Worship and Service

We completed all chapters of our book. The discussion today was on service. Our chapter brought us to consider ways in which we can serve others as a group. The neat serendipity of divine appointments was given to us by trail angels who had previously painted "warning yellow" on roots and rocks that might cause us to stumble along the Seneca Creek Greeway Trail. As we hiked back, on this totally brr cold morning (28 F when we started), a group of volunteers was working hard to clear the creek of debris. All around us were people doing acts of service. How do you see this G2 group practicing acts of kindness and service to others?
Worshiping the Creator is easy to do when surrounded by such powerful beauty. The creek and its gurgling sounds sang Hosanna with us. The birds chimed in as we lifted others in prayer. When is it difficult for you to worship? What circumstances may drown the natural sounds of our grateful, soulful worship? Busyness?  Sorrow? Self? What brings us back to our knees, hands extended in worshipful surrender?

Humility

We've had more people tell us that this chapter hit them more than all of the others...

What about you?

Simplicity

We began our morning with a bit of shiver but the layers were shed at some point. How amazing it is to get out of bed when it is 20 degrees outside and be thrilled to have done so! Call it perseverance or insanity, I do believe that we belong to a VIP group. This kind of camaraderie belongs to those who value the Creator more than His creation. With our eyes set on Him,  we treasure the way creation speaks and worships, and we find peace as we walk. Our bodies, minds and  souls are nourished and encouraged as we rise and hike.
Any thoughts on hiking without trail blazes? We did not get lost, did we? So in life, how would we manage such situation? What is your internal compass? What guides you when life is a blur, a fog, when you are not sure which bend on the road to take?

Please listen to this song:

http://youtu.be/ls-CNruapm4

Our discussion also included simplicity. Perfectly ordained, after hiking some of us went to Market at Cedarbrook Community Church, where the whimsical Christmas decor was made and created mostly with recycled items (by Edi). All this talk brings back to mind the creation story and how God ordained man kind to care for the earth, giving us authority over plants and animals.  What then, do we make of the serious "stuffitis" inflicted upon each of us? Out of our abundance, are we meeting the needs of others as well as caring for all of creation? Are we so engrossed with the comforts of the now that we just "gorge" on more stuff? I am oh SO guilty of it! What do you make of it?
OPEN the WORD and read Psalm 19!
In His love and warmth,
Edi

Family and Community

I am re-gifting this morning!  As I sit here in front of the computer with my mind on the trail, I give to you, my faith family, my hiking community, the gift that I have treasured the most: The WORD!
Jeremiah 15:16 says:
"Your words are what sustain me; they are food for my hungry soul. They bring joy to my sorrowing heart and delight me."
2 Peter 1:3 says:
As you know HIM better, He will give you, through His great power, everything you need for living a truly good life: He even shares His own GLORY and His own goodness with us!"
Hebrews 10:25 says:
"Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another..."
As we are given "divine appointments" with others on the path of life and on the trails, let us continue to focus on ENCOURAGING one another! I have been greatly encouraged by all of you in our conversations on the trails and the emails we exchange. Have you? Please share...

Perseverence

What a fabulous chapter! Insightful and oh SO true! To persevere, to use that intrinsic power to not give up...  I agree with the authors that this is a trait that can be taught, that it can be learned by following the example of those influential role models in our lives who never "give up". How does a follower of Christ apply these principles to The Walk of Life? How do we differentiate between being stubborn and self-centered and being a person of perseverance? Life itself can be filled with failures and success, achievements and disappointments, health and illness, plenty and want, stress and peace. How do you practice being a person of perseverance in the face of adversity? One of my "life philosophies" has been to focus on what is eternal. Am I focusing my energy and passion on Christ's example? Page 43 of our book also suggests this important principle. Your insight is MOST important! Please comment.

Prayers

To me, the most touching and personal aspect of chapter TWO is defined on page 29. The story of Moses and Joshua (Exodus 17: 9-14), the story of Mom extending her arms up to God in prayer, the fellow hikers supporting her arms as she prayed, these are all very vivid examples of community. That is the heart of G2! Yes we gather to hike and enjoy nature. But most of all, as members of the body of Christ, we are a community of believers. Not only we are to offer our prayers on behalf of others, we are also to humbly seek the prayers and support of our community when the need is present. There are times when we need a "Joshua" to hold our tired arms while they are extended to heaven in prayer. What are your thoughts?

The Path

The Walk, Reflections on Life and Faith from the Appalachian Trail

As we read the first chapter, and perhaps the second one as well, lets consider the trail blazes (markings). Those blue, white, green, yellow or red small rectangles painted on trees, rocks or posts that guide us through a path. When life throws us an unexpected "curve", when our own pride leads us to leave the path, How do we find the way back? What is the importance of relying on the blazes, even if we know the path extremely well? Analogy: If I grew up in the Christian Faith, if I know the Bible stories well, if I presume to be gifted spiritually, If I pray often, does that mean that I can daily ignore the "blazes" of God's Word and His daily guidance?
What is everyone's thoughts on the subject of following the "blazes"?

Thankful for mosquitoes because they feed the bats and frogs!

This is our pooch and our peeping toad!

Rain

We had a great beginning to our season. As our discussion guide we will read "The Walk, Reflections on Life and Faith from the Appalachian Trail" by Randy Motz and Georgia Harris.  The C & O canal tow path at the Monocacy Aqueduct was lovely as usual. The rain, or the prediction of it, did not keep Ann, Catherine, Chris, Georgia, Randy, John and Edi from a beautiful day in communion with God. His great cathedral is always wide open for us to come out and fellowship. Mud, mosquitoes and pesky weeds at our feet reminded us to be thankful in ALL things. The river was swollen and lovely.  This coming week, take a moment to meditate and receive what God might want to impart to you. What is the correlation between walking on a trail and your faith walk? I leave you these words from the book we are about to explore together: "Natural beauty is the lifeblood of the spirit and is the food that nourishes and renews the soul. It allows you to see the world anew with childlike eyes, able to see the entire world at once, drawing you ever closer to the creator." Do you agree, disagree? Are you inspired by God's creation to get closer to him? Please comment.
Blessings
Edi

The Walk

Starting this month we will begin the journey again of walking, worshiping and reading. Our discussions will be around "The Walk" by Georgia Harris and Randy Motz. A great read and a good way to parallel the spiritual trail and the trails we hike. Hope lots of you my friends will join us in discussion and in communion out there in the greatest of all cathedrals! The crisp autumn air invites us to come outside and breath! The colors of fall will soon explode in brilliance, boldness and worship. Sign up or just show up. Either way, if you are not yet in our mailing list and you are interested, please let me know so I can keep you informed.

Blessings,

Edi

The Healing Power of Being Outdoors

One thing  I have known for decades: earth, trees, grass, flowers, animals, snow, fresh air, rain, sun, cold, heat, clouds, rivers, lakes, streams, wind, breeze, mud, sand... These are all anti-depressants! For many a years I visited with friends in the garden, digging, weeding, making mud, emptying out our sorrows. For many a hikes did I feel God rejuvenate my soul and clear my mind while on his mountains out there. Many scientists have researched  how the chemicals in our brain work and even though they have stated how positive and beneficial it is to be out of doors, a person must have experienced some darkness before placing true value on LIGHT. Remember also to laugh or even think of yourself laughing, for the mere thought of joy and laughter can help your brain release the feel good chemicals we all need. So, here I state, from bench and front line, that indeed there is refreshing healing in God's beautiful creation out there! For the next month or so stay focused on walking, hiking, boating, laughing and anticipating our next G2 hiking adventures. We will officially resume our walks and talks in September. Look for us at Cedarbrook!

Family Moments

As I spend hours thinking of my family I feel the need to share this experience with those of you who might come upon this blog. Thanks for sharing the road!Sunday November 11, 2007 was a day when I felt God`s presence in a supernatural way. I read the Bible in the morning, again in the afternoon and again before going to bed. This was not at all a common practice of mine. Now I know that God was preparing me for what was to come.We began our last “Patriarchs of our faith” lesson (Beth Moore Bible Study) filling in the blanks … ´´some moments are family moments``. This related to Joseph`s command for all people to leave his presence so he could be alone with his brothers when he revealed his true identity to them. The author helped us relate personally by giving us the example of a family moment when her young sister-in-law died suddenly. She described the scene at the hospital when the family huddled, cried, sobbed and held each other. She then spoke of her own mother`s death and her daughters surrounding their grandmother.  I wrote on the upper corner of my book: ´´Lord, I was not there for my mom when she died. I did not hold her hand when she breathed her last breath. Please let me be there when my dad dies``. I did not know why I wrote it, but I spent the rest of the day inviting God`s presence in all the things I did. When I read the Scriptures before bed I went back to the Patriarchs lesson and I finished reading the book of Genesis. I read the narrative of Jacob`s death and Joseph`s plea with Pharaoh to bury his father in Canaan. Pharaoh replied: ´´Go bury your father``. I highlighted this sentence and went to sleep.

            The phone rang a couple of hours later. My sister`s words were: ´´daddy has left us``. During the first hour of Monday, November 12<sup>th</sup> 2007, my father, Jonas de Carvalho Lisboa, went home to be with Jesus. He had a sudden heart attack and died within 5 minutes of the first symptoms. He lived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Between sobs and questions the Word of God came back to me, the morning Bible study flooded my thoughts, the words I wrote on my book, they all came back to mind. My husband immediately got on the phone with the airlines to try and get me a ticket out as soon as possible. Hours later, my flight out to Brazil was booked for 3:30pm from Baltimore to Rio. I would arrive in Rio at 8 am, Tuesday. The custom of our country is to bury the dead within 24 hours. I would not arrive in time. It took several phone calls but my family arranged differently and dad`s service and funeral would be postponed till my arrival.

            As my mind spun with questions I remembered that I did not have an active passport. Early Monday morning I tried to contact the State Department. Being a government holiday, all departments were closed. I don`t know how unusual this is but someone did answer the phone. I explained my situation and asked him to help me. He said he was just the security person and there was nothing he could do for me. He did tell me to call back at 10 since there might be a possibility of an agent coming in that morning. I know I had the prayers of many of you with me. The entire time I was reminded of Joseph`s plea to go bury his father and I knew God had given me the same word pharaoh gave Joseph: ´´Go bury your father``. A passport agent from the State Department did come in and granted me priority to meet with her. She was only going to be in for a couple of hours. My husband, my daughter and I made it to Washington DC by 11:20am. We found a little photo shop downtown and I had my passport pictures taken. I went up to meet the lady who was to help me. And so it was that, on a government holiday, the passport processing that usually takes 30 to 40 days took 40 minutes… We arrived in Baltimore exactly 2 hours before my flight. There were absolutely no lines or wait for the final ticket purchase, for check-in OR for security. It was as if God Almighty – El Shaddai - was parting my own red sea in front of me. With these somber words He reassured me over and over again: ´´Go bury your father, I am with you``. I arrived 2 hours late for dad`s viewing but was on time for the service. I cannot possibly describe my feelings. So much healing has already taken place in our family but so much more is yet to come. I know that only God`s grace and the way He prepared me and reassured me of His presence held me through all this. I questioned Him…How about my heart’s desire to be there with dad for his last breath?

Mom had died 13 years past... 10 years ago dad was blessed with a new family. His second marriage was a gift not many receive. His wife and her son and her entire extended family took dad in; they loved on him as if he was their own. I would venture to say the last 10 years of his life were the earthly crown dad received as a taste of heaven. Emerson, my step brother, Dilma, my step mom, her mom, her sister, her brother-in-law, her nephew, one of dad`s best friends, ALL of them were there with dad when he went from here to eternity. When dad felt shortness of breath they were all there around him. When he collapsed they all surrounded him, touched him, and prayed with him. They stood in the gap for me, held his hand for me, and together they ushered dad into heaven with prayer. God Almighty had granted me the desires of my heart after all… I felt a supernatural peace about it. In the same manner that God`s presence was supernaturally strong in my life on Sunday the 11^th, so it was for dad. The account of his loved ones and his pastor is that of a happy, blissful day. Sunday evening he and Dilma went to church. As usual they sat near the front. Dad could not carry a tune. He praised and worshiped but tried not to sing too loud. Most of the times dad prayed while the congregation sang, with his eyes always closed. Dad was very traditional in his ways of worship. He enjoyed new songs but preferred old hymns. At the last minute the worship leader invited the congregation to sing ´´The Holy City – Jerusalem``. This was a divine last minute addition to worship and it was not on the program. Dad`s pastor, the worship leader and dad`s wife all accounted that dad`s countenance was that of a person having a vision of heaven. Tears streaming down his eyes he sang from the top of his lungs, his eyes wide open, looking up. It was very unusual for him… The service before his funeral was one of those glimpses of heaven. The words spoken,  the worship with hundreds of voices, the simplicity that reflected his living… What happened there was healing, for in many ways what was said of dad helped me see him in a different light. I cannot nullify wrongs done in the past in my present grief. I can receive God`s balm and the gift to understand in dad`s death what I did not understand in his life. As the ultimate touch of El Roi, my God who sees my pain, we three sisters huddled, just like Beth Moore described in her word picture of a family moment, at dad’s grave site. It was not planned but it all came to memory as a reassurance of ´´I am your God and I will go with you``. As we comforted each other our stepbrother asked if he could join us. And the four of us huddled and cried and sobbed and prayed to our God who sees our pain. Emerson stood in the gap for our beloved brother who departed before our mother and was buried there in the same grave site. There was divine restitution and our father was buried by his three daughters and one son. There was such healing at that moment, that family moment… Go bury your father… I did, my God, I did…and you went with me…and I then I understood what you meant by “not even death can separate me from your love”.

Edilene Lisboa McHenry                                            Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 11/16/2007

Of Frogs and Provisions...

Missing our Saturday morning hikes already! This last week Bella and I hiked at Black Hills natural trails. Amanda, Bella, Shelby and I also did Red, White and Blue Sugar Loaf Mountain, being this the first time our Amanda did Sugar Loaf!
As we hiked, we talked about the time when Bella was in 5th grade. Her science fair experiment was on the life cycle of frogs. If all this frog stuff is getting on anyone's nerves, please speak up! This shall be a season and soon other nature related subjects should be coming up... Bella had done the writing part of her research and was using an old first grade poster for the presentation. Her desire was to have a real frog or toad to bring to the science fair. That week we looked everywhere for our "prince charming". Every morning and evening we went frog "hunting", in  and around our woods, with no success. On the day she was to present her project Bella went to school very disappointed. Though knowledgeable and well prepared, she lacked the real thing! So what else to do but pray, right? It seems this is a habit we all have, to wait till all other resources are exhausted before we pray...
At that time I was the assistant PE coach at her school. The PE teacher and I had the first grade children outside during the period preceding Bella's science fair. Right at the end of class a little first grader came running to me shouting: "Mrs. McHenry, look what I found!!"  Yea, you guessed it again: She was holding this sweet little toad in her hands. My immediate reaction was to ask her if I could borrow it. I ran inside and found Bella. I said: "Look Bella, God answered your prayers and sent you this frog!!" I wish you could have seen her face! It is just priceless when God uses such simple moments to remind us of His care and provision!
So, to sum it up I would say:  Card board poster:     $1.00
                                              Books for research:   $10.00
                                              Colored copies:         $2.00
                                              Frog                          $ PRICELESS

Always be thankful and take time to look around and recognize the many different, simple and loving ways in which our Heavenly Father provides for our every need.
Go outside and soak up His love for you today! When you are filled up and spilling over, share it with someone who needs it! Smile at the grumpy! Turn up the music! Wear your red dress (ladies only please!)
Use your good dishes! Make lots of wishes!

Thanks for sharing the journey!

God's Love Language

This last Saturday we hiked Billy Goat Trail, on the gorge of the Potomac River's Great Falls. One of our conversations was centered on the way God speaks to us. I shared how fantastic it is to belong to a church like Cedarbrook, where we are encouraged to serve God with our passions. We were speaking about the ways in which God speaks to us through nature. I shared my frog love story and the pictures above are of that season in my life (the real deal!). I was going through a dark valley, depression was robbing all joy, hopelessness was creeping in... I sought God's presence daily by going out in the early morning to journal, pray, read and just soak in the outdoors. Several personal reasons, including past willful sin, had brought me to this place of despair. As a believer, I knew God was the answer, but other than praying and confessing, I didn't know how to get myself out of this pit. That's when, while walking around peeking to see what was blooming, I noticed these lovely, tiny, little frogs inside my day-lilies.  I had always loved frogs but had never seen such tiny creatures here in the USA. Every morning that Summer, when I went outside to soak God and nature in, my little friends were there speaking God's love to me. Daily God reassured me of His love and forgiveness. Daily the presence of Jesus was felt when we spent time together. Those same tiny green frogs never came back to my garden. Other beautiful ones have graced our living throughout the last several years but none so vibrant as the ones God used to minister healing and forgiveness to me that season.
Well, soon after we had this conversation (less words used on the trail), Rossio calls out: "Come here Edi!! Look!! And there before our eyes, just out of one of the many nurseries along the river, were hundreds of these tiniest of tiniest little frogs!!! All hopping and causing the illusion that the ground was moving, these little frogs were the unspoken words of God saying: "Don't you people EVER doubt how much I love you. Marvelous is our God, the Almighty, El Shaddai who gave Jesus, His only SON, to die and bring healing and forgiveness. Mighty is our God, who does not hesitate to speak "frog" to us, if that is the way we hear "I love you"!!   I could go on and on sharing how His embrace comes in many different forms. What brings yet more fascination to this love story is the fact that our ONE and ONLY God took that private moment he and I had shared, wonderfully multiplied it, and made it a G2 moment!! Awe struck we all continued on and decided more moments like that can be shared with even more folks if we continue to hike and soak in God's beauty next G2 season!
BTW, I got home dehydrated, took a nap and woke up sick. My husband came in from the garden calling: "Come here Edi! Look!" And if you have not yet guessed it, In his hands he had a tiny, tiny little frog to share with me!!! Even my husband talks "frog" to me and says I love you in the simplest of ways...

Psalm 19

¹ The heavens declare the glory of God;

   the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
² Day after day they pour forth speech;
   night after night they reveal knowledge.
³ They have no speech, they use no words;
   no sound is heard from them.
⁴ Yet their voice^[b] goes out into all the earth,
   their words to the ends of the world.
Always be Thankful!!!

Summing it up...

These are Jasmine's words....
Well said!
We have been hiking among the local trails and state parks for the past several weeks. It was amazing to be in the parks, it felt like God is surrounding us, speaking to us in nature tune or engulf us with the nature smell . The whispering of leaves, chipping of the birds, the sound of waterfall, the smell of wild roses, the smell of skunks or foxes (As Ann mentioned, we could not tell the difference), who would imagine that we have all these trails and parks as Barb put it right in our own backyard.

I was asked to comment on the blog on the recent chapters that we have been reading for our G2 group. I selected the chapter on "Seeking Balance" because it spoke volume to me. The author has the idea that a good christian could and should live a perfectly balance life. He realized that he never did get the hang of it.  For some of us, we tend to spend more time with work, personal goals and achievements, or church or charitable activities, sport activities for the children, etc than with God and our family. I am one of those people who would pack a 24 hours day into a 36 hours day, from morning till sun down, seeking balance in my daily life is difficult. I am glad to note that the author offered some hope by pointing out that a number prophets Noah, Joseph, Moses, David, Jeremiah, Daniel, Paul, Peter, Stephen and most of the rest have wildly out of balance lives. Mr. Osborne further pointed out that "when we're juggling competing priorities, our ultimate goal is not to be perfectly balanced. The goal is to fulfill God's calling without falling over." The author also wrote that "The search for a well-balanced life tends to overlook the fact that we each have a unique calling and role to play. Playing our role well sometimes demands being out of balance somewhere else." I liked the fact that each of us has the unique and important role to play in God's kingdom even with our shortcomings, supporting each other in various ways.

The author learned to ask three questions when juggling life competing demands (the following are excepts from the book):

1. What season is this? Each season of life has its own responsibilities and assignments. Mr. Osborne gave an example of a mother with preschoolers. Her God-given assignment would be different when her children are young than empty nest years.
2. What does God want me to do today? Each day has its own calling, a series of specific tasks carried out in the framework of a larger calling. The author gave an example of concentrating on his studies on his finals and intentionally let everything else go, family, devotional life, accountability group.
3. Is anything so out of balance that it's beginning to harm my health, relationships, or walk with God? The author gave an example of a friend that changed careers in midlife so that he could have a rigid and well balanced schedule of work, bible study, and family time.

We are all so different. As Mr. Osborne wrote, we have to find our own standard of balance that faithfully fulfill God's calling for us. Let's begin this journey, to faithfully fulfilling God's calling for each one of us. For some of us, we already have, for others, it is not too late....

Religion or Relationship?

As much as we like to brag about Christianity being  relationship and not religion, is it really? How do you, who call yourself a Christian, experience this relationship? Do you have one sided conversations with God or is it a dialogue? What are your feelings in this relationship? Is your knowledge of God reconciled with Him as a person who is a component in this relationship?
Take time to think of religion and about religious practices. Is what you are practicing just "doing religion in hopes of producing relationship?" (page 27)
If so, what is it going to take for you to fall head over heel in love with your savior?
Remember:  " The goal of spirituality is NOT to lead - it's to know and please God. We need to work hard NOT to project our personality and calling on everyone else!"
We connect as a G2 group on the grounds that God gave each of us this passion and love for His creation, nature and the need to be on the move. Does that make you and me better than the people in our lives who do not take pleasure in hiking and being outdoors? Is the book worm Christian developing a closer relationship with Christ because he spends more time reading?

Think about these things....

Sugarloaf Mountain, summit

Words given to us by God through the prophet Micah:
Chap.4:  “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
   to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
   so that we may walk in his paths.”
Chap 5:  With what shall I come before the LORD
   and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
   with calves a year old?
⁷ Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
   with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
   the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
⁸ He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
   And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
   and to walk humbly^[a] with your God. 
Thanks for sharing the journey!

What is a Contrarian?

As we do some of our summer reading on the topic of a "contrarian's guide to knowing God", perhaps one must explore the meaning of the word contrarian... In agreement with Larry Osborne, the author we presently read, "contrarian thinking for the sake of being contrarian is an arrogant waste of time". Ours is the pursue of a deeper, closer, real relationship with God. A hunger to experience a God pleasing spirituality and a quest for HIS truth which drive us to question, to speak, to challenge ourselves and others.
Being a contrarian is not being an anarchist. It is merely asking: "Is that really true?"
As we dive deep into comparing what we read against the absolute truth of God's Word, we shall grow closer to Him. The closer we get to Him, the more we will hunger and thirst for Him. We shall find Him when we search for Him with all our hearts!

"All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

What is your quest? How do  you experience God?