No Longer A Hermit

Friends, I am being led to places where, just a few months ago, were not part of my wildest dreams.  Just when I was planning on being a hermit for life, the Lord revealed His plans which were diametrically opposite of mine.  He brought a godly woman, Marion Palmer, an old friend of Nancy’s and mine, into my life in new and life-changing ways.  Within just a few months, our relationship grew from our being friends to being engaged to be married.  Perhaps this can best be described as a “divine ambush.”  I am overjoyed!  I feel so deeply blessed.  Yippee!  Alleluia!

Our plans are to be married June 2, 2013 during the worship service at North Presbyterian Church of Kalamazoo.  We both feel called to the special ministry of this inner-city church family.  The church’s mission is to reach out to the marginalized and disenfranchised people of Kalamazoo.

As I reflect upon my goals for this spiritual quest of the last four months, I realize now, in retrospect, that God had answered all three goals within the first week of this journey.  My goals included (1)seeking a deeper life with Christ, (2)coming closer to hearing a specific calling to serve Christ in the world, and (3)exploring new ways of ‘doing church.’  

By December 16, 2012 I had spent a week in solitude, silence and stillness at The Hermitage of Three Rivers, MI.  While worshipping at North Presbyterian Church I experienced the presence of God being manifested in new and transformative ways in and through the fellow worshippers.  My relationship with Marion, a member of the church, started to blossom.  We became Beloved Companions on The Way, and then, well...you know the rest of the story.

Having met my goals early on my journey, and in ways I had never imagined, I decided to  return to Michigan earlier than I had previously planned.  I left my minivan with friends in Albuquerque, NM and flew to Michigan four weeks ago in order to become better acquainted with Marion and her family, as well as to visit my family.

On April 21st, Marion and I will be flying to New Mexico to attend a Richard Rohr/James Findley event in Santa Fe.  Following the event, we will drive back to Michigan, returning about May 5th.  On the way, we will visit friends and family (daughter Susie and her family in Commerce City, CO and son David and his family in Ankeny, IO).

Friends, during the last few months I have been deeply blessed.  I know that many of you have been praying faithfully for me and I sincerely thank you.  

May I leave you with a few thoughts: (continued after the photographs)

 Pastor/elder Custer Lowe, Jr. faithfully serves the Navajo Presbyterian Church of Ganado, Arizona.  I worshipped here on March 10, 2013.  I brought greetings from the First Presbyterian Church of Grand Haven, MI and from North Presbyterian Church of Kalamazoo, MI.  

The Hubbell Trading Post of Ganado, Arizona, has been serving the needs of the Navajo people since the 1870's.  It is now a National Historic Site.

The Painted Desert lies within the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.  Its beauty, I found, is beyond description.

Jerome, Arizona, is noted as "America's Most Vertical City" and as the "Largest Ghost Town in Americas."  From 1880-1950 the town had been a copper mining town.  Now it is a tourist magnet and an artists'  community.

Sedona, Arizona is a picturesque city that is surrounded by red-rock monoliths. 

I had a wonderful day with special friends Jan and Larry Schutt of Grand Haven, MI.  The Schutts were vacationing in Arizona.  We enjoyed dinner at El Chorro Restaurant in Phoenix.  We also toured architect Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West, Wright's winter home and school from 1937 until his death in 1959.

I had a good visit with my aunt Virginia Ellingen who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.  She originally was from Greenville, Michigan.  I have fond memories when, as young boys, my older brother Dick and I would visit Aunt Ginny and Uncle Ed on Baldwin Lake for a week in summers.

I was guest of my aunt Eleanor Krusell for several days in Phoenix, Arizona.  She has had a special friend, Allen, (pictured) for many years.  One evening we had dinner with her daughter (my cousin) Denise and her family.  It was good catching up on the extended family.

While I visited Canyon de Chelly of Arizona, a rainstorm occurred.  Just as I was about to return to the motel for dinner, the clouds parted and a most beautiful rainbow appeared.  I prayed that I would find a turnoff from the rim road before the rainbow disappeared.  Within a minute I was scrambling over wet and slippery rocks and through mud to obtain this image.  Enjoy!

Navajo guide Ben Teller took me on a tour within Canyon de Chelly.  He spent his childhood within the canyon.  Now he lives with his family in the canyon three seasons a year.  There he grows beans, corn and squash.  He also raises sheep and cattle.  He related stories how, for four generations, his family lived here.

Navajo guide Ben Teller checks out his homestead within Canyon de Chelly.  This site is a National Monument in northeast Arizona and is on the Navajo Indian Reservation.

“...to know oneself to be completely safe and completely accepted at ever deeper levels of trust, exposure, and embrace.  It is a spiral that goes deeper and closer.”

Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation, Meditation of April 11, 2013.

“There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under heaven:

A time to weep and a time to laugh, 

A time to mourn and a time to dance.”

Ecclesiastes 3:1,4

May I add, “A season to be a hermit and a season to be in community.”

“For when the mind is brought to stillness, and all our strategies of acquisition have dropped, a deeper truth presents itself: we are and have always been one with God and we are all one in God .”

Martin Laird in Into the Silent Land

"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him."
     I Corinthians 2:9

May you know the Lord’s abiding Presence each and every day.

Larry