Defining--Redefining Success in Ministry

Humming it up

One of the great joys of our new home are the hummingbirds. We had an excellent spot just outside the kitchen table lakeside bay window for a feeder.  After dealing with the raccoons who kept messing with it, we finally figured out a system that worked.

What many humming bird feeders have seen is that the hummers seem more interested in fighting than in feeding. Just as I am writing this, by the bay window, a hummer comes up to feed, but before he can get his long bill into the feeder, another comes by and runs him off.

Hummer friends, please recognize that THERE IS PLENTY OF NECTAR FOR ALL!!

Yes, Brenda refills the feeder when it nears empty. If they drank a cup a day, the next day there would be more.

I think there is a key lesson herein for humans. We get so greedy that we fight, even when there is an abundance. We could BETTER enjoy what we have, if we weren't so worried about what someone else has!

I'm gonna think about it. What can hummers teach us?

TIRED!

I have been writing these last few blogs about our travels out west. We have been back just over a week, and it strikes me how long it took me to recover. Most of our time we were at  elevations above 5000 feet which used to give me insomnia and anorexia.  I didn't really notice anorexia, and I seemed to sleep fine, so that probably wasn't the problem.

We do tend to go-go-go very hard. In fact Andrew mentioned this which made me stop and think that yes, we don't want to waste any opportunity, so we may over-do a bit.  Recall our family motto: "If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing."

I have had plenty to do since our return and that hasn't helped. My personality does NOT do well when I am over-loaded with tasks.  Pacing myself, as Andrew observed, is not my strong suit.

The last couple of days have been better. Yesterday evening and this AM we have been prepping flower beds to receive the 30 day lilies that my brother and his wife mailed us from their garden. I bought some larirope today to make the border of the beds. My hope is to get them in the ground tomorrow.

We are happy to be home, looking at our own pond and sleeping in our own beds. There have been a LOT of Canada geese here, and there were none when we left in mid-July. There are now two great blue herrons.  The grass needs mowing, and there's plenty of tasks to do. Next month we do a wellness week at Laguna Beach and celebrate the Feast of Trumpets.  From there I do a couple of weeks in IT.  I know how tired I will be from that.

Until then, remember, If it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing.

American Bison

The animal we saw in greatest abundance was the American Bison, of “buffalo”. Right outside Glacier NP we saw a large herd numbering around 50-60. In Yellowstone, in the Lamar Valley we saw hundreds. In other spots around Yellowstone, we saw smaller herds of 20-40.

These are impressive animals, shaggy, some still shedding their thick winter coats. Most had calves following along, and we saw several cases where bulls had an apparently estrous cow that he was guarding. We got to see a couple very close. Several were rolling around in “wallows” covering themselves with dust. Twice we saw bulls walking down the road, obstructing traffic, with impunity.

These were the dominant food and clothing source for the Indians and for the early settlers. It is clear why. They are huge, and one could provide a LOT of meat. You’d have to kill a LOT of antelope to equal one bison.

I’m SURE this is not the case, but the animals appeared pretty docile. I’m guessing only the calves are subject to predation.

These are GRAND animals and great symbols of the American West. I’m glad they have been preserved in great numbers.

Ooops- Virginia City, MT

Our motel managers and I became good friends.  They gave us a great tip about our trip up to Glacier NP. They suggested we take a little side-trip to Virginia City, MT, the first territorial capital of MT.

This was a town that still contained its original buildings. It was the site of a gold strike in the early 1860's and the city came to be shortly thereafter. The buildings were interesting, and we love history and so seeing these places was a delight. The docents were knowledgeable and friendly.

One of the MOST STRIKING characteristics was that it was NOT at all commercial. No one tried to sell us. There was a bus tour and a horse-drawn carriage tour.  We chose to walk and see things at our own pace.

Here's the VA City barber shop.  My dad was a barber, so this gets close to home, since I spent many hours in his shop as a shoeshine boy.

I took this photo in VA City. If you have ever been in bear country, this has BIG meaning.

Here's a photo that could surprise you. Back in the lat 1970's Brenda and I did a historical architecture tour in Lexington, VA. One of the things I recall from that many years back was that the old time construction supervisors would cut structural beams down, losing a lot of their stenght. They would build structures taller and taller until they got too tall, and had a collapse.  Thank you we have made some advances.

We saw this bad engineering other places on this trip too.

This was a neat little side trip and I would recommend it to anyone.

Wall Drug and The Corn Palace

One of the MOST famous places in southern SD is WALL DRUG.  They post signs for maybe a hundred miles to the east and west of their store. Anyone traveling on I-90 through SD has seen the signs. We wanted to go back. 

            The store is HUGE with many sub-parts. You can buy new or used lassoes there, the first I can recall seeing. You can probably buy most anything there. They allegedly had “free coffee and a donut” for veterans, and I was whetting my appetite. However it was near lunch hour and the lines were so long, we didn’t want to delay. We did buy a “Where the Heck is Wall Drug?” bumper sticker for each of our kids, commemorating that first trip.

Near the east side of the state is the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD. Early in the 20^th century, two enterprising guys were looking for a way to get more tourists into town. There had been a failed attempt to build a corn museum in Sioux City, IA, so the men said, let’s do it in Mitchell. They promptly raised a bunch of money from local folk, and started it. After a few years, it was so popular, especially for the annual corn festival, it was moved a block south and a MUCH bigger building was constructed, then expanded.

The most noteworthy aspect of the Corn Palace are the huge murals using various colors of corn to make the art. We watched the video about the founding of the corn palace.

A HS sophomore, Jamie, served as our guide for describing the murals. Brenda and I were both impressed with his maturity, so I grabbed a photo with him.

After the Corn Palace, we visited an interesting store across the street. It featured a model of the Jewish tabernacle, supposedly to the right dimensions. It was interesting to see and was built by a 7^th-day Adventist. It wasn’t there 24 years back.  But it was neat.

From here, we merely had to drive home—we still were over 1100 miles from home.

Headed Home - Mt Rushmore

On Saturday 3 August, we headed eastward. Sunday 4 August we reached Mt. Rushmore. It was threatening to rain and the sky was overcast. We made a quick pit-stop and then walked toward the carvings.

     The last time we were here the kids were little, and it was near sunset. Now it was Brenda and I and early Sunday morning. The carvings are amazing, and more so when we learned of how they were done.

     After taking pictures, we hobbled down to the "Artist's Studio" which had been the last office of the original conceiver and carver,  Sculptor Gutzon Borglum, aided by his son, Lincoln, did the carving based on a scale model of 1"= 1' Borglum had made.

     Borglum had been previously hired to do the Civil War carving on Stone Mountain in GA. He had been fired from that job, for some reason, and had chiseled off the work he had done, and incurred the wrath of his employers, so he was HAPPY to leave for the far West.

     The park ranger showed us how the workers had painstakingly reproduced on the mountain side Borglum's models. Borglum had carefully selected a SE-facing site so that the lighting would be good.  I would never have thought of that, but it worked to a charm. We had seen it late in the day and early, and it was well lit each time. He had also picked a mountain composed of the ideal type of rock to carve well, and not deteriorate quickly.

     After the talk by the well-studied park ranger, I had to ask some questions. 

     "How had the workers gotten to the top of the mountain?"

     "They either walked up, or the brave ones could ride a bucket up a cable that stretched from just outside the studio to the top."
      "How many workers were killed in the project?"
      "No lives were lost over the 14 years of work."

Wow, that is even MORE amazing.  Here 'tis.