Let…light…shine.

Posted on December 31, 2011 by Rev. Carol Crawford Rowe

The-best-top-winter-desktop-wallpapers-9

I love this picture of a resort somewhere…in the midst of a cold and desolate landscape.  The lights not only beckon to safety.  They also beam a welcome to the warmth of companionship and a sense of home. 

In this world of loneliness and isolation, where our virtual relationships may be more dependable than our real life connections, it is good to have a reminder that warms our spirits and welcomes us to be together.

At the dawn of time, God spoke light into being.  In the fullness of time, Jesus came as Light for our world.  In this time and place, Jesus calls us to shine as lights in our world.  What ever you do, and where ever you go during this year, through joys and sorrows, health and disabilities, gain and want, love and loss, I pray that you will seek the Light for your wanderings and share the light on your personal safari.  And may the Light of the world warm your heart and lead you to the warmth and safety of your heart’s true Home.

Posted in Reflection | Leave a comment

Stay…A Little Longer

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Rev. Carol Crawford Rowe

I wrote recently about sitting with a loved one as she prepared for a Pet Scan.  (November 15, 2011 http://saintsonsafri.wordpress.com )  Today, as I was reviewing the notes that I had scribbled in that darkened room, I remembered the texting conversation that I had with Abby.  I wrote to her that the technician was allowing me to stay for fifteen minutes.  Abby responded, “Stay as long as they will let you stay.  Then stay some more.”

I did not notice until today how powerful those words were, how indicative of the working of God’s Spirit in our lives.  We are living among many people who are disenfranchised with organized religion.  Few have contact with a church, and some of those who do are not sure that they even believe what the church teaches.  Others are outspoken in their distrust of people who profess to belong to God, and even of God, if there is such an entity.

Abby and I move among them in the spirit of Jesus, even when we do not speak of Jesus aloud.  At this time of decorations and celebrations, I heard a man proclaim, and not in jest, “Christmas – Bah!  Humbug!”  And I smiled at him.  He laughed, and continued to grumble on his way, but with a smile on his face. 

How often has it been true of my life – that in my darkest, saddest, most fearful and wondering hours, Jesus has come to stay with me as long as I would allow him, and then to stay some more!   So it is, on the personal safari of each life, I think.  Even when we do not believe in Jesus, Jesus believes in us, and comes to stay, as long as we will let him stay, and then some more. 

Posted in Reflection | Leave a comment

Pray For Those Who Despitefully Use You

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Rev. Carol Crawford Rowe

Abby’s iPhone was stolen this evening.  She laid it down for a moment in the WalMart women’s room, and it was gone.  No one turned it in at the office or attempted to find Abby to return it.  It was clearly marked with my phone number to call, in case of loss.  We were sad and disappointed that someone was either so needy or so greedy. 

At home later, we pondered the reason that some people are unkind and unethical.  We wondered what we could have done to encourage the thief to return the phone.  Then we prayed for her, that God will use one of the apps on that phone to turn her mind to God and change her heart.

She is, whether she knows it or not, loved by God.  We pray that her personal safari will bring her back into a right direction and a path that will bless others and not hurt them.  After all, she is the one who is being hurt the most.  Please join us in lifting her in prayer.  May this theft be the best thing that ever happened to her.  May it bring her back to the Truth that will set her free.

Posted in Reflection | Leave a comment

He will Give His Angels Charge Over You.

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Rev. Carol Crawford Rowe

A few days ago, I tripped over a tent stake .  Larry, one of the wonderful staff members at Lion Safari Campground, was near enough to see, but just a little too far away to catch me.

After determining that it was only my dignity that was injured , I rolled on to my hands and knees and climbed up from the grass where I was lying.  Larry remarked about the strangeness of the way that I went down.  It seemed to him that I fell in slow motion, as though I hesitated in the middle of the fall and almost caught my balance. 

I remember losing control of my body and heading for the ground.  There was no way that I could catch my balance and avoid the fall.  I did not even try.  I pondered Larry’s observation, as I was too involved in going down to notice how it happened. 

I remembered Psalm 91:11.  He shall give his angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.   Was the pause, the transition to slow motion,  the time when an angel caught me and eased me down?  Was I protected from harm, as I was laid gently on the forgiving earth? 

I did not feel the touch of angel hands.  Larry did not see the angel catch, or hear the brush of angel wings.  Yet, I am unwounded, and thankful for this time, and many others that I have been protected in the midst of my own carelessness or the carelessness of another.  Thanks be to God, for grace that accompanies each of us , even when we are unaware, on our personal safaris.

Posted in Meditation | Leave a comment

Jesus Christ Will Always Be In Christmas!

Posted on November 27, 2011 by Dr. Abigail Elizabeth Reynolds

318521_534002025079_157800685_30910444_614567035_n

This time of year, every year, we hear an uproar from well-meaning people about the secularization of the Advent-Christmas season.  They write and speak, and sometimes yell, about the travesty of “Taking Christ out of Christmas”.  They make almost as much noise about this as they do about “taking God out of the schools”. 

Think about it for a moment.  If God is who we say God is – all knowing, all powerful, all present, how can anyone take God out of anything or banish God from anywhere?  How can any group or society remove Christ from the hearts of those who truly celebrate Emmanuel, God with us?

Those fearful and outraged statements do not add to God’s glory.  They diminish it, by making God seem vulnerable to the whims of human nature.  God is.  Period.  Jesus is.  Period.  If those who call themselves Christ-followers would spend their energy doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God, (Micah 6:8), they would do much more to influence the world for good than they do by yelling at the world for taking away their rights to practice what they say they believe.

I am not so worried about taking Christ out of Christmas. This can not be done. I am more concerned with taking the cross out of Christmas. The baby came as God with us, Emmanuel. The baby came to die so that we may live. When you see the X, see the sign of the cross, and rejoice!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

People Are So Inconvenient!

Posted on October 14, 2011 by Dr. Abigail Elizabeth Reynolds

File20

We have lived in our nest in the safari park for one month.  Today, we paid our second month’s rent, and marveled at how quickly the time has passed.  We have met many wonderful people here, some transient, like a family from Switzerland, and others permanent, like the great and caring staff.  I wrote about our neighbor who disappointed us by disappearing before we knew him.  There is another neighbor nearby who has passed by many times during the month, with nothing more than an occasional hand uplifted in greeting.  We were wondering if we would ever get to meet him and know his name.

Today we had an appointment in the afternoon.  I was hurrying to restore the motor home to a vestige of order, to dress appropriately, to comb my hair, and to gather the things that we needed to take with us for the day.  Abby was adjusting some of the outdoor tubing that is our lifeline for utilities here.  Can you guess what happened?

This was the day that our neighbor banged at the door, wanting to meet us, to learn who we are, and to tell us – literally – the story of his life and his wounded-ness.  He talked… and talked… and talked.  I did my best to listen, to care, to commiserate, to offer hope and encouragement.  All the while, I was murmuring, “Why now, Lord?  You know how busy we are.  You know that we have an appointment.  We have had a month of opportunities.  We  hope to have many more months to listen to his needs.  Why has he come at this inconvenient time?”

Have you ever heard God chuckle?  I think I did, today.  Saints on safari do not always get to live on schedule!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment