Watch Lisa Searcy’s video testimony about what God taught her during her trip to Yosemite.
Along with our “Summer Road Trip: Stories of God on the Move” sermon series this summer we want to head about YOUR stores of God on the move in your lives. If you would like to share a video testimony, contact Malia, maliag@sapres.org.
Kay and Paula’s Road Trip 2010! We planned to attend Mom’s (Annie “Kay” Zeller’s) family reunion which covers her brothers and sisters and their families this summer. The reunion occurs every two years because many families live away from Kansas and making the journey can be financially difficult for the younger cousins and those travelling with older/younger family members.
We flew into Kansas City, MO, on Tuesday, June 22, rented a car and drove to Des Moines, IA. On the way, we stopped at a rest area just past the Missouri/Iowa border. Here is a photo of Kay at the rest area; behind her is a sign about the Mormon Trail.
The nice thing about the rest stop is the chance for Mom to reminisce about one of her sisters who passed away. Aunt Jean came along to many of the family reunions; once when we drove her from Iowa to Kansas, she pointed out the automatic flushing toilets at one rest stop and stated “My Iowa Tax Dollars at work.” This is a regular remark and a family inside joke.
When we arrived in Des Moines, we stayed at a Comfort Suites near the Living Farms and ate dinner at the Machine Shop with a friend Kay has known since before I was born. Lois worked with Kay at a school on an Air Force Base near Chartres in France and they often did road rallies together in an old Volkswagen. Lois was the navigator and even when they got lost, they had lots of fun together. While we were eating dinner, Kay remarked about when they tried to find a pan to fit into the oven for a meal they were trying to make. Lois gave us a “care package” for our road trip down to Kansas. It had apples, soda, peanut-chocolate bars, trail mix, cookies and carrots.
Outside the Machine Shop Restaurant, I took a picture of Kay by one of the tractors. She learned how to drive on a tractor from her father growing up in Iowa. She will comment when I pull up too close to a ditch just like her father would during her training. I won’t tell you what he said when she inadvertently buried him with bales of hay they were collecting.
After we left Des Moines, we drove through part of the Iowan countryside heading toward Winterset, the birthplace of John Wayne. On the way, we saw groves of Christmas trees. When we arrived in Winterset, we followed the signs to the house, a small 3-room corner lot. We checked in at the gift shop next door and got the $6 tour (inflationary prices). One guy remarked that it may be his most expensive tour, since he left his wife down at the quilt store. Another couple was from Placentia, CA and we had a few laughs about the boat John Wayne had (life jacket from one of his movies on display prompted that discussion.)
Driving on from Winterset, we cut through part of Nebraska and drove straight into Topeka, KS. There we stayed at a Sleep Inn not too far from her older sister’s residence, and after checking in, we found out that some relatives were meeting at my cousin’s oldest daughter’s home just out of town. When we got there, we sat and visited with different relatives as they came into the driveway. Mom had me take a picture of the group at the picnic table with the Highlights. Mom was proud of the layout about me in the Connections so she brought extra copies of that to share as well. Some family members were inside and some kids got to play with the pug (dog) puppies.
Saturday, June 26, we all gathered together at the Hoyt Community Center, just located north of Topeka. The photo is everyone who attended and not all family members could be there, due to some passing away and others who were unable to get away from other commitments. Everyone laughed when I said we needed to get the picture with the Highlights.
The reunion festivities included a Potluck meal, kids playing with each others’ toys, some folks playing cards, others telling stories and then we had a little “presentation.” One of my cousins had a run-in with a raccoon stealing his koi fish, so some other family members put together a little storybook about the episode and they shared the story with the rest of the family. Also, since my Aunt Joan passed and she was present with my Mom when I was born as well as beloved by many other family members, we had a little memorial service in her honor. It helps to have a retired pastor, a young pastor and a pastor’s wife who also became a pastor, in order to get the whole family involved in a service to comfort my Uncle Dick, his daughter and her children, as well as my Mom and me.
After the reunion, the rest of the time we spent visiting certain groups of relatives before some had to leave to return home (Texas, Alabama, Iowa, Oregon and California.) Mom’s sister was going to move to a new residence, so we were able with the help of some cousins to go check out the place. It was agreed that she would be in good care and the conditions were acceptable to the relatives present.
I also took Mom out to Keene cemetery where her folks and her mother’s parents are buried. The grounds continue to be taken care of even though the church next door is no longer used. The photo with the names of Anne and George Zeller are my grandparents and the photo with the name of Gleason is my mother’s grandparents. All in all, it was a wonderful trip involving young and older family members, past friends and reminiscing about past events.
We spent a long weekend over the 4th of July in Austin, Texas, where Chris played volleyball in the Junior National Championships (formerly known as the Junior Olympics). His team, the Balboa Bay Volleyball Club 16 Quicksilver, was ranked #1 going into the tournament in the Open Class of 36 teams. They cruised through pool play before losing their first games of a match in the semi-finals, losing 2-1 to the West Allis Lightning team from Milwaukee, WI. West Allis went on to win the championship and BBVC beat another So Cal team for 3rd place.
In photo: Linda Sheppard, Chris Sheppard
On this “Summer Road Trip” we traveled to Woodinville, Washington for the wedding of our granddaughter, Kristin Rech on July 16. She was a beautiful bride, and it was a lovely event, held at the Woodmark Hotel and Yacht Club on Carillon Point in Kirkland. The ceremony was unique in that this devout Christian couple received communion immediately after saying their vows, acknowledging God’s presence at their wedding. The proud grandparents are Stewart and Betty Berkshire, members of St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
God blessed me with a precious sister and brother-in-law who invited me to join them for a trip to Glacier National Park, Montana. From the majestic, glacial mountains to the delicate and intricate wildflower, we reveled in God’s creative power. (Romans 1:20a)
Member Virginia Kurrle
Pictured: Virginia Kurrle and Dee Jackson
Photographer: Bob Jackson
This is a picture taken in Tallinn Estonia of St. Andrew’s members Gerry and Ethelynn Sherwood celebrating their golden wedding anniversary on a “Road Trip” cruise of the Baltic Sea with their children and grandchildren. The cruise visited seven ports on Disney’s ship Magic from June 24 – July 7,and included a post cruise tour of London.
Share your stories of your summer road trips with us. Take a picture of yourself with your Highlights newsletter and submit it by clicking the “Highlight What You’re Doing!” button at the top of the page!
The Firman family from Auckland, New Zealand has been travelling down the California coast this past month and spent the week in Newport Beach going to the beach and riding bikes they bought at Kmart. Since it’s the end of their trip and they’re heading back home they figured they should give away their bikes to a needy family so they pulled their rented RV into our parking lot and unloaded 4 gently used bikes, toys and accessories.
We told them that we have many needy families that can use their gifts but especially the orphans down in Tecate that our team will be visiting next week. How blessed they’ll be to finally have bikes to ride and mountain bikes at that!
Isn’t it cool to see God connect this family from New Zealand to the orphans in Tecate?
God is still on the move on our summer road trip. Where has He been taking you? We want to hear from you. Share your stories by clicking the “Highlight What You’re Doing!” link at the top of the page!
Check out this “God on the Move” video testimony from our recent trip to Havasupai.
Along with our “Summer Road Trip: Stories of God on the Move” sermon series this summer we want to head about YOUR stores of God on the move in your lives. If you would like to share a video testimony, contact Malia, maliag@sapres.org.
Also share your stories of your summer road trips with us. Take a picture of yourself with your Highlights newsletter and submit it by clicking the “Highlight What You’re Doing!” button at the top of the page!
Check out this video testimony of “God on the Move” and the impact of kindness in an unlikely place.
Along with our “Summer Road Trip: Stories of God on the Move” sermon series this summer we want to head about YOUR stores of God on the move in your lives. If you would like to share a video testimony, contact Malia, maliag@sapres.org.
Also share your stories of your summer road trips with us. Take a picture of yourself with your Highlights newsletter and submit it by clicking the “Highlight What You’re Doing!” button at the top of the page!
We did it! This was my Father’s Day present from my son, Andy. He rented an SUV, filled it with camping gear and food, and on Friday morning (18 June) we headed toward the Panamint Mountains, a range between the Sierras and Death Vally. We drove down through the Panamint Valley and up into the mountains; by 3:30 p.m. we were setting up our base camp at about 8,200 ft.
We had breakfast in camp Saturday morning (Andy cooked). At 8:00 a.m. we left our camp site and began our climb/hike to the summit of Telescope peak (11,049 ft.), a venture of 14 miles. I tweaked my left knee in snow at about 9,900 ft. – within two minutes of the photo being taken. After coming so far I was determined to reach the summit, even if I had to crawl. The instant it happened I knew it would be slow going because the pain was instantaneous. The pain was like an electric shock every time I took a step going down-slope; but tolerable going up-slope. This slowed our pace considerably from that before the accident. We made it to the top 2 1/2 hrs. later – arriving at 3:00 p.m. God’s handiwork could be seen in all directions, what he set in motion to bring about what we were now viewing, not something that was caused by a force or forces of unknown origin. We rested and took photos for about 15 minutes, in all directions. Andy, being the doc/scout master he is, had a few medical supplies in his backpack. He bandaged my knee, and we started down at 3:30. At 8:30 we reached about 9,000 ft., when the lights went out (sun dropped below the Sierras to our west) and even ambient light was gone. We had a bright half-moon that cast eerie shadows about us, but it wasn’t bright enough to see the trail. I should point out that without the accident we would have been back at our tent by 7:00 or 8:00 at the latest. We had to use LED head lights and a small, but extremely bright LED hand-held light to navigate the rest of the way down. We calculated that we were already about an hour into the 2 mile segment that would end at the trail head, almost all of it down-slope. This segment would normally take about 1 1/2 hrs. We reached the trail head at 11:30 p.m. (about 4 hrs.). Andy had to go ahead of me about 50 ft., stop, turn around and light the trail for me. Then, he would go another 50 ft., and so-on all the way down to the trail head. For most of those 2 miles and at toward the end I could barely lift either foot more than about 4 to 6 inches and was barely shuffling along, having to go over large rocks in the trail by side-stepping. By this time my right knee was hurting, having to compensate for the left. For most of this segment Andy was like a cheerleader, he kept saying, “Im sure we’re almost there,” “…probably just around the next bend in the trail;” and the last, my favorite “I think I can hear voices,” to which I said “oh, great, this is all we need!” We signed in at the trail head at 11:30 p.m. and by mid-night were in our sleeping bags. God’s presence was obvious and dully noted throughout this epic.
We arose a little after 7:00 a.m. on Sunday, broke camp and was on our way down by 8:00. We arrived home at 1245.
That was a weekend that I’ll not soon forget.
About a week after we returned, I was recounting the trip to a friend and while doing that the thought occurred to me that the Lord interacts with each of as as Andy did with me in lighting the trail. When life gets rough, the Lord goes ahead of us and lights our way. You don’t see Him, but you see the light and you have comfort, although in pain, in knowing He’s there and is providing a way for you.
Incidentally, in the first photo, those are not ski poles and in the last two photos, Death Vally’s floor (11,300 ft. below) can be seen behind us.
Doug
Don’t forget to send in photos of your Summer Road Trip journeys (holding a copy of the Highlights) to Jon Batarse, jonb@sapres.org.
Highlights Live is proudly powered by
WordPress
Entries (RSS)
and Comments (RSS).
Copyright © 2010 St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church
