In life, friends come in all shapes, sizes and personalities. Some friends are associated with one’s work. Others belong to a precious group of people who have grown up alongside you from days of childhood. (For several reasons I have few of those friends as childhood for me was dysfunctional; but that is another story for another time.) I believe that God brings people into and out of our lives to provide fellowship and growth for our souls. His purpose? To make us more like Him; more like Jesus.
Jason receiving his Quit of Valor – 2021
True confession: I am not a friend gathering person! Yes, it’s true. It could be easy for me to become a recluse. It’s not that I am void of close personal relationships, rather I tend to keep myself close and that inhibits my ability to form deep and personal friendships.
Before the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic Anne and I began attending our local Nazarene church and that is where I (we) first met Jason and Corrine. Jason has been living with the debilitating effects of Huntington’s disease for many years as is his sister. The genetic components were passed down from their mother who is now fully healed living in Heaven. Huntington’s is a wicked malady with no cure in sight. There are treatments that help, but the disease progresses on its own timeline and will prove to be fatal very early in the lifetime of those whose bodies are affected by it.
Shortly after we began attending the Nazarene church, I was tasked to record a video of Jason sharing his testimony about how God has sustained him, and his family, as he traverses the Huntington’s highway. A proud veteran, an ex-oil worker in Alaska, and then fully disabled by the disease Jason’s faith in the Lord has grown and remains strong. Until recently he has been a faithful attender at church and would participate in as many activities as possible.
A bit over a year ago it looked like Jason would not be with us much longer as he appeared to be declining. Then a miracle happened! A physician changed his medications and isolated a different component in his illness (my simplified explanation). All of a sudden Jason perked up and began to experience life on a new level. The change in him was striking to all of us that saw him on a weekly basis. The Huntington’s was still there but Jason was able to go on vacations with his family and do many of the things that he once enjoyed. No, he wasn’t cured – we all knew that. It was more like a year of reprieve; a respite so to speak. Some may say that it was science and not a miracle that brought this to pass. I am not one of those for it was clear that God had his handiwork in this and that is nothing short of miraculous!
Jason (in sidecar) ridin’ with the guys last Summer
Almost a month ago pneumonia entered Jason’s life and, coupled with Huntington’s, has been wreaking havoc on his body to the point where Jason is very weak and frail. He’s been losing weight (didn’t have much to lose in the first place), is sleeping a lot and has been unable to attend church with us. Unless something along the lines of a God-breathed miracle occurs, Jason may soon be home, fully healed and worshiping at the feet of his Lord Jesus.
Last Saturday our early morning (middle of the night for me) men’s prayer group met in Jason’s home, and I was determined to be among them. For about forty-five minutes we met in a circle with Jason as we shared our prayer needs and prayed together. The goal was to include Jason in something that he had been a part of until very recently. To pray for and encourage him that he was not forgotten and that our love for him and his family during this season of his life remains. For me, this was a special time of blessing that I hope never to forget. Far better is it to walk the difficult roads of life with someone, a friend, than to eulogize about them after they are gone from our midst. (Though the later is is much easier.) Thus this post.
I want to remember my friend Jason as I know him now.
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This post finds me up in Soldotna, Alaska where I will remain for a bit over a week taking care of Patrick and Lucy during Jenn’s work absence to the small village of Chevak, Alaska. We had all bedded down for the night in anticipation of getting over some tummy troubles with the kids, and my eyes returning to their pretty blues as they yield to whatever virus has turned them red and yellow! Jenn is playing on the Worship Team at church this weekend and she has two services to play on Sunday.
I sleep in Patrick’s room under his loft bed that I built several years ago for him. We have pulled Lucy’s double mattress on the floor in Patrick’s room so that she can share her sleep with Papa and Patrick. It’s pretty cozy but nice and warm; especially on those nights when we have all eaten Mexican food for dinner! 🙂
We all piled into bed by 22:30 tonight and as is our custom, we fall asleep – at least the kids do – to the Odyssey Radio Theater programs that are the hallmark of Focus on the Family ministries in Colorado. Our kids use to fall asleep to these programs and so now do Patrick and Lucy and when Papa is in residence he participates as well.
It took about three episodes tonight before both kids fell asleep – and they are still asleep unlike their Papa. Oh I should be asleep, I’m tired enough to be asleep, but I’m not asleep.
A quick look out the window right now shows a magnitude of beautiful starts. Still have some snow on the ground and the temperature is 10F as I sit here and write.
Perhaps the wiser thing to do is to stay in bed now but I just experienced some marvelous time with my Lord in Worship and Praise. After the last Odyssey program finished I turned on some old Vineyard music for me to fall asleep by. I like this particular album because, though the Vineyard has their own style, the songs are all older and ones that I grew up with as I grew in my Christian faith. They speak to me in deep recesses located in my heart and my soul; often when I’m not able to take in other spiritual comfort and teaching.
My times in Alaska often are emotional times for me. I become cognizant of why it is I come to Alaska and all that my knowledge entails. With every evening phone call from prison I understand how much of our family has been hurt beyond repair. I see my daughter forging ahead with good and sound decisions as both the Mom and breadwinner of the family. The kids, the kids are growing but still tender not fully understanding all that has occurred over the past three plus years.
Listening to the Vineyard music tonight I was struck by the simple words to song It Is Well With My Soul.
When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say It is well, it is well, with my soul
It is well With my soul It is well, it is well with my soul
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ has regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, o my soul
It is well With my soul It is well, it is well with my soul
For me, as Anne and I continue on our adventure to move to Alaska, I take great comfort in this song. With the slow process of selling our home in Maywood Park, I’ve been a bit discouraged. God didn’t fit his schedule into our schedule. So now we are trying to discern his schedule so that we can fit ours into his. Yet – our desire hasn’t changed.
I became keenly aware of that tonight while I lay in bed under Patrick and next to Lucy; to myself and my God I wondered aloud if ‘it will be well with their souls’.
My question was clearly answered in another song played a bit later: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.
O soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see? There’s light for a look at the Savior, And life more abundant and free:
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace.
Through death into life everlasting He passed, and we follow Him there; Over us sin no more hath dominion For more than conquerors we are!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face; And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace.
For several minutes I stood between Patrick and Lucy in our room as God asked me to lift my head and turn my eyes upon him. I saw his wonderful face while the things in my heart that cause me to be frightened and unsure grew strangely dim as I bathed in the light of His glory and grace.
Patrick and Lucy are the lights of this old life; I love them dearly! They are a part of me and always will be. To be a part of their lives with influence I (we) must be near them for a good season of life. There is still much pain ahead for all of us before all the legal issues come to a close. We need to get on with our life and would prefer sooner than later. I, however, cannot control what lies ahead. But what I can do for Patrick and Lucy is show them that it is well with my souls and that my eyes are turned up Jesus no matter what. If this Papa can teach them those two skills by his life, then this Papa will have done something very good for them.
There I will leave it and back to bed I’ll go.
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Several folks who are not on social media have requested a way to follow my North to Alaska Journal Blog via email. I have added that feature to my Blog so you can now subscribe via email. Just look for the Email Subscription box in the sidebar on the right and follow the proverbial ‘bouncing ball’. Neither I nor my webhosting service will share your email address with anyone, ever!
I’m cooling my jets – literally – in the Anchorage, Alaska airport waiting for my flight to Kenai which leaves at 5:00 am. It’s now about 02:43 hours Anchorage time which in the Grand City of Maywood Park time is 03:43 hours! Had a beautiful flight from PDX this evening though I’m just not a fan of JetBlue. Anne and I arrived at PDX early only to find that JetBlue wasn’t going to staff their counter until an hour and a half prior to departure time. Anne managed a leisurely dinner at Stanfords while I stood in line for an excruciatingly long time just to drop off my bag. It all worked out OK as when I got to the JetBlue agent I realized that in my haste I pulled the wrong folder out of my camera case. Instead of having my pre-printed boarding pass to present, I had my master list of all my account passwords that I travel with! Oh Boy! She was really quite nice and printed me a new boarding pass from my ID. It was actually TSA pre- approved!
We had an abundance of young kids on the flight tonight. Brand new ones, some toddlers of which one cutie sat behind me, and some teens. Gotta love traveling with families and their kids; at least I do. The little one behind me didn’t want to go to sleep and let us know about it but finally succumbed about an hour before we landed. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the pleasure of walking a little one up and down the aisle. Now I am relegated to just watching the process.
I had a young and vivacious seventeen year old girl sit down next to me along with her family. They were returning to their home in Wasilla (about an hour North of Anchorage) from Anaheim. Disneyland came first to my mind but their trip was primarily so that this young girl could compete in a global ice skating competition – and she came home with some ribbons in her class. Apparently skaters of all ages come from all over the World to compete. She told me that the oldest skater was eighty years old while the youngest were mere kids. I’m always impressed when one of today’s youth will take the time to talk with me and she was well versed in conversation. I offered to change seats with her Dad who was across the aisle with her sister, but he said he was fine and that if his daughter began to smell funny to let him know via a text message!
Who Sez This Is A Red Eye Flight!?
It’s been a screwy flight though as we did not book both flights (one to Anchorage and one to Kenai) together. I was sure hoping to get some food at the Silver Gulch on the C-consourse – one of my favorite airport eateries – but realized that if I didn’t retrieve my checked bag when I arrived, I probably wouldn’t be able to get it until I returned to Anchorage this coming weekend. JetBlue’s crummy staffing would have closed their baggage office before I could finish eating. So I sucked it up and wandered down to baggage to claim my one checked (count it, only one) bag. (There are no open restaurants in the unsecured area of the airport up here.)
I decided to see if I could check in on my next flight but no go – nobody was working at RAVN’s ticket counter. On a whim I wandered back to JetBlue’s counter and played dumb – not difficult at all – where there was one agent left on duty. I explained my predicament and that I was hungry and asked if she could do anything about getting me a pass to go back onto the concourse. Glory Be and Hallelujah she did exactly that!!! I just had to go back through security again.
With much gratefulness I almost ran to security – well I did sweat a bit – and proceeded through the gamut of TSA agents. The first was very thorough – looking back and forth at me and my photo on my passport finally letting me through. Then she noticed that my pass didn’t have a flight listed. She wasn’t buying my story until another agent assured her it was OK.
Stripping down to my almost skivvies I then proceeded to the contraption that eats all of your luggage. Apparently I didn’t pass the mammogram test either – that or someone needed experience in patting people down. My once checked bag didn’t come through the bag eating machine. They sent it through twice and it still didn’t come out making a baggage search of all my intimate clothing necessary. Apparently they weren’t finding what the problem was until they got way deep down in the bowels of the bag. ‘There it is!’ said the agent. The ‘it’ turned out to be a 250 foot roll of weed eater line that I was bringing to Jennifer for her weeds to eat! He kind of laughed while he buttoned up my bag and handed it back. Moral of the story: Pack some weed eater filament in your bag if you don’t want TSA to see the pocket knife you put in it!
I’m sure that all who read this are wondering why I’m in Alaska on this trip. It will be a very focused and short trip as I’m due to come home in the wee hours of Saturday morning. I’m here to see the house that is next to Jennifer’s home that Anne and I would like purchase. Anne saw it last May when she was up here – or was it April. So now it’s my turn to see it as this is my first opportunity following last week’s benefit concert at Magenta Theater.
The couple that owns the home do want to sell it as they hope to change their lifestyle to living in Alaska for three or four months out of the year and then migrate to something warmer when the yeti season hits. Bill, who is around seventy-five, drives tour bus for an Alaskan touring company in Anchorage. We have tried to time my visit to coincide with one of his ‘breaks’ so I’m hoping to meet him later today or tomorrow at the latest. But I think it will need to be today.
Now that our home is on the market Anne and I would like to starting talking about a sales price for their home to help us better decide what our bottom line to selling our home will be.
So things to pray for on this trip:
Pray that Bill will be home today so that we can meet and discuss pertinent aspects of the sale of our home and the purchase of their home. His wife will be there in any event so I will be able to see the house.
Pray that a buyer will be found soon for our home. Anne and I can’t really make a financial commitment to purchase another home until ours sells. We do have a large home and we are still working so hard to pack things up for showing the house. We’ve had three garage sales and have given away a ton of treasures thus far. The only consistent thing we are getting from our realtor – who has held two open houses thus far – is continual requests to reduce the price of our home and weekly reports that people are looking at our home online. I actually showed the home to a family last Saturday evening on my own. They didn’t balk at the work and seemed impressed by the potential of the home for their family. They won’t be ready to purchase until Fall but it could work. I got a text message from a realtor in Portland just before I boarded my flight tonight asking to show the house tomorrow at 3:30 pm. So hopefully we are beginning to realize some interest in our home.
Currently, we are babysitting Dr. Beckah’s two dawgs for a few weeks which will make Anne’s job of showing the home more difficult. We have to get all the dawgs out of the home for showing. Anne is still trying to pack things up as well which should help tell potential buyers that we are on our way out. Anne’s fibromyalgia saps her energy as does my back and shoulder issues does to me. Please include her in your prayers while I am away from home.
My Sister still needs to locate an affordable home for her. Prayers and suggestions are appreciated there as well.
Just an hour or so before I left our dryer made up its mind to take a breather and stopped working. Not sure what we are going to with that but our preference would be, if I can’t fix it when I return, to find a good used one to purchase. So put your feelers out and let us know if you know anyone with a dryer to sell.
We are thankful that our roof cleaning is almost done!!! The people doing the job thought that they were all done, but there is still just an ever so small bit on one section to complete that they missed. Sure looks good though!
The Princess Lucy just turned nine (or is it nineteen?) a couple of days ago. It sounds like she is going to have a party this weekend and I’m not sure if I can be there for it or not. If JetBlue will let me change my flight I might stay an extra day or so. Will just have to play that by ear.
I think that is about it for this episode. Anne and I are still purposed upon making the move to Alaska and our timeline is still to leave our Maywood Park home near the end of September. That said, we do know that our timeline is not always God’s timeline and we will be content in that knowledge. We do ask and covet your prayers in all aspects of this move.
Finally – A young friend of mine who lives amongst the Rif in Morocco is gravely ill and fighting for his life. His name is Elias and he is eleven years old; I met him when I was in Morocco in 2012. He is being very brave and courageous amidst the pain and medical procedures. Would those of you who follow me on this Blog please remember him to our Lord and pray for complete healing, as well as wisdom by the physicians that attend him. His family is able to be with him at this time but they are very tired and exhausted and could use some refreshment and good news. If any of you would like to send Elias a note of encouragement, you can do so by send me an email at: js@q.com and I will see that it gets forwarded to him.
Time to start the trek down to the end of the airport where the puddle jumpers take off for Kenai! Good Night!
Our home For Sale in the grand City of Maywood Park
It’s been another rough and busy couple of weeks since last I posted. Anne and I were going great guns emptying out our home of the things that made it uniquely ours. Originally we had not intended to do so much but our realtor asked us to ‘de-clutter’ our home before his photographer came in to take photos; I’m not sure he fully understood the ramifications of that request. We began to work feverishly to accommodate his advice believing that benefits would be worth it in today’s housing market.
About ten days in to the work before us I realized that we would not be able to hit the target date for the photographer and asked for a few more days time extension. Though this would put our listing time out for another week it was a practical and necessary move on our part.
On June 3rd Anne left me for her ‘tour of duty’ in Alaska where she had been scheduled to take care of our grandkids, Patrick and Lucy, while Jenn, our daughter, was out of town for work. Previous to Anne’s departure I was involved in rehearsals for our upcoming production of Moon Over the Brewery at Magenta Theater in Vancouver. Anne had managed to pack up an awful lot of her stuff in both her woman’s den downstairs, our kitchen upstairs and our bedroom up the other stairs! This was all too evident when I returned from rehearsals Saturday night! (All good things too.)
Sunday found me moving boxes from all over the house out into our garage as I continued to build my $25 billion wall!
Looking out to Friday’s photo shoot I again began to wonder if I could make that imposed deadline by myself. So much to pack and move; not enough time. Admittedly I began to wonder if we were indeed misguided and nuts.
On the following Monday evening disaster hit in a way I could not have imagined. Through a series of missteps and inexperience the theater stage lights went black as I was coming off the front of it. Momentum was doing its thing behind me as I stepped off the front of the stage in blackout condition, unexpectedly. My left foot hit the floor, which is about 18″ down, and it did so straight on and hard. The pain was immediate as I fell on to the floor. Still in blackout I managed to get myself in to my seat – no one saw the fall or saw me on the floor though a couple of folks did hear the thud and wondered what it was.
As with most theatrical productions the show always ‘goes on’! I persevered to the end. Still in a great deal of pain I was able to make my way to my car, mostly on one leg, and to home. Ice packs and Vicodin were foremost in my mind. My leg and foot had swollen up big time with the calf muscle almost as hard as brick. Not what I needed with the work ahead of me.
When I finally reached a physician I was told that if I could sleep with it I probably didn’t need to go to the emergency room that night. The ice pretty much killed the pain until I could get to sleep. Poppy Puppy thought the large ice pack was great and proceeded to lick all the frost off of it!
The morning did not bring a lot of relief. The swelling was every bit as hard as it was when I sent to bed the night before; but I couldn’t rest it much with so much do staring me in the face. At some point on Monday I was able to reach nurse Anne to tell her what happened and that I didn’t think I would be able to get the work finished in time for the photographer. I was on drugs but probably said something about needing some help. Anne made some calls to our church family at Shepherd’s Gate Church and a prayer request was sent out for me as well as a call for help.
In the meantime I discerned that something may be seriously wrong and secured an appointment with my doctor that afternoon. His good news was that my Achilles tendon didn’t seem to be damaged but he also sent me directly to the hospital for a sonogram to check for clotting as well as an X-ray. Both of those tests were negative; I was most thankful. The healing time, however, was another issue. The official diagnosis was that I had torn my ‘grandiogastricisimo’ muscle with another similar medical name that I can’t seem to remember. How long to heal? As long as it wants!!! Not a happy camper for sure.
That evening our dear friends Craig and Barb Dyk came over to help move boxes from both downstairs and upstairs to our garage so I wouldn’t have to. They moved a bunch of other things too like shelving, book cases and even packed up enough of Anne’s woman’s den that there wasn’t much needed to do after they left that I could not manage!
I would be remiss not to mention the help that my sister Cait provided. She packed up all sorts of things on the main floor (some that we are still trying to fine 🙂 ) over the next few days. Together, she and I pretty much got the house photographical in time for Friday’s deadline – or was it Thursday. I’ve been in such a blind stupor that I’ve pretty much put all that in some dark place in my mind that I can’t find now.
I’ve been fortunate at Magenta as well not missing any rehearsals and coming in for some that weren’t scheduled! One of my Magenta blessings is a new-to-Magenta volunteer named Chris Giesy. Chris is a young man who agreed to share the Sound Operator position with me as one of my trainees. (For this production I have been serving as the Sound Designer but sought someone to train as a Sound Operator under me.) Chris would tell you that he is used to working behind the scenes and may even prefer that. That said, he has been soaking up the Sound Operator stuff with so much enthusiasm and vigor that I have come to believe that back stage or not, he has found his niche at Magenta! He has been a blessing to work with in so many ways. Thus far, and now I am going to jinx him, his performance in terms of rehearsals and shows has been flawless. We have had a few meals together and it’s been a joy to get to know him (as are most all Magentas). Chis has been able to take rehearsal for me and most of the shows this week so that I can work at home and give my leg some opportunities to heal. Gratitude is too little of a word to use in terms of the blessing Chris has been to me as well as to the Magenta Theater Group at large.
Anne & Stephen Cline June 14, 1974
My bride of forty-three years (as of June the 14th) returned home to me this Monday past. While she had a great time in Alaska with Patrick and Lucy, she admitted that in looking forward to the work here at home she had thought about just staying up there! Can’t say I blame her – forty-three years of ‘treasures’ between the two of us, twenty of which was accumulated in our current home, is enough for anyone to run away from! Anne had also fallen in Alaska injuring her wrist which she had bandaged and not informed me about. (I knew that she had fallen, but didn’t know about the injury until I spotted the bandage in a photo that Jenn had shared.)
The day following her return home our realtor met with us to finalize our listing and to officially place it on the market! You can find the listing here. Don’t let the front page photo deceive you! This house is almost 4200 square feet in the shape of a ‘T’ extending out to the back. Hopefully, it is priced to sell too.
My leg continues to heal and currently is a yucky shade of yellow with the toes still that deep ‘purpley’ crimson color. Both leg and foot are still swollen though the tissue in the calf is softening. It’s been a challenge to keep on the move with the pain and limp. While it used to be two steps forward and three backwards, that ratio is lessening a bit. The stairs in our home are steep and problematic but the stairs in the theater’s main stage are gentle and I can almost do them without a depending upon the handrail.
Anne’s wrist is still wrapped up but she’s done better at moving forward than I have this week. I believe that she has almost completely gone through the kitchen and dining room now. While we have been successfully selling privately much of our good stuff, such are our wedding dishes, photography gear, and furniture, she is planning on garage sale number two tomorrow.
We took some time on Wednesday morning just for us as that was our official forty-third wedding anniversary! We hope to continue the celebration with a day off on Sunday in the beautiful and mighty Columbia Gorge. It may well be our last such trip in a very long time.
There are times in life when one really wants to cry. As Creations in God’s Image endowed with self will and determination life can come at you hard in the best of circumstances. Especially when decision that are unwise are made and executed. When I began this North to Alaska section I did so in the belief that Anne and I had well thought out our decision to embark upon this adventure at this time in our lives convinced of two things:
We needed to make a change in our lives before some one else would make such a change for us.
Having surrendered our lives long ago to God and the claims that his Son, Jesus, had upon our lives, we believed that the path we now find us on is within his desire for the direction our lives need to take. In short, our desire is to follow His leading.
Honesty compels me to say that I have seriously questioned both of the above listed items over the past few weeks. There have been at least three times when I’ve been tempted to call off this venture.
The first was when I realized that no matter how much we endeavored to meet the initial deadline for our photo shoot, we simply could not do it. We had invested in tons of boxes, packing material and were almost literally packing up everything in sight in our effort to open up the rooms within our home to show their true size, light, and qualities per our realtor’s advice.
The second such time was when Anne had to leave for Alaska for ten days. Even with all she had accomplished prior to taking wing, I went through the house wondering how I could possibly accomplish the task set before me in time for the new photoshoot date. My heart was discourage; I was discouraged.
The third such time for discouragement was that severe injury to my leg; an injury that spawned repetitive times of despair along with the physical pain that just was not easing up.
In my mind, which is prone to clinical depression, thinking is circular and goes something like this: “We have a dream, we have a plan, we have a timeline, we see and believe that our God’s hand is in it. We step out in faith with deep hope and trust that God will lead.”
“An obstacle presents itself that we did not plan on. Our energy is sapped; our timeline extended; our trust in the One who loves us wavers.”
“One of us must leave for a while. We knew this. We planned for this. The enormity of the word before us was exponential. I cannot do this; I cannot do this alone.”
“An avoidable accident occurs. I’m severely injured. My leg tells me that ‘it’ is over with every step I take. With every knee that bends. With every millimeter of swelling. With the rainbow of colors that ensue. I cannot do the work; so much work to do. So many stairs to climb, hardwood floors to prepare, boxes to pack, to move, to stack. I am becoming overwhelmed with wonder. Not the wonder that comes with adventure but the wonder that comes with adventure missed. How is it that we – I – could have missed God’s love and desire for Anne, myself and our family so vastly. For if we were truly set upon God’s path – and it’s anathema for me to think otherwise without denigrating myself – would not these rocks have been kicked off the path before us?”
I have to admit that the leg injury was the pièce de résistance for me. It just makes little sense to me that such an injury could be complicit in a successful adventure! Anne and I are open to God’s timeline for this adventure should ours prove to be fallible. Case in point, though we are praying for a speedy sale of our home we know that is not really in our hands or that of our realtor’s. Ultimately, God is the only one that knows when our home will sell in advance. That thought, however, does not inhibit us from stepping out as we are led and we have proved that within our lives for well over forty-three years now. If nothing else stands as a testament to God’s faithfulness in our lives it is the preservation of our marriage!
Now, writing for myself here, I find myself questioning his leading in our lives. As the obstacles have unfolded over the past weeks I have been called to remember God’s faithfulness to his children. For one, the whole of the Gospel is His account of how much his love for us consumes him! This God who created us in his Image and endowed us with a free and contemptuous will did so because his heart’s desire is to be in a personal relationship with his Creation. It’s pretty simple really as stated in Paul’s letter to the Romans:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you[a] free from the law of sin and death.3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh,[b] God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering.[c] And so he condemned sin in the flesh… (Romans 8:1-3 NIV 1984)
The Book of Job speaks to the negativity of humankind when suffering – obstacles or rocks – impede the path of faith. Whole books have been written from the Book of Job that expound upon the sorrowfulness of the human condition for those who choose to follow the Living and only true God. Job’s response to his family and friends who chastised him for not cursing God was deceptively simple to those who desire complicated answers:
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart.[a] The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.”(Job 1:21-22 NIV 1984 Emphasis mine)
God himself credited Job in this by saying:
22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.(Job 1:22 NIV 1984)
In Ecclesiastes 3:1 a list of no less than fourteen seasons is set before us with the following words:
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: (NIV 1984)
Now to be certain I am no Job though I have suffered much pain, mostly associated with my diagnosis of chronic and clinical depression with a flavor of manic depression that nearly cost me my life on several occasions. Through my years of treatment I somehow learned to say with Job: “…may the name of the Lord be praised.” Yes – it is not always an easy thing to express but it is truth nonetheless; a truth for which I am grateful.
Over the past three years my Lord has preserved me through some excruciatingly difficult times involving my family. It is through these times that God has worked in both Anne and my lives to bring us to our decision to pull up our comfortable home stakes and replant them in the cold harsh earth that I lovingly call The Great North Country of Alaska. We remain convinced beyond doubt that this is God’s direction in our lives; as well as the lives of our eldest daughter, grandchildren, and our son-in-law. We ‘know’ that doors have been opened for us in Alaska. Doors that include the making of close friends such as Ryan, Chris, Frank, Joy, Brent, Brian, Zack, Dawn and Conley, to name a few. Doors that have provided a beautiful Body of Christ to worship and serve with. Doors that are providing a new home right next to Jenn’s home. Doors of encouragement from close friends of ours in the lower forty-eight.
The only guarantee we have in all of this is trust. Trust in our Lord and God to fulfill his work within us; to preserve us and to keep us close to him as if we are born aloft on the wings of Eagles!
If you are in the mood for some encouraging reading take a look at the entire chapter of Isaiah 40. I’ve loved this chapter over many, so many years as it describes the love, comfort and care of our God towards his people in difficult times. Here is the grand takeaway from this chapter:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. 29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; 31 but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.(Isaiah 40: 28-31 NIV 1984)
In verse 31 of the above passage some translations use the word ‘trust’ in place of ‘hope’. Neither is wholly true by itself. If I could coin a word – and there may be such a word in Hebrew – I would combine the words hope and trust into a single word of some sort that would carry the meaning of both words. i.e. Because we trust in the Lord we can hope in the Lord or visa versa. The idea would encapsulate a meaning that is mutually inclusive in our language today where one could not exist with the other.
What I am realizing and reminding myself of while I generate this post is that I do trust in the Lord; I do hope in the Lord. I cannot do one without the other and it doesn’t really matter which I do first as one will lead to the other. For me, this is no small thing as it resonates at the core of who I am today (in all of my glory or lack thereof 🙂 ).
When it comes down to the proverbial shove, the only wrong one commits while walking with God down the path of eternal life is to stay put! Be afraid! Pull back your extended foot from a potential path, an adventure, a season of life. From the perspective of a recovering depressive, “Curse God and Die”. (Job 2:9 NIV 1984)
My response to Job’s wife as she uttered the above sacrilege: “May the name of the Lord be praised for we are renewing our strength and refusing to grow weary as we soar as if on the wings of Eagles!”
It’s late again and I’m trying to unwind a bit before heading upstairs for a shower and my warm hot bed! Simply put I’m pooped tired and hurting more than usual – Vicodin is my friend tonight.
But I would be remiss to not take some time before the eyes shut down and recap all that was accomplished today. Today, a very special friend to me for many years now came over to help rearrange the garage and move some large awkward items out of the basement level and up into the garage. Anne and I are working against a deadline of this coming Friday when our realtor arrives with his photographer to photograph our home for listing. That’s not an unusual thing at all; unless you know what the inside of our home looks like and how Anne and I like to decorate. Seldom do we paint as there is little precious wall space to paint one we have decorated! When Steve, our realtor called and talked to me last Friday he hemmed and hawed a bit and finally asked if we could ‘declutter’ our home for the photographs. The nerve! So for every day since that call we been decluttering our treasure filled home. Both Anne and myself have been most occupied in this decluttering process. Friday just keeps getting closer and closer and the clutter doesn’t seem to decrease in spite of the boxes that are now stacking up in the garage. Apparently, when it comes to house for sale photography garages don’t count!
At my request Austin came over this afternoon to help me with some heavy and awkward stuff in our lower level. For those of you that don’t know the relation Austin was one of my Trinity Fellowship Kids that I’ve know from his Jr. High School years and following. He was one of Tech Crew kids at Trinity capable of doing just about any skill and discipline that we needed. Austin participated in the Morelia Youth Mission in 2010 of which I was also a part. A few years later he went with me on a mission trip to Spain and Morocco – we were the only two guys on the team. During those golden years at Trinity Fellowship Austin would do just about anything that I asked and he did so with joy and gladness.
Of course, my involvement with ‘my kids’ at Trinity – and I was blessed with many – also allowed me to be present in the tougher times that life can throw at kids. Austin had those times; for a variety of reasons. We shared those times together as well as the successes.
I was a bit behind my schedule of work when Austin arrived this afternoon to help. I had just finished tearing our the carpet from one of our bedrooms and hadn’t prepped any of the work he was going to help me with. Mostly muscle work.
We started in the garage moving Anne’s garage sale items out of our way. The plan was to create enough of a space on the garage floor that we could lay down a series of 2x4s and put our completed packing boxes on the 2x4s. Good plan except as we were vacuuming up the garage floor by a set of shelves we came upon oodles of mouse poop soaked in mouse pee. A lot of it! Before we could do anything else we had to deal with that (thank the Lord for Pinesol!) With that mess cleaned up we began to move the finished packing boxes into the garage. The next task was to organize Anne’s garage sale items so that they would fit in about one fourth of the total garage space.
The remaining space was dedicated with large items from the basement. There were two couches down there in different areas one of which was a bear to get down there – it had been donated to us by a friend and it made a nice sitting area down there for our guests. In the bonus room our very first couch that we had in our Laurelhurst home was well at home. Grasea and Poppy Puppy loved that couch too. But up it came and out to the garage.
We had three more large items (but not as large as the two sofas) to come up and finally a 21″ data rack/cabinet that I stole from my old employer. I actually brought two of these monsters home putting one of them to use in Trinity Fellowship. The second just sad downstairs. Between the two of us we were able to get all that heavy stuff in the lower level brought up so we can sell it, dispose of it, or most anything else other than keep it.
Bottom line our work today was a lot more that I anticipated; especially the mouse poop and pee. Without Austin’s willing attitude and heart I would not have been able to accomplish al the work we did today. Once again I find myself being most grateful and wonderfully blessed by the friendship that I share with Austin.
When Trinity Fellowship blew up and fell apart a few years and I found myself needing to leave a church that I loved, I was concerned that the relationships I had built there, especially with ‘my kids’ were in jeopardy and might not survive the split. In the years since then I have seen ‘my kids’ in different place and when we get a chance to meet for long enough to learn about what they have been doing they talk with me as though there had been no separation in time or place. I miss those kids…all of time. But I’m grateful when God brings our paths together for is truly a time of blessing for me. Why should these kids respond to me? I only have one answer: Because I love them and they know it.
So Austin MacDonald you helped me greatly today and I feel so blessed because of you! Thank you!
It’s been a long and busy day today for us. Anne and I spent four hours with the third realtor today. Out of the three interviewed over the past week, two seemed to be appropriate for us. The first one showed the most promise in terms of internet savvy and aggressive marketing. Both of us liked what he had to say in terms of what needed to be corrected or repaired with our home. While he was careful not to make any promises he was clear that fifty percent of his listings sold within one to two weeks; the remaining listings seldom went past thirty days.
After today’s interview we have elected to go with the ReMax Agent that we met with this afternoon for several reasons first of which was a seasoned and mature professional. Today’s agent, another Steve without the ‘ph’ took to our dawgs and listened intently to our hopes and dreams for exiting the lower forty-eight as early as possible in October. To help us meet our needs he suggested that we find a couple of contractors who would work for us and defer payment until we close on the sale of our home. Something that we had not thought about as possible. Further, Steve was willing to see if he could locate a few suitable contractors for us to choose from.
For our Portland and Maywood Park friends, we are specifically looking for the following two contractors:
Someone who can finish cleaning our roof, without using a pressure washer, on the north side of our home and will also clean out our gutters.
A contractor that can patch an area of our kitchen floor that is currently opened down to the sub flooring due to a dishwasher that leaked years ago from a faulty drain hose. We already have a new dishwasher that would need to be installed on this project.
Having someone complete those two projecst would free up precious time for me that I do not currently have. You can respond to this post or send me a private email at js@q.com if you know anyone that would be willing to perform this work. The only caveat is that they would need to be willing to defer payment until our home closes.
So what’s next? Research and work, that’s what! My task is to begin researching how to ship our possessions to Soldotna, Alaska. The most logical option is via barge and there are several companies that specialize in moving things to Alaska. Along the same lines I will be looking in to the cost of rental trucks to drive and whether or not we drive all the way to our destination, ferry there, or a combination of both.
Anne has been going through the house to figure what we will sell, take or burn on site! Our first garage sale is slated for this Saturday, May the 27th from 09:00 until 16:400 at our home. It will be mostly Anne’s collectibles and you all know that she collects no junk! If I can get my act together I might have some electronic items or other things to add. Furniture and larger items, unless someone asks, will be saved for another garage sale at a later date.
Next week our realtor will have a professional photographer come in to photograph our home. We have two areas that we must open up in order to actually show the size of the rooms. One is Anne’s craft and sewing room downstairs (it is stocked much better than Fabric Depot and other similar stores) and the other is the large family room in the lower level where Patrick Station resides and our dear friend, Jan, has been staying. So we have a bit of quick work to do in those areas.
At this writing, Jan has located and sealed a deal on a new apartment that will be much closer to her Mom who is in an assisted living center. My sister is hoping to move to southern Orygun near where her youngest son and his family live.
Anne and I are still hoping to purchase the bear cave next to Jenn’s home but we have not been able to connect with the owners there yet. If it is not available to us there are other options in terms of homes. So please continue to pray for that need as well as all of the myriad of details that we know of and those that are to date undetected!
Finally, in terms of prayer, I would ask protection for our health. I’m doing well, the stents are doing their job. I do have a rather hellacious schedule right now as I am deeply involved with Magenta Theater (a very good thing it is!) So it would be critical to manage my time efficiently in such a way as to ensure my continued health.
Anne has an appointment in August at the fibromyalgia clinic at Oregon Health and Sciences University. That’s getting close to our departure timeline and it would be a blessing for that appointment to be moved up due to cancellations.
There hasn’t been a lot of free time in my schedule lately that I could dedicate to dressing up my new journaling Blog prior to going fully public with it. My old Life After QWEST journal was taken down several months ago, though I have kept my www.joysoundav.com domain. After almost eight years of publishing to my old site I pretty much figured that people knew I had retired from QWEST Communications (now CenturyLink – a poor successor) and moved on to other things. Further, given the negative political climate in both our nation and culture I didn’t have the heart to do much writing.
Much of my time over the past few years have found me spending a significant amount of time with my daughter’s family on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. In 2015 I spent four months in Alaska, followed in 2016 by an almost nine month stint. Thus far this year I’ve only been up there for a bit over two weeks and am scheduled to go for a bit longer this coming August.
The visits have been great and I have grown to love Alaska though it is quite different than the Pacific Northwest. Trees are stunted with many ‘Hobbit Forests’. There are no Christmas trees!!! Things are expensive including gas and eating out along with basic supplies. Jobs are scarce and the State economy has tanked with the loss of wage-earning oil revenue and a money hungry government. There are six seasons in Alaska, Winter, more Winter, a day of Spring, Summer, a day of Fall, Winter. Then it repeats. A sweltering hot day on the Kenai tops out at 65F. Anything above that puts the State into heatstroke.
Yet, when I get the chance to go north, I go. Thus far the trips have been centered around family needs. For myself, I have never intended to live in Alaska as a resident. Oregon offers so much more variety. It’s a very ‘red’ state which doesn’t fit my sense of what it means to be a follower of Jesus in today’s world. People up there like to hunt and fish; I do neither. While the mosquitoes are not quite as legendary as folk lore makes out, there are a bunch of them and they are not small! (Just ask my granddaughter Lucy.) There can be snow piled as high as the temperature goes low and cold. (Jennifer’s area reached -41F this past winter.) Most Alaskans are an independent lot and their properties usually include ‘junk depots’. There are survivalist Alaskans; there are subsistence living Alaskans, there are liberal Alaskans (though they are rare) and there are conservative Alaskans. There are Alaskans who are so friendly you wouldn’t mind sitting down to a meal with them. There are those who like to stay to themselves.
All that said I still love the Kenai – the part of Alaska that I am most familiar with. Throughout the tenure of my long stays I have been welcomed to the point where I’ve formed some deep friendships, which, for me is not an easy thing to do. I have been witness to multitudes of Alaskans coming around my family in difficult times and ‘standing in the gap’ in both prayer and deed in some very dark times. As we begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel those people are still there supporting my family. I have felt both loved and needed by those who do not know me well in Alaska. Each time I leave to return home to the grand City of Maywood Park another piece of my heart remains on the Kenai. (Usually the part that does not require stenting.)
A couple of weeks ago my Anne came to me while I was working in my office and asked: ‘You know that house next to Jenn’s? What if we try and buy it and move there.’ Thus the discussion began…
Our current home is big (about 4200 square feet) and has become a burden to maintain both physically and financially. Neither of us has the desire to keep it up. It has been lived in well and, we believe, has served as the Lord’s gift to many people who have lived with us over the years including my sister Cait. But it really needs a much younger and loving family as much as we need to downsize. Had it been just Anne and myself we would have sold several years ago when Anne retired. We are not great financial managers and because of that, we purposely intended to secure our financial resources in our home. Now it is time to liquidate, downsize and relocate.
Neither of us really and truly thought we would desire to move with Alaska. Nor had we envisioned being close to one or both of our children. Yes – we always wanted to be close to them, but they needed the freedom to make their own lives independent of us.
After talking with Jenn over the past couple of weeks Anne and I decided that the time to secure our ability to live out our retirement years is now. i.e. We need to do something like this to ourselves before it is done to us. As of today we have several realtors coming to bid for our business as we begin the process of moving of lock, stock and halibut to the north country of Alaska on the Kenai. The both of us seem to be in complete agreement and we see this as confirmation of God’s continued leading in our lives. That does not equate to having all the answers and logistics of such a move in place; if only it did. There are so many decisions to be made, dates to coordinate, packing to do and, of course, the right buyer for our home. Still, we are stepping out in faith that this is the path we are set to travel; our new adventure!
Going forward I will use this medium to journal and document this new adventure. To those who have prayed for us over the years Anne and I would ask that you begin to pray specifically for all the needs that will come before us. This move will displace my sister and we especially ask your prayers for a safe home that would keep her close to her kids in Sacramento and Southern Oregon.
Finally, I know that many of our friends have made moves like this, one of them even to Alaska, over the years. We would welcome any pointers or ideas that you may have found useful. Currently, if everything fell into place (which is not an impossibility with our God) we would like to be on our way to Alaska in late September or early October. We are in the process of riding ourselves of our possessions except for those that are dear to us or cannot easily be replaced in Alaska. We expect to ship some items via the slow boat to North Korea and then to perhaps drive our vehicle and a rental truck for the critical items. If we go up the ALCAN highway we need to leave early in October. There is a possibility of taking a ferry from Seattle as well. If we don’t have to, we would like to not fly our four critters up there which means they need to stay with us during travel.
So stay with us here and let’s see what this new adventure that God is setting before us has in store! Should be exciting if not exhausting!
Skilak Lake Wilderness, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (c) 2016 Joysound Photography
It’s time for a change! This site is the natural incarnation of my previous journaling site: “Life After QWEST”, which chronicled my life in retirement following a twenty-eight year career at QWEST Communications here in Portland, Oregon in 2008. In the Fall of 2016 I reached the grand old age of sixty-five, along with my wife of forty-three years, Anne. For the present, this first post will serve as a place holder as I continue to develop the final look of this site. My desire is to continue my online journaling about things important to life, my life, as I move closer to leaving life as I know it this side of Heaven and enter into His presence as a child of The King!
Skilak Lake Wilderness, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska (c) 2016 Joysound Photography