on carving . . .

when Michaelangelo was working with that piece of granite that eventually became David, one of his assistants asked him,

"how do you do this? how do you take this block and form something so beautiful?"

and Michaelangelo stepped back, and he said,

"that stone IS david.
i am carving away everything that is NOT david."

it was clear in his mind and in his design, and when he was carving, he was carving away everything that was not david.

God does the same thing with you and i.
he took this block of stone.
he declares us children of the living God.
he justified us in Jesus Christ that we might know him, the power of his resurrection.

why is there pain in my life? he is carving away everything that is not Christ in us.

that is the path of sanctification.
blessed be the name of the Lord.

"that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." --phillipians 3:10

--from one of phil's recent sermon on "the fellowship of His sufferings"

blessed be the name of the Lord in all things, even our sufferings. for even those are meant for our good. for ALL things work together for good for those who love God.

you guys really gotta check out this phillipians series. fo' real. i ain't kiddin'. it's 100 xs better than any t.v. show. see link below.

lead me to the Rock

as we were driving thru the mountains the other day, my dad and i were marveling at these homes that are literally built on the sides of the mountains.

i had lots of questions:
where are the roads leading up there?
how do they get machinery or supplies up there?
and mostly, how do the homes stay up there?
(some of them look as if a strong wind could push them off the side.)

"i guess they should do ok," my father says. "they are built on solid rock."

and there you have it.

homes able to stand in seemingly impossible places

because they are built on rock.

hmm.
-------------------------------
"everyone who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. and the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat on that house,

but it did not fall because it had been founded on the Rock."

--matt 7:21

it's commanded, people.

"look amond the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
for I am doing work in your days
that you would not believe if told."
--habakkuk 1:5

notice the progression:
1. look - ("open your eyes, sarah.")
2. see - (spend a little time gazing at it until you really get it.)
3. wonder and be astounded- (a bi-product of the first two.)

read this a day after my reading by tozer (see below).

was reminded how insistent God is on showing me things

when He really wants me to get it.

as promised . . .

from the knowledge of the holy by a.w. tozer.
read if you care to have your complacent look on life destroyed.
it's weighty, but plow thru it.
and then rest awhile and wonder at the mystery of life.

------------------------
"Thomas Carlyle, following Plato, pictures a man, a deep pagan thinker, who had grown to maturity in some hidden cave and is brought out suddenly to see the sun rise. 'what would his wonder be,' exclaims Carlyle, 'his rapt astonishment at the sight we daily witness with indifference! with the free, open sense of a child, yet with the ripe faculty of a man, his whole heart would be kindled by that sight . . .'

"how different are we who have grown used to it, who have become jaded with a satiety of wonder. 'it is not by our superior insight that we escape the difficulty,' says Carlyle, 'it is by our superior levity, our inattention, our want of insight. it is by not thinking that we cease to wonder at it . . . we call that fire of the black thundercloud 'electricity' and lecture learnedly about it, and grind it out of glass and silk: but what is it? whence it comes? whither it goes? science has done much for us; but it is a poor science that would hide from us the great deep sacred infinitude, whither we can never penetrate, on which all science swims as a mere superficial film. this world, after all our science and sciences, is still a miracle; wonderful, incrutable, magical and more, to whosoever will think of it.'

"[even after years of advances in science and technology] we still do not know. we save face by repeating frivolously the jargon of science. we harness the mighty energy that rushes through our world; we subject it to fingertip control in our cars and our kitchens; we make it work for us like aladdin's jinn, but we still do not know what it is. secularism, materialism, and the intrusive presence of things have put out the light in our souls and turned us into a generation of zombies. we cover our deep ignorance with words, but

we are ashamed to wonder,

we are afraid to whisper, 'mystery.'"

------------------------

a friend of mine named grace was standing at the kitchen sink before our bible study one day just staring at the water running over her hand.

later when i asked her about it she told me she was just thinking. about how the water washed over her hand instead of being absorbed into it. about how her thin layer of skin was created to keep out things that would harm the rest of the body. about how her brain got her fingers to do exactly what she wanted them to do.

she was marveling.

'wonder'-ing, if you will.

about hands.

and skin.

and water.

what a springboard of worship is our 'wonder'-ing.

i am . . .

i am back in the burg. safe and sound.

i am eating rita's orange cream water ice (bought by a thoughtful friend of mine as a welcome home present).

i am awaiting a call from cambodia.

i am contemplating my already-full upcoming week.

i am missing my family.

curious how i can be doing so many things all at once,
all the while just sitting at my desk.

odds and ends:

a. went to a colorado rockies game last night. beautiful til about the 4th inning. then crazy downpours. we hid out in the nosebleed section (where it was covered) for about 45 mins until my mother insisted that we go. so after buying myself a new hat (yes, i've finally admitted that my favorite hat needs to be ditched), we ran several blocks thru the rain to our car. at least it was warm rain. fun times.

2. speaking of rain. average rainfall in denver is only 19 inches a year. since we have arrived, it has rained a number of times, including huge thunderstorms 2 nights. since the rain started last night around 9 it hasn't stopped.

we brought the rain with us from VA.

III. reminder (more for me than you) to post this great thing i found in a book i'm reading called 'the knowledge of the holy' by tozer. it's about mystery (just to give you a little taste-test). sorry, i don't have the book with me now.

D. today in the rain we attempted to drive up the tallest paved road in the united states. to the top of Mt. Evans. 14,264 feet above sea-level. one of colorado's "fourteen-ers," as they call them. we made it to 10,600 feet before the fog got so bad that we didn't think it was worth it to continue on. bummer that the day we picked to go it was so cloudy. still got some great shots of the fog over the mountains and at echo lake (see pic).

maybe next trip i'll get up a 14-er. anyone wanna come with me?

5. fun fact: because of the elevation change, if you move to an area like denver, over time your body will make about an extra pint of blood to help your body get more O2.

VI. rainbows abound here from all of the quick little storms that pop up in the afternoons. i've seen 2 this trip. interestingly enough, both in the same exact spot over the target parking lot. :-)

ok, folks. i'm coming home tomorrow. i'm kinda sad about it. i will miss my family very much. this has been a fantastic trip.

up next: 'the real world - DENVER'

last night we went to a colorado rockies game (well, half of it at least - the rest got rained out). before the game we checked out this sports bar and grill for dinner (LoDo's: short for Lower Downtown - popular section of denver).

so in the middle of dinner these guys come in followed by a 3-man camera crew. we were taking bets on who they were: mom said maybe pro soccer players (they had that look), brandon said, 'maybe it's the real world.' to which all of us replied, 'whatever.'

so the waitress comes over and we ask her, 'what's the deal with the cameras?'

'oh, it's the real world,' she replies. 'their house is two doors down. those are the guys. they come in here all the time. we never see the girls though. apparently they don't get along. should be a good one.'

HA! so much for us bashing brandon's idea.

so then the conversation turned to, 'so how do we get on camera?' b&g said they'd go start a fight with them. gordon kept trying to get me to just go sit down at the booth with them. my dad was gonna go ask if he could take their picture. the closest we got to any interaction was my mom zooming in to get a pic from our table. we'll see if it turns out.

and yeah, we checked out the house. what we could see of it. there's a sign outside the door that says if you come thru the doors be prepared to be videotaped and shown on national tv. funny.

so, yeah. the next season of 'the real world' will be coming at you from the mile-high city.

finally got my hiking in . . .

here's where my bro and i went today:
red rocks park and amphitheater
(www.redrocksonline.com)

a-MAZ-ing.

talk about standing in awe of God's creation. massive red rocks that have been uprooted, turned on their sides and stuck back down into the ground. huge boulders balancing on rocks as if you could push them off with one finger.

brandon and i hiked thru these rock formations. 6, 450 feet above sea-level (we were feeling it).

and here's the funny part (if you call this funny.) we deviated from the trail at one point and climbed up on the rocks to get some pictures. no big deal, right? we had some fun climbing, got some good pics, tested our endurance skills.

so then we get back on the trail. and we pass a sign. but first we read the sign. here's what it said:

Climbing on rocks prohibited.
Violators will be fined $999.00
or serve up to 180 days in jail.

AAAHHHHH! we looked at each other. then we both immediately looked all around us. as if we expected cops to jump out of the bushes with handcuffs and drag us to their cars.

luckily that didn't happen. and we had a lovely rest of the day in the park.

p.s. the amphitheater is carved into the rocks - i can imagine seeing a show there would be outstanding. great music under the stars in the middle of this beautiful park. blues travelers were there for the 4th. counting crows and goo goo dolls were there on the 5th. if i'd had an extra $50 to blow, i would have gone. maybe next time.

and see all those stairs? we learned today that during the a.m. and afternoon, the amphitheater seems to turn into a free gym of sorts for people. there were dozens of people there today running stairs (there are hundreds of them leading up to the amphitheater), running the rows where people sit. i got tired just walking the stairs. but of course now i want to go back tomorrow a.m. and do my run there. maybe i'll even attempt the stairs.

work out arena by day, concert hall by night.

hey, i'd choose that setting over a treadmill at the gym ANY DAY.

everytime a family moves, a forest dies.

i wish you could see the piles and piles and PILES of packing paper that have accumulated in our house, garage, truck bed, etc. as a result of this move. it is seriously ridiculous.

this is what i dont get.

i will unpack a box: take an item out, unwrap it, throw the paper on the floor and do this over and over again until the box is empty. but then once i've unwrapped everything, i start to stuff the packing paper back in the box. that's the logical thing to do, right? rather than leave it all over the floor. and you assume that since all the paper was in the box to begin with (along with all the stuff you unwrapped) that the paper will fit back in the box with plenty of room left over.

oh no. you would be wrong. sometimes it doesn't fit. and if it does fit, it barely does and you have to squish the paper down as far as you can using all your arm muscles to get it in there.

what is wrong with this picture.

faith, maybe you can help me out with this one. i think it's a science thing. something about wasted space prolly.

so yeah, my hat's off to the poor trees that sacrificed their lives so that our family could move to colorado with all our goods in tact.

poor trees.

what we need in salisbury:

Jamba Juice

yummy fruit smoothie bar.

i may be getting addicted.

quick update for everyone.

we are moved in. the moving truck left yesterday around 6p.m. after a long day of getting things into the house. we are far from settled, but are making some progress. at least the beds are up and some of the rooms are starting to come together. i unpacked box after box after box yesterday and still it seems there are hundreds left. i just keep telling myself, "sarah, it's a process."

went running this a.m. - much more difficult at 5,000 ft. i hadn't noticed the altitude at all until my run the a.m. gives my lungs a work-out more than my legs. makes me wonder what it will be like at 14,000 feet when we go up to mt. evans or pikes peak later this week. yikes!

ok, i'm off to target. we all had to take baths today because we had no shower curtains. so i will be buying some. and maps. i hate not knowing my way around. i've got too much independence running thru my blood, i think. i want to be able to jump in the car and go explore . . . but my dad's the only one who knows his way around. so shower curtains and maps. and maybe a few other things.

off to target.

p.s. updates may be fewer now. we have no internet yet. i'm at b&n now using their connection for a small fee.

funny sight of the day:

oreo cows.

at least, that's what my mother called them

when we passed them on the road.

daddy says they are really called belted galloways.

he may be right, but i like 'oreo cows' better.

we have arrived.

CURRENTLY (and for the next week):

13197 W. 27th Lane

Golden, CO 80401

west of denver.
north of colorado springs.
south of boulder.
nestled right at the base of the mountains.

beautiful.

here's the house:

i guess this means we are now officially the

mile-high meadows.

let's play a game.

who can guess all of the states i've been in since last wednesday?

perhaps there will be a prize for the person who can guess them all.

here's the thing though. we must institute the honor code for this game. so we know that everyone is playing fair. so . . .

please raise your right hand and repeat after me:

"i, (insert your name), do promise that my guess will be MY OWN GUESS. i will not accept help of any form including, but not limited to, looking at a map, asking someone else, re-reading sarah's previous blogs, etc. i will make my own educated guess based solely on my expert knowledge of united states geography."

ok, good. now that that's over. let the games begin.

"did you hear that potato wagon rolling in?"
thoughts on: the midwest. my daddy. storms.

i had forgotten what driving across the midwest is like. in the midwest, the land is flat. the trees are scarce. so the road stretches out in front of you for miles. it seems as though it will never end. i asked my dad today, "on a clear day, how far can you see?" "50 miles or so," was the reply. he should know. he grew up in the panhandle of texas where the land is flatter and the trees even more scarce (if that is possible) than the kansas road i travelled today.

where the land stops, the sky- a beautiful blue- begins and ascends forever until it's on top of you and behind you and all around you. the sky really is tremendous out here.

the towns along I-70 are tiny, for the most part. little farming towns like the one where my dad grew up. as he put it today, "the high-rise building in most of these little towns is the grain elevator." as if i know what a grain elevator is. but i know what one looks like now. :-)

i drove all day today. it was long. it was extremely uneventful. my passengers slept most of the day (including the cat). so i felt alone most of the day. not a sad alone. just alone. gave me time to take it all in. most of it was rather dull. until evening.

i wish i could adequately describe what i saw tonight. it may seem rather mundane to some of you, but i thought it was amazing. it was rain. storms. in the distance.

in these flatlands you can see the storms form in the distance. you know how in alien movies when they "beam down" from their spaceship - there's this light ray that shoots down from the ship. that's what it's like when you look out and see the storms. gray-blue "beams" of storms interspersed between carolina blue patches of non-rain. lots of them. all across the horizon. kinda looks like thick vertical sripes across the sky.

we drove right into the storms. the stipes got wider and darker as we got closer. it rained. it thundered. it lighteninged. and then it stopped 10 minutes later.

such are storms in the midwest.

as i said above, i know i did not adequately describe what i got to see tonight. i hesitated to even try. but i wanted you to see it. i wanted you to be there.

to see this huge expanse of a sky and be reminded that the heavens tell of the glory of God. to see the fields and remember that you, a small creature on this earth, are like grass that withers and falls. to see the road stretching out in front of you and recall that even as a small creature, there is purpose - a path of life. a to see the rains pouring down in strips in front of you and discover agian that the same God that controls the lightening, the rain, the storms has adopted you according to the purpose of His will and is equipped as your Father to direct your heart to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

such were the thoughts i was flooded with. i wanted you to share them.

i wanted you to be there.

IT'S UNANIMOUS

the meadows family agrees 100% (and that is a rare occurrence) that today for lunch we had THE BEST PORK BBQ EVER!

restaurant: the original Arthur Bryant's BBQ
city: kansas city, mo
a little history: started in the 1930s
famous visitors: Harry Truman, Jimmy Carter, Steven Spielberg, Michael Landon, Robert Redford, Jack Nicholson, Wilt Chamberlain, Bryant Gumbel

. . . and now the Meadows Family.

the funniest thing about this experience was the bread. you would expect the best bbq sandwich in the world to be on some really great kaiser roll or homemade bread or something.

oh no.

try plain ole' white sandwich bread.

prolly wonder bread, if i had to guess. funny, huh?

progress today:
another 498 miles.
not quite as far as yesterday, but still a valiant effort.

CURRENTLY:
colby, ks
(only 50 miles from the colorado state line!!!)

comment for today:
kansas is a really long state.

browns, grays and greens

there is green-ness everywhere these days. all along our drive it's been green. green fields. green trees. green road signs even.

(we'll stick with thinking about the green LIVING things for the sake of this entry.)

green is a sign of life. richness. health.
maybe that's part of why people spend so much money to have gardens and houseplants and trees in their yards and nice grass.
maybe it helps us to feel alive.

---------------------------------
there's a stretch of I-81 that i used to drive from harrisonburg to winchester when i was in graduate school. it was winter when i travelled that road daily to the hospital for my internship. as i was driving home one day, i was particularly aware of how dull things looked. browns and grays. not many signs of life anywhere.

and i got to thinking about the trees that day. about how they all looked dead with no leaves, bare branches. but really, that's all that it was: they just LOOKED dead. they weren't really dead, just bare. trees don't die in the winter, they just lose their green-ness.

and i thought about my life. my walk with the Lord. this journey of learning to love. how there are times that i look (and feel) like those trees in the winter. i look (and feel) dead.

but the reality is that i'm not.

i may be stripped bare. i may be exposed to cold and wind. all of my green may be gone. but i am not dead.

--------------------------------
the reality is that, in Christ, we are alive. and once we are made alive by His grace, we are kept in that state for eternity. we struggle thru times of exposure to the elements of life that leave us looking (and often feeling) like the trees in winter. but we must know the reality: we are still alive. as much as we may not feel it or see it or look like it.

and the amazing thing is that the Lord can take us in those times of brokenness and restore us. He can bring back our green-ness. and He delights to do it.

--------------------------------
the greens of the past few days have reminded me of all of this. that we have a God that makes us new. alive. and then He goes the distance and sustains that life.

and from the browns and grays, He brings forth greens.

green is a sign of life. richness. health.

"sustain me according to your promise, and I will live . . ." --psalm 119

favorites so far . . .

a few superlatives for the trip up to this point. gives you a few more details from the adventure. maybe more than you really want to know.

best . . .
stretch of driving: the mountains of west virginia.
stop: cracker barrel in ky (we met my aunt, uncle, cousin and her kids for lunch - hadn't seen them in years.)
rest stop: one somewhere in illinois (near the mo border.) props for clean bathrooms and pretty flowers.
vehicle to drive: dad's truck. thought i would hate it because it's so big. turns out its the most comfortable thing to ride in AND easy to drive.
"sight" to see: the arch in st. louis - situated right on the river. cool skyline, especially in late afternoon - bet it's even better at dusk.
$1.50 spent: a sonic cherry-limeade. one word: YUM!
snack: a tie between my MSD medicine and powerbar granola bars
hotel: holiday inn express (great shower heads, no ugly floral motif, frig and micro in each room)

more to come. we have made it 941 miles so far. another 739 to go. not bad for 1 1/2 days of driving. huge praise for the blessing of safety thus far. continue to keep us in your prayers.

p.s. it's times like this that i wish i would join the 21st century and go digital (camera-wise, that is). i have taken some great shots (yes, anna, i've gotten every state sign except indiana - it snuck up on me) but you'll just have to wait til i get home to see them. keep you in suspense! :-)