L'Abri Journals...ACGray

June 2003
Home | October 2008 | Muggeridge | Christmas 2005 | November 2005 | October 2005 | Sept 2005 | August 2005 | JULY 2005 | June 2005 | May 2005 | April 2005 | March 2005 | February 2005 | January 2005 | Dec 2004 | Nov 2004 | Oct 2004 | Sept 2004 | August 2004 | July 2004 | Summer Again! | May 2004 | April 2004 | Time for Kites | February 2004 | January 2004 | December 2003 | November 2003 | October, 2003 | September 2003 | August 2003 | July 2003 | June 2003 | May 2003 | April, 2003 | Late Winter 2003 | February 2003 | Freighter Travel | January 2003 | December 2002 | November 2002 | October 2002 | September 2002 | August 2002 | July 4, 2002 | June 2002 | May 2002 | April 2002 | March 2002 | February 2002 | January 2002 | December 2001 | November 2001 | October 2001 | September 2001 | August 2001 | July 2001

Summer Again....

 Chalet Labri, June 1, 2003...acg

 

       Summer comes a bit reluctantly here in the Shenandoah Valley while chilly rains extend spring into June.  Remembering the drought of last summer when all the wells were going dry, only whimpers of complaint are heard.  On rare mornings when sunlight gets through the clouds, a chorus of birdsong greets my day.  Fledgling phoebes begin life under my side porch, an encore performance.  The erratic drill of woodpeckers in the back forest reminds me that life goes on and that summer is here no matter the weather.  Also, there is ample evidence that either deer or rabbits have dined sumptuously in my flower garden. 

Lately Ive been reading books about great sea adventures, some of which for the second or third time.  Among them are Robin Lee Grahams Dove, the story of his five-year journey around the world in a 24 foot sloop begun when he was only sixteen.  Also, Joshua Slocums classic adventure Sailing Alone Around the World.  Just now Im reading Apsley Cherry-Garrards The Worst Journey In the World, named by National Geographic last year as one of the greatest adventure stories ever written.  I suppose I am drawn to this genre because of my own travels and my journey around the world in 1999, most of the way as a lone passenger aboard a modern freighter.  It is to Robin Lee Grahams credit that the book is still in print after 31 years and that it is among the classics recommended for home schooling young people. In the last chapter of the book, still uncertain of his future, he writes that he and his young wife, Patti, began to read the Bible together:  Our finding a belief in God becoming Christians was a slow thing. We want to work out our lives in the way God intended us to.  In reading the Bible together we were fascinated by the prophecies made two thousand years and more ago, prophecies which seemed to be coming true. We have no idea where these new thoughts and ideas and practices will take us. But we are open to whatever direction God will give us. Our belief is simple.  It is the belief that so many of our own generation are discovering a belief that God isnt dead as some of the older generation have told us.  In a world that seems to be going crazy we are learning that Jesus showed men the only way they should live the way we were meant to live.  Grahams voyage brought him a measure of fame and immense intangible wealth  -- a companion for life and the wisdom of discovering a Shepherd for all eternity.  Highly recommended. Also, the Lawsons invited me to watch the movie 84 Charing Cross Road, starring Anne Bancroft, Judi Dench, and Anthony Hopkins.  It is the amusing and touching true story of Helene Hanffs post-war correspondence  with a London bookseller that blossomed into a warm and caring friendship and exchange of gifts across the Atlantic.  I had read the book twice, but seeing the movie prompted me to read it again.  Superb!

          Memorial Day was officially celebrated a week ago, but out of tradition I still think of May 30 as the day to remember the honored dead.  Recently, I read Lincolns Gettysburg Address  again and realized why it stands the test of time as among the  greatest prose ever penned.  Here, in part, from the last paragraph, is a timeless reminder:

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us. . .that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth.

 

 

The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.  Zephaniah 3:17 (NKJV)