Mid-month Mention: IN Prayer Walk Your Campus Day

For the past several years, I've been focused on increasing prayer in my life. Just prior to the pandemic, I had hopes of starting a new prodigal prayer group with Moms in Prayer International. Then, chaos ensued, my life became heavy, and that goal felt out of reach. I may not be able to kick-start a group of fellow parents praying for prodigal children. Yet, I continue to note the newsletters and information from MiPI.

This month, I want to draw attention to an opportunity early next month for my Indiana blog readers to participate in a prayer initiative. I received this letter from Lori Bell, the Indiana MiPI State Coordinator:

Hello, Indiana Prayer Warriors! I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Timothy 2:1-2 NIV

Kick off the 2025-2026 school year with a prayer walk for your child's school campus! Unanimously approved as a Resolution by the Indiana House of Representatives, Indiana Prayer Walk Your Campus Day is August 10, 2025. Gather friends and family to pray for your child, teachers and staff as you walk the school campus. Don’t have a child in school? We implore and welcome anyone who cares deeply for this generation of students - parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, pastors - join us in united prayer across Indiana. With your help, every campus will have a prayer walk! This event is sponsored by several Christian organizations, including Child Evangelism Fellowship, Christian Educators, Cru, Moms in Prayer International and Students Standing Strong.

My children are no longer in public schools (my youngest starts at Purdue University next month), but I believe in the power of prayer. Young people today face such intense spiritual opposition. I plan to participate on August 10, 2025. Years ago, I read Mark Batterson's outstanding book, The Circle Maker. I highly recommended this book in my book review. If you can, read Batterson's book and join others across Indiana in praying for the children of our state. If your heart aches for the children around you, sign up for Moms in Prayer International. Click here, if you wish to register and receive resources to guide your prayers in this particular Indiana endeavor. URGENT: That link encourages participants to register by JULY 15th to ensure timely delivery of the free resources! I only learned of this on July 10th, so sorry for not posting this sooner.

If you are not an Indiana resident, don't hesitate to initiate your own prayer walk. Or you can look at this MiPI events page to see if a prayer event is coming near you.

"If my people, which are called by my name, 

shall humble themselves, and pray, 

and seek my face, 

and turn from their wicked ways; 

then will I hear from heaven, 

and will forgive their sin, 

and will heal their land." 

- 2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV

Mid-month Mention #2: Ben's Ranch Barn Bash Fundraiser

I've been fortunate in my life to have benefited from some excellent counseling. Not just the kind where a counselor sits and listens and jots notes on a notepad, expecting the mere act of vomiting forth all your pain to somehow alleviate your mental and emotional anguish. No, my life changed by some grace-based, in-your-face counseling. The kind where you're called on the carpet for your dysfunction and have to look it square in the eye, perhaps for the first time in your life.

But when my son was full of anxiety and seeking all the wrong answers to overwhelming questions, our stab at counseling came up empty. Sometimes traditional therapy and counseling can't make a dent in a problem. For me, I felt a gentle internal nudge to seek something for him in nature and with animals. So, on the heels of our failed counseling attempts, I discovered Ben's Ranch, a non-profit organization in the Indianapolis area that recognizes the powerful elixir available to young people when they connect with nature and animals by working on a farm or ranch. Time with animals is healing. Hard work on a farm is enriching and character-building. My son's internship with Ben's Ranch bore out tangible improvements.

He wasn't riding the horses or even brushing them down, but his work clearing their stalls and replenishing water and hay nurtured a new self-confidence. A sense of accomplishment. He recognized visible results from his efforts. It was hard, outdoor work and required the discipline of heading to the ranch for two hours every weekday morning to muck out the stalls.

Our benefits surpassed individual maturity. Our son was 16 and still learning to drive, so I had to accompany him. I relished those morning commutes because, while he was driving, he was a captive audience. We had many in-depth conversations we might not have snatched were it not for those morning trips to a ranch in a town twenty minutes away. Because of the distance, it seemed a waste of time and gas for me to return home, so instead I brought along my lap-top and began working on a collection of poems about the experience of parenting a struggling teen. When your teen is in a rough patch, the road is bumpy for you, too.

Ben's Ranch is a relatively new non-profit organization. They have a fundraiser coming up and I wanted to highlight many of the ways you and I can partner with them to bring these healing opportunities to anguished teens. Here is the information on their flyer:

My husband and I have purchased tickets to the Barn Bash and plan to attend. In fact, I'll be there selling my book, with part of the proceeds going to support their foundation. It's an opportunity to visit Connor Prairie, enjoy yard games, and maybe even fit in a hot air balloon ride. 

If you live in the Indianapolis area and are interested in finding a helpful non-profit organization to support, consider following this link to the Ben's Ranch website events page.

You don't have to commit to the whole afternoon or dinner. You might wish to simply purchase tickets to the 4 p.m. panel discussion on "Teen Mental Health and Our Schools." Panel participants are highlighted on the above linked events page. Even if you can't attend the Barn Bash, consider making a donation or check out the items up for bid in their silent auction. The silent auction is available for on-line bidders, as well, at this link. The bidding opens 4/24/23 and closes at 5:30 p.m. on 4/30/23. You don't have to attend or live in Indianapolis in order to bid, as they will ship items to winners outside the area. My book is the only Buy-it-Now item available. Why not support this helpful organization?

Book Review: Indiana Winter

Once again, I jumped through the ridiculous and often annoying hoops required to take part in my library's winter reading challenge. I so prefer to read what I want to read and not what they dictate or suggest. Still, I'm always lured in with hopes to win a prize for my reading. (I won nothing.) Thankfully, many of the books I had already chosen to read fit the categories outlined in this winter challenge: a recipe book (which I didn't review because I only copied one recipe), a new form of reading (the book I read on my phone), and a biography of someone (Diana and her boys). This book, Indiana Winter, by Susan Neville, fulfilled a category suggesting you read a book with "Winter" in the title. Thankfully, since the author is a writing professor at Butler University, the book was interesting and well-written.

Indiana Winter offers a smattering of essays about, you guessed it, Indiana in winter. The most interesting thing about this collection is that it weaves fact and fiction. Neville acknowledges she travelled around Indiana and gleaned snippets of overheard conversation. Using that dialogue, she intertwined some short-story telling into these essays. She visits museums, the women's prison, small town gatherings, the State Fair, and John Mellencamp's art opening. The essays have the feel of listening in on conversations, but also give the feel of Indiana's people and places. Her personal narrative about growing up with a manic-depressive mother is fascinating. I would love to meet this author someday. She won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction. Her website offers an email address. Perhaps I will send her a letter.

Are Indiana Churches The Proverbial Canary?

Photo by Kaikara Dharma on Unsplash

Desperate to ease the financial pressures of lock-down, the country is beginning disparate re-opening phases. Although the White House issued criteria, many states are ignoring those guidelines. The most significant benchmark calls for a two-week decline in documented cases. In Indiana, from April 27th through May 3rd, they documented an average of 700 additional cases per day on the ISDH website, with no decline in sight. My own rural county has 883 documented cases and 46 deaths. Yet, Indiana is re-opening.

While most businesses will be held to stringent occupancy percentages, Governor Holcomb has given a green light to churches to re-open with no attendance cap. His words, as he described his reasoning, brought to mind the canaries miners often used to alert them to dangerous gases. Holcomb explained, "What we're going to do is learn from these steps that we're taking....  We just thought a good place to start or have a control group, would be places of worship." Control group ... canary ... call it what you will. It appears church-goers will reveal the ramifications of re-opening.

Of course, Governor Holcomb encouraged pastors to follow social distancing guidelines and take adequate cleaning measures. But it raises many questions I fear churches will not take sufficient time to consider and address. Ken Braddy, of Lifeway Christian Resources, attempted to pose many of these questions in his blog article, "Twenty Questions Your Church Should Answer Before People Return." As comments poured in, the twenty questions proved insufficient. He re-titled that blog post and wrote another, "Twenty-Four More Questions the Church Should Ask Before People Return." He mentions many concerns I expected: communion, offering, and especially, enforcing social distancing and cleaning. Will the church turn people away? Will believers eager to see their brothers and sisters in Christ maintain the recommended distance and fight the urge to greet and converse in the hallways? Not to mention the many differing perspectives on the threat. Whose perspective is right?

Is it best to wear a mask and reduce transmission, or is it best to shun masks and increase your body's immune defenses? Will all people eventually encounter this virus or are we actually flattening the curve by sheltering-in-place? Things get even murkier when you address the spiritual dimension. Some assert their faith is proved in their eagerness to resume regular worship (can we truly go back to normal?). Fight fear with faith. Others argue that, while we shouldn't give way to fear (God is the source of our ultimate satisfaction in life or in death), we should also practice the discretion and wisdom He's given to avoid danger. It's like the story of the drowning man who ignores three heavenly-orchestrated opportunities for rescue while praying and asserting his faith in God.

The church we currently attend, in normal circumstances, has barely an open seat for a newcomer. With Governor Holcomb's blessing, they are resuming with a Mother's Day service. Most years, on Mother's Day, it is my greatest desire to worship with my husband and children beside me. This year, I'm conflicted. Indeed, they intend to resume our small group Bible study, held in someone's home. I'm not on board for that either. I don't wish to play the role of canary.

In some ways, this pandemic has encouraged the church to go out into the highways and byways with the gospel. I have invited non-believing friends to watch uplifting and encouraging worship services. David Jeremiah aired an outstanding sermon addressing the corona-virus. On-line viewing eliminates the awkward threat of entering an unfamiliar sanctuary. At other times, I've shared a multitude of virtual worship experiences (I just found this excellent one for "Be Thou My Vision" and one from my friend, Randy Bonifield, "Christ Be All Around Me"). The Salvation Army seldom holds open-air services as they used to, but one Chicago corps took small ensembles out into the communities to share hymns. They reasoned if the people can't go to the church, bring the church to the people. It no doubt blessed those neighbors as they stood at safe distances listening to hymns of the faith.

I'd be the first to declare how much I love singing praise and worship to God among friends and fellow believers. I know how important it is to break the bread of His Word together. Yet, while I understand the intense blessing of corporate worship, I worry we are rushing back into the sanctuary out of eagerness to return to normalcy. And if we let our guard down, telling ourselves the danger is behind us (ignoring the continuing escalation of numbers), will we live to regret it? Or rather, will we die as we regret it? Will our control group experiment prove to Indiana that it is unsafe to return to the mine, singing blithely "Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's back to church we go?"

NOTE: While I oppose the idea of "no attendance caps" and using the church as "a control group," I am not wishing to express any criticism of others who feel safe and comfortable returning to their places of worship. My husband will attend our church's socially-distanced service, where I will not. Each individual must do as his conscience and soul directs. I bristle at the expression of worshipers as an expendable commodity to practice on and glean information from as a result of their open attendance together in worship. My heartfelt plea is for caution. Churches must carefully think through each aspect of their worship together. I pray readers will not take offense, but will take every precaution to stay safe.

From Now On, It's Just Corn in Indiana, Folks!

After years of hearing the jingle "there's more than corn in Indiana, at Indiana Beach," Apex Parks announced yesterday the closure of the amusement park on Lake Shafer in Monticello, Indiana. The park was originally owned and operated by the Spackman family until sold to corporate firms in 2008 and again in 2015. Our family enjoyed our earlier trips from Bryce's infancy in the mid-90s to the early years of our younger boys, but grew dismayed when commercialism sullied what had been a delightful family-friendly experience, full of time-honored traditions and fun. A sad day for all!

An Amateur Ode to Indiana Beach
by Wendy Hill
2/19/2020

94 years is an awful long time

for rich amusement on only a dime.

Family friendly, for oh so long.

Why did it have to go so wrong?

But greed crept in and loyalties shifted;

The crowds grew thin and interest drifted.

When making a buck usurped building a dream,

memories of good times gave way to a scheme:

give up the locals, increase the fees,

sacrifice the goal of trying to please.

The mighty dollar crushed happiness.

Could we have really expected less?

We'll cherish the memories of times gone by:

walking the boardwalk, riding the rides,

eating an elephant ear, hearing a band,

digging our toes down into the sand.

A quarter a shot in the arcade.

Collecting tickets for a worthy trade.
The Double Shot ride was a show-stopper;
for tiny tots, it was the Frog-hopper.
The Hoosier Hurricane provided a shake;
The Shafer Queen, a trip round the lake.
We dared the Sky Coaster, a chance to fly;

The swings on the water, as wind swept by.
The Cornball Express and the Falling Star,
Little ones jumped on a plane, boat, or car.
We went upside down on the Steel Hawg;
Cooled on hot days with a ride in a log.
Ate pronto pups and bought names in wire;
watched water-skiers jump through the fire.
The snapshots vivid, the memories true,
Indiana Beach, we bid you adieu!

Oh for those sweet years! Look at their faces!

Our fearless fellows!

Brotherly love.

Trevor scavenged someone's glasses left on the ground - goofball!

Music Camp 2016 In the Books

Another music camp has come and gone. Once again, I was asked (graciously) to be on faculty (this time in primarily assistance roles - shwew!) and once again, I had a marvelous time. We figured out that this is my 5th year on the faculty and not since my first year have I been able to attend with one of my sons as a camper. Thankfully, this year was Trevor's first year that he took any interest in going (I'm guessing this was prompted a bit by his upcoming role in the percussion section of his middle school band).

My first assignment was to administer the theory tests to all campers. I kept waiting and waiting for Trevor to make his way into the dining hall, so I could see how much theory he actually knows. Alas, he never arrived. When I checked on this at the faculty meeting, that first afternoon, I discovered that his counselor never took he or another few boys to their placement tests (not for theory or band placement). As a result, that evening he was pulled aside by the percussion instructor and simply asked a few questions. Because he didn't try out, he ended up being placed in the beginner band (a placement he felt was in error because he could perform far better than his peers in the band). Even so, he was able to shine in his track and had a good time making a friend in one of the other percussion members in that band.

At the first evening program, the faculty was introduced to the campers in a rousing game of "Would You Rather." Since the theme was based upon Star Wars, most of the questions I was asked were hard to answer because I've only seen three movies and many a moon ago.

On the evening of the second full day, Trevor wanted to go home. The heat was really taking a toll on him (most days were in the 90s with a real feel over a hundred). When he went to sign up for his afternoon elective, all the indoor games slots were filled and so they placed him in the hiking track. He's a bulky boy and hiking in the best of conditions would be a challenge for him. He gave up after ten minutes and ended up standing in the sun for the rest of the hour, waiting for the others to return. He was none too pleased to discover that the evening program required more walking in the heat as we participated in a music scavenger hunt. Still, he survived and ended up really enjoying his camp experience, despite the heat.

Before we knew it, the middle of the week arrived and with it the promise of the annual faculty trek to Steak-and-Shake. We always pile into a bunch of vans and descend upon the unsuspecting restaurant, requiring two lengthy tables to fit us all. Conversation was good and it was such fun to spend time among the adults after pouring into so many kids throughout the week.

Another highlight of the encampment was the opportunity to play my horn with the faculty band. We attempted a rather difficult Star Wars arrangement and I was given the solo horn part (even though I had offered to cover 2nd Horn, not wanting to be responsible for any unexpected solo). There was a section in the music where I was supposed to play slurred triplets of E-C-E, E-C-E, ... over and over. Because the fingering is the same for both notes, it was all lip to try to get the notes out. In the end, I gave up and simply counted those measures off - ha!

I think my favorite piece that we played was a cornet solo featuring Lynda Carr Cooper. It was called "People Need the Lord." Lynda is a phenomenal musician and the piece is absolutely beautiful. Plus, my part provided a soothing harmony for the melody line.

My favorite assignment this year was a role as assistant leader for a Creative Writing Elective. All of our campers in the class were enthusiastic about writing (such a pleasure to meet young people with similar passions to my own). I had prepared about a hundred writing prompts and each camper was given a day to write up a post for a blog about camp. The girls (all girls) had a wonderful time getting thoughts down and sharing what they had written with everyone else in the class.

At the final concert of the week, the intermediate choir (the track I assisted with) did a fabulous job. They enjoyed both of the two numbers selected by the leader and I was able to direct one of the pieces (great fun). By the time the concert was over and our instruments and belongings collected, both Trevor and I were pleasantly exhausted. We stopped for a special Culver's treat on the way home to celebrate a fantastic shared camp experience.

More Than Corn in Indiana

Indiana Beach's famous theme song says, "There's more than corn in Indiana, at Indiana Beach." Well, there's not a whole lot more than corn, but we still find ourselves going back year after year for old time's sake. Frankly, after you've been to Cedar Point, it is hard to get very worked up about a simple trip to the Indiana Beach Amusement Park. Moreover, the park just isn't what it once was. The boys are almost too big for the appeal of a family-friendly park (i.e., the rides are very basic and instead of improving, the park tends to decline year after year). It used to be run and manned by local folk and things were fairly inexpensive. While you can still pay to simply walk around the park (something we always appreciated in years when I was pregnant), lots of things have increased in price (you now have to pay $7 for a locker to store things for the water area, whereas it was always only 50 cents before).

The one thing in its favor, (which cannot really be a good thing, if you think about it) is that you don't have to fight off crowds. We went on a Wednesday and barely waited for a single ride. Plus, we do have a few things we like to do in a ritualistic way. For example, the boys always want to have money for the arcades and insist on spending some of it in the Ghouls Shooting Gallery:

They always beg to ride the Sky Coaster (even though it adds further expense):

We have a few favorite rides (The Falling Star, The Cornball Express, The Tig'rr, Double Shot, and The Steel Hawg). You can clearly see the lack of a line:

Plus, this year we rode the Shafer Queen around Lake Shafer:

The boys rode the one new ride (new as in it had never been there before, but old as in it still has the FireBall sign on one side, while Indiana Beach has named it ZeroG - must be some other amusement park's castoff). We pined away for the taste of a fruit smoothie (because they have removed that particular booth, along with the Noble Roman's pizza and the booth where we once purchased wire name sculptures - too many cherished memories deflated). We were still able to finish the day with a delicious elephant ear, so all was not lost.

============

As of 2/19/20 Apex Parks announced Indiana Beach will be closed for good. Here's an ode to Indiana Beach and a few of our treasured memories.

A Wonderful Writer's Retreat

My husband scheduled workmen to come into the house to repaint our dining room and kitchen and replace some doors and trim in that area. This is right where I normally sit to write (although I have recently taken to working in Bryce's room because it is more isolated and I think better). Thankfully, my husband encouraged me to find a retreat center where I could go for a writing retreat. I thought about going to the place I visited several years ago, but remembered that they have no wifi or phone service in that remote location (and I often feel a need to look something up to support something I'm writing at the moment, like I found a wonderful list of names meaning wolf to use for the counselor and test administrator in my novel). Thus, I sought out a different place and happened upon this wonderful retreat center on Lake Bruce in upper Indiana.

Run by a family of wonderful Christians, the center is used for prayer retreats, marriage retreats, group retreats, and individual retreats. You have to place a request and be approved and I was thrilled to learn that my request was granted. There was another group of nine college students there (for less than twenty four hours of my stay) when I arrived, but they were quiet and remained in their side of the house. I was placed in the Francis Schaeffer suite, complete with two bedrooms with queen beds, a sitting room, and a kitchenette.

(these first three photos were taken from the retreat center website at Mahseh Ministries, where there are loads of photos that fully reflect the beauty of the house and grounds - I'm not capable of providing such quality photography, nor did I have access to a boat to take the lovely shot from the water - ha)

I had a lovely view from my balcony:

Once I had the house to myself, I tended to work at a desk in the hallway with four windows overlooking the lake (again, the photo is mine, so the quality is meager):

There was a tremendous library in the basement (along with access to a DVD player and television equipment, but I left those alone, choosing to focus entirely on my writing and on some supportive reading - these are again photos from the website):

There was a beautiful view of the water from the basement (my photos):

I brought simple foods to prepare so that I wouldn't need to leave the retreat center at all and could focus entirely on my writing. Alas, upon arrival, I realized that I had forgotten the cord to my laptop at home. Thus, I had to take a trip over to Rochester, Indiana, to visit a Walmart and pick up a universal laptop cord (not cheap - expensive mistake).

But, I was indeed able to focus on my writing for the most part and managed to spit out another 21,769 words during the time I was there from Monday afternoon through Thursday morning. This brought me up and over the Nanowrimo goal of 50 thousand words, but much of the novel still needs to be completed. I was feeling stuck when I left, because the main character needs to do something bold and sacrificial and I had no vision for what that was, but a walk at the track this morning has given me a bit of an idea (although I don't know that it is sufficient or what I'm really looking for).

All in all, it was a very productive yet relaxing time. The owners were very gracious and even invited me for dinner one night (I declined, preferring to hole up in my suite writing away). I'm so grateful this opportunity came together for me. It was a God thing, to be sure!