Month: October 2019

No Device Detected

Posted on by rinouye


I’m one of those who likes to manage my time well and be efficient. I have AirPods I wear in my ears when I am on a phone call with my cousin, one of my children, my sisters, my husband or even friends. I do this so that my hands are free and I’m able to do any number of tasks while still talking. 

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Recently, I used my AirPods talking to a friend about the details of a bridal shower we are planning. She talked while I set things out on the counters, made a grocery list and washed a few of the serving dishes. It was helpful that I had my AirPods in but an important key when using this hands-free method is you need to be near the iPhone.


The funny thing is, I needed to go to the store so I went to my car and could still hear her but then I pulled out of my garage and made it most of the way down the driveway without realizing she cannot hear me nor could I hear her. 


My Bluetooth read…no device detected. “Oh, may sakes! I’m driving away!” I started giggling, put the car in park, ran inside the house and grabbed the phone I had left on the kitchen bar.
“Can you hear me now or have I lost you?”

“I can hear you now. But I lost you a while ago.” She said.
“You won’t believe what I just did!” I informed her, “I left my phone in the kitchen and drove away from my house. Completely losing my signal with you. Oh, my word!”

 
I got to thinking about this later and I realized it has a spiritual comparison as well. Often, we want to hear God and want to make sure He hears our prayers…funny thing is he is always near. How do you get away from the very one who inhabits you? So YES, He’s always with us, He’ll never leave us, will never forsake us but we are the ones that walk away either intentionally or out of apathy or laziness. Sometimes we wonder why we don’t feel close. He says draw near to me and I will draw near to you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. James 4:8a It’s a promise.


I don’t ask this as a shame statement, I just think it’s really true. So, are you close to God?  Are you walking away?  Or are you leaning in and getting close?  

Residual Jet Lag, but Fond Memories Remain!

Posted on by rinouye

I had the privilege of returning to speak in Muscat, Oman. My husband, Michael and I spent a few days in Germany before the conference and after lingered and explored in Oman, too.

I’m not a travel blogger and I don’t pretend to be but I wanted this post to include a few photos of some of the places we visited. While away, I experienced so many new things, each an adventure in itself. I will mainly be posting the photographs with a few captions here and there.

I have a habit of taking photos of doorways and doorknobs and bathrooms and flowers and things I don’t see often. (I won’t include all of those) Certain things catch my eye, then I cry, “Honey, will you take a photo of that?” I took some of these photos myself and some were blurry. I think it is because I simply snap away and say things like:

Oh, look at that! Wow! I’ve never seen something like that.

We don’t have these back home!”

Yep! I’m now in Germany, apparel is apparently different.

We had already made arrangements to tour a couple of castles and Michael had purchased our tickets on-line before we left the states. I was prepared, with many layers in case it was cold or rainy. I wish I could say we were prepared for the drive, but that proved to be very interesting.

Suffice it to say, we found ourselves in quite a pickle, but we were determined to get to the castle in time for our tour. We tried our best but understanding the detour in another country with unfamiliar signage proved an epic fail and hilarious. We had to “off-road” it for a stretch in a manual rental car and finally figured out it clearly wasn’t a frontage road as we drove up behind a woman on the path strolling along with her coat zipped up and her three dogs on their leashes. A bit embarrassed we waved and smiled and made it to the actual highway.

Yep! This was the road that was closed but we took it thinking we could use the “frontage road…”
Let the touring and exploring begin!
Here we go…Let’s go look inside. Thankfully, our tour was in English!
We are going to tour inside this one too.
What a spectacularly stunning view from the castle!

A spectacularly stunning view from the castle! This would make a great jigsaw puzzle.
We hiked an optional path which led to a high place with this view of the castle.
These window boxes and spiral staircases caught my eye as we hiked back down.
Quite a beautiful hotel and those plants on the balcony, oh, my!
Definitely not a castle… these vines though!

We sure had a wonderful time exploring Munich and the surrounding area, and resting at an adorable bed and breakfast type hotel, but we soon headed to the airport for our final destination of Muscat, Oman. I knew it would be a great conference and the anticipation of what God was about to do made me eager to go do what I had come to do… As a pastor and friend, Stuart Briscoe says, “Preach the word, love the people, pray the Spirit moves.”

Stop! We must take a photo in this place. I should have taken photos of the food too.
View from my hotel window in Muscat, Oman.
Rats! It’s blurry, but the time with the Muscat Women’s Fellowship ladies was wonderful.
The conference committee with Shanthini and me.
Exploring the Nizwa Fort… I loved the heat!
Up, up, up we go! A four wheel drive needed to make the climb. This is a wadi.
All the rock grey and orange combination- Stunning!
This is the view from our lunch table! All I could do was giggle with joy.
Pinch me. Delightful vistas, food, tastes, treats and company.
My date for life taking in the view, but creeped out by heights. He’s so cute.
For real!?!
The hotel where we were having lunch, come on now! God is good!
Rocks a combination of grays and oranges – Unplanned matching but serendipitous!

There was such a great mixture of the unfamiliar and familiar along with adventure and relationships with precious friends and new people. It had all the ingredients I enjoy, it was such a great trip. It has been said a picture paints a thousand words so I guess that means this was an extra WORDY blog. So I’ll conclude…I am only a bit jet lagged, but I’m glad in a way because otherwise it feels like it was all a dream. A really good dream I might add.

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