Thursday, October 18, 2007
Saturday Morning Hot Air Balloons
Saturday, 9/30 … Most of the residential community at LPTS awoke to hot air balloons landing all around us! It was about 8:15 and people were streaming out of their apartments … barefoot kids in their pj’s, grown-ups in their pj’s and bath robes, too! A cold wind had forced many balloons involved in a hot-air balloon race nearby down quickly and they were landing all over the campus! It was such a beautiful sight to see. The one in the attached photo is right in front of the chapel.
Phil and Mary Here
Friday, 9/22, Phil and Mary spent their entire day flying to Louisville from Colorado and boy, was I glad to see them. When the events of 9/11 occurred to me, their trip was already planned – what a “God thing” – and I simply could not wait for them to arrive and be enveloped in hugs from my family. Friday night we went to dinner at a Mediterranean restaurant over on Bardstown Road called Ramsie’s and had a great meal and great conversation catching up. It was good to share with them what had happened and absorb their wise counsel regarding letting go and moving forward. Saturday they went to the U of Louisville football game and said it was quite strange with regard to the crowd – not quite the enthusiasm you will experience at an Arkansas Razorback or an Oklahoma football game! The U of L is an urban university and they are much better known for their basketball, but their football team was ranked way up there in the polls at the beginning of the season. However, their new coach isn’t doing well with the team and they lost not only that game, but others, since. Anyway, while they went to the game, I studied and we went downtown that night to experience “4th Street Live,” a Louisville night spot. We ended up at a sushi restaurant that actually had the Razorback football game on the big screen because Arkansas was playing Kentucky! Unfortunately, Kentucky won, but we had fun anyway! Sunday we worshiped at Crescent Hill Presbyterian with my friend Deb and went to lunch afterwards. Sunday evening we found Phil a sports bar on Bardstown Road and went there to see the Cowboys play. I had to study Hebrew while there and Mary was quite a hoot teaching me ways to remember words like shama (listen, hear, obey) and raah (see, perceive), among many others. By the end of the evening, we had even the waiter learning Hebrew! The words she taught me have really stuck because I can just imagine her face and our laughter and the meaning comes right back to me! Yea Mary!! Monday morning bright and early I took them to the airport and it was very hard to let them go, but the memories of their trip here and how much it meant to me to have family here, will stay with me always. Thanks Mary and Phil, for going to the trouble and expense to come see me – I love you guys so much!!
At Long Last -----
Written 9/27/07:
My last blog was 9/6 and today is 9/27. You may wonder where I've been for the last 21 days, and I must tell you that I've been in a dark valley of despair. In my 9/6 post I talked about how God has guided me through darkness before, yet when faced with such sadness and despair, I could not find the light upon the horizon of that dark valley, I could not find hope, nor could I find a way to pray.
The greatest lesson learned through these 21 days has been that my trust must be in God alone. I trusted one person's word to me and when that word was renounced, thereby integrity, moral ethics, and friendship sacrificed and surrendered, it felt like the death of a dear friend, which I have mourned greatly. When I had cried for days and felt like I shouldn't have any more tears, I still felt like a dam holding back a lake.
Charles Campbell writes in his book, The Word Before the Powers, "Instead of serving God's will and sustaining human life in society, the powers make idols of themselves and place their own desires above God's purposes for humanity and creation. Most basically, the powers seek to survive. Their fundamental concern is their own survival, and nothing must get in the way of that. Everything else is expendable: human beings, compassion, humanity, the land - everything. For the powers, the only morality that matters is their own survival, and they will use any means necessary to ensure that survival."
One of the things I did to regroup was spend time in the chapel and specifically at the font. There I remembered my baptism, the hope that comes from knowing that I am a beloved child of God, and most importantly, the hope that IS the resurrection.
While I don't know how I am going to be able to stay here (financially), I do believe God has called me here ... to study, to learn, to expand my thinking, and to grow so I can better serve God's people. A huge door slammed in my face, but I am trusting God to show me a window through which I can crawl out onto the smooth, fragrant grass to begin anew. Please keep all this in your prayers for me and know that you are in mine.
May God's blessings be with you, Susie
My last blog was 9/6 and today is 9/27. You may wonder where I've been for the last 21 days, and I must tell you that I've been in a dark valley of despair. In my 9/6 post I talked about how God has guided me through darkness before, yet when faced with such sadness and despair, I could not find the light upon the horizon of that dark valley, I could not find hope, nor could I find a way to pray.
The greatest lesson learned through these 21 days has been that my trust must be in God alone. I trusted one person's word to me and when that word was renounced, thereby integrity, moral ethics, and friendship sacrificed and surrendered, it felt like the death of a dear friend, which I have mourned greatly. When I had cried for days and felt like I shouldn't have any more tears, I still felt like a dam holding back a lake.
Charles Campbell writes in his book, The Word Before the Powers, "Instead of serving God's will and sustaining human life in society, the powers make idols of themselves and place their own desires above God's purposes for humanity and creation. Most basically, the powers seek to survive. Their fundamental concern is their own survival, and nothing must get in the way of that. Everything else is expendable: human beings, compassion, humanity, the land - everything. For the powers, the only morality that matters is their own survival, and they will use any means necessary to ensure that survival."
One of the things I did to regroup was spend time in the chapel and specifically at the font. There I remembered my baptism, the hope that comes from knowing that I am a beloved child of God, and most importantly, the hope that IS the resurrection.
While I don't know how I am going to be able to stay here (financially), I do believe God has called me here ... to study, to learn, to expand my thinking, and to grow so I can better serve God's people. A huge door slammed in my face, but I am trusting God to show me a window through which I can crawl out onto the smooth, fragrant grass to begin anew. Please keep all this in your prayers for me and know that you are in mine.
May God's blessings be with you, Susie
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