Beautiful Commute Jamestown VA Fall 2004 

Margaret and George Bush Return to Washington DC

Margaret left today for Washington DC and the College of Preachers at Washington National Cathedral. See at: http://www.collegeofpreachers.org
She will be there for the next week attending a program entitled “Embodying the Spoken Word”. I quote from the course description:
“Expressing the power of the Word takes more than words. To offer the gospel message fully, the preacher must embody that message, create an active relationship with the listener, and be eager to give the message away. This is a physically demanding and emotionally intense workshop designed for preachers who are looking for a bold and innovative approach to the preaching task.”
Your continued prayers, as always, are appreciated and what is keeping us ‘afloat’.

Other top news from the Ashby’s is the beginning return of Son James to the United States. Take a look at his blog site for incredible tales and photos: http://whatyoumakeofit.blogspot.com

Tracy and Nick in Asheville NC are continuing to work away on their house along with Nick’s new job and their new pickup truck. Margaret and Tracy stay in close contact providing a constant current of dialogue on knitting, quilting, life and love.

For Gerald, the guided tours at Jamestown/Yorktown and the sailing on “Change of Heart” have slowed down radically in the current 20-degree weather in VA. On a note of increased activity though, Gerald is still giving some tours(I gave one last week to a class from Fairbanks AK on their way to the inauguration!) and is now working part time in building maintenance and repairs here at the apartment complex we live at. This may not seem like much of a blessing but to someone without a garage, shop or place to work on projects for over 3 years – the joy of having a shop full of tools and parts on the inside –is like an answer to a dream I didn’t know I was having( sound familiar if you’ve read “ Finding Your Dream” off my September blog site !) In addition I am waiting to hear from the Jamestown Yorktown Foundation this week about an additional chance to work for them at a new warehouse that they have built about 7 miles from our apartment on the Colonial Parkway.
Gerald’s voice is finally coming back after being on ‘leave’ since Thanksgiving. I did a little singing at last weekends Choir Oyster Roast and will be working with the teens at church on Feb 6th. It’s a joy to be back playing and singing after a couple of months out of circulation and practice.

I promise to go and pick up the digital disk of photos sitting down at WalMart this week and get some of them onto the site.
In the meantime, may you thrive in 2005.
Gerald

January First 2005 aboard "Change of Heart" 

January Wind

A New Years Note to Sailor Bob January 2005

Today Margaret and I sailed in a light breeze, sunshine and 65 degrees on the Chesapeake Bay. I thought of all of us when I read the following from a book by John Ortberg, “The Life You’ve Always Wanted” ( catchy title eh?)


Signs of Wise Spiritual Training

The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. John 3:8

“We can hoist the sails and steer the rudder, but we are utterly dependent on the wind. The wind does the work. If the wind doesn’t blow –and sometimes it doesn’t- we sit in the water no matter how frantic we act.

Our task is to do whatever enables us to catch the wind.

Spiritual transformation is that way. We may be aggressively pursuing it, but we cannot turn it on and off. We can open ourselves to transformation through certain practices, but we cannot engineer it. We can take no credit for it.

Spiritual growth requires discernment. We must learn to respond to the fresh wind of the Spirit. Wise sailors know their main task is being able to “read” the wind – to practice discernment.

Our task is to do whatever enables us to catch the wind.

Gerald