Journey into Outer Grace

Summary of Nina Christmas Letters

I saw this sign while I was shopping in England back in 2006.  I couldn’t resist.

Brian

 Evel Knievel” died this week. Christianity Today ran an article last spring called “Evel Overcome with Good” about his conversion to Christianity.
(http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/aprilweb-only/115-43.0.html)

I’m not a fan of the Crystal Cathedral or all of Robert Schuller’s views. However, this video is worth watching. A powerful testimony that the power of Jesus to change lives is real.  This is a real encouragement for those who have lived as rugged individualists all their lives and understand at the end, that it’s so empty.  Knievel says it feels that way because only the living God can fill us.  I think he’s touched on something profound and important about being human.  I only wish more people experienced being reconciled to God like “Evel Knievel” did, while they still have time.  Knievel was only 7 months away from his death when he surrendered his life to God.

 Well, there’s no excuse.  I must be one of the most half-hearted bloggers on the planet.  Or else live a boring life!  No, that can’t be it.  We love our new home in Spokane, and my new job teaching fourth grade at Northwest Christian School is wonderful (albeit busy and tiring).  As we near Christmas, I thought I’d share this latest revision of a poem I’ve been working on since we were still in England.  Enjoy.

CITY ON THE HILL

A poem for the church of Jesus

The land, once fertile and lush with light–

A gorgeous paradise of earth

Which God had planted, granted life,

Abundantly flourished, revelled in birth:

Its light glowing in each glorious thing,

Its fragrance like spices distilling the air,

Its music softly chanting praise,

And the dancing of Eve and Adam there–

No more. It was ruined, barren, broken,

And only the stench of dying souls

Remained.  The beauty of Eden was marred

By Man wanting Maker to trade their roles.

Now gritty darkness buried the earth

And smothered peace from flowering here

The kingdom of the Accuser warred

Against the light and sought by fear

To keep the world his captive, blind

And numb, the prisoners of sin.

The world’s deceived: the night’s called day.

The devil thus invents his spin.

Yet over this beleaguered world

The Lord still holds his hallowed claim;

And heaven’s light is not made dim

Nor can the darkness quench God’s flame.

He gathered up His angels near

And sent his only Seed, that Blade

Of glittering truth, to tear through time

And space, descending to invade.

His shining Sword then plummeted to land

Disguised in flesh, for the day on a hill

That human Blade was betrayed & broken,

Despised on a Cross.  The earth, once still,

Now rocked and trembled.  Dead men rose,

Returning to life.  The buried Light

From sword to seed would germinate

To burst the earth and put to flight

The shadows in retreat.  Cross-seed

Became a Tree, an echo of

Old Eden’s tree of life, untasted;

But His pure fruit is immortal love.

On Golgotha, down through centuries

The Tree’s bright seeds have multiplied, grown

To make another Garden for the King,

A City on a Hill, of living stones

Defying the darkness by the grace of God,

She scatters the gospel’s seeds.  Her pride

Is Christ; His blood has paid the dowry;

She readies herself as His radiant Bride.

The fragrance once again is spread;

The festive music of grace is heard;

The dance of His people weaves around

And they see by the light of His powerful Word.

The City shines, exposed on the hill,

While blind billions of people pass by

And wander toward an eternal night.

Do the citizens grieve for them, and cry

For mercy, weep for wasted lives?

The same Spirit who restored their sight

Stirs them with a longing for the dying and the lost.

The Lord has opened the City’s gates wide!

The Gardeners go out with the seeds of the Tree

And walk down the hill, the plain to roam,

To love and name a nameless soul;

To plant a gleaming path to Home.

Within her walls the Orphans find

Their Father; the Lame learn how to walk;

The Lechers live for the pleasure of Christ

And the softened Cynics no longer mock.

The proud are humbled, the last is first;

The empty are filled; the barren, blessed;

The walls of this City are truth and love;

And the Tree of Life gives all true rest.

(c) 2007 Brian Huseland.

One of the inevitable experiences of parenthood is teaching your kids to ride a bike.  This month I held on to the back of Mercy’s bike seat and ran next to her (we had no training wheels) as she wobbled here and there over the road.  Considering her hesitance and fear of falling (and the ache in my side), I figured it would take a miracle for her to ride on her own.

I held on with my whole hand, then two fingers, then letting go for a few moments at a time, praising her for riding three seconds on her own.  More running.

Then one day I let go… and like a kite with wheels, she flew.

It is a wonderful and scary thing to let my girl go, to face a little danger and a lot of adventure.

On the other hand, she still wanted me to stay and watch her.  It is a good thing to let go, as she embraces new courage.

My cousin Lou Collins arrived home about a week ago in Washington state.  He said it was a good time… he navigated the Canadian Rockies without too much trouble, and rode his last miles to Bellevue.  The transcontinental journey he experienced took about 5 weeks.  Just imagine what the Pony Express could have done with motorcycles!

Well done, Lou.  Time to rest up a bit.  In the meantime I can share one of his recent jokes…

What rock group of 4 people included 1 person who was assassinated, and 3 others who all died a natural death?

(Answer below Lou’s picture)

Mount Rushmore.

Great news! After house hunting in Spokane, we have returned with the relief of our offer being accepted on a house only 6 blocks from the school where I will teach and where our girls will go.  It’s a 3-bed house, about 1400 sq. ft.  It’s also got a great yard with lots of trees.  Here are the photos from the realty website:

… New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana.

Lou stopped by our house in Helena 2 days ago, before continuing yesterday on his trip.  He plans to go north through Canada again (Alberta, BC) and drop down into eastern Washington as he rides the last miles home.

He said the best part of his journey has been the people he has spent time with.  That is America, more than the land.  He often shares jokes and aphorisms with his acquantainces, such as “Fear knocked on the door.  Faith answered.  There was no one there.”

Lou is a unique man with a story of his own, of pain and healing, of knowing God and how constantly faithful that God is to those who trust in Him and in His son.

He also gave me the shirt off his back (after he washed it)   which is a favorite of mine.  It’s a Harley Davidson shirt, with a quote on it: “Not all who wander are lost.”

I shared with him the poem in the Lord of the Rings (Fellowship, p. 182) that sounds very much the same…

All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes a fire shall be woken,

A light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king.  

Well I figured I better give another update…

Lou has made good time up the east coast of North America, riding from Florida on through Georgia and the Carolinas.  Once in Virginia, he decided to go across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–pretty amazing, he said.  He stopped by Jamestown on the last day of May (that month marking the 400th anniversary of the first English settlement) and also went past Yorktown, famous for its connection to the Revolution.

The Delmarva peninsula was particularly beautiful for riding his ‘bike.  (What is the Delmarva Peninsula? See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delmarva_Peninsula)

From Delaware up through the New Jersey-New York-Boston sprawl (or should I say, “crawl”?) Lou did not cover much ground.  He said he did not set foot on Rhode Island once–traffic must have been moving by then–and spent the night in Connecticut.  The next day he passed through New England on the way to Maine.  He hit some cold rainy weather there, and said that the roads off the highway were pretty windy.

Lou crossed the border into Canada a few days ago, and made his way through New Brunswick to the picturesque Prince Edward Island.  There is a new bridge connecting PEI to the mainland, and many tourists visit the small province each year.  It is famous to us for the setting of the Anne of Green Gables books, by Lucy Maud Montgomery (a distant cousin of Lou’s).  There is a 5th cousin still living on the island who gave Lou a three-hour tour (trivia: What TV show tune repeated the phrase, “a three-hour tour”?).

Lou saw some places where our Scottish ancestors lived in the region, before turning his ‘bike west for the final stretch of his great American road trip.  Tune in next time to find out about his further adventures.

Brian

P.S. Remember too that he’s doing this trip for a goal of helping poor families in 3rd world countries  (www.firstgiving.com/loucollins).

My cousin Lou has successfully ridden his “hog” from Washington to Oregon, California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida.  He went through some 105 degree weather in the Southwest, but he’s survived it OK, and today visited Key West in Florida.  After eating some Key Lime pie, Lou rode up the coast north of Miami where he is spending the night.  He has completed 2 corners of his epic trip, and says that it really gives him a new sense of just how big America really is.  He says he has met such interesting people… many stories he could tell.  Perhaps over the next week we will get some of those from him, and some pictures of his travels.  Till next time…