Hueco Tanks State Park and Historic Site, El Paso, Texas
Food gained by fraud tastes sweet to a man, but he ends up with a mouth full of gravel. ~ Proverbs 20:17
Had some rain last night, I see.
(those are droplets on the window)
We’re really missing corporate worship! It seems like it’s been forever, and my spirit is beginning to shrivel. We should be able to get back into a church building next week, and I can’t wait!
But we’ve not given up spending Sunday mornings learning together. Blaine managed to pull up the next message by our pastor, Mike Castelli at The Chapel. He’s still working his way through the book of John. Excellent series if you’re interested. Just go to thechapel.org and look for the Green Campus, and you can pull up either audio or video of each of the messages.
But for this week, you are forced to read another excerpt from my God Moments Journal. We’ve reached the point where I switched from sharing history, to actually keeping a journal for a while. I’ve eliminated most of the names for the purpose of this blog.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
A friend of mine from our Sunday School class (or ABF as The Chapel calls them) was approached by our Pastor and teacher just before class began. He whispered to her that he didn’t want her answering any questions during class. (Can you imagine?!?!?!) She was so hurt, she couldn’t stay for worship. Of course, I didn’t know why she left so abruptly from the sanctuary, so I called after church to make sure she was OK. She didn’t return my call for a long time. And knowing her, if I hadn’t called, she never would have shared what happened. Anyway, he had called her and told her the reason for the request was because she was such a “theological person” and he wanted others to have a chance to answer. Now, mind you, she never monopolizes the conversations in class – ever. So where that came from, I have no idea.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
She & I attended the mid-week class at church. I jokingly told her she was free to speak up at this class. We chuckled about it. And she did speak up. As did I. As did quite a few others. The miraculous part came after class! As my friend and I were putting on coats and saying good-bye, a woman (a stranger to both of us) came up to us, put her hand on my friend’s arm and said, “Your comments tonight really touched me and I’m so glad you shared.” I just stood by with my mouth gaping open and I’m sure a goofy grin on my face as my friend said a simple “Thank you” and asked her name. The woman left and my friend turned to me – “What?” (probably prompted by the look on my face!) “You have no idea what just happened here, do you?” I asked. “No. What?” “Think about what she just said to you!” Suddenly, it was like a lightbulb went on in her mind and she got all teary-eyed. We were both sooooo amazed! How wonderful it is to serve a God Who cares even about the “small stuff”! I personally find that more miraculous than the “big stuff” like healings, etc. WOW!!
Sunday, February 23, 2008
Our Youth Pastor preached today on Romans 3. What a powerful message! Essentially, it was about how many of us feel that we’re “OK”. That we’re “good” people. I know for me personally, that’s a constant problem. At the end of the message, he sat on a stool and began to list all the “good” things he was – I’m a good father, an attentive husband, a pastor . . . . etc. With each thing he mentioned, his head hung a little lower and the lights got a little dimmer in the sanctuary. In the end it was very dark. He talked about how when you first enter a dark room, you can’t see anything around you, but the longer you stay there, the more things you begin to be able to see. Sin is like that. We’re in a dark room, but the more we let our eyes adjust to the way the Father sees, the more we will become aware of the sin in our lives. I know he told it better, but suffice it to say, it really convicted me! And I was grateful for it.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
I can no longer ignore the feeling that I must write this note. (SIDE NOTE FROM TODAY, 2/23/20: I often find myself arguing with God when He asks me to do something, but I always give in eventually. It must weary Him to have to deal with an argumentative child.) So before work (like I have time to write a note before work!) I got out my most beautiful stationery and wrote a short note thanking the woman from last Wednesday for speaking to my friend and without giving details, explained that it was exactly what my friend needed to hear and also thanking her for allowing God to use her.
I handed the envelope to the woman in class as she was talking to others and walked away. Just as class was about to start, she came up behind me, put her hand on my shoulder and with tears in her eyes said, “You have no idea what this note means to me and how much I needed it right now.” I said the only thing that came to mind. “God is good”. She walked backed to her seat.
Since I was feeling in an encouraging mood, I wrote a short email to the Youth Pastor later in the evening, thanking him for his message on Sunday. I also mentioned that I thought he had handled his “thorn” well.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
I checked emails before work and found one from the Youth Pastor. Here’s what he said:
thank you for the encouraging words Terri. It’s exciting to hear
that the Lord is working through the message.
assuming you’re referring to the gentleman in the front row from Wed
night, I much enjoyed his presence as I think his questions were
sincere and he’s genuinely unsure what to make of Jesus. I’ve been
praying for him and asking the Lord to make our paths cross again.
enjoy the snow!
At first, I just kinda blew it off with a “That’s nice.” But by the time I got to work, I felt VERY convicted about what he said and how I hadn’t looked at the man with my “Jesus eyes”. So when I got home, I sent off another email to our Youth Pastor, explaining that God had used him to teach me yet again.
I thought these past days had been amazing, but there was more to come!
On to the rest of our day . . . .
I was going to give you a list of all the rules here, but I figured you’d had enough yesterday. The only one I’m mentioning today (I think) is in regards to the Park admittance. As I said yesterday, only 70 people are allowed in the Park at a time (why 70??). If you’re camping, you have automatic reservations, but you must claim them after 8am and before 10am. If you don’t, they give them away. If your reservation is given away, you have to stay within the campground all day, or put your name in line like all those people alongside the road yesterday.
We’d asked at the office yesterday and they told us that people without reservations are lined up out the building and down the sidewalk at 8am. They told us that in order to avoid the crowds, to check in about 9:30am. So that’s what we did. And no one was there. And we had to fill out more paperwork, and we both have to go inside because we both have to sign the paperwork. And when finished for the day, common courtesy dictates informing the office, so that others may come in.
But once they allow you to come in, you’re free to come and go to your campsite if you want, until 6pm curfew – through the gate you have to open and close. 😊 So we went back home for lunch today.
Oh! And lest I forget! The wind!!! Constant gales of 25-30mph with gusts of 40 today! It didn’t affect us a lot, but when you’re standing out in the open on top of a large rock, you’d best make sure your feet are planted apart and you’re well balanced!
Blaine had done his research and knew that there was an unmarked secret trail to a cave containing 8 pictographs. Secret because it’s not on the maps they give you. Well, technically it is. It’s a “place of interest” dot, but there’s no information as to how to get there. You have to ask at the office for a map. So we did. But it wasn’t really a map, as you can see from the illegal picture I took. Shhh . . Please don’t share that with anyone . . . it’s the only rule we broke during our three-night stay, and I’m not giving you the entire picture, nor the information from the other side. 😊
Anyway, the map was more like a scavenger hunt, and it cost us my driver’s license which they hold onto until you return the map.
The thing is, these picnic sites are kinda hidden,
and the numbers aren’t clearly visible, so it took us a couple of minutes to find it. : )
It was hard to spot when you don’t know where exactly to look.
But once we spotted it, it was pretty obvious! : )
Can you see it?
Oh. And I’ll be cutting all my fingernails tonight in preparation for tomorrow’s excursion.
It’s difficult to climb rocks and keep your nails intact.
Plus, they hinder my fingerholds.
It’s not where we first thought, but it’s in the same general area.
Well, duh! Everything’s lying on top of rocks in this place! lol
Lends some perspective, doesn’t it?
The definition is, “a form of rock climbing that uses no equipment.”
Well, I suppose we were technically bouldering then, but we certainly didn’t do that!
(see the two sticks?)
I went back around towards where we thought we may have gone wrong.
Surrounded by rock, this tiny opening was it!
The on-line commentary where Blaine gleaned some information said that they had to make three tries to find the cave, but it only took us two!
Of course, that may well be because I discovered some climbers sitting in front of a section that looked like a cave and asked them, and they directed me to the proper opening. It’s very small, and not quite what we were expecting after all the other large cave entrances we’ve been in lately. 😊
But since we only retraced our steps once during the entire time, and the map never blew out of Blaine’s hands, we were very proud.
You have to wonder why they’d draw in here and who’d ever think to look for them??
It took a little searching, but we found all 8!
The first one, as you’ll see below, was the one that hung us up for a bit. Although it was the last we found, I put it first because it’s not as incredible as the other 7.
None of these look to be over 900 years old. And yet they all are!! And they’re still in excellent shape! 
This one’s the design they print on the t-shirts, etc. they sell in the gift shop. 
This counts for two. The others weren’t as closely spaced.
Great time! Amazing discovery! Shocked because of the abundance of rules in this place, but grateful they allow people in here.
We took our time wandering back to the office to return our map and retrieve my license.
It wasn’t.
And we had to turn around and go back the way we began the morning.
Then, we drove back home, through the gate, and had lunch.
Time to visit another section of the Park.
And it’s 250-300 feet tall.
You’ll want to remember that for tomorrow’s post. : )
Incredible how God has provided them the ability to eat these things,
without injuring their mouths, etc. on those nasty spines!
If you have any hope of discovery, you literally have to look under rocks. : )
More rock scrambles, more exploring, more fun than a barrel of monkeys!
Great and wonderful day! Tomorrow promises to be more of the same – – but with less wind.