terry.a.lindsey@charter.net

Dreamers in Wales

As we leave England and enter Wales over a spectacular bridge over the river Severn, I am anxious to see more of the beautiful countryside. Before I jump into stories of castles, water falls, caves and more local pubs, I have a question. Have ever wanted to own your own castle or even build your own village? One person’s dream when becomes a reality can be a gift for generations later. Let me start with Adeline Patti. As a young girl she lived behind a stage watching her parents perform so it is little wonder she would follow. Crag-y-Nos Castle (English: Rock of the Night), is a Victorian-Gothic country house in Powys, Wales. it is not a castle but close in my eyes and those of Madam Patti. She lived at Crag Y Nos Castle at the turn of the last century. She entertained her guest with lavish parties and theatrical performances along with her gifted singing voice.
Today, Crag y nos is great for Weddings, haunted house feeling and dog lovers as hotel friendly to dogs. We enjoyed it as a stopping point to explore caves at the national showcaves of Wales and the awesome waterfalls. The hiking up and into the caves then down to the falls are not for everyone but enjoyed by many.

From our stay at crag y nos, we continued on to Conwy stopping at Barmouth for awesome beaches then to Portmeirion which brings me to the second dreamer.
Clough Williams-Ellis, built Portmeirion Village after dreaming for more than thirty years. He decided that one day he would choose a site and build a group of buildings for his own satisfaction. He became a successful Architec and achieved his dream. He purchased a private peninsula off the Snowdonia coast. You may remember the famous beach from the 1960s TV show called the “Prisoner”.

Remember the huge ball chasing number 6 along the sand flats. “I am not a number.” The residents were assigned numbers instead of names and their every movement is followed by monitoring systems and security forces. If someone tried to escape, the white balloon called Rover would capture them. Patrick McGoohan was No. 6 who battled No. 2 and an unseen leader, No. 1. Brilliant!

Finally, we ended our 3rd Day in Wales at Conwy. Stay tuned for more awesome adventures.

One step into Wales

As I write this post, I am thinking how wonderful life can be. We can live in chaos or live in peace. The older I get the more at peace I feel. I am learning to take it one step at a time. This post begins a journey through Wales. It may take a few posts to describe the adventure but worth it I think. Read on but first a prelude.

Lao Tzu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” He is the father of Taoism usually translated as the Way as the Tao. All about unity and opposites or Yin and Yang; action and non-action; light and dark; hot and cold; etc.

We started from Fareham for our annual trip with friends to new adventures. In previous years. We have been to Ireland, Scotland, Narrow Boating through English canals near and through Birmingham. Wales was our destination this year. No preconceived notions of what we would find but was pleasantly surprised. The people were friendly and the pub food was awesome. Use your imagination on the pub beverage but lots of choices. Lol
Our first stop was Bristol to tour a very old steel constructed ship called the. SS Great Britan. SS stands for steam ship by the way. it was a marvelous specimen of engineering designed by Brunel. Who was an extraordinary engineer. His designs also included the suspension bridge over the Avon. His ship’s design included first screwropeller which became the standard for proceeding iron ships. It sailed many times to Australia and America before a damaged mast ended her career. She was relocated back to her construction dock after 127 years of service in 1970 and now on permanent display for generations to see. You can check out pictures on my Facebook page.
We went on to see the suspension bridge over the Avon from the observation point. There was even a cave to get to the lower observation point. This was an awesome adventure even before we made it to Wales.
We arrived at Crag-y-nos castle after a superb pub lunch just before the castle called the Ancient Briton. Highly recommend the pub! Day 2 started with breakfast among dog owners at the castle but that will be later to explain.
T

KOH

I know we all use acronyms which is an abbreviation formed from the initial letters of words. Common examples are lol, wwjd, or kiss but do we know koh? I read a book in 2014 while traveling to and from England to perform a funeral service. The book was called Divine Alignment. Without going into its contents there is a phrase I really liked called God wink. To explain as I understood, a God wink, may appear to be a coincidence but is an event where we forget our own selfish motives to help another thus removing ourselves as an obstacle in the way of a miracle. I believe as mentioned in a previous message that we should live on the basis of hope for the future. We should be good seeds planted in fertile soil. Romans 8:28 says we work together for good according to his purpose. Matthew 13 talks about a mustard seed if planted in fertile soil, watered and proper sun light grows into a great tree to become a house for birds in its branches. Treasures hidden in a field when found is used to buy that very field. A net catches fish of all kinds but once caught can be separated into good versus bad. Replace fish with people. These are all examples of what the KOH is like. Can you relate to what the KOH is like? I hope your imagination runs wild with the endless possibilities of how the KOH can be explained to all who will listen. Do you now know what KOH stands for?

The audio below was recorded in July 2014 which was 3 years ago. It is longer than most because I just felt I needed to tell the whole story. Some of you may relate personally to the story as a witness. Others may find interesting if you can find the time to listen.

Basis

Basis of what? In accounting terms, it could be on a cash basis or a basis point equal to .01%. However, there are other ways the word basis can be used. How do you live your life? Is it on the basis of selfishness or on hope for the future? I watched my oldest grandson play on a baseball team that won their tournament. Now, if I had decided that is was too hot, too rainy, too far of a drive to go, then I would have missed an awesome series of wins. If I had decided to be selfish and not go for any excuse, then it would have been my failure. Instead, I went to watch their team win 6 games in a role to take the title. I went on hope regardless of the outcome as I looked with excitement to a future star.

In my previous message, I wrote about a long trip to perform a funeral for a dear friend who had requested I be present a year earlier. That funeral was 3 years ago. I asked myself what next then as I do today. What’s next for me? We can live our lives on the basis of excuses why we can not do a task or we can live our lives on the basis of hope. Our choice. One leads to failure and the other to victory.

In Romans 8:12-25, we have a choice to consider. If we live our lives on the basis of selfishness then our selfish action will lead us to death. The opposite is to live our lives on the basis of hope. Yes, there will be pain when we take action driven by hope but will it be worth it in the long haul? As the author of Romans concludes in this passage, if we see, it is not hope. Instead we hope for what we don’t see and wait with patience for the reveal. Likewise, if we expect a seed to grow in a weed patch or unfertile soil, then we are living our lives according to deception. We should know that the great deceiver uses selfishness, doubt, fear, laziness, etc. as an attempt to keep us following him to the grave. However, in Matthew 13:38, we learn that we are good seeds as followers of the kingdom that is everlasting and gives us life beyond the grave. Will we be bad seeds who live on the basis of selfishness or good seeds who live on the basis of hope for the future? Please choose wisely and I hope to see you in the field of dreams too.

What’s next?

Have you ever asked yourself what’s next? On July 13, 2014, I asked that question before a congregation. I was preparing to travel for a long distant funeral service on the 18^th of a very deal friend. She had asked me a year earlier, should the moment occur, would I be present to perform her funeral service. It was indeed an honor to celebrate her life. Though I will not give out names, my prayer is that some readers of this will know how much she was loved. Just years earlier, we shared many enjoyable times together with her husband and my wife while on an overseas assignment. In those days, I certainly was not qualified to even think about everlasting life as I lived strictly in the moment. I asked myself what’s next back then and still ask that question even today. So back in 2014, while I was planning a trip to England for the funeral, I was asking myself what should I say, how should I prepare? Funerals in this country have a little more flexibility but in England where land space and time are perhaps more restrictive, 30 minutes is all we had. I was making a 9 hour trip for a 30 minute service! That’s right and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It is not the length of time that matters but the moment in time. I believe a second of God’s time is equivalent to an eternity of our time. In the weeks that follow this message, I will be sharing more of the moment in time experience that helped strengthen my resolve to continue on faith.

Matthew 13, tells the story of the sower of seeds. Some seeds fell on a pavement only to be eaten by birds, where other seeds fell onto rocky ground but died quickly as no soil to sustain growth, still other seeds fell within weeds and thorns only to be choked then finally some seeds fell on good soil producing good fruit. I believe we should never give up on ourselves or others. Instead, we should always ask for help to determine what is next. Is it going to be a rough road sometimes? Yes. Are we going to have our dreams shattered sometimes? Yes. Are we going to give up temporarily? Perhaps. But, do we give up in sowing seeds or do we search for the next step? I am guilty of being a bad seed, but thanks to divine intervention, continue to grow.

Experiences, whether lengthy or points of time, are all part of our lives and we should rejoice in the good times and take the bad times as things we are given to improve our endurance. In Romans 8, the Spirit of Life sets us free from the sin and death for the Spirit dwells in us all.

The following audio is about 2 minutes long. I cut out all of the details to only cover Romans then the last part of Matthew. In the weeks to come, I will be sharing more audios back in 2014.