Notes and Thoughts from the Road

Bryce Canyon. It is take your breath away beautiful...to me a reminder of God's masterpiece of creation.

But of course, to see it requires some type of motion or ambulation, and I have already mentioned that "hike" is banned from Nicole's vocabulary. I must admit, this would have been an ambitious hike (although Howie did it) that would have resulted in much unhappiness for anyone within our earshot.

So the win-win solution du jour was for me and Nicole to see the canyon by horseback. This also was not for the faint of heart, or for those who become nauseous at heights. Let's just say the horses and mules seem to like to walk right at the edge. Talk about trust...we were lead by a very mature and skilled guide and none of the riders bailed, something he says happens every day.

I did call Matt at the end of the day to say I was still experiencing deja vu about our previous trip to the Grand Canyon. He chuckled and said to tell Nicole to get out of the car (she didn't want to get out at the end of the day pull offs at scenic vistas...) she would care. Her prompt response was that she did NOT care. Oy vay. But Matt and I had a wonderful conversation.

God's Majesty was evident all around.

Other random thoughts/reads/experiences that have made up the past 24 hours or so are:

• We stopped to eat very late at the end of our day at Bryce Canyon and I was having a hard time deciding what to eat. You see, this is complicated for me, because I am trying to stay away from carbs and fried food, because my waist is disappearing (so much so I responded to an infomercial the other day, but I won't go there now...). It was also late and I didn't want a huge meal, and this was a steak and ribs kind of place. I was both too young and too old to order off the kid's menu (also available to Senior Citizens, does that mean that Howie could have ordered, because AARP sent him a card for his most recent birthday?)I asked Howie if we could share a meal, but he didn't want to, telling me to order what I wanted and that sparked an entire conversation about how I seemed to take great pleasure eating off of his plate, and didn't seem to care how he felt about that, whereas if I was hungry the world had to stop. Ouch. That sounded very selfish to me, and I realized it was time to get the plank out of my eye in regards to that issue. We didn't share a meal, I ate too much and as he pointed out, some of the desire to share a meal with him was also somewhat motivated by my desire to not buy two entrees. The truth hurts.


• I just read that Jesse Jackson made a comment about Barack Obama that he thought was off the mic,that he needed to apologize for, and my response to this was that it was another sad day for Faith or Religion or Christianity, my point being that he (none of us, but how about a Reverend, who will be regarded by many as a voice of the church) when just because he thought the mic was off it was "acceptable" to make an off color remark. If we are representatives of Jesus, which is what we ought to be, if we claim Jesus, faith, religion, or an affiliation with the church, then our words ought to be pure and we should be speaking as if we are mic'd up all the time. I hope this doesn't sound judgemental,it is meant to be more observational in nature.

• The phone rang very early this am, and it was my dad calling from the East Coast forgetting that there was a two hour time difference, and when I mentioned it to Howie that he knew we were in Utah, (because he mentioned it in his message) but didn't consider the time, Howie once again came down on me for having that darn plank in my eye, noting that it was an easy enough mistake to make and wasn't I being a bit harsh. Ouch again.

That's what is on my mind.

Grace Encounters

Mt friend Tena calls them Whammies. God Whammies, to be exact. When circumstances are just so coincidental they can't possibly be coincidental. They are grace encounters.

To me a grace encounter is when some of the dots get connected and events or people who seemed to randomly occur or appear in life all of a sudden are connected. I imagine God dipping His hand into a huge vat of invisible ink dots and casting them heavenward, where over time they become visible, one by one and then become connected. All of a sudden, it seems, the dots are connected and the occurrences, grace encounters, not coincidences become apparent.

The other day I couldn't get a particular friend out of my mind. It was as if God was saying over and over, call her, call her...so I may be thick, but I have learned that over time that still small voice is worth listening to, so I called and left a message. I didn't realize my friend had changed jobs, since her voice mail was an out of the office auto responder. Three days after I left her a message I re-connected with two other women at a wedding, one whom I have known for years. It turns out they are both working with this same woman who I had just left a message for. I don't know if I represent a missing puzzle peace or not, but the grace encounter was in knowing I had done the obedient thing by responding to the nudge to call.