20/20 Vision

   Twenty years ago there was a lot of fear about what might happen when the new century began. Nothing drastic happened when the year 2000 came in and life went on. We are now closing the teen years of this century and the numbers are about to roll into the 2020s. What might happen in the next decade only God knows. 

   What is your vision for the 2020s? I'm not talking about New Year's resolutions. When we reach the 2030s and you look back at the 2020s, what do you want to see in your rear view mirror? 

Since I have already passed my 70th birthday, this could well be the last decade of my life. If I reach the 2030s, I want to see:

• I grew in my relationship with God
• I adapted with grace to the changes aging brings to daily life
• I trusted God's wisdom no matter what happens to me and my family
• I did not give up praying for those who need the Lord
• I did not waste my time on things that have no eternal value
• I was faithful in the little things
• I cared less about myself and more for others

   That's my vision for the 2020s. What is yours?

"I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him (my soul, my life, my family) against that day."

"The light shined in darkness and the darkness could not overcome it."

May the miracle of Christmas

Find you safe in the peace of God

and warm in the Light of Christ.

Asafoetida

   Powwowing was part of the medieval tradition which German immigrants from the Rhineland and Switzerland brought with them when they came to the New World in the seventeenth century and later. What we call powwow is called brauche in the German language. The formula (eg. incantations) in use since the time before the Reformation included many Christian elements of a Roman Catholic variety. Powwowing is white magic.

   The "Church" (Lutheran and Reformed) and "Plain" (Amish and Mennonite) people who resorted to this practice did so not in antagonism to regular physicians but rather in addition to them. The traditional ways seemed more utilitarian and less costly, more practical and less theoretical than the newer, less personal, and (to their traditional mindset) less proven than the ways of the powwow healer.   

    Powwowing is difficult to define clearly because of the overlap and/or combinations of factors and ingredients which are mingled in the pursuit of folk healing cures. The "home remedies" of our ancestors utilized herbal and other ingredients believed to have a specifically corrective and healing effect. Some people in every generation look favorably on unconventional cures, perhaps because of their confidence in local persons like themselves and a resistance to the fees of the scientific professionals.  (Gerald C. Studer, Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, July 1980)

   I learned something new over the weekend about one of these mixed practices. The little bags in the frame below were worn around the necks of children to "keep them healthy." The bag contained a piece of asafoteida, an oleo gum resin obtained from the rhizome and root of a plant.  

     Asafoetida has a fetid smell and a nauseating taste; characteristics that also burdened it with the name devil's dung. In the Middle Ages, a small piece of the gum was worn around the neck to ward off diseases such as colds and fevers. Whatever effectiveness it had was probably due to the antisocial properties of the amulet rather than any medicinal virtue.

https://www.webmd.com/vitamins/ai/ingredientmono-248/asafoetida

   The man who displayed these artifacts told us his grandfather wore one of these smelly little asafoetida bags. So the practice was carried down by Mennonites from the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century. Did his mother believe it had medicinal value or was it a charm? Whatever her reasons, if it worked at all it was (as the paragraph above says) because the smell kept people and their germs at a distance.

   While there are some natural remedies that are beneficial, we do well to consider the source of any alternative medicine before accepting it. What appears to be folk or natural medicine may be rooted in white magic. As Christians, we cannot have any part in such things. 

Suffering and Humility

   New Testament Christians embraced suffering and martyrdom as natural because of the martyrdom of Jesus. Throughout church history there have always been groups of devout Christians who revived the New Testament view of suffering. Sixteenth-century Anabaptists were one of these groups.

   For the Anabaptists suffering was:

(1) being in Christ. They could sing as they went to their executions, expressing joy to be worthy of participating with Christ in suffering.

(2) redemptive. It led them to a complete identification with Christ, not only in his suffering and death but also in resurrection with Him.  It was a sign of genuinely belonging to Christ.

(3) disciplinary. It turned the Christian toward obedience to Christ and the fellowship of believers.

(4)  inevitable. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).

   Anabaptists were persecuted from their beginning  in 1525 until they emigrated to America in the early 1700s. For roughly 200 years, Anabaptists held this theology of suffering as the mark of genuine faith.

   After Mennonites settled in America,  they experienced a freedom of worship they had never known before. The kind of physical persecution they suffered in Europe no longer existed. The suffering theology was not as relevant in a free country and it shifted to humility as the mark of genuine faith. This was especially clear in Address to Youth, written by Christian Burkholder in 1792. He wrote that the Christ in the manger was "an example to us of true humility" and called the earnest seeker to follow the "meek and lowly" Jesus in practical ways in everyday life. 

   Humility theology was very relevant to American Mennonites in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In 1866, Bishop John M. Brenneman wrote a small booklet, Pride and humility, spelling out how humility should express itself objectively: in plainness of furniture, buildings and attire, in accepting a modest position at table, and in other visible and practical ways of everyday life. For the second 200 years of Anabaptism, Mennonites held to the principles of humility and meekness as the visible expressions of genuine discipleship. "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Matthew 7:20).

   After World War II ended, Mennonites became more prosperous than ever. Plainness and simplicity faded as Mennonites became increasingly assimilated into the American culture. Homes became more elaborate, clothing more worldly, and men transitioned from farming to big business.

   In summary, for 200 years the Anabaptists in Europe had a theology of suffering as the mark of genuine faith. The next  200 years the Mennonites in America shifted to a humility theology. That brings us up to roughly 1920.What one word would you use to describe Mennonites from 1920 to today? I have been asking various ordained men that question and no one has come up with an solid answer. If you have a one-word answer I'd be glad to hear it.

Thanksgiving

This week we will observe another Thanksgiving Day. It's a week later than usual this year because November 1 was on a Friday. That moves Thanksgiving a week closer to Christmas.

We usually think of Thanksgiving as a day to thank God for all the good things we have. That is right and good. But last week I read something that made me think a different way about giving thanks. It said something to the effect that we should be thankful for the good things we have and the problems we don't have. 

Here is a short list of problems I'm thankful I don't have:

• I'm not a widow
• None of my children have ever been in jail
• My car isn't wrecked (although I came close to doing that last week)
• I don't have a terminal illness
• I don't have debts to pay
• I don't have to wonder where my next meal will come from
• I'm not a refugee
• My husband is not a wife beater or child abuser
• I don't have any enemies (if anybody is mad at me I'm too dumb to know it)
• I'm not deaf or blind
• I don't need an oxygen tank
• I don't have to worry about where I will go when I die

The list could go on and on. For everything I have that I'm thankful for, there is a problem I'm thankful I don't have.  Everything we have is a gift from God and every problem we don't have is an act of His mercy.

Senior Moments

Two years ago I was asked to contribute some devotionals for a book Christian Light wanted to publish for seniors. They wanted seniors to write devotionals for seniors. The first thought that went through my head was the title should be Senior Moments With God. I sent them ten devotionals which were accepted. I had not heard anything about it for a long time. I thought about it Monday, wondering if it was ever finished. Lo and behold! The next day a package arrived with a complimentary copy of the book. And they used my title idea!

The book contains 101 devotionals by sixteen writers. They discuss issues seniors deal with in daily life--failing health, death, discouragement, disappointment, etc. The devotionals share personal experiences and offer hope and encouragement to seniors. Reaching the golden years is not easy street. We will struggle as long as we live on earth. But there is hope and a promise of a better life beyond the sunset. 

This book would be a good gift for a senior's birthday or Christmas gift. It can be ordered online from Christian Light. 

https://www.clp.org/search/results?utf8=%E2%9C%93&query=senior&x=0&y=0

Rules for Writing

This is not as funny as it seems. I am appalled at some of the mistakes I see in newspapers and other printed material. One of my pet peeves is getting an invitation that says "Your Invited." Even worse is "Yous are invited." I want to ask, "Where did you go to school?"

Forgiveness

Over the time of our fall communion the beginning of this month I was amazed anew as I contemplated the magnitude of forgiveness. We who were raised in Christian homes were taught from childhood that if we confess our sins God will forgive us. You know the old saying, "Familiarity breeds contempt." It's not that we scorn God's forgiveness but that we take it for granted and don't recognize the true value of forgiveness.

All other religions require man to perform certain rituals or works to gain favor with their god and  have a better afterlife whether in another world or in the next (imagined) life on earth. Their god must be appeased to achieve a higher state of existence but forgiveness is not part of the plan. It is a works religion where the better afterlife is a reward for doing certain things.

Christianity is the only religion where God reaches out to man in love and draws him to Himself. In the Old Testament there was atonement for sin by sacrificing animals. But the blood of animals "could not take away" or forgive sins. The possibility of forgiveness only became reality when God sacrificed His only Son by a horrible death on a cross. His perfect blood was the medium required to make forgiveness possible. Forgiveness is not obtained by our own works but by the work of God Himself. It is a gift He offers to anyone who will accept it. 

Forgiveness removes the burden of guilt and shame that is the result of sin. Imagine how life would be if there was no forgiveness and we had to carry that burden all our lives only hoping things would somehow be better in the afterlife. Forgiveness frees us from the burden of sin and gives us peace with God in this life here and now. It gives us the power to forgive those who wrong us and frees us from carrying the burden of anger, bitterness, and revenge.

The more we realize the immeasurable value of forgiveness, the more we will want to show our gratitude by living in obedience to God's Word. This is not to gain "brownie points" but responding to God in love and praise.

I want my life to tell for Jesus!

I want my life to tell for Jesus,

That everywhere I go,

Men may His goodness know,

I want my life to tell for Jesus!

Bus Tour--Part 2

Saturday, Sept. 28--Our first stop this morning was at a potato farm. Alvin Keenan's Irish ancestor came to Prince Edward Island in the late 1800s. Alvin has 1000 acres where he grows mostly Russet potatoes which mainly become french fries. He rotates the crop with grains and only plants potatoes in a field every three years. But with 1000 acres, he harvests lots of potatoes every year. They were ready to begin harvesting on Monday so we were a tad too early to see them digging. He showed us his equipment and explained how it works. 

 A six-row picker costs $500,000.

Next he took us through the packing house and showed us how the potatoes are prepared for shipping. They can process about one acre per hour. A full harvest crew is fifty people, ten in the packing house and the rest in harvest and delivery. 

 These plastic bags are filled with baking potatoes.

As we went on our way we saw another farm where they were digging potatoes, so we got to see some of the action there.

We stopped next at the Souris Lighthouse and went up in it. Below is the view from both sides.

A young Amish family moved in from Ontario and operates a little country store called Seven Mile Road Gift Shop. One of the ladies on the bus thought it was a huge store if it's seven miles long. Not so. They had craft items, quilts, housewares, toys, and other things usually found in a country store. We bought very little besides food on this trip but at this store I did break down and buy a small lighthouse to put in my lighthouse bathroom.

We needed to be at the ferry boat dock by 3:30 to cross from PEI to Nova Scotia. We didn't want to miss the boat and made sure we were there on time. It was a 14-mile, 70-minute crossing. There was plenty of room for a big bus. We were free to walk around on deck during the crossing. It was going toward evening and rather cool on top. 

 This is a fisherman's wharf next to the ferry dock.

 The sun was going down but this was the best picture I could get of the sunset.

We slept in Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Saturday night  and got to sleep in a bit Sunday morning as church did not start until 10 a.m. (We were usually on the road by 7 or 7:30 a.m.) 

Sunday, Sept. 29--We attended services at the Lighthouse Mennonite Church which is affiliated with the Nationwide Fellowship group. They are in the process of adding a school to the church building. The current school is on the right end of the church and the new one will be on the left.

They had a fellowship meal after church and fed all of us a good lunch. We visited until 3 p.m. and then went on our way to our motel near Baddeck.

Monday, Sept. 30--It rained overnight and was in the 40s in the morning. It was time to dig out our heavy jackets! We spent most of the day driving through the long winding Cabot's Trail road on Cape Brenton Island which is the north finger of Nova Scotia. The main thing to see there are rocks, water, and trees, or trees, rocks, and water. There is a lot of calendar-picture scenery and I wound up with lots of rocky shore pictures.

At one place there was a pebbly beach where a few brave souls took off their shoes and waded in. I passed and just took pictures. I loved to watch the surf but from a distance.

Meanwhile, Leroy walked back a ways to see a waterfall. He was the only person to go there. Someone said, "There goes that old guy that thinks he's young." But he was rewarded by getting pictures no one else had. Well worth the hike!

Another interesting place we stopped to see was the Aspy Fault. One slope of the mountain has  hard rock and the opposite slope is soft rock. The Aspy River runs through the bottom of the canyon. The sign said it was formed over millions of years but I have a more simple and sensible explanation that happened only a couple thousand years ago.

Tuesday, Oct. 1--We went to the famous Peggy's Cove on Tuesday morning. It's a little fishing village with a lighthouse on a rocky point.

The place was crawling with tourists. There were eleven buses there plus a lot of people who drove there in their cars. It was impossible to get a good picture of the lighthouse without people on it. But I can't complain because I was probably spoiling someone else's picture with my presence. I didn't go up in this one because it was too full of people. I was pleased to be able to walk around on those rocks. I couldn't have done it a week earlier. I finally got a picture of a wave splashing against the rocks. It's hard to catch it at the exact right moment.

A bagpiper was playing there as well as several other places. Nova Scotia is Latin for New Scotland. They seem proud of their heritage and are making an effort to keep it alive.

We had lunch at Peggy's Cove and then went to the Maritime Museum in Halifax. This buoy sat outside the museum. I didn't know they are this big; they look a lot smaller bobbing around in the ocean.

To me, the most interesting part of the museum was the artifacts from the Titanic. Three ships sailed out of Halifax to recover bodies after the Titanic sank. Some pieces eventually drifted ashore. 

 A piece of the Grand Staircase.

The undertaker who prepared the bodies for burial kept the shoes of a 19-month-old boy who died. After the undertaker died, his family found the shoes and donated them to the museum. The boy was the youngest of a Goodwin family of eight from Wiltshire, England. They all died but the boy's body was the only one recovered.

Another piece that got my attention was this boat on wheels. Why would anyone want wheels on their boat? It turned out to be a lifeboat. It was kept this way so it could quickly be hauled to wherever it was needed to go out on a rescue.

Wednesday, Oct. 2--We drove four hours Wednesday morning to the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick. There was light intermittent drizzle but it didn't stop us. The tide was out so we went down 99 steps and walked around on the ocean floor. Huge rock formations were fully exposed with only seaweed clinging to their feet.

Here I am standing under those two huge "kissing" rocks. (center, facing camera)

 Below are a couple free-standing rocks they call flower pots.

The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world. The average tide is three feet but here it is 32 to 46 feet. The high tide is the result of the length and funnel shape of the bay and the volume of the water. It takes six hours for the tide to come in and six hours to go out, so the water is constantly sloshing in and out. There are two high and two low tides each day.
We ate lunch and then went back to see how high the water was. This is how it looked two and a half hours after we walked on the ocean floor. The guide said it would rise at least another seven feet, nearly to the top of the arch I stood under before lunch.

Before going to our motel at St. John, New Brunswick, we checked out a river that is called the Reversing Falls because it flows both ways subject to the tide. The water was slowly flowing in and there was no resemblance to a falls.

Thursday, Oct. 3--Before leaving town in the morning we went back and the water was rushing out, going the opposite direction. I was glad we saw it going both ways.

We crossed the border at St. Stephens and were back in the U. S. where they have greenbacks instead of funny colored "Monopoly" money. This day was all driving to our motel at North Conway, New Hampshire.
Friday, Oct. 4--We left our motel at 7 a.m. and drove about 40 minutes to Mt. Washington where we took the cog railway to the top. The foliage here was the most colorful we had seen anywhere.

The trees became smaller and smaller as we rode up the 6,288 ft. mountain and then disappeared altogether at the top. It was 26 degrees and foggy at the top with a 40 mph wind. We couldn't see a thing and it was cold.

I hurried to the building and stayed there while Leroy went up on the icy observation deck. He didn't stay there long. After about an hour we got on the train again and rode back down. The only thing that grew at the top was some grass that was covered with icy frost, which the brakeman said was actually frozen clouds.

So much for an expensive ride to the top of a mountain to see fog. The gold was at the bottom of the mountain!

We got lunch at Mt. Washington before starting on the last leg of the journey toward home. We stopped once in Vermont to see the Quechee Gorge. There was a walkway on both sides of the bridge on this busy road where we could cross safely to see the gorge. This is the view of the gorge from both sides of the bridge.

New Hampshire and Vermont were two states I had never been in but now I had my feet on the ground of both of them. After this, we settled down in the bus and set our sights on home. We slept in Queensbury, NY that night.

Saturday, Oct. 5--We left our motel at 8 a.m. and headed straight home. We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in NJ for lunch. Things were looking more and more familiar as we got closer to Ephrata. After traveling 3,211 miles, we were back where we started. Our car had been parked there and some still unknown person had been there ahead of us to welcome us back.

Thank you! We did. That's one more thing crossed off our bucket list.