As promised it is time for the Grand Finale. The Photo Essay of Seven the Sabbatical. Time to let you know all about our secret travels. Sure I kept you informed of the places we went to church, Cleveland, Grand Rapids, Indianapolis, Lafayette (that was the seventh Sunday), etc. But now in Photo Essay form you can see about our travels to Bible lands -- without ever leaving Indiana!

Of course we went to Nineveh!

Now be honest, did you know there was a Nineveh in Indiana?

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 On that same ride we went to Samaria. All we found there

 was a church building. Still used? We don't know.

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And then we went to Joppa and found a rock. It is on the map, and we found a rock to prove it. Nothing else. A Joppa rock.

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 It was a nice day for a drive through Lebanon. 

Do you think that is a cedar tree behind me?

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You would think I never held a camera before. That sign really does say Egypt Road. The map says Egypt. We couldn't find much there, and it is not that far south of us. Does anyone know anything about this place? We are officially curious.

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A bonus -- not on the map but just east of the Egypt Road sign we found Jordan School.

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 And here we are in Macedonia -- OHIO -- we broke with the Indiana theme there just a little.

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But there is a Macedonia, Indiana. And a Jordan. And so many more. We went to at least two where there was absolutely nothing to take a picture of.  One of these might have been Antioch. Or Gilead. I don't remember. Sorry about omitting Hebron, we drive through there a lot but don't stop to take a picture. I really wanted to get to Bethlehem, Smyrna, Cypress, Canaan, Mars Hill, oh and of course Paradise...so many more, just look on your Indiana map...maybe on our next road trip...

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As you can see we enjoyed our travels. We enjoyed our destinations. We enjoyed our Sabbatical.

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the end

This is part two of my final serious* blog entry about our Sabbatical. We were officially back home and back to normal just over two weeks ago, but those weeks were really anything but normal. A tiny baby – as tiny babies do – rearranged our lives as family made plans to gather for her baptism. Seven weeks of coming and going and packing and unpacking made the task of getting ready for guests look impossible. But with Labor Day weekend freeing up a Monday for travel for Emily and her family it was worth the effort to have so many special days together with 4 generations.

The photos I am including show some of the together times we were able to share. It made for busy precious hours with 3 year old Finley and her brother Reid who turns one tomorrow, children of Lance and our daughter Emily, with Josh, who I have now finally mentioned, and our daughter Jessica and their 20 month old son Levi and new baby Beverly, briefly with Sam and Dorinda in Japan thanks to Face Time, and Megan briefly in Georgia via Skype, and Oma Wetselaar. (Rev. is just safely home from returning his mother to Hamilton, Ontario. He went to get her one Monday/Tuesday trip and brought her back the following Monday/Tuesday. Nine hours. Each way. Two weeks in a row! )

Those hours did not include time for me to finish this blog although the thoughts have been in my mind since the latest entry, where I wrote my thoughts on church. Go back and read those if you did not see them or what follows will not make sense.

On ministers – we heard at least a dozen different ministers while on our Sabbatical. One is so famous he has a huge church and a well known website. Another is so new he was serving his very first communion the Sunday we were there. Not all of them were able to meet us and exchange greetings, and of those that did some felt like instant friends. 

All of this got me to thinking about ministers, not just the churches. And as I said earlier, “It has been interesting for me to hear from so many people that have been reading this, and a lot of you are not from my home church of Immanuel URC in DeMotte. So I am going to take advantage of this to share some weightier thoughts that are the result of my time of contemplation and of looking back over our own ministry milestones. A sort of blog farewell, if you will, with a deeper message than most.” (previous post)

But now two days have passed since the previous paragraph was written. Oh I have been writing. And deleting. And writing. And deleting. I had planned to use what writing skills I have to cover some generalities on the ministry and on my particular area of expertise, the minister’s wife. But the generalities failed, and I wrote too much. And then I deleted. And then I wrote some more. And deleted it all. I discovered it to all be too much of a personal exercise as I could not remove myself from any of the general comments I thought I could make. One brief parking lot conversation with someone reminded me how quickly wounds that I thought had healed could open again. But that sounds too negative. There is so much on the positive side of my part in our ministry, but my mind could not form it into words to write. It is all just out of reach. So much that I want to say. So much that might be of benefit to another minister’s wife. So much that could be useful to anyone who has a church that has a minister who has a wife. But I will keep reaching, and I will keep writing, and above all I will keep standing. The Ephesians 6:13 kind of standing: "Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand."

*I will conclude with the promise of one more blog. The Grand Finale of Seven the Sabbatical will be a photo essay with a surprising twist!

It has been interesting for me to hear from so many people that have been reading this, and a lot of you are not from my home church of Immanuel URC in DeMotte. So I am going to take advantage of this to share some weightier thoughts that are the result of my time of contemplation and of looking back over our own ministry milestones. A sort of blog farewell, if you will, with a deeper message than most.

On church—some of you that have been reading this have given up on church. Evidence of people giving up on church is seen all over in the decreasing size of congregations at solid Bible preaching churches. I think back to our Sunday evening in Birmingham, Alabama. All but 29 people in that city missed out on the best spiritual food around. We saw more evidence of people having given up on church as we traveled on Sundays and noticed the huge crowds not only refraining from a Sabbath’s day rest, but jumping instead into a frenzied rat race of restaurant lines and shopping malls. Many of these people, I am guessing, were raised to know better than this. Or their parents were. Some of you reading this fall into this category.

I was raised on the severe side of strict in the matter of Sunday observance, and have tried to smooth out the sharp edges of this without losing the main emphasis. I will go into a store or restaurant on Sunday if I am travelling to buy food I need just for that day. On some recent weeks we found it easier to go into a Wal-Mart to buy something picnic-y instead of waiting in the crazy long lines at restaurants. I don’t like doing it because it makes me feel like I am contributing to the problem of the weakening of Sunday observance. Not one to make decisions based on feelings, I will admit however that it just feels wrong. And I am glad it feels wrong. No matter how old I get I remember like it was last week the terrible dilemma once facing my mom. I was 13. The three of us, my parents and I, vacationed in a small pickup camper, never staying more than one night in the same place. We arrived at the campground late Saturday after the camp store was closed, and along with the usual paperwork of receipt and site location were given a coupon for a free bag of marshmallows. Free? Being Dutch Christians we had to use the coupon. But there only for part of Sunday? Being Dutch Christians we could not shop on Sunday. To this day I cannot look at a bag of marshmallows without remembering the solution arrived upon by my parents. Without either adult, I was to go into the store and get the free food, but I was not – under any circumstances – to look at anything else while I was in there! And I am glad I still have that memory.

So much for a rambling turn of the topic to marshmallows. Let me get back on track and speak to those of you that may have given up on church. Some of this is because churches have given up on you. By this I mean that they have lost their God ordained purpose to preach the Word and sold out to the entertainment mindset. You need to find a church that focuses on biblical preaching. If you are planning a move, you first need to see if the city where you are going has a church whose focus is on biblical preaching. If you are headed to college you need to go to a college where you can become part of a church that has its focus set on biblical preaching. (And as I already wrote about this really ought to be a Calvinist college.) Are you buying a cottage somewhere? Or even going on a two week vacation? You wouldn’t go somewhere where you cannot buy food, why do without that which feeds your soul?  Find a church. Go to it. Ever wonder why little kids are taught the song The Wise Man Built His House upon the Rock? Now you are an adult. Build on the Rock.

On visiting churches – We have visited several and it was a good reminder to us that this is not easy to do. It is hard to walk into a room full of strangers, but you do this when you go to other awkward places. Women occasionally have to take the car to the mechanic. This is my personal Don’t Make Me Go There place. Men, what is your awkward place – oh, the elevators in department stores. Why do they always put them there? Maybe just reading here in one humble paragraph that other people, ministers and wives on Sabbatical included, find it hard will make it a little bit easier for you to do it next time.

It is also hard to know what to say to a visitor in your church. Recognize the awkwardness and move beyond it into conversation. God will guide the rest. At the church where we heard the best preaching – by Alistair Begg – we had the least human interaction. It is such a large church that it is a wonder anyone knows each other. We did see little knots of conversation here and there, but most sat in silence as the hundreds came in. The only sentence spoken to us was by a khaki shorts, leather flip flop, neon yellow vest clad parking attendant that held the outer door for us: “Did you have a good breakfast?” That was a new one. Maybe it is an Ohio thing… (Actually the Dutch blood in me surfaced immediately and made me wonder if it was being served somewhere for free in a part of the church campus that we had not seen.)

I will stop here and keep today’s blog only about church. Today is Sunday. Did you go to church? I hope so. If not, go next week. Be prepared to tell an awkward usher that you had a nice breakfast, and realize that we all come into God’s house as broken sinners needing to hear His voice.

A nine hour drive.That is almost always the answer when we are asked how far away a destination is. Rev. is going to Hamilton to bring his mother here so she can meet some great-grandchildren. A nine hour drive. Lance and Emily will be bringing two of those great-grandchildren from Birmingham. A nine hour drive. Megan just completed her first drive alone here and back from Covenant College to meet niece Beverly. Nine hours each way. Dordt College? A nine hour drive.

I have joked that we should drive north sometime for nine hours just to see where we end up. We are very familiar with that distance on the other three points of the compass.

While rereading the blog I posted previous to this one I suddenly had a funny memory of the trip to Dordt that Sam and I made when he was a senior in high school still deciding on colleges. We chose a non-interstate route through Iowa that resulted in many long straight flat stretches. On one of these stretches of highway the horizon was broken by a one story motel at a crossroads proudly displaying a sign just like this one:

Sam broke the companionable silence we had been enjoying with the incredulous question, "Mom, are there any other kinds?"

While on the topic of travels I need to give an update on where we were for the sixth Sunday of our Sabbatical Weekends of Travel. Seventh Reformed Church in Grand Rapids was one of the ones we wanted to attend, and it was reachable without an overnight. We missed hearing Joel Beeke, the professor that taught Rev.'s class, by one week and heard a colleague of his instead. I felt like an Iowan in a Michigan church. Which, in fact, I am and it was. The sermon was laced with nautical illustrations that used words not in my vocabulary. I nearly got lost in the part about the bit and the bitter end of the rope. Isn't "bitter end" a movie with a sad ending? I caught back up in the talk about the anchor. I understand anchor.

We drove around Grand Rapids to look for the three houses we had once lived in. We also got the urge to see Calvin College and the other places we had worked. Rev. worked on the grounds crew at Calvin in the summer. The florist I worked at on 28th street looks exactly the same. The rest of that area does not. We used to take a back way from where we lived to the Seminary that we could not find this time. And yes we drove around the seminary. I suddenly remembered the spot where we met the Smiths (name change), a young couple with a 6 month old baby that were essentially living out of their car. I remember the moment we saw them and realized they needed friends. As we got to know them we found out that they had driven all the way from California to attend Calvin Seminary because "God had told them to." They did not have a place to live, much to live on, or a church back home helping them so they were off to a shaky start. We helped as much as we could, mostly in the way of encouragement as they learned that they had apparently not heard God mention that a pre-seminary program of study at college was needed before classes could be taken at a master's level in seminary. They left after a year with their guitars and their carrot juicer and their daughter wearing mostly Emily hand-me-downs to go back to California.

All those memories along with the relief that swept over me upon hearing that Megan had arrived safely back in Lookout Mountain brought a great weariness upon me. Rev. was already back in his boot for his heel pain, and my blood clot medicine numbers had been bobbing around a little too much. The resting part of the Sabbatical was not happening. I was so tired that I finally said, "Can we just go home?" I needed a good meal and then my bed. I don't like skipping evening church, and I don't like eating in restaurants on Sundays unless travel makes it necessary. And here we were doing both of these at exactly the same time. Yet God had a surprise for us there! A waiter outside on his break at Cracker Barrel struck up a conversation with Rev. while I was still inside. He is a Christian and wants to go into the ministry! Encouragement was given (none of this God Told Me To Do This stuff) in the form of practical advice, a friendship was formed, future contacts will be made (already have been), and a prayer was shared right there by the military versions of the Cracker Barrel Rocking chairs.

I am glad our Sabbatical has ended at the same time the new school year and church year are starting. I always like this time of year of new beginnings. I have to walk through the aisles of school supplies in stores. It is an irresistible tug. I want to buy a box of markers. Or crayons. Did you know you can now get them in color families? I want one of each. I don't even know why! Do any of you still need to go school shopping, and if so, may I go along? I will pick out your notebook colors.

My mind turns with such fondness to Megan and her start of another year of college. Today was the day Covenant College welcomed a new class of freshmen, and Megan is part of the team of upper classmen that is welcoming them and helping them with orientation. It was amazing to be able to see her two different times during our Sabbatical, and now it is such a joy to think of her there on that campus for her senior year. At the same time it is hard to believe that this is the last of twelve years that we will have a daughter there. (Emily and Jessica actually doubled up one year due to being 3 years apart in age, and we had no one there for one of those 12 years due to Jessica and Megan being 5 years apart in age -- but enough math!) The school year there will hopefully start again with the traditional message from the president about a Christian's "Big C" Calling and "little c" calling. I hope Megan blogs about it and shares that great message with others.

Whenever our daughters brought home friends, we felt like we knew so much about them before even meeting them. Megan outdid her sisters globally by bringing home girls from Germany first and then Mozambique. I remember saying to one of them that I feel like I know so much about you already, because if your families were willing to send you so far from home to go to school both you and they really love the reformed faith.

Or call it Calvinism. We are so grateful for a school rooted in the reformation and claiming as much as possible a close adherence to the five solas of the reformation. There are many colleges in this country with the word Christian in their name – even Harvard, Yale and Princeton started out as a Christian colleges! But to find one that upholds Calvinism and its emphasis on Biblical Christianity is a treasure. Dordt College is another one with roots in this reformed heritage, and that is where our son went, feeling the tug of the basketball program and of a certain Sioux Center girl named Dorinda.

I would like to encourage more people to consider going to Covenant College. I always hear one of two reasons why people do not go there. The first is that it is too far away. This is true only if you measure geographically. Measure theologically! Like the medical missionary parents of Sara from Mozambique or the parents of Hannah, who are members of what sounds very much like a German version of the URCNA, it is of so much value to find a school right next door theologically. Almost no distance at all!  My view on this was reinforced a few years ago during a sermon I heard in Lance and Emily’s church. Their minister talked about how he would rather have a child of his own or of the congregation be living on the other side of the world and walking with the Lord than in the same city on the wrong path to eternity. I am sure this even then was preparing us for such a long separation from Sam.

The other reason people often do not consider Covenant is the cost. I looked through the world almanac recently for a very unbiased opinion and found the figures for Covenant to be right in there in the same range as other Christian colleges, both Calvinist and Arminian. People unwilling to go into college debt are willing to go into debt for a house or a car. A house is a shelter, a truck is transportation, but a mind is a renewable resource! A solidly reformed college education -- even if only for one year -- is of eternal value to each person that chooses it and continues to place life's building blocks on it. Those building blocks will include marriage, parenting, committee work, church office, town councils, school boards, etc. It makes sense to me that something of the greatest value economically is that which is a smooth follow through of that which our reformed schools, parents and especially churches are equipping young people with. 

And hurray for a new year of that starting up right now. 

I am so excited! And thankful! My computer is fixed! I will have it tomorrow! One of my children told me that my blog previous to this one was boring. Hmmph. So I kept this one short and to the point.

Now it is my turn for a First Day of School picture. This was taken a week ago on Aug 13th, the first day of school here in DeMotte. I only insisted on posing like this because Rev. got to have a first day of school during this Sabbatical so I decided I needed one also. I would love to take a class in something again like he did (not at a doctorate level), but working at a school for me right now is the next best thing. 

Another thing I did similar to Rev. was reading. Not 2,000 pages. Not John Owen. Today I will tell you about the books I read. Before that -- yes, to those of you with boy brains still stuck in junior high, that is our cat in the background of my photo doing something unpleasant. Enjoy. I miss my computer and its editing/cropping capabilities!

The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II (by Denise Kiernan). I bought this in a great little bookstore in downtown Charleston, West Virginia while on our way to Charlotte. You probably know the date the first atomic bomb was dropped, the city it was dropped on and maybe even the name of the plane from which it was dropped, but did you ever think about what went into the making of the actual bomb? This book tells how the entire city of Oak Ridge near Lexington, Kentucky was created nearly overnight during World War II in an effort to beat anyone else in the world in the manufacture of such a bomb. Even more surprising is that this was a complete secret. Officially, Oak Ridge did not even exist, even though it was using more electricity than New York City and had a population of 75,000 -- many of them young women. As I was reading this I was wondering about the possibility of going through Lexington on the way home to look for this place and see what it is like today, but our plans took us farther west and this adventure will keep for another time.

The Witness Wore Red: The 19th Wife Who Brought Polygamous Cult Leaders to Justice (by Rebecca Musser). Just like the one person wearing red on the front cover stands out, this book jumped out at me on a shelf in, of all places, Wal-Mart. Several years ago I read Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith (by Jon Krakauer, who has written a lot of good non-fiction books about topics other than Mormons). I learned most of my recent knowledge from that and have since forgotten much of it. I thought Mormons were all basically, well, Mormons. But there are Mormons (not supporting them in any way, mind you, even though I recently voted for one for US president) and then there are Fundamentalist Mormons. Warren Jeffs Mormons. A very sick and sinful man only recently put behind bars for the rest of life. Jim Jones cult leader sick and sinful. The book is as much about the psychological damage done in the name of religion to his followers as it is about him.

These two will soon be placed in the CCHS library.

To Fetch a Thief (by Spencer Quinn). A second hand store find for 50 cents. A fun fast read about a crime fighting duo of man and dog told from the dog’s point of view. A fun premise but disappointing in that the author decided that this dog and everyone he knows uses bad language and takes God’s name in vain. Will be going back to a second hand store or get recycled.

INSERT COMMENT HERE: This seems like an appropriate place to remind people that it is wrong to take God’s name in vain and that this includes shortening it to the initials OMG on Facebook or elsewhere.

The Minor Adjustment Beauty Salon (by Alexander McCall Smith). I really like this series of books that begins with the No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I have read them all, placed them all in the CCHS library where they don’t get read, and was surprised to learn that this was number 14 in the series. Fourteen of anything is usually way too many. They are fiction, easy to read, not great literature but still good and the best part is how they take the reader right around the globe and plop into Botswana so that it feels more like a few days spent there than a book read about it. I have tried to read other books that he writes and cannot appreciate them the same way. The only ones that came close were the ones in the shorter series that begins with Portuguese Irregular Verbs. This series can be devoured with enjoyment by anyone who likes word play and a good turn of phrase without a riveting plot. Best enjoyed, as we did several years ago, in the car on CD’s on a trip to Covenant College.

The Mockingbird Next Door (by Marja Mills). This one is still in progress and I am tempted to put it down and first reread To Kill A Mockingbird. The book is about Harper Lee, the famous book’s author. She wrote only one book and then became very private about her sudden fame. It describes life in small town Alabama which of course interests me, but so far I cannot figure out if it is a biography of Lee or of the Chicago reporter that finally got permission to write about the Lee family members that have successfully stayed out of the limelight for decades. When I finish, unless it really disappoints, it will be in the CCHS library.