Pastor Skar

     There is an old joke about New Jersey/ New York that goes like this:  Q: Why does New York have all the lawyers and New Jersey all the waste dumps?  A:  New Jersey got first choice.  My apologies to my daughter the lawyer.      New Jersey is called the Garden State, but I do not know why.  I did not see many gardens there.  There were lots of trees and swamps in Southern NJ.  Next to the Bible Camp where we stayed there was a sod farm.  There seemed to be a few of those around.      New Jersey is blessed with great beaches.  As we learned they are very popular with the folks in the Philadelphia area.  On the saturday we drove across NJ from Philly to Cape May the traffic was horrendous.  The eastbound lanes were congested with beach goers.  The beaches were crowded on the weekend.  The kids sure enjoyed the surf and asked to go back many times.      In North Dakota the roads run north south east and west, in a grid.  We can thank the Northwest Ordinances for this.  In 1787 Cong

A lot of funny things can occur when 18 people spend 16 days together in close proximity.  Here are some of the best laughs I had.      At the work site there was this pile of bricks in the muddle of the yard.  It was a rather unsightly pile, so, a few of the ladies decided to move it over behind the yard sheds out of sight.  Armed with a wheelbarrow they began carting bricks.  I watched them from my spot at the saw.  Not too far into the pile they ran into some interesting critters unlike anything we would find in North Dakota.  There was quite an assortment of snails, slugs, spiders, and some others that were unidentifiable without a critter book.  Understandably, the ladies had some angst about thrusting their hands into the pile to get out a brick with so much wildlife calling the pile their home.      I ventured over to investigate.  The critter of the moment was a huge spider, bigger than any barn spider I had ever seen.  I took a stick and smashed it.  Immediately, hundreds o

     My original plan was to blog while I was on the trip.  I could not.  When I had Wi-Fi I did not have time.  When I had time, such as at the Bible camp where we stayed, I did not have Wi-Fi.  So my blogs are going to be retrospective rather than real time.      I spent a great deal of time planning for this trip.  In addition to a mission trip, I wanted the trip to be a sort of American heritage trip.  I also wanted to visit some famous crime scenes.  More on that later.  Time does not always cooperate with plans, so some of what I wanted us to see went by the wayside.  This first blog is going to be about what we missed.      On the first day we travelled 900 miles and 17 hours so we could stay at a motel next to a park where in 1934, two FBI agents battled it out with Pretty Boy Floyd.  Today there is a rock with a plaque on it that commemorates the Battle of Barrington and honors the two agents who died there. My plan was to have devotions at that spot in the morning.  I foun

What an amazing place!  If you have never been to Green Lake, you need to plan for it and go.  The conference center is set on the shores of the deepest lake in Wisconsin.  They have added a huge administration and dining center since I was last here over 15 years ago.  There are tables for over 700 people to eat at once. Since 1500 people are here in attendance for the mission conference, we have to eat in two shifts.  Except for breakfast, the meals this week have been from various parts of the world.  Some of the dishes are a bit of an adventure.      We have morning devotions at 7:00.  Ripon, where we are staying is about 8 miles from the Convention Center.  However, the road between is under reconstruction, so the detour makes the trip about a half hour.  Most people, including us, have been lost at least once.  One night we had to act as guide for a couple women from California.  They had wandered around for over an hour in the morning before getting to the center and needed to

A lot of history happened within two hours drive of Washington DC.  This was David's trip so I did not get to see much that was new for me.  It was fun watching David see it all though.  David did not like having his picture taken, so I did not take as many pictures as I would have liked.  I enjoyed my time with him.  He showed a great deal of interest in just about everything we saw. A cold and crisp day at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. This is the room where it all happened. The Liberty Bell.  We were there early before the long lines. David's shadow on the spotwhere Franklin hadhis outhouse.  He didn't want his face in a picture, so this is all he would consent to. David looking through the fence at Ben Franklin's grave. Reading the epitaph on James Buchanan's tombstone in Lancaster, PA. This was Robert E. Lee's view of the expanse across which he ordered Pickett to attack the Union center.  Their

Today we toured the U.S. Capitol.  I had scheduled a tour through Sen. Heitkamp's office.  Ben was our tour guide and he was very good.  If you ever go to Washington, call one of our senator,s offices and get a tour through them.  A public tour had about 30 people per group.  We had five in ours, a family of three from Bismark and David and me.  Because our group was small Ben was able to take us into places the larger groups could not go.  Ben was also very knowledgable.  He had done his homework.      The Senate was in session, that is if you call two Senators debating each other, in session.  What you see on C-Span is usually a congressman speaking to an empty chamber.  They act like they are speaking to a packed place, but they seldom are.  It is all just an act.      After we finished at the capitol, we visited the Supreme Court building.  The court was not in session so there were not any demonstrators outside on the front steps.  Because the Civil War happened 150 years ag

Sometimes stuff just happens.  My favorite hat is a black drivers hat that I wear most of the time in the winter.  I wore it on this trip.  I should say I wore it at the start of this trip.  Somehow I lost it on the plane between Minneapolis and Washington.  I may have left it in the pocket on the back of the seat in front of me.      When we got to Gettysburg I decided to get a new hat.  We went to Walmart and I picked out a black hat.  It was not a driver's hat but it would do.  It actually looks like a SWAT team cap or a black army ranger cap.  I will count it as my souvenir from Gettysburg. (I also bought a model of a mortar since I was a mortarman when I was in the army)      When we got to Washington David started to pester me to get a drivers hat like the one I lost.  There are hat stores here and I am sure I could buy one for a hundred bucks or so.  But cheapskate that I am, my five dollar Walmart special will have to do.      Today David and I were walking down the side

There is so much to see in the museums on both sides of the National Mall I cannot possibly mention everything. I will list that which stands out.      Mueum of Natural History:  a huge stuffed elephant that dominates the rotunda, dozens of dinosaur skeletons, the Hope diamond, gemstones galore, and Egyptian mummies.      Museum of American History:  the section on civil rights from 1863 to 1963, the stories of Medal of Honor winners, the section on America at War, the section on Thomas Edison.     Air and Space Museum:  the Wright brother's plane, all the Apollo space stuff about how we went to the moon, the section on telescopes,  the section on aircraft carriers, the section on taking photographs from the air.  This last sectio n covered everything from the first pictures taken from the air in baloons and from cameras strapped to the bellies of birds to pictures taken from modern satellites.  Of all the museums, I like the Air and Space best.  David agrees.      National Ar

The JFK grave has not changed any over the years.  Bobby Kennedy is buried 50 yards to the south on the same hill.  He hasa simple cross and his name on a small stone.  Ted Kennedy's grave is to the left of Bobby's and looks exactly the same.  To the left of that is a monument to Joe Kennedy who was killed in WWII when his plane exploded over the English Channel.  He was on a very dangerous mission.  His plane was laden with explosives abd he was to get it started toward his target and bail out, letting remote control take over.  Something went wrong and the plane exploded before he could bail.  His body was never recovered but he does have a humble monument next to his brothers.      Audie Murphy was the most highly decorated soldier in WWII, including a Medal of Honor.  His grave is just west of the structure where the Tomb of the Unknowns is. Murphy survived the war and went on to star in some movies.  He was killed in a plane accident or perhaps it was a car.      Visiti

The theater where Lincoln was shot has been completely changed since the last time I visited a few years ago.  They purchased the building.next door and turned it into the box office.  The museum in the basement is much better than it was before.  The derringer used by Booth has a prominent place.  Most of the other weapons used by the conspirators are on display as well.  The pistol and knife Powell attacked Seward with and the rifles, pistols, and knives Booth and Herold had with them during their twelve days on the run were there.  It is a great museum, but anyone who plans on visiting should study up on the assassination first.      Visiting the theater itself was a disappointment.  I expected a ranger talk, but there was none.  The theater is a working theater and workers were busy building a set.  Nonetheless, I still get the willies when I think of what happened in there.

On this trip with David we are going to visit the graves of five Presidents.  One of the greatest, George Washington at Mount Vernon.  One of the worst, James Buchanan at Lancaster, PA.  Three in the middle.  Woodrow Wilson at the National Cathedral in Washington.  John Kennedy and Howard Taft at Arlington Cemetary in Virginia.  The two most impressive Presidential graves I have been to are Lincoln's in Springfield, IL, and Grant's in New York  City.      I have been to 17 of the 39 Presidential graves.  Most of them are very humble.   many are located in regular cemetaries.  Their grave stones are less remarkable than many others in the same cemetary.  I found this to be true of Buchanan's in Lancaster and Tyler's in Richmond.  Many are buried at their Presidential libraries, such as Hoover and Truman.  Some are buried at their homes, such as Washington, Jefferson, and FDR.      I think Lincoln and Grant have such magnificent tombs because of their rolls in the Civil

Both the Engraving and Printing building and the Holacaust Museum are on the same block.  The tickets for both are free but they are timed so you have to get them early and then come back at the assigned time.  David and I had tickets to see money printed first.  I had never been there before so it was interesting for me.  Money money everywhere, stacks of it, tons of it.  The workers who operated the machines and handled the money acted like they were printing news papers.  Mistakes happen and the money is just thrown away.  They just make some more.      After we saw money being printed David and I decided to spend some.  Two hot dogs and two pretzels for $17 from a street vendor.  The hot dogs tasted OK but the pretzels were so hard I was sure they were the original pretzels.  They should have been in the Smithsonian just a few blocks away.      It is hard to express the Holacaust Memorial experience.  I always feel a bit numb after I have been through there.  We spent two hours,

I had hoped to visit all the monuments west of the Washington Monument while we had the car, but we ran out of time.  The only one we visited was the Jefferson Memorial which is on the south side of the Tidal Basin.  We were too early in the season to see the blossoms on the cherry trees that arearound the Tidal Basin.  After 9-11 they moved the parking lot that was right south of the Jefferson Memorial.  Now we had to park over a quarter mile away and walk.  The statue of Jefferson shows him standing, looking across the Tidal Basin at the Washington Mounument.  I remember a few years ago when I came to DC with a group from Berthold to attend the natioal ABC convention.  Tanya was too young to go into the Holacaust Museum so she and I rented a paddle boat and cruised around the Tidal Basin.      In the evening David and I met my cousin Blanch at a chile place in Alexandria for supper.  King Street in Alexandria is a tourist place with many quaint shops and restaurants.  A free trolley

The National Cathedral is located in north DC.  For some reason I decided to drive through Georgetown.  The restofthe world must not have had any people because they were all in Georgetown shopping.  The place was packed.  Block after block of folks milling around.  Bumper to bumper traffic.  Every intersection clogged.  All this put me in such a wonderful mood.       The good news was that because it was Sunday,  parking at the cathedral was free.  The cathedral is really spectacular.  Both gigantic and ornate.  The same earthquake that damaged the Washington Monument damaged the national cathedral, so there is scaffolding up on parts of the exterior.      A service was being held in.the main sactuary, so we did not go in there.  President Woodrow Wilson is entombed along the side hallway.  The chapels in the basement are beautiful.  Thee one has incredible mosaics on all the walls.      When President Reagan died I was in DC.  The funeral was held in the National Cathedral.  We di

George Washington is refered to as the indespensable man.  One cannot imagine anyone else who could have accomplished what he did as the Father of our country.  The people who operate Mount Vernon do not let visitors forget it.  We arrived later than I wanted to.  I forgot about the time change.  Then I got lost for a while.  But Mount Vernon does not disappoint.  This time of the year the lines were not long so we got right in.      The down side was that nothing was planted in any of the gardens.  During the summer they are lush with flowers and vegetables.  Washington is buried in a simple tomb alongside his wife Martha.  The tomb is a short distance from the slave burial ground.  Again only three people ahead of us view the tomb.    

The fact that Lee was missing two of his best generals probably cost him the battle.  Stonewall Jackson was killed during the Battle of Chancellorsville two months before.  He was accidentally shot by some of his own men while he was out scouting the front lines at night.  He would have taken Culp's hill at the north end of the battlefield on the first night.  That would have made a big difference.  JEB Stuart, Lee's most able cavalry commander was off on a wild goose chase and did not arrive until two thirds of the battle was over.  Then he failed to get to the Union rear on the third day as Pickett attacked the Union center.  He was thwarted by none other than George Custer, who at 26, was the youngest general for the North.  Lee took full responsibility for the loss, but his commanders let him down.      We stayed at the same mom and pop motel that I usually stay at.  It is at the south end of town near the cemetary where Lincoln gave his speech.  There was snow on the grou

David could not believe the size of the battle field.  I think he thought it would be like a city park or a farm field.  In fact, it is many square miles.  We toured for over three hours and only saw a fraction of it.  To stand where Lee stood on the day of Pickett's Charge and look across that open expanse at the clump of trees that today is known as "the angle", you have to wonder how any man could give the order to go.  Eleven thousand soldier went at his command.  It was pretty much a massacre.  They got close, close enough to lay their hands on the cannons that had been slaughtering them as they marched in formation across a mile of fields and fences.  But in the end the Union had too many men and had cover behind rock walls.  When what was left of the Confederate attackers stumbled back to their lines on Seminary Ridge, Lee told Pickett, "General, see to your division."  With more than a little scorn,  Pickett replied, "General Lee, I no longer have a

Day one of the trip east with David.  I will not count the flight and the car renting fiasco as day one.  That experience will go down as day none.  It is enough to say that we did not get to our motel until after one o'clock.  Up at six and on the road to Philly a half hour later.      Independence Hall is where both the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were written.  The park ranger who gave us the tour was a wise acre.  Very funny and yet informative.  He reminded me of Sammy Davis Jr.  I half expected him to break out into "Bo Jangles."  He said he did not want any questions concerning religion, politics, or "National Treasure."      There is always a lot of hype over the Liberty Bell.  It has a good sized building all to itself.  I would not stand in along line to see it.  We waited ten minutes.  It is still cracked.      The person most associated with Philly is Ben Franklin.  He made his fortune as a printer here.  His print shop is

A few years ago there was a huge debate over whether or not there were mountain lions in this area. I will have to say that I am convinced there are.  Although I have not seen a big cat myself, I know a few people who have.  I know others who have seen tracks.  Last fall Jon Wisthoff and I were looking for a place to camp.  We found a good spot straight across the coulee from our house near this tree.  The one side is all clawed up.  I do not know what else could have made these claw marks but a mountain lion.  A few days later Ruth and I walked across the coulee and I took this picture.  I know that mountain lions are more afraid of me than I should be of them.  However, I notice that I tend to look over my shoulder more these days when I am hiking in the coulee.

     Here's what I want you to do.  I am sure you know what a bucket list is.  Perhaps you have seen the movie starring Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman.  I have never actually compose a bucket list, but I have set some bucket list style goals for myself such as visiting all 50 states.  Hawaii was my last one in 2005.  I think it would be a good idea for you and I to compose a bucket list that has a Christian theme to it.  I challenge you to start out with five things.  Here's mine. 1.  Visit the Holy Land (I can hardly wait) 2.  Go on ten mission trips (2 down, 8 to go) 3.  Mentor a child from preschool all the way through college. (In progress) 4.  Write and publish a Christian song  (12 written, none published) 5.  Read every book written by C.S. Lewis (I have read one.  There are many left.)      It is a good idea to have goals and dreams.  We have to be careful thought that we do not become so caught up in completing our bucket lists that we forget about the day t

     In Sunday school last Sunday we discussed stones as a metaphor for Christian discipleship.  In the Old Testament the jews erected "standing stones" to mark the spots where important things happened.  Think of roadside historical markers.  In the New Testament Peter writes that believers are supposed to be "living stones." (I Peter 2:5)  Our lives are supposed to be monuments to the glory of God.  Paul writes that we are to be precious stones whose quality of works will survive the fire, as opposed to wood, hay, and straw, works that will not survive the fire. (I Cor. 3:10-15)      It is important to note that our sins are forgiven, whether they be sins of thought, word, or deed, or sins of commission or omission.  What is burned up in the fire are the works we do that we think are beneficial to the Kingdom, but are, in fact, worthless.  Let's say I compose a song of praise, but I am too ashamed of my faith to make it public.  It is useless to the Kingdom a