**************************
Where is the summer going?
Odd how we humans relate to time. Spend time. Waste time. Manage time. Take time. Like we are in control of time. It brings me a chuckle.
I prefer to state that I move through time. Kind of like I move through space.
I don't necessarily manage time, though I understand the phrase.
I manage my activities, but I don't manage time. Time simply is. It's kind of an eternal thing I guess...time.
A baby's giggle. I heard a baby's giggle yesterday. It'd been awhile since I'd heard such. The sound is sacred to me. Endearing. Angelic. The sound of life, innocent life. It causes pause. It too is an eternal thing...life. Does it ever end? In one sense, I think not.
I've been caring for my daughter's puppy this summer. Lord, what a job! It's like having a toddler around the house again. My son calls the pup my four-legged shadow. She follows me everywhere. Her name is Yerba.
Last week I took her on an overnight backpacking trip. Of course it rained. I am the rain magnet for field trips and camping.
Yerba did great on the trail. We only hiked one mile Friday, late afternoon when we got to Grayson Highlands. The next day we hiked 2.5 miles further to Thomas Knob Shelter. We rested a few hours and then hiked the 3.5 miles out. It is a rugged hike. Yerba is a true trail dog, though she did get spooked by the ponies.
While at the shelter I met a woman named Lori. We spent a few hours together, sharing food and talking. She is retired and took up backpacking a couple years ago. She was finishing up a 300-mile stretch of the trail.
Lori is older than I. I think we'd make good backpacking partners. She is supposed to email me once she is back home in Florida. I do hope she does and that we can do the long stretch through Virginia next summer...maybe 500 miles. Gosh, I'd love that. Man oh man. It'd be a sevenish-week trip. And it'd be nice to have a partner. It can get lonely out there.
It feels good to write. I've been much too busy with duties the past couple months.
It's o.k. Carol to indulge in writing. In fact, it's good for you...ya' know. You are happier when you write.
Giggly babes. Yappy pups. Frolicking foals.
Life is sacred.
************************
ticktockticktockticktockticktock
************************
July 24, 2010
July 7, 2010
A Different Kind of Baptism
aww - june, 2010
non-subject: "the people around me"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rev. Winegarner instructed me when to exactly turn off the house lights.
I was so fucking nervous. What the hell was I doing at the The Way's Cultural Center in New Bremen, Ohio, working with Bob Winegarner and Loyd Bishop, and waiting on Craig and Doctor to be sure their seats and tables downstairs were properly set so they could be relaxed for the next filming?
But I had prayed to God to allow me to be around top leadership during my interim Way Corps year.
I felt so small.
I had no credentials of any sort to speak of. At 19 years old I'd chosen The Way Corps as my path in life. Even though The Way College of Emporia in Kansas wasn't accredited, I was convinced it offered real education. Accreditation didn't mean much to me; plus the world's standards were distorted. I liked the approach of The Way College and The Way Corps, the students working all the jobs on campus, even dry cleaning. We were self sufficient, except of course for water and power and food.
Yet the The Way College in Rome City, Indiana, grew its own food and butchered its own meat. I'd lived two summers at Indiana while in-residence. I enjoyed picking cherries in the cherry trees, and working in the organic garden along side the children, and rotating all-night shifts in the cherry pitting room.
In late July, at the end of one of my two in-resident summer blocks that I'd spent at Rome City, the campus was all but deserted. Graduation had taken place. Most of the Corps had left the campus. Some were on "relocation," which is what The Way labeled the time in-resident Corps spent visiting friends or extended family. Others were checking out their new Way Corps assignments and had to secure jobs and housing and become familiar with the area and culture where they were being assigned. Only a few of us stayed behind on campus. I was one of the few, and so was Bonnie.
Bonnie and I were both 13th Way Corps getting ready to start our interim year assignments, which would officially begin in August, right after the Rock of Ages.
The Rock was the yearly festival at Way Headquarters in New Knoxville, Ohio. During the almost week-long Rock of Ages festival, Headquarters became tent city. Sometimes over 15,000 people gathered together. We used to say that the Rock was the next best thing to "the gathering together." The "gathering together" was when Jesus Christ would come back and all believers would meet in the air. First the dead in Christ and then those of us who are alive at His coming.
The Rock of Ages came right on the heels of Corps Week. Corps Week was when The Way Corps gathered at Headquarters. All Corps were supposed to attend Corps Week unless they were working Children's Camp at Rome City or if they had some legitimate reason to not show up. Way Corps children under a certain age spent Corps Week at Children's Camp while their parents were at Corps Week at Headquarters. Rome City was only a couple hours from Headquarters.
It seems Bonnie and I had ten days until Way Corps children would be arriving for camp. We had both been working Food Services at the Rome City campus that summer. Currently the old kitchen was pretty much closed, since the 300 plus adults and children were mostly gone.
Bonnie and I decided to fast for a week. Of all things to drink only grape juice. Amazing we didn't pass out from some sort of sugar shock, with all that grape juice. We were successful, drinking our Welches.
We also took on the job of cleaning the kitchen floor.
The Way College of Biblical Research, Rome City, Indiana. It had once been a convent run by the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Precious Blood,or something like that. The Way bought the place some time in the 1970s and cleaned it up, refurbishing the old grounds and buildings. The Way always prided itself on how well it cared for its physical surroundings, every blade of grass in place. As believers we were to properly steward all God blessed us with. "Everything puts off something," Doctor used to tell us. Thus a person should do everything with love and gratitude.
The kitchen at Rome City had no air conditioning. Or if it had air conditioning, it didn't help. One reason I always liked washing the big pots and pans when I worked in the kitchen. They were washed by hand in two giant stainless steel sinks located at a giant window that remained open with a giant fan secured in it. I was so sweaty in the summer kitchen heat, that washing the pots and getting wet in front of the fan felt good. I couldn't beat the sweat, so might as well join it.
The floor. I constantly noticed the kitchen's old floor. It looked to me that it really needed replacing. I never inquired about it, just noticed it.
Bonnie and I didn't have skills to replace the floor, but we could scrub that thing. So that was the job we had given ourselves. On hands and knees scrubbing those tiles in between the industrial stoves and vats and stainless still counters and food prep stations and sinks. It was hot enough to be Dante's kitchen.
Since the campus was pretty much empty, Bonnie and I decided to go skinny dipping one evening after scrubbing the floor. The cool water felt good in the almost 100 degree weather. We felt sneaky. Two young-adult females with our shapely bodies taking a nude dip in The Way College of Indiana's above ground pool. Apparently no one saw us, or if they did, they didn't say anything.
But now, summer was past. I was no longer at The Rome City Way College of Biblical Research campus. I was on my Way Corps interim year assignment, working in New Knoxville, Ohio, at The Way Headquarters, the Root of The Way Tree. It was holy ground. One of my interim-year assignments was to work The High Country Caravan Productions which were being filmed at The Way's Cultural Center in New Bremen, Ohio.
Why was I chosen to serve here now? What was a tile-scrubbing twenty-four year old girl doing rubbing shoulders with these great men and women of God?
I just knew I was going to fuck up at some point.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
non-subject: "the people around me"
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Rev. Winegarner instructed me when to exactly turn off the house lights.
I was so fucking nervous. What the hell was I doing at the The Way's Cultural Center in New Bremen, Ohio, working with Bob Winegarner and Loyd Bishop, and waiting on Craig and Doctor to be sure their seats and tables downstairs were properly set so they could be relaxed for the next filming?
But I had prayed to God to allow me to be around top leadership during my interim Way Corps year.
I felt so small.
I had no credentials of any sort to speak of. At 19 years old I'd chosen The Way Corps as my path in life. Even though The Way College of Emporia in Kansas wasn't accredited, I was convinced it offered real education. Accreditation didn't mean much to me; plus the world's standards were distorted. I liked the approach of The Way College and The Way Corps, the students working all the jobs on campus, even dry cleaning. We were self sufficient, except of course for water and power and food.
Yet the The Way College in Rome City, Indiana, grew its own food and butchered its own meat. I'd lived two summers at Indiana while in-residence. I enjoyed picking cherries in the cherry trees, and working in the organic garden along side the children, and rotating all-night shifts in the cherry pitting room.
In late July, at the end of one of my two in-resident summer blocks that I'd spent at Rome City, the campus was all but deserted. Graduation had taken place. Most of the Corps had left the campus. Some were on "relocation," which is what The Way labeled the time in-resident Corps spent visiting friends or extended family. Others were checking out their new Way Corps assignments and had to secure jobs and housing and become familiar with the area and culture where they were being assigned. Only a few of us stayed behind on campus. I was one of the few, and so was Bonnie.
Bonnie and I were both 13th Way Corps getting ready to start our interim year assignments, which would officially begin in August, right after the Rock of Ages.
The Rock was the yearly festival at Way Headquarters in New Knoxville, Ohio. During the almost week-long Rock of Ages festival, Headquarters became tent city. Sometimes over 15,000 people gathered together. We used to say that the Rock was the next best thing to "the gathering together." The "gathering together" was when Jesus Christ would come back and all believers would meet in the air. First the dead in Christ and then those of us who are alive at His coming.
The Rock of Ages came right on the heels of Corps Week. Corps Week was when The Way Corps gathered at Headquarters. All Corps were supposed to attend Corps Week unless they were working Children's Camp at Rome City or if they had some legitimate reason to not show up. Way Corps children under a certain age spent Corps Week at Children's Camp while their parents were at Corps Week at Headquarters. Rome City was only a couple hours from Headquarters.
It seems Bonnie and I had ten days until Way Corps children would be arriving for camp. We had both been working Food Services at the Rome City campus that summer. Currently the old kitchen was pretty much closed, since the 300 plus adults and children were mostly gone.
Bonnie and I decided to fast for a week. Of all things to drink only grape juice. Amazing we didn't pass out from some sort of sugar shock, with all that grape juice. We were successful, drinking our Welches.
We also took on the job of cleaning the kitchen floor.
The Way College of Biblical Research, Rome City, Indiana. It had once been a convent run by the Roman Catholic Sisters of the Precious Blood,or something like that. The Way bought the place some time in the 1970s and cleaned it up, refurbishing the old grounds and buildings. The Way always prided itself on how well it cared for its physical surroundings, every blade of grass in place. As believers we were to properly steward all God blessed us with. "Everything puts off something," Doctor used to tell us. Thus a person should do everything with love and gratitude.
The kitchen at Rome City had no air conditioning. Or if it had air conditioning, it didn't help. One reason I always liked washing the big pots and pans when I worked in the kitchen. They were washed by hand in two giant stainless steel sinks located at a giant window that remained open with a giant fan secured in it. I was so sweaty in the summer kitchen heat, that washing the pots and getting wet in front of the fan felt good. I couldn't beat the sweat, so might as well join it.
The floor. I constantly noticed the kitchen's old floor. It looked to me that it really needed replacing. I never inquired about it, just noticed it.
Bonnie and I didn't have skills to replace the floor, but we could scrub that thing. So that was the job we had given ourselves. On hands and knees scrubbing those tiles in between the industrial stoves and vats and stainless still counters and food prep stations and sinks. It was hot enough to be Dante's kitchen.
Since the campus was pretty much empty, Bonnie and I decided to go skinny dipping one evening after scrubbing the floor. The cool water felt good in the almost 100 degree weather. We felt sneaky. Two young-adult females with our shapely bodies taking a nude dip in The Way College of Indiana's above ground pool. Apparently no one saw us, or if they did, they didn't say anything.
But now, summer was past. I was no longer at The Rome City Way College of Biblical Research campus. I was on my Way Corps interim year assignment, working in New Knoxville, Ohio, at The Way Headquarters, the Root of The Way Tree. It was holy ground. One of my interim-year assignments was to work The High Country Caravan Productions which were being filmed at The Way's Cultural Center in New Bremen, Ohio.
Why was I chosen to serve here now? What was a tile-scrubbing twenty-four year old girl doing rubbing shoulders with these great men and women of God?
I just knew I was going to fuck up at some point.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
July 4, 2010
~How deep can you feel?~ Norm Strauss
Another favorite song.
Reminds me of discovery, of memoir.
To the journey...
"How Deep Can You Feel"
lyrics & music by
Norm Strauss
It's all in how you look at it,
she said,
as if there were a hundred ways to walk a high wire.
You wanna try to let it go,
close your eyes now and let your heart rule your head sometime.
Some folks dig for gold and only scratch the surface
But you saw somethin' more; it's makin' you nervous
How deep can you feel?
Can you really let this get to you?
How far can your soul go?
Can you really change your point of view?
Let the best of you become undone,
look past your logic and all that other noise...
You're always looking for the answers,
she said,
but sometimes it's all about the questioning.
You never seem to let it show;
that's alright 'cause I know
your heart is a deep, deep well.
Reminds me of discovery, of memoir.
To the journey...
"How Deep Can You Feel"
lyrics & music by
Norm Strauss
It's all in how you look at it,
she said,
as if there were a hundred ways to walk a high wire.
You wanna try to let it go,
close your eyes now and let your heart rule your head sometime.
Some folks dig for gold and only scratch the surface
But you saw somethin' more; it's makin' you nervous
How deep can you feel?
Can you really let this get to you?
How far can your soul go?
Can you really change your point of view?
Let the best of you become undone,
look past your logic and all that other noise...
You're always looking for the answers,
she said,
but sometimes it's all about the questioning.
You never seem to let it show;
that's alright 'cause I know
your heart is a deep, deep well.
Some folks dig for gold and only scratch the surface
But sometimes a mystery can have another purpose
How deep can you feel?
Can you really let this get to you?
How far can your soul go?
Can you really change your point of view?
Let the best of you become undone,
look past your logic and all that other noise....
When your stream becomes a raging river boy
When your gray becomes a deeper shade of blue
What will ya' do
Some folks dig for gold and only scratch the surface
But you saw somethin' more; it's makin' you nervous
How deep can you feel?
Can you really let this get to you?
How far can your soul go?
Can you really change your point of view?
How deep can you feel?
Can you really let this get to you?
How far can your soul go?
Can you really change your point of view?
Let the best of you become undone,
look past your logic and all that other noise....