Day 15
Sunday, November 18, 2018
A Break Day…
Today was an exciting day as our hosts at the Casita Jan and Joanna had texted from their weekend getaway in Palm Springs to see if we wanted their Symphony tickets at the Granada Theatre in Santa Barbara. Hmm … let me think about that… YES! I was praying that Glen’s bowels could be contained for the afternoon and that he would have enough energy to make it. With that in mind we listened to and watched a sermon by Joel Olsteen on the television instead of trying to go out. It was good. I think it may have been what we needed to hear as he talked about the need to keep trusting in God’s plan for our lives.
Trust is a hard thing to understand. I do trust God with the plan He has for our lives. We are told that trials happen here on earth and that we should expect trials. I think we’ve had our fair share of trials here on earth but that does not mean that our trials are over. I trust God to heal Glen too. I trust God that no matter what happens He is taking care of us. I don’t believe in the name it and claim it theology. I do believe that we are to ask for what we need and want and yes, claim it because the Bible also says that whatever we ask for in Jesus’ Name we will receive. Alongside that, however, is a large dose of knowing that God is in control of all the chaos and yes, even the trials. God doesn’t create the trials, the temptations, the hardships thrown at us but He does allow them to happen. This is somewhat disheartening unless we can take a very large step back to see that we only view a very small portion of the world. We only see what is right in front of our noses. We don’t see the whole world nor hold the whole world in our hands. In fact God holds the entire universe in His hands and probably more than we know. God sees the past, present and future as if looking at the pages of a book sideways. He knows what will happen and He alone can manipulate it. We do have an enemy that also gets in the way and throws wrenches in God’s plans. This is something that God is obviously aware of and His plan is not thwarted because of it. We are small fry in the grand scheme of things yet God loves us, cares for us and calls us His children. It is really beyond comprehension to understand that a God so big, whom we tend to make small in our minds because we can’t fathom or understand this grand Trinity, loves us so much that He is even concerned about knowing how many hairs are on our heads. It is unfathomable. Yet I accept it and give Him the glory no matter what.
We went out to Trader Joe’s to buy some groceries. Coming “home” to the Casita we made a small lunch – me a sourdough vegan cheese and turkey melt with a side salad and Glen a wrap with only tiny amounts of raw so as not to aggravate his bowel. We enjoyed sitting outside on our patio overlooking the grape vines that were no longer in season and the palm trees. To the left was a walled swimming pool that they sadly didn’t use because the electric cover was broken. We finished up and got ready to go the Symphony – something we haven’t done in many years. I was super excited to go out on a “date” as we were so far from normal right now that though the Symphony was an “abnormal” thing for us to do it felt almost normal to go out with Glen.
Going to the “will call” we picked up the tickets with no problems under Joanna’s name. Going to find our seats Glen explained his situation to the usher who then ushered us back to the person in charge. She changed our seating so that Glen had an aisle seat. We went in and were enthralled with the architecture of the building. Every wall arranged for optimum sound. The building was obviously old, like most of the buildings we observed in Santa Barbara. We really need to make it to the Santa Barbara Museum and learn more about this temporary home away from home.
The symphony was called “Rite of Spring: The Soldier’s Tale” by Stravinsky. To our sheer delight we discovered Christopher Lloyd, best known for his roles in “Taxi” and “Back to the Future”, was narrating it. The story was pretty interesting as it showed how the “devil” so easily lured a young soldier into being indebted to him through greed. The soldier lost everything – his home, his village, his girl, his self-respect. Then he triumphed again and won a Princess for his wife…only to lose everything again by trying to have too much and trying to see his village and home again. The devil had a hold on the poor soldier again. There was beautiful ballet throughout with a small section of the orchestra playing magnificently throughout the story. The second half consisted of just the sixty ish person orchestra playing. It made me actually miss my band days from decades ago when I played the trombone!
I was misty eyed through most of the symphony. I was feeling completely overwhelmed with gratitude for the many people who gave to help us fund the “Save Glen” trip including Glen’s generous parents; with gratitude for being at the Symphony with my beloved Glen (who only had to leave twice for the bathroom thanks to more Immodium than normal); gratitude for all the goodness in life that the Lord has blessed us with. Yes, we mortgaged our house to help pay for this medical trip yet so many have helped as well. We feel completely inadequate to know how to say thank you. We are forever grateful.
We didn’t do much but eat a simple dinner when we got home and get ourselves to bed, grateful for another day together – a day that felt close to “normal”.