Tag: Adventure

Another Friday

On By SimonneBradenLeave a comment

It was suppose to be a seamless day: go to work for a few precious hours at my desk, whittle down my to do list, and be gone by lunch. I was suppose to meet a dear old friend I hadn’t seen in ages for dinner. I was positively giddy at the prospect of the good food, beer, and company that awaited me.

And suddenly, my coworker became sick. Not Covid, thankfully, she managed to catch some other virus that’s going around and I sent her home. Unfortunately that meant I stayed until the evening – such is life when you’re the boss.

Good-bye dinner plans, hello troubleshooting things at work that wouldn’t work. I wasn’t upset by the time I got home, I was just done. Instead of a night out, I figured pajamas and a book would be a decent consolation prize. I needed quiet and peace.

Home was not the calm oasis I envisioned. My husband wouldn’t stop talking and seemed upset that I wasn’t willing to hang out. He kept pressing the fact I didn’t eat dinner. This was not going to work.

“Mind if I pop off for a bit?” I deadpanned in British slang with my full American accent, after he encouraged me to take my kinetic energy elsewhere.

Today was just not going to go according to plan.

I ended up in a lifeguard chair at Carolina Beach with my tablet and bottle of water. I read my book and I watched a bit of a show I had downloaded. Wasn’t ready for the cold wind and early sunset, however. I hunkered down best I could, making a mental note to grab the blanket in the trunk next time I do this.

The constant crash of the waves was salve to my weary soul. It was low tide and from my vantage point, the waves looked a bit rough, but surfable. As I scanned the beach, I saw a bright light. Coming from land, it appeared to be a massive floodlight which illuminated the waves, so the wave crests were highlighted and a section of the beach was caught in a pool of white glow. I tried to capture it on camera with no luck. I’ve been down on the beach many times at night and never saw this crazy bright light. What was it?

I totally get the wise men following that star now. I had to investigate. Also, my butt had fallen asleep and I needed to move to keep warm.

I walked a little ways down the beach and then I saw it: A massive white light on a crane wrapped a diffuser. I smiled. That could only mean one thing: they were filming.

Sure enough, I found myself on the boardwalk by a parking lot full of semi trucks and trailers, obviously a filming crew. I have no clue how they got all them so orderly, but they did. I walked until I found what the light was illuminating: they were actively filming a scene. I watched them do several takes.

The adventures of today were never ending, but this was pretty cool.

They wrapped and I got back in the lifeguard chair to read some more. I didn’t have the calm peace of mind to pray or quietly reflect. My brain was still in overdrive, I needed the distraction of my book and the waves.

I left for home not long after and was in bed stupid early, grateful that His mercies are renewed every morning.

Take It to the Lord in Prayer

On By SimonneBradenLeave a comment

I was caulking a bathroom window during a recent remodel when out of no where, I heard that voice in my head.

“You need to pray for Ruth’s future in this coming year.”

Wait, what?

I love how the Lord really does meet you where you are in the moment when the focus is elsewhere. I am amused how when I’m walking during my contemplation devotional time, He largely remains silent, yet when I’m in the middle of something mundane – like caulking a window – He decides to pipe up.

I paused caulking as I took in the gravity of all this. Alright, I can do that. I wasn’t sure what I was praying for, as her life was in a state of flux, but it always comes around to the same thing: that she would seek the Lord’s guidance and that whichever path she should take would be lit by His guiding light.

You can’t miss those lighted walkways.

I must confess that I haven’t always been consistent about it, but today, it hit me that it needs to be a priority.

  “Take it to the Lord in prayer;
In His arms, He’ll take and shield thee,
  Thou wilt find a solace there” (J. Scriven)

Our church is contemplating another quest for leading the community to Jesus. The idea has been floated as an abstract thought, but it is moving closer into the realm of strong possibility. I did some investigative research about it and already went into the mode of “We could do X and I’ll take charge of it!”

My pastor smiled. “That’s all well and good, Simonne. You can start by praying.”

I wasn’t prepared for his response, but I should have been. I nodded. Of course. It’s not a done deal, there are moving parts and a lot of unknowns. A lot of ground has to be covered first, it might not even happen!

Since becoming a student of contemplative prayer, I’m more about doing than sitting back and praying – I was the opposite in my proper American Christian don’t-get-too-close-to-the-action conservative days.

I need to strike a balance. Action and prayer. Prayer and action. One shouldn’t supersede the other, but they should go together in concert.

Like salt and caramel. Or cream cheese icing and red velvet cake.

It restarts today.

Michigan Musings: Port Austin

On By SimonneBradenLeave a comment

The morning ride to Port Austin always started before dawn in the western suburbs of Detroit when I was a kid.

My younger sister and I would pile into the car with my dad; my mom would drive up at a more respectable time with my grandparents. I was always enchanted by the sunrise. This time of day was foreign to me and it only added to the adventure. We’d barrel through the city’s interstates before taking the exit for M53, or as my ancestors called it, Van Dyke; this artery would take us to our final destination. As the road retreated back into suburban Detroit, the further we drove, the more country it became. The next thing I know, I’m surrounded by fields, microscopic one stop light towns, and signs reminding us to share the road with Amish buggies.

2 hours later, we’d come upon the largest city in the thumb – Bad Axe. Van Dyke turns here, so you have to follow the signs, otherwise you’ll be lost among an endless cornfield heading in the wrong direction, as we did one year. We’d stop here for food, now that our bodies were fully awake, as was the sun. As one who hated breakfast food, my dad managed to get me hooked on McDonald’s breakfast burritos on one of these trips.

A half hour and more fields later, we’d arrive at our destination: Port Austin, Michigan. Population: 800. Van Dyke ended at a T stop for the simple fact that Lake Huron and the city marina were directly across from this main intersection. You could see the lighthouse, which warned ships of the shallow waters since the 1800’s. We always turned left.  My heartbeat would quicken the moment I saw the lake.

I rolled into this town for the first time in summer of 1989. I had never seen the ocean, but to me, this was the ocean. This was amazing. I belonged here.