Sundry Sunday adventures

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Laura Lindblom under Uncategorized

The Sabbath should be the central day of the week for Christians. Not because the Jewish ceremonial law still applies to Christians (Matthew 5:17 is clear about the ceremonial law and Christ’s redemptive coming having completed it), but because God has given us a day which we still, 2000 years after Christ was raised from the dead, which we still set aside to be a time of devotion to God and fellowship with other Believers. What a gift! If you’re not enjoying it to it’s fullest, you’re sadly missing out, and I recommend a prayerfully considered change.

And by “enjoying it to it’s fullest,” I mean taking advantage of the fact that Sunday is the one day of the week where a substantial part of the day is set aside for worship of God and fellowship with other believers. Why wouldn’t a Christian want to savor that time, and make it last as long as possible? The world is a lonely place, and as the world becomes more hostile to Christianity, I find fellowship with Believers sweeter and sweeter.

And what a day–What a day! After a wonderfully applicable sermon about fully identifying with Christ, and our lives being dictated by what we believe about God and what we desire, we headed over to Stockade Lake to give Anna a dipping, and to celebrate through a baptism Anna’s decision to publicly identify with Christ. What a joyous time, to celebrate a Believer’s desire to fully identify in Christ! Our culture calls us to identify as many things–Anything we want, really. But to identify with Christ? How counter cultural! What a blessing to be able to identify with Christ! How humbling and wonderful and glorious.

After the baptism, we went back to church and were officially welcomed into the membership of Southern Hills Bible Church, and enjoyed our weekly potluck, which was all the better for it being with our own church, the congregation of Believers we have chosen to attach ourselves to. God willing, we’ll be there for years to come.

And as if that wasn’t enough, some of us “young people” headed out on a hike, enjoying an extended time of friendship and fellowship and reveling in new relationships centered around one important thing: Jesus Christ’s redemptive work in our lives. What a gift. All of us young people, Hannah and Jacob, Roy and Jessie and Isaak, Sarah and I, all of us are relatively new to this congregation, and, speaking for myself, I have been tremendously blessed by these new brothers and sisters in Christ.

If you’re reading this wondering how in the world a bunch of Christan (homeschool or homeschooled) kids can possibly have fun together, let me tell you, it doesn’t take alcohol, it doesn’t take R-rated movies, it doesn’t take cell reception and texting, and it doesn’t take rebellion against rules and authorities. We know how to have fun and how to spend time in a meaningful way, and it doesn’t take anything more than another person with whom to share life. But we had more than that. A wooded path is an invitation into God’s beautiful Creation. Fellowship with Believers is a glimpse into eternity. The delicate petals of a flower are a living testament to God’s handiwork.

The unceasing conversation, the frequent laughs, the mutual enjoyment of God’s Creation, all made for a delightful afternoon. We explored an old mine tunnel, marveled at grass snakes and flowers, stones and toadstools, got soaking wet in a little downpour, talked theology and politics, delved into one another’s lives, and, speaking for myself at least, we could have gone on for hours more.

And hey, I even found an arrowhead. A little bonus for today.

Beauty in the Badlands

Posted on May 30, 2015 by Laura Lindblom under Uncategorized

The Badlands are rich with subtle life at this time of the year. The summer heat hasn’t scorched the region brown yet, and the moisture has coaxed flowers into bloom. Soon enough, the summer will arrive and the green with burn away, but for now there is a tenacious life that clings to the region.

This past Thursday, Sarah and I took an excursion to the Badlands with two church friends, Roy and Jessica, and made an afternoon of the Badlands loop, stopping at just about every scenic turnoff, and hiking when possible. Although my family has driven through the Badlands several times, never had we gone through at such a leisurely pace! A quick drive through really doesn’t do them justice.

Razor-sharp peaks and spires give way to rolling hills with impassible cliffs. Strata of bright orange and gold layer through one region, while tablelands dominate another. Viewpoints overlook cliffs, plummeting down hundreds of feet into the valley or canyon below.

And in such a hostile wasteland, a no-man’s land, there’s life–Creeping insects, scurrying chipmunks, burrowing prairie dogs. Prairie phlox and scarlet globemallow bloom in the rocky, dusty soil. There wasn’t any flowing water anymore, but the gumbo mud was still sticky in places, and little puddles of tepid water hadn’t yet sunk into the earth.

The rain in the Hills had opened into blue skies over the Badlands, but as the day wore on, we watched thunderstorms roll in. The sky grew bluer and bluer with storm, and the occasional rumble of thunder echoed quietly through the stony peaks and valleys. For hours, the storms seemed to crop up on the horizon and roll towards us, never reaching us.

We scrambled around in the gumbo, climbing to the tops of the tablelands. As we scrambled up over the edge of one, a pair of doves startled from their ground nest. Two eggs were tucked inside. I should have gotten a picture of the location of the nest–The tableland rose a good thirty feet up, and then there was a little washed out spot and a slightly higher table, roughly the size of a dinner table. The nest was nestled in the grass on this second table. The perfect vantage point to watch for predators.

The storm broke as we were eating dinner. Probably a good thing, or we might have stayed out exploring a lot longer than we did!

New Haunts

Posted on May 21, 2015 by Laura Lindblom under Uncategorized

When we planned on Sunday to have an excursion Wednesday, we just assumed the weather would cooperate. When it started snowing yesterday, and then snowed and rained all afternoon, I started having my doubts. But today, the sunshine broke through the clouds, turned the snow into puddles, and the air warmed with springtime. A perfect day for an exploration!

My sisters and I and some friends from church ventured forth to enjoy a day off in the beauty of God’s creation. We visited their building site (they’ll be our close neighbors, it turns out!), had a picnic lunch, and then decided to haunt a local ghost town, Spokane.

It is hard to imagine people once living here, attending school, inhabiting what are now mere shells of homes, piles of wood and rubbish and old rusted nails. But once, people had lives here in this beautiful little meadow, and the big, two-story house wasn’t overgrown with birch, and it didn’t drip water through the roof. The chimney once gave smoke, and the upstairs bedroom was lived in by people, not a family of bluebirds. The apple tree was young and fruitful, the house was whole, and people had lives within its walls. How fast we fade and are forgotten! Who were they?

The little ghost town sprawls in an open meadow, and remnants of later days, forgotten later days, are scattered farther into the overgrowth of trees. An old crumbling stove. Ancient automobiles with rust-eaten bodies, rotted cushions, shattered glass, and polished chrome.

The recent rain and snow has turned parts of the Hills into thick woods reminiscent of rainforests. Trees were dark with wet, and the ground seeped with it.

Moss dripped from branches bejeweled with gleaming lichens. Old rotted stumps crumbled softly underfoot, and tiny mushrooms flourished in the fertile moist earth.

We haunted the town for more than an hour, enjoying the quiet, the creeping life of things living close to the soil, the smell of wet trees and fresh grass. I have a feeling we’ll be back.