Silent Night in August

A couple of times a year I decide it's just too good a night to sleep indoors. Last night was one of those times.Why? I had heard that late Sunday night, Aug. 12, 2007 and early Monday a.m. the 13th, shooting stars were coming in droves, and they did.

Once every year our little planet plows through the dusty trail left behind by a comet called, Swift-Tuttle. Named for the constellation Perseus, the Perseid "showers" typically produce between 50 and 100 meteors per hour at their peak. And last night was clear.

So I went outside, dragged the lounge chair over to a better spot, unrolled my trusty Lost Ranger sleeping bag and settled in. It wasn't cold. While with the trees so close on one side, the roof of the house on the other, my field of vision, though limited, was good enough. Before I saw my first shooting star I watched a satellite slowly go over head from the SW to the NE. Then finally the first shooting star came. I about jumped out of my sack. Like a small camara flash this star struck the clear night sky with a pop of light. It only went about 2 or 3 inches against the black sky and lasted about 1 1/2 seconds. I was too sleepy to stay awake until 1 a.m. when the real show was about to start. I ended up seeing about 10 before my peepers finally closed their doors for the night.

Isaiah the prophet (chpt. 40) once went out at night. He too was in awe of the expanse above him. God spoke to him as he lifted his eyes up, way up. Isaiah writes that God leads the stars out everynight, like a heavenly shepherd leading a flock of sheep. In the wilderness above God calls each star by name. They come every night. He's intimately involved with their courses. Isaiah tells us to look up as well. When we see these heavenly sheep he reminds us, not one of them is missing. The same stars that spoke to Isaiah 2,700 year ago spoke to me last night. Even though they have no voice their inaudible message was still loud and clear,"Your life is on track". Just as your HEAVENLY Father shepherds these mighty lights across the vast spaces of the night skies, he keeps track of what you and I will plow into this week as well.

That helps me sleep at night. It helps me get up on a Monday morning and go into a new week with confidence. I hope it does you too. In the hands of the great shepherd and under his staff you and I are in a very good place.

Have a great new week.

Pastor Bill

PS that great picture came from Fred Buenjes.

Lone Ranch Camp

Sherry Vario writes this about our Middle School Youth Camp in Montana.


Every once in a while it’s good for us to step out of our comfortable lives and in to intentional hardship. Last week, six adults from NCC accompanied 19 junior high school students on a mission to the Loan Ram Ranch, a Christian Horse Camp in Plains, Montana. Our road trip to the Big Sky State was predictably loud with up-beat music streaming from CD players; and it served as a good time of fellowship for 25 virtual strangers to get to know each other. Adults feigned horror as we watched pockets of spending money dwindle at every rest stop for one sugar fix after another. Teenagers learned the art of conversation as they were forced to answer questions that rubbed past the surface and into the core of who they are.

Ultimately the Loan Ram Ranch was much more than just a place to fellowship. During four nights and three days our group worked and served. The kids were given jobs ranging from cleaning horse tack to building fences. We endured significant obstacles such as 100+ degree heat, swarms of bees throughout the camp, Port-a-Potties too full to describe, the disappearance of camp-provided sleeping tents after the second night, no showers . . . Sounds like a script from a horror movie . . . but like most trials we face as believers, this one sharpened us and drew us closer to God and each other. Without the comforts of home, we were more thankful for what we had. Our kids were remarkably caring and selfless as they helped friends overcome fears. They managed to stay strong and cheer each other on through the most difficult assignments. And perhaps most importantly, they learned what a blessing it is to serve someone other than themselves without expecting anything in return.

Montana was hard, it was fun, and it produced significant growth in character and life long relationships. What a welcome diversion from the daily conveniences we take for granted!

Be Ready

We were the third car in line for the 6:55 p.m. ferry. We were heading home from Friday Harbor after a fun day of sightseeing with my brother Bob and his wife Jacki. When we drove on board the attendant motioned me to take the third row, the far right lane, in the center section. We had never been at the extreme front of the ferry before. An attendant put the chocks under our wheels and before us lay open water.

After we parked we decided that this was a great place to see everything on the way back to Anacortes. So my brother Bob and I got out and stood in front of the car. As we pulled away the wind blew against our faces and we had unbelievable view.

Before long the guy in the car next to us got out. His wife went up stairs and he came over and we had a great time getting to know him. His name was Larry. Larry looked about my age, just as handsome and youthful for a guy in his mid-fifties. We talked motorcycles, hiking in the Cascades and what it was like to be a new grandfather. Larry owns a manufacturing company in Ohio. His company employs 144 people and they produce acoustical products for theaters, home theater systems, and multistory buildings etc. No one in the penthouse wants to hear clanging machines running or feel vibrations they naturally create. He knows what it’s like to have a dad with Alzheimer’s. After a while Bob was getting cold so he went back to the car. Larry grabbed a windbreaker and we kept comparing notes there on the lower deck of the ferry. This was a great place to observe creation, swap stories and compare notes.

Larry asked me what I did and I told him I was a pastor. This led to him telling me about his spiritual pilgrimage from being a Mormon to a Methodist. He had never felt as a child that Mormonism was “right” and he left the church when he left home. Three times the elders came to correct him and tried to convince him of the error of his ways. He was polite but told them he wanted out.

He married a woman who had grown up Methodist. As a business man he felt he could help the Methodist church and so he began attending. They loved their pastor and got involved but when he was called to a new parish a year later things changed and they just didn’t connect once the pastor left. After a while he felt church was nothing more than business with a religious feel and they haven’t been back.

I asked him what he thought it took to make it to heaven. “If there is to be a judgment, then I think God will look at my life and say that he tried, and that the good outweighed the bad,” he told me. I told him that if we were both 10’x’s as good as Mother Teresa we still wouldn’t make it because to arrive at heaven you had to be as good as Jesus. Larry didn’t have anything against Jesus; I don’t think it had ever dawned on him that He needed God’s help to get to heaven. He just didn’t know he needed to trust God’s Son who made the view that lay before us. “He paid the debt we owed God, a debt no one else could pay. Believing in his work on the cross is what makes us right with God. And once we believe in Jesus that begins a new relationship that goes beyond this life into the next,” I explained. Larry nodded. Larry is a nice guy. He seemed interested. I got to plant a seed. While leaning on the front of the car and looking across the waters of the San Juan Islands was a treat, so was telling a nice guy about the one way God’s provided for us all to make to the most beautiful spot of all, home with Him.

This summer the God who created the beauty that’s all around us will give us opportunities to tell others about his latest creation: how he takes broken and incomplete people and restores them to Himself through His son’s redeeming death and saving life. Be ready. As Peter reminds us:

“But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to explain the hope you have to everyone who asks you with gentleness and reverence”. 1 Peter 3:15