Camping Out

1/31/09
It’s not alliterative but it’s where the Lord had me today. This Liles crew has had many Saturdays spent "camping out” in the woods---all memorable but not all pleasant---in fact, the most memorable were those bordering on disaster. Our camping fiascos might discourage others from “risking the endeavor” but those crisis/catastrophes have become our shared jokes (which most people wouldn’t get---esp. our Deep Creek ones) Times of humorous reflections are good---definitely warming the soul. Today the Lord had me camping out in Isaiah 40.

Asked for No phone calls on LHH site today b/c 6:15 am. call sent Larry’s dad back into surgery to fix a leak in his by-pass and I needed unencumbered access to MaBell or whoever we have now since I dropped the old phone in the “tub” and Larry changed phones & our provider. Some days I just want an old princess phone with the curly cord---much easier to find. We now have 3 phones and I can never seem to find any of them. Even the battery on Larry’s cell has a way of going out when I pick it up.

After popping in to check on next-door neighbor & share some of my “bountiful blessing of potato salad,” I had time for an early morning walk---prescribed by WH as a great pre-surgery prep. It became more than that. It became a praise walk! It brought me back to Isaiah 40:26, “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens, Who created all these……” The prophet is talking about the stars---and His one big star, the sun, was warming my back as I walked. His son was warming my heart—it felt great.

I also began to reflect on the “moonlight walks” of 1984. Larry and I would take Buddy, Josh and Molly on a walking adventure (mostly in their pjs). This would occur on the night the Almanac declared the “fullest moon” for each month, There were 13 full moons that year! I even documented (your not surprised, are you) where we were and what we did—had a snowball fight in March, walked in alley by Winslow’s house to our childhood tree house in KY, saw our moon from a ship’s deck as it reflected on the water of the Caribbean……..

Wrote a thank you note to Michele in Germany today b/c I received her beautiful book, Postcards from the Water’s Edge—about her cancer journey. As I went to put it in the envelope to seal it with love & a grateful heart and lots of stamps, I saw the verse on the stationery I had chosen---how had I forgotten---it was Isaiah 40:11---“He tends His flock like a shepherd. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart…..” I am in His arms and though the tears are falling as I write, I can feel His heart!