I am once again on the road, but before I left my summertime
parking space in Southwestern New York State I had another flight with cousin
Clair, this one finished by overflying Chautauqua Lake; I also had an
interesting conversation with him about The Urantia Book. My first stop on the road was at Bath, NY; I
parked my “house on wheels” there and drove to Waverly, NY for the NY-PENN
mini-conference. After the conference I
moved to Carlisle, PA where I will be parked for a week. While here I drove to Kennet Square, which is
a bit southwest of Philadelphia, where I explored Longwood Gardens and visited
a nearby study group. The Appalachian
Trail is near the campground I am parked in, so twice I walked a bit of the
trail. It is not every day I can
powerwalk the Appalachian Trail, well the flat parts anyway!
The focus of this blog’s quotations is friendship, the theme of
the mini-conference in Waverly.
“These five months of work
with Jesus led these apostles, each one of them, to regard him as the best friend he
had in all the world. And it was this human sentiment, and not his superb
teachings or marvelous doings, that held them together until after the
resurrection and the renewal of the proclamation of the gospel of the kingdom.” The
Urantia Book (1546.3) (138:9.1)
Long Point State Park on Lake Chautauqua
Most of the flight with cousin Clair covered familiar territory
as we again flew to Bradford, PA for lunch at their excellent airport
restaurant. On the way back I asked him
to fly over Chautauqua Lake where I took a number of pictures. A few weeks ago I walked with my niece in
Long Point State Park; this aerial photograph shows how it got its name. And yes we did walk all the way to the very
tippy toe of the peninsula. Anyway,
after the flight I gave him a copy of an introductory booklet I have produced
about The Urantia Book. The title of the
booklet is “The Pronouncement;” the subtitle is “A fresh statement of the
Gospel of Jesus for the start of the Third Millennium.” A couple of weeks later, the day before I
pulled out of the campground, we had a long talk about the revelation; he is an
ordained minister and preached for many years in the small church that was not
far from the campground. Perhaps I was
able to give him something to think about.
I do not have pictures from the mini-conference in Waverly, but
it was a moving experience. The theme
was “Friendships, Human and Devine.”
Saturday there were presentations about Thought Adjusters, Guardian
Angels and the Spirit of Truth. These
small mini-conferences are meaningful ways to share our views about the
revelation and to interact with others who are seeking Truth. They are truly a joy to attend. Sunday we shared and discussed quotations
about friendship from The Urantia Book, there was also a simple communion
service that was moving; I needed to dry my eyes afterwards. To cap it all off there was an excellent
dinner before we parted. As part of the communion
service we sang the old hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” All the way back to my “house on wheels” I
could not stop singing it.
Bird of Paradise at Longwood Gardens
From Bath, NY I drove to a campground near Carlisle, PA, which
is a bit south of Harrisburg. From there
it was about a two-hour drive to Kennet Square, where I wanted to explore
before the study group meeting. Near
there is the Brandywine River Museum, which has works by Andrew Wyeth. Instead of that I chose to visit Longwood Gardens. The public portion of these gardens cover 40
acres with another 46 acres under development, scheduled to open next year,
while the total property covers many hundreds of acres. The gardens have an annual budget of nearly
$50 million and have a staff of 1,300 employees, students and volunteers. There
is even a 10-acre solar farm. There are
fountains, manicured lawns and flowers of all kinds. Their collection of water lilies was
particularly impressive. It is impossible
to properly describe everything, but there was peace, beauty and serenity even
though there were many others also enjoying this lovely space.
Appalachian Trail near Carlisle, PA
At the study group I gave my presentation and it was well
received. There was one lady in the
group who had recently found The Urantia Book and it was challenging and
interesting to address her questions and concerns. Once again I neglected to get a picture,
perhaps next time as I intend to return next year; there is a lot to see in
this area in addition to these Truth seekers.
Not far from this campground is the Gettysburg Civil War
battlefield, but I decided not to go there this time. I visited Vicksburg earlier this year and one
such reminder of that devastating conflict is enough for one year.
The Appalachian Trail runs very close to the campground so I
was able to walk a bit of the trail. The
above picture actually shows the trail going between two large rocks; nearby
the trail winds between rocks and in the middle of this passage there is a sign
pointing one way toward Maine and the other toward Georgia. However I didn’t quite feel like going that
far in either direction just then.
Saddleback Caterpillar (Acharia stimulea) on
Trail
This darling little critter (about an inch long) was marching
across a large rock on the trail. As soon as I saw it I thought of a saddle; it
turns out that is the actual name, fancy that.
Reading about it disclosed that these spines could be painful; it is a
good thing I had no intention of disturbing such a cutie.
Next will be a brief stop in Virginia followed by some time in
the Smokey Mountains. Life is good!
Nathaniel and Thomas talking about Jesus: “His
life association with us exemplifies the ideal of human friendship; only a
divine being could possibly be such a human friend. He is the most truly
unselfish person we have ever known. He is the friend even of sinners; he dares
to love his enemies. He is very loyal to us. While he does not hesitate to
reprove us, it is plain to all that he truly loves us. The better you know him,
the more you will love him.” The Urantia Book (1785.3) (161:2.3)
All photographs used in blog postings were taken by
the Wandering Urantian, Doug Cable.
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