Bits and pieces.....It is often the bits and pieces of life that happen in the course of living that enrich and make life the gift that it is. Living in the middle of the mountains surrounded by wilderness those bits and pieces can be unique......

On our way to Colorado Springs for Thanksgiving driving out our County Road 3, we saw two of Marble's own walking. The temp outside was 13 degrees. Our Tacoma truck was packed with everything including our yellow lab, Starbuck. We stopped to offer them a ride even though Starbuck filled the back seat. They opted to accept the ride and climbed in the back with the dog who then proceeded to climb into the front seat sitting on me and stretching across the console to put her head on Jon. Thus we rode that way all the way to Carbondale. The kicker was that if we had passed them by, they would have known that it was the pastor because everyone in Marble knows our truck. We had a great ride to Carbondale. Bits and Pieces......

Shortly after returning to Marble we had our first "BIG" snowstorm. Of course Jon was in Grand Junction for an overnighter. It started snowing in the night. Now the key to keeping up with large snowstorms is keeping the snow shoveled. I already had my pajamas on. So I figured they were like long johns, so I through my snowpants over them and shoveled the decks twice for a total of nine inches in my pjs. The next morning I woke up to another foot on the deck. Out to shovel I went. However I had on something other than my pajamas. I shoveled a total of two feet of snow in 24 hours. Bits and pieces.....in the wilderness!



Yesterday Jon and I went to the local galleries, the school, and helped out at the church for the event called Christmas in Marble. We entered one gallery and it was magical! They had it decorated lovely and the Christmas music was playing and they had treats. Jon and I had a dance right in the gallery to the Christmas music. Good thing the owners were our parishioners and enjoyed our delight in the moment. Then we walked out. The snow was so beautiful and the white Aspen trees with their dark eyes along the trunk were singing their own silent Christmas carol. I breathed in the cold brisk air and thought, God how wonderful you are! Bits and pieces.......

Last night I looked out the window to see headlights from an unmoving vehicle. I told Jon that I thought someone was stuck. He went outside to see if he could be of help. Sure enough one of our own legendary "mountain men" had gotten stuck in a snow bank. The neighbor's wife and friend was shoveling snow from the wheels and the neighbor was trying to position his truck to pull our stuck friend out. As this was happening, our very own "mountain man" asked Jon if he could just call him Preacher. Jon said sure. The man then responded,"We have been talking about you and we have decided that we like you. We have decided that you are good, Preacher and we like having you here." These things are not said lightly in Marble! Bits and pieces......in the town of Marble.

So bits and pieces of life are all around us to add that richness to our souls! It is my prayer that even when things are just a little tough in my personal life and there may be sorrow in my heart, that I will always be open to the bits and pieces that I am convinced are God's way of letting us know He is with us and within us. "Emanuel, God with us!"

Okay, maybe I do have a tendency to "wander" off........
So yesterday I took Starbuck for a walk and was just going to stop below Daniel's Hill. That was going to be my turnaround point. But I just had this urge to trek up Daniel's Hill. So off Starbuck and I "wandered" and began the uphill climb. I briefly considered that Jon did not know that we were going up there but I reasoned that Daniel's Hill was local and thus was just like walking by Beaver Lake. That was my reasoning at any rate. I suppose that was debatable.

The thing about wandering up Daniel's Hill in the winter is that everything changes the higher you go. As you go up, you pick up more snow. The only human sounds are the ones you make. The sounds you do hear outside of yourself are nature's. There were birds chattering and the noise of the running creek. There was Starbuck frolicking and rolling in the snow. I felt the tensions of life roll away.

Daniel's Hill required cardio effort. So as we climbed I got into my zone as I call it. I was breathing deeply, my heart rate picked up to feed all the working muscles. My stride was that comfortable slow steady long pull. I was caught up in the rhythm of the effort required. I had songs in my head but could not sing them due to the effort of continuing the journey. I heard the old old carol "I wonder as I wander out under the sky..." I let it flow through my mind and echo in my heart. Again it became one of those transcending moments where eternity and the finite meet.

Once at the top, light snowflakes began to dance through the air. A large spruce whose branches were heavy with snow caught my attention. At its very top sat one lone bird. I lifted my face to the sky to feel the snow flurries and to breathe in the fresh air. Standing still my breathing and heart rate slowed to normal. I began to sing "O Come O Come Emanuel." There was only God to hear and He did not care if I was off-key. As I sang, the Holy Spirit began to sing through me and the song transcended the earthly moment to become a heavenly one. Starbuck sat quietly by. And in that moment I was glad that I had wandered off.......

"Rejoice, Rejoice, Emanuel. O come to thee O Israel."

And then there was peace......Yesterday I was sitting in the recliner reading a book and listening to Christmas music (yes, Christmas music). Oh by the way, I was sitting in front of one of my Christmas trees as well. Yes I am one of those people. I digress......As the familiar song was playing Jon was in the kitchen and would occasionally quietly hum along with the song. We both sing a little off key and that would mean that we tend to hum off key as well. I stopped reading and just smiled. It was such a sweet thing, a spontaneous thing; the music and my husband humming here and there. I took in a deep breath of the sweetness. I was aware of the Holy Spirit's presence as the Holy Spirit lives within us both. And then there was peace.

Life is full of moments of peace. And I love it when it just sneaks up on me like that moment yesterday. I am convinced that those moments of awareness are moments where eternity meets us within our finite world reminding us of the "home" to come. I know that those moments come to sustain us and remind us of the "Peace Giver." It reminds us that we are not alone and that truly we are just passing through this world.

"My peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." Jesus Christ

And then there was peace.......

Forever Changed.....Carrie Underwood sings a song by this title. It is about the subtle slip of a person's mind as she ages. When I hear this song, I cry. Daddy.......things have changed within your mind but you are still Daddy. You talk of people who have long gone to be with God as if they were by your side. Perhaps in a spiritual sense they are. Things have changed but you are still Daddy. Sometimes you have a blankness in your eyes and then suddenly they awake with awareness. You get frustrated because you know things have changed for you. But you are still Daddy.

As you sift through memories, I have begun to do the same, remembering you from the perspective of the little girl I once was. We had fun, Daddy. You and Billy Matthews could come up with such outrageous things like making turtle soup and frying frog legs from frogs you caught. I remember the frogs because I accidentally kicked over the bucket with the rest of them within. It almost scarred me for life, not really, it is another precious memory. You took us on trips all over the country so that we could see things and experience life. We had fun, Daddy. Things are different now, but you are still Daddy.

You walked me down the isle as a young lady and you whispered, "You can drop the aspirin now. Susan Williams and Karen Wooten, you will know what he meant. You love Jon, my cowboy Air Force Chaplain now pastor husband as if he were your own son. Your mind goes other places now, but you are still Daddy.

I wrote last winter about "the kiss" as I call it. It only happens in winter and it lasts for just a couple of minutes. At the end of the day as the sun drops below the mountains, it hits the snow covered peak of Treasure Mountain last. The peak turns colors that can only exist from God's pallet; pinks and mauves and almost burgundy. And then it is gone as if God brushes His lips across the earth to end the day.

Our lives are like those moments. In light of eternity, our lives are but the length of that final "kiss" of brilliant color at the end of a winter day. So Daddy, this journey that you are now on will in light of eternity be brief. But no matter where your mind retreats to, you will still be Daddy. To God you will always be his child, his beloved.

"Teach us to number our days aright that we might gain a heart of wisdom.....Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days." Psalm 90:12 and 14

The light is different now..... The earth has tilted for Fall and is on its way to tilt for winter. The sun pops up over the mountains later in the morning and drops down earlier in the evening. The peaks have donned their winter white clothing and the sky is acquiring that particular clear indescribable blue that it turns here at 8000 ft in winter. This world moves me and keeps me pondering the mysteries of God.

The light is different now.....A loved one's mind slips into a world that is difficult to reach. I remember a mind that was sharp. I see that mind withdraw to a place that is hard to comprehend. This change moves me and I feel things very deep within that I have never before experienced. This place too, keeps me pondering the mysteries of God.

The light is different now.....the holidays are close at hand. But this year there will be an empty seat at the family table. This sorrow is so deep that words are difficult to find. Yet there is a bittersweet feeling as I recall a loud laugh and almost nonstop talking. You were like a light, a meteor of sorts that flew across our hearts and lives and was all too soon gone. Megan........This loss moves me and also draws me to ponder the mysteries of God.

The light is different now.... The earth has tilted for Fall and is on its way to tilt for winter. The sun pops up over the mountains later in the morning and drops down earlier in the evening. The peaks have donned their winter white clothing and the sky is acquiring that particular clear indescribable blue that it turns here at 8000 ft in winter. This world moves me and keeps me pondering the mysteries of God.........and within the pondering I hear the Still Small Voice say I AM here.

And there was the bear......I had deliberated on which trail to take my yellow lab, Starbuck yesterday. I wanted to hike to Lost Creek and have a picnic but it was a little off the beaten track. My other option was a road that we call Ski Lodge Road because someone tried to build a ski resort off that road in the 70s. It never made it into a resort. Jon was not at home and so no one would miss us if we did not return. So I chose the more traveled Ski Lodge Road. It should be the safest trek.

I had been taking photos of bear prints up there for about three weeks but was not concerned because the road should not be the typical place to see a bear during that time of day, right? After all I had not seen the bear since seeing the prints. Well, this was my sound reasoning.

So Starbuck and I were on the way back home and had made it down to the curves and the aspen grove. Starbuck had been sniffing the air and acting as if she smelled something different. However she is always alert on that road because of all the deer and elk. But then I saw it and stopped dead in my tracks. Just below us standing up on its hind feet was a black bear right in the open, right in front of an aspen. It was between me and my way home. Suddenly Starbuck spotted it. She began barking like a wild thing. I was clinging to her leash (thankfully on a short lead) to keep her from getting away from me or dragging me toward the bear. Her barking got the bear's attention and it dropped on all fours and ran into the trees. Because it was running away from us I was able to appreciate its beauty. Only one little problem. The bear ran in the trees in the direction we had to go to get to the Bob Marley jeep (my jeep).

Well, since I am writing this you know we made it safely back. However I made the rest of our journey looking to the right and to the left and up because bears can climb trees! In last year's tradition of naming the bears I saw, I named this bear as well. I called it JB (Joy's Bear) because my friend, Joy lives on Ski Lodge Road. It is my hope that JB escapes the hunters who are out en masse! Praise God for watching over us as we walked on the "safer" trail!

Nomad......It occurred to me over the last few weeks that I am a nomad. Since I was 18 and left for college I have been a wanderer. God has taken me from place to place through Jon's ministry in the Air Force and now his pastorate in Marble, Colorado; the village at the end of the road.....Wow! We have moved every 2-3 years. I am like one of those Bedouin tribes who still roam from place to place. I am like the shepherds who wander from green pasture to green pasture. I am like the Native Americans who followed the buffalo and found winter camps sheltered from high plains wind. The wonders that I have seen and the people that I have met are a precious gift from my Maker. Yet God has over and over called me through Jon's ministry to leave those gifts behind to go to another place.

It is difficult to be a nomad when family is scattered all over and when those we love suffer. We nomads cry tears in silent places and pray prayers in sheltered places. We walk out our front doors to be with the people God has called us to love and we love them. Yet our hearts are full for those far away who cry because of the journey that life is taking them on.

So as a nomad, a wanderer, God has brought me to this place high in the mountains that lies at the end of the road. Its beauty and peacefulness has thrilled my soul in ways that I cannot express in words! It offers many silent places to cry and many shelterd places to pray. It offers peaks in which I have automatically shouted out Halleluia or simply sang the doxology,"Praise God from whom all blessings flow....." Yet I asked God as a nomad, do I have a "place"? The Still Small Voice spoke and said "your place is in Me." My place is Jesus. My home is Jesus. I have a place.

"All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country---a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he has prepared a city for them." Hebrews 11: 13-16