Craters of the Moon National Monument

Posted on August 14, 2020 by jwfisch

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“Visit the moon without leaving Idaho,” reads the cover of one of the brochures for Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho, a place Chandler and I visited on our recent trip. It’s a fascinating place with over 53,000 acres of cinder cones, lava tubes, tree molds, lava rivers, spatter cones, and lava beds as far as you can see. In 1969, Apollo astronauts came here to study geology that would help them identify rock formations on the moon. NASA still uses it today to study volcanic formations on Mars and train future martian explorers to be field geologists.

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Posted in Natural beauty, the gospel | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

There should be blessings

Posted on August 13, 2020 by jwfisch

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Anne Marie reached out to touch Chandler and bless him (see yesterday’s Catch). It was a moment of power and significance that was as real then as it is today.

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Pilgrimage to Boise

Posted on August 12, 2020 by jwfisch

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Besides getting some valuable bonding time with Chandler, the primary motivation for our recent camping trip I’m writing about this week was to meet with Anne Marie Ritchie in Boise, Idaho so that Chandler could receive the blessing from “RonAnneMarie” as our other two children had. I write “RonAnneMarie” because that is how Ron and Anne Marie Ritchie have always signed their names as an expression of their oneness in marriage. So when I lost the opportunity for Ron’s blessing because of his passing last month, I realized having Anne Marie bless Chandler was no less significant.

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In the combat zone

Posted on August 11, 2020 by jwfisch

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Chandler loves to go off-roading. Two of our campsites last week were found by taking an unpaved road Chandler found and discovering an “undesignated” camping spot. He’s got a knack for this. These are places where people have obviously camped before, they just are not part of an official state, county or National park systems with restrooms, running water and other services. Since the “official” sites require reservations and we had none, we found our best chance of finding a camping spot was exploring.

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Posted in spiritual warfare | Tagged | 1 Comment

Are we living in a ghost town?

Posted on August 10, 2020 by jwfisch
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Bodie State Historic Park by Oscar Vasquez

When it comes to road trips, I like to make plans. I love maps — the kind you get at gas stations that you can unfold and spread out in front of you where you can see the whole state and its major highways at once instead of trying to figure out where you are on the small screen of a cell phone. And if you’re traveling through two or three states in one day, it’s hard to beat a big map like one of the Western United States — everything from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and North and South Dakota, west. That was our territory on this trip. We passed through California, Nevada, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and a piece of Arizona.

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Posted in Facing death, pandemic | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Gone fischin’

Posted on July 28, 2020 by jwfisch

Hikin’ to the top of a mountain

Drinkin’ water from a cool, clear stream

Watchin’ the sunset and talkin’ to God

And knowin’ He loves me.

                 from “Simple Pleasures” by John Fischer

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It’s long overdue … Chandler and I are off on that camping trip we’ve promised each other for a very long time. This announcement was actually ready to go out yesterday, but a Catch business emergency delayed us a day. We will see, but the virus has a way of making everything tentative. 

With or without me, the Catch continues its ministry with Marti available to stay behind (happily I might add*) and field any of your thoughts, questions, or concerns to the volunteer expert who will serve you best.  You can reach Marti at <[email protected]>

I will let you know how well we fare when I meet back up with you next Monday at the Catch. 

Yours always for this journey,

John

* Marti’s idea of camping is a Holiday Inn with a swimming pool outside instead of inside. 

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Gustave Caillebotte, 1877

Posted in Beauty, family, parenting | Tagged , , | 7 Comments

Queen Esther saves a nation

Posted on July 24, 2020 by jwfisch

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At the request of his daughter, who was now Queen Esther of the empire of Media and Persia, Mordecai had gathered all the Jews in the citadel to fast for three days. Esther knew that approaching the king without being summoned, even as the queen, was a dangerous enterprise. It was against the laws and customs of the land and punishable by death. But because of the edict that had gone out to annihilate all Jews, Esther was willing to risk her life for her people. So when she went before the king, it was by the strength of the prayers and fasting of all her people that she went. Never sell short the prayers of the people of God.

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‘If I perish, I perish’

Posted on July 23, 2020 by jwfisch

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In the story of Esther, King Xerxes decides to honor one of his officials, Haman son of Hammedatha, the Agagite, “elevating him and giving him a seat of honor higher than that of all the other nobles” (Esther 3:1). So much so that all the other officials and everyone at the king’s gate bowed down and paid honor to Haman because that was what the king had commanded — everyone, that is, except Mordecai the Jew, the adoptive father of Queen Esther. This angered Haman to such a degree that he began to plot to kill Mordecai, and not only him, but all the Jews in the 127 provinces over which Xerxes ruled. To this end, Haman convinced King Xerxes to issue a decree “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews—young and old, women and children—on a single day” (3:13). There was even money designated in the royal treasury to pay those who would carry this out. After the decree was dispatched, Haman and the king sat down to drink while the whole region was thrown into confusion. Neither of them knew at this point that their queen was a Jew.

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Queen Esther

Posted on July 22, 2020 by jwfisch

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Now there was a certain Jew living in exile in the city of Susa in Persia, seat of the king’s now queen-less palace, named Mordecai. And Mordecai had a cousin named Esther whom he had taken in and cared for as his daughter because her parents had both died and she had no other family. Esther was an extraordinarily beautiful young virgin, and when Hegai, the king’s eunuch in charge of the women of the palace, went on a search throughout the city for virgins to present to the king as a possible new queen to replace Queen Vashti, he found out about Esther and brought her to the palace to join the harem of other virgins going through a year-long regimen of beauty treatments, “six months with oil of myrrh and six with perfumes and cosmetics” (Esther 2:12) to prepare them to eventually be presented to the king. In essence it was a year-long Miss Persia beauty pageant.

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Queen Vashti loses her crown but keeps her dignity

Posted on July 21, 2020 by jwfisch

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The book of Esther opens with King Xerxes of Persia throwing himself a very big party. At that time, Xerxes ruled over an area of 127 provinces stretching from India to Ethiopia. All the princes, nobles and military leaders from all 127 provinces were there and the celebration lasted for 180 days. “For a full 180 days [Xerxes] displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty” (Esther 1:4). At the end of 6 months of partying, the king threw one more banquet that lasted seven days. On the seventh day, he ordered his servants to go summon the Queen “in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at” (1:11). But much to the king’s dismay, Queen Vashti refused to come.

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Posted in Esther, relationships, women | Tagged , , | 2 Comments