Yesterday's Tragedy

Customers began coming in to the bank, asking if we'd heard the news.  We hadn't.  All through the afternoon, it seemed that people who hadn't heard would hop into their car, head out to do errands, turn on the radio, and come into the bank and have to say something.  They couldn't just hear the news and go on; it was imperative that they express their horror to someone.

What troubles me is that I wasn't surprised.  Saddened, indeed!  But not shocked.



Yet nights will bring their sadness
and rob our hearts of peace,
and sin in all its madness
around us may increase.
But still one Star is beaming
whose rays have pierced the night:
God comes for our redeeming
from sin's oppressive might.  (LSB 337)

A Beautiful Synod, Warts and All

It would be cool if Pastor Esget were more a friend than a friendly acquaintance to me.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the brief times I've had opportunity to spend with him.  I love reading what he writes and the rare chances to listen when he speaks.  He's been on sabbatical recently, and he wrote about his visits to different congregations, in particular an Orthodox church and a mega-church.

He said of the sermon at the Orthodox church:   "With only the slightest alterations, the sermon could have been heard in any Baptist or Methodist church."

He summarized his visits to the two congregations thusly:  "I was in awe of the organization, money, screens, facilities, and volunteer power at McLean Bible Church. I was filled with joy by the beautiful choir, chants, incense, icons, and sense of culture at St. Nicholas. But in neither place did I hear a single word of Gospel preached."

And he reflected on the experience: "I wouldn’t trade Lutheranism in general or Immanuel in particular—despite all the problems which it would take volumes to list—for the treasures of those places. The Word of God lives at St. Nicholas on account of the liturgy. I trust that the people at MBC are, to some extent, reading the Scriptures. But one of the things this sabbatical reenforced for me is how wonderful it is to be part of the Missouri Synod, where for all her hideous warts and defects the Gospel still is preached."

Amen.
And thank You, Jesus.

Current Events

Gary has been teaching a college class for the local satellite of Concordia University.  It's been quite the challenge time-wise.  It's his first time teaching this class, which means he has to read the textbook and figure out what's wrong in it so that he can remedy the problems while teaching.  Then there's the to-be-expected teaching and grading.   As has occurred before, students comment that they learn more about writing from him (in theology class) than they learned from their writing profs; he takes his grading duties seriously.  One more class, and then we will get to see him occasionally again!

This week was the first time since October where I was scheduled at work for my 2.5 days and nothing else.  I was looking forward to three days in a row of housework, homeschooling, cooking, Christmas prep, and catching up on projects.  Didn't happen.

Gary's mom had a relatively minor stroke this weekend.  After five days in the hospital, she will be moving to rehab.  We drove down to see her this week.  While there, we drove over to see my mom too.  Boy, that was a nice visit!  (Sorry, Mom, there were other little things I wanted to do and didn't get to.  But the chatting time was a joy!)  Another happy surprise was arriving home to find that Maggie had mopped, had cleaned bathrooms, and had done laundry.

Looking like quite the idiot today, I mowed.  In December.  In Wisconsin.  The mower hadn't been drained of oil and gasoline last time it was used.  So I turned it on and let it idle.  In an attempt to hurry the consumption of fuel, I took the machine out in the yard where the grass was longest and mowed.  So far there has been no sign that the neighbors reported me to the authorities for mental instability.

I've done a little Christmas shopping.  Not much.  I wonder when it will happen.  I expect the tree will go up sometime next week.  In non-Christmas activities, today I dusted the guts of the computer, hung up the bikes from the garage ceiling, and hunted up the snow shovels and snow blower.  I did not, however, get around to repairing the wash machine; I may regret this soon.  Only 794 items left on this week's to-do list...

Andrew keeps coming home with stories of clients who appreciate him and think he's wonderful.  (Smart clients.)   Also, he finished his fall semester today.

Maggie and I are reading Anne of Green Gables.  It's amazing how closely the movie sticks to the book!  What's also amazing (in a less salutary fashion) is the gross number of misspellings in my copy of the book.  It's a fun story -- and made even funnier sometimes by the typos.  (For example, sometimes "Marilla" is spelled "Manila" and sometimes even "Mania.")

Paul has a job offer.  It's not the job he really wants; he's still waiting to hear back from the other company.  I don't envy him having to decide what to do.  I keep praying that God will make the decision simple for him and that He will guide Paul to the better job (even if a different job has certain attractions to it). 

I managed to burn the green beans tonight.  What a mess in the cast-iron skillet!  It required so much scrubbing that the skillet will need serious re-seasoning.  Maggie is excited because that means pancakes. 

There's more to say, but it's past bedtime.  I miss my writing time.  But hey, I also miss my sleeping time.

The Lord Does Not Change

The Israelites kept wandering from the Lord.
They certainly deserved His punishment.
They deserved to be abandoned by Him.

But what does Malachi preach to them?

I am the Lord;
I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed.  (Malachi 3:6)

"Therefore."  

"Therefore."

No matter what we deserve, He does not change.
He remains merciful.
He remains faithful to His promise.
He is the Lord, the God of the promise of salvation.
And He does not change.

Daniel's Service to Nebuchadnezzar

Pastor commented recently in Bible class about how Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego served the Bad Guy.  They were faithful Jews/Christians, even though they were civil servants in Babylon.  Pastor said it was something to ponder with regard to our vocation as citizens.

After he pointed this out, I went and checked out the dating.  Wow -- Daniel was nabbed the first time Babylon came in and overran Jerusalem.  According to the stories in Chronicles and the first chapter of Daniel, those bright young men would have been taken, oh, say, 15-20 years before the temple was destroyed and the whole country was stomped on.  And while Daniel faithfully prayed for God's will and for right worship and for faith among his countrymen, he was a government official serving the king who was destroying Judah.   It looks like Daniel was helping Nebuchadnezzar who was sent by God to punish Israel.  How weird would that be? 

I think maybe there is something to ponder there.

What Shall We DO?

In Luke 3, in the story of John's preaching and baptizing, we hear three times that different groups of people come and ask him, "What shall we do?"  And John gives such a "boring" answer.  He doesn't come up with a big ol' list of meritorious works.  He didn't suggest the things Tetzel advised.  He certainly doesn't come up with the kind of answers that tv preachers do.  He basically says, "Just keep doing your job.  But don't steal.  Don't lie.  Don't bully.  Oh, and if you have plenty, share with those who have nothing."  Nothing flashy.  Just do what God's given you to do, where He's put you.  And it won't earn you anything.  It's just what you do...

Luke 3:20

At the end of the story about John the Baptist preaching repentance, we hear that Herod had been rebuked by John for the shenanigans with Herodias and "for all the evils which Herod had done."  So Herod threw John into prison, adding this evil above all to the other evils he had done.

When you think of all the scandalous things that went on in the palace, all the abuses of authority, those little words "above all" make quite a statement.  Lock up the preacher and refuse to hear him?  Luke seems to think that's worse than the adultery and all the other sins Herod committed?  It's almost like an object lesson in the preeminence of the First Table of the Law.

Wasted Time?

I just spent a chunk o' time setting up my 2013 files in the computer for the budget and photos.  If the Mayans are right, I just wasted the last hour.

And I Know Them

My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them,
and they follow Me, ...   (John 10:27)


Pastor pointed out on Sunday:  "I know them."  

Even though He KNOWS us, He still calls us to be His own.
Even though He KNOWS us, He remains faithful.

And because He KNOWS us, He knows how desperately we need to be saved.

So He gives us eternal life and allows no one to snatch us out of His hand.

Jesus' Assessment of Us

In the High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays,
"You gave them to Me, 
and they have kept Your word.... 
 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; 
and they have received them, 
 and have known surely that I came forth from You; 
 and they have believed that You sent Me." (John 17:6, 8) 

Really?

The disciples had kept God's Word?
And they knew for sure that Jesus came from the Father?
And they believed that God had sent Him?
And they received His Word?

Sometimes I think, "Hey, were You looking at the same set of stories I'm lookin' at?"

Arguments about which of the apostles was the greatest.
Arguments over money being wasted on anointing oil for anoint Jesus.
Questions about Jesus' preaching.
Rejection of His words about going to Jerusalem to suffer.
The desire for their leader to kick Roman butt.

And on top of this, Jesus knew that He was about to be betrayed, and that Peter would deny Him, and that all His followers would abandon Him before the night was over. And yet, He says, "They have kept Your word." In spite of who they were, He says, "They received My words." Even though they seemed to be chock-full of unbelief, He says, "They have believed that You sent Me."



And here's the wonder of wonders --
He says the same about me.

He says that I believe in Him, that I cling to His Word.
That's what He declares me to be.
That's how He sees me.
And that is (slowly) what He forms me to be.

It's a wonder!

Probably My Favorite C. S. Lewis Quote

The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one's "own," or "real" life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one's real life -- the life God is sending one day by day.

Her Uncomfortable Ignorance

"Marilla really did not know how to talk to the child, and her uncomfortable ignorance made her crisp and curt when she did not mean to be."

  (From chapter 4 of Anne of Green Gables,

 on Anne's first morning in Avonlea)

The Ears on That CAT!

We do not own an electric can opener.  Our can opener is a quiet little hand-crank thing.  Last night I opened a can of tuna.  Athena was downstairs, at the other end of the house, asleep.  Maggie asked quietly, "Shall I call KKK?"  "No," I answered, also quietly, "wait until I open the other can of tuna."

Moments later, the cat arrives in the kitchen, meowing piteously and smooching up against our legs.

Really?  Did she smell it?  Mere moments later, that far away?  Has she learned that "KKK" usually means "Come and Get It!"?  Has she learned what t-u-n-a means?

My jaw dropped and we laughed.  I have no idea what drew her to the kitchen, but she knew.




Then today I was proofreading.  I ran across Pastor's commentary on John 10 ["My sheep hear My voice ...]. 

The voice of the shepherd is familiar to his sheep.  They have learned to know the voice as their source of food, drink, safety, and well-being.

Wow.   Can you even imagine listening to God as attentively as Athena listens for hints of tuna?

Passwords

Argh!  I'm always using the home passwords at work, and now I'm trying to type work-passwords into the URL of the home computer.  My brain is overfull of passwords!

Reading

Last Tuesday the knot in my neck and the messed-up shoulder blade were giving me a royal headache -- a headache humongous enough that I (anti-pill gal that I am) ran for the bottle of pain killers.  Well, that's a lie.  I didn't run; I hurt too badly.  But I took drugs nonetheless.  At one point in the afternoon, Maggie walked into the living room to find me reading and lying on the couch, grimacing as the electric back massager pounded my back and neck.  She blurted out, "MOM!  You're lying on the couch, reading.  You haven't done that in years!"

Right.  I hadn't done that in years.

I wish I could. 

My friend Jane reads.  She reads even more than I used to once-upon-a-time.  Which means she now reads more in a week than I do in a year.  Every November and December, when my friends set out their reading goals and their reading challenges for the new year, I sigh and try not to be too jealous.  But this year, Jane has set up her own challenge which is small enough that it might be possible even for me. 

I think I'm going to gather a list of books.

The worst that can happen is that I fail to meet the challenge.

I hate promising things that I might not be able to keep.

So no promises that I'll succeed.

Nevertheless, I will begin compiling a list that might, possibly, maybe, be read.

Gettin' Me a New Daughter

Paul proposed.
Mandy said yes.
This is a marvelous thing!


When Paul and Mandy were here visiting last month, she left her jacket.  Paul always leaves things when he visits.  When I discovered the shipping costs for the jacket, and when I discovered that she had other jackets, I decided to just hang onto it and give it back to her next time we see her.  A week later, when I had to move the jacket off the ironing board, a wild and wacky thought occurred to me: "What if we wouldn't see her again?  What if they broke up?  Boy, it would be awkward to return the jacket then."  But then I consoled myself.  Breaking up?  What a silly notion!!

I recently bought little presents for all the daughters.  I bought one for Mandy too.  Presumptuous of me, I know.  But it's all good:  in less than a day, Paul called with the news.  Yee haw!!

Pre-Verbal Learning

Liz posted this picture yesterday of the competition between the fire departments.  For those of you who don't live in small towns, it's kind of like football or a tug-of-war.  The barrel hangs high on a line between two poles, and the teams squirt water in an effort to send the barrel sliding all the way to the other team's pole.

Whenever I see these contests, I begin to ponder again how kids learn before they are verbal.   You see, many years ago, we attended a celebration in the twin cities of Tiffany and Shopiere.  One of the boys (I think it was Andrew) was too little to talk.  We petted goats.  We watched the parade.  We watched the firemen's contests.  Nice day.  Nothing notable.

A couple of years later, the munchkin-in-question was explaining to me how that contest worked, how the water from the hoses moved the barrel along the rope.  He had questions.  But he also had some pretty clear memories and was able to verbalize what had happened that day. 

I think in words.  I communicate with words.  I attach words to images and sounds and smells and feelings.  It still boggles my mind to consider how those memories (a half-lifetime past for Andrew) were stored, without words, without explanations, but just as images, and how they poured out in words once the words were accessible.

Recently

Updates which may bore people who aren't my mom --

Gary has been teaching a class at the Waukesha campus of Concordia--Wisconsin.  Enjoyable.  But a LOT of work when he has to read all the texts for the first time, prep for class, and grade papers and quizzes and online discussion.

We had Katie's family and Philip here for dinner on Thursday.  It was a nice day.  Rachel and Matt's plans ended up being changed for them, so they ended up not being here for half of Friday as expected.  We'll have to plan for another time. 

I think next year I'll plan to make the turkey ahead of time as I did this year.  It's wonderful to come home from church, cook the vegetables and the mashed potatoes, reheat the turkey, and sit down to eat.  No carving.  No bones to deal with.  No stock to make.  No messy, greasy pans to wash.  Easy breezy!

We had a friendly argument at work on Monday as to whether the Christmas music should start up on the day after Thanksgiving.  My vote was to wait at least two weeks after Thanksgiving, but couldn't we pleeeeease wait at least until December?  But no, the Christmas music has begun.  And it's not even the good stuff that played last year, when two or three times each hour I heard "Son of the Father, now in flesh appearing; oh, come let us adore Him" and "veiled in flesh the Godhead see; hail the incarnate deity" with a grateful heart.  No, this year it's about sleighing and fireplaces and shopping and stuff like that.  And I'm already perturbed about it, and it's still a full month until Christmas.  And I work full-time next week.

Last night I was reading the first chapter of the first Fred book to Alia.  All of a sudden, she just fell over and smashed her head against the table.  We got the ice pack for her.  She cried from the hard bump.  But what was more of a concern was why she crashed that way.  Eventually she mentioned to Katie that everything got black right before she hit her head.  They ended up in the ER because there was no explicable reason for a 4-yr-old to faint out of nowhere.  Follow-up appointments are scheduled for Monday.

Zoe is just barely beginning to talk.  She also has a new "thing" at church: she grabs my finger after chapel and drags me up to the altar rail and wants me to show her the candles and the lamb on the altar and wants to talk about the crucifix.  Happiness!

Maggie is going to drag me to the neighbor's barn now.  So I have to quit typing. 

So Many Dishes to Wash!

I think I washed dishes eight times on Tuesday before I asked one of the kids to help.

Wednesday looked to be another day full of dishes.  I knew I was going to be washing and drying bowls and knives and beaters and pots immediately after they were used so that they could be pressed into service for yet another cooking project.  Dishes dishes dishes!

So what's the problem here, really?

1.  I have food enough to dirty all these dishes and pans and spoons and mixing bowls.

2.  I have indoor plumbing and a seemingly endless supply of hot water to clean these dishes.

3.  I have dear people to feast with me tomorrow.  I'm not cooking for only one or two people.   There will be a big enough crowd around my table that I have plenty of kitchen work to consume two days in preparation.

So, what's the downside?  Sounds like a fabulous position to be in!

So bring on the hand cream!

What Are These Prayers About, Anyway?

We pray that evil be thwarted; we pray for an end to abortion and other murders; we pray that people are safe; we pray that people do not betray others. 

Why?

A big part of it is for the sake of life.  Those babies should live and not die.  The victims of violent crime should have been safe.  Those who are betrayed should have continued to enjoy fellowship with the loved one.

But that's not all.

We pray also for the sake of the one who's inflicting the harm.  Remember in Harry Potter, how it "ripped the soul" to make a horcrux?  Remember how horrifying it was when it became apparent that Tom Riddle had made more than one?  Oh, what it would do to his soul!  Think about it -- it would "rip the soul" to murder or betray.  When we pray against abortion, it's not just for the sake of the babies; it's also for the sake of the abortionist and that he not destroy himself through his violent job.  When we pray for peace in the world and for safety in our communities, it's not just for the sake of the law-abiding citizens; it's also so that the criminals not continue to warp themselves through their lovelessness and destruction.



"But deliver us from evil."