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