A day Around Gatlinburg

I had a work trip to Gatlinburg. I know it's known for its cheesy tourism, but I was super shocked at the abundance of wilderness just around the block!




Here's what I recommend:

TO DO:
Grab a journal and a bathing suit and drive around the Cherokee Orchard Road. Definitely enjoy a hike to the lower plunge pool of Grotto Falls. Enjoy hiking around and looking around this cool area in late summer. Take a look at Ely's Mill and grab some local pottery.

TO EAT:
There is a bit of a lack of great food, that I was able to find, but I truly DEVOURED my meal at Wild Plum Tea Room, "derived from the mountains of Austria."
(Interested in the history of American tea rooms? Check out this article:
http://destinationtea.com/the-rise-of-the-american-tea-room-serving-womens-rights-with-a-cup-of-tea/)

My delicious lunch consisted of lobster pie, topped with puff pastry and a side of cumin enhanced coleslaw, of course I had the wild plum tea.

Warning: Not for those on a tight schedule.

How to do Saluda, NC-- In September.

I love small towns! Love! So when I first tubed down the Green River and stayed at an inn in Saluda, I fell in love. I fell in love with the pull of the freezing water, the canopy of trees above me. I fell in love with the bitesized adrenaline rush, with the warm trout and cold stout at the Purple Onion. And, the slow pace. I liked grabbing inspiration for my own small hill town to bring home from this successful, albeit small, downtown.

Here's a good weekend trip itinerary: (Take Friday off!)

Thursday- arrive at a super cool airbnb right on the river. We stayed at the Green River Gorge House. It holds a large group, and has a pool table. The Orchard Inn is also beautiful, but more expensive per person for sure. So.... let's assume you stay on at the Green River Gorge house. Head to the Purple Onion for supper... Live music starts at 8pm!


Friday- Rise and Shine, make yourself a strong cup of coffee and and some cheese grits bowls. Sit on the porch and read a little. Or rise and shine much earlier and give your fly reel some action. We took a little hike to Pearson Falls (bring $5/person). Swing by the Saluda Outfitters for a can of Rose` and some great shopping. Now that your adventurous spirit is peak and possibly only half sober-- go tubing! Go on, you can do it! We used Wilderness Cove $10 for a 2 hour trip. (Pack a lightly cushioned bag of drinks and they will stay cold in the river tied to your tube.) Go back to the Gorge House proud, start a campfire, and eat that homemade chili you brought! Or fish you caught!

Saturday- It's getting "reel" if you haven't caught a fish yet. Hope you brought some pumpkin pie spice for your coffee, cause it's brisk this morning. We used Saddle Up Trail Rides ($35/person) and took a 1 hour trip through Pisgah. (It's about a 40 minute drive.) We then headed up the road only ten more minutes to hit Sierra Nevada Brewing. Awesome day with live music and a walk through their still impressive late season organic garden. (Of course, there is more stout to be had.) Don't forget the FOOTBALL! Sierra Nevada has incredible small plates, so grab some bison carpaccio and flatbread for a lupper (late lunch/early supper).

Sunday-  Go back outside and say your thank you's for such a majestic environment. Check out is at 10am, but there's still time to shop downtown Saluda and grab brunch at Wildflour Bakery.

One Week Until Christmas... What's Left Undone?

As last minute lists, errands, and bustling hits full swing this week before what many of us consider the greatest day of the year... I do, anyway. What is there really left to do? What is there left to do in the spirit of Advent?

What if our lists were more centered around the parts of us unprepared for such a tremendous moment in the year for our hearts, our growth? What would those lists look like? And, how do we make sure we can siphon out all of the extraneous intrusions that hijack our deeper look into it?

This year I've been on the ball with the little things. I've had all of my gifts for weeks, everything is somewhat orderly... I'm pretty much ready. But, I'm not ready. I know I'm not all ready. I'm getting there, but there's a list of a different sort I know I need to make sure is complete.

When I think about Holy Preparation, I think about John the Baptist. He Was Holy Preparation. He embodied it. He prepared the World for the Son of God. And, how? And, how would John the Baptist trail-blaze in our hearts to prepare them for Him this Christmas?

‘Prepare the way for the Lord,

                                                     make straight paths for him.’

What would John do to prepare my heart?

1. He'd come to me from the wildness of nature.

2. He'd announce the coming of the Lord-- embarrassingly loud and unconcerned with societal expectation, John would come boldly, telling me to make straight my paths-- make a path directly to Jesus. Cut out ANY of the fuss that gets in the way of this.  

3. He'd Baptize me- He'd do this to clean me up, but I think, especially he'd do this so that I might allow myself rid of the guilt that comes with sin, making sure I didn't have that in the way of receiving the greatest of gifts. He'd Baptize me physically so that I might allow myself to accept the fact that God sees me as clean and pure.

What does this mean for me this week? How do I channel my own inner John the Baptist?

1. Get outside. A lot. Look up and marvel.  “A voice of one calling in the wilderness"

2. Cut the path straight to Jesus. Forget the other lists until this one is taken care of. Remembering the needy. Taking care of our brothers and sisters. BE Christmas.

3. Get rid of any nasty thoughts, pettiness, and materialism. Spend time by or in water. Feel the beauty of the way God created my pure heart. Accept it.

This I think,  This is my last to-do list for Christmas.

Doing Different Things The Same- Stoking the Lampstand

"Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come and remove your Lampstand from its place." Revelation 2:5

The Lampstand --- the fire--- our passion. When we start out with a dream, we can start out so fresh, so well intended with pure love. Over time, perhaps, politics take their toll. Even success can take its toll so that we begin to rely on the patterns we recognize that created the success rather than the Source from which it is all meant to serve.

This is why New Years is so wonderful. We pointedly take a look with fresh eyes at our goals. But, once a year isn't enough to deal with the barrage of assaults pure and wonderful dreams must withstand. Ego, Insecurity, well intended but faithless council from trusted sources...so many assaults. Neither is once a year enough to check in on the fluid nature of our purpose. This purpose isn't a document that once written can be filed away. It is dynamic and always shifting. In this way, we are intended to maintain a current relationship with its author, always listening, ready to shift, and ready to move. Everything will and must always depend on freshening our time with Him, so that we might remain fresh and new.

And, should we not take this time to realign our faith and intentions, what happens? The erosion occurs, the politics win, soon we are faking it, we are in the rat race of the thing, we are made tired by it... rather than running off of the Fusion-like energy that is created by true passion. And, that... That is how The Lampstand falls, it is when the passion fails.

How do we go back? We've probably all tried to recreate the past without nearly the same result. Maybe it was a holiday memory. Maybe it was a spontaneous picnic that seemed to stop time one summer... But, the next summer when the moment is meticulously recreated feels forced and empty... So how do we "do the things we did at first" and reclaim the passion of life?

I think the question to ask is "how did we do those things?" not necessarily "what exact actions did we do?" Chances are we embarked on that first picnic with a true love for the day, a new recipe, an adventurous heart, or an open mind. So instead of doubling down on the picnic details, perhaps God wants us to enter into the next assignments with those same qualities... To go in unscarred, faithful, and let a God full of promise, promise us new things. If we find our embers dwindling, it's important to go back to the Source, regain our hopeful faith. Regain our unbruised love. Our best and purest passion will be restored to our freshened and fullest purpose.

A Crippling Defense

I remember being encouraged many times, especially because I was a girl, to take self-defense, and I did in college. No doubt, knowing how to defend one's self against the world's cruel attacks can be pretty doggone important, and at the time I was at Clemson, safety for women was a huge concern at night and needed to be. Still, we cannot fully live in a constant state of expecting an attack. There is a difference between preparation and expectancy. And, in this case, living in a constant state of expecting the worst was kind of essential when leaving Lightsey Bridge Apartments after dark.

Spiritually speaking, though, the idea of self defense can be devastating. Time after time biblically, God's people went about defending themselves against perceived threats either prematurely out of impatient fear or running in defense of self preservation away from the exact situation God wanted to use to His glory and their benefit. God likes to do things in a weird way and at the very last minute. It doesn't even look like the last minute, it looks like it's too late. That's how he rewards us with increased faith. The decisions of God's people to go at it alone or their own way, sometimes had cross generational consequences and turned a mess into a disaster.

If a nation is on the defense, then it is not where it wants to be. It's already losing. Running or preparing for the attack of a mighty foe is not generally taking the hill. As soon as I start defending my chess players, I'm almost always whooped.

In Leviticus, the Isrealites were learning how to be encamped with the Tabernacle. They were learning how to be in the presence of God, even amid the threats from invaders and enemies.

“If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them … you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely. I will give you peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none will make you afraid; I will rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.” Leviticus 26:3

Don't we need to learn how to handle threats (which often are only perceived) in the context of learning how to encamp with the Holy One? He gave Goliath a sword and David five round stones. He gave Saul a spear and David a harp. Yet, I want to be the poet warrior David. I want to live freely with a heart for God, and precisely and exactly and offensively slay the fears and the self doubt. I want to confidently annihilate any jealousy or pettiness. I want to cloth myself in the armor of righteousness, without the context of constant defense. In fact, we must not live so defensively. Because that is the spirit of fear.  When we listen to the world, thinking we are our own defense, we listen with fear. We miss opporutunites. We foolishly assert a false sense of control over circumstances or people we have no way of controlling. We miss out on love because our guard is up. Our calling is crippled because we are in a victim state lacking a victor's confidence. We run. We were called above that and to have a higher faith. We were called to sound the trumpets of victory before the battle is even won... That kind of faith. We were called to keep on pounding love without immediately feeling the results of that love. We were called to celebrate our peers without concern for our own climb. Fearless love, generously given.

 God is our strategic cover, He has our back, we can run freely and complete this mission of Love without concern for our well being. It is the only way to being well.

When the Ravens Bring the Food

1 Kings 17:5-7 "So he went and did according to the word of the Lord.  He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. And the Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land"

This story of Elijah resonated with me today. In my life I've seen the storm, and for a few years lived in the survival mindset required of a drought. Almost hidden sometimes by the brook. Almost scavenging sometimes for the means. But, the Lord is faithful and unexpected.

Ravens are scavengers and you won't get much more than sustenance from them, in fact, you probably won't get much you desire from them, but Ravens are what he chose for Elijah at this time. The Lord told him to hide. To survive. To sustain. To wait.

I've had moments of plenty in the last few years, but many at Cherith, some at the widow's house Elijah visits in the next chapter. Now, I'm ready for the rain. I'm ready to live. God sustained me with Ravens, He taught me to live by His hand alone. He taught me how to survive with Him alone.

After this, God sends the rain... and I see it. A cloud "as small as a man's hand", but a cloud. And, it's rising over the sea.  I'm looking towards the horizon. I'm ready to be drenched.

Inner Tremble

I'm always blown away by how wrong I am…How inadequately I preconceive. 

In Africa I expected to find a certain energy, a spectacular sun dance, magic on the surface of everything, a lightness and unprecedented illumination. That is what I would bring home and share with my community. I expected to be strengthened by the great sun and mighty fauna. I expected incredible warmth. 

What I found, though, was cold, subterranean, mystical, deep. The wildness of the animals, their stories of fight, the scars on their faces, the sparseness of the prickly greenery, the way the cold seeped in as the sun sank down, and the hugeness of the night sky. These weren't necessarily the bright and easy answer-bringers I had hoped for. Rather, these things stirred questions, some of which, incredibly complex. Why such problems within our planetary home? What will you bring to the table? What is the real culprit? What is the real answer?

It is usually “place” that gives me transcendental comfort and answers, rather than human systems or thought. But, the girdling force between the wildness of the landscape, the vastness of our problems, and the battleground in my mind was, this time, a person and the beauty of her philosophy. Dr. Marker’s impenetrable optimism along with the indubitable curriculum vitae of CCF, provided the path of hope toward the success and actability of the answer… which always, always proves to be love.

Africa, you did not yet provide the all-out sun dance that I thought would tie everything together for me in a great box of healing. What you provided was a sense that the grit that has been necessary so far, is something that must not relent. But, also the strengthened sense that beauty is well worth the battle that still must be fought, that the battle will be in fact be won, that the world is both wild and hard and moves to an unrelenting and dazzling deep inner polyphony with voices that click in unified roars of hope… that the dance begins with passion, gains momentum, and the best of it is yet to come.