Dear Praying Friends,
Spring is always a faithful reminder that the gray dullness of winter will eventually give way to green. Though this year, spring barely had a chance to make an appearance before the summer heat was nipping at its heels! Nevertheless, I have always appreciated winter best in the rear-view mirror.
On Thanksgiving day I came down with COVID. Unlike my first round with “COVID Classic” at the start of the pandemic, this was an embarrassingly mild case; nevertheless I continued to test positive for nearly two weeks, long after the symptoms had disappeared. (Kind friends supplied me with Thanksgiving leftovers in my isolation!) As I was recovering, however, my cat, Lexi, suddenly became ill. When I could finally get her to the vet, she suspected cancer; but Lexi died before the test results came back (which confirmed it). She was only 10 years old. It was a sad time, to be sure; she had been a good companion. But I was grateful that she didn’t suffer long. While I miss her presence, I don’t expect to get another pet any time soon. Being pet-free right now does have some advantages.
I spent the Christmas holidays with some family friends and their extended family near Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, where we enjoyed good food, games, music, reading by the fire, and a LOT of snow, all surrounded by miles of forest. It was fun to watch the children (and the occasional daring adult) reach escape velocity sledding down the long, steep driveway.
Then in January I made a long-overdue trip to Florida to visit friends from my LAM days—my first air travel in five years! Seeing their “littles” as teens (or nearly so) and their teens as adults reminded me of how long it had been since I’d last seen them (six years!) We had a great visit, albeit a low-key one.
In March, my Utah colleague, former LDS bishop Earl Erskine completed his book called Fatal Flaws of the LDS Church. He had begun writing it more than two years ago; and for the past year, I’ve been consumed by editing and formatting the book, so it was gratifying to finally see it in print. It’s now available both in print and in e-book format for Kindle via Amazon.com. If you want to learn more about it, or order a copy, visit www.fatalflawsbook.com.
I also finished updating and remastering our 2011 film, Unveiling Grace, a task I’d begun last year, to get it ready for streaming services like Amazon Prime (still in process). It was first released twelve years ago, but DVDs are well on their way to obsolescence, so the film needs to upgrade to current standards for streaming media (the primary way it is viewed today). I enjoyed spending time back in the filmmaking “saddle” so to speak; it was good to dance with the Avid Media Composer software again, and it reminded me how much I miss film editing. After a long hiatus from editing (not counting the comparatively simple edits of our weekly programming), I had to re-learn a lot of the more complicated steps, and get acquainted with the new features of the software.
A friend gave me a cool birthday present this year—a Lego® 3D rendering of Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night.” The instruction book is huge, and lays out the building process, piece by tiny piece—all 2,316 of them! I enjoyed the building process; I often wish that God would give me an instruction manual, with all the intricate steps clearly presented, along with the final picture at the end! But alas. Even so, it was a good reminder that every weird little piece (of Legos and life) has its proper place and order, and while it’s difficult to visualize the end when you’re in the thick of it, it is stunning when complete!
Nevertheless, the struggle I shared in my last letter about not seeing any obvious “projects” on the near horizon remains a concern of mine, and a subject of much prayer. I have a couple doors to knock on, but so far nothing solid in the works, aside from the nuts and bolts of our ongoing media outreach. However, I am learning better how to trust Him, day by day, for each step. It’s forcing me to wake up each morning, take up the mantle of patience, and ask “What do you have for me today, Lord?” So far there’s always been something…some little piece of the Lego tapestry to snap into place.
I have an opportunity to put this particular existential crisis on hold for a few weeks this summer, however. On June 21 (Lord willing, and if all goes according to plan) I fly to Geneva, Switzerland, and make my way to nearby Beaune, France. There I will join a small tour group studying the deep, rich Christian spiritual heritage of viticulture and winemaking. It is led by Gisela Kreglinger, a German theologian who grew up in a multi-generational winemaking family. I learned about these annual “wine pilgrimages” through her book, The Spirituality of Wine (highly recommended!) several years ago. I passed the book on to my parents, who both read it. It impressed Dad so much that he actually contacted the author and wanted to sign me up for the next pilgrimage! It would have been something that my parents would have loved to have done in earlier, healthier years. Grateful as I was for their generous intent, I wasn’t comfortable traveling so far, amid their increasing health concerns. That was five years ago, and today their frequent admonition still rings in my ears: “Travel while you can!” So I am going on this pilgrimage not only for my own enrichment, but also in memory of my parents. I so wish they could join me.
This opportunity also has come in conjunction with another. West Side Church’s adult deputation team is spending a couple weeks in the Czech Republic, working with youth at a Christian English camp—a place for Czech youth to practice English and be exposed to the gospel in the most atheistic nation in the world (according to Pew Research). I’ve been invited to join that team, and I am looking forward (albeit with some trepidation!) to these new experiences.
There are about two weeks between the end of the wine pilgrimage (which concludes in Germany) and the start of the Czech short-term mission. So a couple of friends and travel companions from years past will be joining me for much of that time. We will meet in Prague, and travel from there. We are hoping to spend time in Prague, Dresden, Berlin, and finally Kraków, Poland, at which point my friends “abandon” me to my own devices for a few days before the mission team arrives in Prague.
All in all, I’ll be gone from June 21 and returning August 2. When I look at the whole grand adventure, I vacillate between eager anticipation…and anxiety. Six weeks is a long time, and it’s a lot of ground to cover. It feels like getting back on a horse I’ve not ridden in a long, long time! But I’m sensing that God wants to shake me loose from the cloistered comfort zone I’ve been constructing these past few years, and expanding my vision and imagination, and maybe—dare I hope?—giving me some fresh insight into what kinds of things He may be calling me to in this next chapter of life.
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FOR YOUR PRAYERS…
* Praise God for the completion of the book Fatal Flaws and the remastering of Unveiling Grace. It was a long, large undertaking. Pray that God will use them as He wills. And also please pray for patience as I await the answer to the question of “What’s next?” as God reveals His next plans and purposes for me.
* Pray for my excursion through Europe, that my eyes will see and my ears will hear what it is that the Lord wants to show me during this time, as I climb back into the tall saddle of travel. (And I’d love prayers for health, safety, smooth connections, no lost luggage, and minimal travel hassles!)
Blessings in Christ,
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