It all started with a small sign. I suppose that is how many adventures begin...just a small sign and you see something, it catches you and off you go! Mine was a small sign post in the middle of the souvenir shops in Seward Harbor. I am sure it has gone unnoticed by thousands of tourists and fishermen but for some reason it caught my eye. It was a reproduction of an illustration by an artist named Rockwell Kent accompanied by a quote from St. Augustine. Maybe it was the great Saint's name that attracted me and the fact that hundreds of years later his words were still being publically posted....at any rate I was intrigued.

"And the people went there and admired the high mountains, the wide wastes of sea and the mighty downward rushing streams and the ocean and the course of the stars and they forgot themselves"

I liked the quote, snapped a picture, and walked away, and just happened to wander into Kenai Fjords National Park Information Center. Scanning the bookshelves I came across the book Wilderness by the artist Rockwell Kent, the one containing the illustration I had just photographed. A journal of the time he spent on Fox Island in the winter of 1918-1919; the book was one I remembered thumbing through the previous year but for whatever reason had decided not to buy. Now, here I was again scanning its pages, wondering what a man's journal about his time in the wilderness could possibly have to say to a woman like me. Nothing I assumed, so I decided to purchase it for my son and off I went. But that night a funny thing happened. Skimming the book I was going to give away, I discovered that I bought it on August 24th and it was on August 24th 1918 that Rockwell Kent arrived in Seward Alaska. Coincidence? Sure...but I love things like this....let's call it serendipity...and Rockwell Kent not only came to Seward on the 24th, he made his first visit to Fox Island on August 25th. Guess where I wanted to go the next day?

I woke up on the 25th of August to an absolutely gorgeous day, one of the kind of days the locals will tell you are few and far between. The sun was shining (a small miracle) and there was no wind (another miracle) and I decided it was the perfect day to explore to Fox Island. There was just one minor problem....there was absolutely no way of getting there. Since the weather was so beautiful all the tour boats that have Fox Island on their itinerary were already completely booked.

Now you may be wondering about all of this...like...What is so great about Fox Island? (I had no idea). Why did you want to go there? ( I have no idea). Was it the date? (Maybe). How silly! ( Yes).

All I can tell you is at that moment I really wanted to go to Fox Island. No, it was more, I felt compelled to go, so I told my friend Ann, "let's go down to the harbor and maybe somebody will cancel and we can get on a boat to Fox Island" And so we did...and so we did!

I spent one of the most wonderful days of my life going to and sea kayaking around Fox Island. This small island at the entrance to Resurrection Bay from the Gulf of Alaska is still very pristine and only has one small (and expensive) wilderness lodge. Few people actually spend the night there but the tour boats do take the passengers to the island for buffet lunches and some of the adventurous stay for the afternoon and go sea kayaking. I could go on and on about the beauty of the day, the majesty of the place and just the presence of God I felt as I sat on the shore of Fox Island, but these would be just descriptive words...nothing more. I think Augustine said it so well; they went and were so in awe they forgot themselves.

Which brings me back to Rockwell Kent. He was struggling with his art and his life when he made his journey to Fox Island. Taking his nine year old son Rockwell with him he spent from September 1918 until March 1919 in a very primitive cabin loaned to him by the only other person on the island an old Swedish goat herder. He spent the winter in a very harsh isolated place doing the mundane tasks of chopping wood and cooking food and yet it was in this place he came fully alive and reignited his passion for art. I like to think that in the wilderness he was able to forget himself and find Life.

The creation is given to us as a sign post leading us to its Creator. Just as I was given a small black and white illustration on a sign post that eventually led me to an island of staggering beauty; we are all given this creation of staggering beauty to lead us to the One who created it. I am more than certain when we actually see Him in all His Glory this small garden we call Earth will seem as "black and white" as the illustration I found in Seward Harbor on the 24th day of August in the Year of Our Lord 2012.

The question that begs to be answered is what do you do with the sign? Do you walk past it and never see it? Do you stop for a minute and say "oh interesting" and go on? Or do you follow it to where it is pointing.....no matter how foolish your pursuit may seem to others?

I have just returned from a two week adventure in Alaska. Once again I was invited to tag along with two friends who were doing some aerial photography for Streamwerx; a production company that creates some amazing things with the aerial footage they shoot . I went with the same team in August 2011 and believed that it was the trip of a lifetime. Never did I imagine I would be able to return to Alaska, much less one year later. But our God is an amazing God and thankfully the things that shrink my imagination do not confine His!

Since I am not teaching a class this Fall, having set the time aside to work on my writing project Crossing the Threshold, I thought I might use this blog space to try and capture some of the thoughts, impressions, and well.... yes lessons I received on this latest Alaskan journey. One lovely woman I have taught for many years asked me if I was gathering power points clips for a Fall class on my trip;( I used some of last years photographs in that fashion). I hated to disappoint her with no I'm not and I am not even going to be teaching, but then it occurred to me I could blog away and attach some clips! Leave it to a frustrated teacher to find another way to teach!

So follow along this Fall and I will share the adventure with you! It was amazing, breath taking and way too fun for one person to keep to herself.  You may get a touch of Chicago as I am headed there next week ......who knows ??? But I will leave you with the Streamwerx video the folks there created last year for Alyeska Lodge. If nothing else it will wet your appetite for something more.......

Several weeks ago I was reading an article and the author was talking about taking the position of a supplicant. Now there is an old fashioned word you do not hear very often. A supplicant is one who supplicates...I am not kidding that is from the dictionary. Supplicate means to make a humble entreaty for; to ask for earnestly and humbly. The author was using it in the context of leaning into God in prayer; taking a humble posture and opening your hands as a supplicant.This word fascinated me so I looked it up in my Concise Dictionary of English Etymology. I wanted to know what does it really mean? It comes from the same root word as supple and means to bend down under. 

Well today I was given the very best picture of supplicate/supplicant and a wonderful insight into what this word really does mean. I was walking with a friend at Four Mile Creek, an area in Charlotte that borders a large creek and nature preserve where the city has built a beautiful walking/riding trail. We came to a place where several people had stopped and were looking at something in the grassy area not twenty five feet from the path. There a doe had stopped and was nursing her fawn for all to see. She didn't seem to me to be the least bit alarmed at all of the humans gawking at her, but what so caught my attention was the position of the mother and babe. The fawn was bending down under and nursing happily away; so much so that all you could see of the fawn was its white tail wagging excitedly. The mother's position was not one of boredom...looking straight ahead... or alarm ...looking at us.. but rather her constant posture the entire time was having her head turned in and turned down toward her young one.

All I could think of was the word supplicate; seeing it with news eyes and new understanding. The fawn is a supplicant bending down opening its mouth and receiving life from its mother. That is exactly what God wants me to be and to do. It should be as joyous to pray and commune with God as it was for that fawn to nurse from its mother. I smile even now as I remember the little white tail communicating in a way that words cannot. And how reassuring that the mother was not ignoring the fawn or distracted or remote or any other word we might conjure up to think about where God is when we pray. The mother in whom the Creator Himself deposited all these beautiful instincts was looking down, turning in and intently involved with her offspring. Why should we think God would do anything less?

 I cannot believe the last time I posted anything was in January! I have been so caught up in other pursuits that when I have something to write I simple don't have the time or energy. So I just wanted to say a word about what I am up to for those who maybe interested.

I am in the process of trying to take the material from the class I taught Crossing the Threshold and turn it into a written format in order that it may reach a larger audience. That is a huge undertaking and has required an enormous amount of time. I do hope that one day it will be published as a book. I feel as if I am literally on the Hero's Journey with this project and am sure there will be many "tests" and "ordeals" ahead but right now I am enjoying the challenge and find it exciting. Writing is very different than teaching and I am seeing the material in all sorts of new ways. So if you have listened to Crossing the Threshold and wanted more; hang in there I am working on it!

As for Movieglimpse.....I have seen some movies I really want to write on, but once again it is a time issue. I will just throw a couple of thoughts out there and hopefully will get to put more up on the site this summer. I really want to write on The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. There are lots of things to say about this film and I know that it is reaching a huge audience; especially the over 50 crowd. As a matter of fact one of the really key things about this film is that so many people are going to see it. Why? That is the real question I hope to explore.

Pixar's Brave is another jewel that has such a wonderful message with deep truth. I hope to have time to really unpack that movie for it truly deserves more than a movie review. I did see Madagascar 3 with one of my grandsons and while it is not something I will be writing on I did love the ending. The four animals who have been on a real "Hero's Journey" finally return to the zoo in New York. This is a key scene but says soooo much! They look inside and see that the zoo they have been trying to get back to for so long is not quite how they remember it. They look at the small cages and how isolated they were and what they had settled for as life and then compare it to the the wild adventure they've been on and the  tribe/ family they have been part of. All of a sudden they realize what a small story they were living in and it is no wonder they  opt out for the much larger adventure that life really is. The movie is worth it just to see the ending. It is a beautiful message about life versus the small story we so often settle for.

 

I have a friend who recently moved to Africa. One day before she departed she shared with me how worried she was about her mother's corner cupboard; the packers were not doing a very good job of getting it ready for shipping. "Your mother's cupboard" I replied, "your really taking that?" "Yes" she said "I want it with me." At first I was thinking, if it is so precious why would you risk it? But after giving it some thought I think I know the answer.

Taking her mother's cupboard to Africa is her way of staying rooted in the United States. The antique cherry corner cupboard sitting in her new Moroccan apartment is her way of planting her flag on foreign soil. As if to say we may be here in Africa but the heart of this home; the corner cupboard, is still in Ohio. It is the same thing as Captain Jack Aubrey in Master and Commander thinking of his ship the HMS Surprise as his little piece of England, even though it be on the far side of the world.

It got me to thinking about how I would fill in the blank: My Mother's ________. Immediately my mother's Haviland china came to mind. My grandmother gave the "old china" from the farm to my mother when she was first married, and because my father was a career military man the china saw more than its fair share of cardboard shipping barrels. Once or twice a year on the holidays the Haviland would appear on our dining room table. We could be living in a small tract house in Southern California but the Haviland would take my mother back to another time and another life. The beauty it created acted like a portal in which something of a golden happier past could now be reflected in and on.

The military life of a combat Marine officer was not easy and my mother soon descended into the depths of alcoholism that claimed her life at an early age. When I was twenty years old my mother died in a fire. She had one too many drinks, passed out with a cigarette and that was it. I had to go in and clean out that apartment and the one treasure that survived besides my Christmas stocking was the Haviland china. And yes, I have carted it around with me through 42 years of married life and brought it out annually as I was taught to do so many years ago. It roots me in a few memories of beauty amidst great darkness and the good intentions of a woman whom I called Mommy.

We all need to be rooted in time and place, in history and creation. What roots us in God? We have all left the garden and gone to the far side of the world; what do we take with us to remind us of whom we are and more importantly to whom we belong? I think God knows that we need something tangible like a piece of earth or better yet a person of the earth; a human being. And so at just the right moment in time He entered in and The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Rooting us in him required descending into the darkness of the grave, of going deep into the earth and in a mysterious work we will never plumb the depth of, breaking forever the power of being uprooted; separated; cut off from God. The cross of Jesus Christ reclaims the whole creation for God the Father; and in our hearts He has deposited the Holy Spirit. "If any man be in Christ...new creation" (2Corinthians 5:17).

Whether you realize it or not if you are "in Christ" you now become the earthen vessel that is to be a portal to reflect the glory and beauty of God. You are a living flag planted in the Old Creation proclaiming that the New Creation has arrived. No wonder the King of all creation said "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" ( Matthew 5:16).

The cupboard and the dishes are ordinary objects...so are we. They passed through ocean water and fiery death baptisms.....so have we. Yet in their unique and humble ways they tell and proclaim a much Larger Story...so may we.

Oh Tim Tebow what are we to do with you? You just won't stop making those incredible passes or ending the game with kneeling prayer will you? At least this is what the secular world is thinking and asking. He really brings out the division in the world doesn't he? The secular world certainly wants him to stop the kneeling prayer. "You just can't do that in our arena...you can't bring your private religious expressions into the public arena especially the one of NFL football. It is secular...don't you get it?" The other part of the divided world, the sacred realm especially the right wing Evangelical Christian slice of that realm like to make him their champion. "Yeah, at least we have someone to cheer for and not be embarrassed by. Go Tim!" But is it that simple? Is that really what all the fuss about Tim Tebow is; a divided world, one side decrying while the other side cheers?

I don't really think so. I think what makes Tebow unique ( other than his God given athletic gift) is that he is a man of the "Old West". No not the Cowboy and Indian old west. The Old West men like C.S.Lewis referred to: Western Civilization before the Sacred Secular Split, the Christocentric world of the Middle Ages.( Sorry Tim if this makes you a Medieval Man...better that than a Renaissance Man, but that is another story.)

For Tebow there is only one world, it is not divided. It belongs to it's Creator the Trinitarian God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit as revealed by the Word of God. He lives in a world under his Lord and Savior and makes no apology for it because it is the real world, the true world. He plays football with an intense passion yes, but what makes him so unique and so disliked is that he gives all the glory to God. He does not do this in a half hearted sort of apologetic way that so many who have accepted the notion of a divided world do as they try not to offend anyone.

Tebow is unique because he is not a divided man, he does not hail from either side of the sacred secular split world. He is a Christian in the truest sense of the word...he follows Christ. Well you say, you can certainly agree he doesn't come from the secular world but how does he not come from the religious right wing of Protestant Evangelicalism? The answer may surprise you.

There are many in the Protestant Evangelical world of today that have accepted the man made idea of a world divided into sacred and secular realms. They drank the Kool Aid. They go into their religious compartment for things like Sunday worship, Bible studies, prayer meetings, mission trips, and then they go right out into the "secular" realm for everything else. They compartmentalize not only their outer life but their inner life as well. There is a huge discrepancy between what they "know" and what they actually "do". I have dwelt long in the Protestant Evangelical world and can understand why the secular realm so dislikes us ( read the book Unchristian by David Kinnaman for more detail). Too often the pursuit of self, wealth, and power all the "stuff" of the world is covered over by a veneer of religiosity that goes about proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Savior.

How do I know Tim Tebow is not like that? Well my guess ( and that's what it is) is because even those who do not like or agree with his "Tebowing" do not disparage the man. They like him. They admire him. They like his humility, his passion, his fierceness, his compassion, his genuineness, his virtue. Oh now there is an "Old West" term; virtue. His discipline in body and soul has produced a virtue which everyone, secular and sacred can literally see, and everyone is drawn to whether they like it or not.
           
"The glory of God is the human being fully alive and the life of the human consists in beholding God", wrote the great Christian Saint Irenaeus.

Tim Tebow is living fully alive reflecting the glory of God and every time he drops down in deep gratitude on that now famous knee he is beholding his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This fall while I was teaching Crossing the Threshold I taught a lesson on Sacred Time, so it was natural for me to really consider the time Christians call Advent.  I didn't decide to just practice Advent or do something holy and spiritual. It was more like going on a journey and entering a new land where everything was strange including the way time passed. A good description of this might be like Tom Hanks in the movie Cast Away; he stepped out of chronos time and into kairos time which forced him to live in a very different reality.

What I discovered in this new landscape called Advent was that the Lord really did come, in some amazing and very personal ways. I received gifts from him that were truly life changing and of course the greatest gift was himself...more of Jesus!

I also found that I was different in this place. Beauty replaced my busyness. People replaced the presents. I spent hours perhaps, gazing at my tree caught up in its beauty and remembering people and places associated  with the ornaments, then offering up prayers for all those who came across the threshold of my memory. There was a deep sense of gratitude that took hold of my heart and replaced the usual worry over what I needed to be doing or getting. No grasping in other words, just a time of receiving.

When I did venture out to go shopping that time was radically altered too. I purchased fewer gifts but they were much more intentionally chosen. The Lord even seemed to come and help me find what I needed. After my only trip to our very large mall I did something I have never done before...I took myself out to dinner at a restaurant in the mall and sat and just enjoyed the beauty and people there!.

By the time Christmas actually arrived I could look back and see that my time in Advent had not only been good for me it had changed me. Like Tom Hanks coming off his island ....he could no longer go back to his FedEx frantic ways; he took kairos with him and lived on that "kind" of time. I knew that this had happened to me when I started quite unconsciously referring to 2012 as the Year of Our Lord. It just flowed when I wrote or spoke or thought about the new year. In the year of our Lord 2012...it was the most natural thing I could say.
What a beautiful way to start a new year. To know that it is His year, His time, and because I know how good He is it will be a good blessed year....The Year of Our Lord.

Right now I am working on a project that is really stretching me in ways I didn't know I could be stretched. So after a very frustrating day of not getting much accomplished I sat down last night to have a small pity party. I happened to be in the living room where our Christmas tree is and as I stared at its beauty the thought popped into my head....well at least there is one thing I can do.....I know how to decorate a Christmas tree!

All of a sudden I got some "incoming" thoughts about just how I had decorated that tree. First I had to select a tree and then bring it home and then the decorating went in stages....lights, ornaments ( best first), beads, tinsel ...you get the picture. There were stages and if I had stopped at any point I would not have beheld the finished project and it's beauty the way I was doing at that moment. Okay Lord I understand maybe my "project" is in a very early stage and I am seeing no beauty in it whatsoever! I get it. Hang in there until it is complete and see what it looks like then.

The tree however continued to play with my imagination. I started to think of how many people had a part in my Christmas tree. God of course with the life of the tree, but someone planted it, pruned it and brought it to market ( no I didn't get to go cut one this year). People helped me select it and load it on our SUV. People made the lights and the tinsel and someone shipped those products to the store and stocked them on the shelves. I have spent 40 years collecting the ornaments from all over the world so think of all the people and nations that are represented there. Wouldn't it be fascinating if you could magically pull up everybody that had somehow in someway  been connected to that tree?

And yet the tree is uniquely mine. There is no other tree like it. Even if someone in my family were to take all of the decorations and try and put it together it would not be the same. They do not have the love, or desire, or passion that I do for the Christmas tree. Even though lots of people have had a part in that Christmas tree it is a unique expression of my creativity....a unique expression of who I am. But on the flip side of the coin I couldn't have done it without all those people.

That made me think about my life. I am like the tree. God created my life, my mother birthed me, people fed me and pruned me and "grew" me. Thousands upon thousands have left their imprint on my life in one way or another and yet I am unique...I am me. But the me that I am is also because of the people who have played a part in my life.

Now there's a thought! Everyday people do ordinary things like stocking lights on a shelf, or making tinsel, or pruning trees and they do not realize they are part of a finished work in a beautiful Christmas tree. The same can be said for all that we do in our "ordinary" lives. We touch people everyday and leave an imprint in the clay vessel that they are...either for good or for evil.

Thankfully there is One who is overseeing the entire "project" of my life. He is taking all the broken fragments, the cheap baubles and dingy lights as well as a few spectacular treasures and assembling something that He will be thrilled to stand back and say " I know how to do new creation"

I have been asked several questions regarding the website, so I thought a word of explanation might be helpful to all.

First question: Why the picture and the II Corinthians 5:17 verse?
When I found this picture ( after a long search), I felt it "said" in symbolic form all that I wanted the website to say. For me the rising sun and the brilliant green grass speak of a new day and "new creation". I really liked the small rock in the foreground that has somewhat of an arrow shape pointing to "The Rock" in the background. The verse is not necessarily my favorite or a life verse, but I do love the true meaning of it. N.T. Wright puts it like this: "Verse 17, one of the great summaries of what Christianity is all about. In the Greek language he (Paul) is using, he said it even more briefly: 'If anyone in Messiah, new creation'. The new creation in question refers both to the person concerned and the world which they enter, the world which has now been reconciled to the creator."
There you have it; picture and verse proclaiming the great truth that with the Resurrection of Jesus Christ the new creation has begun and you can be a part of it if you are "In Him".

Second Question: What about the class Faith, Film and Fiction?
Okay, I taught this class this Spring and I have to say it was one of the best I have ever taught, and not because I was teaching it! No it was the content that was so exciting....and as the lessons developed I became aware of a much deeper reason for the class than my own personal intention when I started out. I realized as we went on how deeply compartmentalized not only our culture is but that the deep divide between sacred and secular is within us! This class was a small step in breaking down that divide and challenging people to "see" in a whole new way.
The first two lesson ( or "conversations") are up on the website and there are six more to follow. These have been filmed but have not yet been edited. The person so graciously doing this for me is immersed in her work at the moment so we are waiting.....
The topics covered in the six sessions include film ( especially Titanic and Avatar), fantasy ( Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Narnia and Harry Potter), fiction, and fairy ( including Disney and Pixar films). The last session concludes the series with a talk on the Book of Revelation!  Wow!

Third Question: Why are some movies like Inception on the Leslie Hand Blog and not on Movieglimpse?
When I write on movies for Movieglimpse I never use the first person. I write on things that I think are there and that everyone could see if they just knew the language of symbols or parts of a story etc. In other words I am not writing my personal thoughts, (some may disagree with that statement ...I understand). On the blog I can write about things "I see" for me...maybe lessons I get or how a scene made me think of something. Movieglimpse is directed to one audience and Leslie Hand to another...that should be obvious.

Fourth Question: Would you be so kind as to respond?
If you have visited Movieglimpse or Leslie Hand I would really appreciate hearing from you. Thanks for taking the time and sharing your thoughts.

Finally, may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Leslie

There is a video going around on Facebook (why I couldn't pull it up on the internet I don't know) of Peter Jackson's first "videoblog" on the making of his new movie The Hobbit. It is a ten minute teaser; taking you around the sets, going into the wardrobe department, watching the actors "blocking" a scene, just a whole introduction or reintroduction to Middle Earth. At one point Jackson says he is used to seeing the set of Rivendell on film and now he is walking into it. Kind of weird he remarks.

Weird? Weird? He is walking into the story...into Rivendell and it is weird? Why I thought it is AMAZING! I want to be there. I want to be part of it. On the video you see all these people coming together and working to create something and they are walking into the story, not seeing it on film, not reading it in a book but living in it...really living in it.Why this had such a powerful effect on my I was ready to drop everything...my family, my life, everything. Just let me fly to New Zealand and say PLEASE can I help? I'll do whatever, just let me walk into the story!

I think the answer to why I responded this way (and I bet you would too) lies in the loss of story. The modern world ( and thus our post modern world) lost the story. There is no story to walk into. Ever since the sacred/secular split of the 17th and 18th centuries we have a bifurcated world. Yes bifurcated, or forked as a serpent's tongue. One compartment or branch is the "real world" where we live out the days of our lives. This is the objective scientific world that came out of the "Enlightenment". No God, no mystery, no magic, no "music of the spheres" just objective scientific facts, thank you very much. The other compartment or branch is reserved for subjective spirituality; whatever version you may prefer. BUT this spirituality that you may practice on Sundays, or Saturdays or whatever day is really about when you die. It is not about life here and now in the "real world". This is the great tragedy of the world in which we live.

J.R.R. Tolkien who wrote the The Hobbit and created Middle Earth lived in the story. He walked into everyday of his life. He saw the earth for the great stage that it is. He knew The Author of the story well enough to imitate His creation with his own "sub-creation" and gave us The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings.

Peter Jackson and Company are taking Tolkien's "sub-creation" and sub-creating themselves. They are artists of every kind creating costumes, weapons, music, worlds really. They are living in the story, walking into every day and playing their parts well...really well.

No wonder the "reel" story is so much more appealing than the "real" world of post modernity. We have no "wizard workshop", no Shire, no Rivendell. The bifurcated world is perhaps the serpent's greatest achievement; for it is not only an objective fact in the world it is a subjective experience in our hearts.