This Pilgrim's Progress

Vacation 2004, part 2

I haven't finished up on my intended vacation posting, and I didn't realize it until now.  Not that anyone out in blog-land cares a fig about my vacation, but I like to have closure on things I do.   

We arrived at our campsite at Bridge Bay, Yellowstone  mid-afternoon, so we had plenty of time to set up camp.  My wife and I had trouble finding a level spot in either of our two campsites. We ended up sleeping on a slight hill and dreaming every night about being spawning salmon continuously  swimming upstream. After a few days, we stopped noticing it because we'd be too tired to care. 

Yellowstone is a wonderful park and it has both the geothermal features and abundance of wildlife to observe and wonder over.

When Water Heaters Go Bad

There are many pieces of technology in our daily life that we depend on, but we usually aren't consciously aware of them.  That is, until they stop working and bring our world to a crashing halt!!

Last month we were contending with our clothes washer, which had developed this alarming tendency to hop around the kitchen in spin dry mode!! We have had the repairman out a number of times this year to minister to this machine, but to no avail.  I think he's enjoying Thanksgiving in Hawaii due to our washer!!  It eventually returns to its old habits again and starts hopping around the kitchen whenever we put anything heavier than a pair of socks in it. 

Thanksgiving 2004

I'm very thankful this year for many things. 

God's Providence first and foremost is what I'm most thankful for. It is truly awesome how the Lord's will is worked out in our lives.

My family.  My wife, daughter, and son are incredible blessings to me. It is in the context of being a husband and a father that I find the most happiness and fulfillment in my life.

I'm thankful that the Lord has restrained his judgement on our nation for a time, and allowed George W. Bush to be re-elected. I pray that people of faith stay involved in the cultural and political issues that face our nation. I pray that our leaders will be influenced by God, and that our nation will stop it's descent into pagan secularism and moral decay.

I'm thankful for the men and women in our armed services and the vital role they are playing in our war on terror. I pray for their families and for their safety, and for their saving faith in Christ.

I'm thankful for our church, and I pray that the Lord will give it's leaders wisdom and courage in making the right decisions for our congregation. I pray that our pastor will receive peace and be able to face his coming retirement in that peace, and with hopeful plans for a fulfilling life as a retired pastor. I pray that all of us in this congregation will continue to be a brotherhood in Christ, with unity, and with love for each other, the qualities that originally attracted our family to it's fellowship.

Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. It has it's roots in the history and faith of our founding fathers.  A day set aside to honor God's blessings to our nation is so appropriate, for he has blessed our country, in spite of our faults and failings, and no other nation has achieved so much in such a short time. We must pray that our nation will become re-generated spiritually, and that we will become a society that honors and glorifies God. No, we are not a theocracy, but we are all eternally accountable for what our nation does or does not do.

God Bless all of you out there, and may your coming year find you and your family relying more on the Lord and glorifying His Name.

Support Our Troops

If you find that the "Soldier's Angels" site that I recommended doesn't quite have the project that you can do, but you still want to help out is some way, the DoD has a web site ( http://www.defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html) that has a rather extensive list of organizations and their web links. All of these support our troops in some way, so take a look and see if anything looks like a good match to your time and talents.

Remember to support our troops not only with these wonderful projects but most importantly through your prayers.

Soldier's Angels

This holiday season we'll have many of our fathers, mothers, sons and daughters serving in harm's way in the mid-east. An organization that works to support them and let them know they are loved and appreciated is  Soldier's Angels. com. Their motto is "May No Soldier Go Unloved",  and they sponsor a number of projects that you can be involved in directly or financially support.

Be sure to look at their "Angels Operations" page to find a project that you would like to support. They make blankets for the wounded, write letters, send "care" packages, donate air miles and phone time, etc.  Many different ways to get involved and make sure that our fighting men and women know that we appreciate and cherish them.

What better way to celebrate the holidays -- Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannuka, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, or the New Year -- than to support our troops in this way!!

Snow in Southern California!!

A storm blew in yesterday and dumped a bunch of snow on our mountains and deserts!!

This url links you to a slide-show from a local TV News station that shows the snow: http://nbcsandiego.com/slideshow/weather/3939652/detail.html?qs=1;s=1;dm=ss;p=weather;w=320

William Blake

Some of my vast reading public might have noticed that I've changed the profile picture on the blog from an old family camping picture to this engraving/water color by William Blake. This picture is Christian reading (his Bible I think) while still carrying his "burden".  Blake created a whole series of these engravings for John Bunyan's work, but they were never published in his lifetime. Blake  (1757-1827)  was an  artist, engraver, painter  and poet who often illustrated his own works. His visionary  style is quite unique and striking as is his poetry. Check this site out for some more Blake biography and examples of his art:

http://www.mcs.csuhayward.edu/~malek/Illusions/2cross-view/Vieux/Blake/Blake1cv.html

There are many other sites on the web about Blake that you can google if you are interested.

Louis Campiglia

Yesterday our family received the sad news that Louis Campiglia had passed away. "Mr. C" was the founder and director of the San Diego Young Artist Symphony Orchestra, and our daughter had the blessing of performing under his baton for two years.  Before SDYASO, Maestro Campiglia had directed the San Diego Youth Symphony for many years.  Mr. C had taught, mentored, and inspired young musicians in San Diego for more than 30 years. He was passionate about music and was able to pass that passion for music and excellence in performance to many generations of musicians.  He so loved what he did that before retiring from directing the SDYASO, he made certain he passed the baton to another man with a passion for music and mentoring young people, Mathew Garbutt. 

We will miss Mr. C, but he has left a legacy behind him that will live on.  We can look to the young musicians he has inspired and be reminded of him once again. I'm sure when he gets up to audition for the Heavenly Orchestra, the Lord will say "Bravo Maestro!!" and have him take up the baton.

Semper Fidelis

Happy 229th birthday to the United States Marine Corps!!

Today is the day that the Marines were founded in 1775.  I thought it fitting to remember this special day in honor of all our ground forces fighting in Iraq. The Marine Corps has a long and fabled history, and a tradition of service with honor.

My maternal uncles were Marines in WWII and Korea. I always held them in awe and respect because of their service. They were "fleet Marines" in the old pre-Eleanor Roosevelt tradition. The sense of professionalism, dedication to duty and honor, and brotherhood-in-arms with their comrades are the same qualities that our modern ground forces have.  We probably would not be able to fight the War on Terror if we didn't have these remarkable young soldiers and Marines. God bless and keep them during these perilous times.

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter opened his mouth the other day and managed to firmly put both feet into it. His office subsequently tried to make mollifying statements about what "he really meant". 

This guy needs to be politically disciplined and moved to the back bench. He most certainly can't be named the Judicial committee chair or the chair of any significant committee. This man's political career was saved by the RNC deciding to back him rather than newer, more conservative candidates. And he repays this generosity by publicly throwing down the gauntlet regarding judicial litmus test for abortion. This kind of disloyalty should NOT be rewarded and most certainly Specter needs to experience some negative consequences of his disloyalty.

The conservative base of the Republican party needs to continue to be a voice in these issues and spend the "political capital" IT earned by re-electing the President. The last time we decided to "build coalitions" instead of taking a moral stand the conservatives lost their influence and credibility in not only the Republican party, but throughout the nation.

Coalitions can be built without sacrificing moral principles. We can build coalitions with all people of faith where our moral standards agree on such universality's like the sanctity of human life. And we'll come out ahead, because this is not some fringe group with bizarre beliefs, but rather the majority of the American public that believes in the traditional values that made this country great.