MORGAN'S MOMENT...
“Do you ever stay home?”
Embarrassing to be asked so often…
     as we admit to yet another journey
     while still journaling the last.
Is perception really truth…
     that we’re more away
     than in residence where we vote?
Is it proper to answer the question
     “Where can I find you?”
    with a cell phone number?
Does a caller who reaches us
     really know or care
     that we are not in our house?
Do you now begin a phone call
     asking “where are you?”
     because people are so mobile?
We used to say that
     our phone is at our home…
     now home is where our phone is.
I’m thinking that we are most at home
     when we feel in reach of
     those we love and care about.
If we can stay connected
     to the present moment
     we are always at home.
— Art Morgan 

BOOK CORNER
At last report I was starting the biography of John Adams. I’m still reading it. Here is a quote from his wife, Abigail, written to John while he was writing part of the new Constitution: “I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of husbands.” (p. 104)
Happy Mother’s Day from Abigail.
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MOMENT MINISTRIES
May 9, 2008
home address:  25921 SW Airport Ave.
Corvallis, OR 97333   541-753-3942
email at a-morgan@peak.org
CAN IT BE?
As I was saying last time we spoke, we’re going on the road again. We will be gone for 10 days to Boulder, Colorado with stops in Boise and Pocatello.
I get one more book club in (“1000 Splendid Suns”) before leaving on the 23rd to open up our Summer Headquarters on Puget Sound. Jean will follow in a few days.
SUMMER BLUE SHEET?
I have started a summer email list for a summer blue sheet. We have experimented with a link connection set up by our Webmaster, Bill Gilbert. From responses received that system works very well.
I have names of some who do not receive email. I will attempt to produce some printed copies if I don’t have an email.
If you have email and you think I don’t have yours, please send it to me. If you have changed your email in recent months and haven’t told me, I’d like to hear from you. a-morgan@peak.org
Any writing will depend totally on my inclination at the moment.
VISITORS WELCOME
Our summer place is essentially a camp, or at best a compound. There are three bunk-house cabins with mattresses and not much else. We have at least 13 sleeping places. Bring bedding, etc. We also have some RV parking. We enjoy sharing the views, the outdoor lifestyle, and the beach. Sailboat rides for those who beg.
Follow your GPS or Google Map to 2412 N Herron Rd, Lakebay WA, 98349. (253-884-2771) Check for dates.
THANKS FOR LISTENING
We get a host of emails and many notes in response to our mailings. These are all appreciated and hopefully acknowledged. It still surprises me that so many take time to read. I appreciate it greatly.
A WORD FROM FRANZ
“This river has no source, no ending, this river that is God.
We think we see the place where it starts, fresh from the earth.
We think it the beginning. We stand at where the river meets the sea      And think we see its end. Yet this river is beyond what I can see or know: It is beyond all beginning or end. Knows no limits. Cannot be contained….The proud and the ignorant will try. We cannot mold this river that is God.”
From “Leaves on the River,” Poems by Franz Dolp compiled and edited by Dawn Jones who had been married to him for 12 years prior to his death. Watch for a celebration on May 30 when the book goes on sale. I got an early copy. A man in tune with nature whose words match the tune. 
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MOSES AND THE BURNING BRUSH

       You may remember the story of Moses’ change of life moment that story tellers tell us took place while he was shepherding his father-in-law’s sheep. His story is full of remarkable episodes. 
       You don’t want to spoil the story by checking into the various sources behind these reports. Scholars put them mostly into the realm of legend or historical fiction. There is a school of Jewish scholarship that thinks Moses to be a mythical person.
       That being said, I have a revelation of my own to add the story. It came to me while I was out tending my property. Once again I took down some tall firs located too close to my house. I know that some would say my house was located too close to the trees. Actually, those trees weren’t there almost 40 years ago when we moved in. They are predators, I’m sorry to say. They trespassed among the oaks. They needed to go.
       Fallen trees have branches. One of my least favorite jobs, learned first as a boy helping my brothers and father log some land, was to drag the branches into great piles for burning. It’s hard to believe that in my ripening years I am still doing that job.
       This leads to my take on the famed and fabled Moses epiphany story. It came to me as I was watching the fire begin to erupt from the pile of branches I had just ignited. I’ve done this many times over the years, so I’ve got the technique down pretty well. If you do it right the pile almost explodes into a giant, whooshing flame. At first it is awful and terribly smoky. But if you do it right and the fire heats rapidly the smoke turns white and barely visible.
       I’m always conscious of the smoke. It’s not a good thing to do, but the native people used to do it all the time and the loggers and Christmas tree farmers still do it. My little fire that will be out in less than an hour pales in comparison. I’ve thought of chipping it, but that requires a fuel-guzzling, noisy machine that also makes noxious exhaust. Or I could spread the branches among the trees and let them decay. That creates a fire hazard. I run out of ways to get rid of my branches and wait for the right day and right time of day when few people drive by.
       Moses must have walked by such a scene. My take is that the translation of the word “bush” left out a letter and that the original word must have been “brush.” I’ve had piles of brush that would light but not be consumed. There would be flame and smoke, but they didn’t burn up. I’ve been humbled by a neighbor wandering over to wonder why my brush pile wasn’t done burning yet. None ever thought to take off his boots as if on holy ground. No angel of the Lord ever appeared in the flame or smoke to speak to anyone as far as I could tell.
       Moses took it as a sign that he didn’t have to tend his father-in-law’s sheep anymore and that he had a higher calling. It sort of reminds me of Paul’s story of seeing a bright light and hearing a voice that changed his vocation. I stood by my blazing fire thinking that maybe I could get a call to a higher vocation. Maybe I should have taken off my shoes. You can do that if the fire isn’t burning well, but you need your best boots when that fire whooshes up. That’s why I figure that the burning bush was a burning brush pile that didn’t catch well.
       I used to have a theory I liked better. Have you ever seen vine maple in the fall as it turns color against the black lava in the Cascades? Talk about seeing a burning bush! I’ve stopped my car more than once while driving in the mountains to wonder at those bright orange-red leaves. They seem to call to me, saying, “Stop, notice me!” Sometimes we take a fall drive up through McKenzie Pass to Sisters, Oregon just to see those “burning bushes.” They are awesome.
       If I have to choose an inspiration for an epiphany moment I’d choose vine maples in the fall ahead of a burning bush or brush pile any time.
       Some people seem to need a sign that there is God or a holy voice making a special command in order for us to change direction. I suspect that most of us can look back at some moment or moments when we had an awakening that made a lot of difference. I think that epiphanies happen. The Moses people tell us that his happened when he stopped to see why the bush was not consumed by the fire. A cynic like me would say that the bush was a brush pile improperly lit. A Moses sees the same thing and hears a holy call. Go figure.
─ Art Morgan, May 9, 2008