Jupiter and Venus

 

Look low in the sky, towards the east about one hour before sunrise on Saturday morning April 30, 2022. If the sky is clear, you will see the brightest two “stars” in the sky very, very close to each other. They are Venus, the brightest, and Jupiter, second brightest. Astronomers say they are in conjunction, which means they appear closer together on their respective orbits than they will be at any other time this year. Much farther away towards the west, about a hand’s width, you can see Mars and even farther west, Saturn. They are also much fainter; both are slightly reddish.

You can see Jupiter ad Venus even a half an hour before sunrise, but by that time the sky is too bright to see the redder planets. If you get out too early, the sky will be darker, but they will still be below the horizon. These are four of the commonly seen naked-eye planets. The only other naked eye planet, Mercury, is on the opposite side of the sun, and if you are lucky you can see it in the evening, about an hour after sunset in the west, very low down in the sky.

In the next few mornings, you will see a similar sight as the two planets appear to separate. This is true even in the city lights, because J & V are so bright. Happy viewing. It is worth getting up early to see it. Go out in your night clothes, and then climb back in bed and catch another 40 winks.

The heavens declare the glory of God;

      and the firmament shows his handywork.

Day unto day utters speech,

      and night unto night shows knowledge.

There is no speech nor language,

      where their voice is not heard.

Their line is gone out through all the earth,

      and their words to the end of the world.

In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,

      Psalm 19

 

Happy sky watching!

Animals as Thieves

 

[1]

Genesis 1:21 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

²¹ So God created the large sea-creatures^[a] and every living creature that moves and swarms in the water, according to their kinds. He also created every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

 

A favorite tourist spot of mine on earth is the Ngorongoro Crater on the edge of the Great Rift Valley of Africa. I have only visited there about three times, stretched over 35 years, and I wish I could visit it far more often. The most recent visit was in 2003 when we attended the celebration of 100 years of Adventism in Tanzania.

We stopped at the Visitor Center on the ridge of the crater and picked up a guide to accompany us down into the crater. He spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable. At one point this giant volcano was probably the highest point in Africa. Then in a mighty heave, the volcano blew the entire top of the mountain off leaving a crater about 2000 feet (600 m) deep and 14 miles (22 km) in diameter. Over the years since the explosion, Many of the African plains animals have made the tortuous decent into the crater. They have apparently decided that things were better in the crater than on the outside so they set up housekeeping there. The usual predators and prey keep the crater population at equilibrium. To the visitor this presents a veritable zoo spread over 400,000 acres (150 000 ha).

Because all of the animals are wild the visitor is required to remain in the vehicle, except for particular spots in the crater where picnic and other conveniences are provided. At one point where we stopped, our guide urged us to make sure to not let monkeys into the car when we got out. If they do get in your car, they immediately claim possession of it and will fight to keep you out of it. Black-faced vervet monkeys were all over the place. One jumped up onto our car and did its best to tear off the windshield wipers. Since we were much bigger than they were, they didn’t try to attack us as we walked to the restrooms.

Another spot, devoid of trees and monkeys, had picnic tables. We got out to stretch our legs. A young Swiss couple walked ahead of us towards the picnic tables. Suddenly Sylvia and I felt a light brushing of feathers in our hair as a great hawk skimmed at high speed our heads. It continued its power dive down in front of us. As we watched in shock the hawk turned sideways, wings outstretched and shot directly between the lovers ahead of us. The woman was carrying a sack lunch in her hand between them. It grabbed the lunch in its talons as it zipped between them and back into the sky. The poor woman was shocked almost to the point of a heart attack. Of course, she had sensed nothing of the bird’s attack until it was over. Neither one of the people had been injured, but they left the crater still hungry. There are no snack shops in the crater. Where else on earth can you drive among wild elephants, lions, monkeys and giraffes, and survive an avian-Mafia attack, all in one afternoon?

In the promised Earth-Made-New could a similar event occur? By God’s grace, I intend to find out! Will you join me?

 

 

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[1] https://www.beautyofbirds.com/africanhawkeagles.html

Getting Away From It All

[1]

        

[2]

Mark 6:31 King James Version

³¹ And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.

 

It’s been a week and month of busyness. A friend came over to have me help her with taxes. There’s been the usual Spanish and writing classes. I’ve battled a stubborn cough and cold, and at one point was coughing so badly I went down and got myself tested for Covid. The test turned out negative: after all I have been vaccinated and boosted and have some natural immunity from having the annoying disease last July. We’ve installed a new gas range and dishwasher. The sprinkler system sprung a leak that turned out to be more complicated than usual, so I had to dig it up and repair it and then repair the repair.

Julia and David came over one day, and we went out to Joshua Tree and took a test drive in our Ford F-150 4x4 down Berdoo Canyon in Joshua Tree National Park. It is a canyon running down from the 4,000-foot heights of Hidden Valley to the below sea level in the Coachella Valley. Drivers with four-wheel drive vehicles like to go up and down the bed of the canyon because it is really challenging. One driver described it as squirrely, possibly meaning “only a squirrel can possibly make it through there unscathed.” Travel was slow. We often got out of the pickup and walked out in front of it to lay out plans to make it through all the rocks without destroying the undercarriage or getting hopelessly hung up on some rocks.

Joshua Tree National Park has been one of those places where we can get away from it all. Often the climbs and hikes get me to the point where I forget all of the worries and despair of everyday life and think only of how to stay alive. In late winter and early spring, the plants often turn green and sport beautiful blossoms, defying the drought and extremes of temperature so common in the desert. At night the heavens are aglow with the myriads of stars that are always there but never visible in the wash of city lights. I cannot but remind myself of the grace of Jesus Christ in this inhospitably complex world we find ourselves in.

Do I succeed in actually getting away from it all? Did Christ and His disciples succeed in getting away from it all after they got in the boat and went to the desert place? Read the subsequent verses in Mark 6. The blessings are there in spite of it all.

Grant us, Lord, the desperately needed rest and grace we seek.

 

[1] https://expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/joshua-tree-berdoo-canyon-old-dale-brooklyn-mine-trip-report.150738/

[2] https://www.google.com/search?q=berdoo+canyon&rlz=1C1JZAP_enUS880US880&sxsrf=APq-WBuXUlW6VFDi2jh2a4Fi3xAQjMHyKQ:1649171223926&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt_ebHmf32AhXVKEQIHe3hBXAQ_AUoAnoECAIQBA&biw=916&bih=639&dpr=1.25#imgrc=AHBM-kAzwzvOgM

Lose It To Save It

[1]

Luke 9:23-24 Good News Translation

²³ And he said to them all, “If you want to come with me, you must forget yourself, take up your cross every day, and follow me. ²⁴ For if you want to save your own life, you will lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you will save it.

 

Mom and Dad, Esther and Fred, had no plans to go to the “mission field.” They said, “There are enough heathen in the United States that we shouldn’t be needed overseas.” Dad’s Uncle I. H. Evans had been a missionary in China for many years. By the middle 1930s, he had returned to the U.S. and was the president of the North American Division of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists. Yet when the call came to my parents to go to China as missionaries, they accepted it. Before leaving they had to have medical check-ups, which they failed. They felt the Lord was indicating that He, too, wanted them to work in the U.S. Very shortly thereafter, however, they received a call to go to South Africa and were accepted on the same medical results with no problem.

In 1935, they sailed to Africa. They served in Africa for 40 years, and Mom died and is buried in the missionary graveyard at Solusi University in Zimbabwe. She died six weeks before their planned retirement back to the States. Dad came back unaccompanied, feeling very much alone. He visited a number of his single lady friends looking for another companion. Finally, he settled on Helen Merriam Diehm. He said to her, “Would you be willing to go to Africa with me for two years?”

“I take that as a marriage proposal!” She responded and agreed to go with him.

They settled at Lower Gwelo, a school in the center of Rhodesia that is now Lower Gweru Adventist High School, Zimbabwe. Dad became the treasurer of the school and Helen an English teacher. Helen was terrified. This was 1975 and the beginning of the civil war in that country. Reports came in daily of the deaths of people they knew. But they had agreed to go there for two years, and they stayed for two years. Other missionaries whom they knew were brutally murdered, but the Lord honored their commitment. At the end of two years, they returned to a comfortable retirement together in the U.S.

Thank You, Lord, for the promise that even if we lose our lives for Your sake, You will save them!

 

 

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[1] Fred and Helen in Africa, 1976

Miracles

[1]

Exodus 14:14 Good News Translation

¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and all you have to do is keep still.”

 

The year 2020 came in with us feeling confident. We were now seeing with 20/20 vision. Then COVID struck. The year went to pot. We locked down. We feared that this unseen foe would strike us at any minute. A feeling of total helplessness gripped us. Many denied that there was anything amiss. Like the proverbial ostrich, they buried their heads in the sand. When someone actually got the disease, they were locked away in cruel isolation in a hospital, subjected to torture alone, without family or pastor to comfort and strengthen them. We marked time, waiting for a miracle. Large numbers took Moses’s instruction to heart[2]: “The Lord will fight for you, and all you have to do is keep still.”

Then by 2021, several vaccines had been invented. Many recognized that the long hoped for miracle had arrived. The bronze snake had been erected, and all people had to do was to look at the snake and they would be healed.[3]  In Moses’s day, of course, there were some who said, “That would be idolatry to look at a bronze snake for salvation! I’m not going to do it.” And some of them died. Similarly, in the last year, many people have maintained that, as Israel did before the Red Sea, all we have to do is keep still and the Lord will fight for us.

But we must read the rest of the Red Sea story. The next verse reads: “The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out for help? Tell the people to move forward.” Had the people refused and stayed on the west bank of the Red Sea, they would indeed have been slaughtered. A miracle took place, but they had to respond by moving ahead. Trusting God does not always involve doing nothing. He asks us to wait for Him to move, but then we are to follow.

Thank you Lord for providing a remedy for this nasty disease, and also for the even nastier results of sin!

 

 

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[1] https://the-fog-blog.com/2016/08/21/the-serpent-and-the-cross/

[2] ¹³ Moses answered, “Don't be afraid! Stand your ground, and you will see what the Lord will do to save you today; you will never see these Egyptians again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and all you have to do is keep still.” ¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out for help? Tell the people to move forward. Exodus 14: 13-15

 [3] Numbers 21:9 “So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole. Anyone who had been bitten would look at the bronze snake and be healed.”