Musings Re Our Beloved Church (PCUSA)

I've been reading numerous blogs published by my Presbyterian USA colleagues, especially those posted since the recent meeting of the General Assembly. Though there are some encouraging insights about our denomination's future, most of what I read (granted they are mostly from moderates and conservatives) is not hopeful.

Take these comments from a prominent PCUSA pastor:

Either God will move to restore our unity in essentials, or there will be some sort of split. I pray for the former and dread the latter. Without a miracle, I believe the latter is inevitable.

This man is not a right-wing radical. Rather, he is a solid, faithful pastor of a significantly influential congregation, reflecting what many of my colleagues are saying privately. Though now retired for 25 months, I try to keep up with goings-on in the denomination. I am not encouraged by the liberal trends I see and hear.

Maybe I am just too old-fashioned, too steeped in orthodoxy, too saddened by the thousands upon thousands who are leaving the PCUSA EVERY year!

At the present rate of decline, the PCUSA will have zero members in 40 years!

I think I'll just go get my flyrod and wade out into waters I understand.

While On the Way to Idaho ...

Monday, June 26
We left Michigan Monday and after 350 miles, stopped for the night in Ashland, Wisconsin, where we met a delightful Austrailian man who is touring the USA for the first time beforereturning 'downunder'. What a wonderful brogue. He has found Americans really coordial and welcoming. I felt like I was talking to Crocodile Dundee!

Tuesday, June 27
After 450 miles we parked the Texas Molly II at a neat spot in Jamestown, North Dakota, west of Fargo, where we met an older couple (like us). She was a 1st grade teacher for 40+ years. They are not full-timers, but Helen has genuinely interested them in going full-time. Exchanged email addresses. We'll see where it goes. We are upstairs in a bar where many of the locals were enjoying their 'end of a long day beer'.

Wednesday, June 28
We are now parked in Dickinson, ND, after a 'short' 200 mile day. Short because we stopped in Mandan, ND, at Fort Abraham Lincoln, where General George Custer and his wife lived and he commanded (as a 23 year old general) the 7th Calavary. It was from Fort Lincoln that he led a force against a Native American force wherein he was killed. We were given a tour of the Custer's home by a Native American guide whose great grandfather was a scout for Custer. We were told it is bad manners to call them Indians. There is, we were told, still bad blood between the Native Americans and local white folk. When our guide mentioned the hostility that still exisit between the Native Americans and the whites, I said to him, "We really screwed the Indians," he replied, "It's not over yet!"

North Dakota is a beautiful state...rolling plains and thousands upon thousands of acres of Sunflowers and Lavender. You can, with a little imagination, see Indians (sic) and cowboys riding the plains.

Tomorrow, it's on to Little Big Horn battlefield below Billings, Montana, then to on toward Idaho and 'home'.

Thursday, July 29
Well, we did not make it to Little Big Horn battlefield as planned. Rather we continued to Billings and then parked Molly II on I-90. We stopped to try to assist a couple in a large motorhome who had experienced a blown tire which ripped out part of the undercarriage of their RV. It's a 100 degrees here and our a/c has got the rig inside down to 84. It'll be fine by nightfall. On toward Idaho tomorrow.

Sun Setting of Our Michigan Stay

Carp Lake sunrise...marking our last days in northern Michigan.
Monday we leave for Idaho...a 5-6 day trip across the most northern states...Dakatos, Montanta, then down to Idaho to the Boise area and finally to our 'home' base in Caldwell, ID at Ambassador RV Resort.

Fishing for Salmon on the Great Lakes (revised)

Yesterday we boarded a family member's 30' cabin cruiser and headed out on the Great Lakes in search of salmon. Here's some photos of our trip and the fish caught from the 300' deep lakes.

The Mackinac Bridge connecting Mackinac City and St. Ignace in northen Michigan.
On our way...at 50 mph under power of two 250 horsepower outboard engines.
Rigging the downrigger and outrigger lines.
Fish on!
Watching the lines for a 'hit'.
28" Salmon and 24" Lake Trout caught -- here is the salmon caught by one of the younger grandsons.

And the lake trout.

From the water we could see the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island.

Great morning on the waters of the magnificent Great Lakes!

The Smoke of the Brandin' Fire

Helen and I now make it a habit to be in Alpine, TX, each February for the Annual Cowboy Music/Poetry Symposium. We park the Texas Molly II on Donna and Manning Davis’ ranch. Donna and Manning helped us build our last church before we retired to travel fulltime in our RV.

The morning the Symposium begins, we eat breakfast out of the back of a real chuck wagon, standing in the smoke of the biscuit baking and coffee making campfires. At Sol Ross University in Alpine, Texas, large crowds gather to hear the original music and poetry of cowboys and cowgirls from ranches all over the southwest. These are cowboys and cowgirls who are regularly riding, roping, branding, mending fences and sleeping under the stars. We have met and talked with many of these ranchers and one of our favorites is Allan Chapman. Allan a man in his 60’s whose family has been riding, roping, branding and mending fences for decades. Allan is a sixth generation cowboy whose Presbyterian family immigrated to America from Scotland. His ancestors fought beside Sam Houston when Houston went up against the Mexican army of General Santa Ana after Santa Ana killed everyone at the Alamo.

This year at the music/poetry gathering, Allan presented a new song; it is a kind of love letter and it is entitled “Standin in the Smoke of the Brandin’ Fire”.

I am writing you tonight, dear, from east New Mexico…
where the grass is getting’ greener…
and the Rio Frio flows.

I guess you gave up on me some time ago, while I was standin’ in the smoke of the brandin’ fire.

I know this cowboy life I lead, never appealed to you.

There’s always something needin’ doin’, before another thing gets through.

Well, I hear you’re getting married and this letter’s overdue…

‘Cause I’ve been standin’ in the smoke of the brandin’ fire.

I’ve been keepin’ my pony fed… and stretchin’ wire.

Wish I could tell you somethin’ different, but I’m not that good a liar.

‘cause all I know is punchin’ cows … and smoky brandin’ fires.

The nights are gettin’ warmer… and it rained just yesterday.

I’m starting three new mares this week, the best one is the bay.

Well, I’m wishin’ you…and yours a good life… that’s what I mean to say…

while I’m standin’ in the smoke of the brandin’ fire.

I’ve been keepin’ my pony fed… and stretchin’ wire.

Wish I could tell you somethin’ different, but I’m not that good a liar.

‘cause all I know is punchin’ cows … and smoky brandin’ fires.

The song tells of a cowboy who could not give up the lure of the cowboy life and its culture long enough to claim the heart of his lover. The smoke of the brandin’ fire was just too alluring for him to turn away, even for the love of his life.

Some of us have been standing in the smoke of the brandin’ fire. We have allowed the lure of our culture to pilfer our hearts while our first loves – Jesus Christ and his church – have been stolen from us by the lure of the culture. Our commitment, courage and loyalty are not what they used to be. Core values are quickly eroding. Our first love is still out there. The core values which we first embraced are still out there. Jesus, church and country still call to us to come back to our first loves. Our calling is to commitment, courage and loyalty in the face of great testing. But the smoke of our culture is blinding many, even in the church.

Many of us have been blinded by the lure of today’s culture. For some the things of this world and the bottom line are more important than living by the grace of Jesus Christ. Some have given up their first loves. Some of us are standin' far too deep in the smoke of the brandin' fire. We try to be like everyone else. We think like the world thinks. We act like the world acts. We are indistinguishable from the world around us. There is little or no difference between us and the world. We’ve been standing far too long in the smoke of the brandin’ fire.

God’s grace and the transforming power of the Holy Spirit provide the only way out of the smoke. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ lead us out of the smoke and keep us clear of the brandin’ fire.

The Lance Wood Chapel

Recently, while walking on the beach fronting the family summer place here in northen Michigan, I came to the little rope-swing hanging out over the sand. It’s been there, or one like it, for decades. My mind raced back over 43 years to the day on that very spot of the swing that our son Lance sat in that swing as a one year old. Three months later he was dead, taken by an insidious brain tumor.

I remember how brave he was during his treatments. I don’t remember him crying, though I may have shut that out. I do remember the last word he spoke -- his older brother’s name.

I am most grateful the Session of The Church of the Hills named the chapel in Lance’s memory. Here’s a photo, sent recently by a dear friend, of the plaque attached to the center post in the narthex of the church.

Just fishin' & Floatin'

The trick is to load your line with a large live minnow and set it out at sunset, then wait til the great northern pike begins its nocturnal feeding. This 20" hit before midnight.
Helen, first in the lake in '10.