Whew! The summer is flying by. It’s only three or four weeks until school starts again! But, amidst all the hustle and bustle, we were able last week to take the girls on a short vacation. We drove to Eureka Springs, Arkansas and did some sight-seeing and relaxing. It was a wonderful trip.
For anyone who doesn’t know anything about Eureka Springs, the big draw there, and the most exciting part of the trip for us, is the New Holy Land. Years ago, some folks began building a Bible-themed area there. In the 1960′s, the Christ of the Ozarks was built. The statue stands 67 feet tall, with arms outstretched to welcome all who would come to Him. Near the Christ of the Ozarks is a section of the Berlin Wall, standing as a reminder. On the grounds there is a Sacred Arts Center, a collection of various beautiful paintings, sculptures and other artwork with biblical or Christian themes, some centuries old. Their Bible Museum has been independently rated as second only to the Library of Congress for its collection of Bibles. It holds Bibles in many languages, historical and rare printings of the Bible and other interesting items. There are two 30-minute dramas done in the evening by actors dressed as people from Biblical times – one as a shepherd who talks about David and other shepherds in the Bible, and one a potter who creates a vessel as he talks about how we are the clay that God molds.
But the highlights for the girls of the whole day there were the Living Bible Tour and the Passion Play. The tour takes two hours and stops in different areas where characters such as the woman at the well, Moses, Simon Peter, Ruth and others tell about their lives and explain how things were made or done in Bible times. The replica of the tabernacle is fabulous! Then, around 8:30 in the evening, the Passion Play begins. It is the largest attended outdoor drama in the US, having been host to over 7.5 million people. They portray the last few days of Jesus’ life, including the last supper, the trials and crucifixion, the resurrection and appearances to His disciples and then jump to Jesus’ ascension. It is an incredible production. The girls all cried during the presentation, as what they’d read in the Bible became more real to them. It was a marvelous day for all of us.
The next day we visited a variety of places. First we saw the Blue Spring Heritage Center, a botanical garden spreading over 33 acres. We fed the trout in the lagoon and cooled our feet in Blue Spring, which puts out 38 million gallons of water per day (all about 54 degrees!). When we left there, we went to Thorncrown Chapel, a magnificent structure made mostly of glass and situated in a beautiful, wooded area. Then we went on to visit Quigley’s Castle, an amazing home which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. After a brief rest at the motel, we spent most of the afternoon popping in and out of the quaint little shops in downtown Eureka Springs.
We made our return trip on Sunday and were thankful to be able to worship in Harrison on the way home. The Northside Church of Christ heavily supports Children’s Homes and the folks there made us very welcome. It was such a treat to get to visit them and share our thanks for all they do to bless us.
Obviously, a trip like the one we took is not free. While some of the places we visited were free or very inexpensive, it still costs money to stay in a motel and eat out. CHI has a budget and a formula for calculating funds for vacations, because we want the kids here to remember having had family fun as well as the work they do here to make changes in their lives. But I also want to thank our sponsoring congregation, Gardner Church of Christ in Martin, TN, for helping make this trip as wonderful as it was. Back at Christmas, they asked about what big item they could help us with for the cottage. At that point, we’d been having trouble with our lawn mowers and I suggested that they could help us with a new one if they wanted to do that.
They collected enough for a beautiful new mower and more. They told us to keep the extra and put it toward a vacation this summer. (All this on top of having made Christmas very special for the girls.) So some of the things we did last week happened because of the generous folks from Gardner Church of Christ. The girls had a vacation they will never forget and we want to thank all of the people who made that possible.
