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We walked in our snow shoes for an hour and ten minutes this morning.

Here's what we saw from our bedroom window when we arose:

Bedroom View of Snow

Last Christmas we gave each other snow shoes as a gift. We used them several times.

Here's a scene along Wilson Avenue:

Snow Scene along Wilson Avenue

Here is a photo my wife took of me, next to a flag waving in the wind:

Proud to Be an American in Snow

We also walked the length of the Hanover Trolley Rail Trail. Here's a scene along the trail:

Hanover Trolley Rail Trail in Snow

Here's what our new house looks like in the snow:

Our house in snow

Here's our Garden Flag in the snow:

Our December Garden Flag

I have been writing a series of posts about Bible verses I wrote on our cement floor, before our new home's floors were covered with carpet or vinyl.

Here's today's verse, found on the furnace room floor:

Furnace Room Verse

Here is a view of the city park in Nickerson, Kansas. The city permits bicyclists to camp in the park as they pass through. It looks like a warm, friendly place.

Nickerson City Park

On the TransAmerican Trail, on my virtual walk across America, I am just 10 miles away from Nickerson, Kansas.

Since I started walking west from Yorktown, Virginia, I have walked 1,800 miles on my way to Florence, Oregon.

If you would like to join in the virtual walk across America, go to:

http://exercise.lbl.gov/user/userHome.htm

It’s fun and easy to sign up. As you walk, you can input your miles on your very own page and see a photo of where you “are” along the TransAmerican Trail.

Here is a buck spotted in Kansas. On the TransAmerican Trail, on my virtual walk across America, I am just 2.8 miles away from Buhler, Kansas, just east of Sand Hills State Park.

The Buck Stopped Here

Deer are found in Sand Hills State Park, a 1,123 acre natural area, which has been preserved for its sand dunes, grasslands, wetlands, and woodlands.

There are 14 miles of trails which weave in between 10 to 40 feet high sand dunes, through grasslands and trees, and around ponds.

Since I started walking west from Yorktown, Virginia, I have walked 1,787.1 miles on my way to Florence, Oregon.

If you would like to join in the virtual walk across America, go to:

http://exercise.lbl.gov/user/userHome.htm

It’s fun and easy to sign up. As you walk, you can input your miles on your very own page and see a photo of where you “are” along the TransAmerican Trail.

Well, in the past two days, I've taken you inside the front door of our new home, and into the living room, so today, we enter the dining room.

Here's the verse I wrote on the cement floor of that room before the vinyl flooring went down over it:

Dining Room Verse

I began a series yesterday on "Standing on the Promises of God."

We wrote verses on the concrete floor of the rooms of our new house, before they were covered with carpet or vinyl flooring. Now when we walk around the house, we are standing on the promises of God, literally!

That's what we are doing at "Hallowed House," the first house we have ever owned. It's in the borough of Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania.

I call our house "Hallowed House" because we moved there on October 30th, a day before All Hallow's Eve. Hallowe'en is also known as Reformation Day and I know it well as my own birthday, too!

Yesterday I showed you the verse inside the front door of Hallowed House. Here's another verse, found on the concrete floor (later covered with padding and carpet, after all, it's a living room!):

Living Room Verse

Before the floors in our new house were covered with carpet or vinyl flooring, I wrote a Bible verse on each room's floor.

Now, when we walk about our new house, we are literally "Standing on the Promises of God."

Here is the first verse I would like to share with you.

Front Door Verse

In the first chapter of the gospel of Luke, verses 67-79, Zechariah, the new father of John the Baptist, sings a song.

He was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, in song.

Reading his song is not the same as listening to it.

I wish I had been there when he sang his prophecy:

Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has come and has redeemed his people.

His song begins with praise and announcing Good News, present and past tense, "has come" and "has redeemed."

That's how it is with prophecy--time shifts from the present to the past. In God's time, it is already done. The way we view time and the way God views it is qualitatively different. I like that about God.

His song continues:

He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David.

Thanksgiving has just been celebrated in the past month of November. A common scene on dinner tables is a cornucopia, a horn of plenty.

To me, Zechariah is saying, in the birth of our Savior, we have a horn of plenty, and it's salvation filling it.

God is the one who picks up the horn of salvation and holds it up for all to see. He's a proud father, as is his servant Zechariah.

A Poinsettia Blooms

My wife Chris had a tea party today at our new house. We have lived here for five weeks. She works with these women at a local counseling center.

Tea Party

A few of them brought colorful teapots and extra cups.

Tea Party 3

A good time was had by all. Chris really enjoyed hosting this tea party.

Tea Part 2

Hallowe'en and Reformation Day greetings to all!

The past few months I have been away from my Vox blog, as I did not have secure internet access, having taken up residence in a one bedroom apartment, while our new house was built.

We moved in yesterday, so today I woke up on my 59th birthday, on Hallowe'en, in a new home, the first we have ever known.

You see, for 36 years, while I was a fulltime pastor (I retired July 1, 2009), we lived in church-owned parsonages. With one exception, all our parsonages were fine, meeting conference standards, mostly. Only one place would come close to the movie line, "What a dump!" Fortunately our stay at that one was relatively brief.

We live in a two bedroom custom rancher with a double garage, large kitchen, dining room, and living room with a fireplace, an attic over the garage, two full bathrooms, and in the rear of the house, a sun room looking out on a tranquil pond (the neighbor's pond).

Canada geese come to the pond, but by now they have migrated away. Still, turtles inhabit the waters, regularly surfacing on logs and rocks to sun themselves (Well, wouldn't you do that, too?).

Am I fully retired?

No way.

I still pastor, but instead of two churches full time, I have two country churches which are very part time, about 1/5th of a United Methodist pastor's salary in our conference. Basically I just drive to these two churches on Sunday morning to hold their services, then return and am available to them during the week, if they really need me. I make my parish office here in my new home in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Oh, and I have three other part time jobs, too.

You probably know that I like to walk, a lot.

So I work part time serving two walking routes for a once-a-week paper called The Merchandiser, delivering to about 400 homes right around where we now live.

And my last but not least part time job is as a Leader in Weight Watchers International.

I have a regular meeting I lead in Hanover, every Friday morning at 10 at the WW traditional storefront location. And I have been accepting substitute Leader or Receptionist invitations to the area, places like Thomasville, Chambersburg, Mechanicsburg, York, and Carlisle.

Even with five jobs, part time, I do not work more than 30 hours per week, which suits me just fine.

My dear wife, Chris, has also found part time (25-30 hours per week) employment as a medical receptionist at a nearby counseling service. This is the same kind of work she did 2003-2008 in southern Maryland.

We are both life-long Marylanders (although she was born and spent her first year in Maine). Our decision to relocate to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, to the borough of Hanover, was not a hard one, as we had already become familiar with the area while I was pastor in the Manchester, Maryland area, which is just about 15 miles south of here.

Darryl