here then there

and I know I could be like them, carefree if I dare

to follow His leading, to embrace the changes He brings

to know, for believers, that He works all things

together for good and just like the colours of fall

He can paint a new picture when I follow His call

the waving trees seem to applaud as I reach this conclusion

the grasses nod in agreement; this joy isn't delusion

I take a deep breath of that colourful air and I sigh

and praise God for life, tonight, under the lavender sky

LOVE my Family

Yesterday I was blessed beyond words by a surprise visit from my dear Grandma Eleanor and Great Uncle Herb and Auntie Myrna. On their way to Boise, ID and later Arizona, they went out of their way to come out to Jackson Hole and visit me!

I loved giving them the grand tour around my home here, introducing them to my extended family in the Hole and showing them my favourite coffeeshop. We had time before dinner to run into town and show Gramma the elk arches and such in the square. I suggested the Bar J for dinner because the students were all going. I didn't know but Uncle Herb and Auntie Myrna had been here before and wanted to go to the Bar J again so it worked out great! We had such a fun time talking and getting our chuckwagon dinner and then laughing throughout the show. It was so much fun to see family again, not mention spend an evening at the Bar J.

It was such a cool thing to spent time with my family. Sometimes I feel so isolated out here, so very far from home and all things Canada. I was soooo touched that they made the effort and the drive out here. My family is the greatest! I cannot thank God enough for them and for bringing them down to visit me, encourage me and warm my heart.

And the blessings don't end there! Next week my Mom and her parents are coming down on their way to Arizona too! (apparently we're like Canada geese, migratory) I'm so excited to see them all and spend time with them. It's been too long since I've been with family. Well, blood-related family for I cannot overlook the amazing family I have here! So many brothers and sisters, I am truly blessed!

Just Look Around...

We were half way up the trail to Paintbrush Divide when Kenton made a statement that really hit me. He had just stopped for a brief rest and looked around saying, "Wow, sometimes you just gotta stop and look where you are!" This was in reference to the amazing view, the awesome surroundings in which we had found ourselves, hiking in the Teton backcountry.

As I too stopped and took in the amazing view, the Grand standing soberly in the distance, Lake Solitude resting in stillness and silence at the end of the canyon, the blue sky spotted with fluffy white clouds, I was struck by how often I go through life without looking up and around at where I am. How often do I just trudge along following the path in front of me. I follow after the boots in front of me, doing what others have done before. I maneuver around the obstacles in my path, trusting God for a way. I pace myself up the steep inclines, relying on God for strength and knowing He'll get me to the top. I pick my way carefully among the teetering rocks, looking to God for guidance with every step.

But though I am working my way through life, trusting God the whole way, I often forget to stop, and look around, to realize WHERE He has brought me and to praise Him for how He was led me here! Sometimes I focus so much on the little things and yes, God has proven unbelievably faithful in those things, leading me step by step along His path, that when I look up and look back at where I have come, I realize with new appreciation how MUCH His guidance has affected my life.

For instance, each day I spend here, working on this book, I am again and again coming to Him for guidance and wisdom because I feel so inadequate and incapable of doing this thing but I am also so thankful for the opportunity and how much I am learning. And then, on this backpack trip it hit me that not only has God been teaching me to trust Him while writing this book, but He is teaching me to trust Him with every aspect of my future because I have NO IDEA where He will lead me next. I look back on myself, a year from now and I see a timid girl, excited to start a new adventure at Bible school but insecure and thinking I had to plan out my whole life. Now, I find myself back in this amazing place, totally at home, able to encourage others, giving my life over completely to God's will and not trying to force my own plans. I find myself overwhelmed with God's blessings. Not only has He led me back here, given me a project which I am passionate about to work on for His glory, but He has blessed me with innumerable opportunities like this, my third backpack trip into the Tetons!

So when Kenton said, "you just gotta stop and look where you are", I did stop and it hit me: here I am, in the middle Grand Teton National Park, hiking with an amazing group of people, in Wyoming! This time last year, I thought I'd be sitting in a classroom listening to lectures about unimportant people, places, and times. God works in mysterious and mighty ways which we can never anticipate. So I encourage you, to not only focus on each and every day, but to take some time to look around at where God has you; to praise Him for what He has done in your life and for where He has led you; to realize that each day that you have been trusting Him has been leading you higher and further towards His ultimate goal and plan for your life.

"and the Lord will continually guide you , and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail" - Isaiah 58:11

They believed what????

So I have been researching a lot lately for the Ancient Man book and come across everything from the fascinating to the disturbing to the creepy-McCreeps! From diabolical religious practices to uncanny resemblances to the Bible these ancient religions and myths I've been studying are constantly throwing me for a loop.

Check out this excerpt from an ancient Hindi manuscript:

Let us meditate on God, His glorious attributes, who is the basis of everything in this universes as its Creator, who is fit to be worshiped as Omnipresent, Omnipotent, Omniscient and self existent conscious being, who removes all ignorance and impurities from the mind and purifies and sharpens the intellect

I cannot help but be astounded by this description of a god so similar to the One true God! Hinduism does not currently recognize a single concept of god but more the supreme god manifests himself in many ways. Seeing this knowledge of the true attributes of God in ancient religions really gets you thinking.

Or this ancient Egyptian hymn to Amen-Ra:

Adoration be to Thee, O Maker of the gods, who hast stretched out the heavens and founded the earth!...Lord of eternity, maker of the everlastingness...creator of light...He heareth the prayer  of the oppressed one, he is kind of heart to him that calleth upon him, he delivereth the timid man from the oppressor

I am reminded of the Psalms:

Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me of my distress; be gracious to me and hear my prayer - Psalm 4:1

Even the gruesome human sacrifices of the Aztec people have the roots in the misinterpretation of some interesting spiritual allegories:

My well loved and tender son...know and understand that thy house is not here...This house wherein thou art born is but a nest, an inn at which thou has arrived, thy entry into this world; here dost thou bud and flower...thy true home is another

I am reminded that God calls us to live in this world but our true home is with Him:

If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. - John 15:19

For our citizenship is in heaven... - Philippians 3:20 

Another tradition from Teotihuacan (ancient Aztec city) states:

When we die, truly we die not because we will live, we will rise, we will continue living, we will awaken...

 This seems to come back to the concept of eternal life after death which we are promised through the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain - Philippians 1:21

For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord - Romans 6:23 

Somehow these ancient religions knew something of the truth. Of course, this study of ancient man gives a lot of evidence as to this fact. The book we are writing clearly outlines how Noah would have handed down the truths of God to his children and their children and so on but as the generations go on, things are bound to become distorted. Especially with the rebellion at Babel and the subsequent dispersion of peoples around the globe. It would be impossible for the truth to remain intact without divine intervention as God did with the nation of Israel. Even then, that chosen nation fell into sin and rebellion of God. However it is still awe-inspiring that the most obscure religion, the most diabolical, the most bizarre, has some concept of the truth. For truly, there is nothing new under the sun and as Pastor Don teaches at the Bible College, "Satan can't create, he can only pervert". Indeed Satan has avidly perverted God's message to the nations but there is still some truth left. It brings to mind the verse in Acts when Barnabas and Paul spoke to the people at Lystra:

"In the generations gone by He permitted all the nations to go their own ways; and yet He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good and gave you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness." (14:16-17)

Truly mankind is without excuse yet we continually "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). How great and terrible will be the day God judges the earth for our rebellion.