Preparing for the Big Day

 

Preparing for the Big Day

By John W. Vander Velden

 

This month uncounted millions will be hustling and bustling to get ready for a special day. There’s so much to do, events to plan, gifts to purchase and wrap, cards to send, and of course decorations to hang and spread about our homes and places of work. Yet in all the craziness of our activities very few of us include preparing ourselves, for the real reason we do all these and other things.

For you see December 25^th would be no more than any other day, if it were not for the one important thing that I prepare for, that is the birth of Jesus Christ. For I, like many others of faith, understand the significance of that event, an event that changed the world and continues to do so. For the birth of that one child, caused a shear point in history.

No, the world didn’t become a perfect place filled with perfect people, but with the birth of Jesus, God proved just how much he loved us. For Christ was born, just as we were. He was born to what might seem ordinary people, yet Mary and Joseph were anything but ordinary. Jesus was born in humble circumstances. Those that know the facts can see the profoundness of the birth of God’s Son.

I am a man of faith, raised in a family of faith, and none of these things are new to me. Throughout my life Christ’s birth was always at the center of Christmas. For when I hear someone say, They find Christmas a special time, I wonder, what it is that makes Christmas special to them. But for me and my family none of the glitter and glam, nothing hung on our tree or found beneath it, has as much importance at the birth of my Savior.

I will not pretend that I place enough effort in my preparations for the big day. For one thing, I don’t read my Bible as much as I should, yet my mind considers Christ’s birth each day, especially in December. And when I honestly look at myself and consider the flawed man I am, then I understand the extreme depth God went to in order to offer me an out, if you will. For I know that I fall short of what God wants me to be each day no matter how hard I try, and I do try. Yet I continue to be lacking in my thoughts and actions. But because of grace, undeserved but given to me anyway, I am, through Christ, acceptable.

So, I prepare myself for the celebration of one of the most important events in history, for Easter could not exist, if Jesus had not been born in Bethlehem. And that is indeed the real reason to celebrate December 25^th. It gives all the other stuff we do this time of year significance.  It is my hope that as you prepare for the big day, you will do so with Christ’s birth on your mind as well.

Hallelujah, Christ is born, born for you and me.

(513 Words) 12-9-2023

2022 Christmas Letter

 

2022 Christmas Letter

Our Farm

December 5, 2022

We have reached the final page of the 2022 Calendar. It seems the days have rushed pastat a crazy pace but time has returned, for me to consider the year nearly completed.

Once I thought the days dragged on and on, but now I see them as a blur of life events and everyday happenstances. I thought I would share a few of the things that made 2022 special.

Perhaps I should begin with February. The writer that lives at this address had a birthday, some might call it a milestone, for I turned 70. 70 is just a number, but some mornings, it seems a very large number. But it offers a platform to view things in a way I couldn’t before. I have a greater appreciation of things, and a perspective on what is really important, and what, I feel, carries an inflated value. I am grateful for the life I have been blessed with and those, including you my friends, I have had the very good fortune to know and love.

Let’s jump forward to May.

Observation tower at
Clingmans Dome

We had planned to go to Colorado early in the month, but other engagements pushed it to the last week of May. Conflicts delayed with those plans as well, and our return to the Golden State was postponed. Not to be deterred, completely, we aimed southward. It had been years since we had spent time in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and that became our destination. A week at the gateway to the Smoky Mountains was wonderful. Though it rained repeatedly, and I became soaked to the skin the first day down, the precipitation filled streams and waterfalls, and this photographer found hundreds of images to be captured. I saw my first bears in Cade’s Cove. Jackie and Nick had seen bear in Alaska way back in 1999, I had been on the wrong side of the bus on that occasion. 

We walked up to the top of Clingmans Dome, drove the Tail of the Dragon, in the rain no less, spent a day at Dollywood, hiked up to Laurel Falls, and even drove out to Ashville, North Carolina. Each day an adventure. Came home to rest up afterwards.

The summer rushed by so quickly, but we did several day trips, places like Shipshewana, Indiana, and up north into Michigan.

We remained busy throughout the fall, with our home, and family. Suddenly it was Thanksgiving and now December.

Now for a bit of specifics:

Jackie retired from pharmacy in September of last year...sorta’. She has continued to fill in a few hours a week, when needed. But it appears that soon retirement...sorta’ will become retirement for real. But she’s still adjusting to this new phase of her life. Like I told her the best thing about retirement is that you get to set your own schedule.

Nick remains in the Denver, Colorado area. He has been there since September of 2021.
He transferred to a new company early this year. Though he remains in the medical device field, the work experience at ConMed is more to his liking. He works as an engineer in the research and development department. It is across town from Arvada, the municipality in which he lives, but feels the change of states, (Kentucky to Colorado) was a good choice. He loves the area, and the energy of the people there.

Cloey, our sweet little dog, is now a teenager, in real years that is. I haven’t done the math to convert it to dog years, but that is neither here nor there. But the dear thing has a series of health issues and we worry about our little girl. But she is such a blessing to our home.

Well that leaves me. I remain too busy. Guess it’s part of my DNA. Besides taking care of our home and watching over the buildings at the farm, I am active in my church. But the thing that absorbs the largest part of my day is the keyboard and the stories that come from it. After four long years and a zillion hours, I completed the third book of the Misty Creek Series. With the Sun’s Rising is scheduled for release on March 7^th, 2023, on what would have been my father’s 98^th birthday. But one project completed means another must begin. So I have begun book 4. Yes, John must be crazy.

I guess that pretty much brings you up to date, so I will close with these few words. There is a reason to celebrate Christmas, and it is not because of some hypothetical imaginary magical day. No, we understand the real reason. For we celebrate that God so loved the world, He sent his Son...not to condemn but to save. We mark December 25^th as a day we focus on the birth of Jesus Christ, for whether Christ was born on that day or another is irrelevant. But the fact is that He was born, born for you and me, and that is more than reason enough to set a day aside to celebrate.

So it is our wish that this letter finds you and yours healthy and ready to face the year ahead. That Christmas brings all the love and light it can. That the reason for the season fills you heart with joy, laughter, and light.

From the Vander Veldens of the greater Tyner-Teegarden area of Northern Indiana, we wish you the merriest of Christmases, and a wonderful 2023.

John

 

 

December Open Spaces

 

 

Open Spaces

Vol. 21.12            December 24, 2021

By John W. Vander Velden

I have been writing these letters for nearly two years. Perhaps I should remind you where the title Open Spaces originated. It comes from two places actually. One: I love the open lands. Raised on a farm in northern Indiana. Becoming a farmer at the age of twenty. You might say I am a man of the land. When we travel Jackie and I find ourselves most at home, in areas of vast landscapes, whether that be the deserts of the Southwest, the trails in the Appalachian Mountains, or the out of the way coastal beaches of the Atlantic Ocean. We are most at ease spending time in Open Spaces. Two: The title is tied to the stories I have written. Or most of them anyway. Stories set in non-urban settings. Those are the places my stories take place. And those settings become an extra character within those stories, ie Elizabeth, Matthew, and the prairie grasslands etc.

Should it be surprising that I would call a newsletter about my writing...Open Spaces?

I think not.

“Shifting gears” or “back to tack”, I am the keyboard. I spend too many hours in front of the CPU screen it seems, but today, Christmas Eve, I have begun this month’s newsletter. For some it might be the first time you have found Open Spaces in your inbox. I welcome you and hope you find these words worth your time.

But it is Christmas Eve, and everyone is busy today. Yours truly included. But as we rush about attempting to finish all the last minute things we are certain need to be done, let us not forget that it’s Christmas. Christmas means a great deal to me.

Christmas is about Family. About my family...your family. This will be the first Christmas that Nick, our son, will be unable to join us, even for the few brief hours as he had these last years. But though our son is 1100 plus miles away, he is still family. He still has a piece of our hearts. The phone is a poor substitute, even a face on the screen is insufficient, but family’s bond is not diminished by distance, is it. Yes, Christmas is about family.

Christmas is about joy. Laughter at games we will play around the dining room table with others. Movies and music and all the rest that make for happy experiences. Yes, Christmas is about joy.

Christmas is about light. Lights on the tree, lights we see as we drive around at night, candles that burn around the Advent Wreath and sometimes light our home in the evening. God sent his Son to be a light in a dark world, a light for us all. Christmas is about light.

Christmas is about love. Love is the glue that holds the universe together. Love for family, for friends, for neighbors, for those we meet on the street. Love for our God. For Christmas is the ultimate sign of God’s love for you and me. Christmas is about love.

Christmas is about connections. About reconnecting to those we have allowed to drift away. About remembering connections that time and life has given. Those connections might appear to be severed by distance, or perhaps something that seems much more than measurable space. Deep connections are never limited by material boundaries. Even death’s chasm does not stop love’s reach...love’s binding...a connection unbreakable. Christmas is about all good connections.

What does Christmas mean to you?

 

Now for just a bit of writing news.

The third book of the Misty Creek Series has a name. I have finished the editorial revisions of With the Sun’s Rising in late-October. The BETA copies have been printed and distributed. One has come back to me, and I await their return of the others. I will carefully consider the answers to the questions I have asked my readers and study their comments. The book is scheduled to go back to my editor in mid-January. I will have a better handle on how much more work this book requires when Kristina, my editor, sends it back to me.

“Shuck to the cob”, John.

What this means is, I have reached an important milestone in the process of shaping this particular book. But it is a long work...646 pages, roughly the equivalent to two volumes, and I expect that I will need to pour many, many, more hours into the book before its completion. You will have to be patient, friends. I would expect a publishing date of summer 2023. I know that seems like forever, but imagine how it feels to this writer.

That’s where things stand from today’s viewpoint.

So I close this newsletter simply, for I wish you a Merry Christmas and a healthy 2022.

Blessings,

John

 

 

Looking for the links to purchase your own copy https://johnvandervelden.com/purchase-a-copy/

 

2021 Christmas Letter

December 8, 2021

Greetings from your Northern Indiana friends,

How has the year swept by so swiftly, and to my amazement the calendar tells me it is December once again. Yet looking back I can see, if I take the time, and I seldom do, that a great deal has occurred since last I sent you a couple of pages.

The world has moved beneath COVID 19’s shadow throughout 2021, but it has moved. Even though we know that the vaccine is no silver bullet, the shots removed a weight from our shoulders we did not notice we were carrying. Except in that burden’s absence. We remain diligent, but gained a confidence that we had done our part in this crisis, and felt more at ease in our day to day life.

That confidence opened us to consider many things we had postponed and avoided for more than a year. Travel being one of them. So once we were fully vaccinated and time became available we headed south to see Nick. The timing of our first trip made things awkward. That and the rush to put our itinerary together. Yet things fell together, sorta. Memorial Day weekend, messes with reservations we needed to make and we were unable to stay in the hotel we had used on each of our trips to see our son. So a hotel twenty miles east became our base camp for the week. That was how two teetotalers ended up dropped down in Bardstown, Kentucky, the Bourbon Capital of the world.

Actually we liked Bardstown, and it didn’t matter that you could hardly “chuck a rock” and not
hit a distillery. They were everywhere. But the old town has an incredible historic district with its shops and houses of a wide variety of architecture. We took time to see the museums and met some remarkable people. Spoke with an authoress who had been part of the city council for many years. Dixie Hibbs was proud not only of the many books she had written about the local history of the area, but also the community which was her home.

Each night we drove to Elizabethtown to meet with Nick as we did our best to catch up in ways that are impossible by phone. It had been more than a year since we saw our son face to face, and those hours were priceless.

During that week we also did a bit of semi-serious hiking. Clifty Falls State Park, near Madison, Indiana was our first, but time spent in the Red River Gorge area of Kentucky filled much of our walking time. Natural Bridge is a sight to be seen and I recommend it.

After we had returned home, a few day trips made up what turned out to be a busy summer. St. Joseph and South Haven, Michigan as well as visits to Goshen, Nappanee, and Shipshewana, Indiana were delightful brief escapes from Jackie’s work and what seemed the perpetual task of the grass I needed to clip. But one of this year’s biggest changes came about in September. For after forty years of service, Jackie decided the time had come to set her white coat aside.

Retirement is a big decision and each of us come to that crossroad by our own route. But for Jackie, as it was when I gave up tending the soil in 2017, there arrived a moment when she knew it was time to pass off the baton. However these past few months, Jackie has helped out at the pharmacy a few hours a week. She’s giving vaccinations in the hope of aiding in the protection of others. Doing her part remains important to her. It is as simple and complex as that.

September was a big month for other reasons. One, the really big one was that Nick moved from
Elizabethtown, Kentucky to Arvada, Colorado, a suburb of Denver. A visit to the Colorado Mountains a couple years ago made his heart yearn for the Denver area. He found a new position and west he went. Well, late September his parents had to drive the 1100 plus miles to see how he was settling in. That’s what parents do. But we found that our son loved the place he had alighted, and that was enough for us to be happy for him.

Though Jackie had been to all fifty states, I had never been to Colorado. Oh my, what scenic wonders! We visited with Nick in the evenings and did our sightseeing throughout most of the days. Spent half a day visiting with Jackie’s Aunt Elaine. What a delightful time we shared that day. Also on a misty day, temps in the 40s, after wandering the shops of Estes Park, we were invited to the home of one of Jackie’s Purdue classmates. It was a joy to watch these two friends reconnect after forty years.

Some friendships never die.

Our trip to Colorado was a fantastic time, and come spring we hope to make our way to the Centennial State again.

The fall has moved along too swiftly as it always seems when people are busy. And Jackie and I keep occupied. As for me, 2021 found me at the keyboard whenever time allowed. Too often and too long I must admit. I have been working on the third book of the Misty Creek series. Though publication of With the Sun’s Rising is more than a year away, I have been working on an editorial revision for most of this year. Am I please with this draft? Yes, I am. Will my readers be pleased? Well, I hope so, but time will tell.

I need to wrap this up, so I will close with these few words. Jackie and I wish you a very Merry
Christmas. And that you remember the important reason we celebrate this special time of the year. For God so loved the world, that’s more than rocks, seas, and trees...it includes you and me. That He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus. Born in a stable to ordinary, but most special people. Christ came into the world to save us from ourselves. Surely Jesus’ birth deserves this special day, Christmas.

May the light and love that is Christmas, fill your home and the hearts of all you love.

December Open Spaces

 

Open Spaces

Vol.: 20.12

By John Vander Velden

 

We are in the middle of Christmas. For those of you scratching your head and asking
isn’t Christmas celebrated on December 25^th? Yes, it is...but... For me Christmas begins on the 25th and runs nonstop until Epiphany on January 6^th. I recognize the 12 days of Christmas. So even though we near December’s very last days, I can say to you Merry Christmas...and mean it.

Yet as we pass through these wonderful days when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, we may feel that the dark cloud of COVID has stolen some of the holiday’s luster. If you are like Jackie and I, things were very different this season. To some degree many of us remain isolated. Even though the news of vaccinations is promising, this pandemic has not released us yet. We yearn for things to be “normal”, and find ourselves wondering if things will ever be the same as they were again.

Yes, Christmas in 2020 was, or as in my house is, different. But Christmas IS! And no disease can stop it. Because at the center...the very center...is that God so loved the world (you and me and everyone), SO much he sent His Son. That Jesus entered our world the same way we did, as a helpless babe. That this amazing child was born into the family of humble ordinary people, should speak to us all. That the Savior of humanity was first revealed to common shepherds, should show God’s openness for our access as well. That when later the child is acknowledged by kings, speaks of the grandness of God’s plan.

Christmas is about love! The love that stitches the universe together. The greatest power that can exist. For as I said before, love is at the center of God’s gift to us. For God so loved the world...

In a world that sets one against the other. In a world “where I am right and you are wrong” seems to be at the focus of so many people’s thoughts. In a world where “tit for tat” has come to be the norm. In a world filled with fear and hate, love gets lost, or in the least shoved to the wayside. Anger and bitterness surround us. It is too easy for us to lash back at comments made or what we feel are cruel actions directed our way.

Perhaps we will love them tomorrow...when it’s easier...or when they deserve it.

Yet we rely, with confidence, on God’s loves for us, as undeserving as we are. Isn’t that the whole point of Christmas? I find myself humbled by the simple fact that God did so much to prove His love for me. That is what Christmas means to me. And in that context, I am driven to try my best to love others as well.

So this month’s newsletter is different than those I have shared with you, dear friends, in the past. It is my deepest hope that your home is filled with Christmas...the real...the living Christmas. That the coming year brings you blessings, and health, but above all else...love. Love which comes to you and those you hold near, and a love you would gladly share to the world.

Merry Christmas,

John

Author of Misty Creek and Elizabeth’s Journey

 

p.s.

I must add a bit of writing news. I have finished the first revise of the third book of the Misty Creek Saga. Next month the manuscript goes to my editor and friend. So things continue onward. During these weeks I hope to finish a draft titled Severed Ties a standalone novel. So that’s where this writer guy finds himself at the moment. Hope to have more to tell you next month.

JV