Garden Mistakes

Liz asked about pruning raspberries.This is what I accomplished a couple of weeks ago. Thing is, I shouldn't have. Because I didn't prune shortly after the canes were done bearing, they were too crowded. Next year's canes didn't grow strong enough. The wind has bent and broken too many of next year's fruiting canes. What I should have done (given my neglect in July and August) was to prune out all of this year's fruiting canes and some of the baby canes. But I should have left plenty and then pruned again in spring. Right now, I have no margin for loss to winter's ice and snow and deer. But for the sake of Liz's education, this IS how thick the bearing-canes should be standing when a person is done with the spring pruning.



The strawberry patch has been a project screaming for attention for about 10 weeks now. Mark & Julie loaned me their Mantis [tiller] and I love it. It's lightweight enough that I can handle it. It took me three hours to spade up the weeds and eliminate that row by hand, till deeply and add manure, and replant strawberry crowns/plants. So, only about 12 more hours to go.

I can't believe how exhausted I was from fixing that one row. I couldn't make supper, clean, or do anything last night except collapse and relax. Not good. I felt so lazy. All I did was three measly hours of manual labor, and then I was shot. The plan was three more hours each day until I was done. But rain interrupted today's efforts. That does wretched things to my momentum!



Look at those miserable cucumber vines. The fungus got 'em. And yet, they bore. Not much, to be sure, but they did bear something. The powdery mildew also plagued the volunteer cantaloupe vines that showed up in the compost pile. And yet, we have 8 nice cantaloupes out there ripening. "God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayer, even to all miserable gardeners, but we pray that He would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving."

On a science note: I think this fungus problem in the garden is helping me figure out things in the Bible where it says the crops were destroyed, and yet there was still something left for the next plague to come along and destroy.

The Deep Recesses of Memory

For many years we recited one chief part of the catechism each day of the week. It keeps the words once-memorized accessible in one's brain. During the last few years, we would say that day's catechism portion on the drive to chapel. This summer we slacked off. When we began to resurrect the habit recently at the start of the new school year, I was surprised by what came out of my mouth.

The words from the 1943 catechism are popping up in unexpected places. I have been using the 1986 catechism since 1986 (or before?). I've been teaching it; I've been reciting it; I've been praying it; I know it. And then, here we are -- the fourth commandment: "give them honor, serve and obey them, and hold them in love and esteem." The second article: "who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, ..." Good grief! Where did that come from all of a sudden?

Nineteen Years Ago

Once upon a time, on this very evening, I was in a fit of vacuuming, mopping, dusting, doing laundry, and washing dishes. Yes, it was late. Yes, the children were already tucked in for the night. It's called "nesting." I remember taking a break to watch Rush; that was the brief stint when he had the television show, and it was less than two months before the Clinton/Bush election.

The next morning, we made it to the hospital in record time; I have no idea what the speedometer might have said. Twenty-two minutes after I waddled into the ER, we welcomed the biggest newborn we'd ever seen.

Annetta and her kids came to visit that morning. A little later Gary fetched our kids. They stopped at the fast food joint across the street from the hospital. The kids rejoiced over burgers and fries while Gary and I dined on steak and champagne. A little later, we took our sweetie-pie home to snuggle and love.
Isn't he just the cutest thing? And he still is!

A Pietist Meets Leviticus

What? A person is unclean because he was working in the field and accidentally touched a dead frog? A person is unclean because of certain bodily functions that are unavoidable? Yesterday's story from Leviticus 4-5 mentions guilt due to hearing someone else utter an oath. Today's story from Leviticus 5-6 mentions sinning when you're unaware of it. And the one that (years ago) really made me mad at God -- a person is unclean because of touching her husband's or child's dead body to prepare the deceased for burial.

How on earth is anybody supposed to remain clean???



Um ... yeah ... exactly the point.



I used to think "being clean" was what was most important to God. I thought what mattered to Him was whether I was a good girl. So it seemed very unfair of Him to set up rules that we just could not obey fully. When we studied Leviticus a few years ago, Pastor repeatedly emphasized two things we learn from the sacrificial system: to point to Christ's sacrifice, and to show the people that they could not obey the law and needed atonement from outside themselves.

So what I used to think was unfair is actually a good thing. It was God's way of showing that we can't do the law, no matter how hard we try, no matter how scrupulous we are. It is impossible for us. There is only One who is clean. Our cleanness is imputed to us because of Christ's blamelessness. The law's demands were never intended to be our checklist, but were given to show us our impotence. And that's good news -- even though it's plenty weird to be rejoicing in our impotence. Because Christ is our strength, our ability, our refuge, our perfection.

"The Gospel gives what the Law demands."

The Office of the Holy Ministry

What's the difference between a pastor and a DCE? Between a pastor and a principal? Between a pastor and a deaconess?

Recent "Pressure Point" articles in the Reporter have addressed the topic of what happens to a congregation in the transition between pastors. At the end of this month's article, a question is raised: "Why is it that our church body addresses congregational issues when pastors leave and not for called workers -- teachers, DCEs, etc?"

Of course, the response was "Good point" along with a statement that the previous articles should apply to all church workers and not just pastors.

But my thought was different. Yes -- good point! It's true, the effect on a congregation of a pastor's leaving is vastly different from when another church worker leaves. That right there ought to be evidence of the difference in office.

Do we not see that the pastor is in the stead of Christ? The DCE is not. The principal is not. The deaconess is not. That doesn't mean these workers are unimportant. But they do different work. These other offices are good, and the people in them serve the neighbor in God-pleasing ways. But these other offices are not essential to the Church. The pastoral ministry IS. That's why the pastor's departure (whether he has been faithful or a scoundrel) is such a big deal for the congregation.

My Strawberry Bed

Actually, when the crabgrass flowers, it's rather pretty.


Pssst -- This is not a good thing to have discovered.

Reservation Glitches

When Gary and I went to check in to our bed & breakfast for our anniversary celebration, we were stunned to find that we didn't have reservations. Did I make reservations at a different bed & breakfast? We called the only other one in Spring Green, and no, they didn't have us down either. We were immensely thankful for the innkeeper who helped us!

This past Saturday, when we returned for Installment #2 of our anniversary celebration in Spring Green, I was dismayed to find that the tickets were dated for Friday. I had ordered Saturday tickets, but it was clear as day that the tickets in my grubby little hands were for the previous day. I thought surely I was losing it! How could I botch up so many things?

But we managed to work out that situation too. And oddly enough, it turned out that another couple we talked to on Saturday also received tickets different from what they'd ordered. And then, today, I received a phone call from the interim innkeeper we'd stayed with last month. (She's like a vacancy pastor or a substitute teacher, filling in when the B&B owner is away.) They are sending us a check for the price difference between the room I'd reserved and the nicer room we ended up taking when we arrived to find that they had no record of our arrival, and someone else in the room we'd requested. It turns out that the very same thing happened the next day to another guest at the B&B.

So now I'm wondering what was going on in the bits and bytes of the Internet over summer. Usually everything flows smoothly. But this many reservations gone wonky? Did anyone else bump into these kinds of glitches in mid- to late-summer?

Isaiah 1:18

Come, let us reason together:
Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.

"Like wool."
Wool comes from a lamb.

Isaiah 61 says, "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." And "He" is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Be Transformed

Y'know how some Christians are prone to telling us we need to change the way we think, how we need to be more spiritual or whatever?

Someone recently pointed out how Romans 8 tells us that He predestined us to be conformed to the image of His Son. And Romans 12 tells us that we should not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of our minds.

Be transformed.
Be conformed.

Those are passive verbs.
It's what's done to us.

We don't conform ourselves to the image of Jesus. That's the Holy Spirit's job. We don't transform our own minds, but we are the ones who are being transformed.

Wisconsin Homeschoolers and Your PI-1206

For 27 years, homeschoolers have been notifying the Dept of Public Instruction of the same information regarding their homeschools. It's the census information requested of all schools, public and private.

This year, some homeschoolers are spreading faulty information about the online PI-1206. If you homeschool in Wisconsin, please comply with the excellent law we have. If you need more information, see this article and this one too.

If you refuse to file appropriately, you risk truancy charges. But not only that, you risk my freedoms and others' freedoms. Wisconsin homeschoolers do not want court cases about homeschooling, and we do not want the legislature considering changes to our law. Help protect what we have so long worked for: report your enrollment, and please spread the word to your homeschooling friends and support groups.

Insurance

I buy health insurance through Gary's job. The company who sells it to us does not have any influence over my health or my need for their product.

I buy auto insurance. Robb, who sells it to me, does not send deer into my path while driving. He does not send thugs through town, bashing cars with baseball bats so that we are feeling the need to protect our cars.

I buy life insurance. The guy who sells it to me has not done anything to cause death rates to rise in my area. Sure, insurance salesmen do operate a bit off the fear-factor, wanting you to prepare for preventing problems if you should die prematurely. But we all know that some people die prematurely. The insurance salesmen don't bump off people so that the rest of us feel a need to insure ourselves.

Let's say a vaccine company comes along and develops a vaccine that might prevent some cases of one particular cancer if it's caused by a particular virus. When that company encourages the government to make the vaccine mandatory, we get suspicious. Is this vaccine really intended for our health? Or is it intended for the health of the pharmaceutical company's bottom line?

Let's say the auto insurance industry gets involved in the government's decision to require new kinds of coverage and higher amounts of coverage. That sure sounds to us as if the insurance dudes are working for their own benefit. We are skeptical.

Let's say a group of lawyers sells legal insurance. Let's say they get involved in the passing of new legislation or in court cases. When we look at this group's history, we find that their involvement in a state will often result in changes that leave law-abiding people fearful. "We knew where things stood last year, but everything's shook up now. Will someone in government come after me? How did the laws change? Did I do everything that I'm supposed to do under the new law? What if my family ends up in court as the whole constitutionality of these new regulations shakes out?" And suddenly, people are feeling the need for protection. They didn't need protection under the old law. But now, after they have been helped by Christian lawyers who are ostensibly "on their side," they need protection.

WHY do we buy protection from those who can create the need to be protected?

Follow the money trail.

Texas's Location

Yes, yes, we know it's hot in Texas, but this ends up a bit silly.


As today is the anniversary of California's statehood, this morning's all-school meeting (which consists of a few minutes after chapel) included factoids about California.

"The hottest temperature ever recorded in the United States was in California. Does anybody know where that was?"

And Joey responds: "Texas!"

The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant

While transforming a bushel of tomatoes into spaghetti sauce yesterday afternoon, I listened to a Lutheran call-in talk show. The topic was the upcoming Sunday's Gospel from Matthew 18. Somehow, it's always easy for that reading to come off sounding as if Forgiving The Neighbor is the one good work we must do lest we fail to measure up to God's requirements.

On the talk show, one of the pastors cautioned another to not soft-pedal Jesus' words here. (He hadn't been!) While one pastor is saying that we cannot forgive as we ought, but that we rest in the forgiveness of sins obtained in Jesus' sacrifice, the other pastor is saying that we cannot minimize the seriousness of this injunction to forgive our neighbor. Even though we'd talked about that tension during Bible class earlier in the day, it took me until the last 45 seconds of the talk show to figure out what the problem was.

Yes, the Law does demand that we forgive. No, we cannot do it perfectly. Yes, there is forgiveness. No, forgiveness doesn't mean we can blow off what Jesus says about the mercy we sinners cannot give as we ought. So what bothered me? It was where we find the answer to the dilemma.

"I still have my sinful flesh which is unmerciful. This parable shows me my unforgiving heart."
Answer A: Jesus said, "If you do not forgive, your Father will not forgive you."
Answer B: I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Oh, and by the way, when your eyes are fixed more and more on Jesus and His mercy, that cannot help but transform you.


Answer A = Law and demands.
Answer B = Gospel and grace.

Answer A is true. It is good. There is no way to get around it. But it has no power to change my heart into a forgiving heart.

Answer B is true. It is good. And it does have the power to melt an unforgiving heart.

Emergency Baptism

There's disagreement out there on the topic of whether healthy babies should be baptized right after birth or if it's better to wait until the child can come to one of the services of the Church. There is, however, no disagreement about baptizing a baby who is in imminent danger.

My mom was a nursery nurse. Sometimes she would baptize babies. However, not everybody knows that it's not only okay, but good, for a layman to baptize a baby in an emergency. Sometimes we think such things "go without saying." But they don't; they need to be said -- in this situation, it is not disrespectful to the pastoral office to baptize the child yourself. So I just want to mention this right now, for my young readers who may be having children in the coming years, as well as for those of y'all who are in the medical field and may have the opportunity to be around at your patient's end.



Friday morning is a funeral for two little boys for whom Jesus died. We grieve with their parents.

Inconsistent Message

Gary and I walked into a gift shop we've enjoyed in the past. The first thing I saw inside the door, prominently displayed, was a pink nightshirt. The silk-screened picture depicted a pair of sexy high heels, several open bottles of wine, bubbles, and a little confetti, with the saying, "Zero to naked in 15 bottles."

Okay.

The very next thing I noticed was the music playing: "Come home. Come home. Ye who are weary, come home. Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling, 'O sinner, come home.'"



This does not compute.

Anfechtung

We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.

C. S. Lewis, in a letter
to Peter Bide, 1959

Wow, that sure puts the finger on how we, on the one hand, truly trust God and yet, on the other hand, chafe at living under the cross.

Census and the Consumer Price Index

The Census Bureau contacted us recently. We have been chosen [oh, lucky us!] to participate in a two-week project. People keep diaries on every penny they spend, and that's part of how the Consumer Price Index is calculated.

So when a person is already irritated with a massive government that intrudes into private life, interferes with business, and spends far too much money, that person is not a happy camper when the government wants to know every time we fill the gas tank, every stick of gum we might buy, and how much we spend on potatoes and socks. Luckily I paid all but one of the month's bills the day the census worker arrived, so none of that had to go in the diary which started the following day.

Looking at the diary, I was floored by its arrangement. Each day you're given 22-25 lines to record expenses. One page is for eating out, another for clothing & jewelry, another for groceries, another for any other expense. Do you catch that? The same space for eating out as for groceries. Now, I understand that if there are 4-5 people in a family, and everybody gets breakfast out, grabs lunch at the school cafeteria or restaurant, stops for a donut or a beer, and then eats out for supper, that means you won't even have enough lines to record the restaurant expenses. But compare that to groceries.

The trick to the groceries is not that "I spent $142.79 at Woodman's on Tuesday," but every item must be recorded. If you bought 5 cans of pineapple, those can all be recorded on one line. But every different item must be listed individually. I asked the poor census worker TWICE, "You must be joking, right? Everything sorted and listed from my grocery receipt?" When she assured me that they do indeed need my grocery purchases listed individually with their pricetags, I told her that that's incentive enough not to go to the grocery store until my two-week duty is done. (Gary said later, "You know, most people couldn't avoid that. We've got a freezer full of meat, canned goods in the basement, and a few bags of flour.") Besides, they allow us only 25 lines per day, with a space at the end of the diary for another 95 items. I'm not sure that would be enough for a grocery receipt that's nearly 3' long.

And a full page for clothing items every single day? In any given two-week period, we're far more likely to spend nothing on clothing & shoes than to buy even one thing.

They tell us that we have been randomly chosen, and that it is imperative that we participate because [get this!] we are representing thousands of our neighbors.

Us?

In the way we use our money?

Uh ... I don't think so!

I bet they will get one of the emptiest diaries they've ever seen. And it won't be because I'm not telling the truth about my expenditures. We just don't spend much.

They probably won't believe it. But maybe they could take a lesson: spend less than your income. It might do amazing things for the federal budget.

Too Hot? Too Cold?

A couple of weeks ago, Maggie couldn't exercise. It was too hot, you see. It was, oh, maybe 80° out.

So today we talk about whether she should get up for chapel tomorrow. I could drop her off at church, and she could walk home. "What??! It's cold outside." Yes, the weather has cooled off considerably. I've actually started wondering how long until frost. I'm wondering how the refrigerator temperatures overnight are going to affect my tomatoes which are still ripening on the vine.

But c'mon ... It's too cold to exercise? Does this kid have a 3° window when the temperature is acceptable, or what? I maintain that God gave us sweatshirts for a reason.

Changing a Reputation

We have our expectations. When a cheerful person is quiet and moody, we accept the mood as an anomaly and expect the pleasant disposition next time we see Miss Sunshine. When a cranky person works on being kinder, we're always on guard around him; it takes only one episode of snippiness before we assume that Mr Grumpy has resurfaced.

So how does a person change his reputation? How long does it take? It's hard to realize that other people still expect you to respond in ways you used to respond, even if you seldom or never do those things any more. Those old attitudes and behaviors and responses are still part of your reputation.

So (short of being absolutely perfect, constantly, for a few years) is there anything we can do when we realize that some people have ugly impressions of us? And is there anything we can do to beat back our negative impressions of someone else in order to better believe the new&improved reputation?

Unschooling

I love the opening quote from an article about the role of an unschooling parent:

Unschooling is not about letting my children run wild. It's not about shirking my responsibility, but it's about embracing it. It's about spending actual time with my children, about getting to know them like I would a friend. Unschooling is about being present with my children.

Unschooling is, in one sense, easier than trying to play The School Game in your own house. But in another sense, unschooling is harder. This article explains why.