It has been a while since I have dug deep into my backpack for a dose of Arthur Gordon. Catherine Marshall, the author of, "A Man Called Peter", calls Arthur Gordon's book, "A Touch of Wonder", a luster of commonplace events of everyday life.
To carry this intro a bit further, Dr. Donald E. Smith, President of the Institutes of Religion & Health simply says that Gordon's book is a "book that recaptures for the reader in an extraordinary way the excitement and joy of life." Well. There it is. The excitement and joy of life. Having felt that same way upon the first reading of my "go-to" book of common everyday events, it's baptized in bible holy water, so I don't let it replace the bible, but the pages are well worn like one another. I guess to put it in common terms, one could say, one is like thinking you need to call 911 and the other one is knowing you must call 911. Good ole common sense steeped in experience from cover to cover in both books. One doesn't replace the other, but when you use them both together---the power that Moses called forth from above to part the Red Sea can send shivers up and down the spine.
Anyway, There are a few stories that I have read and re-read so much, I should have them memorized, but I'm practical and save that energy for other things because I carry the book with me and I can landmark the story in the book as well as a GPS accurate map.
Today, the stories that call out are these:
- I'm Aware of You
- A Spark Jumped
- Unlikely Friendships
- Memorable encounters
- The most beautiful unorthodox things
- Discard that rain coat
- 6-x's
- Perhaps---the way everything of consequence begins.
For one, I have walked the sand dunes in the Carolina's, been flounder gigging up a backwater stream,meet older men that taught so much about life's purpose and had them disappear in death or places unknown. In short, that 13-year old boy fisherman could have been me growing up and it was a learned balance, like a good solid education that no one can ever take away from you. To have both is just an awesome experience, even when there are those that still want to see you fail, or when you stumble, step on you as they walk on past. I try to forget those. It's like memorizing something that is in print and readily available to your fingertips. Why memorize when you can use those cells for more thing of equal or higher level consequences.
Just this week, I saw a bumper sticker on a car that said to the effect, " Pray for Peace in Jerusalem." On either side of the car were stickers for a protestant church and on the other a Madonna. Both would signal to most that the person was fairly religious. Yet, I saw something different. I'm thinking to myself, "lady, Jerusalem could not be in better hands," meaning that Jesus said, " I go to prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you unto myself. And there are scriptures that speak of a new Jerusalem descended from heaven when Christ comes again. SO, it does not matter what happens in Jerusalem, the Lord has that well planned out. Which brings to point: the faith that this woman seemed to me to be shallow to not know or to have reached that point of reference; that while the power of prayer is well documented, she should have known that there are other places to be praying for other than the most sacred of cities ever made mention in the Bible and Torah and Koran. Critical thinking is like a puzzle. The big picture always wins over the microscopic agendas of the weak that want us to believe that they are stronger.
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| A great sign. Their big digital could not do what this sign does....stops traffic. |
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| Yes, the topic of life. Some call it poetic justice |
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| A Morning Dove Observes |
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