58th Anniversary Trip

Every December, (as long as we are able!), Carol and I plan a trip somewhere to celebrate our anniversary. Usually it is someplace warm!

This year we became kids again and went to Disneyland. We had a great time, the weather was perfect and we survived miles of walking and standing.

Disneyland and California Adventures were decorated in the Christmas theme and the lighting was beautiful. Not a hint this year that it was wrong to say Merry Christmas. Even though the real meaning of Christmas was somewhat muted there was no denials and even some acknowledgements as to what Christmas is all about.

Its a great time to visit there. the crowds a smaller and the waits are shorter.

We have a pretty average camera and I was wishing for a better one (or more skills) to capture some of the nightime lighting magic. One of the most spectacular was the new World of Color

in the California adventure Park. Laser, lighting, sound and water all integrated to make s spectacular experience.

And best of all Mickey remembered us from when we were kids.

The Proof is in the Pudding

The Jess Tanis family

Or put it another way, How do you know your life counted for anything. Carol and I got a graphic illustration of that as we attended the memorial service for a long time friend and fellow missionary, ALTA TANIS. Alta and Jess Tanis had labored in central BC for years among the First Nations tribes of the Chilcotin, Shushwap and Carrier.

At the recent memorial in Central BC many of us were witness to the proof in Alta's life and ministry. Serving in a group of people who self admit "they are hard to work with" Alta and husband Jess faithfully loved and shared Jeus Christ. There were many of them at the memorial service and many gave public testimony to their appreciation for that ministry in their lives. In fact most of the people who spoke and sang were first nations people.

The Picture above shows an Indian lady sing a tribute to Alta. She sang the song in her native language-a song she wrote in memory of Alta. She shared how much influence Alta had in her life.

Something to "MUSE" About

I began this blog as an opportunity to "think out loud". That's why I called it Moffat Musings.

It's been a month since I have offered anything here. Lots of things have happened since my last entry. Some things real special. Like the visit of my sister and brother-in-law from Lake Havasu. Like the mini family reunion we had when they were here. A lot of family stuff, including the hunting adventure of my grandson Luke and his wife Becca that ended on a scary mountain near Kodiak, Alaska with Becca being evacuated by helicopter with a severely broken leg. (They did get a beautiful mountain goat). Like the death of a very dear friend Henry almost three weeks ago,We visited Henry the three days he was in the hospital on his journey to eternity. that gave me a lots of pause and opportunity to muse. But nothing compares to what happened last week.

It has been a beautiful Fall here in Oregon. Carol and I decided to take advantage of the warm sunny day to visit Silver Falls State Park, a couple hours away East of Salem. We drove down, stopping at Mt. Angel for lunch. A Bavarian theme town. We had Goulash at a German restaurant and then drove to the park. It has got to be one of the most stunningly beautiful places in Oregon. One of the many hiking trails is a three mile loop that descends into a deep canyon and where the trail goes behind two waterfalls. Of course, going down into the canyon means you have to hike out!!!

As we were about three fourths of the way around the circuit enjoying the huge Douglas firs interspersed with the hardwoods in their fall colors I saw my father coming down the trail. Now mind you, dad has been dead for quite a few years. But the man leading the way toward us ,

accompanied by two young adults appeared to be my dad. He was dressed in bib coveralls like dad in the picture. (Pictured taken in 1966 at

Kokrine Hills Bible Camp in Interior Alaska).

Somewhat shocked I whispered to Carol, "that looks like my dad coming." The shock increased the closer they came until the stranger cheerfully greeted us and joked "Am I halfway yet?" I could barely get out "not quite" and we passed on the trail. I was dazed and kick myself for not finding out who he was and if maybe he was a Moffat. But I was speechless.

I was glad Carol was with me to affirm what we saw.

After spending all the time just prior to that with Henry, watching him take the journey from this life to the next, my spiritual sensors were really tuned in to eternal things. Henry died with peace as He knew where he was going. I was with my dad when he died and am sure he trusted in God for his eternal destiny.

I am convinced we see reality, as the Bible says, "through a glass darkly". Randy Alcorn has written a book "HEAVEN" which is a journey through the Bible to explain questions about heaven. He makes it quite clear that heaven is going to be a lot more than sitting on a cloud strumming on a harp. It is going to be an eternity of surprises and joys and adventures and maybe occasional trips to other places? I am so glad that because of John 3:16 I can say "whosoever believes in Him (Jesus) has eternal life." I believe that.

I'm still musing about what I saw.

78

Yes I am 78 today. Kind of a wonder in a way. I was sure years ago that I would never see the year 2000 and here we are ten years later.

I was born in a birthing home in in Port angeles, WA to a confused and hurting mother. My father had gotten her pregnant and found they could not stand each other. He married her to give me a name and left her to birth and raise me by herself. She married a Norman Johnson who gave me a house to live in if not any of his heart. It was a rough existance for me and my mother. Four more kids came from their marrige until my mother died giving birth to the last . All hell broke loose in that home then.

This picture was taken before my mother died.
That resulted in my being taken in by my real father and stepmother.
This picture is taken about the time I moved into that home where they already had a boy and a girl. So I had a new brother David and and sister Marilyn. David and another sister born later are both in heaven and Marilyn and I are the only family survivors. Life was much better in that new home and I was loved and cared for.















Here I am graduating from Port Angeles High School. Our class just celebrated our 60th high school reunion.

God has been good to me. I accepted Jesus Christ as mu Savior when I was about 19 years old and God has given me the most loving and caring wife who took care of me and gave us 6 wonderful children.

I have found by experience what Jesus promised to those who follow Him.
"I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Reality Check

Carol and I went out into the country last Sunday-actually up into the foothills past Estacada. I taught SS and preached at this country church that has supported is for many years.
Imagine our surpise when we drove up this remote country road to the church which meets in an old schoolhouse. A billboard with my name on it encouraging people to come and hear me preach!!.

Well that is where perspective is needed to keep from getting too big a head.
Sunday School had about 6 adiults and church maybe thirty total. I imagine hardly any traffic goes down that country road. James 1:9 says we should look at our position in life with a reality check. In the end everyone will end up on the same level and we should look at life and our position in that light. If our name gets put up on a billboard, keep that in mind.
By the way those people in that church are very wonderful believers and carry no pretentions whatsoever. They are good friends.

Five Weeks of Memories

Yes, I have been absent for five weeks. About three of those weeks involved a trip to Alaska where we again were embraced by family. Maria graduated, Nikki had an operation after a puzzling sickness. (gall bladder): We had a delightful trip to Seward with Marla, great grandkids had school activites to attend and pictures galore were taken shared and posted. Two did not.

One was our childrens belated birthday gift to their mom. Carol was queen for a day at a delightful BandB in Anchorage. The owner specializes in English Teas as well and it was everything a traditional TEA is supposed to be.

Another unrecorded hightlight was my induction to the 50 Year Society of Multnomah University, where I graduated 52 years ago. I went rather reluctanly because they called me on the phone and asked me to consider. I was suprised how much I enjoyed it and was moved. We marched in with this years graduates and faculty and were given special public recognition.

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So Carol and I were both honored during the last five weeks. Multnomah gave me an excellent education in Bible and Carol certainly deserved the praise of her children

A couple more pictures to add

The whole program lasted almost and hour and a half, with the above ensemble joining Morgan for the last 15 minutes or so.
Kaitlan somehow was missed in the pics below and here she is with her parents. It was a milestone event for Morgan and Kaitlin and as Morgan said "one of the hardest things he has ever done."

Morgan Recital Weekend

As all such events in our family, this weekend was full, memorable and full of variety. After all getting to Moscow, ID on Friday night all the ambitious ones got up bright and early to do the 5K run. It was also Mom's weekend at the U so there were lots of activities besides the Recital which was held on Sunday evening. Maria, Mason, Scott, Derek his brother Clinton and Marianne took over the race. Maria was the fastest woman and all finished in great time.
However two of the Wick's were First and second as pictured here.
It was a fun filled weekend with lots of picnics (temp in the 70's), minature golf, church, games -well you know. Of course the highlight was Morgan's amazin performance at his recital. 45 minutes of solo memorized intricate, hard guitar solos, duet with a flute player and two songs Morgan wrote and arranged with a enemble of ten other fellow students. There were about 100 of us there.


Scott and Marianne organized most of the reception and of course, Carol Sue reveled in the helping.

Wick Times Ahead

We are leaving for Moscow, Idaho in the morning. We are giong via Redmond, OR.
We met Chris and Ashley Wick when we were up in Moscow for Morgan and Kaitlan's wedding. Chris is Morgan's cousin and is a detective for the Redmond police dept. He and Ashley have been accepted by Josiah Ventures, a mission organization, to go to Slovenia to work with youth there. They wanted to get together with us to chat about the ups and downs of missionary life.


We will stay over night there and then drive to Moscow, ID where Morgan is givng his senior recital in guitar performance. This is a big deal for a graduating music major and we are looking forward to a fun filled weekend. Morgan's whole family will be there as well as Jaime and Adam who live there..

We will share some pics when we return.

My Son Just Turned 55!!

We have six children and I can truly say that no one of them is a favorite. I can appreciate each one for their distinctive qualities and giftings. It's like a beautiful grouping of vivid blooms making a bouquet of God's gift to us.

But I have been thinking about Mark turning 55 yesterday. First of all, I can't believe we have a son getting close to retirement. Someone saw us at McDonald's today and asked me to pray for him preaching tomorrow. The reason he said jokingly was "that you are as old as God." So I guess I am old.

Mark and I were bonded in a unique way when we first went to Alaska as missionaries. Carol had to stay behind in WA. to have our fourth and Mark and I went to a remote Alaska village and went through the trauma of isolation, people speaking another language, culture shock together. Mark was a real trooper at 4 yrs of age and was a great comfort to me when I was missing his mom, the rest of our family and going through challenges of adaptation. He was my rock in a changing world. It might be strange to say that of a 4 year old, but it is true.

He is still a rock to me. My oldest son fills the bill of every expectation in the phrase "oldest son".

He is a great husband to a wonderful daughter in-law. A great dad to three outstanding grandchildren and a loving grandpa. He is a strong committed believer, a wonderful christian leader and a wise son.

Happy Birthday Mark.

Jesus Loves the Little Children

I have been somewhat scarce on this blog. One of the reasons I began it was to keep our extended family aware of some of the family happenings. Facebook has changed that a since a lot of family communication goes on there. A case in point was the wedding recently in Moscow where Morgan and Kaitlin tied the knot. It was a great time,with over 100 photos

springing up on Facebook.

I did title this blog "Moffat Musings" however and I will still muse from time to time.

I have been musing about children and Jesus' love for them. They are so incredibly innocent and so subject to the strengths and weaknesses of us adults.

Our great Grandson Rowan experienced that Love as he went through a 2 hour operation to remove an extra kidney and reroute his "plumbing". Marla sent these pictures of Rowan with his grandmother, mother and brother We pray for our grandkids and great-grands a lot and it was a privilege and joy to see Jesus' love for him as he did marvelously and the medical staff and doctors used their love and skill to bring that about.

That led me to wake up thinking in the middle of the night about the Haitian children. I don't need to add any images of them here. We have been assaulted with those images, both good and bad. One news flash I just witnessed was the ruins of an orphanage flattened on about 50 young orphans. I know they are resting in the loving arms of Jesus, because he said "let the little children come."

On the other hand there are hundreds of these kids experiencing the loving arms of Jesus through the ministry of rescue workers, orphanage workers, relief organizations (mostly Christian) and new adoptive parents cutting through the red tape and getting them into the homes of these parents. For these survivors a chance for a loving home was accelerated because of the earthquake!

Jesus shows His love for the little children in many ways. We thanks him for working in the lives of the children in our family and that "Jesus loves the children of the world"