December 10, 2001

CYBERCOLUMN:
A holy place
___By Berry D. Simpson
___We all need places in our lives, holy places, where God speaks to us. That may be a retreat center located far from home, or a certain chair in the corner of the living room, or even a trail through the backyard. It may actually be an activity such as walking or running or, dare I say it, sitting and praying.
___We need holy places in our lives, and we should work to find them.
___I recently spent an entire week at one of mine, the Glorieta Baptist Conference Center, located in northern New Mexico about 15 miles east of Santa

Berry D. Simpson

Fe on Interstate 25, in the Sangre de Cristo mountains and Santa Fe National Forest, very close to the Pecos Wilderness Area.
___I’m not sure how long the center has been there, but my personal memories go back to when I was in single-digits. I know it’s been around a long time. For me, it’s a holy place.
___To my surprise I discovered that Glorieta isn’t holy for everyone. I met someone there who told me he went there so often, for one seminar or another, it was just another conference location for him. He also confided to me that when he attends workshops like this he usually didn’t go to the worship times at noon or in the evening—that was his downtime, or time to arrange for his next session.
___Listening to him talk made me think that I shouldn’t go to Glorieta very often because I didn’t want to become jaded to the place and lose such a significant spiritual influence on my life.
___When I mentioned it to Cyndi one night on the telephone, she reminded me that she and I always made it a point to go to every worship service whenever we are there.
___"That’s what keeps it from becoming just another business trip," she said. "Plus you always go with your ears open to hear from God. Where else are you going to hear from God except during the worship times?"
___I reminded her of the first day of the seminar when I went running on the mountain trail and got lost coming down and nearly shredded myself when I crashed through a bold stand of brush oak.
___"I encountered God then," I said, "and that certainly wasn’t a worship service."
___"I don’t think you should count on stupid moments to hear from God," Cyndi said. "You should be more deliberate, which, of course, you always are."
___She, as always, was correct. One of the reasons Glorieta is a holy place in my life is because I go there with my ears open and my eyes open. I start anticipating weeks ahead, praying that God will use the change of scenery and change of climate to catch my attention and speak to me. And He does. He has, every time. Not because of the scenery or climate, but because I am open and ready to listen.
___It isn’t the mountains that speak to me—it’s God. However, being surrounded by mountains and, on this occasion, snow, the words from God are amplified and focused. I guess if I was grown-up enough I could hear from God just as well in my flat, low-altitude, West Texas home. But I am too full of myself and my ears are too full of local concerns to pay attention to God when I am at home. I need to get away. Not to escape, but to embrace. Not to get away from home, but to get into God.
___One difference about this trip was that my mom and dad were at Glorieta at the same time. They took a one-week vacation to come to the mountains and hear me teach.
___More than once, I heard someone say, "Your parents must be proud of you to come all the way up here just to hear your workshops."
___I said, "I think they are here for damage control in case I embarrass the family."
___I’m glad they came. They kept me socially engaged with everyone else. I have a tendency to go underground when I am out of town. I’ll spend my free time all alone reading and writing. I take solitude to the extreme and fade away out of sight. I go underground.
___However, with Mom and Dad there, I had to stay above the surface and visit and talk and interact with other people. Much to my surprise, it turned out to be a good thing. Who knew?
___Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t a social butterfly, but I did smile and shake a few hands. I also did a great deal of reading and writing.
___I’ve learned that I need special times, holy times, to ground me and make me strong. I need to hear from God through different voices and different scenery. I need to go searching for God in holy places.
___During one of my sessions, a man compared retreats to the plant stimulator, Miracle-Gro. "Builds strong roots," he said, "Makes them go deep."
___Amen. It sure does.

___Berry Simpson, a Sunday School teacher at First Baptist Church in Midland, is a petroleum engineer, writer, runner and member of the city council in Midland.



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