DEWEY DEFEATS TRUMAN!

Not so dear reader, not so.

I'm not overy fond of titling my blog entries, it is the first thing you come to when this template pops up, but how can you have a title when you haven't written anything yet? Why not put it at the bottom so you can come up with a title after you've written your update? So in an attempt to grab headlines I'm literally grabbing headlines from by-gone eras and re-using them.

Today was fun. I didn't really do much, but it was fun. I've been sick with a sinus infection since Friday and it is finally starting to subside, so I'm happy about that.

Tonight was President Bush's State of the Union Address. Like him or not you have to admit that he has given us a lot to talk about as a nation over the past seven years.

The frost on the trees this morning was absolutely beautiful. We had dense fog last night and then it got pretty cold so the trees, indeed everything, had a thick coating of frost this morning, about a quarter of an inch.

I'm tired of politics already. If the current bunch running for the presidency is the best this country has to offer then we're in for it.

I'm not nearly as frustrated as I was last time I wrote. Some people just amaze me with their lack of courtesy and manners, but then again not everyone had my mother to guide them when growing up!

Thought o' the day: I'm really liking the Gospel of Matthew - good stuff!

Take a deep breath...

It's late and I really don't have anything of substance to say. But I am frustrated.

Frustrated for a number of reasons, many which I'll choose not to share here on the blog. Frustrated about life and people and the modern world and the way in which human beings relate to one another or don't.

All of this only serves to remind me of what Reinhold Niebuhr wrote about sin, that it is the only empirically verifiable doctrine of the Christian faith. What's worse I know I'm just as bad. What's even worse I'm not even a Niebuhr fan.

I was thinking the other day that Calvinists, if they are true Calvinists, should be the most even-keeled people on earth. We know that God is in control. Apart from chemical imbalances, that should probably eliminate most mental issues such as depression (if you disagree please tell me, I would appreciate it). Yet the Sovereignty of God really isn't some warm-fuzzy doctrine you can curl up with and feel good about all the time. God's Sovereignty can be pretty scary when we stop and think about it, because it means we're not really in control.

Now I'm about to contradict myself, so bear with me. I am comforted by the fact that God is in control, come what may. I am conforted in the fact that God chooses who will be saved, and then does so by the power of Christ's death on the cross and his resurrection. I guess what I'm getting at is that just because God is in control doesn't mean that life is going to be one long walk in the park, quite the contrary, especially according to Calvin who believed that the elect were often given more perils and problems because of their election. (I can't quote book and chapter and paragraph on that, sorry). But that is what so many people want, myself included is a comfortable life with little pain or sorrow.

But that's not the way it is. And if someone tells you differently, or that that is the way it is supposed to be (a la Osteen or Dollar or any other "positive attitude" preacher) then they are liars. Wm. Van der Hoven once said "Joy is not the absence of trouble but the presence of Christ."

So if you truly want to follow Christ, if you have been called to follow Christ, then the road ahead is not easy. Life will not be easy. Nothing will be easy and not everyone will be nice and people will be frustrated and frustrating.

And that's just the way it is.

Thought o' the day: Will we ever know just how much sin impacts us as human beings and the world as a whole?

Brrrrrrrrrr

If you've paid any attention to the weather reports the last day or so you'll know that basically the eastern half of the country is now frozen solid. No difference here in Ohio either. It was 1 this morning when I got up. That's right 1. And the high today was around 12. Tomorrow it is supposed to hit 20 and then warm up into the upper 20's low 30's the rest of the week.

But 1 is still cold.

Great day here. I'm on vacation this week, so I didn't preach or lead worship today for the first time since June 1st. My mother was ordained as an elder today in my home church, so I was very glad to be there for her. Nothing else much the rest of the day, too cold to go out for a walk with the dog so we stayed in.

Tomorrow I have several churches to call and get updates on searches. I'm a little concerned that some places are taking so long to get back to me. I don't know if that bodes well or not. I guess we shall see.

My heartiest congratulations to William Shurley, Class of 2007, Princeton Theological Seminary who was ordained to the Gospel Ministry today by the Presbytery of the Pines in Louisiana. Blessings Will!

Thought o' the day: But 1 is still cold!

Who Knew???

Disclaimer: My sainted 87 year old grandmother hasn't voted since Ronald Reagan was in the White House, and as far as I know was a staunch Republican.

Monday I was visiting my grandmother in the nursing home. She had the television on and it was news time so the NBC station from Columbus was blaring in the background. She was facing the television and I had my back to it, not really paying attention to what was being reported. At one point my grandmother (who has dementia or Alzheimers or both) looked at me, pointed to the television, and said "Is she running for president?"

"Who?" I said, turning to see the story on the television.

"Clinton. What's her name?"

"Hillary."

"Yeah, that's it. Is she running for president?"

"Yes," I said "unfortunately she is."

"Well she couldn't even keep her husband in line, how could she be expected to run the country?" quipped my dear grandmother.

Stifiling laughter, "Yes, I suppose you're right."

______________________________

Out of the mouths of the elderly! My grandmother couldn't tell you what she had for breakfast, lunch, or dinner, if anyone visited today, or if she went anywhere, but somehow she remembers that Bill Clinton had an affair while president and that his wife couldn't keep him in line! I wanted to laugh so hard, and when I shared this story with my parents we all had a good chuckle.

But on a deeper level I suppose she may just have a good point. And that is why I wouldn't vote for Hillary, or any Democrat.

Thought o' the day: Vacation!!!

Windows...

Yesterday was a strange day, at least for me. I got up on time but I somehow was late leaving for the office, so I arrived late which seemed to set me up for a strange day.

The morning wasn't all that bad actually. I did my usual Tuesday morning work, which is mostly paperwork and filing. I met with a parishioner and chatted with the secretary and made a list of things I needed to do the rest of the day. Now this was not a long list by any means, and I should have been able to get through it quite easily, but something gummed up the works.

A little after noon I walked down to the local eatery to find some lunch, but as soon as I hit the outside door I could see them. About 15 Amish women all standing in line waiting to order their lunches. Now I can be a patient person, God knows I've been patient about lots of things in my life, but yesterday was not one of my shining examples of patience. I said "dammit" under my breath and walked back to the office where I started to work on my list.

I had already picked out the hymns for Sunday so I looked up the lectionary passages and decided which ones I would read and which one I would preach on (Matthew). After I got all that information together I pulled out the Psalter and copied Psalm 29 which we will be singing in worship on Sunday. Gave all this to the secretary and headed back to get some lunch hoping against hope that the Amish ladies were gone or full.

Back at the eatery I found only a couple people in line. And wouldn't you know it the woman who ordered right before me got the last piece of pizza and there was no more ready. Exasperated I ordered soup and a drink to go and went back to the church. The soup wasn't bad, though some of the potatoes weren't as done as I would have liked them to be. Oh well.

Then for some reason yesterday afternoon I just couldn't concentrate on anything. I sat down at my computer to write a newsletter article and I could not come up with a single idea. I finally started thumbing through the Bible and landed in Ecclesiastes. After reading a bit I decided to write some musings on Ecc. 12.12 (Of anything beyond these, my child beware. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh.) An intriguing verse to say the least.

But try as I might I just could not come up with anything that made sense or didn't sound totally pretentious. I try not to talk about Princeton all that much, not because I'm ashamed of it or anything like that, but because I don't think it relates particularly well to a bunch of farmers and rural folks. Don't get me wrong I love Princeton, it is a great, albeit, expensive place to live, but it seems to breed an air of superiority and stuffy scholasticism so I just don't talk about it that much. So I just couldn't get through this newsletter without mentioning Princeton, more than once and the great opportunities I had there. I didn't want to rub it in the faces of my parishioners that where I am now in rural Ohio is pretty bereft of cultural, literary, and academic opportunities, so I decided to trash the half page I had written and go with something else.

That brings up a whole other set of questions though now that I think about it. Why would I need to mention such things when talking about that passage from Ecclesiastes? I'll admit that I don't really understand Ecclesiastes all that well, and I don't think I have a single commentary on it, so naturally I've never preached a sermon from it, and the notes in my study Bible were almost totally useless, but are my exegeting skills really that bad or rusty?

So then I came up with a new idea and finally wrote an article that I'm pretty pleased with. We'll see, I don't think that many people read the newsletter anyway.

By that point I was spent. My brain said "I'm done for today so you might as well go home." I waited a bit, in case anyone wandered in, and then made a hospital call in Wooster and headed home. Last night I slept 9.5 hours, so I think I may have just been overly tired yesterday.

Then again, maybe it was the soup...

Thought o' the day: birth control, that's all I'm saying about that.

Happy New Year's!

I know it is a day late, though hopefully not a dollar short!

Early on New Year's Eve I had to make an emergency trip to Wooster to see a parishioner in the hospital, not the way I had planned my day, but I'm really glad I went.

Quiet celebration here, not much to speak of really. I made some ice cream in the new ice cream freezer I bought my parents for Christmas. I didn't really turn out all that well, so I think I'm going to have to tinker with the recipe a bit.

My dad actually went to be before mid-night so I stayed up to watch the ball drop with my mom and read the better part of a book.

I was going to have some gin but we didn't have any limes so that didn't happen.

And yesterday we went to the hospital to have lunch with my grandma (it was too cold to bring her here). So we ate pork, potatoes, and saurkraut at the hospital cafeteria, and it was actually pretty good! Then last night we got together at my grandparents house and had pizza, more kraut, and some other dishes to wish each other a HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!

Thought o' the day: Where did the decade go?