Professor Lets His Worldview Show

Barbara Frank has a wonderful post about a professor at UNC-Chapel Hill who is using his position to spout his position about life.

We are all God's creation, even those with Down's Syndrome. That professor's opinion is heinous!

Wittenberg Trail, website commercial redo

A tweaked version, with better music at the end and some explanations throughout.

80's Music - What Were You Listening To Then?

Kelly's limiting us to the 80's. Darn! That leaves this hit by Queen out of the running.

It also leaves out Elvis, the Bee Gees, Lynyrd Skynyrd, the Steve Miller Band, the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, the Doors, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Cream.

AC/DC straddles the 70's and 80's as does Styx, and The Cars and the Alan Parsons Project, the J. Geils Band, Queen.

So 80's contenders could be Journey, Bon Jovi, Loverboy, Stray Cats, Go-Go's, Def Leppard (this new one is a cool remake), Joan Jett, and Kelly might appreciate Air Supply, or maybe your taste ran more towards Lionel Ritchie, Pat Benatar, don't forget Adam and the Ants, Duran Duran, Van Halen, Kenny Loggins, A -Ha, Wham, and so many more! But I could do this all day and never get anything done!

So I suggest Dire Straits because it represents the beginning of the music video and MTV era, which the 80's ushered in. Who knew you could spend so much time staring at the boob tube?

For Kelly

A friend loveth at all times.

When those we love hurt, we cannot help but reach out in compassion and try to soothe their aching hearts. And so, this is for my beloved friend, Kelly.

Girl, you know the Lord is always with you. He will never forsake you. No matter what trials you experience, He is with you.

Hopefully, this song will make you smile!

Freedom of Speech

I've been wondering how to commemorate Presidents Day (yes, I'm taking a stand in how that is written) after visiting Gene Veith's blog.

I decided that rather than focus on any of the men, some of whom I am related to, that served our country as President, I'd instead talk about one of the basic freedoms our country was founded on and has preserved all these years whether in theory or practice.

You'll notice on the sidebar I've added a picture of Ben Stein's Expelled movie which is due out in April, last I heard.

It's a movie that exposes the intolerance at the collegiate level of scientists who question the sloppy guess-work known as Darwinism, and the twist is that while relying upon shoddy scientific practices themselves they accuse Intelligent Design proponents of being too religious and relying upon a belief system (the Bible) instead of proof. Well, when the Dawninists rely upon conjecture and supposition rather than fact they are simply the pot calling the kettle black and they expose their own belief system.

I find it curious that rather than have open debates about this on college campuses (institutes of supposed higher learning), and allowing freedom of speech for professors, there is coersion going on to silence an opposing view. What are they so afraid of? Might their junk science be exposed for the belief system it is?

Valentines Day

We took R out to the movies on Valentines Day following a delicious dinner of Japanese food. We have a tradition of going out on or near my birthday to a Japanese restaurant as I was born in Japan. Thankfully, everyone enjoys Japanese food!

We let R pick the movie (with parental approval). She chose Game Plan. There were predictable laugh-out-loud moments, and a few tear-jerker scenes. After the movie, R whispered to me, "I determined not to cry when she chose not to go with her dad." She told me it would be ok to cry at home, but not at the theater where everyone could see her. I reminder her it was dark and nobody else would probably know. She told me that in the future if she went to the theater, she "might change her determination not to cry."

Seven year olds! Aren't they precious?

So my make-up won't fall over

As the third daughter of a third child, I feel I understand our third daughter rather well. Our third daughter has sisters who are 9 and 11 years older than she, and I have sisters who are 8.5 and 9.75 years older than me. So, when you're the little one and your older sisters are teenagers and doing the things teenagers do, you try so hard to be like them.

One way our youngest tries to be like her older sisters is by having "make-up" of her own.

All three of our daughters have gone through a stage where they have tied things up. They take shoes laces, bathrobe ties, and other assorted items to tie things up. Most often it's been to tie things up to a closet door, a door handle, etc. Our youngest has tied up her Barbies so that they could fly and do flips and such. But a recent tying event was to tie up all the drawers on her dresser. Of course this didn't occur at the most convenient time, considering her many of her clothes are kept in those drawers. And considering she ties really tight knots.

This might have been something that would have elicited a rather harsh word from me were she not my third daughter. So, wanting to understand what would make this child do such a thing I inquired of her why she did it.

She told me she tied up her dresser drawers so "my make-up wouldn't fall over." You see she has some discards of lipsticks and eye shadows and she wanted to have them all set-up on her dresser, "like the big girls do in their room." Every time someone opened a dresser drawer the make-up tumbled down.

Now there's a shim under one leg of the dresser making it more stable and it doesn't shake when a drawer is opened. Now there's access to the clothes in the drawers, and the make-up is able to sit up on the dresser.

1st Sunday in Lent

Do you ever feel like your Pastor's sermon speaks so directly to your life that you wonder if he's been a fly on your wall?

When I feel like that, I have to remember that our Pastor is the vehicle that the Lord has chosen to speak His Word to us. Isn't that amazing? It's beyond my comprehension that the Lord cares so deeply for each of us that He can orchestrate such finite details.

Well, today was one of those days when I felt that our Pastor has peeked into our lives and spoke about it in his sermon.

We started the day with singing the hymn "A Mighty Fortress" which most of the congregation knows by heart and listening to the sweet voices around me made me so appreciative of my church family. Gosh, but I love those folks!

The Old Testament Reading was from Genesis 3:1-21, and the passage that clung to my conscienciousness was "she also gave some to her husband who was with her." Adam was with Eve when the serpent was tempting her and inducing doubt.

Then, from the Epistle Reading, Romans 5:12-19, the passage that jumped out at me there was "Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteiousness leads to justification and life for all men." Although Adam and Eve sinned, Christ has redeemed us all.

The Holy Gospel reading from Matthew 4:1-11 included this passage, "Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God and Him only shall you serve.' "

Pastor's sermon was on the Gospel reading and was about temptation and how we each face multiple episodes of temptation throughout our lives, and even daily. Jesus was subjected to temptation in the wilderness. Satan enticed Jesus to compromise His identity, just as Satan tempts us today to compromise our baptismal identity. Satan generates self-doubt by inviting us to be somebody else rather than who we are, just as Satan tried to get Jesus to leave behind His identity as the Son of God. But Jesus, He quotes Scripture back to Satan and rebukes Satan.

Because we are called through baptismal waters to sow faith where there is doubt, we will be tempted. The best arsenal against that is to say, "It is written..." thereby censuring Satan.

Now there's a pretty good reason to not only be familiar with Scripture, but to learn it by heart.

They Will Be Missed!

Early last week we learned that a long-time elder at our church had gone to sleep on Sunday evening and died during the night. "Doc" was quite a character at our church. His sense of humor was legendary, and he always had a smile for everyone. Doc was a wonderful man whose life reflected his trust in his Savior and knew Lutheran theology in and out and any other way you cared to look at it. His loving service to our church will be missed. He even had served as an usher and as a communion assistant last Sunday. Doc is enjoying the heavenly feast now. It's also comforting for us to think of him being reunited with his precious Evie, whom he's been missing since her death in November 2006.

We also said good-bye to charter members of our church today at a reception following the Divine Service. Edna and Dick have been such loving examples to all of us for their trustful faith in Christ as their Savior. The countless hours of service that they gave so lovingly in so many capacities continued right up until the last couple of years when health concerns prevented them from giving more.

Edna and I last served together on our parish's Board of Education the year that our parish had to close the day school. Those were difficult times and her wisdom and discernment in those matters was invaluable. Edna and I became very close then.

Their devotion to each other is equally impressive.

Dick and Edna were active, involved members who always yearned to learn more. They were at every Bible study they could make and contributed so much to those studies.

They will be missed. We are glad they will be near one of their daughters and their grandchildren. I pray that their transition goes well and that they settle in nicely and quickly.

New Word in the Family Lexicon

We moms soak in the tub when we can. Sometimes for practical reasons, other times as a get-away. We can make the ambiance in the room as relaxing as possible, soft lighting, candles, a glass of wine, a nice book to read, soft music.... and then comes the piercing scream or yell of a child to break the total serenity that you've so carefully tried to create.

The other day I had a tension headache and was trying to alleviate it with a soak in the tub. All my kids know that if I have a headache I soak my head in the tub, thus preventing me from hearing all that goes on the house except for the loudest noises.

But for this soak in the tub, all was quiet. Not completely unusual, but of course I had to ask when I got out of the tub what had gone on while I was in there soaking my head. The easiest target is the youngest, for she's at that age when she's a parent's ally and will readily spill the beans.

So I asked her if her sister had done the dishes. She told me, "I did not hear any dishing noises so I don't think so."

I cracked up and laughed so hard. Her word "dishing" just tickled my funny-bone! Her little sing-song voice said the word with a little higher lilt at the end and it sounded so cute.

So now, when we've inquired about the status of the kitchen, we're all saying whether or not we've heard any "dishing noises."

Uniting the Party?

While I think that Mitt Romney's stated intention of uniting the party is laudible, I don't see how the suspension of his campaign accomplishes that. John McCain's speech to CPAC following Romney's announcement that he's dropping his bid was good. He said what people wanted to hear. But words must be followed by action. Can McCain keep his temper in check? Can he stop making nice with murderers like Kennedy, especially on ill-headed ideas like immigration, limited speech in campaigns, etc.?

I think the most promising hope we have is electing Ron Paul. I don't agree with him on everything, but this man's track record is amazing.

By the way, I have trouble with some of the reporting that Romney won all the delegates in Colorado. At our precinct for our non-committed delegates, 5 of the 6 elected were Ron Paul supporters! At the state convention at the end of May, those votes are not all going to Romney. As delegates, people are free to choose whom they wish to vote for. Given that McCain was not highly regarded even by the current military and retired military I doubt he will have gained the one remaining delegate's vote. We have subsequently talked to lots of people who are not Romney or McCain supporters. I think we need to do some research and see how many of these supposed delegates in the various states are committed, or like Colorado, are free to vote for whom they choose.

I don't understand why people dismiss Ron Paul because they think he cannot win. Have we become so jaded that we only will vote for whom we "know" will beat the opposition? How sad! It's this kind of thinking that of course will ensure that we stay with the status quo. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is.....? I'll be kind and call it an exercise in futility.

Here's Ron Paul explaining how giving states the power to decide about abortion will more quickly affect a change that cannot be changed by the legislating bench of the Supreme Court. And there's more about the 16th Amendment (quick, what is that one about?) If you want to see the rest of that speech visit here.



Our daughter, S, was elected as Precinct Committee person and a delegate. All this before she's even cast a vote (she turned 18 last year). Hubby and I are alternate delegates.

I Believe

I'm not a fan of CCM. It tries to hard to imitate secular music with Christian themes as lyrics. I find it helpful to look to who is driving the verb: I, me, you or Christ, our Savior, God the Father, or the Holy Spirit.

However, I do really like this one, sinner and full of contradictions that I am.

Meeting Ron Paul

Ron Paul was in Colorado on Friday. He and his wife were celebrating 51 years of marriage on that day. Congratulations!

Dr. Paul made an appearance in Colorado Springs and our oldest daughter met him, with her daddy (my hubby) in tow along with our youngest.

Meme

See... I've gone over to the dark side and even call it a meme now. :shrugs shoulders:

Susan tagged me in a fun meme, here are the instructions: grab the nearest book, turn to page 123, go down to the fifth sentence, and post the next three sentences.

So, the nearest book over 123-pages is the Lutheran Service Book, under that was The Lutheran Hymnal. By virtue of being on top today, we turn to Psalm 122, verses 3 to 6:

Jerusalem - built as a city that is bound firmly together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, as was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the Lord. There thrones for judgment were set, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem!

Let's see, I'll tag Gina, Melody, Heidi and Barb.

In Support of Infant Baptism

My oldest daughter is a debater at heart. She competed for a while in the NCFCA and so a lot of what she writes is in the style/format of a debate. She'll want to first discuss terms to make certain you aren't talking past each other and then she'll got into the history of something and then she'll tackle the topic at hand. She wrote a post about Infant Baptism in December 2006 that I think some might find useful while considering this topic. Since some of the articles referenced are rather lengthy, I would suggest for a quick read, The Doctrine of Infant Baptism.

From her blog, December 2006, she writes:

Last year, a friend of mine and I had a discussion on this issue. It’s made me realize that infant baptism is less about the baptism itself and more about the salvation that is achieved through it. I would advise you to look at any of the following websites for more information as well as Bible verses that back up my beliefs on infant baptism. I have further articles (not with links) that I can provide if you'd like more historical or succinct examples.

Infant Baptism and Early Church History

Baptism in the New Testament (note: this is 32 printed pages)

Biblical Infant Baptism

The Doctrine of Infant Baptism

Baptism and Faith

Luther's Sermon on Infant Baptism

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Pastor Snyder has a good column on Infant Baptism.

Concordia, the Book of Concord blog has a good post on Infant Baptism.

Pastor Bucher has a short paper on Infant Baptism.

Wittenberg Trail website commercial -- coolness!

HT: Pastor Weedon's blog

Wesley, enjoying the feast now

My nieces' dad went to be with the Lord last night at 11:35 pm. His heroic battle against the cancer that wracked his body with pain is over.

Wesley married my sister, Pam, in 1971 right before my 10th birthday. Pam, 9+ years older than me, had been a run-away and for several months we didn't know where she was. When she resurfaced, she had a boyfriend, Wesley. My parents liked him immediately and so did I. He was affiable and had a great laugh and laughed often. It was such irony that Wesley was enlisted in the Army. You see, my dad was in the Air Force and we lived on base at the Air Force Academy. Pam was opposed to the war in Vietnam and protested loudly at our dinner table and in peaceful assemblies.

Wesley had what we used to call a priviledged upbringing in New York. That's not to say it was absent of strife. He dropped out of college to join the Army on purpose. It was his way to escape the expectations and lifestyle that was waiting for him post-collegiate. He ended up serving two terms in Vietnam. This was not something he talked about with others. And while you knew those experiences shaped him, it didn't crush him.* His resilence was impressive.

Wesley learned to be an electrician and steadily moved up in that profession while having two daughters with my sister, Terra and Elise. Then he and Pam divorced in 1983. Pam's life devolved into serious drug use and spiraled out of control for a long time. It's better for her now.

I've always respected Wesley immensely that three very personal situations highlight, but they're somewhat sensitive so I won't go into them here; but let me say that his compassion and love for his daughters was and is very moving. In each of those very difficult situations, he put his daughters well-being first.

Wesley was a man who lived as he believed and there was no guessing how he felt about a situation. His honesty was a very prevelent part of his life. Not that he was wont to tell you his opinion on any given matter. He kept his opinions to himself unless prodded to share them.

Wesley was much beloved by his brother, David, and his three sisters, as well as his lovely wife, Iris, and his two daughters, Terra and Lisa, and their families.

One of my favorite things about Wesley was just how much he enjoyed life. You could especially recognize this about him whenever he was enjoying the "outdoors" whether it was in San Antonio hill country, or the Rocky Mountains, and at a family or holiday meal. Whenever we had a family or holiday meal, you could always count on Wesley to appreciate all the work that went into preparing special food for the occasion. I'll always remember his grateful and thankful expression, "Feast!" (How sad that cancer robbed him of enjoying food these last several weeks of his life.)

So, feast on my brother. You will be missed. You are loved.

Thanks to everyone for their prayers and well-wishes. Please continue to pray for Iris and Terra and Elise.


*I pray that those reading this will not think a condemnation of those who struggle after serving in a war, especially Vietnam. It breaks my heart for those who have given so much for our country only to be rejected and looked down upon as they come to terms with their experiences and try to battle their demons from war.

Evolution of Dancing

I laughed and laughed! Within my lifetime I've seen all these dances. Oh my.