Delores Topliff's Blog

Two weeks ago I visited two major sites that bring Bible stories to life. The first was The Creation Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, created by the organization, Answers in Genesis, which opened in 2007. That venue promotes a portrayal of young Earth creationism, including the origin of the universe and life on Earth based on a literal interpretation of Genesis. It is operated by the Christian apologetics organization Answers in Genesis (AiG).

Three years later, the same group raised donations to start building Noah’s ark to exact Bible specifications. The Ark Encounter in Williamstown, Kentucky, 45 minutes from the Creation Museum, opened in 2016.

Answers in Genesis resources may be accessed at Answers.tv for a seven-day free trial or purchased through subscriptions.

“The Ark Encounter features a full-size Noah’s Ark, built to the dimensions given in Genesis and displays the biblical ark as 300 cubits long, 50 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. Royal cubits from elbow to index finger tip would make that approximately 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, and 51 feet high.” Huge!

It’s one thing to see it. It’s another to walk inside the ark and climb and explore all four decks. We hear about the ark, we read about it—but it’s quite different being there.

Here are photos with a friendly dinosaur at The Creation Museum  and a friend and I with accomplished actress, Vickie Gaynier, who wonderfully brought WWII Dutch woman Corrie ten Boom’s story to life in her reenactment, “A Light in Dark Places.”

The last photo indicates size with me in front of the ark, the world’s “largest freestanding timber structure.” I went anticipating good things, but both places were more impacting than I expected. I recommend them both. What trips are you planning? What places do you visit to think deeper and longer?

Have a blessed and wonder-filled beginning of summer.

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In our Vancouver, Washington elementary school, we studied a raft of world locations, climate zones, and animal species I hoped to see in person. Through the years, I’ve been blessed to actually see and experience many and even written about some. (Check my book titles under my Books Tab at delorestopliff.com)

While studying the tropics, we learned that piranhas with triangular teeth could strip the meat from a cow crossing a stream in one minute flat. In 1980, in my 180 day mission trip to the Colombian Amazonian jungle, I taught students in many locations and helped teachers in developing schools. When I needed to cross a log above one piranha-filled stream to reach a distant site, my hosts expected me to be terrified, but I’d had practice crossing logs over Canadian wilderness streams. I’d learned that the secret is to look straight ahead or up–never down at the swirling flood underneath, lest looking into that morass make me fall in. (That’s a true spiritual principle, too.)  I crossed that log fine, and dinner that night was delicious piranhas served with their heads on, with triangular teeth and all. It’s better to eat piranhas than have them eat us. One chewed a chunk from 12-year-old Manuel’s hand as he removed it from a net. When he couldn’t grasp a pencil to do his schoolwork, several eager girls helped the smiling hero.

So whatever frightening piranhas you see or meet, remember–they can be stopped and are good food. Instead of terrifying us, they can feed us and fuel our steps forward to fulfill our destinies. May we learn to view all challenges bravely and positively.

My current challenge is to draw together five novellas that four other author friends and I are writing into one compelling collection we’re calling Stars and Stripes for Freedom. I’ll tell you more about that in coming months, but we believe you’ll love these fun, inspiring stories as much as we do.

I’m also beginning to write the sequel to Wilderness Wife. I’m considering titles like Wilderness Won or Wilderness Gained–retelling the journey of Dr. John and Marguerite McLoughlin across Canada to establish Fort Vancouver (my hometown) which led to  the Pacific Northwest becoming American instead of Canadian soil. Pray for me to capture the compelling scenes and amazing story that these two legacy builders deserve. I’m open to your title suggestions, and will gladly give you credit.

Wherever you are, have beautifully satisfying spring days filled with inspiring beauty.

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We look forward to some recurring days but dread the return of others. That might be superstition, but there are records of major events falling on certain historic dates that make us wonder. Without credotomg astrology, some dates record uncanny recurring events.

On April 14th in 1912 ,the RMS Titanic sank while sailing from England, to New York City. This “unsinkable” ship carrying over 2,000 passengers on its maiden voyage, scraped an ice berg and could not be saved.

On July 22-23 this year, Jewish believers will observe Tisha B’Av, (the Ninth of Av), the most dreaded day in their calendar. It is a day of mourning and fasting, marking the destruction of the First and Second Temples and other historical tragedies. It’s observed by fasting, avoiding comforts, and reading the Book of Lamentations. Here are more drastic events falling on that day.

Finally, on one single day, November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was shot, and very different authors Aldous Huxley and C.S. Lewis also died. I often imagine the incongruity of all three men reaching the Pearly Gates at the same time.

As “red-letter” days return, embrace them. As the anniversaries of less happy days approach, believe for better patterns and histories to be written. Be sure to enjoy every day.

So what do you think? Are certain recurring calendar events uncanny or real? Tell us why.

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This is NOT an April Fool’s post, but somehow I lost a week in writing and postng this blog. I suspect that’s because I and a great committee were busy creating and then hosting our excellent annual Mid-South Christian Writers’ Conf. in Collierville, Tennessee, a suburb southeast of Memphis, March 20th-21st. It will be that same third weekend next year.

Amazing, prizewinning author DiAnn Mills was our keynoter. Published authors in all genres from near and far came to share their publications on book tables and to encourage each other before and after our top-quality eminar and class times. First-timers also came who have barely begun writing or who are considering taking up the craft. Each year, we offer several scholarships to qualifying applicants who write a short essay about their writing experience and goals. Our youngest attendee, age 12, shows great promise. Another author is healthy, lucid and productive in his 90’s. Put the Mid-South Christian Writers Conference on your calendar now to join us next March.

Pardon the joke at a serious time of year, but most of us do believe we have a story in us that needs to “get out.”

Today, Passover observance has begun around the world. In two more days, we have Good Friday and then our triumphal Resurrection celebration on Sunday. What more can I say about Easter that hasn’t been said? There’s so much more to it than bunnies and colored eggs and candy. I look forward to the powerful anthems declaring the everlasting truth told in Matthew 28:6, “He is not here; for he is risen, as he said.”

Whatever Easter means to you and however you celebrate it, over and above the delicious meals and special family times, may this year be supremely meaningful for you and your family in truly life-changing ways.

Until next time, Delores

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My younger sister, Nancy, developed a desire to paint with watercolors—nature scenes, flowers, trees, birds and other creatures, all in in rich colors. She took lessons to further her natural ability and got really good, really fast. I proudly have her paintings in my home, and love her printed notecards. I use so many, I keep running out.

Her cards produced great results yesterday.

A dear friend in Denmark is having a hard time. She sent me a photo of one of the notecards resting on her window ledge and raising her spirits.

A second card solved a major problem for me. My Minnesota primary care doctor is retiring. Her office was one and a half hours from my farm, so it was an effort get there. Two years ago, I pinch-hitted with another doctor in a clinic half an hour from my farm. Without sharing that woman’s full story, she is highly educated and immigrated from another country with fascinating life experiences. After handling my medical issue, we had one of the best conversations on youth, education, and world history that I’ve ever enjoyed.

It didn’t take long last week to realize  I wanted her as my new primary, but when I phoned her clinic, they said, “she’s full and not taking new patients, no exceptions.”

I was sad since that doctor stood out. Any interaction with her would be exceptional. As I’d left that appointment two years ago, she’d told me she’d also enjoyed our conversation, but it seemed impossible to pass the closed door.

But an idea hit me. I chose one of my sister’s prettiest notecards and wrote a message reminding the doctor of our pleasant encounter. (The photos at top are samples of my sister’s work.) I acknowledged the doctor’s busy schedule but asked if she might consider making an exception, promising to stay healthy to take as little time as possible. I marked the envelope Personal and Confidential to be sure it reached her.

Yesterday, I got a phone call from the doctor’s nurse. She cheerfully said the doctor loved my card and is making an exception. I’m free to contact her any time, even before next summer’s appointment.

What if I hadn’t tried? What if I took “No” for an answer? I know the Lord gave me the idea, but my sister’s beautiful notecard helped. I phoned and told her so.

That lesson fits all areas of life. If we knock on a door and find it locked, keep knocking until someone comes with a key, or someone inside who didn’t want to be bothered gives up and responds.

By the time I left my new doctor’s office that day, I knew she and I would be friends if we had time. I’ll also take her more of my sister’s notecards,.

If you want to see the art that opens doors, find Nancy Williams on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/art.original.watercolors  If you contact her, tell her Delores sent you.

And have a beautiful week.

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When we awake any morning, we don’t know what the day will bring. Today it meant the US and Israel had made preemptive strikes against the Iranian regime.

I have a friend from Iran whose family fled as refugees. She tells horror stories and prays for a new day for her homeland.

I’ve taken nine trips to Israel over  the last 42 years. (I describe those trips in my book, A Traveling Grandma’s Guide to Israel: Adventures, Wit, and Wisdom.) Two trips turned out to be times when Israel came under attack. Those taught me valuable lessons about safe rooms and bomb shelters. Israeli law requires that new building structures include reinforced safe rooms where people can to go to survive.

On one trip, my team and I landed in Israel two hours after the 2012 Gaza War broke out. During our daytime travels or nighttime sleeping arrangements, we stayed aware of how far we were from our nearest safe room. I got up early each morning to join our hostess hearing radio news from Israel’s Defense Forces to see which bombing and combat targets were expected that day. The broadcaster would say, “If you are four miles from today’s target area and hear sirens, you have sixty seconds to get to your safe room. If you are two miles away, you have thirty seconds. One mile gives you 15 seconds. If you are closer than that, STAY in your safe room.”

We stayed alert and aware of how long it would take us to scramble to a safe room at any given moment.

But that information has a spiritual application. The Lord impressed me that He is our safe room.

The photo is of the safe room/bomb shelter at Kalia Kibbutz where I love to stay near Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found.

Psalm 91 says it best. 1“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 2 I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.”

It’s crucial to know where to go in times of attack. It’s more important to know where and how to abide day and night, in good times and bad, in the One who is Safety.

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The original “Valentine” was a Catholic priest during the reign of Roman Emperor Claudius II. Claudius passed a law that soldiers could not marry during their military service so they would not be distracted. However, Valentine secretly performed weddings when Christian couples asked him to. He also would not renounce his Christian faith to worship Claudius as part of Rome’s Emperor Cult.

During Valentine’s imprisonment, he led many to faith in Christ, including his jailer. His prayer for the jailer’s blind daughter restored her sight. Since Valentine couldn’t be “stopped,” Claudius had him beheaded on February 14, 269 A.D.  His name was given to Valentin’s Day ever since and associated with devoted love.

However, Valentine’s Day represents much more than romantic love.

Out of all possible action verbs, John 3:16 says “God so LOVED the world that he gave…” That was His sole motivation. Salvation bought and paid for in the broadest                                                                         terms. Available to everyone.

A friend posted the above awesome graphic on Facebook today which seals the John 3:16 application to my heart.   Happy Valentine’s Day, everyone, celebrating the greatest love of all!

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I would have posted a blog last Tuesday, but the previous Sunday at 4 a.m., the massive ice storm that swept much of the U.S, hit the Mid-South where I spend winters to stay warm. Old timers told me about the memorable storm of 1996, but I’ve lived through severe winters in northern places and experienced -60 F twice, so I just smiled.

But it got serious early Sunday when I woke to the sound of exploding trees and falling limbs, power transformers blowing, and the strangest booming lightning I’ve ever seen and heard. We and surrounding areas lost all power. Once the sun rose, the landscape looked like someone had played with giant-sized pick-up-sticks and dropped them in a pile. 

We’d been told to get emergency supplies. I had a powerful rechargeable flashlight. A friend with gas for heat and cooking, took me in. All businesses closed. I support Samaritan’s Purse at times. They are here doing a great job. The National Guard is in place. Utility linemen from other states will replace 200 additional utility poles before power can be restored. Roads must be cleared from two inches of solid ice plus fallen tree and branch debris everywhere. I’m impressed by how beautifully people are helping each other.

A team from a church I don’t attend stopped, wanting to clear fallen branches from my yard because a friend from their church had them check on me. I assured them I’m at the bottom of the list for needing help. They plan to come back when things normalize. We’re seeing amazing cooperation and blessings. I’m posting photos of heroes and the comfort of gas heat.

Wherever you are and whatever your circumstances, and whether you’re hot or cold, light or dark, stay appreciative. And may God bless you.

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We’re almost two weeks into 2026, whick is already full of some wonderful and other heartbreaking events. It’s time to take a deep breath and pray for wisdom and cooperation for the best possible outcomes in the remaining fifty weeks.

In college, I was a hardworking eager beaver when my advisor said I was working too hard and had me  take a PE class. I chose Beginning Downhill Skiing that spent Saturdays on beautiful Mount Baker in Washington state.

Our first lesson was learning how to fall down and get up again. That took practice, but we mastered it.

Next, we needed to learn to ride the rope tows. That wasn’t as easy. Each time I concentrated and grabbed the rope with all my might, it jerked me up in the air and dumped me at the side. Gradually, every classmate made it to the top, while I stood at the bottom.

Our instructor skied back to me. “You’re overthinking and trying too hard,” he said. “Hold on loosely. Relax into it. Lean against me, and I’ll show you.”

The next thing I knew, he stood behind me with his arms wrapped around me. My hands loosely held the rope, while he did the holding on. And then, the next thing I knew, we glided effortlessly to the top of the hill.

“That’s how you do it,” he said. “It’s not meant to be hard.”

I’ve succeeded fine every time since.

That example also fits our spiritual lives. We’re not meant to overthink and try so hard we get flipped into snow piles. Relax into the One holding us. Let His successful effort get us to the top.

That ski class brought me more than fresh air exercise in beautiful scenery. It taught me that most challenges aren’t as hard as I think. My first task is always to lean into the One holding me and let Him carry me to the top of the hill in front of me. I’m to enjoy the ride and the beauty of each new vista.

May we remember now as we stand at the bottom of the hills ahead of us.

Have a most blessed 2026.

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What did you do for Christmas? On that day I drove 7.5 hours northwest from Mississippi while family members drove 11.5 hours south from Minnesota so we could meet in Branson, Missouri. It was great having a few days together, and we were blessed with temperatures in the upper 70’s. But on our last day, the temperature dropped 40 degrees in three hours—what an interesting phenomenon!

Did you know that fascinating Marvel Cave is in the very center of Silver Dollar City. I’m not an amusement ride fan, but I love natural features like caves. One “marvel” in Marvel Cave was that I happily negotiated 600 steps straight down and 100 steep steps up with no elevator on shaking leg, but it was so worth it! Pictures don’t do the cave’s beauty and majesty justice. If you have the opportunity, don’t miss it!

Today, one week later, 2025 has ended, and 2026 has been (noisily) born. I love the imagery of the aging past year slipping away while the new year is a brand new baby full of good health, energy, and possibilities.

Let’s glean what we can from the past year to prepare ourselves for the new.

As a mom and grandmother, author and teacher, I want this world to be a place where people thrive with their needs met, which also includes the ability to help more than ourselves.

I still teach a university world geography course that I was privileged to write. Besides studying peoples, cultures, climates, and resources, one of our final essays is to write a paper presenting at least a beginning step towards solving an existing world need. I share examples like the amazing “Shoe that grows” invention that is strongly recommended by Samaritans’ Purse, the United Nations, and many agencies. Sometimes even a tiny step forward bridges a gap and makes a world of difference.

This new year is filled with hopes and expectations. It’s filled with opportunities to pursue new paths and form or strengthen relationships.

Take hold of many. Read (or write) the book. Take the journey. Ask questions. Explore a solution and see where it leads.

Don’t sit back and let this year go by without being an active participant.

Life’s opportunities and challenges are endless. You may be the person holding the key to bring smiles, fill tummies, calm minds, and build hope.

2026 is brand new. Explore it, get involved, use the gift of this year well, and then have no regrets when this year ends.

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