A year ends

Well, we celebrated another year of community together this past Saturday night after worship with our community group. We shared appetizers, played games, and just enjoyed each other's company and fellowship one last time in 2008. We've already planned a Chinese-themed meal for this Saturday, our first of what will hopefully be many faith and fellowship filled Saturday nights to come as we also look forward to Sunday's new dedicated education hour. Thank you Lord for all the blessings of this past year and may you bless us richly in 2009 as well, if it be Your will.

Home with the boys

Having a week off of work is nice, especially since the boys are home with me and we get to play and hang out together. They've grown up quite a bit in 2008, and still amaze us every day with what they learn at school, from friends, from church & Sunday school, and from books, movies, and television. I look forward to spending 2009 with them and can't wait for son number three to join us very soon.

0-8 was great

Ah, what a wonderful year my sister--my bride, and I have had. We've accomplished a lot of do-it-yourself projects in the house, we built on our personal faith and on the faith of our family and even, by the grace of God, have built upon our family with our 3rd son on the way. O eight was truly great, and I look forward to O nine with my lovely wife and our boys.

Climb a tree to see

My sons have a computer game that includes many Bible stories and one of their favorites is the story of Zacchaeus climbing up the Sycamore tree. The story comes from Luke 19:1-10 (NIV) ~ Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today." So he came down at once and and welcomed him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'" But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost."

Zacchaeus had earthly wealth and earthly position. He lacked only in height, but still he wanted to see. The crowd blocked his vision, he overcame the crowd. But...he couldn't overcome his own sinfulness. He couldn't save himself from his sins. So he sought out the savior. He climbed a tree to see and he saw. The crowd which didn't need a tree to see focused on the sinner not the savior. The savior was just "passing through" but took the time to stop and save a sinner seeking him out...and the crowd merely focused on the sins of the sinner, instead of the grace of the Savior! Sometimes we too need to get away from the crowd, and seek out Jesus the Savior. Perhaps we need to climb a tree to see!

Snow Day

Well, we tromped about in the snow at Grandma's today. Snow ball fights, sledding, snow angels. The boys just loved it...too bad all the snow will melt tonight and tomorrow! In honor of the snow, here's a poem I wrote about snow days:

I really think that snow days are cool,
And not just because you get out of school,
When the backyard becomes a winter wonderland,
Snow men, sledding and snow balls in hand,
snow forts and tunnels, and snow angels too,
Well have cold toes and cheeks before we are through,
So back in the house, before the frostbite,
Hot Cocoa with Marshmallows, sooths just right!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone

A Gift For Us All

We all have received salvation, by grace through faith, through Jesus the Messiah. As the Band Aid song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" states, "the greatest gift they'll get this year is life," which is what we've all received, eternal life through Christ's death upon the cross and resurrection on Easter morning. Joy to the World indeed!

I also pray that those who are serving in harm's way tonight, delivering on God's promise of "Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men," that they have a most Silent Night, God keep them safe as they keep me safe each night, Amen. Merry Christmas.

Anticipation

The boys are getting a little eager for Christmas to arrive. The younger one wants a dog (he'll have to settle for a visit to grandma's and a couple days of playing with the dogs there). Actually, I'm surprised at how well they've both left the presents under the tree alone. They seem more interested in playing with the ornaments than the wrapped gifts. The older one is ready to sing in the service tomorrow night. Christmas is almost here.

Bake, Bake, & Bake

My sister--my bride has been in major Christmas baking mode this weekend. I've chipped in with a dipped pretzel round myself but she's still going at it with fudges & cookies galore. It will be a delicious Christmas this year.

A Wage & A Gift

Christmas comes this week. We recollect the stories of Jesus the Messiah's coming so long ago and rejoice with the faithful in the hope (our confident and assured knowledge) that He will soon come again.

Romans 8:19-23 (NIV) "I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Our wage...what we've EARNED is death. We sin. We constantly fall short. We are poor miserable sinners WORHTY of nothing by derision, shame and yes...Death! Anyone eager to cash that paycheck? No, we're all like the Cat, Dog, & Duck in the Little Red Hen story eager to say..."NOT I!" But unlike the traditional end to that story, when the Cat, Dog & Duck are very willing to eat the bread none helped or deserved, Our Lord does let us eat of the Bread of Life. Our Wage, our earnings bring us death. Our Lord gives us life as a gift. We've been set free by Jesus the Messiah's death and resurrection and the result it holiness and eternal life for us all, by the grace of God, through faith. Come Lord Jesus, Come! Merry Christmas...tis the greatest gift I have and ever will receive.

Daddy Wraps

Ok, spent some time late last night wrapping up some presents for my sister--my bride and the boys. I took the man's easy way out on hers, using the gift bags method then just sealing those with tape...perfect. But the boys gifts were too big to fit a bag, so it meant having to actually wrap the gift. I'm a lousy wrapper. In December of 1990 when I was a Marine stationed in Korea and we were doing our own Toys for Tots program to get toys for a local orphanage, my duty schedule only allowed me time to volunteer to wrap. I got there, and wrapped two gifts and was summarily relieved of my duties as wrapper and told my services were no longer needed. (Marine wives can be cruel) So last night again, I let my wicked wrapping skills loose on a few things for the boys. It went downhill as I went. The first one I wrapped came out ok...but pretty lousy by department store standards. The last one was so bad it kept ripping, but rather than starting over, I just kept taping up the holes with excess paper. It will be an easy one for them to open no doubt.

Ice, Ice, Maybe?

Well, this afternoon could bring us another devastating ice storm. We just went thru one two years ago in December 2006 when we lost power in the middle of the night as we heard tree branches crashing all around us. That was Thursday night to Friday morning. Friday afternoon we still had no power and packed up the car and moved into the home of friends of ours from church who lived across town in a newer subdivision (with no big trees and thus no major power outages) and stayed with them till Sunday when we moved into student housing on campus when the University I work at stepped up to house those still without power. It wasn't until Wednesday evening that we got our power back, 6 long, chilly days of uncertainty...but also a real honest test of how God provides even in a crisis. Let's hope and pray this time around that it will not have the same negative effects on us again, and I also pray that as conditions possibly deteriorate this afternoon/evening, people will stay safely at home and not risk their lives in travelling. There is something about the bravado, the man-warrior in us that makes us want to challenge nature. The big SUV with the 4-wheel drive makes us think we have all the armor we need, but in the end, the heavier vehicles just do more damage to others and themselves as they are no match for ice. Stay home. Stay safe.

Thirty Seconds Over the Caine Mutiny Battleground

Van Johnson, another of my favorite actors, died this past week. When Paul Newman died earlier this year, I dedicated an entire week of posts as an homage, but with Johnson, I'll just due today's post as an homage. He was in a ton of movies, and I always thought him to be a very versatile actor who could hold his own in just about any genre and sharing screentime with legends and holding his own. My most favorite of his roles though were the war movies he did and he did several. Three of my favorites of his were:

Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo
The Caine Mutiny
Battleground

And all three speak to aspects of the ups and downs we in the Body of Christ face daily.

In Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, which was released while World War II still raged in November of 1944, Johnson played an Army pilot of B25 bomber which was part of the famed Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in which Army bombers were launched at sea from US Navy Carriers. The movie is a docudrama of how the men trained and cooperated to get the mission done and how they made it back home after crash landing in Japanese occupied areas of China. The crew of the B25, the entire squadron, the cooperation of Army & Navy, the cooperation of Chinese nationals, and on and on speak directly to how cooperative effort with each person doing their part and each sacrificing something of there own, be it a living space on the ship, or volunteering for hazardous, potentially life-threatening, duty.

In The Caine Mutiny, a fictional drama set in World War II in the Pacific, Johnson plays the XO (second in command) to the Captain of a US Navy minesweeper (the Caine) and actually seizes command of the ship out from under the Captain in a storm after several incidents lead him to believe the Captain is mentally unfit. The finale is Johnson's character's court martial for mutiny, and the verdict (I won't play spoiler here) but it speaks directly to both what an effective team can do under effective leadership, and strategies (both good and bad) for dealing with ineffective leadership in a crisis.

Finally in Battleground, Johnson plays Holley, a member of 101st Airborne Division besieged in Bastogne by the Germans during the Battle of Bastogne. Holley is the resident complainer and comedian of his squad, who resists all efforts to make him out to be a good soldier, all the while being relied upon by his superiors because he is a good soldier (despite the attitude). I have to admit, I modeled much of my attitude in the Marine Corps on him (until I made Sergeant and an attitude adjustment became necessary). Be a go to guy without "acting" or outwardly acknowledging that you are the go to guy. Sometimes we do that within the Body of Christ too, we know we have the spiritual gifts necessary to accomplish something, but we deny them publically as we don't necessarily want the responsibility that goes along with the utilizing of those gifts in ministry. And like the 101 at Bastogne, we are besieged daily by sin, evil, and secular culture and we must rally together to hold our Holy Ground and keep the faith.

So I pay my respects to Van Johnson, a very underrated talent (never once even nominated for an Academy Award, which is just silly) who influenced me through his films. May he rest in peace, and may God bring peace to his family and friends who mourn his loss this week.

Book 'Em Daddo!

There is just something special about reading books aloud. You can make the story and illustrations of a book come to life for your kids and in so doing, you get to be actor, director, sound effects person, etc. And what is especially wonderful? You don't have to have a lick of talent in any of those areas to be a star! I book'em as often as I can (almost every evening!) and whether its a favorite book of theirs I've read a thousand times or something completely new to them and me from the library or book orders, we can all get wrapped up in the tales.

Pot Pie Kinda Day

My sister--my bride was such a sweetie today. Despite being under the weather and feeling fairly lousy (compounded by the limits placed on her being pregnant in terms of what types of cold symptom relief meds she could take to ease her suffering) she still had a hot pot pie waiting for me when I got home for lunch today. Monday is her day off and I often meet her at home for lunch and its always good. What a sweetheart she is. Hope you are feeling better sooner than later sweetie.

Are You Serious?

As the advent Advent-ure continues, and my focus is on repenting of my sins and preparing myself for the savior to come, I think an appropriate verse for this week is found in Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV) ~ "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

Are we living invisible? Are we serious about having died to sin and living a life of meaning and purpose where that meaning and purpose is tied up in Him (and not us at all!)? As we prepare for Christmas; for our Savior's coming to rescue us; for Jesus the Messiah to return; are we focused on the things above?

Heavenly Father, I pray that this week you will help me live the life now hidden, a life of, by, and for you. Amen

Cranberries & Coffee

Cold winter winds blow chill through the air,
As I awake in the morning and out my window do stare.
French roast brews away as I try to awaken,
Oh how I wish I had remembered to buy bacon.

A loud exhale from the coffee maker roars,
So I pour me a cup to fight off the snores,
But I still haven't settled on an edible treat,
So I look through the cupboard for something to eat.

I spy a package, clear, plastic, and square,
Inside it is cookies, so I grab out a pair,
Hard cookies with cranberries, and a hot cup of joe,
In my bliss, not a care that it started to snow.

Moron Work?

Most every Thursday morning, I meet with several other men of the community at my church for Men's Fraternity. Currently we've been working our way through the second year material "Winning at Home & Work" and it has been a big growth experience for us all the past two years.

Last night, I reminded my wife that I would be getting up early since it was a Thursday (we meet at 6am). she asked, "So what is the topic this week?"
I answered without hesitation "I think it is more on work" (as opposed to being on our spouses, or our parenting, etc.)

She immediately retorted "What is Moron Work?"

Blago the Terrible~RESIGN NOW!

the Preamble to the Illinois Constitution:

WE, THE PEOPLE of the State of Illinois - grateful to
Almighty God for the civil, political and religious liberty
which He has permitted us to enjoy and seeking His blessing
upon our endeavors - in order to provide for the health,
safety and welfare of the people; maintain a representative
and orderly government; eliminate poverty and inequality;
assure legal, social and economic justice; provide
opportunity for the fullest development of the individual;
insure domestic tranquility; provide for the common defense;
and secure the blessings of freedom and liberty to ourselves
and our posterity - do ordain and establish this Constitution
for the State of Illinois.

Speaking as one of those persons, grateful to Almighty God, I call on Blago the Terrible, our seemingly corrupt and incompetent governor to resign effective immediately. You have failed to provide health, safety, and welfare to residents of the Prairie state. You have failed to eliminate poverty and inequality (in fact many of your incompetent actions have been extremely inequitable). You have failed to assure legal, social and economic justice (while your corrupt acts have fomented legal, social and economic INjustice), you provide only for the development of you and your family and friends, and tranquility has been non-existent in our state since you took office. Help us secure the blessings of freedom and liberty...by RESIGNING IMMEDIATELY.

I pray that God will help the citizens of the Prairie state clean up our house once and for all so that we may once again enjoy that civil, political and religious liberty which He has permitted us to enjoy.

In our room

Our older son occassionally winds up in our bed in the middle of the night. It used to be a regular thing but we've worked and worked on preventing that and though sometimes he starts out there (and once asleep we move him), it is becoming rarer and rarer that he wakes up in the middle of the night and comes in our room again. Last night he fell asleep in our bed, and we moved him and he spent the night in his own room. This morning, he told his mom that we shouldn't do that. We should let him sleep in our bed. No way Jose.

Our younger son lately has taken to bringing his pillows and blankets into our room and crashing on our floor or in the hallway outside our room. Now he is one who's never slept in our bed, and has always had no trouble sleeping alone in his own room.

Not sure what the recent change is about but it could be the anticipation of the arrival of brother #3 very soon.

She Came Thru!

Got my Toblerone fix this weekend as I awoke to a Toblerone bar in my shoe (and one in my sister--my bride's shoe as well) Way to go sweetie...er...ah...St. Nick!

Advent-URE

Well, were into the Advent season (want to know more about what this is, click HERE)

I like to look at it as the beginning of the annual faith journy, the beginning of this years adventure. Advent means "coming," so just who is coming? The U R E helps define just who is coming and why.

U = US, that's right, you and I and all people. Romans 3:23 (NIV) states "for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." We all are sinners. We all deserve punishment. That punishment is death. We need to Repent for those sins. We are in need of Redemption, we are in need of a Redeemer.

R = Repent & Redeemer. For us, the coming of a savior should make us want to prepare. Just as when we invite guests over, we clean the house and prepare it for their coming. Likewise John the Baptist came before Jesus the Messiah calling on us all to prepare the way by repenting for our sin. We need to ready ourselves for the coming of the Redeemer. For most importantly, R points to the coming of redemption, that the Repentant will be Redeemed. So just who is this Redeemer that is coming?

E = Emmanuel. The GOD WITH US. It is Jesus the Messiah. God in the flesh who came to redeem us. "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," yet Romans 3:24-26 (NIV) continues from the above: "and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus."

So this Advent season, I prepare for another church year. Another journey of faith to grow closer to my God and pray that I will this year better walk in His way and do His will. Let the AdventURE begin!

Shoe By The Door

Shoe By The Door (aka: Oh Toblerone!)

Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
Thy chocolate so triangular.
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
Thy chocolate so triangular.
They're triangles of chocolate bliss
They're triangles oh so Swiss
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
Thy chocolate so triangular.
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
Thy chocolate so triangular.

Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
You fill my shoe so greatly.
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
You fill my shoe so greatly.
I wake up on St. Nicholas Day
And to my shoe you've found your way
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
You fill my shoe so greatly.

Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
My shoe is now quite empty.
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
My shoe is now quite empty.
I ate each pyramid and enjoyed.
But now my diet's quite destroyed.
Oh Toblerone! Oh Toblerone!
My shoe is now quite empty.


The above is a poem (er..ah...hymn...carol...song) in honor of all those years I got a Toblerone bar in my shoe left at my bedroom door on St. Nicholas Day eve. That's tonight by the way (hint hint honey!)

27 Hours in a car mostly driving

I did all but 3 of those hours as the driver, that's an entire day spent behind the wheel and mostly at speeds above a mile a minute. Hurtling a couple thousand pounds of steel mini-van down a cold and windy prairie highway around bigger trucks and smaller cars and all with the entire family on board and trusting you to keep them safe. Now that is adventure! It is a sense of accomplishment to get there, then get back again, and logging the times all the way noting how good (or bad) the pace is. OK, enough of this driving stuff, the trip is done, and I'm glad of it. [Getting to see the family there though makes it all worth it]

27 Hours in a car in traffic

Well, we made our annual trek northward and then back southward. Good weather and light traffic for the ascent, lousy weather and heavy traffic for the return. Still, despite the lousy weather and heavy traffic, we made better time coming home. Something about a nice day and light traffic (and no need to rush to get there) helps slow the pace a little where as lousy weather, heavy traffic and needing to get home that night all contribute to driving with intesity. I guess that is what we are all doing on the road in those "rush hour" times...driving with intensity...and so I made it home. I'm glad to not have to do that again for another year.

27 Hours in a car as little boys

OK, yesterday we gave mommy all the praise, today, the boys deservingly get their share for being such great little men on our recent trip to South Dakota. Getting awoke at TWO in the morning to go potty, then walking down to an ice cold garage to get in the van in the middle of the night, then managing to fall back asleep and sleeping all the way to Coralville, Iowa. Great job both of you guys. You were well behaved all the way there and back again and even did ok when your DVD player finally gave out after 3 years. Thanks for the knock knock jokes guys, you were awesome!

27 Hours in a car while pregnant

A long time ago, I said I was married to thee Wonder Woman. She again proved me correct with her unbelievable travel stamina while 6 months pregnant this past week. She did the 14 hours there and the 13 hours home, a total of 27 hours of travel, without complaint, and actually, without much discomfort! Great job sweetie! The best part of these trips back to see your side of the family is that I get to sit next to you for very long periods of time! Awesome!