31 Days in December #18: Time in Thun

L drops us in Thun, the nearest town, before lunch. He teaches music to high-schoolers in a reform school on the other side of the lake. D is working all day. W and I wait at the train statin; we pass off a rehearsal CD to Leanne, who will sing Sunday. (She and I will rehearse again Friday.)

A castle above Thun

Thun has Switzerland's big military school with specialized tank training. Military trucks have rumbled by in convoys while we've been here. D says tanks also drive by on the roads, which thrills her grandsons.

Tree bark

I love the old trees, pruned into knobby faces overhead. The tree bark adds texture to the side of the streets as we walk by.

Trees laughing overhead

W and I find the Christmas market and browse the regular market booths lining the streets. We taste sausages and cheeses, admire home-crafted wares, and marvel at the skilled tradespeople - from candlemakers and bakers to woodworkers and jewelers. L meets us in Thun after noon, on his way home to Oberhofen. He takes along our few purchases to lighten W's bag.

Founded in 1133

W and I decide to walk home (5km or 3 miles). It seems further because our feet still feel yesterday's walk around Bern. There's a wide walkway along Lake Thun (Thunersee). White swans paddle past, along with ducks and turns. Older couples stop to feed the birds and sit on the benches along the lake.

Many swans a-swimming

Above us, castles tower against the blue sky. Bells in clock towers chime the quarter hours.

W pauses on our walk

We snap a photo of a staircase with feet instead of posts at the bottom.

Funny footed stair

L has made tortellini, and by the time we're home at 3, we're hungry. Deeelicious!

When we're done, he takes us to a new suspension bridge, 5 minutes away by car. The bridge connects the villages of Aeschien and Sigriswil. Children walk from their village to the next village's school over a 340 meter (375 yard) span and above a 180 meter (200 yard) chasm. The bridge also connects the hiking trails the Swiss love.

The suspension bridge

W doesn't like heights but he pays the 8 CHF (about $9) to the ranger so I can walk across and back. Every time someone treads on it, the steel bridge sways. It's like walking in a moving bucket. I remind myself that if the Swiss have engineered it to support their schoolchildren, it's probably safe. How amazing to lean over the canyon and the breathtaking surroundings. The trees below look like matchsticks and the houses like dots on the mountains.

Villages along the valleys gouged out
by mountain streams

W stays home to finish grading (papers from students back in Seattle), but L and I leave about 6pm to pick up D from work. We go straight to church to rehearse for Sunday worship. About 15 musicians show up to sing and play, ending with prayer at 9:30pm. We relax together, eating a slice of toasted Panettone after the half-hour drive home.

The evening view from the hills above Oberhofen

Read more:
*I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. Exodus 6:7 ESV

*Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come to his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago). Luke 1:68-70 NIV

*He has put all things under Christ's feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23 ESV

Moravian Prayer: God, you are the one to whom we belong. Help us to trust your word, made flesh, in Jesus the Christ. Enable us to see the fullness of Christ in all. Amen.

Peace among the pieces

Snakes and Ladders: guests at the
dining table

The sun’s out after a stormy weekend of rain and wind. Our visitors left yesterday and this morning’s relaxed pace was a pleasure. I took the dogs for a walk, stopped in at various cabins to chat with old friends, washed bedding, and vacuumed. Gradually the construction dust is working its way out of the corners.

All is at peace. Sunshine streams in the windows, an unexpected reprieve from the weather forecast. While I cleaned the cabin, W and another academic discussed the theology of the marriage and societal roles of men and women; the other fellow is submitting his work to a journal.

Noon came and went. W wired the bathroom light and screwed in hooks for hand towels beside the sinks. Jonathan and I chose light fixtures for the stairwell (a funky two-light “crystal ball” chandelier) and considered options for his bedroom. Our choices included glass-blower art, a Montana Western style, and streamlined futuristic halogens.

Jono and I moved a dresser, measured the bedroom, and figured out that the weird little chuckwagon-pattern sofas are never going to fit there. Too bad! Those funny loveseats are incredibly comfy. Were we so inclined (and if we didn’t want the futon features of the IKEA Beddinges), they could serve us another 20 years … after they were handed down as secondhand discards by Chilliwack friends in the early 1990s. We’ll leave them by the camp dumpsters as giveaways once we get replacements. Perhaps someone else will recycle and enjoy them as we have.

Joanna and I at the Lodge

The afternoon unfolded in Costco, Dollar Days, and Lowe’s. Then it was time for a party.

Joanna called, "It's time to celebrate!” and we were off to the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, a beautiful log hotel on the banks of the water. We sat overlooking the pool and the lake beyond as the sun baked the last swimmers and sank below the horizon in streaks of gold frosting across the darkening sky. My friend has completed another book and I’m done with studies. We did a happy dance in the foyer after savoring ribs and huckleberry mud pie. (Joanna always persuades me that crazy things are normal! I soak in her exuberant good will during this waiting season.)

The view from our table: beautiful surroundings

Joanna also reminded me that a servant does not have to be in action to please her Master. Being at the Master’s side, quiet and ready, qualifies as service, just as well as moving forward on assignment. I needed to hear that again, enjoying the peaceful season of rudderless floating between the completed pieces of the past and the new journey ahead.

Read more:

*O Lord, you will ordain peace for us, for indeed, all that we have done, you have done for us. Isaiah 26:12

*But by the grace of God I am what I am. 1 Corinthians 15:10

*This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. 

However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. 

Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:15-17 NKJV

Moravian Prayer: Lord, because you love us, we can remain strong! Be with us especially when we feel your grace, for you give us all we need when we most need it. In God’s grace. Amen.

31 days of learning: #14-16

14. Sitting in W's class, I am astonished to hear one of his students has just published a book on God's abundance in response to our obedience... with a new twist. Can't wait to read it, especially after meeting the author. He's working on a M.Div. and is the first one in his family to complete HIGH SCHOOL, never mind college. I learned that God implants us with desires that require our obedience to glorify him.
15. I visit with a retired pastor who just wrote a book on an Old Testament character who has mentored his ministry. The gentleman came alive with excitement, telling me how he loves to explore God's Word. I learned that God's message to us bring great delight through a whole lifetime of exploration.
16. Friends of ours loaned me their lakefront cabin for the next week of research. I enjoyed church in the morning first. Cheryl Taylor knocks it out of the park in her sermon, and when the pastor calls for prayer, I find I've been sitting in the corner where people go to pray at the end of the service. I take advantage of my proximity... The man who prays for me to be able to focus on studies looks familiar. He is none other than Keith Kidwell, an alum of NU (our kids are friends, too). Cheryl and Keith, I learned that God works in the smallest details through his people, his wonders to perform. Thank you, as the sun goes down on this beautiful view.