Trust the Pilot, and Trust God

July 11, 2018 / colleen arnold / Leave a comment

I recently had to remind myself of this post from 2016. Maybe you need to hear it again, too. Trust is a funny thing…..

Have you ever been in a hot air balloon? A propane fire heats the air inside the balloon, which allows it to float upward; as the air cools, the balloon descends. The pilot can’t really steer, but he goes up and down until he finds a wind current that carries him in the direction he wants to go. The balloon can’t travel any faster than the wind, and if there’s no wind the balloon just sits there in the sky. Fascinating, right?

Neil and I thought so too, so we celebrated our first wedding anniversary with a hot air balloon ride. It was a glorious summer morning, with a clear sky, no humidity, and comfortably cool temperature. Neil and I bravely climbed over the chest-height sides into the wicker passenger basket. It seemed sturdy enough, but there was no roof or side rails – nothing much to protect us from the fire above and the ground below.

As the fire lit up and the balloon gently started to rise, my brain automatically evaluated all the things that could go wrong. Hmm…a gust of wind could tip the basket and dump us free falling through the air like sky divers without a parachute. Or the wind could change direction and whisk us off course like the poor Wizard of Oz. Or the fire could die and send the whole balloon crashing to the ground. I am not afraid of heights, but as we floated above the buildings and trees, the openness of the basket was disconcerting. Shouldn’t this at least be enclosed, I wondered? Continue reading →

My Fickle Faith

March 7, 2018 / colleen arnold / 4 Comments

Last week’s wind storms wreaked havoc at my house. Lots of damage, loss of power, and on top of that, a little fender-bender car accident. Today I pick up the pieces, literally. There are downed twigs and large branches all over my yard, not to mention the two fallen ninety-foot-tall pine trees stretched across my driveway.

And even though last week I said, “Thank you, God, that those trees did not hit my house or my car!” today I’m thinking: How do I even start to clean up this mess? Continue reading →

Big Jim and the Great Bahama Adventure

November 1, 2017 / colleen arnold / 6 Comments

I am a naturally cautious person and not typically enthusiastic about adventures, but one of the best days I ever had was one worthy of a reality TV show. It was winter at home, and while my sister watched our daughters, Neil and I went on our first cruise.

Although I would have been content soaking up the sun from the lido deck and watching the shows in the grand ballroom, Neil wanted to explore Nassau once we docked. The cruise ship offered several tours, and I pointed out the ones I thought would be fun. “No,” he said. “They’re for tourists. I want to see the real place, the real people.”

We piled out of the ship with everyone else, but while they headed off to ask about tour buses, Neil walked down the road to a giant Bahamian man who stood outside a long, white, limousine. “How much for a tour of the real island?” Neil asked him. “The real island? You sure, man?” They haggled over a price for a day that included a traditional show, food and a scenic drive, then shook hands, and Big Jim (yes, that was really his name) ushered us into the back of the limo.

“Isn’t this nice?” Neil asked as we turned on the air conditioning and settled in.
It was nice, for a while. Then we drove off a main road into a poor neighborhood where skinny dogs wandered around sniffing trash, and people watched us from their front porch rockers. When we stopped in front of a run-down, empty appearing grocery store, the limo looked incredibly out of place. Big Jim got out, and Neil rolled down his tinted window. “Where are you going?” Continue reading →