Sunday and Monday in NY and CT

It takes effort to keep up with this blog!!!

The pictures you see in this posting describe:

The home in Trumbull, CT where Sue lived for the first 10 years of her life. No kids, we did not knock on the door and ask to roam the inside of the house!! (family joke). We had lunch with an elementary school friend of Sue's. Kind of fascinating to recall the years and the memories!

The second picture is a shot of the Brooklyn Tabernacle where we attended on Sunday. This is the church where Jim Cymbala is the pastor. Some of you have read his books. I found the service quite interesting. Sometimes we find that a worship team so called, in actual fact does all the performing in a typical worship service. The audience is kind of present but not much more. Believe me, it is not so at the Tabernacle. There is an electricity in their service. The worship leader did not have to do much. There were about 4000 very enthusiastic worshippers in the service we attended. Jim's sermon was about Joshua and the need to get up off the ground when calamity strikes. I thought it was a wonderful answer to the victim kind of mentality that Jeremiah Wright preaches.

My reflection on the service at the Brooklyn Tabernacle is that there is a sense of authenticity and reality present that is contagious. I was also very happy to see that my white friends and I were an obvious minority in the room. I would guess the service was about 80% black, with a sprinkling of Asian and Caucasian worshippers. I rejoice and celebrate!

Finally, I have attached a photo I took at the WTC site. It is hard to capture the scene really. Lots of construction is going on there. Walking there left me with many emotions. Part of me was profoundly sad. To think that a few hundred feet over our heads several airliners were flown into those once impressive buildings, is impossible to fathom. I also felt strong rage and anger. What possesses people to stoop to such low levels? How can such evil possibly be sanctioned by any religion? Only if it too is evil to the core, or if it has been perverted or hijacked.

Another part of our day in New York on Sunday was our attendance at a Broadway play in the evening. We enjoyed it a lot. To pay $30 to park a car nearby for a few hours is one reason I am glad I only visit New York once in a while and that I do not have to commute there to work on a regular basis.

Today, Monday is a rainy, dreary day and we are set to go out to dinner right now. Tomorrow is our big travel day to Israel.

Learning about our roots!

We spent a good part of the day in Whiting, New Jersey with Sue's aunt and uncle, Rob and Janet Griffin. You see them on the picture above along with their daughter Joannie, Sue's cousin.

What a wonderful visit we had. U. Rob was a pilot in WW II and among other fascinating things flew the "Hump". This was a supply route from India to China over the "hump" of the Himalayas. He showed me his Distinguished Flying Cross medal and a host of other memorabilia. I was impressed.

A. Janet is Sue's father's last remaining sibling. She shared picturs with us of her brother, Sue's father when he was an infant before WW I. That was really something special and we took numerous photos with us to share with our family in the future. It was really interesting to listen to a part of Sue's history that she knew little about.

Later we headed up to New York city and the JFK airport where we picked up my sister and friends from Portland, OR who are joining us for our Israel trip.

Today in New York we have a full day planned. We intend to take in the services at the Brooklyn Tabernacle. After lunch we have tickets for a Broadway play.

Will tell you all about it in the next addition to this blog!!!

Our day in Philadelphia

I have attached three photos that are of special interest to me. The first one is of the house in which Betsy Ross lived. Sue and I had a wonderful visit to this place. Although the audio self guided tour was informative, it did not compare to the portrayal of Betsy by a young woman who we visited with for some time. She played the part extremely well we thought. She talked about her parent's displeasure when she chose to marry an Anglican instead of a Quaker. For this she was excommunicated but she said she did not much care. She also talked about her fear that if the Continental Army were to lose, then she could have faced fierce reprisals from the British Army and possibly also from her Loyalist neighbors. Our visit to this house was for us the highlight of our day in Philadelphia.

The second photo is of Independence Hall. We took the tour. I was struck with the commitment to a vision our forefathers demonstrated. Failure would surely have resulted in death for them all. Their belief in their cause overshadowed any risks. Reminds me of the adage I often quote. "Risk should not be evaluated solely on the basis of the likehood of success but on the worthiness of its goal." Washington, Franklin, Adams, and the others certainly lived by that axiom. At the same time I could not help but wonder about the thousands of United Empire Loyalists who also lived in these parts. Thousands of them moved north to Nova Scotia. What caused one group to believe so adamantly in freedom and the shedding of the British yoke of oppression and what caused many others to be willing to endure it, is a mystery to me.

The third picture is of a framed prayer I saw in the Washington Memorial Chapel at Valley Forge. You may need to magnify it in order to be visible. It seemed to me to be a beautiful prayer and one we would do well to pray in our day.

That is enough for today. I am still not feeling very well physically and have limited energy. All the walking we did today kind of tired me out. Now for a good night of sleep and travel tomorrow to New York.

getting ready to depart

Well, our long awaited journey is about to begin. Today we are scrambling with hosts of last minute details as we prepare to fly out to Philadelphia tomorrow.

As I think about this trip to Israel, I find what excites me as much as anything is the fact that my family is joining me on this tour. By "family" of course I refer to my wife Sue, my brother Harv and sister in law Bettie, (his wife), and my sister Marge.

A close second is the fact that everyone on this tour is known to me. They are all my friends. Some have been friends for well over 30 years, others only a few years. I know I will be looking at my family and friends to see their expressions of delight, wonder, amazement, and ?? as we go from place to place together.

First though we have a number of events in the Philadelphia and New York areas that I am also looking forward to. I will report on those as we go along.

All for now!