I thank God for these 20 years and look forward to many more.
Showing posts with label Pictures. Show all posts
Happy 20th Wedding Anniversary To My Lovely Wife
Pics of the Week
Here's a pic taken tonight by my wife. We have our first snow of the year. It's just going to keep coming now.
Then a pic from a hike up Alyeska this week. Might not get a chance to do that again this year with the snowfall.
And, lastly, here's a pic of me dressed for "The Halloween Train Murder Mystery." It's actually taken in the back of an ambulance. My character was a great grandfather.
The Cleansing Flood
I once worked in a church in North Carolina for a summer that seemed to know a couple of songs much more than others. One of them was "Victory in Jesus." The other was "In the Garden." I can still hear the refrain of "Victory in Jesus" ringing out with the appropriate southern drawl.
Oh, victory in Jesus, My Savior forever
He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood
He loved me ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood
It was sung with gusto every time. And that was many times that summer.
That's kind of an unsettling image, that whole "cleansing flood" thing. You can almost picture a big old river of Jesus' blood washing away some sin. Kinda gross.
But, ya know...
That's kind of what floods do. They wash away a lot.
We didn't have a flood here on Sunday, but we came pretty close to having one. We had, as of Sunday evening, 6.93 inches of rain fall in a 24 hour period. Someone else told me that he had registered 13 inches of rain in a 36 hour period. I can't find where that figure comes from. It seems high. But we DID have a lot of rain.
We have a couple of little streams that run by our house and we had a brand new one on Sunday evening. We had lots of water in our back yard but it doesn't look like any water came into the house. Other places in the community had culverts washed away and river banks eroded. I know of one family that evacuated their house. Our fire department oversaw the arrival of 200 sandbags to the community in case of emergency and, if the rain had kept up, they would have been used. I had three friends out hunting who were stuck in their cabin as they endured torrential rains for 48 hours with 70 mile and hour winds. Other hunters had to be rescued.
We have a couple of little streams that run by our house and we had a brand new one on Sunday evening. We had lots of water in our back yard but it doesn't look like any water came into the house. Other places in the community had culverts washed away and river banks eroded. I know of one family that evacuated their house. Our fire department oversaw the arrival of 200 sandbags to the community in case of emergency and, if the rain had kept up, they would have been used. I had three friends out hunting who were stuck in their cabin as they endured torrential rains for 48 hours with 70 mile and hour winds. Other hunters had to be rescued.
We live in a rain forest so we're used to a lot of rain. However, we're not used to it coming all at once. :)
I took the following picture of Glacier Creek on Sunday evening after Youth Group. This was as high as I've ever seen it.
It looked a lot better the day after.
This "almost" flood washed out roads and cleared new paths down the mountains and moved streams and washed away trees. The rains washed the grounds and, I'm thankful, cleaned up a lot of the dog waste that's a constant presence in this community with so many dogs.
The flood cleans. It wipes away. It makes things new.
And, as I looked at the mountain (Alyeska) on Monday, it was clear that the rains brought a whole new look to our environment. The snow is coming. The changing of the seasons is here. We can, very visibly, look forward to the ski season.
Here's how it looked on Monday...
And, perhaps, so it is with the "cleansing flood" of Jesus blood. The old stuff, the waste, the debris, needs to be washed away from our lives. Sometimes it happens through the constant sprinkle -- the everyday experience of living one's life in the presence of God. But, sometimes, the floods come...and it's a deluge of grace.
Isn't that what the "Victory in Jesus" is all about?
Isn't that what the "Victory in Jesus" is all about?
Fun With A Double Rainbow
I was able to get about an hour hike up Alyeska (just chair 3 and chair 7 for those in the know) yesterday. It had been raining off and on most of the day. It was mostly "on" during the hike. But, I was able to see a double rainbow for a lot of walk. Too bad I just had my cheap cell phone to take a picture. But it seemed to do OK. Below you'll see the original pic, followed by three copies I was playing around with.
I waited for the tram to head up the mountain to snap the picture.
My Daughter Pitching in the Championship Game
It may have only been one pitch...but my daughter was called in to pitch in the championship game of the City-Wide Juniors Baseball Tournament. It was for 13-15 year olds. One pitch. She got the batter to pop out. But, alas, it wasn't enough for a victory.
One of the other parents got these shots of that one pitch.
Bike Ride This Morning Up Crow Creek Road
This road is about 6 miles uphill to the Crow Pass Trailhead. About 15 miles round trip from home. Good workout. I crashed going down it in 2005 and ended up in the hospital. Didn't crash today. And today is just about the first time since that crash I felt comfortable going "a little bit faster than I know I should" while coming down. Good ride to start the day.
