God Visits Ella Alley, 17103

"God works in mysterious ways!"  Let me say that again, "God works in mysterious ways!"  He asks us to believe that His ways are best, that He cares for all of us, that He wants us to be obedient, that He hears and answers our prayers.  Since he sent His son to Earth to take on the form of a human, He knows firsthand, without any doubt, how much of a blockhead His human creations can be on a daily basis.  He uses the foolish to confound the wise (1 Corinthians 1:27).  If I am not His number one example for this, I am confident of being in the top 10 somewhere. Allow me to explain:

Calendar pages continue to flip.  Months turn to years. The length of time between when I first arrived, drew my first breath and enjoyed my first meal and the current date to becomes larger.  As that number grows one unsavory trait I have developed is that I am very impatient with certain things.  Most of those things deal directly with what happens when I assume a position buckled safely behind the steering wheel of my car or truck.  Which vehicle I am driving does not seem to have any influence over how I feel or what happens.  It's when I find myself in that particular position that God brings to me "Teachable Moments".  These are those times that God allows things to happen not as  I would like them to go or as I think the law of nature should have them going.  For example, it's 2 a.m. and I am unable to pull out from a traffic control device because of the number of evenly spaced autos driving towards me.  How about just as I pull out into the passing lane on the highway in order to avoid as slow moving tractor-trailer, a slower moving tractor trailer in front of the one I am attempting to pass enters the passing lane in front of me.  Or the coup de grace, I have cruise control set while on the interstate and as I approach a slower moving vehicle I am obstructed from entering the passing lane because someone is riding on my left rear bumper doing the exact same speed as me, while texting.  Lord have mercy.

So, one day last week Ann and I come rushing home from running errands in order that I can eat the noon meal change clothes and have her drop me off at work.  It was at this very time that God created one of His "Teachable Moments" in my life.  Coming down our street to park in front of our house, the car in front of me, who by the way cut me off while turning onto my street, pulls in and parks in the last remaining parking spot in front of my house.  As aggravating as that was, it was not a life ender.  I quickly realize that I am not going to be defeated because all I have to do is pass my house make a U-turn and park on the opposite side of the street. Thus my auto will be facing in the direction that I eventually need to go and  my frustration level stays in check.   But nooooooo!  As I make the U-turn and oil truck comes down the street to make a delivery.  Of course!  I should have known!  We are now face to face with no place to go.  The friendly driver leans towards his windshield and politely points to the house he is stopping to service.  This is going nowhere fast.    My frustration is rising. The clock is ticking. I back up, make a K-turn and head out the end of my street in order to go up the alley behind my house. 

As I make a right hand turn to go up the alley, there in the middle of the alley is a broken down, beat up, road beaten, rust red pick-up truck being circled by two dirty, broken down, down on their luck men.  While muttering to myself that I can't believe this is happening, I have come to expect nothing less.  I squeeze my car between said bucket of bolts and a yet-to-be-foliaged lilac bush.  I hope deep down inside that I was invisible to these men as the hour at which I need to be at work is fast approaching. Teaching Moment!

"Excuse me Sir. Excuse me Sir!"  This is what I was greeted with as I exited my vehicle and attempt to make a break for it.  

"Excuse me Sir. Do you have any gas that I can buy from you?"  As I begin to reply a voice inside my heart says to help these men on this day, at this time. 

"No, I am sorry I do not have any gas to sell or to give, but I do have some empty cans", I answer.

The weariest of the two men said, "I am out of gas and only have eight dollars.  Can I borrow one of your cans?" 

As a soothing peace settled over me I said that would not be necessary.  I agreed to take his money and my cans and go get him the gas he so desperately needs.    The clock was still ticking and the time was getting shorter as I got my can out of the shed and headed to the petrol station.

The looks on their faces when I returned was worth all the aggravation, lateness and any other price I would be paying for doing this deed.  As two U. S. gallons of refined oil, turned to gasoline, was poured from my red plastic container down the gullet of the rusty red pick-up, my new found friend explained that I was a Godsend, that no one else stopped to help, that no one to who's door he had visited would help and that many just passed him by.  Little did he know that was my intent until God showed me he had other plans and needed to teach me something.  My friend said he was going to a job where he could finally make some money salvaging metal from a building that was being gutted.  If I hadn't helped his final option was to call his wife and take her tenuously away from her job to get him gas.  This would not be a good thing.  He was afraid that if he did not get to the job site he would lose out thus hurting his chances to turn trash into cash.   He told me that he did not know how he could repay me for the act of kindness.  I explained to him as I have many others that all I ask is that in the future when he sees someone in trouble that he help them as he can with no expectations of reward.  We shook hands and as I returned to the house to head to work, without eating a lunch I probably did not need anyway, I heard him thank me once again, bring the engine of the rust red pick-up to life and drive up the alley and out of site.

I felt good that things happened the way they did.  I ate something while being chauffeured to work. Once there I was not late as I punched in at the exact starting time.  All seemed right. Little did I know but another Teaching Moment was yet to come.

Four evenings latter as I sat in my man cave the door bell rang.  I heard Micah answer the door and speak to someone for a short time.  The door closed and Micah came into the room, handing me a roughly folded piece of paper.  He said the man I helped on Monday had stopped.  He wanted me to have this referring to the folded paper.  I unfolded it to find a hand written note and a five-dollar bill.  The note written on the inside of a used UGI billing envelope read:

 DeAr SiR. I AM Not The BEST cHRiSTiAN iN The world ANd I Still Have my problems. See we ARE Not Born peRfect. IN A Nice NeighboRhood such AS YouRs, No oNe offeRd help. out of 50 people. I doN't Have much BecAuse people Have stolen EveRy thing I Had. I AppREciAte the GAS that day.  Here is soMething that is Not Much. But my pRayeRs for you ANd YouR fAmily will Be multiplyed in Gods Kingdom. thank You.      

As I read, then reread these words so crudely written but yet so much from a man's heart, I was filled with many emotions.  First I was humbled and ashamed because of the very thoughts I had had that morning leading up to this encounter with God.  Second God reminded me once again that it is more important to have a good name than great riches. Next God showed me that He is found everywhere, even dressed as two dirty, broken down, down on their luck men.  Finally was the reminder that peace, true peace the eye-of-the-storm type peace, is only found in the love of and obedience to the Creator and Savior of the World.    

Thank you Lord for working in mysterious ways. Thank you Lord for the humbling lesson, may it help me grow.  May I spread it and it's fruits to others both on the inside and the outside of you kingdom.  -DD                                                        

The Bridge - Day One of Our Bermuda Cruise Vacation

I almost went to prison in order to get this shot.

I hate packing.  If there is one single task that would make me not plan a trip, a cruise or a walk across the room, it would be packing for the journey. Packing seems like taking everything you own on vacation. It wears me out .  I become stressed.  I am not fun to be with while performing the drudgery of packing.  However, my deodorant, toothbrush and underwear all get to go where ever I go worry free.  I worry if I am taking enough cash.  I worry about whether or not the van that is going to take us to Bayonne will get here let along get here on time.  Even when the van gets here earlier than expected, I worry about whether the van will get us to the ship.  Why do I worry about that?  Because the van driver who makes five trips a week to NYC gets in the van on Boas Street and immediately sets his GPS to where I tell him we are going.  Heaven help us!  As the second hand continually makes its sixty-second journey across the face of time and the odometer continues to add by one-tenths, all the stress, worry and anxiety slowly drain through the hour glass of time and are buried in the sand. 
I did not even let the fact that, as we passed the exit for Cabella's, the Ford van started to signal the driver and all conscience occupants of the van that the anti-lock breaking system was failing.  Not a problem because I know we only have to really stop once and that is at Cape Liberty.  Heck, he has a whole week while I am cruising to get the van repaired.
There was another unscheduled stop.  It seems the one who needs a GPS to find my ship is also being paid to transport coffee from York to a rest stop just across the PA/NY line.  As I exit the van somewhere inside the Garden State, a much less stressed traveler is heard saying, "Wow! Bermuda looks an awful lot like New Jersey!" The tourch that lights the Delp sense of humor and warped way of looking at life has certainly been passed from my generation to the next.

"Welcome Aboard!" to the love-of-my-life.

The van reached Cape Liberty, stopping at the correct place without incident,  Hallelujah!   This was followed in order by 1) a quick baggage check-in at the van, 2) a quicker passenger check-in 3) a short walk through the terminal where I (click) was yelled at by a uniform wearing, badge toting, lady of the up-sized fashion world (click, click) for taking pictures inside the building (click), 4) a bus ride of about 300 yards and 5) a walk across the gang-plank.
A grip, a grin, a glass of bubbly champagne and eleventy-billion "Welcome aboards" made me realize that this is for real and there's no turning back. 

A buzzing beehive. The crackling caused by electricity between to wires. The high energy excitement of my fellow passengers, as we waited for and finally heard the deep throat-ed bullfrog blast of the ships horn signaling our departure from terra firmam, filled the air. It's difficult to tell exactly when the ship breaks the chains of inertia but I realized that we were indeed moving forward and that New York City was not moving away.

Lady Liberty in New York Harbor

Lady Liberty shone her light for us as she waved goodbye while NYC feel off the stern and vanished in our wake.  NYFD joined the festivities and said 'bon voyage' by sending a fire boat to create a rainbow for our departing pleasure. Approaching and finally passing beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge puncuated the departure as the masses began to sing and dance to the frenzied beat of the pool band.

Unlike the rolling crescendo of excitement that climaxed with the bridge passing, the entrance to the sea and the announcement that luggage had been delivered to the rooms perpetuated an instant evaporation of energy and excitement on-board the Summit.
As the sunset on Day One of our cruise, the Main Land gradually disappeared in our rear-view mirror.  The sleep that was chased from us the night before by worry and packing, caught up to us as we set out watches ahead one-hour and sailed east into the darkness that would be our bridge from the real world to the amazing fantasy we were about to experience on the Atlantic Ocean.  - DD

A Speck on a Speck on a Speck

I have seen the horizon from what ever my vantage point has been while living my fifty-nine years here in Central Pennsylvania. I have stood on various beaches of neighboring New Jersey, our first state Delaware, as well as Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, cast my gaze eastward and wondered at what lay beyond. I have driven across the flat plains of northern Ohio, Indiana and Illinois seeing a horizon uninterrupted by hills and mountains. I believed that the world could not be bigger nor more expansive.

That all changed for me on 11 June 2012. I awoke that morning to the knowledge that I would be several hundred miles at sea aboard the Celebrity Summit steaming methodically towards Bermuda. Upon leaving the stateroom and walking out on the aft deck I was greeted by a site, by a world for which I was unprepared. I was not surprised by what I saw nor was I taken aback by it. Rather I stood in awe of what I was visually perceiving. I was humbled by the vastness of the sea and the sky. The sea was a deep blue that I had never seen nor could I have ever imagined. The blue I was looking at was never ever found in my 128-pack of Crayola crayons. I am sure Sherwin-Williams does not have that blue on any of their paint pallets either. The edge of the sea, zippered to the sky at some far off distant point on the horizon, provided the perfect contrast in colors enabling me to have some feeling for the depth and expanse of the sky and the sea. The blue sky was splashed with the purest of pure white cumulus clouds that added texture and bas relief to my world.

As I stood for a long time soaking in the beauty of God's creation, I began to think just how small a piece I was to the wholeness of the Earth. Like each and every drop of water that comprised the ocean upon which I was sailing, like those water droplets, I am just another speck of humanity that makes up all the sum total of people that ever did or ever will walk the face of this planet.

At night on the same aft deck of the Celebrity Summit, while shielding my eyes from the deck lights, I was able to accomplish the most anticipated part of the voyage. I wanted to see the night sky as God intended for mankind to see it. I did not want street lights or the illuminating glow from some far off mall or town to bleach that which God created for our pleasure from the canvass of the night sky. The black sea sky looked like a black jewelers cloth that had been laid out which then had handfuls of diamonds cast upon it. It was magnificent. Familiar constellations became difficult to identify because they now were comprised of so many more stars. The night black that filled in the spaces between the determining stars of thye heavenly figures were now salted with thousands and thousands of never seen before stars.

This magnificence was ratcheted up a notch when I gazed again at this new found universe through my binoculars. The night sky, the heavens that cover the earth, became three dementional. The thousands of new stars I had just discovered were now joined by millions more. The stars went from being diamonds scattered on a cloth to diamonds suspended in a multi-layered world of black. Wow!

Upon experiencing this I thought that this entire sea experience for me was humbling yet an awaking for me. Humbling because I felt like just a speck, upon the vastness of the sea, which in turn is small in comparison the the size of the Earth, which is small when compared to the size of the solar system, which when placed spinning in the vastness of the universe I just saw, is in and of itself just a speck. A speck on a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck.

It was at this point when I was feeling very diminutive, that I realized that I was wrong in thinking this way. The creator of all that I was seeing and being part of, the same creator that created all this created me too. Not only that He created me and loves me so much that He gave His Son the same human form that I have, sent Him to Earth to experience all the things that I have and eventually was asked to redeem me for the Father upon a Roman cross.

I never expected to get all that from an evening four-hundred plus miles at sea but I did. I am glad I did because I really understand that there is no place that I can go that God isn't there with me and attending to my needs.

Second Week of Advent - Thursday

Only one who truly knows the Lord could pen words such as these.

Psalm 145

King James Version (KJV)

¹I will extol thee, my God, O king; and I will bless thy name for ever and ever.

²Every day will I bless thee; and I will praise thy name for ever and ever.

³Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.

⁴One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.

⁵I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works.

⁶And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness.

⁷They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness.

⁸The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.

⁹The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.

¹⁰All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee.

¹¹They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power;

¹²To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.

¹³Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

¹⁴The LORD upholdeth all that fall, and raiseth up all those that be bowed down.

¹⁵The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

¹⁶Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

¹⁷The LORD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

¹⁸The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

¹⁹He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him: he also will hear their cry, and will save them.

²⁰The LORD preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

²¹My mouth shall speak the praise of the LORD: and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever.

Lord, Thank You for giving us men such as David. Thank you for giving them the ability to express to us their deep love and understanding that they have of You. I pry that I too may share in their love and understanding of You and Your ways. Amen. - DD

Second Week of Advent - Wednesday

Today's headlines constantly refer to the fossil fuels provide to us by the Earth upon which we live. Whether it be coal from Pennsylvania and West Virginia, oil from Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico or the numerous natural gas fields found far and wide, it is where we get our strength to carry out our daily activities. The food grown by the American farmer or cattlemen fill our store, freezers and plates with high protein nurishment. All this only fuels and feeds the carnal. Man is a spiritual being. One made in God's image. Where does the fuel for that come from? Read on as the prophet Isaiah has something to say about it.

Isaiah 40:25-31

King James Version (KJV)

²⁵To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One.

²⁶Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.

²⁷Why sayest thou, O Jacob, and speakest, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?

²⁸Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.

²⁹He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

³⁰Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:

³¹But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Have you ever seen an eagle soar in a clear blue sky? Your eye catches this massive bird soaring effortlessly at what seems to be just above your reach. Then without the appearance of any spent energy an invisible force places itself beneath the wings of the bird and it spirals towards the heavens. Our eyes squint as the form of a bird changes to a dark spot, then to a dot and eventually to a shape that plays tricks with your eyes until you realize it is not there any longer. What kind of force can accomplish this?

When I was young I ran to stay fit. There was much pleasure to be garnered from this activity. As I ran I would reach a point where it became effortless to continue or so it would seem. Soon the muscles would tire and the lungs begin to labor for more and more air. Then it would be over and what seemed to be a pleasure became something that made me tired and weary.

Today the Lord is telling me that if I wait upon the Lord I will run and not grow weary. My strength will be made new and He will lift me up in the same way that He lifts the eagle, taking me to new and unseen heights.

God will supply the power and strength that I need if I just wait upon Him. Pretty simple. Pretty smart.

Thank you Lord for this promise. Thank you for this gift. May I always be found grateful and using it in your name. Amen - DD

Second Week of Advent - Tuesday

In today's society it is difficult to reflect upon shepherds and their relationship with their sheep. Shepherds spent so much time tending their flocks that they would become very familiar with their sheep. They would have names for their sheep not unlike those who in our times have names for the whales or sharks or gorillas that they study. They would know the sheep's tendencies. Each and every sheep became a thing of value to the shepherd and to the flock community. When one sheep got lost or disappeared it was extremely upsetting to the shepherd. The shepherd would do what ever it took to restore the sheep to himself. Matthew tells the story like this:

Matthew 18:12-14 King James Version (KJV)

¹²How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

¹³And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

¹⁴Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

That is how important you are to the Shepherd. That is how much He loves you.

Open our eyes Lord. Open our hearts Lord that we might realize our importance in Your eyes. Allow us to rest in that peace. Amen. - DD

Second Week of Advent - Monday

Forgive us Lord and be ours. Forgive me Lord and be mine.

Psalm 85

¹Lord, thou hast been favourable unto thy land: thou hast brought back the captivity of Jacob. ²Thou hast forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hast covered all their sin. Selah. ³Thou hast taken away all thy wrath: thou hast turned thyself from the fierceness of thine anger. ⁴Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease. ⁵Wilt thou be angry with us for ever? wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations? ⁶Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee? ⁷Shew us thy mercy, O LORD, and grant us thy salvation. ⁸I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. ⁹Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. ¹⁰Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. ¹¹Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. ¹²Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. ¹³Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps.

Have mercy upon me and direct me in your ways, Lord. Show me your truth. Cover me with Your righteousness, set my feet upon your path. Come quickly Lord. Amen. - DD