Higher

When I was little, my family used to go on these vacations. We didn’t stay in hotels or go to famous places or anything like that. We’d all load into the station wagon and head off. After we’d driven all day, we’d stop at some camp site and set up our tents and make dinner.
On one of these trips, when I was 8 or 9, we stopped for lunch at a camp site and I went off to explore. There were the tallest black spruce trees I’d ever seen in my whole life all around. There was also this fence that stretched in either direction for as far as I could see. It was so high that I couldn’t see over it.
In those days I was really a pretty good climber, and I’d had quite a lot of experience climbing back home. In fact, I’d climb just about anything. But this fence was simply not climbable. So my only option at this point was to find the tallest tree I could find. Now the most difficult thing about climbing trees is reaching the first set of branches. But, having some experience under my belt, this didn't pose a problem for me at the time. So I climbed and climbed and after a while, when I thought that I had gone far enough, I eased out over the limb I was on and parted the branches, and there it was. On the other side of the fence was an incredible beach with families everywhere and a playground and the bluest lake you've ever seen.
And then I had an idea — if I could see all this, just imagine what I could see if I climbed even higher!
So I continued my ascent. Now, I knew all about climbing, given my prolific experience, and I knew that there was a limit to the weight any given branch would support. As I continued, I carefully analyzed each branch, one by one I made my way further up the tree.
There it was, the top of the tree. A few feet above my head. The branches weren’t as thick in front of my face, and as I parted them to view the expanse below a strange sense swept over me and began rushing by.
Branch after branch whipped past my head. I kept reaching and trying to grab ahold of something, anything. Although I don’t remember it, I must have hit some branches on the way down because I remember things slowing down. Then, after either moments or eternity, I was finally able to grab one of the lower set of branches before dropping myself to the ground.
And that’s what happened the day I climbed the tree to see over the fence,

he said.

“Personal Space”

RLP wrote this article … it’s a good read if you have a moment.

… This is the reality of intimacy. We have a personal space, and we choose carefully whom we let inside. And when people come into this space, it can be scary. Sometimes the shock of it brings the voice of a child out of you, revealing secrets and making you blush with shame. …

“We praise before we prove”

Tonight I went to a modified Seder meal at one of the Synagogues in town. This is an annual event to which Christians are invited and it provides some explanation of the event and symbolism.
Before the meal, I had a chance to read parts of their prayer book in the synagogue. I copied the following section from the Siddur Sim Shalom Prayer Book, A prayerbook for Shabbath, Festivals & Weekdays:

Understanding God is not attained by calling into session all arguments for and against Him, in order to debate whether He is a reality or a figment of the mind. God cannot be sensed as a second thought, as an explanation of the origin of the universe. He is either the first and the last, or just another concept.
Speculation does not precede faith. The antecedents of faith are the premise of wonder and the premise of praise. Worship of God precedes affirmation of His realness. We praise before we prove. We respond before we question.
Proofs for the existence of God may add strength to our belief; they do not generate it. Human existence implies the realness of God. There is a certainty without knowledge in the depth of our being that accounts for our asking the ultimate question, a preconceptual certainty that lies beyond all formulation or verbalization.

There was much more in the prayerbook that I would have liked to reread and reflect upon. At some point, perhaps I shall find a copy of it.

Europe Photos

It’s what you’ve all been waiting for … the photos. I’m sure there are many stories to tell, and perhaps I’ll even get to blogging them. In the meantime, here are the links to selected photos…

Day 1 – March 21 … Bus tour of London – Hyde Park, Palaces, Parliament, Changing of the guard, Trafalgar Square
Day 2 – March 22 … Imperial War Museum; British Museum & more
Day 3 – March 23 … Stonehenge; Salisbury Cathedral; the city of Bath and the Roman baths
Day 4 – March 24 … Oxford; Stratford (Home of Shakespeare & Ann Hathaway’s Cottage)
Day 5 – March 25 … Madame Tussaud’s; Dinner with George; Tower of London
Day 6 – March 26 … the Ferry to Calais, France; Dieppe
Day 7 – March 27 … Juno Beach; Mont St. Michel; our first taste of Paris driving
Day 8 – March 28 … Bus tour of Paris & the Eiffel Tower
Day 9 – March 29 … Louis XIV Chateau of Versailles
Day 10 – March 30 … Notre Dame Bell Tower (so many steps!), Le Louvre (Mona Lisa – she’s bigger than I thought)
Day 11 – March 31 … Chateau Fontaineblue