FIRE WEED AND "FLAG STOPS" (August 4 - 26,2018)

Alaska has now been our stopping place for 66 days with 21 more to follow.  We have made so many new friends while serving as Interim Pastor at the Eagle River church of the Nazarene.  We have found them to be typical of the Alaskans that we have met in the past; industrious, strong, independent, kind, and generous.  We have been made to feel right at home.  They have loaned us vehicles so that we could see the beauty around us, they have invited us into their homes, and they have taken us out to meals.  We feel so very blessed that we have been given this opportunity to serve these wonderful folks as they go through the process of calling a full-time pastor.

The past three weeks, since our last blog, have been filled with church activities and adventures.  The adventures aren't very hard to find.  They are all around us.  The mountains, the water falls, the wildlife, and the grandeur of the land continue to cause us to stop and gasp our amazement.  This is truly a land of many faces.  In our over two months here, we have seen the bright fire weed blossom its' way to the top of the plant.  This is an Alaskan indicator that winter will soon be upon the state and that it is time to start getting ready for the harsh days ahead.  Daily highs have already dipped into the fifties and sixties.

Good friends, Terry and Janice Edwards from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, were our guests for several days.  Sherry and Janice were college room mates at Olivet Nazarene University in the mid 1960s.  They now pastor a church in the inner city of OKC.  We took day trips to the Girdwood area, the Portage Glacier, and, a full day train trip on the Alaskan Railroad to Hurricane Gulch.  Memories were made at the same time that memories were recalled.

This train, that runs daily from Talkeetna to Hurricane Gulch, is the last "flag" train in the United States.  Homesteaders, along this wilderness route, can flag the train down anywhere along its' journey.  The engine will throttle down to a stop and the train will even back up, if needed, to pick them up.

REFLECTIONS

As I have reflected on these past weeks weeks, I have been reminded once more, by the fire weed, about change and how along our life cycle there are indicators that our lives are changing.  Like the fire weed, it is, many times, the top of our plant (body) that let's us know that we are nearing the winter season where things will become much more difficult.  Our mind doesn't work the way it used to and the hair on our heads either disappears or changes color.  Remember "change happens"; embrace it and cherish each moment.

The "flag" train caused me to think about how quickly our lives tend to move.  Like the train, barreling along the clinking rails, they move rapidly from station to station.  What we must remember is that there are needy people alongside the tracks of our lives that may need to flag us down.  I am trusting that there are a few "flag" people remaining.  We must be willing to come to a grinding halt and even back up if needed in order to help someone along the way.  I serve a man who many times stopped to help someone along his track.  Let us be patient enough to do the same.