24 Hours in Lake Tahoe
Hello Friends,
Well I've been here for almost two days now. And I love this area. Every breath I take it's a fresh. Fragrant. Clean. Febreeze has nothing on Tahoe air.
Spent the majority of last night making an art piece with a bunch of women. We did a collage water color type piece. I had so much fun. Although I forgot how quiet I get when I'm making something. I had finished a bit early and when I looked around I got so jazzed to see so many different people making art. It was fantastic.
Afterwards I came back to my room to check on my email and make sure that my family was ok. Read some funky news on my emails and was pretty much bummed out the rest of the night. Actually I got so upset that I puked. I'm realizing that I can't handle bad news as well as I use to anymore.
Then I went downstairs for compline. Which is super similar to Taize. We prayed for one another and asked for the Lord to hear our prayers. My roomate prayed a blessing over me and sang so pretty. It filled up my cup.
However I came right back in the worry of it all. Art and christianity. Missions and church. It got to me. So I grabbed a blanket and went into the lobby. Everyone was fast asleep and I sat on the sofa trying to cure my upset stomach with a book. Dan "my pastor" had given me a photo book of Africa. It was a HIV/AIDS tour that some folks from relevant went on and they published their words and photographic journal. I had already read bits about it and thought that this is something I'd like to do. However Dan was thinking about me to and gave me the book. So cool. Books as gifts are the sweetest things ever.
So I sat there and read the words and read the photographs. I cried. I then recalled Pastor Michael mentioning that I would go on a week long retreat somewhere and have a whole week with God and that's where He was going to shine some light on areas that were missing in our ministry together. So I sat there on the sofa. And eventhough I was in Lake Tahoe, the soles of my feet, were on a different continent. And I wondered why Dan gave me the book. And why I'm so in love with Africa. And why it's been such a challenge to get out there. And I cried. I cried myself to sleep basically. I held the book in my hand and fell asleep. Praying and crying.
This morning I missed the outdoor worship but made it in time for the morning session with a great speaker. And he said so many wonderful things. I'll write them down a tad later.
The speaker talked about a club that his kid has started called the slow club. The kid decided at a young age to slow down and see God. And we did this for 20 minutes. I walked around outside by the lake and photographed all the interesting things God pointed out to me. I asked him to show me the secret places that Him and I would enjoy. Moments that showed me His intimate glory and that I would be forever grateful for. So I walked. I saw. I smiled. I photographed. One of the best 20 minutes of my life ever.
And we concluded with a drawing symbolizing the state of our heart. I didn't know what to paint/draw. I just was so fascinated with the palette of colors being presented to me. That I grabbed the first four that came to mind. I started to draw and fill in shapes that my hand was creating and just blindly but listening to God's direction. To where this shape ends and this color begins. I kept praying while I was painting. Kept asking God questions. What does my heart look like? Does this make sense to have this in my heart? Why do I keep wanting to add this shape to my heart when it obviously doesn't fit? He kept responding, I know what to do with your heart. I know why I created this heart. I know. I know. I know. So I trusted Him. Soon. In about 20 minutes I had created a world map. With a blank isocoles triangle in the middle. When I asked him what that meant...he simply said.... Me, in purity. And I cried. The rest of the map of my heart had ocean blue, grass green, and fragments of blood red. Wow. Art heals. Art gives understanding. Art gives percpective.
I spent my lunch hour talking to a pastor from Ohio. He's wanting to get involved with the arts and has read all of Dan's books. So we spent a good hour reviewing and talking and praying. I've made a new friend in Ohio. I told him that he should bring his wife and kids and visit Santa Cruz. They'd love it.
For the last three hours I was getting my feet wet in the Lake Tahoe water. I sat down at the basin of camp on one of three docks. I sat the furthest out and put my feet in the water. So frigid cold. But breathtaking. My vision couldn't capture the hugeness of the lake. It was so wide that I had to turn my head from left to right to capture it all. And still I couldn't see past the cliffs near by. It was almost like watching a movie in the front row. Everything is so askew and abnormal, but breathtaking. Yes that's Lake Tahoe.
I'm now off to another class but wanted to jot down my experiences from the last 24 hours.
Well I've been here for almost two days now. And I love this area. Every breath I take it's a fresh. Fragrant. Clean. Febreeze has nothing on Tahoe air.
Spent the majority of last night making an art piece with a bunch of women. We did a collage water color type piece. I had so much fun. Although I forgot how quiet I get when I'm making something. I had finished a bit early and when I looked around I got so jazzed to see so many different people making art. It was fantastic.
Afterwards I came back to my room to check on my email and make sure that my family was ok. Read some funky news on my emails and was pretty much bummed out the rest of the night. Actually I got so upset that I puked. I'm realizing that I can't handle bad news as well as I use to anymore.
Then I went downstairs for compline. Which is super similar to Taize. We prayed for one another and asked for the Lord to hear our prayers. My roomate prayed a blessing over me and sang so pretty. It filled up my cup.
However I came right back in the worry of it all. Art and christianity. Missions and church. It got to me. So I grabbed a blanket and went into the lobby. Everyone was fast asleep and I sat on the sofa trying to cure my upset stomach with a book. Dan "my pastor" had given me a photo book of Africa. It was a HIV/AIDS tour that some folks from relevant went on and they published their words and photographic journal. I had already read bits about it and thought that this is something I'd like to do. However Dan was thinking about me to and gave me the book. So cool. Books as gifts are the sweetest things ever.
So I sat there and read the words and read the photographs. I cried. I then recalled Pastor Michael mentioning that I would go on a week long retreat somewhere and have a whole week with God and that's where He was going to shine some light on areas that were missing in our ministry together. So I sat there on the sofa. And eventhough I was in Lake Tahoe, the soles of my feet, were on a different continent. And I wondered why Dan gave me the book. And why I'm so in love with Africa. And why it's been such a challenge to get out there. And I cried. I cried myself to sleep basically. I held the book in my hand and fell asleep. Praying and crying.
This morning I missed the outdoor worship but made it in time for the morning session with a great speaker. And he said so many wonderful things. I'll write them down a tad later.
The speaker talked about a club that his kid has started called the slow club. The kid decided at a young age to slow down and see God. And we did this for 20 minutes. I walked around outside by the lake and photographed all the interesting things God pointed out to me. I asked him to show me the secret places that Him and I would enjoy. Moments that showed me His intimate glory and that I would be forever grateful for. So I walked. I saw. I smiled. I photographed. One of the best 20 minutes of my life ever.
And we concluded with a drawing symbolizing the state of our heart. I didn't know what to paint/draw. I just was so fascinated with the palette of colors being presented to me. That I grabbed the first four that came to mind. I started to draw and fill in shapes that my hand was creating and just blindly but listening to God's direction. To where this shape ends and this color begins. I kept praying while I was painting. Kept asking God questions. What does my heart look like? Does this make sense to have this in my heart? Why do I keep wanting to add this shape to my heart when it obviously doesn't fit? He kept responding, I know what to do with your heart. I know why I created this heart. I know. I know. I know. So I trusted Him. Soon. In about 20 minutes I had created a world map. With a blank isocoles triangle in the middle. When I asked him what that meant...he simply said.... Me, in purity. And I cried. The rest of the map of my heart had ocean blue, grass green, and fragments of blood red. Wow. Art heals. Art gives understanding. Art gives percpective.
I spent my lunch hour talking to a pastor from Ohio. He's wanting to get involved with the arts and has read all of Dan's books. So we spent a good hour reviewing and talking and praying. I've made a new friend in Ohio. I told him that he should bring his wife and kids and visit Santa Cruz. They'd love it.
For the last three hours I was getting my feet wet in the Lake Tahoe water. I sat down at the basin of camp on one of three docks. I sat the furthest out and put my feet in the water. So frigid cold. But breathtaking. My vision couldn't capture the hugeness of the lake. It was so wide that I had to turn my head from left to right to capture it all. And still I couldn't see past the cliffs near by. It was almost like watching a movie in the front row. Everything is so askew and abnormal, but breathtaking. Yes that's Lake Tahoe.
I'm now off to another class but wanted to jot down my experiences from the last 24 hours.
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