Mmmm....Cupcakes!

Oh Lovely

Well, our oldest just came home with the stomach flu. Let's hope this train doesn't run through the rest of the family. I especially hope I'm good to go on Sunday.

Great Game

Sunday afternoon we learned to play a great game called Ticket to Ride. A couple from our church who are themselves pretty big gammers came over and we had a great time. It was also fun to simply spend some time with someone and share in their passion -- it's really contagious and we had a blast. Our oldest has a birthday coming up and this might just be the thing to get.

This also reminded me of the fact that when we think about sharing Christ with others, it may just be our passion for Christ that people see first and find most attractive.

Valta's Wisdom

Last Sunday I preached from John 15 – the famous “vine and branches” passage where disciples receive both a warning of apostasy as well as a promise of God’s ongoing work of discipleship through the discipline of “pruning.”  

The home where I grew up in Nebraska had a Concord grape vine, which seemed to produce a pretty good batch of grapes nearly every year (which amazes me now, since we never did anything to the vine other than simply let nature take its course – but perhaps I’m only remembering the good seasons).  I have fond memories of picking and eating these grapes in the late summer.  Needless to say, when we moved into our present home five years ago, I was pretty happy to discover a Concord grape vine in our back yard.  However, this time when late summer came around that first year, there were only a few emaciated grapes – practically nothing.  

I couldn’t bear to think of a vine like this being such a waste and I was convince that what this thing needed was a good pruning.  So latter that winter in late February, I pruned it back…way back.  As I was working, one of my kids saw me and asked why I was “killing the plant.”  I explained that I was pruning it back so it would produce bigger grapes next summer (no, I didn’t let that teaching moment go buy either).  

Somewhere around the middle of spring, I could tell I had done something right.  The vine literally exploded with new growth.  New branches were breaking out everywhere – the plant was lusher than ever.  But as the summer dragged on, I noticed that there still weren’t many grapes and those grapes, like the ones before, were small and scraggily.

Later on in the fall, I was visiting a friend in Aurora, Nebraska.  My friend’s stepfather, Valta, was a pretty decent amateur vinedresser.  I’ve tasted his homemade wines and they’re nothing short of fabulous and his vines are his pride and joy.  Here was my chance to ask Valta what I did wrong and why I still wasn’t getting good grapes.  

Valta just smiled and gave a little laugh, “Well, son, you can’t just prune once and expect healthy grapes.  You got to prune all summer long.  You got to be at that vine constantly…just like our Lord is with us.”

American Idol ... What a hoot!

Last night we all found ourselves watching the first episode of the new season for American Idol. They were showing the auditions from Chicago and every once in a while they would highlight a certain contestant with a video of their "home." As we were watching, one young man was highlighted and I startled everyone by blurting out, "Is that Bill Radford?!" Sure enough, Bill's son was a contestant and they played a short video of Bill dancing with his lovely wife in their kitchen. To top it all off Bill's son made it to Hollywood for the next round.

Bill's a good friend of mine who pastors Redeemer PCA in Lake in the Hills, IL. Bill used to pastor in Greenwood, IN just south of Indianapolis and we would occasionally get together. At one time, Bill's youthfull assistant was none other than Michael Pahls.

Now, if anyone on American Idol has met Kevin Bacon, that means....

Only 67%?!? At least I made it.

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451. Chalcedon compliant 67% Apollanarian 33% Nestorianism 33% Monophysitism 33% Docetism 0% Arianism 0% Monarchianism 0% Adoptionist 0% Donatism 0% Gnosticism 0% Socinianism 0% Albigensianism 0% Modalism 0% Pelagianism 0% Are you a heretic? created with QuizFarm.com

HT: Them Feisty Lutherans

"It's the photography, stupid."

Now we know the real reason why Bush beat Kerry in 2004.

HT: Hierogrammate

Comments...At Last!

Good news! Keith made the move over to Blogger and he now has comments.

The Ethics of Memoir Writing

In light of the brouhaha over James Frey’s book A Million Little Pieces, NPR’s Talk of the Nation had a very interesting discussion on the Ethics of Memoir Writing. In short, the guest speakers were pretty hard on Mr. Frey – and, I think, for good reason. There is Fiction and there is Non-Fiction, but neither one is lying. Of course our memories are imperfect and our experiences often color our perspectives in ways that may be at wide variance with those of others. But when one claims to be writing a memoir, one is making an implicit claim that what they remember is what actually happened.

Aditional Thought: It occured to me just now to ask how the portrayal of "historical events" in cinema might have an influence in an author's decision to embellish a work and still claim it as non-fiction. After all, by now we've become used to all those disclaimers like, "Based on a True Story" or "Inspiried by Real events." Should it surprise us that the same "fuzzy boundary" is becomming breached in literature as well?

MeChurch

This spoof on the consumer-driven individualism of American evangelicalism is hilarious. Here is a Church that's ALL ABOUT YOU.

HT: Common Grounds

Great Children's Book

Ruth Boling has written and Tracey Dahle Carrier has illustrated a wonderful book for young children introducing them to the church year. Last night I read Come Worship With Me to my youngest and she had a lot of fun making the connections with Advent and Christmas as they were described in the book. At one point, the book was describing the Lord's Supper when her face lit up with a big smile and she blurted out, "Hey! That's just like what we do!" It's never too early to teach the centrality of worship and the catholicity of the church. I'll be using this book as gifts to young families in the future.

Blonde Jokes

OK, I grew up blonde and my kids are all blonde, so yes, I've heard my share of blonde jokes. But I think Alastair has posted one of the best blonde jokes I've ever seen.

On the Eve of Epiphany

Lauren Winner has written a nice piece on Epiphany and its significance for the Christian. (HT: BHT)

She writes:

"During Epiphany, churches also read about Jesus' baptism, a dramatic event at which God 'showed forth' something of Jesus' uniqueness. This time of year, I am often reminded of a minor character in the movie Amistad, a slave who becomes a Christian; after coming to faith, he sees crosses everywhere he looks. That is what Epiphany invites us into: a new kind of seeing."

At the end of the essay she notes a few ways to celebrate Epiphany. One way she doesn’t note is the celebration of "Three Kings Day."

In our church we have a couple of families with ties to Puerto Rico and in their culture, January 6th is especially important. For them, this, and not Christmas, is the day in which the majority of their presents are opened.

As the day of Epiphany approaches the children make special boxes and on the eve of Epiphany, they are filled with grass to offer the camels for their long journey. The next morning, the children wake up to find the grass strewn around the house (messy camels!) and special gifts hidden about for the children to find. The Magi have come to this house – a house marked by the presence of Christ!

Hey, my cool niece from Omaha now has a blog! One Day at a Time. Seems only like yesterday when my sister and her family were living in Columbus and my wife and I took Erin for the day and we went to the Joslyn Arm Museum in Omaha. She was probably about eight or ten back then. Man do I feel old. :-)

...Take Me To Serenity

A pretty good indicator of how things are around here - even though I received it for my birthday in October, Janelle and I only now finished watching the last episode of Firefly last night and now we're ready for Serenity.

This series was so fun to watch. What a shame it ended so soon. Janelle told me that over the holidays my older brother Dale's kids (L. and M. anyway) talked about this series. I was a little bummed; it would have been fun to talk with them about this show. These sort of connections with one's niece and nephew don't happen every day.

In Search of the Cool Bloggers

I thought this was pretty funny.

HT: Northwoodsgames