"Put down your Bible, and slowly back away, Junior..."

This caught my eye...and made me LAUGH, laugh, laughlaughlaugh!
Here the link to the story from stltoday.com (byline has this as a Chicago Tribune story)

Now, a few comments on things that caught my eye...

U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman made the decision Wednesday afternoon in a hearing on a lawsuit brought by local activist Rob Sherman, who has sued over issues related to the separation of church and state. Sherman filed suit against Township High School District 214, where his daughter is a freshman at Buffalo Grove High School....

Gettleman said the Silent Reflection and Student Prayer Act isn't specific enough about what is a "moment" and when it should take place. It also may cross the line into unconstitutionality by giving students a choice to pray in its language.

The statute states that students shall be given an opportunity for silent prayer or reflection on the anticipated activities of the day.

That is so vague, a teacher might simply be compelled to read the statute when the moment of silence is to begin, the judge said. That would in essence tell a child "you've got to think about praying" the judge said, and that likely violates the establishment clause.

Gettleman said he also was concerned about whether a child could or would do something physical in an act of prayer, such as take out a Bible or a Muslim prayer book.

There are only two choices given by the statute, he said. "One is an endorsement of prayer," he said. "If that's the way it's being interpreted, then I think we have a problem."

(emphasis mine)

1. Ohmigod, ohmigod, OHMIGOD --- What is this world coming to!!!! Ok, I could see teachers in public school not leading students in prayer, as that could be construed as an endorsement or establishment of religion. But now, we can't even dare afford students the choice to pray?!?!?!?!? I can see it now, monitors and proctors, prowling the cafeteria, waiting, lurking, searching for Johnny or Jane at the 2nd grade table dare to defy authority by bowing their heads in a little silent table prayer they always say at evening meals! C'mon........ I try teaching my munchkins the difference between good choices, and not so good choices. The key word here is choice. My little "mini-me-s" learn (hopefully) that their actions are based on their choices, and that those choices have consequences. What am I supposed to do now, eliminate their power to learn from the choices?
   
   
2. Please keep in mind -- the First Amendment (for those of us who have forgotten the nuances...) reads...
   

   Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
   

   
   
   Wouldn't it follow logically that either (a) promoting a time to pray, or (b) PROHIBITING students the CHOICE to pray would both be a violation?


3. Last thing -- if the biggest thing worrying the poor lit'l hairs on Sherman's and Gettleman's head is a student pulling a Bible, Koran, or prayer book out of their desk, boy, can I join them in that little bit of Erehwon! This is a dangerous slippery slope -- as it doesn't take too much of a leap in my mind for small golden crosses or Stars of David on necklaces, a cool Sunday School handout that a student brings for a friend, or pencils with little Christian fish on them? What about dreidles brought into class for "show-and-tell?" Just like I find it impossible to completely and totally insulate and isolate my children from all the cultural influences and forces surrounding us (uhhh...Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, most of MTV...) if Sherman/Gettleman believe that they can kill the "dragon" of Christian/Islamic/Jewish symbols throughout the American culture, I urge them to follow their mentor, Don Quixote on that quest. Just don't take the bench and gavel with you.

I'll keep an eye on this, and see if common sense can prevail. Until then, I'll keep my kids in LUTHERAN SCHOOLS. What do you think?

Random thoughts...

"Anybody out there happen to know in what fire
we experienced the greatest loss of life in US history?
Yes: the great Chicago fire.
It started when a cow kicked over a lantern.
And nobody claimed back then that the cow was upset over global warming."

:: Rush Limbaugh,
Show on 25 Oct 2007

"Fallacies do not cease to be fallacies because they become fashions."

:: G. K. Chesterton
found on littlegreenfootballs.com

Keep in your prayers...

Sally, Ellen's oldest sister, her husband Jeff, and their family, haven't had the best of times since they moved out west. She's had some medical concerns, which has hampered her ability to land good employment. Jeff is following a calling into the acting field, so until George Lucas finds him in his latest carpentry gig (ala Harrison Ford), he's not raking in the multi-million dollar deals just quite yet.

Oh, yes, they live in Santa Clarita, CA, just north of Los Angeles. The LA Times' website has a great interactive map of the recent firestorms here. Santa Clarita is the town with four wildfires surrounding it. Some are contained, some aren't.

Needless to say, they'll take all the prayer help they can get. Please keep them in yours.

Commentary on Walt Jockety -- This is a great compliment...

Read this guest commentary as I was perusing the website of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, www.stltoday.com. As I was reading it, I couldn't help but tell myself -- this is a great sort of goal to aim for, and achieve.

Of course, Jocketty was with the Cardinals. The same class outfit that gave us Stan Musial (who keeps giving and giving to Cardinal nation. And Schoendist, and Smith, and Pujols... So it shouldn't surprise me too much.

Enough intro. If it's still on the stltoday.com website, it'll be here. Otherwise, it's below.
-----

Reaching out to ordinary fans

By Paul Turner

10/08/2007

CHICAGO

Last week, my brother-in-law called at the steakhouse where I work on Wednesdays to tell me the Cardinals had fired general manager Walt Jocketty. I was stunned. Team chairman Bill DeWitt Jr. and president Mark Lamping had kicked to the curb the person most responsible for assembling the talent for one of the most successful eras in St. Louis baseball history. I thought it was a slap in the face to a man who deserved better treatment.

Jocketty's record speaks for itself. Let the baseball experts, columnists and fans in the sports pages, blogs and chat rooms ruminate on it. Yes, I mourn Jocketty's firing for on-field reasons, but I regret more deeply the loss of someone I thought was not only a tremendous baseball man, but also a tremendous man, period.

I'm a native of southern Illinois who lives in Chicago and, who, thankfully, has retained my passion for the Cardinals. Like many others pursuing careers in acting and writing, I have supplemented my income for years by working in restaurants.

Over the last decade or so, I happen to have worked in places frequented by members of the Cardinals organization. That has allowed me to serve and talk to and get to know people I worshipped as a child. I mean, listening to Mike Shannon, Red Schoendist and long-time Cardinals traveling secretary C.J. Cherre tell baseball stories and getting paid for it? On days when the Redbirds have been in town, I've sometimes felt as though I were attending a kind of baseball fantasy camp.

These people have indulged my questions and love of the team, but no one ever has asked to be seated in my section more times than Walt Jocketty — even though he had to know I was going to talk his arm off.

I don't know about the reported behind-the-scenes divisiveness in the Cardinals front office, but I do know what I've experienced personally: Walt Jocketty is one of the most decent and classiest people I've ever encountered.

At the restaurant few years ago, Jocketty asked me if was planning to come down to St. Louis anytime soon and invited me to be his guest for a game at Busch II. I casually mentioned that my next trip to St. Louis was going to be for an extended-family reunion in conjunction with a particular baseball game, so I'd have to take him up on his offer some other time. He said he'd call me anyway.

No big deal, right? It would be easy enough for him to leave me a couple of tickets.

Not long afterward, a package arrived from him in the mail: 12 tickets to a private suite and six more tickets behind home plate, four rows up. He had given me the use of his family's luxury box, the whole thing, for a night. It was a night the members of my family will remember for the rest of our lives.

Who does that kind of a thing for a guy he knows only casually, a guy who waited on him in a restaurant maybe a dozen times? And who does that while trying to run a baseball team in the middle of a pennant race? The same person who was dumped unceremoniously last week by his employer: "Thanks for the nice run, Walt. There's the door."

I'll continue to be a Cardinals fan. I can't help it. It's in my blood. But with $6 beer, legal in-house ticket scalping, the radio fiasco and that shop behind the bleachers that sells used game balls and bases at outrageous prices, I've started wondering how much the current ownership group considers its average fan base.

Right now, I'm thinking about this extremely nice guy who worked for the team until last week, someone who showed kindness and consideration to ordinary people who love those birds-on-the-bat. He was incredibly successful, too — maybe the best at his job in the business. And he was a really good tipper.

Thanks for all of it, Walt.

Paul Turner is an actor and writer who lives in Chicago. He was born in Cairo, Ill., and immediately was whisked off to St. Louis as a medical precaution. He has returned to the city as often as possible ever since.

Article is (c) 2007, by www.stltoday.com, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, L.L.C. All rights reserved, and used by permission.

Sorry, I've been away for a while...

Well, most of the dust has settled from our antics on Friday the 12th. I'll try and touch on it a little later. A few things to clear off the deck before I get to that, I'll try to get them up as I can today. So expect a few posts today.

I HATE FRIDAYS!!!

Here's how today's went.

7:38 a.m. :: Left our home in the van with Mackenzie (to go to school), Zachary and Madelynne (to go to my parent's house for the morning while I went to work.) Typical Friday, except now that it's gotten cool (but if you ask anyone else in the house, it's downright cold.)

7:50 a.m. :: Stop by a gas station, put $7 worth of gas in the van. I usually don't do that when I start to run tight on time, but since the van was telling me it only had 6 miles worth of fuel left, I figured it'd be better to get enough gas in the van to get through the morning rounds. Back on William St., heading smartly to school.

7:52 a.m. :: Getting ready to turn off of William and on to Pacific -- about 3/4 mile away from the school. Then, I get a panicked call from Ellen on my cell phone - she's been in an accident. She's ok, but it sounds like the car's hurt bad.

7:53 a.m. :: Call my parents, arrange to drop off Zach and Madelynne a little faster than usual.

7:54 a.m. :: Mackenzie's at school. Heading over to my parents.

8:02 a.m. :: Other two at my parents. Head to the accident scene.

8:07 a.m. :: Get to the accident scene -- the on-ramp/off-ramp intersection of I-55 at William St. The car's hurt bad. (pictures to follow). Ellen's ok. She tells me her side of the story, and it sounds like the other person blazed through a red light going 45 mph (the speed limit), and did a number on our car's front end. 9 year old car, 114k miles. Not looking good.

8:30 a.m. :: The two drivers talk to the officer. Apparently there's a discrepancy in the stories. The apparent difference in views as to how our car got sent via wrecker (appropriately named in this instance) and her car got slightly bent doesn't sit will with she-who-must-be-obeyed. We leave in the van.

9:45 a.m. :: I go to take a look at the car. Not pretty. Call my dad, he joins me at the dealership with a camera. We take several pictures. I clean out the car, fully expecting not to see it again. After talking with several trusted friends, I decide to take Ellen to the doctor to get checked out. Now that the adrenaline is ebbing and nerves are settling down, stressed and strained muscles will start to ache.

10:08 a.m. :: Call the doctor's office to make the appointment. Come to find out that despite the fact that Ellen's been a patient of their's for the past 7 years, and myself for the past 14, they handle accident check-outs as new-patient visits. Meaning that I need to shell out $200 up front and in advance before the visit. I'm not too happy, but what am I going to do now. I make the appointment for 1 p.m.

11:30 a.m. :: Grabbed lunch, the first meal of my day. A glass of juice, and five rolled tacos. And the rest of Ellen's sweet potato pie. The jice and tacos were ok, but the pie takes the cake. Ellen needs to make this more often...

12 noon :: Go to pick up kids, grab lunch, get money for drs. visit.

12:45 p.m. :: Start to head over to the doctor's office. Heading east on William, over the interstate, heading past Popeye's, and coming up on Panera at the corner of William @ Mt. Auburn.

A bit of explanation here. Eastbound William St. at Mt. Auburn breaks into 5 lanes. Going from left to right, there's two lanes that turn left (northbound), two lanes that head straight, and one lane that is a "right turn only" lane that breaks into a yield ramp onto southbound Mt. Auburn. Right now, again going left to right, the first turn lane only has 1 car in it, the second turn lane is completely full (about 5-7 cars), and the rest of the turn lanes are empty, since they all have green lights. I'm wanting to turn left, so I bear to the left to become the second car in that first turn lane. I'm driving about 40-45 mph (speed limit again is about 45.)

Out of the entry/exit of Panera comes a SUV, cutting across all the lanes, and it looks like they're going into the full turn lane. Then they turn a bit further...

I swerve, barely missing the SUV. Barely means that we swapped paint.

12:54 p.m. :: Cops are called to the scene of our SECOND accident of the day. Fortunately, this lady said that it was her fault. No debate here. Best part about this was that after hearing about Ellen's ordeals in the morning, the ladies gather for a little "Oprah" session. In a turn lane, in the middle of the busiest road of the town. It does Ellen well, though, and lets her unload. You never know exactly where God's gifts'll turn up.


1:15 p.m. :: While waiting for the CGPD to show up, I call the doctor's office, letting them know that we'll be late. They tell me that the Dr.'s dance card is filled up for the day, and want to reschedule for next Tuesday. I ask about the other doctor, knowing that while it may not make Ellen happy, it's better than waiting for 4 days to get checked out. I get put on hold, then I'm told that they stopped doing those types of appointments a full year ago!

Y'know, typically, this would really make me angry and frustrated. Today, all I can do is laugh. I'll deal with my dissatisfaction later.

1:20 p.m. :: CGPD show up - it's the same two officers that responded to our first accident! I passed a church sign earlier in the day that said "Coincidence is when God wishes to remain anonymous." I kinda wished how this fell in His playbook...

1:30 p.m. :: We head over to the ER at St. Francis. I call our insurance agent with the update. We both agree that we all ought to be thankful for what this day DIDN'T bring.

4:15 p.m. :: We FINALLY leave the ER. Spending over 2 1/2 hours at the ER with a 3 year old and a 1 year old is NOT FUN.

5:00 p.m. :: After a few errands, picking up Ellen's paycheck, we head down to the airport to take part in a delicious, all-you-can-eat catfish dinner with my parents and grandma.

6:45 p.m. :: We get home, thankfully in one piece. You can't put enough emphasis on those last four words for a day like this. Waiting for us are a few friends, who we further debrief. I fire up the computer to debrief myself...

At least it's not 100 degrees and miserable inside the house.

And after much work, a 19th century house moves into the 21st century...

I've been off the blog a little over the past few weeks -- for a couple of reasons. One was the death of my grandma, (which got me out of the habit...more on that later...), and a few projects at work that sucked up a lot of time (which kept me out of the habit...). And there was this problem that really didn't make it any easier to keep this little resolution to myself...

Two years had passed since we last signed a contract for cellular service. And my phone was looking a little beat up (Ellen takes better care of her stuff...). So, we headed to the local Cingul--- ooops, I mean, AT&T store, and take a look around.

Now for the past year or three, we've lived out at my mother-in-law's place, just outside of town. A beautiful brick home, and in brickwork on the front is the date "1888." Yep, it's about 120 years old. Tall ceilings, plenty of windows, a steam radiator heating system that's pretty darn nice in the winter, and pretty good ventilation for the summertime. But the electrical system dates to about 1930-1940 (which is a pretty good reason why we haven't installed air-conditioning), and since we live "just outside of town," DSL and cable are unavavilable. We tried dial-up, but after two years of broadband speed in our previous house, that wasn't going to work. The satellite internet connection advertized on DirecTV constantly might work well, but coming up witl the $600 up front just for equipment posed a little bit of the problem. That, and our "view of the southern sky" is a little obstructed by trees half the age of the house. I'd try to do what I could at work (with it's beautiful 100 Mbps connection), but blogging on the clock after a little while is kinda frowned upon, even in a church!

Soooooo......we went to see if there'd be a way to access the internet through my spankin' new cell phone. And sure enough there was. And after about 3 weeks of troubleshooting, it's finally up and running. And so here we are. Or, more correctly, here I am. And hopefully, here I'll stay. At least for a little while...

Yep, it's August. And yep, it's hot...

AMEN!!!

by :: R.J. Matson
From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch,

Tuesday, August 7th, 2007.

Time to say good bye, for a little while...

Funeral today at the funeral home, 10am.

Funeral Arrangements made

Visitation will be at Braun Funeral Home in Cahokia, from 4 until 8 p.m tomorrow (Sunday, June 24). The funeral will most likely be at the funeral home as well, but I don't have that time in front of me.

Any questions, let me know.

A sad way to begin the weekend...

Greetings, y'all:

Just wanted to let you all know that at about 12:30 this morning up in Columbia, IL, my grandma's brief battle with cancer ended as the Lord decided to take her home.

Funeral arrangements are, as far as I know, not yet set. The good thing is that Brandon and Renee are in Cape Girardeau, visiting family as Brandon is heading from to his new posting in Phoenix. The tricky thing is that he's due in Phoenix on the 30th. They were planning to leave Cape Sunday morning or early afternoon. So, to avoid a long drive (and a lot of logistical problems for Brandon and Renee), the visitation may be as early as tonight (Friday, June 22nd), with the funeral on Saturday, June 23rd. Or, the visitation may be on Monday, June 25th, with the funeral on Tuesday, June 26th. I'll keep things updated here on my blog. The only thing I'm fairly sure on is that visitation (and possibly the funeral) will be at Braun Funeral Home in Cahokia. But I'm not even 100% sure on that. And most of these conclusions were decided on while Ellen and I were hanging up the phone at 1:00 this morning. (w/o the benefit of coffee or chocolate, but with the benefit of quiet, sleeping children. Kinda balances out...)

Like I said, check the blog, give me a call, and I'll give you the latest.

Greg

For the first time, and for the last time it'll be true...

Happy 29th Birthday, Renee!

Daily Thought :: June 19th, 2007

Extraordianry people visualize
not what is possible or probable,
but rather what is impossible.
And by visualizing the impossible,
they begin to see it as possible."

:: Cherie Carter-Scott

Daily Thought -- June 18th, 2007

Iron rusts from disuse;
stagnant water loses its purity
and in cold, becomes frozen.
Even so does inaction sap the vigors of the mind.

:: Leonardo da Vinci

Yep, this one describes me...

From my favorite wake-up morning show, "John Boy and Billy", this lit'l tune from "Married Man"...

"DAD TO THE BONE" :: Married Man
(To the tune of "Bad To The Bone" by George Thorogood)

I Get Up In The Mornin'
And I Go Off To Work
I Don't Like My Job
Cause The Boss Is A Jerk
But I Gotta Make That Money
Gotta Take It On Home
I'm Here To Tell You Buddy
That I'm Dad To The Bone
Dad To The Bone

Make A Thousand Bucks
But Still I Am Blue
Need A Thousand More Baby
For The Bills That Are Due
I'm In The Hole Pretty Baby
Sinkin Just Like A Stone
Got A Wife And Four Kids
I'm Dad To The Bone
Dad To The Bone...

Got Two Kids With Jelly
All Over Their Faces
One Who Needs A New Bike
And One That Needs Braces
Got A Wife Pretty Baby
With A Brand New Cellular Phone
I'm Bout To Go Broke
I'm Dad To The Bone
Dad To The Bone..

I Hear So Much Talk
My Ears Are Bleeding
My Life Is A Mess
And My Hairline's Receding
I'm A Wreck Pretty Baby
Makes Me Wanna Moan
I'm Here To Tell You Honey
That I'm Dad To The Bone
Dad To The Bone...

Happy Father's Day. And thanks.

Daily Thought -- June 17, 2007

Think that day lost whose descending sun
Views from thy hand no noble action done.

:: Jacob Bobart

"Freedom of Religion" :: A freedom to choose, not to "leave vacant"

One of the things we include in our weekly worship bulletins at church are often small thoughts and bible verses that serve either to focus and prepare our minds for worship (called "As We Gather"), or conclude the service with a thought to take home, a sort of punctuation on the end of the service (called "As We Depart"). Regardless on how creative we've been on titling these features, they often work rather well with the general message of the day. Many more times often than not, our worship coordinator and designer comes up with these, but sometimes, I surf the web, seeing what I can dredge up to serve in one of these two roles.

I was looking for something for our July 1st bulletin this past week, and as we always do, the Sunday before Independance Day takes a very patriotic flavor. In my web wanderings, I came across this from the Acton Institute,a a group up in Michigan that focuses on the writings of Lord Acton ("Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely...") It added some support to my thinking that a religion is necessary to a free society.

Here's a link to the article if you want to read it now, or save it until later...
http://www.acton.org/publicat/books/religion/hmention2.html

I've thought for some time that there's no way to "legisltate morality." (I've also thought for sometime that everyone has the unalienable, unstoppable, and unmutable "freedom to be as stupid, ignorant, and moronic as you can survive to be, which somehow ties into this...) But, in a sence, we need to inorder to have a free society. Why is it illegal to kill other people? To cheat? Lie, slander, steal from others? "Because it's morally wrong." Who says? In a society guided by a religion, it's a god (in most western cultures, the Christian God.) who holds the moral authority to set what is right and what is wrong. But in a society without a religion, who has the authorty to "play god"? That would be the state. See the USSR and Communist China for details on how that goes over.

But the thought that a religion, much less the Christian faith, as essential to a free society? It does make sence -- where in virtually every other religion, works, sacrifices, or some other duties are required to gain the favor of their god in order to please him/her/it, in an attempt to gain salvation and an eternal reward; in Christianity, all the "doing" stuff has already been done. (See any of the Gospels for that story). And later on, in the book of Epheisans...

Saving is all his idea, and all his work. All we do is trust him enough to let him do it. It's God's gift from start to finish! We don't play the major role. If we did, we'd probably go around bragging that we'd done the whole thing! No, we neither make nor save ourselves. God does both the making and saving.

Ephesians 2:8-9 (MSG)

So, it's either be a "slave" to fear (i.e., the State is the society's god), a slave to duty (i.e., religions that require you to do something in order to gain favor with god), or free people called to a duty to help others...

He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing.

Ephesians 2:10 (MSG)

Am I saying that in order to enjoy the rights and liberties of the United States, you must be a Christian? Absolutely not. As an American, I can't justly say that if your not a Christian, you have no right to speak, assemble, bear arms, to testify against your self in a court of law, to be free, voting citizens of this country. That's what, as an American, I stand against. But I do find comfort that in this society, in this country, I have the right to exist, to make my own choices, and to seek out and pursue my calling ("life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"). But here's the tough part. Nothing ever comes free, least of all freedom. Part of being free is living within the guardrails. And part of living free is a call to duty: to serve others and, in turn, serve my God and my country. This means, as I go speeding down the freeway of life, if I see someone out of gas, with a flat tire, or in need of directions to a great lit'l place to eat, I pull over and offer a helping hand.

Being an American isn't easy. It isn't cheap. And it's not a life for the lazy. But, the payout at the end of the day makes it all worth while.

What do you think?

Daily Thought II -- June 16, 2007

Found this in an article about the way the Sopranos ended it's run. It's a good view on the end of Tony, and in life in general:

Life doesn't have tidy little endings.

:: Steven Van Zandt
"Silvio Dante"
(and a side gig playing in
Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band)

Daily Thought I -- June 16, 2007

I would rather have
a mind opened by wonder
than one closed by belief.

:: Gerry Spence

Daily Thought -- June 15, 2007

I like to listen
I have learned a great deal
from listening carefully.
Most people never listen.

:: Ernest Hemingway

Daily Thought -- June 14, 2007

One half of knowing what you want
is knowing what you must give up
before you get it.

:: Sidney Howard

Daily Thought -- June 13, 2007

Everybody gets so much information all day long
that they lose their common sense.

:: Gertrude Stein

A tough thing for a Christian to do...

Though I am free and belong to no man,
I make myself a slave to everyone,to win as many as possible.
To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.
To those under the law I became like one under the law
(though I myself am not under the law),
so as to win those under the law.
To those not having the law
I became like one not having the law
(though I am not free from God's law
but am under Christ's law),
so as to win those not having the law.
To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.
I have become all things to all men
so that by all possible means I might save some.

I Corinthians 9:19-22 (NIV)

We're all creatures of habit and sequence. It takes a truly brilliant (and twisted) mind to appreciate chaos and disorder, mostly because in their mind, they're able to make sense of the chaos and calamity. And when it comes to most religions and faiths...heck, one of the essential elements of services in most houses of worship is a sence of proceedure, of ritual, of sequence.

Which brings me to my comment today. I don't know if special classes need to be taught, or a guest speaker to do a seminar, but this needs to be taught to all Christians of every denomination. "Thinking Like a Non-Christian". Or, "Non-Believers for Dummies." I see this problem everytime I see a "Visitor's Parking" sign in a parking lot, or when I run into objections (loud, long, annoyingly persistant objections) when we put the music in the worship bulletins. "Oh, everybody knows where to park...everybody knows how that song goes..."

Folks, I've visited other churches before, in other denominations. And even in other Lutheran chruches, ones that are more traditional (or more progressive) in their worship styles, it often takes me quite a bit of time to figure out what the heck they're doing! Whether it's trying to make sence of the hymnal (and missal, and order of service, and...) why must people make it sooooooooo difficult and complicated to come in, sit down, and worship God?

When I visit other churches for the first time, I NEVER park in the visitor spots, pick up a special name tag or gift, or stand up for a special greeting. I want to be INVISIBLE! I want to see how the MEMBERS and REGULAR ATTENDERS act here, not get a special production and guided tour. I don't want to see what YOU want me to see, I want to see what I want to see.

In restaurant management, retail management, basically any sort of business where you are dealing with customers, clients, or anyone else that's giving you money, it's always important (and always taught) to see things from "the customer's viewpoint." I guess to paraphrase the I Corinthians verse above (an important one for me when it comes to outreach), we must become like the customer in order to win the customer. The Message paraphrase has it a slightly different way...

Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone,
I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all
in order to reach a wide range of people:
religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists,
loose-living immoralists,the defeated, the demoralized—whoever.
I didn't take on their way of life.
I kept my bearings in Christ—
but I entered their world and tried to experience things
from their point of view.
I've become just about every sort of servant there is
in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life.
I did all this because of the Message.
I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!

I Corinthians 9:13-23 (MSG)

No, I'm not perfect at it. But at least I try, and try to keep improving. And I think I'm going down the right road on this. So, I guess I'm doing what I can. I'll let God take it from here.

Dennis hits the mark again...

I thoroughly enjoy Dennis Miller. He strikes me as a smart, intelligent man, who takes a special joy in laying out the cold, clear logic of his arguments, but makes you laugh at the absurdity of the opponent's postulates. Case in point, his short commentaries at the end of "The 1/2 Hour News Hour" on Sunday nights. What a way to end a "news" show! This past weekend's target was Sen. Reid (D-NV)

Click here to go to FoxNews.com and take a look at this week's edition of "The Buck Starts Here."

Daily Thought -- June 12, 2007

One is not born a genius,
one becomes a genius.

Simon de Beauvoir

More of the same old, same old, unfortunately...

Another beatiful Monday morning. Sun shining, a little chilly, but otherwise, a beautiful Monday morning. First day of my vacation, too. A little hot fudge on top of the sundae...

Traveling through Tennessee, then North Carolina. Twist and turns through the Smoky Mountains, up and down. Noontime sun helps put the little kids to sleep, and makes the scenery a little more intriguing to the 5 year old. Then on the radio, something about a shooting at Virgina Tech. 33 students died. Worst mass shooting in American History. The skies turn partly cloudy. The day's not quite as beautiful now as it was.

Two hours later, the skies start to darken. Rightful sorrow and grief turns altogether too quickly to the usual shouts. This was expected, as the clouds that sprung up shortly after noon looked just like the thunderclouds and squall line that have popped up before. The typical winds howl --

why didn't the school "lock down"
(try "locking down" a town of 26,000 with a comparatively tiny "police force"), how did the gunman get his weapon,
what was he doing with a weapon,
how did he get it,
why do we allow guns in our culture.......

Night falls, the tornados spawn. Lightening flashes and thunder booms...

"Ban the guns!"
"Ban the bullets!"
"It works in France and throughout Europe!"
"Fire the whole administration,
from the president through the police chief!"
"Let's be safe, for the children's sake..."

By midnight, the storms have broken up a little bit. The stars are a bit dimmer now, for it has been a bad day. The only question is, are they saddened by the loss of 33 people, or the fact that it only took a few short miles of beautiful interstate driving, a few short hours, for such a terrible event to become fuel for political fires.

But it was expected. Expecting a different destination when we are traveling the same roads is ignorance at best, insanity, indifference and insensitivity at worst

Tuesday morning. The sun rose again. Clear skies. But the raindrops are still fresh on the lawn, reminding me that the previous 12 hours weren't as tranquil or pacific as the current one. It causes me to take a moment to pause, and remember.

I'm sure I'll write something political after this day, something about our rights, responsibilities and obligations. But not today. Today, the ground needs to dry out a little. At least before the next storm...

"All you need is love..."

Watching "Cold Case" last week -- regarding a case where back in the 1960's, a pregnant high-school girl was put in the nunery, so to speak. "St. Mary's Home for Un-wed Mothers" was the name of the place, I believe. Of course, there were plenty of old-school nuns, down to the habits. (I thoroughly expected wooden rulers to come flying out at any moment. But I digress...) As a part of the arrangement at this "home for unwed mothers," the girl was expected to give up the child for adoption. Typically, the teen's aren't too enthused about the deal, and this victim was no exception...

As a part of convincing the young mother-to-be to sign the yet-to-be-born infant away, the chief nun hands the girl a piece of paper, and asks her to write down everything that another family could give her young baby on one side of the paper, and everything that she herself could give the child on the other. On the left were listed "mother, father, house, food, clothing, money..."

On the right side? Simply the word "love."

The first thing that crossed my mind wasn't anything sung by The Beatles (though that fell in the top 5), but instead a little bit of scripture, read at most weddings. I Corinthians 13. I'm partial to The Message paraphrase. Here's a few bits...

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy
but don't love,I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries
and making everything plain as day,
and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps,
but I don't love, I'm nothing.

If I give everything I own to the poor
and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr,
but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do,
I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
Love doesn't strut,
Doesn't have a swelled head,
Doesn't force itself on others,
Isn't always "me first,"
Doesn't fly off the handle,
Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn't revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a
mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright!
We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him
directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love.

It was true back in the 60's, and it's still true today. Money, house, car, school, opportunities, all play a role in making our lives easier. But both rich and poor have reaped the benefits of a simple four-letter word, and both have suffered dearly by the lack of that same simple word.

So THAT'S why I hate February...

Ok, I try not to be supersticious. Really, I don't. But it seems that every year, around February, bad stuff happens. The car breaks down. Kids get really sick. AND, the Christmas bills really start to pile up.

And then there's the weather. February in Southeast Missouri is typically gray, perpetually overcast, cold and wet. No snow though, just rain. This does WONDERS on my general outlook on life.

I came across this article off of Slate, via MSN.com, about the history of February. It's angle of attack was to explain why February gets "shafted" with only 28 days when every other month gets 30 or 31. Interesting reading. Perhaps February's past explains why I tend to look on the poor lil' month with such disfavor.

But then again, I'm not supersticious. Not at all...

The Explainer: Answers to your questions about the news.
28 Days? Why February gets the shaft.
By Melonyce McAfee :: Posted Tuesday, Feb. 27, 2007, at
6:51 PM ET

The shortest month of the year seems to have gone by in a flash. Why does
February have only 28 days?

It's the Romans' fault. Our modern calendar is loosely based on their old, confusing one. Though records on the Roman calendar are sparse and sketchy, legend has it that Romulus, the first king of Rome, devised a 10-month lunar calendar that began at the spring equinox in March and ended with December. It is unclear whether there were any official months between December and March, but it's likely they were left off because the wintertime wasn't important for the harvest.

The second king of Rome, Numa Pompilius, decided to make the calendar more accurate by syncing it up with the actual lunar year—which is about 354 days long. Numa tacked on two months—January and February—after December to account for the new days.

The new months each had 28 days. But that didn't sit well with Numa because even numbers were considered bad luck at the time. So, he added a day on to January, giving the year an odd-numbered 355 days. No one knows why February was left with 28 and remained an unlucky month. It may be related to the fact that Romans honored the dead and performed rites of purification in February. (The word februare means "to purify" in the dialect of the ancient Sabine tribe.)

The 355-day calendar couldn't stay in sync with the seasons because it didn't account for the amount of time it took for the Earth to orbit the sun. So, an extra "intercalary" month of 27 days was inserted after February 23 every couple of years or so to even things out. The pontiffs who were in charge of calendar upkeep didn't always add the extra month on schedule. (Some officials took advantage of the system to extend their time in office, for example.)

In around 45 B.C., Julius Caesar commissioned an expert to put aside the lunar origins of the Roman calendar and make it sun-based, like the Egyptian one. Caesar added 10 days to the calendar year and an extra day in February every four years. (The leap-year day was inserted after the 23rd, the same time as the old intercalary month.) Now, the year averaged out to 365.25 days, very close to the actual average length of a year: 365.2425 days (and even that varies).

Some have speculated that Caesar added a day to February when he reformed the calendar—making it 29 days long. The story goes that when the Senate renamed the month of Sextilis to honor the emperor Augustus, that day was subtracted from February and added to August in order to make it equal in number to July—the month named for Caesar. But this theory is now believed to be bunk; it's likely that Julius never even added a day to February.

One of the many things I do is to create the powerpoint programs for our church services. It's fun, a creative outlet, and a good way to keep me out of trouble. It's also a nice way to do a little more reflecting on what's being said. Sometimes, I have an advantage in the fact that I've (a) read the bible text and the pastor's sermon a few times earlier in the week, (b) I've either cut-and-paste-ed, or typed the text into the powerpoint slides, and (c), I've seen it a few times as I'm testing out the program. Of course, I'm disregarding the fact that I'm also the one that puts all this in the printed worship folder. Downside is that it does make the actual Sunday morning service a bit more boring than it ought to be -- by the time 8:00 rolls around on Sunday, it seems like re-runs to me! But I digress...

Thing that caught my eye this morning was the Gospel reading for this Sunday, which deals with Jesus heading out into the desert for 40 days, and His temptation. (Luke 4:1-13) I've heard this story time and time before, since Sunday School. But this time, the last verse caught my eye...

When the devil had finished all this tempting,
he left him until an opportune time.

...and The Message paraphrase...

That completed the testing. The Devil retreated temporarily,
lying in wait for another opportunity.

And then a few images popped into my mind, from "The Passion of the Christ." Images of "the devil" character that always seemed to be lurking in the background while Jesus was being arrested, "tried", tortured and crucified. I get the feeling he was popping in and out of Jesus' mind all throughout this ordeal, constantly asking Him, "Are You sure You want to do this? Wouldn't it be easier to just stand down, and follow me?" It's at Jesus' "weakest" that the devil comes on the strongest.

Ain't that the truth? Technical problems never hit when you're testing things out, or rehearsing; only when you're live. Powerpoint always works on Sundays in the "middle-of-nowhere-July", when the attendance is low, but on Easter Sunday or Christmas Eve, look out! The soundboard never acts up until you really need it. And the one time you forget to buy batteries for the microphones is the one weekend you need them the most. And it's not just me -- look through history! I remember reading in a book that I've got to find again that throughout American History, we've NEVER been attacked when our military budget was running high. Ironically, that portion of our national budget has always been at it's lowest right around 2001, and 1940, and 1911. No one attacks you when you're strong, only when you're at your weakest. And it makes sense; it offers the best shot of victory!

The devil never tries tempting you, taunting you, teasing you when your at the top of the world. It's when things seem at its most darkest, most hopeless, most worst that the devil brings his "A" game. And if it doesn't work this time ... "he retreats, temporarily, lying in wait for another opportunity."

A central part of my theology is that through my faith in Christ, and what He did for me, to use a hymn title, "The Fight Is Over, the Battle Done." The devil's lost the game, Christ has beaten him. But sometimes, I think it needs to be stated that due to our free will, we can chose to deny Christ, deny our God, and reject it all. Jesus won the war, but it's ours to lose? Life doesn't get any easier by being a Christian. God doesn't fill in all the potholes, eliminate all the road construction, nor make gas 89c a gallon all the way home. In fact, I feel it only makes me a bigger target for the devil (even more so when I work in a church, dealing with technology that makes temptation soooo easy to get to). But my faith does make dealing with poor road conditions, constant detours, and the high "costs" of traveling through life on the route I've chosen easier to handle. All I have to do is keep playing the game, following the game plan developed by Jesus. Then, the final result is a tally in the "W" column.

What say you?