The last several days have been beautiful. The fall colors are fading a bit, but they are still glorious, the temperature is in the high 60’s and the skies are clear. Each morning arrives cold and crisp, perhaps with frost on the exposed car windows, but as the sun rises the frost retreats and warmth takes over. They say that we are in the midst of a major drought here in North Carolina, with some record keepers indicating that reservoir water tables are at their lowest ever, which is a problem. But the upside is the glorious days, and they are worth appreciating.

A season like this is perfect for cycling, and I have taken advantage of it a bit. Having been blessed with the opportunity to take several fall cycling trips over the years, the Barcelona to London trek Brian and I made in October was wonderful but not unusual. The part that is unusual is that my customary regime on returning from such trips has been to leave the bike in its airline box until the spring—being a fair-weather cyclist that made sense in Seattle. But this time the bike is out, the roads are waiting, and the weather is perfect. I guess that is one advantage of living where we now live.

As I go around the area on my bike I do get to see and feel and smell what the countryside is like, and it is beautiful in this season. It is also dotted with reminders of its history that stand side by side with monuments to the economic growth of the recent decades. Dorothy Silkwood, a dear and wise Calvin friend, once told Nancy that one of the main differences between the west and the east/south is that in the west people define themselves in terms of geography while in the east/south people define themselves in terms of history. That makes a lot of sense to me as I ply the byways near Greensboro—there is just not any geological or geographical grandeur to make a place stand out. But history is here, and that history makes the places impressive. It is history on a grand scale, with sites marking battles in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and important events in the Civil Rights movement. But it is also history of individuals and families, history that is not in texts but is in lives.


Today I stopped to photograph an old abandoned building. It must have been a farmhouse many years ago, and undoubtedly has a story to tell. Then a few hundred yards farther along the road I stopped to photograph a newly built home. It too has a story to tell, but a very different one I am sure. Neither place is framed by a snow-capped peak nor can one linger on either back porch and admire the beauty of Puget Sound, but in their history each has its interest.


The Hebrew people are a geographical people, a people of the land—a land. They received a specific promise regarding a specific location, and it was fulfilled by God. They are also a people of history. Their existence is rooted in a story that is neither myth nor imagination, but hard and fast facts. Those facts are recited regularly by Jews down to today, and in that recitation an identity is established and passed on. As believers in Christ we are today’s recipients of those promises, and of that history. We are a people for whom place is important—particularly the commonwealth that we are to receive, that culmination of the reality of our citizenship that is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). And we are a people of history. Our identity is defined by history, a history of crucifixion and resurrection, an event that we remember each year at Lent and each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. It is also defined by an historical event that we are about to celebrate once again, the incarnation—that is Christmas.

So, as we pass through Thanksgiving into the Advent season, let us remember who we are. Let us remember that we are a people for whom both geography and history are important. We have a place and we have a past—and our future is a fulfillment, a consummation, a destination toward which both point.

Today has been one of those days that are hard to improve on. It began as a cold, crisp and clear fall morning. The sky was cloudless and its rich blue made the colors of the autumn leaves stand out with particular clarity and brilliance. I looked for a corner of our little house that would be a good place to start the day


in quiet reading and prayer, and found it outside, looking at the trees reflecting in the still water of our small pond. It was cold, but sitting on a chair on our new slate covered porch, admiring the wonderful plantings that our landscaper had put in just the week before, seeing that the geese have returned for the winter, and watching the squirrels do their squirrely thing, was just right.
BEFORE AND AFTER LANDSCAPING




Then there was a good church service in one of the several Presbyterian churches that Nancy and I are considering becoming a part of, and after that lunch with daughter and granddaughter. After lunch we all realized that the temperature had risen to just below 70, so a stroll with granddaughter, a visit with a neighbor, then a bike ride through the suburbs, forests and farmlands of this part of the world.

Later today there will be a few small household tasks, dinner and who knows what. But the point is that life is good here in North Carolina. Our recent visit to Shoreline was full of joy for Nancy and me, as we were able to see and visit with many of our good friends there. We miss them and we miss the church there and we miss the beauty of the mountains and the sea. When we left that area we wondered if we would ever live in such a spectacular setting again.

But especially in this season of colors Greensboro is hard to beat. Years ago Nancy and I were in Princeton while I attended Princeton Theological Seminary. I had field work on weekends in a church in Flemington, NJ, a town not far from Princeton. I well remember driving out to the town on fall mornings, watching the red, gold and orange colored leaves billow behind us as we went down the road. That is what it is like here and now. Where we live is quiet, except for airplanes coming in to land in the local airport and leaf blowers moving leaves from lawn to street, (where the city will sweep them up). It is also beautiful—particularly in this season. And as we walk, cycle or just sit at home, that beauty is all around us.



And this beauty reminds me of the nature of God’s creation. God could have made the world simple and practical, but he chose to make it complex and beautiful. He gave us land to till and flowers and trees on that land to enjoy. He gave us food to eat and tastes and aromas that make those foods delicious. He made us one people but male and female with different colors and languages and customs. Moving from the west to the south-east has highlighted some of the differences for Nancy and me. At the same time it has heightened our appreciation for each place. There truly is beauty wherever we are. That is one of the many gifts of God. And we are blessed and we are grateful for that beauty—Praise be to God!

Nancy and I are currently enjoying several days back in Seattle, visiting friends and family. Today we enjoyed a wonderful worship service at Calvin, the church I served for almost twenty years. It was a great time to re-connect with friends, share hugs, and show pictures of our granddaughter and our Greensboro home, as well as to learn about the ways God is working in the lives of people here. While it has been over a year since we left Shoreline, the community that came to mean so much to us has not lost any of its significance to us. Friends with whom we have shared life and ministry for so long and so wonderfully are friends forever, and we are thankful to God for them. Our paths may be different and though we are far apart, as we continue to pray for each other we continue to minister as one!

Since I began posting this blog I have been gratified and affirmed by the feedback which it has elicited. While I have focused on where and what the Ackles are doing, I have tried to make it more than just a "what we did last summer" kind of blog, and comments I have received seem to say that this is appreciated. A component that I have not included, however, is any of the material which I have prepared or am preparing for the various classes which I am teaching. I do not know if this would be of interest to anyone or not, but I am praying about starting to include some of the lessons on the Parables of Jesus, the Letters of Paul, or whatever I am working on. If any reader has feedback on the advisability of this, please use the comment feature on the blog to let me know.

Two days ago Nancy and I took a drive into the Appalachian Mountains, along the Blue Ridge Parkway. This year has been a drought year for North Carolina, but the splendor of God’s creation was still evident. The colors were glorious, the sky brilliant blue and places like Blowing Rock and Boone (as in Daniel Boone) not that crowded. While a brief one-way discussion with a State Trooper over the speed laws in North Carolina did take a bit of the edge off the glory of the day, it was still wonderful. And that negative surprise was counter-balanced by the positive surprise of finding that a specialty of our Carolina BBQ lunch stop was home-made pecan ice cream that is regularly fast-shipped to President Bush’s ranch in Texas. Expensive but truly worth it!



On a completely different note, just for fun the other day I tried a Google search on my name, and I am not so sure it was a good idea. While what I came up with was not as long a listing as many names would produce, everything Google displayed, with one exception, was about one thing. And the few words about that one thing were misleading in their brevity. My search showed that the only thing I am known for, at least in the Google world (and that world is very large), is for court proceedings in which my name, the church, the Presbytery Executive, and Presbytery are associated with sexual harassment.

Now this is not a pleasant association to be appear whenever one searches for my name on the internet, in fact it is downright degrading. And it highlights one of the downsides of internet searching, which is the difficulty of communicating accurately in two lines. After all, after seeing my name associated with such headlines who would bother to explore further? Who would take time to find out the whole truth? Who would leave the search with other than a question or a conclusion based on two lines on a computer screen?

So, I have pondered about what could be done about this. And I have two conclusions. The first is to become so famous that this theme is buried in an avalanche of other, and more interesting information. Perhaps I could do something that would change the world, solve the problem of global warming, or bring peace to the Middle East. That surely would at least add to the mass of articles that the Google algorithm would sift through, and some hits would be flattering. But that probably is not forthcoming—my fault…

The other way is for someone to put the truth into the public arena in such a way that it would draw the search engine to display another set of facts. I would love to see someone publish something like this, “After an exhaustive months-long investigation into allegations made by a colleague, a specially constituted and trained church panel of six men and women, made up of both clergy and laity, unanimously reached the conclusion that the evidence presented with the allegations did not support any charge against Will Ackles.” In the Presbyterian Church anyone can make any allegations against anyone else, but those allegations are then tested by an investigating committee to determine if there is any credibility to them. If there is, then charges are filed. If not, then no charges are filed. The conclusion of the committee investigating Rev. Ackles was that no charges of any kind were in order, and on appeal this was upheld by the next higher court of the church. The second way to counter the impression that Google searching presents would be for those who know these facts to place them in the public arena, but evidently that is not going to happen—not my fault…

So, what is the point of this musing? Simply to underscore the importance of the truth. Simply to encourage all to speak the truth and to counter false or misleading information when it appears--and to do it in ways that are effective in the world in which we now live. I believe that as old as the ninth commandment is it still holds true, and especially true for that thing which is most precious of all to every man and woman—his or her name… The Westminster Shorter Catechism articulated it clearly when it said, The ninth commandment requires the maintaining and promoting of truth between man and man, and of our own and our neighbor's good name, especially in witness-bearing. That may not be the norm in the world, but it ought to be the norm between believers, and in the church.