Colorado Week Four

In this picture I am sending the Lord the message through sign language, "Awesome" or "Wonderful." I will have more to say about this shot, but it is a good summary of week four in Colorado.

One of the highlights and important teaching times for me is the Wednesday night deaf Bible study that Tim leads. I not only learn new signs, but I am learning God's word in the process. That is a powerful one-two punch. As you can see, Tim utilizes the projection system our youth worked for not only on Sundays, but also on Wednesday, using both text and video projection.

It looks like even this critter was lulling over what the lesson was about! Actually, I spent a second and probably final weekend in the town of Estes Park and did some hiking and sight-seeing in Rocky Mountain National Park. This fellow was parked on a commerical lawn in Estes Park when I got there on Thursday.

I did some driving through a part of Rocky Mountain National Park that I did not get to the previous week. This was one of the numerous spectacles on Trail Ridge Road.

Trail Ridge Road is not yet open clear to the top. You can see that the depth of the snow they have to plow out the closer you get to the top is much taller than I am, and in places much deeper than is pictured here. They generally try to have the road opened by Memorial Day weekend.

I did a solo hike on Friday to one of the most photographed spots in the Park, Mills Lake. It was a snowshoe hike, and although there were people on that unmarked snow trail, for most of it I was alone. Pretty spooky!!!! I not only prayed loud enough for the Lord to hear, but for the bears and mountain lions to hear too! The next day Linda's sisters, Danette and Donna, joined me for another, even more spectacular hike.

As we were driving to the National Park, it was pretty hard to miss this big banner. I don't know who won the competition, but I'm glad I wasn't entered! Also on the way to the park we saw some mountain goats, and as we entered the park we noticed a lone coyote.

Here you see Donna (L) and Danette (R) gearing up for our big adventure. And it was! The snow trail we took to the Loch lake does not appear on any of the maps, but upon a Ranger's advice, we followed his directions and followed the footprints of the few who had been on the trail. There were hardly any directional signs so we were really "out there" in the wilderness of the park.

This was one of the few signs we did encounter and you can see that the snow we are hiking on is easily 3-5 foot deep. Hard to believe for May 17!

The last part of this trail on the way to our destination was a very long, very steep climb. The next three pictures give you some sense of perspective. We were climbing at around 10,000 feet on a beautiful, sunny day.

When we got to the Lock lake, it was worth all of the apprehension about the steep climb and worth all of the hard work. The camera simply couldn't capture the magnificence of this lake virtually surrounded by towering peaks. For a person of faith, it is impossible to miss the greatness and grandeur of God!

Of course, what goes up, must come down! There is a small pine tree pictured between the girls' feet that isn't small at all. That's how steep and how far down this portion was. Here you see them trying to figure out what in the world we've gotten ourselves into.

But Momma Thurston didn't raise no dummies (?). Here and on another portion of the trail pictured below they prove that if God has given you a backside, you sometimes don't even need a sled!

But that doesn't mean you can avoid the occasional wipeout!!! And we won't discuss whether or not you think I might have had some wipeout moments myself.

It is clear, though, that the sisters bring their own entertainment!!!

Just when you think that God couldn't top such a phenonemal weekend, he did! When I got back to Colorado Springs on Sunday, Tim baptized a young deaf boy into Christ. The Deaf Church meets in a large room of the much larger Sunnyside Christian Church. For the baptism, the Deaf Church went over to the hearing church's sanctuary for the baptism. In this first picture, Tim is explaining to the hearing church about the teaching the young man has received and what he understands about Jesus.

After taking his confession, Tim then baptized him into Christ.

After the boy was raised from the waters of baptism, Tim shows his enthusiasm by flashing the sign "awesome" or "wonderful." I believe that is something we may need to incorporate into our baptisms at JRCC!

So, without question the Lord deserved a great big "Awesome" from me for an incredible week. Danette grabbed the camera from me when we were at the Lock and said I should sign "Awesome" or "Wonderful." That was the right thing to do, to praise God both for the blessings of his creation, and the coming blessings of watching a young boy become a new creation in Jesus Christ!

As usual, while I am experiencing God's blessings, it is not without missing you. You are all in my heart and in my prayers in a very big way!!

Colorado Week Three

The early part of week three, like each of the weeks in Colorado Springs, was devoted largely to sign languge. As I left Colorado Springs on Thursday morning for three days away, Pikes Peak was spectacular. My destination was 2-1/2 hours north to Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Upon arriving in early afternoon aound 2 pm, I went directly to the National Park. Just beyond the gate were a herd of elk, the first of many, many elk I saw, both in the park and in the town of Estes Park. I drove several mikes to the other side of the park in hopes of getting in a short hike. The weather changed dramatically :-).

I took a short hike of less than a mile one way in my snow shoes to Bear Lake. It was totally overcast with periods of sleet and snow. Did I say snow?

Although it snowed on most of my hike back to the car, it was beautiful. Those snow shoes that Linda bought me for Christmas certainly paid off on this hike.

In the picture below I am standing at the trailhead where I did most of my hiking on Thursday and Friday. All three days I was in the region it was overcast, and in the Park, often snowy. But as they say . . . a bad day in Rocky Mountain National Park beats most days elsewhere.

I got to see a lot of elk from just a few feet away from my car and on my last day in Estes Park, a herd had settled in a field across from my hotel room.

On my final day at the Park, I got there early for some Bible reading. While there I saw this handsome boy. He was one of several wild turkeys I saw in the early morning.

It is hard to imagine being able to do your Bible reading surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. That quiet time has been important. I am averaging reading one of the gospels each week.

I drove 2-1/2 hours Sunday morning to get to the Christian Deaf Church. The men of the church had prepared a Mother's Day brunch for the ladies and did an incredible job with it.

Without rearranging the tables, we went right into the worship services. Here you can see me trying to sign the worship song. You can also see that my sign does not match that of the lady behind me :-). I am still learning and trying to catch up!

You don't need to know sign language, though, to help tear down tables and chairs and to rearrange the room to its normal layout.

Since Sunday was Mother's Day, Linda's sisters, Danette and Donna, and my nephew, Michael, embarked upon a project that has become somewhat traditional in recent years--planting flowers. Usually Linda is here and I am at home to hear about it. This year I got in on the action! And check out that hat my mother-in-law is wearing!!! Pretty stylish!!!

I don't know how we failed to get any good pictures of Linda's sisters who were the supervisors (kinda :-), but here Michael and I are preparing to get our hands dirty mixing the soil for the flowers.

And of course, everyone thought they should get a picture of the stunning flower arrangment I put together. Will wonders never cease!!!!

But much of the day was devoted to more intensive sign language instruction. Although the picture below was taken on Sunday morning after church, it illustrates what a good teacher Tim is. The Deaf Church gave all of the mothers a rose and a small gift. Immediately afterwards, Tim announced that he had just learned a rose with no thorns was a symbol of love, but a rose with thorns symbolized anger. He didn't realize that and all of the ladies got roses with thorns, so he apologized to them :-). I was teasing him about being "angry" with the ladies and he was showing me, both by sign and facial expression, how to show anger :-). There is no question that I am learning a lot.

And there is no question that I miss all of you. Between my phone calls and emails to Linda and the church office, I feel connected to the church and home, but it is not the same as really being with you. Have a very blessed week and I will try to blog again next week.

Colorado Week Two

In the original plan, I was to fly back to Kokomo for four days for Scott's graduation. That date got changed, so the flight back was to participate in the 500 Festival Mini-Marathon in Indy. But after jet lag and a tender calf muscle, Linda and I decided to back out of the race and just enjoy me being home. I couldn't believe how green Indiana was! And purple, and violet, and white, and yellow, and red--spring was busting out all over. This may be hard to believe, but it was like stepping back into Eden :-).

While home I got to see Nathan's second T-ball game. In the "pre-game warm-ups" you see Nathan and Ali Rawls discussing game strategy.

And here you see Ali, Nathan, and another teammate with their fearless head coach, Kevin Rawls.

It is clear by Nathan's smile that he has a good time with his baseball buddies. Shortly after the game on Saturday I caught a flight back to Colorado Springs, the Christian Deaf Church, and my continuing sign language studies.

Sunday's service in the deaf church was a really special one. Tim, Frankie and James reenacted the story of the woman and the lost coin. You can see the joy they had upon finding the coin. The skit and the worship songs led up to a momentous event in the church.

In all the years of the deaf church's existence, they had never been blessed with a deaf man who would step up to the work of deacon. But yesterday they installed their first deaf man as a deacon in the church.

Jim Taylor has been faithful to the deaf church for a long time, and he has offered consistent service to the Lord. The service to ordain him as a deacon in the church was humbling and awe-inspiring.

First, Tim issued a charge to Jim concerning the privileges and responsibilities he would assume as a deacon in the church.

To each charge Tim gave him, Jim signed his acceptance of the work.

Then Tim gave a charge to the church concerning the role it is to play in encouraging and supporting Jim in his work as a deacon.

Tim and the two elders of the deaf church laid hands on Jim to set him apart for the work. Both elder's offered a prayer of dedication while my sister-in-law, Tami, signed in the background so that the deaf people in the church would understand what was being said in the prayers.

You may notice that Jim is always looking to his right. In the picture below you can see his wife, Gayle, who is hearing and who signs the songs in worship, interpreting for her husband so that he could understand everything that was being said.

After the prayers, the leaders of the church warmly welcomed Jim as their very first deacon. It was amazing to witness this special day in the life of the deaf church.

After the ordination, the service continued with Tim doing his usual great job of preaching, this time on the woman and the lost coin. Of course, you would think that a morning like this would be mentally and physically draining for Tim, but instead of grabbing an afternoon nap, it was three hours of sign language lessons for me before supper :-)!!! When I come back to Kokomo on June 16, I will not be fluent in sign language -- not in seven weeks. BUT, I will know more by then than I ever dreamed possible!!!! In the mean time, you are all in my heart and in my prayers.