JAYWALKING

Jaywalking is a crime!  Yessirree!  I'm speaking from experience.

A few weeks ago I was spending some time with the CO grands when I realized that while they were at school all day I had some free alone time.

As usual, when I am in a new place, I check out the local quilt shops. There are NO quilt shops in Breckenridge,CO  or surrounding areas.  All those skiers and no quilters??  I found that hard to believe, too. BUT...alas....there WAS a quilt shop in Leadville! Leadville was an hour drive up the mountain from Breckenridge but hey....I had plenty of time and Andy's car!

I set my GPS and took off.  It was one of the most beautiful drives I've ever experienced. Soaring snowcapped mountains lined both sides of that very empty, upward highway.  There are several "scenic spots" along the way to stop to take breathtaking pictures.  The scene was inspirational and I found myself smiling at nothing but savoring the beauty all around me.

Leadville is a small town, pop. about 3000.  Because it is "MUD" season in CO, the tourist population was almost nil.  Just as in Breckenridge, only the locals were there.  They were taking a long rest from the busy ski season, most shops were closed, minor repairs and clean-up was the order of business.  Life seemed to move at a snail's pace in Leadville that day.

I arrived at the small Victorian cottage bearing the sign QUILT SHOP.  It was darling and also closed.  The "clock" sign hanging on the doorknob declared, "back at 10:30."  I had more free time.

I drove around to the downtown street...yes, one main street.  No busy shoppers, no traffic, most shop doors were closed and locked up for MUD season. I parked the car and decided to walk the sidewalks.  No parking meters, no traffic, no parked cars visible....just me.

I strolled down the sidewalk on one side of the street, crossed the street and strolled back down toward where I'd parked.  No restaurants open, no shop keepers sweeping out their doorways, no dogs lying in the sun, no locals out walking.....nothing was happening in Leadville.

I crossed the street to the car. A policeman was sitting in his car at the stop sign at a side street, yelling.  At me????  I walked over to him.  "Sir? are you talking to me???"   YES.  You are JAYWALKING and about to cause a wreck!  I looked around.  WRECK?  (Wouldn't you have to have some cars in the road in order for them to hit each other?? I THOUGHT to myself.)

"YES, SIR!  You are absolutely right.  I see the crosswalk, right over there and I can assure  you I will never cross over in the middle of the block again".  We stared at each other.....

I turned and walked to the car....trying VERY HARD not to laugh OUTLOUD.  Are you kidding me?

That young policeman didn't LOOK like Barney Fife, but he must've have been related.

I made my way back to the little Quilt Shop and became instant friends with the elderly shopowner. I relayed my "jaywalking" story to her.  She was appalled, saying, "That new police chief is driving everyone crazy."  And backed up her claim with more funny and frustrating stories.

"New?" I asked.

"yes," she replied, "the old one is in the slammer."

I let that go. I'd had enough small town news for one day.

And THAT my friends is why I love the big city!  If you try to Jaywalk in Dallas, TX it'll be your first and last offense, you'll get killed.

BUT....Jaywalking in a small town on a street with no cars?  That's an AMERICAN right, don't you think?

"It IS WELL"

Horatio Spafford wrote the words to that much loved hymn, "It is Well With My Soul."

 Long ago, he was a prosperous lawyer in Chicago and a pillar in the Presbyterian Church there.  In 1871 he and his wife Anna suffered terribly in the great Chicago fire.  In November of 1873 Anna and the children set sail for Europe and Horatio stayed home to tend to some business affairs.  On December 2nd he received a telegram. It read, "Saved alone. What shall I do?"

The ship had collided with a British vessel and sunk!  Four daughters drowned and Anna survived.  He left for England immediately to bring Anna home.  During the journey while on the sailing ship, he wrote the lyrics to the hymn that would become an anthem testifying to the providence of God.

The Spaffords eventually moved to Jerusalem and formed a Christian society to help people of all faiths and creeds.  The group moved to a large home outside the city walls.  It became a hostel, then a hotel. The Spaffords had more children, one daughter Bertha raised her six children in that house. Today it is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the Muslim section of East Jerusalem and is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention as a house of prayer for all who enter.

The Horatio Spafford story is one that we tell as guides at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem.  He and his friend Major Gordon were instrumental in locating the "place of the skull" just outside the Garden Gate.  Major Gordons apartment window overlooked the carved rock. There is no doubt that the devout believer Mr. Spafford shared his excitement as they peered over the wall to the old rock quarry where countless lives were lost through horrible crucifixions in days gone by.

Last year as we walked those ancient and troubled streets, we happened upon the gate to the "Bertha Spafford House."  We rang the bell perched on the entrance gate not knowing the history we were about to experience.  An elderly couple that oversees the property gave us a lovely tour of the house and explained it's famous former owners connection.  THIS is the piano that Bertha Spafford owned and perhaps even Horatio himself played that famous song on those very keys.

They asked if I wanted to play that old upright.  YES!  It was in perfect tune and we four sang all the verses of "It is Well With My Soul."  I couldn't help but "see" in my minds eye the children that would have sat there and sung there, the parents that would have patiently taught them the words, & the old lawyer himself choking back tears as he remembered that fateful voyage that snatched his four beautiful daughters from this world. Tears flowed down my face as I contemplated the depth of his sorrow and the depth of his faith.

"When sorrow like sea billows roll...
"Whatever my lot....
"Christ has regarded my helpless estate...
"The clouds be rolled back as a scroll....

No matter what...no matter what.....It Is Well With My Soul.

How trusting, how peaceful, how TRUE.....

Nothing calms the soul like the doctrine of the Sovereignty of God. He's got it....and He's got us in the palm of His mighty hand.

SOVEREIGN......He either IS or He ISN'T!   There is no middle ground.