TRAVEL WHILE YOU CAN

TRAVEL WHILE YOU CAN

by Dennis Ginoza   October 19, 2012

            A bit of wisdom was passed on to me years ago:  “Travel while you’re young.  Don’t wait until you’re old like us.  It’s hard to get around.”

            One Sunday morning in September, Sylvia and I were in church and during the informal time of prayer and joy, I expressed thanks—we were celebrating our Wedding Anniversary that day.  I mentioned that in our 40 years, we have traveled to 17 different countries.

            A couple sitting behind us was curious about this.  Unknown to us, the woman said to her husband, “How many countries have we been to?”  During the rest of the service, they were listing all the countries they had visited.

            Immediately after the service, they came up to us to tell us they had been to 18 countries, one more than we had.  We all had a big laugh.

            Since I retired three years ago from pastoral ministry, Sylvia the year before me from a librarian career , yes, we have traveled a lot.   Since July, 2009 to now, October, 2012, we have been to 30 different states, such places as Canada, and Washington, D.C. including Hawaii, Florida, Minnesota, and Maine.  Each place has its own fascination.

            This year, 2012, our incentives to travel continued.  Our son Jeremy graduated from his three year residency in osteopathic medicine in Yakima, Washington.   So here we go again, back up to Yakima to celebrate with him and Melanie his graduation, a highlighted moment for all of us.  Spending time with Kenan, our grandson, was an added joy.

            That same week, we helped them pack, clean, and move.  The day we arrived, Jeremy said to me, “Dad, will you mow the lawn?  We have some people coming to look at the house, for rental.”  I had some hard jobs—mowed the lawn, cleaned out the fire place and the dirty barbeque, and drove the U-Haul to the storage unit.  Sylvia had the easy part:  she looked after Kenan.

            This was the setting for still another trip—travel to Maine.  Jeremy received a year’s fellowship in Augusta, Maine.  Sylvia and I had never been to Maine.  We also wanted to see the fall colors so the timing was perfect.

            While the memory is still fresh, for my own benefit, I’d like to recall the places of interest and memorable encounters.

             Jeremy and Melanie and Kenan live in a quaint home in Chelsea, five miles from Augusta.  They have neighbors who have adopted Kenan, and look after them like an extended family.  Jeremy’s added study is in neuromuscloskeletal medicine in Waterville and Augusta.  About Kenan—he is walking, he loves tomatoes, and his life is  disciplined, to bed at 6:00 p.m. and he is a neat little boy with a pretty smile and disposition.  Melanie is a super mom.

            One Sunday we worshipped at the church where Jeremy and Melanie attend—Gardiner Nazarene Church.  It was an ordinary service, it wasn’t an ordinary service.  The preacher was a candidate under consideration to be called as their new pastor.  His wife and two children joined him.  The day before he had undergone a four hour interview.  Then, after the service, we were not dismissed, they moved right into the congregational meeting.  For an hour, that’s as long as we stayed, people asked the pastor questions about his ministry, what his plans were.  I would like to have asked him two questions, yes, I really would like to have, but I didn’t.  I was just a visitor, a retired pastor, at that.  This young man has a successful youth ministry in Ohio with a large youth group and this will be his first senior pastor position.  (We United Methodists could consider including such a congregational meeting:  wouldn’t that be interesting?)

            In our rental car, as we drove through Maine, every highway is lined with trees, millions of trees.  The leaves had begun to change but we were just a bit early.  Last year Maine’s peak was September 29, we arrived there on the 20^th.

            When we were visiting with a classmate of mine from high school, Kenneth Takayama and his wife Nina in Kennebunk, we indicated to them that we had plans to drive up to New Brunswick to be further north for the colors.  His wife who is from New Brunswick said, “You’re not going north, you’re just going farther east.”  She called her sister to check on the colors.  They just started to change.  The orange and reds and gold had not come yet.

            We re-routed.  We visited New Hampshire instead.  The White Mountain National Forest was the treasure we hoped for.  The thirty seven mile drive from Conway to Lincoln along the Kancamagus Road was just the most beautiful site—the colors were rich and peaking.

One woman we met said, “You gotta visit the Mt. Washington Hotel!”  A ranger told us:  “The most beautiful drive is the Bear Notch Road between highway 112 and highway 302.  They were right!

            When you enter a new state or a new region, it is always wise to stop at the information center.  Sylvia told the ranger, we hadn’t seen any moose.  He said, “You don’t want to see any moose.  They’re big and if you meet them on the road, they move real slow.  You don’t want to see a moose!”  I told him, we are planning to go to Vermont, just to say, we have stepped on Vermont dirt.”  He said, “Oh, if you want to step on dirt, come to my house!”  We drove to St. Johnsbury and stepped on Vermont dirt!

            The day we drove on the Kancamagus Highway, the sun was shining, the leaves were bristling in light.  The next few days, it rained and rained.  We lucked out!  (Just yesterday, Sylvia was at the Fallbrook Post Office and met a man who just got back from Maine.  He said, “It was the worst rain he had seen and the leaves had fallen.”  Yes, we were lucky.   A ranger told us that the peak season for the foliage lasts two weekends:  a short time line.  We also learned that if it fails to frost, the leaves will just turn brown.

            When we were returning to Augusta from Conway, New Hampshire, we passed through the town of Winthrop.  Just then Sylvia remembered someone we knew lived there.  We knew that Bob and Gladys Darby of San Diego had a son somewhere in Maine.  Ah!  Winthrop.  That Saturday Sylvia called, “Yes, come on over!”  His parents are now gone.  Bob is a professional photographer and his photos have been displayed on many book covers and his wife is a librarian.  So guess where else we went?  To the library of Winthrop.

           
              This is a small world.  Some folks we knew at the Santee United Methodist Church also live in Maine.  Carol and Terry Clark, now retired from the US Navy live there.  So we had an evening in Windham, Maine with the Clarks,  seeing their now grown daughters, Bridgett and Meredith and their families, and they Jeremy and Melanie and Kenan.  Carol even offered:  “Sylvia, when you come to Maine to see Kenan again, I will pick you up at the airport.”  Our evening ended up at the Windham Congregational Church benefit dinner.  Also, Rick and Carolyn Draheim whom we knew in Santee drove down from Waterville to join us.

            While our trip essentially was planned to see Jeremy, Melanie, and Kenan and the fall foliage, as our travels often change—it became a trip to New England.

            In Boston we visited with Wendy & Doug Bonnell and their boys, Alec sophomore), Austin (8^th grade), and James (4^th).  We saw Boston on an amphibious duck tour of many historical sites.  We later drove by Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, and Harvard University.  The Freedom trail took us on foot to the Paul Revere House and the church where the people were warned about the British invasion.  As we were told, “You don’t want to drive through Boston.”  Glad Wendy did!  The Bonnells have settled well and Doug loves his engineering job.

            It was fun for us to visit with Aaron and Elaina in Washington, D.C.  Seeing the Washington Mall at night was spectacular:  the Lincoln Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, and the World War II Memorial.  The Vietnam Memorial is not for night visiting:  The dark marble cannot be seen in the dark.  The Newseum is fascinating, taking you through the events of our time.  Plan to spend three hours for a good visit.

            We met Aaron’s little adopted brother, Walter.  Walter lives with his grandmother and his two aunts.  Walter was born pre-mature and weighed only about a pound and a half,  yet was nursed to health.  Abandoned by his father, Aaron and Elaina’s support of him is an incredible story in itself.

            By Amtrak, we headed for Virginia to visit with Sylvia’s classmate, from kindergarten to high school:  Janet and her husband Dave Kyle, in Wicomoco in Gloucester Country.  We visited historical Jamestown, the first  settlement in America (May, 1607).  In Williamsburg, we sat in the pews where George Washington and Thomas Jefferson sat for Sunday worship. 

            Then, our journey took us to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, for a visit with Sylvia’s cousin, Jean & CB Chappell.  They hosted us kindly. We stayed in a beach house in Kitty Hawk, a land mass which is a sandy peninsula.  The wind of the sea helped Wilbur and Orville Wright to complete history’s first flight in their double wing airplane on December 17, 1903.  They did four flights that day, the first lasting 12 seconds and reached 120 feet.  The second reached 175 feet, the third 200 feet. The fourth flight reached 852 feet in 59 seconds.  Three elements were necessary in aviation:  lift, power, and control.   Since then, our world has changed.

            On a ferry, we traveled from Hatteras Pt. to Ocracoke, then on another ferry, we enjoyed the fascination of sea travel to Cedar Island.  Our destination was Moorehead City where the Chappells have their home.  Visits to the lighthouses remind us of the importance of the water ways along coastal North Carolina.  We received more history of the area at Fort Macon where the War of 1812 and the Civil War have become a part of America’s history.

            This was long journey, it seemed very long, living out of our suitcases, hauling our suitcases through check points, on the Metro, from one car trunk to another, up and down stairs, and from one airport to another.

            Yes, we did have a lobster roll in Boothbay Harbor and lots of sea food for lunch and dinner at many places, went apple picking in Maryland, saw the lobster traps in Kennebunk, drove to Cape Cod and visited the John F. Kennedy Museum, worshipped at the historical Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church where Aaron had attended, learned that Boston has 137 Dunkin Donuts, spent the day in Pawtucket (home of America’s industrial revolution) and Providence, Rhode Island, a first for us.  In New Hampshire, at the state capital of Concord, we learned that the legislators don’t receive a salary, just minimum compensation to cover costs—a fair idea, I’d say.

            Just before we left for Maine, I received a note from Jeanette Firth.  Her pastor husband Warren recently had died.  Jeanette and Warren served with me on staff in Santee.  In her note she said, “Warren and I met at the Mt. Vernon Church.  Warren and his two brothers also attended there while they were at Wesley Seminary.”  Our many path often intersect in time. 

            After our worship service, I met a well dressed man named Bill.  I said, “Bill, I love your shirt.”  In the conversation he found out, we were Aaron’s parents.  Wow!  He said, “We miss Aaron.”  He went on:  “Jenny and Max, come here.  Meet Aaron’s parents!”  Then he introduced us to Rev. Donna Claycomb Sokol.  “Donna, guess whose these two remind you of?”  Aaron Ginoza.  One never knows where our footprints will lead us and how they leave a mark.

            Upon completing this trip, I can now claim, I have been to 46 states in the USA, only missing South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia.  Sylvia has gone through Georgia on the way to Florida.

            We don’t know where our next trip will be, but we do know, it will be in our van where we can take with us whatever we need and not be confined to a fifty pound suitcase and one carry on, and where we don’t have to take our shoes off by mandate.      

“IN EVERYTHING GIVE THANKS”
Psalm 100, Colossians 3:14-17
Dr. Dennis Ginoza November 18, 2012 2:00 p.m.
Rancho Monserate

     Sometime ago at a church where I had served, I sent a thank you note to one of the members. Later she said to me, “Dennis, you’re the first pastor who ever sent me a thank you note.” Wow! How interesting I thought. ( As children we learn there are two important words: Please! and Thank You!

     The apostle Paul said, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Jesus Christ.” (Col. 3:14-17)

     Once there was a elderly man who went to the post office. He asked the clerk, “Sir, will you write this address on my postcard?” “Gladly,” said the clerk. “Is there anything I can do for you?” The old man thought for a moment. “Yes,” he said, add this to the end: ‘P.S. Please excuse the handwriting.’”  Dale Carnegie would say, “That’s not the way to make friends."

      How many of you have been to Maine? …… We were just there. It is full of trees. 90% of the state is made up of trees. Our son Jeremy has a fellowship and he is studying … it’s a technical study…”neuromuscloskeletal medicine. He, Melanie, and Kenan are well settled. Did you know Maine is the second highest producer of maple syrup, second to Vermont. With all those trees, I’d say, Maine has the healthiest air in America. We thank God for trees.

A POEM
I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree.
A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;
A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;
A tree that may in summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;
Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree. -- Joyce KIlmer (1886-1918)

 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

     Remember Helen Keller, she was born blind, deaf, and mute. She once said, “I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during the early adult life. It would make him more appreciative of sight and and the joys of sound.”

     Will you close your eyes for a moment and just listen? (Ringing of bells.) Genesis teaches us that everything begins with God. Revelation teaches us that everything ends with God.

 Let us never forget the goodness of God. 
     For each new morning with its light,
     For rest and shelter of the night,
     For health and food, For love and friends,
     For everything Thy goodness sends. --Ralph Waldo Emerson

     In America we have so much, we have garbage disposals, we have so much, we pay rental for storage, we have so much, we want more, we have so much, we complain about waiting in line at the bank and the grocery store. We just need to be more grateful!

      Jesus healed ten lepers. Only one came back to thank him. He fell at Jesus feet and thanked him. Jesus asked, “What happened to the other nine?” (Luke 17:11-19) Jesus came to change this world. And he taught us, for the world to change, it comes down to changing the human heart.

     When I was in college I was an optimist. I decided I wanted to change the world so I joined the Peace Corps. As Peace Corps volunteers we were successful in planning two leadership seminars and got the vice president of Costa Rica to bring a message. I was successful 3 in helping three communities to get the government to help them with building an airstrip. When I met with the people, they said, “We have the land and we will clear the land with our machetes. We got it done. I was proud of it and I was humbled by it. But, I have come to this conclusion that unless we change the hearts of people, the world will not change. The politics of change is in the human heart. Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.” (Matt. 6:21)

      In 1620 some one hundred twenty passengers from England sailed to America for religious freedom. They settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. They faced a severe winter and only 53 people survived. But that autumn the harvest was so plentiful, with 90 Wampanoag Indians, they had the first Thanksgiving, thanking God for a bountiful harvest. Chief Massasoit sent out his hunters and they brought five deer. So what else did they have to eat? Ducks, geese, turkey, corn bread, clams, leeks, watercress and eels. They gave thanks for three full days. (I guess pumpkin pies came later).

     When gratitude comes from the heart people change; when gratitude comes from heart, we can build nations.

      Robert Emmons is a psychology professor at the University of California, Davis and he has done research on the topic of Gratitude. He has written books entitled: “The Psychology of Gratitude,” and “Thanks! How Practicing Gratitude Can Make you Happier.” He says, grateful people “feel more alert, alive, interested, enthusiastic. They feel more connected with others.” He goes on to say, “Grateful people are less likely to experience envy, anger, resentment, regret, and other unpleasantness that produce stress.” When the heart is filled with gratitude, we have health, we have joy, and we have hope.

     In the book of Matthew, chapter six, Jesus says, “Be not anxious 4 about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall wear.” Look at the birds of the air, they do not sow nor reap, they don’t store in barns yet God feeds them. Look at the lilies of the field, how God takes care of them. Let todays trouble be enough to today.

      This is what I believe: work hard, do everything you possibly can, then put your whole trust in God. As Emerson reminds us, let us never forget the goodness of God. Once upon a time,

     St. Cuthbert of Lindesfarneleft his monastery to preach to the poor. (In Scotland) He took with him a young lad. The day was hot and they were tried. He said to the young lad, “Do you anyone on this road who from we may ask for food and rest?” The lad didn’t know anyone. St. Cuthbert said, “Son, learn to have trust in God.” Those who believe in him will not perish from hunger.

     As they were walking along the road, an eagle was soaring hight above. Cuthbert said, “It is possible for God to feeds us by the means of the bird.” They came to the river and the eagle stood on the bank. “Son,” said Cuthbert, “run and see what provision God made for us by his handmaid the bird.” The lad and found that the eagle had caught a huge fish. The boy bought it to St. Cuthbert. “Why didn’t you give a part to God’s handmaid, the eagle?” Cut it into two pieces give her one. When the lad took half the fish to the eagle, it took it in its beak and flew away. St. Cuthbert gave half the fish to the village cook and the lad and villagers had a feast and St. Cuthbert went on to preach God’s Word.

     Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth, Worship the Lord with gladness; come into his presence with singing. --Psalm 100    (Music by Pam Artibey, soloist, guitarist)

Miracle of Christmas

THE MIRACLES OF CHRISTMAS
1 Luke 2:1-20 Rancho Monserate Chapel
December 16, 2012 2:00 p.m.

The horns are honking, the crowds are rushing, and it’s a crazy time. Scrooge would say: “Bah hum bug!” Ah! But I say: Merry Christmas! I say: Feliz Navidad! And I say: Mele Kalikimaka.

 Think about the places where you celebrated Christmas. Chicago? Ireland? Australia? Los Angeles? Some where in Europe? Anyone: Africa? Oh, the memories.

In our family, we had three boys and three girls. When I was a young boy, my older brothers and sisters were teasing me. They told me that Santa Claus was coming to our house. In Hawaii our houses have no chimneys so I asked them, “But, how is he getting in?” They said, “he has a special key.” “Oh,” I thought, “that makes sense.” But as the years went by I knew better. (Did you know that in Hawaii, Santa Claus comes on a surf board?)

How many of you grew up believing in Santa Claus? (Most of us, it would seem.) Christmas is a time of magic, fantasy, and presents.

One little boy wrote, Dear Santa: In my house there are three boys. Richard is two. Jeffrey is four. Norman is seven. Richard is good sometimes. Jeffrey is good sometimes. Norman is good all the time! Signed: Norman

As children we learn: Christmas is a time of excitement. Christmas is a time of hope. Christmas is a time of giving. Christmas is a time when a baby was born in a manger, whom we know today as Jesus.

Norman Vincent Peale tells about how two men were standing on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street in New York City. They were in the Christmas rush. They were waiting for the red light to turn. The one man was irritated and he said, “This town is totally disorganized. Look at this traffic! It’s terrible! Something must be done about it!” The other man was more philosophical. He said, “You know, it’s astounding, the romance of it. There was a baby born to peasant parents in a little out of the way place half way around the world from here. The parents had no money or social standing, yet two thousand years later that little baby creates a traffic jam on Fifth Avenue, one of the most sophisticated streets in the world. This irritates you? It should fascinate you.”

When Jesus was born to Mary and Joseph, Mary wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in the manger. When the shepherds came to worship Jesus, they told Mary about how an angel told them the birth of the Savior. Mary and Joseph were amazed. Luke says, “Mary treasured all their words and pondered them in her heart.”

When you travel to Bethlehem, you must visit the Church of the Holy Nativity. When you enter the church, you have to stoop down before you walk in. Otherwise, you would bang your head. Barclay says, how fitting because Jesus came as a humble servant. Inside you will find a star on the floor marking where Jesus was born.

The birth of Jesus is a remarkable story about prophecy. Isaiah 7:14 To the House of David God will be given a sign. A young woman will bear a child and he will be called Immanuel which means, “God with us.” (Isaiah 740 BC) Micah 5:1-2 The messiah will be born in Bethlehem from the tribe of Judah. (Micah 737 BC) Jeremiah 23:5 The messiah will be a descendant of King David. (Jeremiah 627 BC) Genesis 49:10 Jacob told his son Judah that his descendants will be rulers and one will be the ultimate ruler. Luke traces Jesus’ genealogy all the way back to Judah.

Isaiah 60:6 A multitude of camels shall cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephah; all those from Sheba shall come. They shall bring gold and frankincense. and shall proclaim the praise of the Lord. The wise men, or magi as they are also called, were astrologers who studied the stars. Scholars tell us that it took the wise men about two years to get to Bethlehem. (Some say that if the wise men were women, they would have asked for directions. Today, the wise men would have had GPS). (The wise men brought to Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh).

What was the star in the east? Astronomers say it was a conjunction of stars of some kind. Simo Parpola, an archaeologist and Assyriologist, says the star mentioned in Matthew was probably was “the rare triple conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn in the constellation of Pisces that occurred in the year 7 BCE. So when was Jesus born? Many scholars say somewhere between 6 & 4 BC. As the man at Fifth Avenue said earlier, the birth of Jesus is a fascination.

Brad & Sherry Steiger have written a book entitled, CHRISTMAS MIRACLES.

  In March of 1993, Roger Miller fell into a coma when his aneurysm in his brain burst. He was just 53 years old. The doctors at the Colorado hospital gave little hope to the family. They suggested that there was not anything more they could do; it was best to disconnect his feeding tube. Their family doctor, Dr. Roberts agreed. He was and good friend of Roger and when he talked to the family, his eyes were full of tears. Maureen, Roger’s wife, with her arms around her two children, Kathy, 26 and Randy, 22, she said: “This is a family decision.”

The chances did not look good. Randy said, “Even if it is a million or two million to one, it’s still a chance, isn’t it?” Maureen and Kathy thought it wasn’t fair to let their dad linger in a coma for months. Randy wasn’t done yet. He said, “We’ve always been a praying family. We’ve always put our trust in God. I say we keep on praying until He cures dad.” Randy goes on, “With the help of God, let’s create a Christmas Miracle.”

 From that day on, there was always someone sitting with Roger in the hospital. Maureen read the Bible to him. Randy prayed with his hands on his father’s head. He kept on encouraging his Dad. “ Okay, Dad, come on now. …Dad, you can do it.” Kathy brought her guitar and sang her father’s favorite hymns. Often she brought her twin daughters and they sang a trio. When her husband came, it was a quartet. Within ten days, a nurse witnessed the impossible, Roger opened his eyes. But the doctors declared that he would remain in a coma.

In mid-June, Roger opened his mouth and tried to speak. He recognized his wife, his children, and his friends.

Now Roger was at home. He ate his meals with his family. He watched television. He began to read books. Against all odds, by Christmas, Roger Miller began to regain his health.

God gave them a CHRISTMAS MIRACLE. (Sharing the Story of the Candy Cane -- “Christmas is a time of sharing our Gifts)