FirstCoastMusings

Memorial Day - Remembrance Day

2010-05-31T16:44:00.000-07:00

America has been blessed as no other nation in the world has ever been blessed. History is our great teacher attesting to that fact. When Alexis De Tocqueville toured this country in the late 1830s he started in New York and worked his way west, all the way to the territory of Michigan where he was confronted with one of the reasons America was considered a great and blessed country.

On the banks of the river called "De Toir" ("the narrows" in French) he found a city that truly remembered the sacrifice rendered by so many in the Revolutionary War. De Tocqueville linked that remembrance with the continued blessings America was receiving.

As a child growing up in Detroit a hundred years later, during the Great depression, as bad as things were, I can still remember how exciting the events of Memorial Day and Independence Day were. How exciting it was to see Dough boys of World War I marching and a few gentlemen in their late 80s dressed in the blue uniforms of Michigan's Civil War veterans seated on platforms or riding in touring cars. The city still rememered.

I remember V-E and V-J days while in High School and especially that some of my former classmates never were to come home from Europe. They are still there, lying under beautiful white crosses in the American cemetery in Luxembourg; grave sites my wife and I visited just last year.

America must continue to remember if it is to continue to be blessed. Memorial Day must be more than picnics, time off from work, and fireworks. Schools must spend time refreshing the memories of all students of our heritage, of those who died and those who served, including those who are currently serving on two foreign fronts doing battle to ensure our nation's security. The media must put "Remembrance on the top of the list of articles and stories they print and present. We simply must remember! We owe it to all who have given their all for the freedoms we enjoy.

At the Korean War Memorial in Washington D.C., a Memorial the dedication of which I was pleased to be present in 1995, being a veteran of that war, these words are engraved above the 53000 American and 650000 Koreans and others who died in that horrendous conflict, "Freedom is not Free". Poignant words, and so true. Words to Remember!

Gerald W. Stokes
Musings from the First Coast

2008 A Year of Blessings

2008-12-21T17:09:00.000-08:00

This wonderful year continues...and so on this most wonderful of seasons when we celebrate the birth of our glorious Savior, Jesus Christ, I want to send to you, old friends and new, a wish for the happiest of Christmas times filled with lots of Joy and especially the blessedness of good health and loving family.

Pat and I will spend Christmas Eve. with her son, Trevor, and his family plus another 12 or so friends having dinner at one of our favorite Italian restaurants here in Jacksonville. Christmas day pat and I will rest for a while then go for a light dinner in the home of Jack and Erin Daniels, a wonderful young couple just recently married who have sort of adopted us, Kinda cute really.

Last year Pat and I spent Christmas in Canterbury, England enjoying some wonderful Choral music provided by the Boys choir of the Cathedral and then services at the Cathedral Christmas day. We went with a small group from the Smithsonian Institute. After services we had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with the Archbishop. Then to cap it all off we were served a wonderful old English Christmas dinner of Christmas goose and of course Plum pudding. What a scrumptious meal it was.

In the afternoon we watched the Queen deliver her Christmas message to her subjects throughout the realm. In it she included film of her first Christmas message delivered in december of 1952, 55 years earlier. This was especially moving for me because I remember watching that message while stationed in Korea during the Korean War. I was attached to the 67th. Tactical Reconnaissance Wing of the 5th. Air Force flying in B-26 light bombers taking aerial photographs of North Korean targets. We were the Blackbirds and our flights were at night. Also attached and using the same runways at Kimpo Air Base was the 77th Aussie Squadron of Flying Sargeants flying their Meteor Jets. A great group of men, some of which were great friends. That Christmas I watched the new Queen speak while a guest in the NCO club with the 77th. I had no idea that 55 years later I would be in England again listening to Queen Elizabeth.

My sons will have Christmas with their children and Grandchildren as it should be. I now have 7 and 3/4 Great Grandchildren (my Grandaughter Brenda will have her third). Some of the most beautiful kids you ever want to see. Sound biased? Of course I am, just as you are. My newest Great Grandson, Grayson White, sent me a picture to die for. He has to be the cutest kid ever...looks just like me! Not!

I will miss seeing them all at Christmas but such is the way of life when you get old. The older we get the less our families need us and the less we see of them. It is not because they love us less, it is just that the cycle of life moves on that way. The day will come when my sons will become less important to their children simply because they will be spending more and more time with their children and even their own grandchildren. At least we have memories, the precious jewels called memories. Every once in a while I just sit back and let my mind run over these memories, like a slide show, and enjoy once again the sights, sounds and even aroma's of years gone by. God has been so very good to me.

God bless, GW. Stokes
Firstcoastmusings

I've been away too long!

2008-12-15T17:09:00.000-08:00

I'm Ba'ack. I have really been away too long, but I want to explain. The year 2008 has been such an exciting year for me, actually starting in December of 2007, I've simply been tremendously side tracked by all that has happened.

THERE'S A MUDDY ROAD AHEAD

2007-10-01T13:15:00.000-07:00

I was a patient in the Base Hospital in Fort Riley Kansas in 1949. While there I remember a song called "Detour, there's a muddy road ahead..." being sung on the radio. It stuck in my head for years. Kinda silly song, but sort of catching.

As I read and listen to news reports and the pundants on T.V. I think about that song. My advice to this country is just that...we had better take a detour, and soon, because there is a very muddy road ahead!

I have been a student and teacher of history most of my adult life. Both as a Minister and as a History Teacher in public education. I know how to study things that are current yet are the makings of history. My historiography is well formed. A lot is going on out there folks.

There is a current movement being pressed on by its designers and proponents that I believe will be the final great challenge to America's sovereignty and very existence. It is called the EUROPEAN UNION! It's headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium which is also where it's power base is.

Here's what French Diplomat, Jean Monnet (1888-1979) founding father of the European Union declared: "Europe's nations should be guided towards the superstate without their people understanding what is happening. This can be accomplished by successive steps, each disguised as having an economic purpose, but which will eventually and irreversibly lead to federation."

Gerhard Schroeder, former German Chancellor stated in 1999 that: "The introduction of the common European currency was in no way just an economic decision. Monetary union is demanding that we Europeans press ahead with political integration."

The well known economist, John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) once wrote, "He who controls the currency controls the government."

Freedom as we know it here in America had its Genesis at a place called "Runnymede"! Runnymede, located on the south bank of the river Thames west of London, was where King John Lackland (he had no land of his own) was forced by the Barons who opposed him to sign the Magna Charta. The first document outlining personal and property rights.

"At Runnymede, at Runnymede,
Your rights were won at Runnymede.
No freeman shall be fined or bound.
or dispossessed of freehold ground
except by lawful judgment found
and passed upon him by his peers.
Forget not after all these years
The Charter signed at Runnymede."

Rudyard Kipling

Cicero was one advised that "idiocy has never been a barrier to becoming a politician". How true this is. We have a serious problem in Washington and idiocy is part of it. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the development of the E.U. is designed not just to be in competition with the United states, but actually take over the financial control of the world. Pundants are already talking about London becoming the center of international finance. Serious stuff folks! Time to think seriously on these things!!

America...are we really willing to abrogate our individuality and national sovereignty while the Socialists in Europe gain political and economic power. Economic power always leads to military power. The next step for the E.U.

I will follow up in my next blog..."Socialism in American Politics today." Do not miss it.

Gerald W. Stokes
Firstcoastmusings

THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY

2007-05-21T06:22:00.000-07:00

John Locke, in his Second Treatise of Government, invoked a concept he called "tacit consent" where the governed continue to accept the benefits and protection of organized government instead of withdrawing to other communities even when there is disagreement. He believed that in a social compact the majority would rule since "the decisions of a going community cannot depend upon unanimity!"

However, Locke did not answer the question, "How are they to be protected from the Tyranny of the Majority?" There is a difficulty here which cannot be resolved simply by saying that they consent to majority rule at the time of the social compact because it could soon become an unreal thing...which is where we are today in America!

Most of the Liberal Supreme court decisions made in my lifetime have been made out of fear of the tyranny of the majority.

I am glad that we do not live in a Democracy. I'm glad we have a "Representative Republic". In a Democracy the simple majority does rule, but in a Representative Republic decisions are made by officials who "supposedly" represent all of the citizenry in those districts from where they have been elected. This is not the best form of Government but it is the better form of the two. The reason being that the citizenry can recall or vote out of office those who do not represent them in the way they desire.

We have politicians today who want this country to be run by a simple majority. Politicians who want the States who have the greatest populations to control the Presidency and Congress. They want to eliminate the Electoral College so that Presidential elections are determined by the vote of the people in the States with the greatest population. Forget the votes of States like South dakota and Delaware.

We have developed into what I call "A modern political system of slavery" through the vast "entitlements" expected and accepted by a great "majority" of Americans. The Constitution nowhere promises or ensures anyone any of the "entitlements" Government is spending Trillions of tax dollars on. The concept "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" does not mean that Congress has the responsibility of "giving" citizens anything and everything to make their lives happier or easier. All it means is that everyone has the right to "pursue" life, liberty and happiness. Of course you cannot "pursue" anything in a socialistic environment.

To "insure domestic tranquility" has been used erroneously to mean that Government must pay for everything. This is idiocy! Reminds me of what Piso said to Cicero in the book "Cicero", by Robert Harris. Cicero had called Antonius Hybrida a "half wit", to which Piso replied: "Cicero, you disappoint me. Since when has idiocy been a bar to advancement in Politics."

Domestic Tranquility just means a peaceful society. If anything it means that we must have Police and A Military to protect us as citizens.

Yet it is out of "fear of the majority" that politicians constantly dole out countless billions of dollars. A majority that they, the politicians themselves created! This is the "Tyranny of the Majority"!

The sad result is that America is becoming so much like all of the Socialistic countries of Europe. France, Germany, and Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries are leaders in Socialism. Their tax systems are so very burdening on their people they are stifled in their ownership of anything; property especially. This where we are headed!

When Americans can no longer own their own piece of land with a home on it they can no longer realize the great "American dream". Think about it.

These have been Musings from the First Coast

I am Gerald W. Stokes

JERRY FALWELL...JOURNEY'S OVER!

2007-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:00

At a little past 12 today my granddaughter Jenny Vaughan who lives with her husband Tom and their 2 children in Lynchburg, Va., called my son in David who is a Pastor in Fairfax, Va., to tell him our friend Jerry Falwell was taken to the hospital gravely ill. A short time later he died and David called me and we talked briefly about his passing. It was a sad event...in a way. Jerry went home.

Sad, yet not unexpected for those of us who knew him and of his health problems recently. Jerry was terribly overweight and obviously his heart could no longer take it. I showed my wife Pat a picture of Jerry me and another good friend, Tommy Trammell in my office in 1980. Jerry was about 110 lbs lighter in the photo...looked good. I was lighter too. I am going to lose more weight.
Jerry Falwell and I were never close friends. He and Tommy were; they were best men at each other's weddings. But we knew each other and we respected each other even though I disagreed with him openly when he carried the ball passed to him by Bob Billings, former UnderSecretary of Education, another friend, and started the Moral Majority. I feared a serious backlash eventually against Christianity in the country which would severely affect our witness and ability to win people to Christ. MY FEARS ARE BEING REALIZED TODAY!

Christianity is so fragmented today one must ask the question "will the real Christianity please stand up!"

Oh I know people in certain groups will dissagree. Charismatic groups claim millions of converts all over the world and Evangelical "mega" Churches have sprung up like Day Lilies everywhere, yet I still must ask "if so many are being converted to Christ why is there less and less Christian influence in the world"? For anyone to say there is a greater Godly influence in the affairs of men today than 45 years ago is like saying the moon is moving out into space. It just "aint so"! And I'm sure I do not need to ennumerate the ungodly things that are not just accepted today but actually promoted as almost normal.

We are living in the age prophesied of by Isaiah in 700 B.C. when he wrote "beware [of the day] when men shall call evil good, and good evil".

The truth is...you cannot legislate Godliness or even goodness, let alone morality. Every attempt throughout history of changing secular and civil living by taking over governmental reigns has failed. Savonarola tried to do it in the corrupt Republican city state of Florence in the 1480's and 90's but while he was successful for a time, fickle sinful mankind in time ceased following the Preacher and like a dog returning to its own vomit reasserted itself and hanged then burned Savonarola to ashes.

Look at the Geneva Experiment, and Modern Germany, France, the Netherlands, England with its Puritans, our own country from Puritan Colonial times to now. It simply never works. It can never work...it never was meant to be that way in the first place! Christianity was not designed by its founder to change the world from without. It was to change men from within. It was meant to be an influence within society. It was to be like leaven permeating a whole from within. Let your influence be seen and felt...not in overt acts or demonstrations, but the godly influence of Godliness in character and conduct.

Perception is Reality! That's the way mankind thinks. How are Christians perceived today? With scandles and divisions among Christians along with the lack of a distinctive difference in dress, music, manners and overall appearance that is the norm in our churches and in public, the world of men have little good and Godly influence today. They just do not see it.

Jerry Falwell was a giant of a man, and I am not being facetious. His faith was real and he was true to his faith and his Lord. I believe that. I knew the man. He always spoke of raising champions for Christ and was the example of what a champion was. Even his enemies must bear witness to his faithfulness of mission. Dissagree, sure, but question his zeal and unfailing loyalty to purpose, never! Would to God we all go out that way.

These have been Firstcoastmusings. I am Gerald Stokes
Jacksonville, Florida

Check out my other blog: www.geraldstokes.blogspot.com

Why I am Ashamed...Page Two

2007-05-04T10:43:00.000-07:00

Girolamo Savonarola was a Dominican friar. He "flamed like a comet" during the late 15th. century in Florence, Italy at the height of the Renaissance. the period historians cite as the "re birth" of knowledge. While it is true the Renaissance produced great thinkers and artists, it must be noted that it also brought us the Inquisition.

Savonarola, who was born in 1452 and martyred in 1498 at the hands of the Roman Church and the civil government of Florence, was one of the early Reformers and a vital part of the Reformation movement. He abhored the extravagence corruption and immorality of the civil government and of the Church with its immoral and worldly clergy; including that of its Popes, and preached vehemently against this corruption while friar at San Marco Cathedral in the city of Florence. Alexander VI, the second of the Borgia Popes, finally succeeded in getting rid of that "pestulant" Savonarola by stripping him of his Holy Orders and turning him over to civil authorities for the sentence of death.

The Borgia, like the Medici ruled Florence for years during the Renaissance in the 15th.century through graft, corruption and intimidation. The Church at this time, lead by its Popes from Nicholas V (1447-1455) to Leo X (1513-1523) cooperated with this corruption. Savonarola exposed and denounced this corruption with fiery and plain term preaching. He was feared and reviled at the same tiime until finally in May of 1498 he and two others were hanged then burned to ashes in the Public square; the palazzo della Signoria, with their ashes spread out afterward into the river Arno. Before they were killed the Pope, in an "act of kindness (?)" offered the three a plenary indulgence which would "rescue them from the sufferings of Purgatory", they accepted, then Savonarola followed Silvestro and Domineco, his fellow protestants, to the gallows and to Christian martyrdom. His story is inspiring. A must read for Christians who love Church history.

Pat and I recently stood in the Palazzo della Signoria during our visit to Florence and Italy where I took pictures of the large round plaque marking the very spot on which he was hanged and burned. I was honored to meditate on the happenings in that very place. As I stood there I wondered, "what kind of hatred by "Christians" could bring about such a deed? It is hard for me to fathom. I am a firm believer and preacher of the Sermon on the Mount by our Saviour, Jesus Christ. Christianity was never designed to be a militant movement. Love was to rule and selflessness was to be the attitude of life of the believer. We are taught to love even our enemies. Not to hate anyone. Yet hatred really exists among Christians!

It was so interesting to listen to a professor from Wisconsin give our group a lecture on the art of the Renaissance along with an historical sketch. She was so right about the corruption of Florence and the ruling Borgia's and Medici. They gained much of their wealth by the deals they made with the Popes to collect the tithes of the people for the Church, take their cut, and give the Church the remainder. Lorenzo de'Medici was the supreme political boss of Florence during the 1480s during the time when the Florentines became known as the "fast talkers" of finance and trade. However, she does not give Savonarola a fair shake in that she dismisses him, as did the Roman Church, as an heritic and guilty of being a schismatic, seeking to split the church. This is the official Roman Catholic position to this day.

The truth is, however, that he is revered by Christians who not only "rightly divide the Word of truth" but study Church history more objectively and realistically. Sincere Christians admit the failings of Protestantism, even today, but to ignore the facts of Church history in regard to the reasons for the Reformation is inexcusable. Men like Savonarola were lights not to be ignored. they stand as giants during the time when the common man was continuing to be subjugated by the leaders of organized religion. as well as civil authority.

The Roman Church, which was organized and operated on the model of the old Roman Empire including having its head, like Caesar, carry the title Pontifex Maximus; High Priest of the Heathen...the supreme bridge builder, controlled the laity by keeping them ignorant and steeped in religious superstition both unscriptural and untrue. Much of it continues today especially in regard to the Virgin Mary. Savonarola early in his ministry flew in the faces of the spiritual leaders with the fictional question that since Mary, like Jesus, was of humble station, "why did painters dress her up to look like a luxurious Renaissance whore"? An invention for wealthy and powerful men. The truth is in the reading of history.

The hatred of Savonarola at the time of his death is a matter of record. He, with the other two, were first hanged, then iron collars were secured around their necks and the gibbet so as to keep their bodies from dropping into the fire. The executioner then lit the fire of straw and firewood spiked with gunpowder so that sharp sounds of rockets and cracking was seen and heard making the fire more spectacular. Witnesses reported that once the fiery bodies had started to shed legs and arms leaving the remains hanging from the chained iron collars, boys began throwing stones at the bodies hoping to get the stumps to fall into the fire so they could then drag the blackened charred remains around the Palazzo. Once the workers finally got to the ashes that remained they swept them up into carts and rolled them to the Ponte Vecchio where they dumped them into the Arno river. All in the name of Ecclesiastical and political justice. Christian? I think not!

I am Ashamed and frankly Disgusted by this same kind of hatred today!

It seems our country is filled with hate. Such hate as I have never seen before. We are being polarized by this hatred. People are not acting reasonably or sensibly in so many areas today it is heart wrenching. hatred for the President; hatred for the Jews; hatred for Christians. Hatred that spawned by an ungodliness that also produces someof the most horrible crimes is frankly unbelievable. Yet the sad thing is this hatred is evident even in so called "Christian" relationships.

Excuse me friends! This is not the Christian Nation in which I was raised. It is not the Christian Nation that I have loved. This is not the Christianity I preach and defend. No, something has happened...something terrible, and it is becoming scary. Where are we headed...really?

A Terrible Example I must cite!

Recently 5 men calling themselves Christian leaders conspired to take over a small Christian College in Indiana with which I am acquainted. They had been leaders in the school. Their objective was simple. Replace the President and dissolve the Constitution and by-laws and dismiss all 20 of the Cooperating board as well as other Trustees. If the school failed as a result they would have complete control of property valued at more than $4 million dollars. Property they could do whatever they wished with, including selling it for their personal gain. If this was their aim remains to be seen. How they went about doing what they did is what is truly despicable. The personal venomous almost obscene attacks on an innocent older woman is unforgivable. That they went to court and lied repeatedly is despicable. They brought reproach on the name of Christ and gave impetous to the world's already negative perception of Christians. They ignored the counsel of Godly men and with a measure of pride I have never seen before pushed forward. It should be no wonder that I am ashamed...terribly ashamed! If this was an isolated case it would be one thing, but it is not. Bear with me and I will tell you more...next time.

I am Gerald Stokes, and these have been First Coast Musings from Jacksonville, Florida.

Why I am Ashamed...Page One

2007-05-04T05:36:00.000-07:00

I have been, in addition to being an educator, a Baptist preacher for well over 50 years. During that time I was proud to be a part of a movement that produced some wonderful, Christ honoring and people loving Churches through men of God like Lee Robertson who recently passed away. He and many many others were devoted men of genuine Christian character. Men who loved God more than money or the worldly possessions it brings. Men of humble origins who continued living as humble servants never forgetting the "pit from which they were digged".

This is not to say they did not live well, they did; but with a simplicity of living seemingly foreign to many ministers today. How big a house does one need for just his wife and himself? How many cars and airplanes? Art collections and expensive hobbies; are they really necessary in order to minister as a Pastor? How big a church must one pastor? Of course men are not Pastors anymore, really. Not in the historic and Biblical sense. Few truly "shepherd" their flocks today; most do not know most of the people who come to their churches, how can you when the number exceeds several thousand. How personal can you be? This, of course, is overcome by simply hireing more sub pastors...ministers of everything from youth to maintenance. Where the divine call for these "pastors" is to be found eludes me.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that preachers must live lives of poverty or quiet desperation. the laborer is certainly worth his hire. However I believe money, like unchecked familiarity, is a trap that, once sprung, soon enslaves the one captured. Coupled with popularity and power, prosperity can have deadly consequences for the individual and others. The forces of evil in this world, where Satan is its God according to the scriptures, are moved with ghoulish glee over the myriads of prospects for moral corruption and destruction.

Personally I am Ashamed of the Extravagance of the Prosperity Preaching coming from our pulpits, and not just by the Charismatics. To me it is a trap because the true believer knows from scripture that this world is not our permanent home, only our temporary dwelling, and that we must not drive our stakes too deeply here for the Apostle Paul tells us that "our citizenship is in heaven" (Philippians 3:20 where the word "conversation" in that verse is the Greek word politeuma, from polis...city; therefore "citizenship). Its a trap folks!

It is not that money has its roots in all evil, but the desire to have and then be controlled by money is what leads to all evil. Seldom is one able to maintain his dependence entirely on God when he has the riches of this world. Seldom is one able to maintain his fervent desire to please the Father and serve the Son when one has so much of this worlds goods they become a serious distraction and that which diverts ones attention from humble worship of God.

I am ashamed...because Christianity today is under attack, not because of its evangelistic fervor and zeal; not because of its proselyting influence; but because it has become a spectical! A spectical of commonality, immorality and of licence where there is no definitive standard of conduct or dress and no doctrinal guidelines for faith and practice.

There was a time when Christianity and its churches sought to raise the standard of ones personal relationship with their God. A personal modesty in appearance and attitude was not just taught, it was sought after by believers. The approach to God was reverent, humble, and in awe of the glory and majesty of their Lord. Today we see the move to a vulgar approach to God and Christ where modesty and reverence are excluded and an anything goes attitude pervades the thinking of those coming to our churches.

Appearance is perception! A prostitute is easily recognized on the street; a homeless person likewise. But you cannot recognize a Christian! Should you be able to? I think so. Christians ought to stand out in their humility and selflessness; their helpfulness and kindness. People are prone to discount scantily dressed women and girls, and men and boys who look so shoddy their appearance reflects the looseness of society. What is wrong with dressing in attire that projects a clean and wholesome image? Why must the shoddyness and immodesty of the way society dresses be the model for Christians? This is also true in the area of music, or non music as Pat says. We both love good music.

I am ashamed...and dissappointed. The movement is moving! What movement? The movement away from traditional Christianity and from Doctrinal instruction that is based, not on "what does the scripture mean to you", but "what do the scriptures mean as originally written? We have moved into a period of church history where what we used to avoid like the plague is now the way to approach the Bible; that of existentialism.

Existentialism has always been a self serving philosophy, yet this is the new approach...and I am ashamed and very dissappointed because preachers are promoting it. I fear it will come to a disasterous end because of its shallowness.

End...page one!

PAGE TWO..."SAVANAROLA was hanged then burned to a crisp", by the Church!
In my next post I will show that this kind of hatred still exists among Christians. Be sure to read it!

Gerald Stokes

The Journey Continues...

2007-04-28T03:58:00.000-07:00

In my original blog; www.geraldstokes.blogspot.com, I told about some of my recent journeys with my wife Pat. Journeys that we took together as we "share the rest of our ride in this life together". When we lost our spouses going on five years ago we both understood that they could not be replaced, but also that we did not want to spend the rest of our lives alone, so we joined our lives and our families in another chapter in our Journey of life.

And what a great Journey it's been!

In those trips together we found ourselves in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island; several weeks in western Turkey, a wonderful trip to Ireland, a five country trip up the Danube from Bucharest, Romania to Budapest Hungary where I was able to trace my mother's family roots back to the 18th century, (I wrote about that experience in another blog, it makes for a good read I must say), a Yacht cruise that took us to Malta, Sicily (Seracusa, Toramino, Palermo, the Lapari Archepelego including Stromboli errupting at night, the Amalfi coast, Naples and Rome), in addition to our annual Jazz cruises every November in the Caribbean. WHAT A RIDE IT'S BEEN!!

Yesterday we returned from our latest oddesey. Another trip to Italy. We started with several days in Sorrento, with a special trip alone to Capri; from Sorrento we travelled through Umbria and Tuscany visiting Assisi and quaint Medieval villages dating to the 13th. century. Tuscany is as breathtaking as the pictures we all see of the rolling countryside, especially early in the morning.

From Tuscany we went to Florence spending a lot of time viewing some of the most beautiful works of art the Rennaissance produced in Italy. Finally we ended our Italy trip in Venice, the city of 119 islands and endless canals where more great art was to be seen and appreciated. We parted company with some of the nicest people one could travel with in Venice. they came home...we continued on. On to Budapest and Hungary once again to search for ancestral answers raised in my head from our trip the year before. I got those questions answered.

But that's for another blog...the next one coming up!

For now we are home again and after resting I'm sure we will plan another trip... somewhere. We both are simply amazed at the grace of our wonderful Lord. As old as we are we can still travel and enjoy His wonderful world. While home I will honor some speaking engagements and we will visit with our families both here in Florida and in Connecticut and Virginia. our 15 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren are special to us as are our sons and daughters. God is so good! We give Him all the praise, and honor Him who alone is worthy of all honor.

The Preacher in Ecclesiastes gives this advice, "teach us to number our days..." Good advice for everyone! God bless you all.

Gerald Stokes, Musings from the first Coast of Florida.

My Peculium from President Ford

2007-01-03T10:26:00.000-08:00

President Gerald Ford was buried today in Grand Rapids, Michigan. His was a fitting farewell, both in Washington D.C. and in Grand Rapids, to a real Gentleman. A man to whom politics was a way of serving his country rather than an avenue to power and personal prosperity, the motivation for most politicians today.

I have had the privilege to meet three famous Fords in my lifetime.

In the Fall of 1946 as a young teenager working on a construction site with my cousin Don Lear in Dearborn, Michigan, Mr. Ford's personal Limo driver enlisted our crew to go to Mr. Ford's Fairlane Estate just a short distance from where we were working, and help unload large rolls of new carpeting that had been delivered at the estate. When we were finished, Mr. Ford came out front and asked Don for a slip of paper. Don gave him a blank note paper and Mr. Ford wrote a check on it for $200.00 and told Don to "go to any bank and they will give you your money". I have never forgotten this meeting. Much later, during my Michigan ministry, there were several occasions where I performed weddings in the Rose garden at Ford's Fairlane (it was donated to the University of Michigan) estate and would walk to the front portico and think of that day.

The second Ford was William D. Ford, Congressman from my district in Taylor, Michigan in the 60's, 70's, and 80's; the same time Gerald R. Ford represented Grand Rapids. I knew him when he was a Justice of the Peace in Taylor before it became a city. He performed my marriage to Wanda, in Taylor when I came home from Korea after the war. He was my friend.

Then in 1976 I met the President Gerald R. Ford.

In January 1976, my friend, Rev. David Rice, pastor of Franconia Baptist Church, Franconia, Virginia (a suburb of Washington, D. C. in Northern Virginia), invited me to come to Virginia to preach a revival for him. In his congregation were several members of the Capital Police force, Christians who held a prayer service once a month in a room in the East wing of the White House. I was asked to come and speak to them. When I arrived, and before I spoke, Mr. Ford came into the room as I was introduced as a pastor from Michigan. He greeted me warmly as I recall, then he was gone. Later in the day I received my cherished Peculium! It is a Gold Tie Bar engraved With the name Gerald R. Ford with the Presidential seal on the end in 18 Carat gold with blue insert. I wear it rarely now, only on special occasions.

By the way, in ancient Roman times when a slave was rewarded for good service he was given a piece of property for his very own possession; it was called "a peculium"! In the Bible christians are called "a peculiar people" by Peter in I Peter 2:9; understood to mean, "a people for His (Christ's) possession".

These have been FirstCoastmusings by Gerald W. Stokes.

FYI; My previous blogs may still be found on the site; geraldstokes.blogspot.com