Good Morning All!
Well, it’s been awhile since I last posted! There’s been lots of traveling and events in the interim, so it’s good to be back and share some Thoughts For The Day From Papa ‘a. I hope all of you are well and that you and your loved ones are prospering!
Time has been spent at The Tana House near Glacier National Park. Among the many attractions close to The Tana House are Glacier Park, Whitefish, the North Fork Road and Polebridge Bakery (one of the best bakeries in the universe, for sure!), Essex and the Izaak Walton Inn, the Glacier View & East Glacier Golf Courses, and Waterton, Alberta & Waterton National Park just across the border in Canada; not to mention the annual “Cabin Fever Days Bar Stool Races” held in beautiful downtown Martin City, Montana, just a stone’s throw from The Tana House. I was able to take in the last day of the races and was not disappointed! Every year folks come up with various kinds of bar stool racers on skis/sleds and navigate the hill just above town (“Sugar Hill”). It was the 42nd annual “Bar Stool Races” this year. Perhaps the most entertaining entry this year was a fellow dressed up as a cruise ship captain piloting a river raft with an inflatable “Flathead River shark” hanging onto the back of the raft. It was hilarious watching him barrel down the hill in his entry from the “MartiAn City YOT Club.” A good time was had by all and it appeared that a significant amount of money was raised for the Martin City Fire Department, the Canyon Quick Response Unit, the Canyon Cleanup Day, the Canyon Kids Christmas Fund and the Sheriff’s Posse. Among the other bar stool race entries over the years, there’s been an 8-foot beer bottle on skis and a UFO. According to the race director, the luge-style sleds where people can use their hands to steer are the fastest. There’s also a “Best Of Show” contest, where the winner doesn’t necessarily need the fastest time but performs the best show heading down the hill. Every year a band performs on a few pallets attached to skis. “We’ve had all kinds of sleds over the years,” according to the race director. “We had two guys in recliners with a car battery, a VCR and a TV, and they were drinking beer and watching football going down the hill.” Other events connected to Cabin Fever Days include arm wrestling, roshambo, pool and dart tournaments, snowshoe softball, co-ed leg wrestling, and chicken scat bingo. The bar stool races are something you really aren’t going to want to miss! Visit www.cabinfeverdays.com for more info!
Speaking of celebrations, I had the privilege to attend the memorial service for my long-time friend, Lee Wynne, who died recently at the amazing age of 98. Lee was a retired police officer and volunteer extraordinaire. He saw many things in his long life which started on January 8, 1922 in St. Thomas, North Dakota. The memorial service was a great time of remembrance, with many great stories of Lee’s remarkable life. He truly gave his life to service to others in so many different ways and he was always coming up with various schemes to make some extra money, including raising hamsters at his home to sell to the pet stores in the greater Spokane area…how about that! In the program for Lee’s memorial service, there was a poem featured called “A Volunteer’s Prayer” that I thought was worthy of sharing:
A Volunteer’s Prayer
“I thank Thee, Lord as a volunteer, for the chance to serve another year.
And to give of myself in some small way, to those not blessed as I each day,
My thanks for health and mind and soul, to aid me ever toward my goal.
For eyes to see the good in all, a hand to extend before a fall.
For legs to go where the need is great, learning to love—forgetting to hate.
For ears to hear and heart to care, when someone’s cross is hard to bear.
A smile to show my affection true, with energy aplenty—the task to do.
And all I ask, dear Lord, if I may, is to serve you better day by day.”
Here’s to my friends Curt, Rod and Dan who celebrate their birthdays today. Here’s to all of you! Have fun on your special day of celebration. Each of you help to make this world of ours a better place. As my Australian friends are fond of saying…”Good On ‘Ya”!
Prayers are lifted up for my dear friend, Sarah, who is having a hip replacement today. I’m praying that all goes smoothly for her and her hip will be good as new with her new hip replacement. Given how well Judy has done with her hip replacement, I find it remarkable what they can do with orthopedic procedures (i.e. hip replacements, knee replacements, shoulder surgery, etc.) these days! Sarah, here’s hoping you can climb a mountain after you get your new hip!
And last, but my no means least, prayers are lifted up for our Glacier Hills (The Tana House) friend and neighbor, Barb, who is nearing the end of her journey here on earth. She’s under Hospice care at home. Prayers are also lifted up for her husband, CJ, and all of her extended family. Barb has been a wonderful friend to our family and made us so welcome at Glacier Hills. She and CJ have the wonderful gift of hospitality in welcoming all who come through the doors of their home…a gift you wish everyone had!
I had the pleasure of speaking with my Dad’s good friend from Marine Corps days, Al Rood from Binghamton, New York (the home of the very first carousel in America, according to Al!). I was thinking of Al (and my Dad) as this past week marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. My Dad and Al served in the same naval gunfire spotter team on Iwo. Dad was the radio operator for his unit and Al made sure that the wires that connected Dad’s radio to the unit’s lieutenant (and spotter) stayed operational (not an easy thing to do when you’re constantly under fire!) so that information on Japanese artillery positions could be communicated to a Navy destroyer offshore. Al is 94 years old, having about the same birth date as my Dad (Dad would have been 94 this past December 24th). It was a great phone visit with Al. He reminded me that he has a picture of him and my Dad when they were in the Marine Corps together and it hangs in his house in Binghamton. At the end of our conversation I said “Semper Fi Al”, to which he loudly responded…”Semper Fi, from the Halls of Montezuma!” Here’s to you, Al, and to my Dad and to all of the Marines who served for some 34 days on that God forsaken island they call “Iwo Jima.”
I’m having fun teaching another Junior Achievement (JA) class, this time to 7th graders at North Pines Middle School in the Spokane Valley. It’s a great bunch of kids. Together, we’re exploring career options in a JA course entitled “My Future.” It’s interesting to see how much thought many of the students have given to what they would like to do when they grow up and how to achieve (what will it take?) to obtain their dream job/career. One of the students, Drizzt (how’s that for a first name…I think I finally got how to pronounce it) shared his dreams to become an animator using various computer applications. I asked him to share with the class and he did a superb job of explaining how he was going to become an animator. You could have heard a pin drop in the classroom as he had everybody’s attention. It was really quite inspiring! If you are interested in becoming a JA volunteer instructor (they are always looking for people like you and me), you can go to www.ja.org and/or contact the nearest Junior Achievement office to your location.
Here’s the word for the day:
Effloresce (ef-lo-ress): “Reach an optimum stage of development; blossom.” Don’t we all wish that we’ve “effloresced,” especially at this stage of the game?
Here are some thoughts for the day:
“Of course, I had no idea then just what kind of crosscurrents life would throw at me. God would use many of those crosscurrents to direct my path. Satan would do his best to use others in an effort to steer me off course. I know now that event when I was such a green untested, over-confident young man, I was never left abandoned to steer my own course into disaster. Just as on that day in Jacksonville harbor, I’ve always had a Port Captain watching out for me, That Port Captain is, of course, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Despite my own failings and misjudgments—and there have been many—He has faithfully guided me through this life, steering me back on course when I’ve tried to go my own way. When Satan’s intentions were to put me on a collision course with disaster, my Port Captain has taken the helm, guiding me through dangerous waters. Three quarters of a century later, I find myself reflecting back over all those decades. The calm waters and stormy billows through which my life voyage has taken me. The days that were sunny and sweet and the icy hurricanes I didn’t think I’d survive. Not to mention all those crosscurrents, pleasant and treacherous, through which my Savior has safely brought me.”
—Ray Kerwood, “Cross Currents: A World War II Survivor’s Voyage through Life’s Storms to God’s Safe Port” (2017)
“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s “own”, or “real” life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day…”
—C.S. Lewis, “The Letter of C.S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves”, as quoted in “C.S. Lewis’ Little Book Of Wisdom: Meditations on Faith, Life, Love, and Literature (2018)
Here’s to a great Wednesday and lots of love and good wishes always!
Press on,
Papa ‘a (Dad, Uncle Mark, etc.)