Category: Who Am I

Posts to help folks get to know me

Red Wing Baseball and Houghton

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date June 23, 2012
2 Comments on Red Wing Baseball and Houghton

Tonight I had the privilege of attending Houghton night at Frontier field in Rochester. It was hosted by Red Wing’s Board Chairman Gary Larder who is also a member of the Houghton College board of Trustees with me. I met several Houghton friends I have known for many years and chatted with one young alumni named Ryan at the picnic. We discussed what an advantage it is to graduates to have the good reputation of Houghton backing them when they apply for graduate school. He had been accepted into an MBA program and anticipated some sports involvement on the side as well. He felt that the name of Houghton had definitely been important in that process.

The game was a delight too as the underdog Red Wings won a pitcher’s duel over one of Charlotte’s best pitchers. Red Wing hitters managed just three runs and missed some golden opportunities as always happens in baseball, but it was enough as Red Wing pitchers shut out Charlotte. The night was perfect for baseball too – lots of sun, just a slight breeze, and not too hot.

I drove home joyfully with country music blaring, something my wife’s sensitive and classically cultured ears could never endure.

[Show as slideshow]

Tags baseball, Houghton College, summer fun

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

More pictures of our Grandson

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date February 28, 2012
1 Comment on More pictures of our Grandson

As grandparents for the first time, we just can’t help ourselves. We have to show pictures of our grandson. And besides, people are always asking us for pictures. So I’ve added 10 more to the Samuel Stater – first days gallery.

$celebrating Sam\'s birth$

$He\'s a quiet baby$

$Sam resting on Mom\'s chest$

[Show as slideshow]

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Our first grandchild, Samuel Glenn Stater, is born

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date February 10, 2012
5 Comments on Our first grandchild, Samuel Glenn Stater, is born

What a wonderful event! We have been visiting our daughter and son-in-law this week in anticipation of this event. Our son-in-law awakened us about 4 am yesterday telling us it was time to head to the big Hartford hospital. We learned that 4000 babies per year are born there. Keely was smiling and dressed, ready to go. The hospital has birthing rooms where the family could stay for as long as the Mom wanted. We stayed through the early stages of labor to encourage but then moved about 9:25 am to the waiting room. I napped (and munched). Samuel entered this world with a hearty wail, we were told, about 11:30 am. Samuel is my middle name and my maternal grandfather’s name. Glenn is Mark’s paternal grandfather’s name. Keely did very well with just coaching and support. Labor was 11 1/2 hours, exactly the same span as for JoAnne when Keely was born. Samuel has big blue eyes and is charming everyone. Soon after he was born, I went to Logan airport in Boston to pick up Mark’s parents who are also overjoyed to be here for this occasion. I’m starting a first gallery for Sam, of course. There was no time yesterday to put things up so I’m working on it this morning.

$celebrating Sam\'s birth$

$He\'s a quiet baby$

$Sam resting on Mom\'s chest$

[Show as slideshow]

Tags family, grandson Sam

Journal Who Am I

A winter pastime

In Central New York, one needs a winter pastime. JoAnne and I do jigsaw puzzles with the help of whoever happens to visit. As I mentioned, I now am doing them online occasionally too. Here’s a cut I had not seen before.

Tags jigsaw puzzles, winter pastime

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Try something new to spark creativity

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date December 30, 2011
1 Comment on Try something new to spark creativity

Sometimes its good to distract oneself with a game or a puzzle. It gives the mind a rest from the normal concerns, forces it to use rusty corners and actually sparks creativity. It’s also a healthy habit to try something new once in a while too. E. Stanley Jones had a motto to break up one old habit each day just for the sake of keeping flexible. Tonight I did both. I found a jigsaw site online and tried a puzzle cut in tretris shapes. I was a little slow getting started but soon was getting the hang of it and had it all together.

Tags creativity, games, jigsaw puzzles, puzzles

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Thanksgiving Sunday an important accent in the rhythm of the year

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date November 21, 2011
1 Comment on Thanksgiving Sunday an important accent in the rhythm of the year

Big events

Thanksgiving Sunday is a significant milestone in the landscape of the year for me. In my first church it was often designated as friend Sunday and it was a time of great celebration. At Community Wesleyan Church is has always been the time for our Thanksgiving dinner, a time when the family of God gathers for one of the biggest social events of our year.

$lot\'s to eat$

[Show as slideshow]

Significant ministry

It is usually also a time of significant ministry for our church. It marks the end of the Thanksgiving message series; it is the day for handing out Thanksgiving dinners to those in need; and on it we enjoy the first contribution of the season from one of our special performing groups. In addition, in the evening, for many years, I and others have been a part of the ecumenical Chittenango area Thanksgiving service. This event is a unique sacrifice of praise that adds a glow to the season. The glow comes from the smooth cooperation of almost all the Christian churches in the Chittenango area joining together in praise to God as well as from the privilege of being a participant both as clergy and as a singer in the mass choir.

Seasonal changes

In our culture this is a week of seasonal change too. Hunting season starts. Often the first significant snows fall. In the stores, Black Friday is this week; by next Sunday everyone will be thinking about Christmas shopping.

Liturgical year end

Liturgically, too, Thanksgiving Sunday is usually the last Sunday of the church year—not the fiscal year but the liturgical year. In most years, the following Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, which is the beginning of the new liturgical year. While our church does not formally follow a liturgical year, I have always observed Advent, so this change is always noted with a change of décor, the use of the advent wreath, and the beginning of a new message series.

Wood gathering

Outside, my attention turns from gardening to wood for the fireplace stove insert. My father always said, “Wood should warm you twice; once when you gather it and once when you burn it.” So I try never to work on wood for the fireplace insert until it’s cold outside so that it has a chance to warm me when I do the work, even it if it’s only gathering and cutting kindling from what has fallen from the maple trees in the yard.

I love Thanksgiving Sunday

As I was reflecting on all this, I decided that the events of Thanksgiving Sunday have become important to me as a marker in my own calendar of the year. They help me mark the changeover of the seasons. Thanksgiving Sunday for me has become a very important transition point from fall into Christmas. Celebrating on this day is important to me.

Tags fall, seasons, Thanksgiving

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Green Lakes Walks

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date September 20, 2011

My wife and I so much enjoy walking at Green Lakes State Park. Green Lakes is such a gift to all of us. Monday morning was a beautiful early fall day for such a walk. Yes, I know it was technically still summer, but here in Kirkville the feel definitely changed to fall a week or so ago. The smell in the air, the crisp mornings with fog hanging over the corn field across the road from my house, the alternation of clear blue days and soggy gray ones; all tell us that it is September.

Walking and praying go together

Even though Monday was perfect for walking, not many people were out so I was mostly left to my own thoughts. I love to pray aloud as I walk and I did. Holding a conversation with God while meandering on a woodland trail is refreshing at multiple levels. I’m relaxing; I’m breathing fresh air; I’m getting some exercise. I’m also unloading my cares to God and listening for his Spirit’s still small voice of counsel in return. I’m participating in the spiritual work of intercession for others too. There’s something about being out in nature that rejuvenates us all. There’s something about personal times of prayer that does the same. Doing both together is like working a team of horses, the result is more powerful than the sum of the parts.

I’m a nature observer

Another joy of Green Lakes hikes are the nature observations. Being a bird watcher, I’m always on the lookout for rarer birds, especially pileated woodpeckers which are not really rare at Green Lakes. I didn’t see one Monday, only a hairy woodpecker. But, this past summer I saw a male scarlet tanager, one of the few times I have seen one of those in my life. However, it is not just birds that get my attention; I also look at the ferns, the fish, and the fungi among other things. Okay, so I’m a nature nut. I have numerous guide books and sometimes actually look at them too. I prefer to think of myself as simply a good observer.

$the bottom is 200\' down$

[Show as slideshow]

Tags Green Lakes, joy, prayer, walks

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Sunflower Jungle

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date August 28, 2011

Every gardener should have a tall sunflower jungle picture. So this year is my chance. I planted a few in what I thought was the least favorable corner of the garden. And they grew and grew. Now I’m cutting for the table for us and feeding the birds outside. The goldfinches are already eating to their heart’s content and yesterday I saw cardinals, another seedeater, flying nearby. The tallest is 4 feet higher than I can reach which means it’s about 12 feet tall. I planted several different types so I have lots of different colors too. Delightful!

Tags flowers, gardening, summer, sunflowers

Journal Joy Notes Who Am I

Daylily Summer Joys

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date August 26, 2011

Summer Joy

One of the true joys of summer for me is growing daylilies. They don’t require a lot of care and they reward me with many blooms, each one lasting only one day. When I spoke about that detail in my sermon one Sunday, I was surprised how few people realized it. I guess we are so used to mums and dahlias, orchids and even African violets whose flowers last for a week or even weeks that the idea of a flower lasting only one day seems strange. But as I mentioned that Sunday, the fact that the bouquet in my garden is different every day gives it an invigorating charm. I go out looking for the new blossoms every day that I can. The light patterns, the dew on the blossoms, critters hiding or not all add to the interest.

Collecting too

I have developed a little of a collectors mentality about it too with over 30 varieties now. I have some daylilies just because they are odd—one blooms at night, another that I just planted is unusually tall, another is a double named Yellow Submarine. Some are fragrant. Several are spider daylilies, which means they have narrow petals rather than usual fuller round ones. Some varieties have ruffled edges. Colors range from a very dark maroon – inherited from Grandma Isaman–to a white one I bought called Nanuq. I seem to prefer the orange and gold hues, though I have some striking red and yellow mixes now that will almost take your breath away. Except for the picture of me visiting Grace Gardens, all the daylilies in the slides are from my garden.

Grandma got me started

When I was a boy, my Grandma, Jessie Isaman would pay us boys for helping her pull the quack grass from her large flower garden. Her garden featured eight or ten different dayliles among the many other perennials and I grew to love their annual display. Grandma died the same year I became a pastor, and my Mom encouraged me to take a small division from most of her daylilies with me when I moved to my first parsonage in Bentley Creek, PA. I built a tiered daylily garden in the back and the daylily clumps grew well. When I moved to Kirkville, I took part of each clump, threw them in a crate and stuffed it in the tractor trailer with my household goods. Later that summer I unpacked the crate, planted the brown clumps and every one grew. So I have most of my Grandma’s daylilies as the beginning of my collection. One of them, Frans Hall, is still sold today. Another is a fragrant yellow that I think is as fragrant as any newer cultivar I have.

[Show as slideshow]

Tags daylilies, gardening, joy, summer fun

Journal Who Am I

Reflections on a small blogging milestone.

Post author By pastorkelvin
Post date August 15, 2011

400 Entries

I’ve been blogging for almost 20 months now and today the totals on my blog dashboard went over 400 entries. Half of them are posts and the rest are fairly equally divided between pages and comments. I really enjoy blogging, though sometimes it takes more time that I thought it would. Though it has proven more difficult than I thought to keep counting software that works well, I have learned from watching reader counts what blog articles are read the most.

On the comments

I have also been surprised at the paucity of comments. I delete many times more spam comments than I receive in genuine replies. Readers seem to be interested in reading the articles, but not really interested in discussing them. I have received some feedback by email as well. In fact, it has become nearly as popular a method of contact as leaving comments.

My purposes

In my very first blog post I set forth three purposes for my blog:

1. To help me connect with church family and other friends

2. To provide a forum for written contemplation of a kind that might be useful to others

3. To disseminate information, especially the kind of tidbits that are interesting but don’t seem to have a forum at the time.

Reflecting on the purpose of blogging

I believe those three purposes are still very valid though I might reword them a little. However I think there is a fourth one that has been active all along that I have become increasingly conscious of. Blogging is a very personal journaling. One purpose, not always conscious, is to chronicle life as I see it, to record experiences and perspectives with words and often pictures. This recording is not just for others, but very much a healthy and deliberate self-expression.