Meditation Journaling 3

4 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

In the mid-sixties, we learned from Pastor Peter Lord and his dear wife Johnnie how crucial meeting with Jesus one-on-one-is for an alive Christian life. We couldn’t be more thankful. It has meant watching God do all that He has promised, such as showing his compassion as we go through various degrees of pain and anxiety and learning to trust Him and rejoice in the way he gives us love and peace. 

Journaling is one of the most pleasant things I know.  On my eleventh birthday, my parents gave me a journal. They knew I liked to read and write. I still have it. On my closet shelves, I have 130 journals that I have written as an adult. I’m starting to enjoy reading them again.

I understand that not everyone likes to read or write. Sometimes people have too many work-related items to go over. It’s still possible, though, to have a personal connection with God. the Internet and mobile phones can be a great help.  Lunchtimes are good times to listen to God if you’re on your own. Walking is another option, as are audiobooks for the car for long drives. Our Father likes to listen when we tell him our secrets or show him our love in praise. He will fulfil all needs according to His riches in glory.  

If you are thinking about journaling or if you like reading about it as I do, here are some tips that work for me. If you start to journal, you will soon come up with plenty of tips of your own.

  1. Find a regular time and place where you won’t be disturbed. 
  • You can use any kind of paper you want. You can buy very inexpensive spiral notebooks. However, you may want to buy them at a real office supply because the writing shows through the other side on the less expensive ones. 
  • I love buying big heavy blank books, decorating the covers, and writing to my heart’s content on the thick, unlined paper.
  • I have met so many people who love pens. It’s not hard to find the one pen in the universe you like best. Journaling is a life-long joy and needs to be as pleasant as it can be.
  • Of course, we need a Bible and perhaps some reference books to guide us. I’ll give you some recommendations as we go along.
  • You might want to decorate your books as people are now decorating their Bibles. You can get stickers or draw and paint your pictures in your journal. You can also obtain books that tell you how to decorate a Bible or a journal.  My favorite is, Honoring the Spirit, by Sue Kemnitz * 
  • Keep a pad to write down scriptures that come alive for you. I enjoy sticky notes because when I need a bit of encouragement, it’s always written out and stuck to a mirror or the refrigerator. 

“I m convinced that my God will fully satisfy every need you have, for I have seen the abundant riches of glory revealed to me through the Anointed One, Jesus Christ!” Philippians 4:19 (TPT)

*Precious Bible Promises, over 1000 Promises From God’s Word Categorized For Easy Access. 

*Honoring the Spirit, by Sue Kemnitz. “I am with you always.”

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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Random Memories of Germany

3 Jan

The Doctor

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

When we lived in Heidelberg (1980-1983), we lived in an apartment building, furnished by the U.S. government.

Our apartment building – ours was the upper left, on the end

The dormer windows to the right were the maids rooms windows

It was a three-bedroom, one bathroom, living room/dining room combination room, and kitchen.  In our particular housing area (Mark Twain Village, or affectionately known as MTV), the buildings had “maids rooms” above one side of the stairwell – one room for each of the apartments in that stairwell – and the other side of the stairwell was open space.  We lived under the side that had the open space.  The maids room consisted of two twin beds, a desk with chair, and a wardrobe.  There was one bathroom along the hall for use by all the maids rooms.  That’s where we housed visitors that came to us.  Fortunately, I had grown up sleeping on twin beds, and had two twin bedspreads that fit nicely.  Unfortunately, that room became our “junk” room until someone came to visit, then we had to clean it out rather quickly.  But it worked.  Also, down in the basement were the washers and dryers (for the entire stairwell), and “cages” for anything we couldn’t fit in our apartment – bicycles, etc.

I don’t remember a lot of turn-over with occupants in the stairwell, while we were there.  That was a good thing.  The family living below us consisted of a military man and his wife, who was from France.  She was an excellent cook, and showed me many things that the French people cooked.  Unfortunately, none of it lasted with me!

Below this family, and on the first floor, lived a military doctor and his family.  He had grown up living in Brazil with his missionary parents, and spoke fluent Portuguese, as that is the language of that country.  He also spoke English.  His wife was Brazilian.  They attended our church.  I taught their oldest daughter the piano for a while.  She was amazing!!  His name was Dr. Lipsi.

There are two events that involved Dr. Lipsi while we were there:

1.  One day I was in our kitchen, with Janet, and was cutting some soft cheese for some snacks.

Credit Pixabay

Since it was soft cheese, and I was using a new cheese cutter (like the one in the picture), I “pushed” the cheese forward with my thumb.  Janet’s eyes grew wide and she exclaimed…”OH!!”  When I looked at my hand, I realized I had sliced quite a chunk off my thumb!  It was fairly deep, but I hadn’t even felt it!  I wrapped it in a towel, putting pressure on it, and ran down to see Dr. Lipsi.  He very generously took came of it – telling me to “keep pressure on it!”  Like I was about to let go!!

2.  Our Karen had started wearing contact lenses while we were in Heidelberg.

1980 – Judy, Janet and Karen with friends in D.C., before going to Germany

Karen in her glasses

1982 – Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany, inside the Eagle’s Nest

Karen in contact lenses; Judy’s mother, Judy, Janet

One evening, as she was about to go out with friends, she came dashing back into the apartment in tears, saying that the wind had blown one of her contact lenses out of her eye, and she couldn’t find it!  She was in a panic about it, but fortunately, had a spare lense.  So she inserted it, and left with her friends.  When Dr. Lipsi heard the commotion, we told him the situation.  He took his flashlight, went outside, and FOUND THAT LENSE – in the dark evening, ON A BUSH!!  What persistence!!  We were so grateful.  We had just given up and thought it was gone for good.  WOW!

~~~~~~~~~~To Be Continued~~~~~~~~~~

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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Is This an Omen for 2021

2 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

I’m late with my Happy New Year post. I even had a graphic made in advance..

The days since Christmas seem to have flown. We are heading to Florida for the winter so along with putting away Christmas decorations, I have been busily preparing the house for winter. Sadly, although I know I have cleaned bathrooms and floors, and picked up bits, the house doesn’t look tidy. Oh well, I still have some time before our move. I may even get around to tidying up the closet.

I hope this busyness isn’t an omen for 2021, unless of course, it is a sign that life in 2021 will be filled with happy, busy days, loving my family and my Savoir!

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2020 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

The Week of Christmas

31 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Six months out of the year we live in easy driving distance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and we visit the park several times per year. Usually we make day trips but for our trip last Monday, we decided to make it an overnighter. In our younger days night driving in dense fog over mountains didn’t phase my husband but. we are past those younger days!

Our daughter loves the park as much as we do and once she received approval to have time off work over Christmas we began planning a visit. We monitored the weather reports daily to choose two days with no rain or ice in the forecast. If you have watched long range predictions, you know how fickle they can be. Finally, we decided on the Monday and Tuesday before Christmas and snapped up a hotel reservation.

We set off Monday morning planning to have lunch in one of the picnic areas. To our surprise they were all closed. No problem! Almost as soon as one exits the park and enters Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, there is a Krispy Kreme restaurant. How convenient. We celebrate birthdays with KK doughnuts and our daughter’s birthday was coming up on the 28th.

Doughnuts and coffee make a fine lunch!

Our favorite place in the park is Cade’s Cove and we always snap photos. This trip we got some special pictures at two of the churches.

I think this is the Methodist Church

We knew December 18 was the celebration of Wreaths Across America but we didn’t realize the ceremony extended to small church cemeteries. It was moving to see wreaths on the graves of the long ago soldiers and know their names were still being spoken. We took photos of several and this is one of the oldest.

If you aren’t familiar with Cade’s Cove, it is a rural settlement that was retained for historical use when the Park service bought the land and relocated the residents. Driving along an 11 mile loop road you pass old homesteads and I like to imagine I can hear voices of the past. Speaking of imagining. I have been asking God to let me see an angel. I have no idea of the form and appearance of an angel but I do believe they exist. After taking this picture, I was surprised to see the rainbow arc. I have decided to call it an angel.

I think the best part of the day was seeing families exploring together and learning about our past.

The sad part of the day came when I realized the usual spirit of camaraderie among strangers was totally missing. Gone were the smiles and casual greetings. Have we become afraid to smile? I have noticed in myself that I tend to avert my face when passing people in stores. I know that masks cover our smiles but I purpose to work on eye contact and smiling so big right through my mask that my eyes can’t help but crinkle my laugh lines.

We did finally get a picnic.

Oh and we saw Elk as we were exiting the park!

This fella was the only one in a large field. By his expression I would guess either he was in “time out” or the rest of the herd weren’t in the mood for his mood.

Three days later we woke up to a rare white Christmas!

We will be staying home tonight for New Year’s Eve. There are a couple of specials I want to watch but I am sure I will be asleep before the new year comes in. Do you have any special plans to celebrate the new year? I have to see if I have any black eyed peas in the freezer!

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2020 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Mount Rushmore Road Trip Part 10

30 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 10 Friday 

9/18/2020 

Today I lett Rapid City and headed north on I-90/SD-34 toward Newell, SD.  My route took me thru Sturgis, SD where I stopped to visit the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum located in downtown Sturgis.  This museum has two floors with some 100+ beautifully restored rare and antique motorcycles dating from 1905.  The museum also has been intrumental in supporting the annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally (similar to Bike Week in Daytoa, FL). 

Just a couple of miles east of Sturgis on SD-34 I visited the Fort Meade Museum located on the Old Fort Meade, SD site.  Established in 1878 the fort was designed to protect the early settelers and prospectors from the Sioux Indians after the Black Hills Treaty of 1877 was broken.  This museum is located in the old Army Headquarters building and has three floors diplaying artifacts and memorabilia discribing the life of the early Army personnel and their families stationed at the fort over its lifetime. In the parade ground, across from the museum is an historical marker which tells the story of our National Anthem.

As I headed north on SD-79 from Old Fort Meade, I saw a sign for the Ride-N-Rest Motorcyclee Motel just off the hiway and had to stop for a photo.  i didn’t see anyone around to ask about the motel or an office where a person would check-in/register.

But the acommidations (if that’s what they are) were very unusual.  There was a row of individual small buildings (cabins?) that looked as though they might be big enough for two people (one bed) and a motorcycle (not sure about a 3-wheeler).  Each building (cabin?) had its own name.  There was the General Store, Bank, Doctor, Saloon, US Marshal, Fire House, Barber Shop and etc.  What a “Hoot” that was!

Another 25 miles north on SD-79 I visited the Newell Museum located in Newell, SD.  This small museum is located in the same building as the City Hall (which once was the Newell Garage), and displays many artifacts and memorabilia related to the history of the early settelers and businesses in the Newell and Butte county. SD area dating from the mid-1800s.

Now I headed west 15 miles on US-212 to visit the Tri-State Museum located just south of the Belle Fourche River in Belle Fourche, SD.  This museum has artifact collections related to the early natives, settelers, prospectors, ranchers, and cowboys, who have built the surrounding region dating from the 1800s.

I headed south on US-85 to visit the D.C. Booth Historic National Fish Hatchery located adjacent to the Rainbow Trout Pond in Spearfish, SD.  On the way, I passed thru Jolly Dump, SD (I get a kick out of the varied creativity of some people when naming towns).  This attraction has an amazing history.  As part of the Spearfish Hatcheries Complex, the hatchery was one of 70 opened in 1896 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to provide Rainbow Trout to the rivers of SD and Wyoming.  The system continues to breed and release 20-30 thousand Rainbow Trout to those rivers each year.

Now I headed another 15 miles southeast on US-85 to visit the Adams Museum located in the former 1892 Franklin house in Deadwood, SD.  This museum was founded by W. E. Adams, who bought the Franklin house in 1920, and is furnished with original Adams family Queen-Ann furniture.  The Museum’s collection include artifacts and memorabilis dating from Deadwood’s Wild West history including those of Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane to name just a few.

One of the things that Deadwood is famous for is the place where Wild Bill Hickok was killed by Jack McCall on August 2, 1876.  I walk a few blocks to the Saloon No. 10 on Main Street, where a daily Main Street shootout reinactment was to take place.  I met another tourist and we sat on a bench across the street from Saloon No. 10 talking about our travels while awaiting the activities.  The 2:00 Shootout time came and passed, and  I was wondering when they were going to block off the street.  About 2:15 a man came out of the saloon and said the shootout had been cancled for that day.  Bummer!

I walked back to my car and drove up Main Street a mile or so to visit the Days of ’76 Museum, located there in Deadwood, adjacent to Whitewood Creek.  This amazing museum features 50+ old west horse drawn wagons of all types, from carriges to stagecoachs.  All these in honor of, and to represent, the efforts of the many early prospectors, settelers, miners, and muleskinners who came to the Black Hills area during the 1876 gold rush years.

Now I headed back toward Rapid City and my motel.  By the time I got to the motel I was really hungry.  I warmed up my leftover Mexican Pizza from last night and enjoyed that delicious taste treat again.  Then I recorded my day’s activities and tried to watch a little TV.  But 

I couldn’t stay awake, so I gave it up and piled into bed for a good night’s sleep.

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 63 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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Wisdom

28 Dec

My Take

DiVoran Lites

Meditation Journaling

No wonder followers of Christ know how to defeat fear and illness. “Jesus loves us, this we know, for THE BIBLE TELLS US SO.” When we choose to immerse ourselves in any version of the Holy Bible for a short or long time, God awards us with wisdom, peace, love, and joy. Instead of knowing the Bible by rote, I study it for ways to communicate with God. For me, the way to immerse myself in true meditation is to write things down, and that’s where journaling comes in. 

In the Bible, the words “do not be afraid” appear 365 times. Meditate, meditation mind, ponder, think thinking, and thought a total of 445 times. Wisdom and Knowledge get 391. The Bible verses are like essential oils; they soak into our hearts and do wonderful things for our bodies, souls, and spirits for all the years of our lives. 

Pixabay

Although I journal and study the Bible, I still worry sometimes. However, I am closer to knowing how to be free, and that’s where my peace comes from. 

For me, the best antidote to despair is to recognize when I’m starting down the slippery slide of anxiety. Alerted, I say Jesus a few times until the fear passes. It doesn’t take long for the Lord to switch me over to what he wants to discuss with me.   

“Solid food (for the soul) is for the mature, whose spiritual senses perceive heavenly matters. And they have been adequately trained by what they’ve experienced to emerge with understanding the difference between what is truly excellent and what is evil and harmful.’” TPT Hebrews 5:14

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

The Lesson of Shrek the Sheep

27 Dec

SUNDAY MEMORIES

Judy Wills

I frequently find something on facebook that I like to share.  The following is one of those items.  I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did.  It holds great meaning to me as a believer in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Judy

This is Shrek the sheep. He became famous several years ago when he was found after hiding out in caves for six years. Of course, during this time his fleece grew without anyone there to shorn (shave) it. When he was finally found and shaved, his fleece weighed an amazing sixty pounds. Most sheep have a fleece weighing just under ten pounds, with the exception usually reaching fifteen pounds, maximum. For six years, Shrek carried six times the regular weight of his fleece. Simply because he was away from his shepherd.

This reminds me of John 10 when Jesus compares Himself to a shepherd, and His followers are His sheep. Maybe it’s a stretch, but I think Shrek is much like a person who knows Jesus Christ but has wandered. If we avoid Christ’s constant refining of our character, we’re going to accumulate extra weight in this world—a weight we don’t have to bear.

When Shrek was found, a professional sheep shearer took care of Shrek’s fleece in twenty-eight minutes. Shrek’s sixty pound fleece was finally removed – enough wool to make suits for 20 men!  All it took was coming home to his shepherd.

I believe Christ can lift the burdens we carry, if only we stop hiding. He can shave off our ‘fleece’—that is, our self-imposed burdens brought about by wandering from our Good Shepherd.

Author unknown

“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30.

From Judy in 2020 – what a GREAT way to begin the new year!!

Judy is living in Central Florida with her retired U.S. Air Force husband of 50+ years. Born in Dallas, Texas, she grew up in the Southwestern United States.She met her husband at their church, where he was attending the university in her town. After college and seminary, he entered the Air Force, and their adventures began.They lived in eight of our United States, and spent six years in Europe, where their oldest daughter was born. She was a stay-at-home mom for many years .

  Judy has always been involved with music, both playing the piano and singing. Always interested in exercise, she was an aerobic dancing instructor, as well as a piano teacher for many years, and continues to faithfully exercise at home.

After moving to Central Florida, she served as a church secretary for nearly nine years.Her main hobby at this point in time is scanning pictures and 35mm slides into the computer. She also enjoys scrapbooking.She and her husband have two married daughters and four grandchildren, including grandtwins as well as a great-grandson. She and her husband enjoy the Disney parks as often as possible.

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25 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

During the Christmas season, I’ve used a lot of photos from Pixabay and Canva to create social media graphics but this one is my favorite. I love the balance of the ages old Christmas story and modern decorations. I added the Merry Christmas message.

All of us at Old Things R New treasure our friends and readers and wish you a most happy and joyful Christmas!

PS We are having a white Christmas here in Western NC! Not a lot of snow but the ground is white and we are excited!

Luke 2:10-16

And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
    and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

15 When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.

I'm a winner

After my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2020 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

Tags:

Mount Rushmore Road Trip Part 9

23 Dec

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

Day 9 Thursday 

9/17/2020 

This morning I headed back into the Black Hills National Forest to visit the Civilian Conservation; Corps (CCC) Museum located in Hill City, SD.  This museum displays photographs and arifacts discribing the men and the projects related to South Dakota between 1933 and 1942.  The museum indicates that at least 30,000 men worked on CCC projects in SD alone with as many as 3-million being involved, nation-wide. during the same time period.

While I was in Hill City I tried to visit Wade’s Gold Mine but it was closed because of COVID-19, so I headed for the Mount Rushmore National Memorial to experience that great patriatic work of art.  A person really can’t imagine just how big the monument is from photos or videos.  When you are standing there looking up at it, the magnitude of the sculpture takes your breath away.  Wikipedia tells me that the project was started by Gutzon Borglum in 1925 with a commision orcastrated by Doane Robinson, known as “The Father of Mount Rushmore.“  The sculpture was completed in 1943 by Borglum’s son Lincoln after his father’s death in 1941.  It is said that some 400 workers were employed during  the 18 years of the project, and amazingly without a single fatality. 

After that exhilarating experience it was only a few miles northeast on US- 16 to visit the National Presidental Wax Museum located in Keystone, SD.  This is an amazing and informative museum with life-size wax figures of all 45 United States presidents, as well as 55 other important figures who have been an influence on our presidents during their years in office.  The self-guided audio narritive highlights the significant events each president, and his administration, are known for.

While I was in Keystone I visited The Big Thunder Gold Mine.  This attraction has it all for those wanting to experience the excitement of the Old West.  There is a guided tour of the mine (originally called the Gold Hill Lode) similar to many others that drew prospectors to the Black Hills area during the gold rush days of the 1890s.  There is a museum filled with antinqe mining tools and equipment used by the prospectors and miners to bring the gold and silver ore from the mines.  And best of all, you can acctually pan for gold in the mine (with all the necessary instruction and equipment provided by trained Big Thunder  staff).

As I was leaving Keystone I drove past Dahl’s Chainsaw Art schulper garden and just had to stop and take a photo or two.  This guy is amazing!  Jarrett Dahl has a huge display of chainsaw art pieces of every size and discription lining Iron Mountain Road (US-16A).  He or one of his team are constantly at work on a new design that you can watch take shape.  You can even request your own design and watch it being carved (for the right price).  Jarrett says his specialties are bears and eagles.

On the way to the motel in Rapid City I stopped to take a look at the Chapel on the Hill located just south of SD-44 in the Canon Lake Park area.  The chapel has an amazing story behind it.  Built in 1969 by Anton A. Dahl, the chapel is an exact reproduction of the famous Borgund Stavkirke in Laerdal, Norway.  A museum on the property is housed in an authentic 1800s Scandinavian log cabin that displays artifacts representing typical Nordic lifestyle of that time period.

Before getting to the motel, a Taco Bell caught my eye and I stopped in for one of their Mexican Pizzas with one of their desserts.  That rounded out my day with a happy tummy.  After checking into the motel, I recorded my exciting day’s activities and slept like a log. 

—–To Be Continued—–

Bill is a retired Mechanical engineer living with his wonderful artist/writer wife, DiVoran, of 63 years in Titusville, Florida. He was born and raised in the Southwest, did a tour of duty with the U.S. Navy, attended Northrop University in Southern California and ended up working on America’s Manned Space Program for 35 years. He currently is retired and spends most of his time building and flying R/C model airplanes, traveling, writing blogs about his travels for Word Press and supporting his wife’s hobbies with framing, editing and marketing.  He also volunteers with a local church Car Care Ministry and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum there in Titusville.  Bill has two wonderful children, two outstanding grandchildren, and a loving sister and her husband, all of whom also live in Central Florida, so he and DiVoran are rewarded by having family close to spend lots of quality time with.

One of Bill’s favorite Scriptures is:  John 10:10

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For the Love of God

21 Dec

My Take

DiVoran Lites

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When we moved to Florida in 1965, we went looking for a church in the denomination (religious belief system) we were used to. We found two, but one of them had air conditioning, so we chose that one. We were in for a lot of good surprises because we began to listen and learn. We went to church several times a week and left our children in the nursery. As the years flew by, they graduated into evening classes of their own. 

We kept going because our preacher and his dear wife were so close to God and their family that we wanted what they had. Also, the people in that church were wise, gentle and kind. The first thing they taught was that God loves us. Did you know that? I didn’t. But once we knew, our lives began to change for the better.

The most important thing we learned was that it was good to study the Bible for ourselves and pray alone every day.

While Bill chose to listen to Bible audiobooks on the way to work, I chose to do morning devotions while our two young children watched Captain Kangaroo.  Someday, I’d like to share the routine I have fallen into and what it does for me. 

Being at church is a tremendous help, but it can’t fill all our needs for fellowship with the Lord Jesus. All Christians know that Jesus died on a cross to atone for our sin. That is one thing all Christian churches teach, and there are many other things they agree upon.  

You see, sometimes we believe so strongly that we are in the only church that knows everything about God and the Bible that we think we might suffer if we went anywhere else.  

How do we choose churches to attend out of all the Christian churches within our reach? Most of the time, we stick to the denominations we grew up in. If our parents went to church or sent us to church, we learned what they had been taught, and our children stayed in the denomination or gave up church altogether. 

  But sometimes we may change churches for one reason or another; a move or a marriage can trigger that, and so can the fussing that might get into a church. Sometimes we get hurt and don’t want to go there anymore. 

As important as belonging to a group of Christians is, going to church is not enough. Love, peace, and joy come through the Holy Spirit straight to our hearts. Holy churches, large and small, are almost everywhere, and as Christians, we want to be involved in them and support the wonderful things they do.   

If you need to know where to go to church, ask your Father, who is in heaven and who is in you for yourself. While you’re at it, tell him thank- you for his love. 

DiVoran has been writing for most of her life. Her first attempt at a story was when she was seven years old and her mother got a new typewriter. DiVoran got to use it and when her dad saw her writing he asked what she was writing about. DiVoran answered that she was writing the story of her life. Her dad’s only comment was, “Well, it’s going to be a very short story.” After most of a lifetime of writing and helping other writers, DiVoran finally launched her own dream which was to write a novel of her own. She now has her Florida Springs trilogy and her novel, a Christian Western Romance, Go West available on Amazon. When speaking about her road to publication, she gives thanks to the Lord for all the people who helped her grow and learn.  She says, “I could never have done it by myself, but when I got going everything fell beautifully into place, and I was glad I had started on my dream.”

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