Category: Who Am I

Posts to help folks get to know me

A new assignment

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date April 15, 2013

Today it was announced at both churches that I have a new part-time pastorate in Connecticut starting in July after my retirement from full-time ministry here in Kirkville. I will begin serving as the pastor at a very old and historic United Methodist Church at Copper Hill, Connecticut. There is a very roomy parsonage that comes with the assignment where JoAnne and I will reside. The parsonage is 10 or 12 minutes from the church and both are about 30 minutes from Keely and Mark and Sam.

The sanctuary of the church is well preserved and was built in 1839—that’s four years before the Wesleyan Church was founded. It was near the site of a famous camp-meeting grounds. Like my home church in Haskinville, NY, it was built at a country crossroads. However, today the hills and vales are thick with modern houses so there is a great opportunity for expanded ministry. There is also a golf course across the street and a rails-to-trails trail a few hundred yards away as well.

The best part was the warmth and genuine sense of ministry anticipation that we saw in the staff parish committee with whom we interviewed. They made us feel very welcome and appreciated from the start. I could sense the faithful perseverance in the Christian faith that has enabled the church to survive all these years. I think they will be very receptive to our ministry there.

This position for us is an answer to prayer. We were looking for the good works prepared in advance for us to do after retirement. This will be very meaningful without being too draining. The economic boost will help us to handle Connecticut costs as well. So we are very thankful for this provision and looking forward to serving God together with the folks at Copper Hill.

Tags church news, our move, retirement

Forward Look Journal Who Am I

A new place in cyberspace for my blog

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date March 22, 2013

A new domain name

In preparation for my retirement from Community Wesleyan Church in a few months, Steven Sgroi, my web technical guru, and I are working to untangle my internet presence from the church’s internet site. As a part of that process, my blog will have a new location in the future. For now, if you try to access it from the old address it will redirect you to the new one just fine, but eventually, you will want to find me at the new address site—learntobewise.com.

Living wisely is the focus

I am excited about the possibilities of this name too. Just think about the fact that one whole section of the Old Testament is devoted to wisdom. I think also about the last words of Psalm 107 which might just be good mission statement for my blog at learntobewise.com. I should be writing in such a way that my reader would want to take the Psalm writer’s advice. “Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the great love of the Lord” (Ps 107:43 NIV). I have always felt that one of the jobs of a pastor is to live wisely and help others live wisely also. So I think this new domain name will be a great fit. I also like the idea in the name that we are not wise all at once. Rather, we are always learning and becoming wiser.

Tags blog, blogging, learn to be wise

Americana Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

A little inside winter fun

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date February 5, 2013

Puzzle fun

What do you do in winter when the snow is flying and the temperature is dropping? Well, among my wife’s and my favorite pastimes for winter evenings after Christmas are jigsaw puzzles. We have a collection of them and we put several together every year. Once one is together we look at it for a short time—the harder it was—the longer we look at it—then we tear it apart again and box it up again, storing all the pieces carefully in a plastic bag tied securely with a twisty so no pieces are lost. The season must always begin with JoAnne’s old favorites from childhood. They are thick Tuco ones with a piece or two missing, but what they don’t have in looks, they have in memories. Then we progress to the harder and bigger ones. We just boxed back up this one; it was 1000 pieces. The black sections were fairly tough. Now we are starting one that focuses on America’s National Parks.

Tags jigsaw puzzles, winter pastime

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

A Thanksgiving Tribute to My Mom

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date November 22, 2012

November 20^th, my Mom, Dorothy I. Jones, went to be with her Savior. She had turned 90 in August. Though she had been declining for months as a consequence of slow congestive heart failure, the end happened quite suddenly and unexpectedly. I’ve been working on this Thanksgiving tribute to Mom for a couple days. Also, here’s a link to her obituary.

Obituary for Dorothy I. Jones

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I’m thankful for our phone conversations

When I think of my Mom, one of the first blessings that comes to mind is our phone conversations. The chain of them began when I was a freshman at the University of Rochester. Late at night I would sit at the hallway telephone and talk to Mom. Our conversations have never been short and that habit goes back to that year too. Recent years I would get on my cell phone while sitting in my big chair and converse. It was not unusual to be an hour on the phone. We covered a lot of subjects; family news, farm news, church news and upcoming schedules. But Mom also talked about Bible verses she was studying or teaching from, articles or books she had read, things from gardening in the summer and feeding birds in the winter, and even news items of note—she loved Paul Harvey especially. I will miss those conversations.

I’m thankful for her prayers

Another great blessing from my Mom was her prayer life.

Tags family, family traditions, memories, Mom, Thanksgiving

Americana Journal Who Am I

The Syracuse Train Show

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date November 12, 2012

A couple weeks ago on the first Saturday in November I snuck out to the annual Syracuse Train Show. It is a massive display of working train sets of all gauges and vendors of all railroad hobby items from whistles and T-shirts to new engines and cars to antique parts and postcards. The last two years it has been in the Toyota building at the State Fair grounds. It is the third largest train show in the Northeast.

I love to go for several reasons. One, I guess it is the little boy in me. My brothers and I shared an O‑gauge Lionel train set when we were children. It had one oval of track on a 4 by 8 sheet of plywood with a road painted across it in black crayon. We had a great deal of fun with it. About ten years ago Bill Quick gifted me a set very much like it, which reignited my interest in the hobby. Ever since then at our house, we have had trains around the Christmas tree.

Special features of the show that I especially look for are two. One is the Lego train display. It is amazing to see their huge colorful set-up with its speedy trains made of Lego. The other display is that of our local historical group chapter. You can see more pictures on their website. http://www.hirailers.org/modular_layouts.htm. The detail model that they are building from pictures of the old station on Erie Blvd. with the elevated tracks behind it is awesome. Their display had multiple sections. Another section included a repainted two story station that I loved. I have one like it but have not painted it yet.

This year I went to the train show with a new perspective. I’m starting to think about sharing the train hobby with my little grandson. I’ve already bought him some Thomas the Train books and this year at the fair, I went looking for a good deal on what I learned was the second most popular train set ever sold, Thomas the Train. (Number one is the Polar Express.) Thomas has just recently been reproduced with a new remote control feature that will eventually allow operators to run more than one train on the same track. This is especially nice since most Thomas stories feature more than one engine. The story has a happy ending too as I found one at a good discount and bought the vendor’s last one.

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Tags Christmas trains, model railroad, train fair

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Visit to our daughter and family

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date November 11, 2012

JoAnne and I took a couple days off to go to Connecticut this past week. It’s a combination of things. For one, we acknowledge that we are pretty taken with our new grandson. He is so loving. He cuddles right up to his Grandpa and Grandma J. Attached are some photos by doting grandparents for Sammy’s nine month mark.

$Sam\'s a busy boy$

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We also go to help Keely and Mark as we can with the practical things of being homeowners. I am the family handyman, I guess. And I am blessed that my son-in-law asks me to mentor him in learning to take care of his home as he is a first time homeowner. This trip we worked with the extension ladder he bought, learning to set up and lower it properly. Hurricane Sandy did no damage to their house, thankfully, but it did reveal a couple serious east wind leaks that needed quick attention. So Mark and I spent Saturday morning on the sunroom roof fixing those. I trust we were successful.

Tags family, grandson Sam, handyman

Journal Who Am I Wisdom

Chronicling the reading habit

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 29, 2012

Reading is an important habit for all of us. Of course, our number one book to read is the Bible. I have several ways to keep track of my reading. When I finish a book that I own, I write the date in the front. Since I started blogging, I also try to write a short article for the book review section of my blog for each book that I have read, including the borrowed ones. I have missed one or two. My wife keeps notes including actual quotes in her computer from each book that she reads. This is especially helpful to her as it preserves usable material from books she has read out of the public library.

Both JoAnne and I always have several books going at once. Inevitably, some get neglected while others take priority. This is just part of the way it is. But eventually, most of them get finished. Summer is a great time for reading. I always manage to finish several books, as I did this year. You can catch the three recent reviews in my book review section.

Choosing books to read is the heart of the matter. I try to choose books that enrich the work that I’m doing. And I usually have at least three different areas going at once to provide variety. Often one is for fun or for my health. I highly recommend the discipline of reading. Whether it is from physical books or on electronic screens does not matter.

I usually have at least one book that challenges or encourages my spiritual life and/or my prayer life. This is a discipline I have maintained for many years. The recent biography of Smith Wigglesworth was such a book. Other books, I read to help me in my various responsibilities like the Gary McIntosh’s book on Taking Your Church to the Next Level. Currently I am reading a book about college administration that is related to my work as a trustee at Houghton College. Over the last several years, I have usually had at least one book related to leadership on my shelf with a bookmark part way through it. For example, I finished a John Maxwell book last winter on being a people person (I haven’t reviewed it for my blog yet).

Tags book review, books, reading

Journal Who Am I

A visit to Mom

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 28, 2012

I went to visit my Mom today. It takes about two and one-half hours one way going down through Gorham, Rushville, Naples, and Wayland. I enjoy the scenery, especially today as the fall colors were more and more prominent as I neared my boyhood home. I went to encourage Mom and took her some flowers from my garden in a basket that was my grandmother’s. Thankfully I have a good crop of zinnias this year that have made wonderful cut flowers to take to Mom. I read Scripture to her and sang to her as I usually do. Even though she is on medicine that makes it hard for her to remember or think well, she sang with me on the chorus of “God Will Take Care of You.” The most precious part was when she prayed for me. That encouraged me. These days I try to give back to her from the rich spiritual heritage that she and my Dad gave to us.

Tags family, family traditions, flowers

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Time for a Grandpa post

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date August 18, 2012

I finally had a little time to empty the cameras and go through the pictures with my laptop. So I could not resist making a gallery of Sammy pictures to share. JoAnne and I had the privilege of spending a few days with Mark and Keely and Sam on vacation a week ago in their newly purchased house. Since it is an older house with some additions over the years, so it has lots of room, and lots of character, but also a few bugs–things that need to be done. So I have been helping with repairs and repainting while JoAnne watches Sam so Keely can decorate and unpack. JoAnne has such a tough job, she can hardly stand it — snicker, snicker. The rest of us are doing minor remodeling while she goes for a walk with Sam and lounges with him in the bedroom so he is not in the way of the painting project. Of course, I’m not jealous… Anyway, here are some great pictures of my grandson and our family.

$Paying attention to what\'s happening$

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Tags family, grandparents, grandson Sam

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Celebration for Mom’s 90th

Last Christmastime, my sister MarySue set this past Saturday, July 7, as the date we as an extended family would get together to celebrate Mom’s 90^th birthday. Even though Mom’s actual birthday is not until August 19, MarySue knew that 4^th of July is a good time to get the family together. But there was no way she could know how providential the timing would be. Mom’s health and sharpness are declining as she suffers from advanced heart disease, but right now, even though she was weak, on oxygen and confined to a wheelchair, she was still able to enjoy her birthday dinner and recognize and talk with nearly everyone. Previously she would have known each great grandchild—she told me this time Sammie is number 18—along with their age and sizes—now she remembered the names of about as many as I did. As soon as she saw my brother Allen and I both in the house she exclaimed, “Get the cameras!” So we did. Al lives in Fairbanks, Alaska and we haven’t seen him in a couple years. Several have better cameras than I but I also took pictures anyway so I could put a few on my blog. Since thunderstorms were to pass through, we held the picnic in the new garage that Don and MarySue have constructed not far from the house. As usual, we sang for Mom too, one hymn before the blessing and one hymn after the meal. There was lots of muscle present to wheel/carry Mom as needed from the house to the garage for the meal and back.

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Tags birthdays, family, family traditions, Mom

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