The YMAWHSAH Syndrome

You've never heard of it?  Let me explain...

So you take a great trip and come home all excited to share 

your adventures and experiences.

Before you even get started good, your listener says,

"Did you see such and such?"

And, wouldn't you know.  It's the one thing you did NOT see.

Their reaction:

"You do not mean to tell me you traveled all that distance and
 didn't see such and such?"
Well,

"You Might As Well Have Stayed At Home."

"But wait.  We went here and saw this and did that, and it was just GREAT!"

"But...you didn't see such and such.

YMAWHSAH."


****************************

 

I originally wrote this in 2013 

after my trip to Israel.

I am reprising it because of something that

happened at bridge club recently.

 

 

 

One of our member made the mistake of saying,

"I have seen everything in Rome there is to see!"

(She has been there several if not many times.)

So...guess what someone else said?

You've got it.

"Have you seen the catacombs?"

Well, fine.

The one thing she hasn't seen!

 

 

So...please don't ask me about the catacombs.

I haven't seen them either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Skinny On Father's Day 2013

Actually that should be "The Fatty On Father's Day 2013."

This is how it went.

Yesterday my friend Becky and I were at University Park Village.

Now Becky and I like to eat most anywhere and everywhere,

but...

we passed the Blue Mesa Grill and agreed that was one place

we just didn't like.

(I can't even remember eating there but once.)

So later I get a text from Susan saying that Rob has selected...

you guessed it...Blue Mesa Grill (the new one in Arlington)

for his Father's Day lunch.

I was a very good mother-in-law and said "Great!"

(But I'm not going to like it)

I was the first to arrive and found the wait to be 1 hour!

I thought surely that would discourage Rob.

It didn't.

We only waited about 35 minutes.

Then I found out why he wanted to eat there.

They had "Brunch."  Interpretation: Everything imaginable!

It was WONDERFUL!

Everything breakfast; everything Mexican; Belgian waffles with orange butter; flan and tres leches cake and lemon bars!

We ate til we could eat no more!

I can't wait to take Becky there!

After brunch I stopped by the cemetery, which is very close.

Every time I go my heart is warmed all over again.

I just love everything I chose for Jack's final resting place.

My father is buried here, too, but I couldn't find his grave.  

I had directions at home, so I came to get them and returned.

Here it is:

  

I took my personal bodyguard with me this time.

Here she is by the grave of someone she adored and who adored her.

See that intimidating look?  It says, "Don't mess with my 

Mimi!" (That's what she calls me.)

No kidding...you don't think she looks scary?

Well, she's actually not in the least.

 

I've been blessed to have wonderful fathers in my life.

My father...my children's father...my grandchildren's father.

But most of all...

My Heavenly Father.

On Second Thought, I Did Have Fear

This morning I need to tell you something about my trip to Israel.
I told you HERE that I was never afraid while there.

The last couple of days before we left, however, I did get rather overcome with fear.

I was not afraid for my safety.

I was afraid for my health and stamina.

God blessed me with a method of overcoming that fear.

You know what it was?

He placed a song on my heart.

I must have sung it a hundred times.

God will take care of me...through every day, o'er all the way.

He will take care of me.

God will take care...of me.

(The actual words are "take care of you," but I substituted me.)

I felt a perfect peace, as well I should have!  

Now I joke about my age, but that *# stands for 75!  That will soon be 76!

If I had known how far I would have to walk, how many steps I would have to climb, how rough the terrain would be on occasion, how early I would have to get up every morning, 

and how uncharacteristically hot it would be,

I might not have gone.

What a shame that would have been!

I made it fine!  I don't think I ever slowed the group down.

I only "wimped out" once--at Qumran--for a very short time.  

Was this a miracle?  Yes...but remember Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to Him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think...to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever.

Amen.

He told me He would take care of me.

The only thing I was not taking into consideration was that

He would do far more than I asked or even imagined. 

This has become a theme in my life.

The Times I Was Afraid in Israel

There weren't any.

 That's right.  I was never afraid for one second.

So that title should really be:

The Times I Was NOT Afraid in Israel.

If I had had time, and if my beloved pastor had not been with me, I think I might have been afraid HERE.

But I didn't and he was, so instead it became the stuff of which legends are made!

By the way, we had an armed guard with us on that trip to Petra, which is in Jordan.

  I hardly saw him.  I was neither particularly comforted nor afraid.

We also passed what our guide told us was an unusual rendezvous of Israeli troops and tanks beside the highway 

beneath the Golan Heights.

I was not afraid; I was touched.

Our driver, Eleazar, pulled off to the shoulder, hopped off the bus, and took the kid standing guard two bottles of cold water.

He was drinking from one as we pulled away.

Going to the Dome of the Rock, which is under Muslim control, 

is certainly serious business, but I was not afraid.

We had to be very covered (I wore my jogging suit with jacket).

We could not bow our heads or close or eyes--no prayer allowed?

We prayed with our eyes open and forward!

In the Holy of Holies!

Without fear!

I was certainly not afraid to climb on that big 777 at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv. Their security is so much more sensible than ours.

They almost laughed at my little bag of 3 ounce liquids!

None of us had to remove our shoes or jackets!

But some suitcases were checked very extensively--not mine, however.

I did not look around at my fellow passengers with as much fear as I have been known to do here in the USA!

If you get an opportunity to go to Israel, please do not pass it up because you think it is too dangerous.

I did that for years and missed the opportunity to go with Jack.

I do not, however, wish to question God's timing.

It was His time for me to go.

Thank you, God!

I'll Never Be The Same Again.

My Favorite Thing???

How do I describe the trip of a lifetime--the one unlike any other?

As one who overuses superlatives and exclamation points routinely,

I need a whole new language or set of vocabulary words. 

To step off a plane in the land where Jesus was born, ministered, and died for me was almost beyond comprehension. 

"I walked {last week} where Jesus walked, and felt His presence there."

I have absolutely no problem believing everything the Bible says.

I no longer have to imagine how many areas described in the Bible look, however.  I have seen them with my own eyes.

Several friends asked me at church this morning what my favorite thing about the trip was.

Hmmm.

How can I not say that being baptized in the Jordan River, where my Savior was baptized, was my favorite.

(Even with the little fish who were nibbling my toes.)

But then...I stood in the Sea of Galilee at the place Jesus walked on the water...that was my favorite.

Oh--and later in the week I got to stand on the top of Mount Nebo

and look at the Promised Land as Moses did.  That was 

definitely "favorite" material.

And less serious but mucho fun was floating in the Dead Sea!

Did you know you can't force your legs down when you're floating?

And speaking of fun, who ever thought I would ride a camel at 

*# years old?  Would do it again in a minute!

Oh, but when deciding on a favorite--what about bursting through  that tunnel hearing "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" and seeing

The Holy City to the left of our bus for the first time!

You would hardly have known it was our favorite then.

We all cried.

Maybe I need to decide on a favorite for each day! 

Even that would be difficult, I think. 

I know one thing for sure.

This was my favorite trip ever!!!!!

 

 

 

The Miracle of Petra

My trip to the Holy Land included a visit to Jordan to see the beautiful Petra.

And a real life miracle.

Our Jewish driver and guide could not cross over

from Israel into Jordan; therefore, our bus drove to

the border where everything was transferred to

another bus with Jordanian guide and driver.

We had to disembark, claim all our luggage,

(we were spending one night in Jordan) 

and go through a customs check.

It was quite exciting!

 

 

Petra is a UNESCO world heritage site half-built and half-carved into beautiful rose-colored stone.  It was featured in the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

 

In order to enter Petra, one must either walk or ride a donkey cart.  It was very hot, so I opted for the cart.

 Here comes our cart.

 

And off we go!

The 20 minute or so ride into Petra was

through this "Siq,"

a narrow passage between two mountains.

This is the only way to enter Petra.

Now to say this was a rough ride is the understatement of the year.  There were big rocks, and bumps, and no seat belts!

My head hit the top of the cart numerous times!

There were three of us to a cart--the driver and two passengers.

I was on the outside, and it was the roughest ride of my entire long life!

This is The Treasury--reddish pink stone!

It was spectacularly breathtaking! 

Oh, and I actually rode one of those camels!!!

 That's me on the right!  Really!  (But this wasn't the miracle!)

Flashback for a minute to that roughest of all carriage rides.

I was carrying my valuables in a zipped leather case 
inside a tote bag which was open topped.

Can you guess what might have happened?

Well, it did.  My bag of valuables must have bounced out of my tote bag.  I had no passport or extra money.
In Jordan.

At the time I was hopeful I had left the zipper bag on our bus.

Upon returning, when I stepped out of the cart, however, I heard my name being discussed.  When a policeman determined who I was, he asked me to "come with him."  I shouted for Gary, my pastor, and asked him to come too.  Thank goodness, he did.

We were taken quite a distance to a small office where there were three other police officers.  We were instructed to have a seat and interrogated rather like we were terrorists.

I was asked repeatedly what else was in the bag.

We were asked random, meaningless questions.

At some point we noticed that my passport had appeared on the "chief interrogator's" desk.

It was mentioned that "two guys" had found my belongings, and they were telephoned upon our arrival at the office.  I assumed it must have been two other policemen.

However, when the "two guys" came walking up to the door of the office, they were handsome, clean-cut, well dressed Jordanian citizens who were just visiting Petra for the day.  One had my brown zipper case in his hand.
They had evidently surrendered my passport to the
authorities but had wisely kept the case containing
my cash--every dollar intact.

The case had been, sure enough, on the ground 
close to the Treasury.

  These fine men had sent me five emails and a Facebook message, and had called the American Embassy!

But the most amazing thing--they had waited for me!

It was over two hours before I got back to the arrival area...

and they had waited.

My "angels of Petra" would accept no reward.
Gary offered.

They just asked that I have pleasant memories of my visit to Jordan and of its people.

It took me a while to stop thinking about how bad it would have been if my passport had been found by a dishonest person.

Instead I began thanking God over and over for taking care of me by sending two kind, honest men to save our trip.

I will forever remember them with the most grateful of hearts when I think of Jordan.

And that was all they asked of me.