Gospel Light for Global Darkness

Last week I was able to attend the annual convention of the Eastern Regional Association held in Peabody, MA. After 2 days of Board meetings in which I was involved, the convention kicked off on Thursday evening with a message from Dr. John Roller from North Carolina. Friday and Saturday were filled with business sessions and challenging messages. I had the chance to hear from Dr. Ron Thomas, Executive Dircetor of the Advent Christian General Conference; a medical missionary from Africa; and Rev. Russell Carle, Director of the Advent Christian mission work in Africa and Europe. The meals were nourishing and enjoyable, the worship enriching, the preaching inspiring, and the fellowship sweet. This gathering always gives me the chance to catch up with people I don't see often enough, and I am grateful to God I was able to attend.

Here are some pictures taken during the convention. You may recognize some of those in the pictures. If not, you will find labels at the end of this post which will identify the pictures.

Still Waters

"The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down is green pastures. He leads me beside still waters." Psalm 23:1&2
I know the "still waters" of which the psalmist spoke were probably much different loooking than the water shown above, but as I walked with my wife in a state forest last week, we came upon this wonderfully tranquil place. As we watched, listened, and photographed this pond, the words of the psalmist came to my mind. How we need to make time to walk beside still waters in this tumultuous world? How we need to remember the LORD is "our" shepherd and will lead us through all the uncertainty and confusion of our time. In that same 23rd Psalm, David tells us that we do not need to fear because the LORD is with us. He is with ME!

My prayer today is that all those who need to walk beside some still waters will find them as they walk with Jesus. Amen

I Love Fall

Yesterday was a beautiful one in Connecticut. Sunny and mild (about 70 degrees), the weather invited me to spend some time in the out of doors. And that is what I did. Without any special agenda, I took three separate walks and savored the sights, sounds and smells of autumn. The leaves are changing colors here, and then falling on still green lawns, begging for rakes to gather them into piles. Soccer fields are filled with boys and girls running and laughing and yelling as they enjoy the competition. Yesterdays blue skies were painted with puffy clouds that made me think the sunset would be amazing (and it was).

As I walked I thought about our time in Connnecticut. We are now in our fifth year here, and a lot has happened in the last four years. Our three oldest sons have all gotten married. Barb now has three wonderful daughters-in-law to share in her torment of living with the Dean guys! While we didn't do the choosing, we couldn't be happier with the choices our sons made. We love Kelly, Marianne and Jennifer (who also brought us Erin, our only grandchild) and so thrilled to have them in our family.

Shawn has grown alot in the last 4 years. When we moved here he was entering middle school in the seventh grade. He is now well into his junior year of high school, pressing us to get him his learner's permit so he can start driving! He has been to a prom, made a couple of visits to the Emergency Room of the hospital, gone to Sports and Music Camp in New Hampshire 4 times, and become a leader in the youth group he attends. He is a good student, a fun kid, and a great son to Barb and me, and we are thrilled to have him still at home.

The Lord helped us face and get through the ordeal of Barb's accident with the motorcyclist. We are so thankful he lived and has made a partial recovery from his life-threatening injuries. While we wish it had never happened, we have learned much about trusting God even when we don't understand why things have happened the way they did.

We love our home here, we love the people in the church, Barb has grown as a nurse working at the hospital for the past 4 years, and I have made some wonderful friends in a group of pastors with whom I meet for prayer on a weekly basis.

And as we have gotten older we have learned to appreciate the blesssings God gives us in the little things, like the change of seasons!

Family and Friends

I have just returned from a trip to Florida and Georgia where I was reminded of how great a gift I have been given in the form of my family and friends. Barb and I were able to visit our son and his wife in Savannah, GA where they just purchased their first home. How exciting to visit the house with Kelly and see firsthand the wonderful provision God has made for them. Here are Barb and Kelly in the kitchen of their new home.When Robbie got off work on Thursday, he came home to his apartment where we were able to visit with him before we travelled to Florida where I had to attend some meetings. Here are Robbie and Kelly with their dog, Rosie, in their Savannah apartment.While in Florida we were able to reconnect with some friends we knew when I pastored in Tampa. They have all moved since we used to live there, but we were able to get together in Dowling Park. Here is Barb with 92 year old Velie McFarland and a group of women from her Bible study in Tampa back in the 1980's.While in Florida we also had the chance to take my parents out for mom's birthday which we were not able to celebrate with her on September 2nd. Here are mom and dad at breakfast in Dowling Park.Since we never know how long we will be able to share life with anyone, the chance to be with folks we love is always special. It was really nice that Robbie and Kelly were able to come down to Florida for the weekend and share this birthday breakfast with my folks and with us. Here they are with Barb at the same breakfast.It was also great for me to be able to attend an FSU football game with my son Robbie. While Barb and Kelly were shopping in Tallahassee, FL, Rob and I were able to attend the FSU/Wake Forest football game. While the outcome of the game was disappointing, the chance to attend the game together was a wonderful experience and we both saw people at the game we knew from when we lived in Florida. Here we are together high in the stands at Doak Campbell Stadium.I am so grateful to God for the family and friends he has given me and the opportunity which I had to share these wonderful times with them. I am looking forward to more such opportunities and wonder just who God will allow me to spend time with in the future.

September 4, 1976

Barb and I have now been married for 32 years! I often wonder how she has put up with me for so long. But I am very thankful she has. They have been a great 32 years.

This year our anniversary began like most days in our home. I walked outside and Barb put in her time on the treadmill in our basement. She won't like me posting it, but here she is watching the news as she walks.We spent some time reflecting on our 32 years of marriage as we shared a cup of piping hot Dunkin Donuts French Vanilla coffee after we had each finished our respective walks. We are so thankful for our four sons (and three lovely daughters-in-law), for the churches and ministries we have served in New Mexico, Florida, New Hampshire, Maine and Connecticut. We are thankful for God's sustaining grace which enabled us to face some difficult challenges over the years. The loss of Barb's dad, a time of severe depression, the "accident", all our moves, my dad's heart attack and my parent's car accident, and so many other instances, all reminded us of how important it has been to able to trust in the strong arms of a loving Heavenly Father!

At lunchtime Barb took me to our nearby Ruby Tuesday's for some soup and salad. We ate light since a big night out was planned. Here is Barb just before we entered the restaurant.

As evening approached we purchased Shawn his favorite Subway sub and then Barb and I were off to celebrate our 32nd anniversary in style. We began with dinner at Peppercorn's Grill in downtown Hartford. This is a wonderful Italian restaurant which I found after searching the internet. It is also close to the the theater where we would be heading next. Here are some pictures from dinner. We enjoyed an awesome meal together. We began with bread and olive oil, followed by house salads and bruschetta. Barb had grilled salmon and I had grilled chicken, with Italian vegetables and roasted potatoes. For dessert Barb had Taramisu and I had a couple of homemade chocolate truffles and fresh fruit. We both enjoyed a couple of cups of decaf coffee to wash it down. After spending a couple of hours at dinner we walked a few blocks to the Bushnell Theater for the Perfoming Arts where we saw the musical, Spamalot.
It was a wonderful day that left me with an overwhelming sense of gratefulness that Barb said yes 32 years ago and agreed to become my wife. I am hopeful God's grace will allow us many additional years but it has already been a wonderful "life" as we have served our Lord together and committed our marriage, our children and our family to His purpose. Thanks Barb, and thank you, my Heavenly Father.

Making Memories

Now that summer is over (from a school perspective) and we are returning to our routine, I am aware of how quickly time passes us by and how important it is to make memories we can look back on later. In the past week Shawn and I have taken in two UConn soccer matches up in Storrs, CT. We watched them beat St. Joseph's 4-0 and play Tulsa to at 1-1 draw. It was great to be able to watch this outstanding soccer team (currently ranked #3 nationally) with my youngest son and to be able to talk both on the way and returning home.The UConn team is led by O'Brian White from Scarborough, Ontario and Akeem Priestly from Kingston, Jamaica. O'Brian White is last year's Herman Trophy winner, an award given to the top soccer player in the nation. (O'Brain is second from the left, #7.)Akeem is an exciting offensive player with exceptional ball skill who is fun to watch with his hair flying as he blazes around the field and the defenders. Here is Akeem leaving the field after the team's warm-ups, he is #11.We all had Monday off and decided to join Barb's brother and some of his family in Lee, MA for a Labor Day picnic. It was great to be able to visit with family and reflect on God's goodness, life's challenges and the family reunion we shared in BC earlier this summer. Barb and Dorinda did a great job with the meal, although Dean was the grill-master, and we shared time with all those who were there. Here are Barb and Dorinda resting after dinner, watching a movie on the tv. It was great to see Judah and his family again, as well as Emma and her family, including her mom who is a college student who was working on her homework for much of the holiday weekend. Here are Judah and his folks, with cousin Emma looking on.And below is the college student hard at work, Kelsey Shaw and her computer!
And of course, no visit to the Shaw household would be complete without an unhealthy dose of video gaming, here is Steve giving Shawn still some more insider info on WOW.
We thank God for the proximity of the Shaw family since most of my family and my wife's family live far away and we really enjoy times when we can get together and make memories. And that reminds me, today David and Marianne leave Texas bound for China and a resumption of their ministry there, making memories for their growing family on the other side of the world. I wonder when we will see them again and make some more memories together.

An End to the Summer Fun

On Monday one of my elders called and invited Shawn and me to join him for some golf today. Knowing it was Shawn's last day of his summer vacation, we accepted his invitation. At 2:30 we met him in Ellington, CT for some golf at a par 3 course we like to play. It was a great afternoon of fun and frustration (it was golf after all) and a reminder that life is about to return to a routine that has been missing all summer. But for this afternoon, we enjoyed the beauty of summertime in New England.Here is Gerald Stevens, but did his putt go in? Ask him when you see him.Here is Shawn preparing to tee off, can he reach the green? I will never tell!

When we finished our nine holes we came home and had a supper of leftovers while Barb was at work. It was then I realized that with Shawn's return to school tomorrow we enter a whole new year of scheduling around his school calendar. Gone will be those wonderful cookouts at Janet's camper like the one we enjoyed a few weeks ago.

Here Dotty Sylvester and Gerald Stevens await a feast while my son David reads in the background. We had some great times at Janet's camper this summer. And when there we always had plenty to eat, thanks to Chef Rodney, shown below. This summer we enjoyed being with our family at the reunion in BC, enjoyed having David and Marianne here for almost a month, I enjoyed my week in Maine as Bible teacher at Lakeside, my trip to General Conference outside Chicago, and we enjoyed our occasional visits to the Berkshires to see Barb's family there. Now everything has to be scheduled with an eye on Shawn's school calendar.

I wonder when we will get the chance to go do something fun again, I hope I don't have to wait too long.