The Weight Vest

I have osteoporosis in my family and I would like to avoid this malady. Unfortunately my long and tall physique with thin bones combine to make me the perfect candidate. Medications are out of the question, my choice, but I also dislike lifting weights. I eat a healthy diet packing in a bundle of veggies and fruits every day. But a vegan lifestyle might be "light" on what is necessary for strong bones. A dilemma, until a recent discussion with my oldest son produced a solution. Since I do enjoy walking, even with bone spurs in my feet, he suggested I look into walking with a weight vest. Studies have proven in order to strengthen bones there has to be some kind of resistance. After a search on the internet we came up with a weight vest especially created for women. This is the website if any of you are interested http://ironwearfitness.com/wospveahebrm.html

I now walk several mornings a week, from 30-60 minutes at a time, wearing this vest carrying an additional 8 pounds. My goal is to add 12 extra pounds-10% of my body weight. Today, I realized the vest not only is a benefit for building bone strength but serves other purposes as well: it helps me focus on balance, and a longer than normal gait, which is often a problem for Parkinson patients. In addition I am working my voice muscles as I sing with the praise music, probably a pain for those in earshot!

My vest is quit snug and while wearing it I have a sense of security and purpose-like what I am doing will improve the condition of my body and hopefully prevent broken bones in the future.

In the spiritual world I could compare this to being "yoked" to Jesus. Jesus says in Matthew 11:29-30
"Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy and my burden is light."
A yoke is a wooden beam normally used between a pair of oxen or other animals to enable them to pull together on a load when working in pairs. 
Being yoked to Christ I know "we", Jesus and I, are pulling together in life. That knowledge gives me a sense of security, guidance, comfort, support, strength and most importantly close and intimate fellowship with my best friend and my redeemer.
Consider being yoked to Jesus. It is the ONLY way to live life!

"Living on the Edge" AKA-Taking Risks

Recently my husband and I were on the big island in Hawaii with some of our children and grandchildren. We had the opportunity to view the molten lava spewing out of fissure 8 from the Kilauea Volcano. My daughter and her husband viewed it via a long difficult boat ride in the early morning hours, resulting in a close and magnificent view. It was definitely risky as proved by a serious accident occurring from the same company two days following their ride! The only other option for viewing flowing lava was a helicopter ride, which my husband and I chose due to several factors, two of which were sea sickness and "grandchild sitting" needs. Yet the helicopter ride, for me, was "living on the edge". We rode in a "doors off" four seat helicopter. Since  I don't "do" roller coasters one would wonder why I would even attempt this event but my desire to actually see the hot, runny lava was so great that I decided the risk was "worth it". I am happy to report, it was! To see another of God's powerful creations was truly magnificent.

In reflecting on my life in general, due in part to my upcoming 50th high school reunion, I would say I have taken a number of risks:

Wild escapades on a barn bag swing] as a teenager
 Iowa farm girl marrying a man from New York-(my parents thought that the biggest risk ever-Ha)
Riding in a hot air balloon
Living in and negotiating the cities and backroads of China for three years
Tandem bike-riding in China, Holland, Germany, Italy
Zip lining in the jungles of Costa Rica
Scuba diving on a multitude of islands including the cenotes of Mexico (so scary!)
Living 6 years full time in an RV and traveling the country volunteering at camps

I know each one of us can list risk-taking experiences in our lives that have changed us. Yet true change, resulting in spiritual growth, is in spiritual risk-taking, which could be defined as hearing and responding to the call of God through the whispers of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible is chock full of spiritual risk-takers. Here are but a few:

Abraham asked to sacrifice his son.
Moses asked to approach the Pharaoh of Egypt and demand the Israelites be set free from slavery.
David approaching Goliah, the giant, to do battle with five small stones and a sling
Rahab hiding Israelite spys in her home.
Ruth leaving her country and moving to the country of her mother-in-law
Esther entering the king's chambers to plead for her people
Peter entering a Gentile's home (Cornelius) and sharing the truth about Jesus with his family
Paul preaching in a multitude of Jewish synagogues and proclaiming Jesus as the prophesied Messiah

These giants of faith were no different than you or I. They were just obedient, even when obedience meant stepping into the unknown. I have to now ask myself when have I stepped out into the unknown spiritually and obeyed and what were the results? This is not such an easy list to compose. I won't bore you with what God has done through my meager attempts at spiritual risk-taking but I do challenge you to take a look at your spiritual journey and see if risk-taking is an intricate part of your "road".
You might be asking what exactly does this look like? Here are a few examples:

-filling that children's church vacancy by teaching those squirming little toddlers an hour a week.
-taking some cookies across the street to new neighbors.
-volunteering time at a homeless shelter
-visiting the lonely senior citizens at a nearby Senior Center
-cleaning the yard of an ailing neighbor
-being part of a short term missions trip or even answering the call to go on the mission field

On and on it goes-millions of ideas just waiting for the risk taker to grab hold of and shine the light of Jesus to a darkened world.

The Guardian Angel

It was Friday morning in Fishers and I was going to a women's Bible study in Britton Falls, the retirement community where we have our house. Because Hunter is still in Florida with the RV for another month I was not staying at our home but rather living with my son and his family and three of our grandchildren. They love me "sleeping over", which is exactly what I planned to do for a month. It was a cold morning in April but I knew my truck would warm quickly. I grabbed my Bible and study book and flew out the door, hating to be late. I jumped in the truck and drove around the corner to an intersection where I waited for the light to give me a green arrow. While waiting I began fiddling with the heat buttons on the dash. Now I am new to driving this truck since we have had it but a short time. For some reason I could not get the heat to turn on with the knobs and I was getting colder by the minute. I was concentrating intently on the lack of heat when the car behind me began to honk his horn, obviously indicating the green arrow was available and I needed to pay more attention and drive through the intersection. OK, I understood the message! Just as I was about to press on the accelerator an 18 wheeler barreled through the red light directly in front of me, traveling well in excess of the speed limit! 

I was so startled I could barely move, which I did, albeit rather slowly because of the shaking in my limbs! Slowly I was becoming aware that I had had a "near-death" experience! If I had not been trying to get the heat working and had dutifully moved in to the intersection when the green arrow first appeared I would have been hit directly on my truck door, t-boned as they call it, and been killed no doubt with the force of that semi! 

I later learned that Brooke, my daughter-in-law had, when borrowing the truck on the previous day, turned off the heat with a button I could not, at the moment, locate. If not for her action I would at best be hospital bound, at worst "in the grave." Thank-you, Brooke!!

I am reminded of Psalm 34:7

"The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them."

I do believe God was protecting me, sending his angel to set up guard around my truck.

So often in life we tend to chalk occurrences in our lives to coincidence. As a follower of Jesus I do not believe there is such a "thing" as a coincidence. God never leaves us. His plans for our lives will be carried out as He wills. It is just my response to such an awesome God to give Him the credit for what He does and who He is through praise! So tonight I praise Him for His protection of me! 

Postscript-Laziness of "mind"

Today's devotional by Alistair Beg, one of my favorite pastors, is "Work with your Whole Heart"! God's timing is always spot on! This is a perfect postscript for my blog yesterday!

Check it out at Oneplace.com

Laziness of "mind"

My last blog was when? January 8th? Wow-where have I been? Out to lunch? Daydreaming? Just taking it easy? Could it be a case of "writer's block", blank page stare, pencil paranoia? I'd like to think God was simply being silent since I wait on His leading for topics and information to share. Has He been off my radar? Definitely not. In fact He has given me several "ideas" but I have not "run with the ball" He has dribbled my way. Why? I was pondering that while walking this afternoon and actually the answer was not what I wanted to hear. It is laziness of mind. Now I would not categorize myself as lazy. I cook, clean, exercise, read, volunteer, socialize, and participate in any number of activities. Yet do I really THINK? Do I honestly challenge my mind regularly? Unfortunately that answer is a resounding NO. In retirement it is easy to coast mentally. I simply pick up a Charles Martin novel and I'm happily floating in another world. Some would say that is deserved at this stage in life. But recent medical studies have come out with the stats on the relationship between stimulating your mind and staying mentally healthy longer. OK. That should be reason enough to do crossword puzzles, play free cell, engage in cards or other stradegy thinking games. I do participate in game nights and enjoy them but writing these blogs best challenges me to dig deep in my mind, sifting out thoughts and words and weighing what is most relevant at the moment to share as God nudges me. He has spoken to me about such topics as "Our Identity in LIfe" and "The value of true friends". Maybe there will be a time I wax eloquent on these subjects but today I just want to challenge each of you to seek out your area of "laziness". See it for what it is, name it and face it and decide to do something about it. If it's cleaning, pick up a dust cloth; if it's cooking, open a recipe book; if like me your mind needs some stimulation, try a crossword or face a blank page and write on it! I am already feeling energized! God knows best when he encourages us, through the words of Paul, (even in retirement), to be self-disciplined and keep running the race of life.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Let's all determine to run hard so that "in the end" there will be no evidence of laziness, even throughout the last years of life, but rather roads lined with trees of productivity under which our grandchildren can be refreshed!

Coming of Age

At 1 parents celebrate their toddlers first birthday with great vigor! At 5 generally a child begins formal education. At 13 teenage years begin. At 16 a driver's permit is issued. At 18 high school is complete. At 21 drinking alcohol is legal and at 25 one can rent a car. Certain ages seem to mark a milestone in life. What about age 10? Any significance there? Maybe not for most but in the Stall/Thorpe family it has become a significant age. 10 years old means doing something special with Nani and Nano(Papa). This idea was first born in Nani's head, borrowed from a girlfriend who took each one of her grandchildren, when they turned 10, on a hiking exhibition down and up the Grand Canyon. She continues this regime through her line of nine grandchildren. Thankfully she is in excellent physical shape being a runner and yoga teacher. If this was the required activity Hunter and I, with our bad knees, would not make the first descent into the Canyon let alone the climb out! We would, though, make the news with our grandchild having to carry us out! Yet the idea of celebrating the 10th birthday of our grandchildren appealed to us, just not that particular activity.

This year our first grandchild, Christian, turned 10. Since the Grand Canyon idea was "off the table" what would take its place? We also had to keep in mind that trailing close behind Christian are nine more grandchildren, all of whom will be watching what number one gets to do and be expecting if not the same activity, similar ones. Keep in mind that Papa (Nano) is 71 and Nani 68 so to cover all grandchildren the activities will need to cover six more years, anything strenuous being out of the question!

As we look at our grandchildren we see them developing a variety of interests. Therefore we decided that as that magical age approached for each grandchild we would discuss with him/her what currently interested them and go from there. 

Christian has recently developed an interest in fishing, much to Papa's (Nano's)  pleasure and horse back riding, which has always been a love of Nani. Since the grandparents could not agree on one activity Christian got to do them both! Guess the bar has been set pretty high. Ha! Oh well, grandchildren are SO worth it!

Therefore  Christian went deep sea fishing with Nano and his Dad resulting in a successful day on the ocean. That evening the entire family feasted on a platter of delicious fish!

One week later Christian, his Nani, and his mom went horseback riding at sunset along a beautiful beach where we saw whales breaching in the distance as well as a rainbow and on our return ride we spied two wild boar and a huge cormorant. What fun!

We now look forward in two years to the next grandchildren "coming of age" and being a part of what they choose to do with their grandparents.

P.S. For those of you who were wondering, Hunter is called Nano by the Thorpe grandchildren and Papa by the Stall grandchildren. May be a bit strange for some but works fine for us! 🙃

"Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly.." Proverbs 17:6

Holiday in Hawaii

Tropical breezes, swaying palms, mild temps., lush vegetation on steep volcanic hills all describe the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Our daughter and son-in-law and four children recently moved to Kailua, a small Hawaiian town on the east side of the island. They will be stationed there for three years with the U. S. Military. Hunter and I are currently visiting them enjoying the perks of island "life". We have hiked to a lighthouse, a waterfalls, and played in the surf on a beautiful pristine beach. Yet one of the most impactful moments was witnessing and being a part of the baptism in the ocean of Logan, our eight year old grandson. Christmas morning was unique as we went whale hunting while our Christmas cinnamon rolls rose at home. Although there were no whales just being outside overlooking the blue waves dotted with diehard early morning surfers was exhilarating.

Psalms 19:1 says, "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of His hands."

God's magnificent creation is on display in Hawaii wherever you look. Out our bedroom window, which is never closed, I hear birds singing and see palm leaves bending as though in constant worship to their creator.

Yet unknown to many there are "negatives" to living in Hawaii. Flys NEVER freeze! We are constantly in battle with them in the kitchen especially! I never realized I had natural curl FRIZZY hair until experiencing the high humidity in this tropical environment! Traffic is often a problem! Remember we are not the only ones wanting to enjoy warmer weather year round! So as you can see this is not a paradise as it is labeled by some. (I realize this is only MY opinion.😉)

The only real paradise awaits us in heaven. And that is only available to those who have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. So if you want to spend time (aka) eternity in paradise take that step of faith, confess your sins, and ask Jesus to be Lord of your life. Then you are guaranteed a "ticket to ride"* to spend forever in the TRUE paradise!!

* Ticket to Ride is a new Christmas board game our grandson received this year. Fun!