Happy Birthday, Adam
Topic: From a Father

Twenty-three years ago today, it was the first day of Final Exams for my second semester in the Masters program at Purdue. I didn't have any exams that day, so Adam decided to be born, four weeks early. I was already inclined to place "family" higher on my priority list than most other things, but this event certainly helped start my fatherhood out on the right course.

A few things I will always remember about that week:

• After leaving the hospital that day to go back to Married Student Housing to try to study for my exams, I turned on the car radio. The song which was playing: "Let's Hear it for the Boy." FEver since then, I've always thought of Adam when hear that song.
  
• I did better on the finals I had that week than I had done on any of the other tests I had taken previously at Purdue. It makes no sense -- I certainly didn't feel like I was more focussed.
  
• Sherry got to stay in the hospital for four or five days. In those days, insurance paid for whatever the hospital said was necessary. There were so few babies in the maternity ward (I think Adam was the only one for a while) and the nurses knew they would be sending a first-time mom back to a student father -- they wanted to keep mom and baby a few days to let everyone get some needed rest.
  

And now, Adam's working full-time. The wedding date has been set for June 21, 2008. He owns a home. He's one of my favorite people. And he still helps me keep my priorities straight.

Well done, son. Happy birthday!

Future Toast
Topic: From a Father

This weekend, I got an idea for the "Father of the Bride" toast I could give at Leah's wedding reception.
Leah is currently sixteen years old, and not even close to getting married. But I got the idea nonetheless.
Since it's possible she might some day read this, I have to leave out the details. But it relates to something she once gave me, and I now have it stored safely with some memorabilia so I can find it again in, say, ten years.

And what about a toast for Sarah's wedding reception? Have I gotten that far? Not yet. I have thought for years that Sarah and I ought to write a father/daughter wedding duet, and sing it at her wedding. I remember mentioning it to Sarah once -- I wonder if she remembers.

Yet, it's Adam who will get married first. Hmmm, I wonder if people still do those toasts? A co-worker of mine says his daughter did it last year. Once they have all the other stuff planned, I'll have to ask Adam and Marisa about it.

On the other hand, it might well be that I'll be too choked up to give a toast anyway. Last week at choir we practiced a piece for which Sarah sang the solo in 2000. I remembered the song well because the first time we performed it, I couldn't really sing once the solo began. I just listened to Sarah and realized I was too caught up with pride to be able to sing.

Can I imagine being able to speak at the kids' wedding receptions if I couldn't sing during a normal church service?

Old softie!

Spiderman 3
Topic: Movies

Now that I know that worked (see the entry just below this one), I simply have to embed a Spiderman 3 preview. Finally, a clear indication that the filmmakers did not completely screw up the Venom story line.

If you don't like ANY spoilers, don't watch this trailer. But if you have been worried, as I have, that they were really screwing up Venom, the trailer helps assuage your fears.

I have to try this
Mood:  bright
Topic: Random

Long, time; no post. So what shall I do to usher my return?

I have to try this cool link/imbed thing.

I'm quite excited about the new Mario game about to arrive. Here's a video preview.

Did it work?

Congratulations! Times Two! No, wait! Times Three!
Mood:  happy
Topic: From a Father
Happy 16^th Birthday, Leah!

Transitions; they keep happening! What a great 16-year-old Leah will make! Tonight, we celebrate. Tomorrow, we host her birthday party. How excellent!

But wait! There's more!

Congratulations to Adam -- and Marisa! On March 7, just yesterday, they got engaged!

The smiles on all of the faces in the house were amazingly big and bright.

Our family is growing up. And growing!

DVDs I need to see
Now Playing: Nothing -- but the aroma of stir-fry is in the air
Topic: Movies
Which movie should I watch?
I have the following stack of un-opened (and therefore, unwatched-since-I-bought-them) DVDs:

• Shawshank Redemption
  
• Titanic
  
• Troy
  
• Mr. & Mrs. Smith
  
• Planes, Trains and Automobiles
  
• Casablanca
  
• Aliens
  
• The Italian Job
  
• Deep Impact
  
• Fight Club
  
• Bachelor Party
  
• West Side Story
  
• X-Files Season 1
  
• Stargate: Atlantis Season 1
  

Oh, and then I also have Hoosiers sitting on the pile. It's that time of year again.

Opinions, anyone?

Yes, yes, I know. I own too many DVDs.

The opinion I was looking for relates to which of the above I should watch next.
Any opinions on that topic?

Hint, the chances I will ever see Bachelor Party are pretty slim. Though I hear there is this one scene...

Three movies in two days
Topic: Movies
It's a snowy, icy weekend -- a perfect time for movies.

Title	Rating	Type	Date	Actors	Notes
Jesus Christ Superstar	91	M	2/24/07	Ted Neely Carl Anderson Yvonne Elliman	What can I say. Excellent music. Great setting. I always want to see it during Lent, and it never disappoints.
My Fair Lady	89	M	2/24/07	Rex Harrison Audrey Hepburn	Such clever lyrics. A fine message about language. If only Eliza had found a man good enough for her.
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe	91	F	05/06 07/06 02/07		They got it right. The children were perfect – especially Lucy. The world was small enough, and the inhabitants fanciful enough, and the Queen evil enough.

I watched "Jesus Christ Superstar" on my own. I had company for the others.

Sure, we wish we had been at Leah's performance of "Beauty and the Beast." The storm canceled that. Time to "make lemonade," if you will. We got to build Magic decks, and create scrapbook pages, and do homework -- all while watching movies.

And, if you can believe it, I kept from singing during "My Fair Lady." It was tough, but I did it.

Since I was alone for "JCS," I sang. Plenty!

Some days ...

No one could join me for lunch.

Bad news at work.

Drawing all the wrong cards in Magic.

Can't even win a game of solitaire.

You know what that means?

Tomorrow has to be better.

Right?

Of course it does!

"This, too, shall pass."

Looking forward to tomorrow!

Happy Friday, everyone.

You Gotta Laugh
Sometimes, work is just too frustrating. When that happens, I tend to get serious, grumpy, remote. To combat that, I decided to find a joke to brighten my day. I encountered a few duds before I found this one:

Investigators at a major research institute have discovered the heaviest element known to science. This startling new discovery has been tentatively named Administratium (Ad). The new element has no protons or electrons, thus having an atomic number of 0. It does, however, have 1 neutron, 125 assistant neutrons, 75 vice neutrons, and 111 assistant vice neutrons, for an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by a force called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since it has no electrons, Administratium is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it came into contact.

According to the discoverers, a minute amount of Administratium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second. Administratium has a normal half-life of approximately three years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons, viceneutrons, and assistant vice neutrons exchange places. In fact, an Administratium sample's mass will actually increase over time, since with each reorganization some of the morons inevitably become neutrons, forming new isotopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to speculate that Administratium is formed whenever morons reach a certain concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as the "Critical Morass".

It's not only funny, it's apropos!

I found it at http://www.ajokeaday.com/.

Have a great day, everyone.

And Happy Birthday, Mom!

The Three Pitfalls - Why the LCMS is shrinking and will continue to do so
Topic: Faith,& Religion
Once upon a blog, I posted some topics that I might address. This topic is one of them, and is clearly the “heaviest.” I doubt I can do it justice, but let me give it a try. Since the topic is serious, and its discussion is lengthy, I will talk about the first pitfall today, and leave the others for subsequent entries.

I am a member of a congregation, and that congregation is a member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (LCMS). By rule, that makes me an LCMS Lutheran, but in my heart, I am not. In many ways, I feel like an outsider in my denomination. As I look at what makes me uncomfortable, I believe I recognize some of the reasons that the LCMS is shrinking. There are many symptomatic reasons, but the three primary reasons are Intractability, Hyper-Exclusivity and Anti-Humanism. Unfortunately, these words do not describe the situation well enough, so examples are required.

Intractability: The first example of this, and the one which surprises non-LCMS Christians most, is the refusal of the LCMS to allow women to be pastors. The issue has been raised several times over the past half century, but the decision has consistently, and recently, been to continue this policy. A tract is available from the LCMS documenting the rationale for the decision, but when it is examined closely, it has very little biblical basis at all. The biblical support, if applied consistently, would not allow women to do a great many things in the church. This, of course, was the situation up through the first half of the 20th century in most LCMS congregations, but the needs of the ministry made it clear that a reversal was required. Women, of course, should be allowed to be lay readers, vote, serve on boards, chair boards, and so on. Yet, the pastoral Call is still denied them.

In the end, the justifications for refusing to recognize that a woman could have a Call from the Holy Spirit to be a pastor are really just rationalizations to keep the status quo.
Many long-time LCMS members will tell you they can’t imagine having a female pastor; they would be uncomfortable with one. But discomfort with “something” doesn’t make the “something” a sin. In fact, it is possible that the discomfort is the sin.

Meanwhile, the world (at least the Western world, and increasingly the Eastern and Middle-Eastern worlds) recognizes the value and equality of women in all areas of life, and those enterprises which embrace them most grow from it.

This is but one example where the inability of the LCMS at large to change is causing it to become less relevant, and to expose the underlying tendency to value long-standing rules on par with revealed truth. This was the way of the Pharisees, and was anathema to Jesus.

In fact, one common thread in all three of the pitfalls is this tendency toward putting tradition, or rationalized rules, at a much higher position than I believe is acceptable. And that will be evident when I discuss the next pitfall.