Pam and I are in Oxnard, CA visiting her Dad.  He is doing well after the death of Pam's Mom last year. We are cooking for him every night and he really appreciates that, he says he goes out or to the Senior Center quite a bit for meals.  We had dinner with Pam's brother yesterday.  He is still in construction but the work is really iffy, seems that the slump in house prices has trickled down to the new home construction.  Prices are down and there is a lot of inventory therefore new home construction has slowed down or stopped.  Tonight we are visiting her Aunt Doris and cousin Linda.

This is the last post from the ship, time flies!  It has been a wonderful time and we have made many friends.  At our table were retired couple from Wisconsin and a couple from Folsum, CA, one a chemical engineer and the other a family counselor.  All Christians!  We have also met a pastor from Plainview, TX who is here with his hospice nurse wife who has bone cancer.  This will be her last trip.  We met two teachers from Independence, MO our first day at lunch and our last day we met a harpist from Santa Ana, CA who has been 20 years clean and sober.  He was one of the featured artists on Swindoll's program.  We talked at length with him and he encouraged us about folks in our life.  He says Christ can heal completely - when someone is ready.

They are calling our tag color to get off the ship.  All good things must come to an end, I will fill in the blanks in later posts.

Friday we went ashore in Ketchikan but it was a short day.  We arrived at 9:00 am and left port at 2:30pm.  We saw the lumberjack show and did a little shopping.  a little treat for all the Discovery channel watchers: the Sea Star was docked there from the Deadliest Catch.

One of the reasons we came on this specific cruise was that
it was coordinated by Insight for Living. 
As many of you know that is the teaching ministry of Chuck
Swindoll.  I have been listening to him
for many years and really appreciate his preaching style and insight into the
Bible.  The theme of the cruise was “A
Journey of Adventure and Reflection.”  We
gathered daily (except for July the 4^th) for a Praise and Worship
and a message from Chuck.  He picked the
verse Micah 6:8 as the theme, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what
does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness and to walk
humbly with your God?”  Chuck broke the
verse down into these lessons: Doing What’s Right, Living What’s Kind, Modeling
What’s Humble, Enjoying the Rewards, and Examining Your Life.

It's almost over, one more port of call in Victoria, CA.

Thursday was Sitka. AK and we visited the raptor rehabilitation center, a rain forest (with totem poles) and then saw some Russian folk dances.  I can't really upload many pictures because of the lack of bandwidth, so here is just a taste.  Sitka was a Russian colony that they settle for the purpose of Sea Otter hunting.  This lead to some discord with the locals and a battle.  The outcome was a division of the town between the local natives and the Russians.  Latter the Russians sold the whole state to the US and we made Sitka a cruise boat stop.

Ok, it's taking me a little time to get used to this connection on the boat.  Here are pictures of Juneau:

It's Thursday and we just left Sitka, AK - or maybe we did.  Looks as if they can 't raise the anchor!  Reminds me of the song, "Will your anchor hold in the storms of life?"  I guess the Noordam's will!!.  Yesterday was Juneau and it seems the whole town is uphill.  I was tired out last night.  The day before was the Major Glacier.  Here are a few pictures.

Hello from the great state of Alaska! 
Mrs. McFern and I are on an Alaskan Cruise  and because of that I have decided to
resurrect this blog so that the little Mcfern’s can keep an eye on us.  We are cruising with the Insight for Living
Group on the Holland American Line.  We
get to hear the great Bible teaching of Chuck Swindoll and see the wonderful
sights of Alaska.  Let me catch you up.

Sunday – we boarded the Noordam at Seattle, WA
after an exhausting week of preparation. 
There were a lot of late nights last week packing, getting the house
ready, seeing other people off on mission trips and finishing things up at work
as I prepared for a two week vacation.  Mrs.  McFern and I had a wonderful supper with our
youngest son who has turned into a wonderful person.  He took us to the airport and we caught a
flight from Houston at 8:55 pm Saturday and made
it to Seattle about 1:30 am Houston time. 
There were three flights using the same luggage carrousel and getting
our bags was frustrating.  Off to the
hotel and a good night of sleep – with the windows open I might add (something
that you don’t do in Houston
this time of year).  Up early the next
day, a quick trip by my employer’s office where I had to drop off my
“tools.”  Funny story - as I was trying
to get in touch with the guard, the very same guard was eyeing our taxi
thinking the worst.  The guard came out,
looked our taxi over, and took down the license plate.  It really freaked out the driver when he
found out who I work for, he wasn’t from this country!

On to the ship, haggle with the taxi driver over the fare
(Mrs. McFern is really good doing that sort of thing), process through boarding
and on to the ship.  Whew!  In the process I bit my lip three times,
whanged my shin and slammed my index finger shut in our cabin door.  I know – don’t waah waah!

Sunday evening we had a get together where they laid out the
week.  The ship has a dinner seating at
8:15 pm just for our group.  Two great
couples are at our table, one from Wisconsin
from the Sacramento, CA area. 
More about them later.

I have a friend named Paul and he says, "Paper Never Refused Ink!"  In that vein, I am inclined to end this blog because it has caused me nothing but a little trouble (and I don't think anybody reads it, or cares).  So if you happen by, here is a picture of some coffee for you to enjoy!

Kit

Death is a peculiar thing.  It brings out the best and worst in us but most of all, it brings out the stories.  One such story came out on the way back to visit my Father’s grave with my Mother.  It had only been two days since he had been buried and the story came out of nowhere.

Both of my Grandfathers were dirt poor and scratched a living from the dirt.  Neither family had much, and being the height of the Depression, neither did anybody else.  My Father’s dad, I called him Pa Pa, had a small dirt farm in the little town of Reklaw, Texas (Reklaw is Walker spelled backwards.  It’s near Sacul, which is Lucas spelled backwards and they both are named for the fellow who settled the area – Lucas Walker). My Grandfather's little farm was near the railroad track that ran through Reklaw and a train came through every day at 1:00 PM.  He knew it was time for lunch to be over when the train came through and blew its whistle.  He would get up from the table and say, “Looks like the old black cat’s got us!”, then go back to work in the field.

The train no longer goes through Reklaw and the tracks have long been torn out.  My Dad is buried next to my beloved Pa Pa.  All that is left are the stories.

It looks like the old black cat got us indeed.

MAKING MELODY
by Charles R. Swindoll

 Psalm 98

God’s sharp sword stabbed me deeply recently as I was on a scriptural hunt in the Ephesian letter. I was searching for a verse totally unrelated to the one that sliced its way into me. It was another of those verses I feel sorry for (like John 3:17 and 1 John 1:10—look ’em up). This was Ephesians 5:19: “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”

Everybody knows 5:18, where we are told “be filled with the Spirit.” But have you ever noticed that verse 18 ends with a comma, not a period? The next verse describes the very first result of being under the Spirit’s control: WE SING!

Now let’s go further. Ephesians 5 never once refers to a church building. I mention that because we Christians have so centralized our singing that we seldom engage in it once we walk away from a service. Stop and think. Did you sing on the way home last Sunday night? How about Monday, when you drove to work . . . or around the supper table . . . or Tuesday as you dressed for the day? Chances are, you didn’t even sing before or after you had your time with the Lord any day of the week. Why?

The Spirit-filled saint is a song-filled saint! Animals can’t sing. Neither can pews or pulpits or Bibles or buildings—only you. And your melody is broadcasted right into heaven, where God’s antenna is always receptive . . . where the soothing strains of your song are always appreciated.

Let me offer five suggestions:

• Whenever and whatever you sing, concentrate on the words.
• Make a definite effort to add one or two songs to your day.
• Sing often with a friend or members of your family. It helps break down all sorts of invisible barriers.
• Blow the dust off your tape or CD player and put on some beautiful music around the house. And don’t forget to sing along and add your own harmony and “special” effects.
• Never mind how beautiful or pitiful you may sound. You are not auditioning for the choir; you’re making melody with your heart. SING OUT!

If you listen closely when you’re through, you may hear the hosts of heaven shouting for joy. Then again, it might be your neighbor . . . screaming for relief.

Sing loud enough to drown out those defeating thoughts that clamor for attention.

Taken from Charles R. Swindoll, Day by Day with Charles Swindoll (Nashville: W Publishing Group, 2000). Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved.