I am sitting on our side patio, looking at our back yard-pond, while the sun is setting behind me. It has been a full day, just part of a full week. Just over a week ago Nancy and I were in Shoreline, sharing with good friends. Now we are back in Greensboro, North Carolina…and thinking about Tajikistan.

While we were away one of the large trees in our back yard succumbed to gravity. I have felled several trees in my life, particularly going “wooding” while living in Clarkston, but this tree fell as perfectly as possible. It was growing about one foot from our neighbor’s fence—and it fell in a perfect line, staying one foot away. No damage at all, despite its massive size and weight. And now it is stacked neatly alongside the fence waiting to dry out for the winter’s fires. Cutting it up was part of yesterday.




Another part of yesterday was our annual neighborhood association meeting. Last time I attended, along with about 6 others, and was elected to the board. Not a hotly contested race nor a position that I particularly wanted. But someone had to do it. This year more people attended the meeting and in the end I left with the enviable title of president. Again, not hotly contested nor desired. I told the people that I would only be in the country half the time—but that seemed to bother no one. In fact impending absence may have been a bonus. Our neighborhood is a stable and pretty trouble-free one, so I was assured that the demands on my time would be minimal. But who knows. The biggest hassle in the years I have been here has been a shed that was built in a resident’s back yard (it was approved by the architectural committee, so was fine) and an above-ground pool in another back yard (it was not approved and will have to be removed). Why I have this position is yet to be seen, but God may just use it as a way of getting to know people. Nancy has already started the getting to know ritual with weekly Monday tea for all who want, now maybe I can do my part…

Yesterday Nancy and I also went to a PCUSA Board of Pension information meeting. I learned that despite a 28+% loss in the retirement portfolio last year, all is stable and secure for all needs. Kind of nice to know, and pretty rare in these economic times. We also met some very interesting people and hope to get to know some of them better in the months ahead. Retired Presbyterian pastors actually are an interesting bunch—lots of years of faithful service at home and abroad. Each has a story and they are good ones. The cloud of witnesses of which Hebrews speaks is real in these people.

Today was dentist then a couple hours with Colette. Walking up to get a cookie at Subway (for her), a coffee at Starbucks (for me), then a bit of fruit at the local market (for both of us). What a fun time for grandpa! Colette's two day a week pre-school ends tomorrow, so my Tuesday and Thursday ritual of taking her to the school, picking her up, then going to Taco Bell will be done. But her parents are enrolling her in a Little Ninja class for part of the summer, so she will not be bored. The Ninja school shares space with a ballet school, but all adults who know Colette agree that the former fits her a lot better than the latter….

After that Nancy and I mortared the stones in our back patio—something that the landscapers had neglected to do when they put it in. Took all afternoon but it will make the place much more usable. And since that is where the sandbox is, it will make all much better.

And in the meantime Nancy learned that she has been offered a position teaching teachers in Tajikistan for the month of July. About 12 hours after she submitted her interest and CV to the US governmental agency that finds people to respond to requests from countries around the world, they contacted her. And 24 hours later it looks like it is going to happen—Tajikistan. It should be a grand adventure, and she will be great at it. Now her two government sponsored assignments have been Albania and Tajikistan. I challenge anyone to tell a friend where in the world those two places are. But God has a plan for it all…

Enough rambling. The Psalmist says, Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. That is certainly what we have found out in life, and what we continue to experience. And his actions are pretty amazing adventures. Don’t let anyone tell you that following Christ is boring!

One month ago I was in Merida, Mexico, sharing in the life and ministry of El Seminario Teologico Presbiteriano San Pablo. Today I am in Shoreline, Washington. The time between has been filled with two weeks back home in Greensboro with the family, punctuated by the greatest celebration in history, the Easter celebration, that is the celebration of the resurrection of the Son of God.



It contained a week at Mt. Hermon with 180 other pastors, sharing lives and hearing challenging messages at a conference that has continued for 37 years. Then there were a few short days in San Francisco with daughter JJ, seeing her new apartment and learning more about her Netflix work. Finally there has been a week of travel up the west coast, visiting friends and family and arriving in Shoreline to spend a few days renewing relationships, visiting my mother and sister, and enjoying sights and sounds that were our home for twenty years.


Through the month the outstanding reminder has been of God’s goodness in both relationships and in creation. It is an awesome privilege to have relationships with other pastors which have spanned the entire length of my church ministry life. The West Coast Presbyterian Pastors’ Conference began with a small group of us, young in ministry, covenanting together to meet eight days after Easter. We arranged speakers, a place, and an agenda, and fulfilled the covenant. And we have been doing the same for all these years. In the span of time the conference has been going on we have shared joys and tragedies, celebrated signs of the power of God in our various places of ministry, and prayed over those places in which that power seemed so far away. It has been a rare place, a rare experience, and priceless relationships, and I am so thankful to God for it.



And the same is true of other people Nancy and I have visited in the past few weeks. A friend from high school (we have hardly changed, of course), family and partners in ministry from Fresno, Clarkston and Shoreline. Again it is the relationships of life and serving which bind us together, and for which I am so thankful.
Then there is the beauty. We live in an amazingly beautiful country! The rains of the spring have brought life to hills and colors to fields, clearly reflecting the beauty and design of God.


Nancy and I have driven from the valleys of California to the valleys of Oregon, from the redwoods of the Santa Cruz mountains to the glacial moraine of the Wallowas, from Mt. Shasta to Mt. Rainier. Up and over and down Rattlesnake Grade, into the Snake River Valley, then across the plains of eastern Washington and through the Cascades. The variety of scenes, the beauty of the scenery, and the grandeur of the land is amazing, and Nancy and I are so grateful to be able to soak it in.


In a few days we will return to Greensboro to spend the summer. Then, God willing, on to adventures cycling and serving in various parts of Europe. But for now the time is a time for relishing in the gifts of people who mean so much to us and a country that does as well. It is a time for praising and giving thanks, for enjoying and sharing. It is a time to remember the words of the Psalmist, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name…(Psalm 103:1)