Floor Show!

The library at my seminary held a video contest for $$$ in our bookstore. Here is my entry!

I Hope You Are Too

The leaves drip and glisten
from a freshly fallen rain.
We navigate puddles
as the sun shines on us.
An ice cream truck tantalizes us--
okay, me--
from across the valley.
The birds discuss the evening news
and I wonder where the worms are
as we walk home again
so you can go to bed.
As we go you coo a few things:
“Aahhh-ooooo;”
“Eeka deeka deeka doooo;”
and “Da da da da da.”
I'm so happy right now,
and I hope you are too.
Love, Dad

Ah, Memories!

On our trip home over the 4th of July weekend my mother gave us some old papers of mine: school work, awards, doodles, newspaper clippings, etc. One thing in particular that caught my eye was a story I wrote in high school. With great pride I reproduce it here for you now exactly as it appears on the college-rule lined paper (with some minor layout editing).

Dr. Williams

is

SALAT FRAÜLEIN

with her sidekick

Crouton Girl

There's a reason Hidden Valley is hidden...
Deep in Hidden Valley Headquarters (H.V.H.Q.) there lies a secret laboratory filled with wonders and atrocities. Come down the escalator and one would find a huge table in the middle of the room with all sorts of creepy instruments used for unhuman experiments. Also in this room are cages, filled with cute little monkeys they shoot into space with huge bowls of salad and Hidden Valley dressing. One day, as Dr. Williams and her team were getting ready to fire a monkey into orbit, a group of blind sightseers came down the escalator looking for the bathroom. Dr. Williams noticed them and said "Excuse me...!"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know this stall was being used." So the sightseers went back to the escalator and started to go up. They didn't get far, though, as they escalator was a down escalator. They didn't stop, though, just kept stepping. Dr. Williams turned around to face her team.
"Alright, boys, " she said, "let's get that chimp in the rocket." So the team got to work.
"Hydro-spanner-boosters?"
"Check."
"Propulsion crystal splitter?"
"Check."
"Zingers, Ho-Hos, Twinkies?"
"No thanks!"
Unfortunately, when it was time to get the monkey, one of the blind tourists that got a job there grabbed Dr. Williams and put her in the space capsule. When the team noticed Dr. Williams wasn't there, they just figured she had got a bite to eat. They launched, and she was shot into orbit with only salad, salad dressing, gum, and duct tape.

Five Days Later

"This sucks! Salad, and that's it! I never realized what we were doing to those monkeys! Poor fellas! That's it! I'm outta here!"
"Come on, dude! You can go out and get a burger or something. Dr. Williams is stuck up in space and you are complaining. Typical!"
"Oh, yeah! Hey, I'm going out for a burger. Want something?"
"Nah. I'm gonna have a salad."
"OK."

Another Five Days Later

"Well," said Dr. Williams, "I'm finally getting outta here. Good thing these tests are only ten days long. I can't wait to see my fish." The capsule came crashing down into Hidden Valley and the scientists all came out to check on Dr. Williams. When she opened the door, all the scientists fell back in horror, then just kinda stared. Before Dr. Williams was shot into space, she was really ugly. U-G-L-Y! That's why they fell back, because they knew was was coming. Or so they thought. All that Ranch with Bacon dressing and the gamma particles from the sun's ultraviolet rays made Dr. Williams the most beautiful woman in the history of women. (The three men in the team of seven fell in love immediately and the three women became insanely jealous and shot themselves into space. It's now been three weeks since we've heard from them. As for the blind guy, he made friends with the monkey, and they took a road trip to Kansas.) The dressing and rays and stuff also gave Dr. Williams unbelievably neat powers. She now has the ability to shoot Ranch with Bacon from her fingertips and make things she touches turn into lettuce. With these powers, she is now called SALAT FRAÜLEIN! Patrolling the streets, well, back streets and alleys of Hidden Valley, she keeps the scum out of those precious hidden valleys, and also makes sure those dopes never send her into space ever again. As for Crouton Girl, she just kinda wandered into H.V.H.Q. and tags along with SALAT FRAÜLEIN on her patrols. No real powers, just likes croutons.
The blind guy and the monkey are now in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Never trust a monkey to get you where you want to go. They're so stubborn and won't ask for directions.
The blind guys who needed to use the bathroom are still on the escalator, and they still have to go.

SALAT FRAÜLEIN

und Crouton Girl

Naptime Prayer

After reading Yertle the Turtle it is hard to say a prayer for my son in an un-Dr. Seuss way. So without further ado let us not be delayed: this is the prayer we prayerfully prayed.
Based on a true prayer, edited for length.

Dear God, we pray for Isaac as he lays down for a nap.
He's had trouble sleeping at night, and we're worried about that.
So now with a tummy full of vegetables, milk, and meat,
we pray that he might finally be able to sleep.
Daddy is going back to work
right next door--what a perk!
Mommy is doing what she does best--
being awesome as he rests.
And God, you are right here with our son--
weave his dreams from the sleep we've spun.
AMEN.

Sermon Illustration: John 17:20-26

I made this video from the slide show I gave during my sermon Sunday May 16th.



And this is the version I did for the smaller group at Thursday night worship May 13.

National Day of Prayer

My prayer for world peace, the final prayer at our National Day of Prayer breakfast today.

God, is peace possible
between individuals, nations,
ideologies, or ethnicities?
We ask that it is.
When we hear of wars,
invasions, or conflicts,
another bit of hope within us
dims.
Reignite the hope of peace
between nations and within nations.
But Lord, we ask for peace
that doesn't depend on
the death or suppression of others,
but a peace that brings,
honors, and supports life.
We pray that peace may be fostered
by the equal sharing of wealth
and resources, not
the selfish hording by nations or
the leaders of nations.
For us and for all people, Lord,
we pray for the power to be gentle,
the strength to be forgiving,
the patience to be understanding,
and the endurance to run this race.
Only you can truly bring peace:
We pray for peace from fear,
peace from hate, jealousy, and pride,
peace between individuals, nations,
ideologies and ethnicities.
We pray for peace for our entire world.
You alone are God,
and to you alone we pray.

The "Amen" is yours to say.

I wrote this prayer for the mother-daughter banquet at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Rock Falls IL on May 4, 2010.

Mighty, and loving God, you have blessed us so much, often in ways we don't even realize. There is nothing like a mother, as you know from Jesus' mother Mary. We lift up our thanks for daughters and mothers, grand and great-grandmothers; thank you for the love they show us! Bless them as they play pivotal roles in our lives. Give them your grace, and help them with peace, patience, strength, and love.

Lord, you gather us under your wing like a mother hen gathers her chicks. Wrap your loving Spirit around us in this room. For those without a loving mother, we ask that they know your loving and nurturing care; grant them knowing you. We ask all this in the name of our risen Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Almost Big News!

I almost got really excited there!

Formerly Forsaken

Forsaken,
marry me, your builder,
no longer Desolate
in a renamed land.

I'll never stop,
never stop listening,
working, loving, illumining
until eyes far and wide
see your beauty,
alluring and holy.
A beacon for all to see;
flip the switch on the marquee.

Delight,
formerly Forsaken,
the path is cleared to Sought Out.
Salvation comes with
recompense preceding,
and Daughter's reward
in my right hand.

Formerly Forsaken,
you are a crown of beauty,
in my hand and red
on my head.

(inspired by Isaiah 62:1-9)

For the first post, I'd like to share a poem-- "Unlimited Grasp"

I could die and
go straight to heaven
or
I could die and
be taken to a funeral home
pumped full of chemicals
mourned over in a church
put in the ground
sit in my casket, rotting
decompose until there was nothing left to decompose
lie there for many many years
be rumbled around by earthquakes
not feel the shockwaves of dropped bombs
have my bones cooked by rising temperatures
freeze at a coming ice age
burn up when the sun swallows the earth
and I would still be alive in Christ