Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes
On May 1, a lot of things are going to change.
Rosanne and I will leave Montverde and head to Italy a few days later. Hopefully, the house sale will close and central Florida will be a fond memory.
We will spend six weeks exploring possibilities in the Reggio Emilia area.
Of course, Today’s Word will continue uninterrupted.
You can still order hardcopies of my books but they will be shipped from the publisher. It will take a bit more time and the cost will go up a bit (the price list will change shortly).
Communication via email will be fine, but phone calls are done for awhile.
Those of you who send monthly checks have been notified of the new address in the USA.
But most of all, there’s this: (just a reminder)
Today’s Word is a personal exploration of biblical and cultural assumptions. That’s why the topics are so diverse and the biblical passages are so scattered. I am not trying to write theology or follow some topical idea or develop some theme. I write according to what I experience in my journey. That means that most of the time I am just connecting the dots. I write about relationships between ideas found in culture and in the Bible. I look for historical connections. I find interesting parallels between Scripture and material outside the Bible. I look for relationships between what we believe today and what the writers believed centuries ago. Sometimes this ends in blind alleys. Sometimes I make mistakes. But that’s the nature of open-ended exploration. I try not to start with a foregone doctrinal position. I try to open up the paradigm assumptions that I grew up with. I try to see what’s there as opposed to what I wish were there.
All of this means that I am learning as I go. Things change. I’ve changed my mind about previous beliefs. I correct myself. I am just as subject to error as anyone else. I try to be careful, but I have blind spots too.
If you find these explorations useful, mazel tov. If you don’t, that’s okay too. I’m not trying to please everyone. If you find that what I write about is upsetting, you might be in the right place. But if you want to argue about what you believe, then maybe you should start your own web site. Remember, this is my journey. You don’t have to agree. I don’t expect you to agree. But you’re welcome to come along if you wish.
I am grateful for each one of you who have been part of the long journey. I hope that as these changes take effect you will decide to stick around for the conclusion.
Thank you.
Skip
Wow … Are you sure you want to live in Italy? The state of the state is deplorable…..
May your journey continue and as long as I can I will tag along – I have learned much from your journey and some of it speaks into mine. My husband Haile and I are in transistion too except we don’t know where we are going yet having had to live apart last 9 months due to immigration rules and economics (our only options US or Canada)….Italy sounds much more appealing – (smile).
May your physical move and change bring you into a wider place and a refreshing time.
Wishing you and Rosanne every blessing.
Christine
Skip,
You know and I know God will bless your every step.
I pray you and Roseanne will love the excitement that
lies ahead and ultimately find rest and peace when your
ideal new home reveals itself.
Skip, after visiting Israel the first time I realized that if we don’t read scripture through the eyes of the people who wrote it (in their original language), we will likely concoct our own meaning. Then I found Today’s Word. I read much, post little, but I’m always grateful for the study you put into what you share with us. Blessings as you travel and relocate, and thank you for including us in your journey.
Blessings to you and Rosanne on this new journey in your lives. And I’ve
enjoyed and learned so much in this TW journey with you as well. I don’t post much because most times I can’t even verbalize the thoughts going through my head after I’ve read one. But I’ve grown deeper in my journey with God and scripture because of this!
Blessings to you both for this new chapter in your life…
And Skip, I’m in!
Skip and Rosanne; going around corners is scary and hard, too. I hope and pray that you follow the direction of the Holy Spirit and that YHVH will keep you both safe “under the covert of His wings”. May the family you have there bless you and may you have peace, and may you continue to be able to keep in touch with your family and children back over here, too.
P.S. Thank you so much for the roller coaster ride (so many times it has been comic relief from mine!) and for being a brave example of how you start over, and over and over. Wait; that sounds like the patterns of nature!
I love you guys very much. Thank you for taking us with you, and I hope that you share many pictures, too.
Seems like many of us are going through cha-cha-changes ? I, of course, continue the journey with you. I have learned so much! May YHWH ‘s Ruah continue to lead and guide you both as you do His will on earth. Shalom Shalom!
Shalom Shalom in the next steps along your journeys path.
Via con Dios Skip and Rosanne. I am one who reads 100 times more than I comment. Your train is too fast for this methodical process thinker. But the challenge of keeping up has been fun. My first read of your blog was Proverb 31 and the woman who laughs at/mocks the future. I’ve learned much – you have exceeded expectations in areas of hermeneutics. You’re Guardian Angel made my love and respect for my beautiful Liz and all women go way above where it already was. It was already way up there, now I know some of the “Why”.
Just wanted to give you and Rosanne a blessing.
Dear Skip,
This seems an appropriate time to say what has been on my heart for a long time: thank you so very much for allowing me to tag along these past years. I came for answers and got so much more.
We will be praying for you, that His mercy and good favor will be generously given to you and go before you each day, and that He will be esteemed in you and you in Him, for the sake of His name. And thanks for allowing us to join in your explorations.
“I’m stuck on you” comes to mind as Cha, cha, cha, changes occur. As I posted to you recently, you have been SUCH a GREAT BLESSING to me, your insight into Scripture is truly a Blessing by G-d. Praise Him and thank you for listening to His guidance. May He protect you and Roseanne in you travels to a new home, open the hearts of those that you meet and begin a new home and life with.
Dear Skip and Rosanne, So interesting that you should be returning to the “country” of the ports where we first met on board the Celebrity Silhouette 6 years ago and cha-cha-changed everything in our lives forever. I am now more glad than ever that I was able to attend your last LA Bible class last weekend in New Orleans. The course on Prayer was a perfect way to say goodbye, shalom and may you and Rosanne be carried On Eagles Wings in the Italy that you so love. Penny and I wish we could be doing the same.
Thank you so much for all you have done for us over the years. Our hearts will always beat in tune with yours.
What an exciting and scary time for you guys! The journey continues and will until the day the breath of life departs. I hope your travels land you in a place of peace and pray that God continues to teach you both. I am grateful that you will continue Today’s Word and look forward to the sharing of your life’s journey. I have learned much and learned to question much! Can’t say I always agree but isn’t that life?!
Please give Rosanne my best and thank you for sharing your life with this small community. Contentment I believe is the hallmark of true peace. The apostle Paul has much to say on the subject. You are in good company 🙂
Ciao
Lech L’cha:”Go forth from your land, your birthplace, your father’s house, to the land that I will show you.” Abraham and Sarah obeyed the call to GO and ended up with much more than a condo in the Promised Land. May you and Rosanne too, find much more than a villa in Him as You GO. Looking forward to what is next for us, for you and for this special community. Arnella and I enjoyed meeting you in New Orleans last weekend (but sorry we missed meeting George).
Had we known you were in the region we would have gone out of my way to meet you and your wife. C’est la vie Michael. Maybe someday in Jamaica mon.
Skip, Your ministry has been a tremendous blessing in my life from the first time I “stumbled” across it at the beginning of this journey I am now on. I had the opportunity to be in your conference 3 times that you were in New Jersey. I am going to miss that! I’m grateful for all that you share with us and will continue to look forward to it as you and Roseanne start this new phase in your lives. May God bless you both richly in all that you do! I’m looking forward to the new insights that you will share with us as you continue your journey and let us tag along through TW and the beautiful pictures that you share with us!
Dear Brother (and Sister, tho I’ve never actually met you,Roseanne),
I am so sad. I feel like you have just sent out a sort of “good-bye” letter… and I am crap at good-byes. You will be soooo far away (physically), but, because you are a world traveler… and because Michael lives in Seattle… I am PLANNING that you will “come home soon” so that we can see each other. Ric and I want you to know… really FEEL… the impact you have made on our lives, Skip. YOU ARE A KEY PLAYER in our paradigm shift… and oh how freeing, how lovely it is!!! You have been so brave to stand the tide… even to the point of losing your professorship (uh, THEIR LOSS for sure!!!)
We, too, are making some huge physical changes (we are moving closer to Seattle and were SO SUPER EXCITED to hopefully get to see you more often… uh, Italy isn’t going to do it for us!!!)
We praise God for you, Skip, and we pray for you and yours continually. I know this is an exciting time for you and Roseanne… but I’m feeling sorry for myself right at this moment. TW is A PRICELESS GEM to us and we definitely count ourselves privileged to have access to your “journal” of sorts. However, physical proximity can’t be replaced with Internet dialogue. How about having a 2nd home in Seattle… pretty please?
Grateful we can “tag along” on your amazing journey. Can’t wait to invite you and your family over for lunch once we have gotten off at that long awaited jumping off destination!!
Know that you are appreciated and tucked into warm spot in our prayers as you step out !! Pray the landing is soft…
We’re going to miss you around our neck of the woods! But I’m excited for the next part of your journey! 🙂 Thank you for sharing your spiritual explorations, too. I know that I appreciate the time and effort that it takes you to ponder and write these Today’s Word posts. You bless so many people, challenging us and sharing with us. Shalom as you go! And big hugs!
Amanda & John
Bon voyage
It seems so easy, how you say all that is, in and around your life. IT is lovely to see someone breath with and for others. Thankyou. Skip for hearing and responding. Your life seems so fluid. Is a life in God actually seemless and change is just stretching our material over the obstacles or beauty, with some distortions of shape that make us more of a fit to life as God plans for us?
I have always liked the saying God’s speed. It seems in my mind to invoke more than good wishes. God’s speed to you both. I haven’t come across it in the bible. I don’t actually think it is in it. To me the pace is irelevant as sometimes we need to be snails over the razor blade..but God will make sure you have the slime. But mainly I mean it to say I trust God to provide what you need when you need it. He knows.
FJ
According to Duteronomy the festival cycles where tied to the moment the “Barley was in Aviv ” just becoming ripe for the harvest. This tells me that Yehovah is concerned with our intimate concections and their sacredness – with the everyday moment’s of our lives and how they connect with the greater cycles of the creation. Thank you Skip for sharing from the real issues of your experiance. It informs ours. May the Lord bless your going out and your comeing in from this day forth and forever more. Something tells me not being a resident of America might be a good thing in the years to come. But where can any of us actually hide?
I reckon we hide in a trusting relationship based on His determination of reality, just like our Saviour the obedient son, who hid on the Cross. Obedience is the “I get it “, The ‘what He has said we will do moment’ individually and hopefully corporately as an action of love in moment by moment time. Even as we agree with God, so many of us distort what that agreement is, as our journey to unlearn and re-establish is fraught with the heart that is deceptive above all things. Tides in and tides out in our minds of what actually is. Sometimes exposed, sometimes covered.
I struggle with how many versions of just keeping Time in the way He asks us to memorialise what is important to Him for our own benefit. This is still the heart attitude of seeking His desire as the Cross of Hiding in the cleft of His presence. Cycles of sacred time aid us in returning and the most rejected of sacred time of the Sabbaths was the land Sabbaths and Jubilee as it opposes our tendency to say God is in control of our lives on a continual basis in the economic realm whilst doing another. For us; whether we acknowledge them partially or not in the realm of self they still ask insistently from the weekly to yearly to each 7 years to each 50 in greater clarity…….who do we really trust for provision and who do we really say is creator and lover of us….Only for farmers in the land…?? This effected every person and it was the biggie that was neglected then as it is now in remembering. Loose Torah yes but memorialising is connection to truth. We could learn something in the doing. Just thinking from experience. Shalom FJ
Thanks Skip!! Bruce and I have loved being on this journey with you, with the challenges and all. We count it a privilege! May the Lord guide and protect you in these months to come, and lead you both to your perfect new home! Looking forward to hearing more.
“Stay for the CONCLUSION”??? oh .. may it never be so!
But in the meantime, may you and your Ezer find blessings galore as you take this leg of your earthly journey…
May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and….well, may you always partake of the sunset with a sweet glass of wine. You truly have been a blessing on my journey 🙂
My prayers for you & Rosanne in this new season. The area you are exploring is so culturally rich. I’ve always been interested in the co-operative economic model found in Emilia Romagna, ideal for artists & artisans. Will look forward to updates on your new journey.
Hey Skip that’s wonderful I know we’re not supposed to covet ,but do you need a grunt a helper a somebody to carry your luggage polish your shoes we even clean toilets !?but more on the serious side. I work for a man ,Silvano Achrio In his vineyard and Orchard.he makes several trips to Italy every year with his family that’s where he’s from he’s in his 80s and I recall that you were once looking for an apartment I inquired about your needs but you never answered so I am again .would you like me to contact him on your behalf and pass your information along so that you might find a place there if that is still a need of yours. Shalom and happy trails
Sure. Thanks. Please respond to
skipmoen@mac.com
So well said!