Sabbath

About 10 years ago, I attended a women's conference in Japan that had a profound impact on the way I view the Sabbath. The conference speaker was Marva Dawn, a brilliant theologian. The topic? Keeping the Sabbath Wholly. As in completely, yes.

Since that time, I have tried my best to celebrate the Sabbath. "It's not a polite suggestion," Marva reminded us. "It's a biblical mandate, and something Jesus took seriously" (though not in the strict Jewish way, necessarily). She explained to us that a Sabbath rest isn't something you work toward, but rather that we can serve out of the rest we have had.

Knowing that I have another very full week of class ahead, I chose to lay low today, to rest, spend time with God, go for a walk, and finally, to meet a friend. Idelette is a South African whom I had gotten to know in Taiwan. She got married to a Canadian nine years ago, and I hadn't seen her since. This afternoon, she drove down from Vancouver, Canada, to visit for a few hours.

Tayla.jpg, originally uploaded by Boyznberry.

(Above: Idelette's 3-year-old, Tayla, with some flowers a little boy brought her... He seemed quite taken by her and brought flowers twice. It was the cutest thing to watch!)

It's a bit bizarre when you had last seen a friend as a single and next as a mother of three. I had a wonderful time with them! The kids were darling.

We ran to Trader Joe's to do some shopping for Idelette, bought Thai food to go at a nearby restaurant, and went to a park to visit, let the 2 oldest ones play, and have our dinner. Some of my favorite quotes from the 5-year-old Gabrielle were, "Mom, can we please get an orphan?" and, "Mom! My poop's coming out!!" (Sorry for the graphic narrative. I just think it's hilarious when a well-mannered, beautifully-dressed little princess blurts out something so real!)

It was refreshing to spend time with an old friend. As I did on Friday night. Phebe Shen, a former roommate and colleague from my ORTV days is from this area, and we met up for Taiwanese food and a delightful visit.

Yesterday, albeit Saturday, our class met for the most hands-on journey through church history. We traveled to our prof's home near Mt. Baker where we embarked on a 2,000-foot mission trail. The trail represents the 2,000 years since Jesus sent his disciples to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth.

Along with trees that have significant meanings (the Reformation Tree, the Trinity Tree, and the Epiphany Tree) as well as monuments to significant family events, Ray took us to the 20 markers on his trail. At each marker, he'd stop and teach in his narrative manner on the significance of the specific person. History had never been so alive to me!

Not only was it a truly hands-on learning experience, it was also a delightful time in nature. The Bakkes' farm is beautiful, and it had just stopped raining prior to us embarking on the walk. The forest was alive with raindrops dangling from moss-covered tree trunks...

Today's chance to rest, reflect, and visit with God about what I'm learning was the perfect end to a mentally challenging week, and the perfect beginning to the next 5 days of learning. I feel like I can think again after taking time out to be alone.

Click on the picture above to see photos from this past week.

Un-be-lievable!

She did it. Fair and square! Danette sold ice to an Eskimo. There's a group of pastor's wives at the lodge this weekend, and three of them are Eskimos. I was joking with Danette earlier today that she should get one of them to just pose with a bag of ice to pretend she had sold it to them. But trust Danette... She was visiting with Sandra at dinner when suddenly she asked, "Hey, do you want some ice?"

"Sure!" Sandra said without thinking twice.

"How many cubes?"

"Oh. Ten!"

"How much money do you have?"

"... a quarter..."

"Great! I'll take that!"

As Danette walked off to get the ice, Sandra looked at her neighbor and said, "I just paid her to get me ice cubes!"

I got a quick shot as Danette delivered the ice. Sold. Ten cubes for a quarter. We laughed so hard, I still have a headache! The Yup'ik ladies asked that I clarify that Sandra is a Chup'ik (two different sub-groups of the Eskimo peoples). They say neither of them would've fallen for it. :)

Salesperson par excellence!

And that after my friend and I had just walked around on a glacier. No kidding. We were told we might be able to go along with Paul and Chris (a glaciologist) when Chris had to go and measure some glaciers today. That didn't pan out due to foul weather. But Paul took us across the river and into the Wrangell Mountains. We saw glacier after glacier, even saw some mountain goats (no bears or moose today), and then Paul asked, "Have you ever stood on a glacier?"

"What?! We've never seen glaciers this close!" Danette replied.

Before we knew it, we were down on the ice! This is NOT something the average pilot can do. Paul's flown more than 23,000 hours, and this is his valley, so he touched down without as much as a bump.

We hopped out to take some photos and walk on the crunchy ice. It's crunchy because of the glacier dust which makes it like a bread crust, kind of. It's the most incredible sound when you walk on the ice! And it is c-c-c-cold!


After playing on the ice a little and drinking a bit of the glacier water, we took off again. To our right (north?) was Bagley ice valley (an ice field), which combines with Bering Glacier to form the longest mountain glacier in the world!


We flew across more glaciers and were mesmerized by the colors...


One of the many incredible scenes was the ogives. This is simply another side of the glaciers. They look like ice terraces. Each line, Chris tells me, represents one year in the life of the glacier. This ogive would be almost as old as I am!


Quite honestly, I was ready to be on solid ground for a bit by the time we landed. But this is an adventure I'd never forget. And the cherry on the top? My friend's sales deal!