kids

For those of you who want kids but don't, as of yet, have them, be aware.

They are an incredible blessing. They are wonderful, incredible little human beings.

They also wake you up at 4:48 in the morning to get them a cup of juice.

It starts when your Boy gently pokes your eyeball, to see if it's open. Then, because he's unfortunately smart, he realizes that daddy can't actually see anything unless daddy's wearing his glasses.

So you get those, and then poke daddy in the eye with them. Satisfaction! Daddy groans, and rolls over.

But then goes back to sleep. So you sit on the edge of the bed and snuggle daddy for a little bit. Just in case there's hard feelings from the night before last. When you came unexpectedly into the bedroom.

And found him and mommy in the midst of a vicious wrestling match.

without (ahem!) pants.

and you grabbed daddy's big toe to save mommy, and screamed, and cried, and were generally inconsolable that your daddy would be so heinous as to attack mommy! So you've slept in their bedroom the last couple of nights, just to prevent further violence and out of concern for mommy's welfare.

But after a few snuggles you realize that daddy may just need pants. So you grab the first pair you find. and give them to daddy, but because you know that daddy's not wearing his glasses, you need to put them close to daddy's face.

So you throw daddy's ugly, stinking work pants (that daddy, because he is a dumbass, did not put in the hamper upon changing) on his head.

That achieves your preferred goal. You get your juice.

And then climb back onto the bed beside mommy, being careful to take up all the room, because you just can't really trust daddy around mommy. Then you fall back asleep.

And daddy mutters something about taking 'holy orders' and goes out to the couch for a few extra minutes sleep.

countdown

Today is my last day preaching for the Presbyterians. Next Sunday I'm supplying at two little rural churches, then not again until the 17th, when I introduce myself to my new congregation.

I have 10 days of work left at my other job. Praise be to God Most High.

We've gotten some stuff into storage already, and are still packing our way through the rest.

Woohoo!

(Erik, I hope you cleaned out your office!)

Funny!

Part of my reading discipline is to read part the Book of Concord daily. You Lutherans know what this is.

But I came across this the other day, and just had to smile. We can file this under the heading of "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Written as the preface to the Smalcald Articles in 1537 by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther:

"In addition to such necessary concern of the church, there
are also countless important matters in wordly affairs that need
improvement. There is disunity among the princes and the estates.
Greed and usury have burst in like a great flood and have attained a semblance
of legality. Wantonness, lewdness, extravagant dress, gluttony, gambling,
conspicuous consumption with all kinds of vice and wickedness, disobedience--of
subjects, servants, laborers--extortion by all the artisans and peasants (who
can list everything?) have so gained the upper hand that a person could not set
things right again with ten councils..."

The boys are fast asleep. the Co-director is watching MASH on dvd while I check my email.

The last post was a little bit about dreaming. This is about reality. The highest calling in my life, for which I will be judged in the end. I truly believe that there is no higher calling for any man in this life.

To be a husband and father. All the rest is commentary.

packing, moving, preaching, practicing, and dreaming

Oy.

When you live in a 1 and 1/2 bedroom apartment, you find yourself incredibly shocked at the sheer amount of stuff that can accumulate. Of course, since a great deal of that are my books, I'm in no position to complain. I just pack them up. 12 boxes of books.

But not little boxes. No, as the co-director points out, these are boxes that, even as I toss them around the living room, she can't budge them. I tell her I can move them because my heart is pure. Her reply does not befit a woman of her grace and breeding.

Tied into this a little problem that I'm having with time management. Not that I don't have good TM skills, no -- but simply that I don't physically have time enough right now.

I work 35 full-time hours a week for a landscaping company. I also write the order of service, choose hymns, write the sermon, and help coreograph some service features with a couple of members of the congregation.

I also aim to spend at least 3 hours of quality time a day (on weekdays) with the Boys, and at least one full day a week. So, it's good practice for life in the parish. Speaking of which, the co-Director worked it out -- only 20 months or so until I'm officially done. D-U-N, done. With this stage of my education, at least.

Now, part of the issue here is that I have a lot of time to think. My job as lead hand for a landscaping crew is relatively brainless, so I have a lot of time to think. That sometimes leads to trouble.

Trouble, for example, is a question that one of my professors asked on an assignment he returned. The assignment was an evaluation of a series of goals that I'd set for myself over the course of the academic year as part of a class called 'Vocational Formation.' The class, simplified, is "where do you want to be and what do you want to do as a Pastor?" The question scribbled on my assignment was, "so where do you see yourself?"

Where do I see myself? I see myself doing the only thing I've ever really dared to hope to be -- a pastor. The only thing I've ever really wanted to be when I grow up (still waiting for that to happen, though) is a pastor.

But where do I see myself exercising that vocation? I've talked with rural pastors (grew up there), urban pastors (learned a lot there), emerging church pastors (if you don't know what that is google it), sinking church pastors, chaplains, preachers, and teachers. But where do I want to be, really?

Where do I really want to be? Dare I ask myself that question? Because the place I really want to be, where I feel the most called to serve Christ and the Church -- after reflection, and prayer, and more prayer, and then open and frank discussion with the co-director -- and the courage to admit it to myself, is here.

Which is two years in parish ministry, basic training, and a whole lot of work.

But I need to go through internship, I think, before I really know the intricacies. I've served churches and various chaplaincies before -- as a parish assistant, regular pulpit supply, member, teacher, gopher, and all-around dogsbody, but never in the same capacity, with the time to meditate and reflect with the guidance of a supervising pastor.

I've sat at the feet of both KGP and the Pop-Culture Princess and I'm thankful for their insight, compassion, and guidance. But at the same time, I was working full-time, studenting full-time, and courting full-time (told you I had good TM skills!). Over the next 12 months I'm going to be forced to clear my plate, and deal with one thing at at time.

And that scares me, kind of. I know it should scare my supervisor. God knows what I'll scheme without a couple of jobs to keep my imagination under control....

And I know that I've mentioned that dream before to others, but it seems like now I know, just know, where I want to be.

Naviget.

So, wish me luck.

WTF?

A Gay man in Michigan has launched a $70 million-dollar lawsuit against publishers Zondervan and Thomas Nelson, claiming that the translation of the word 'homosexual' in some editions of the bible has caused him 'severe distress and emotional instability'.

Read the article at this link.


I'd rather imagine he was emotionally unstable to begin with. But I'm inspired. I think I'm going to sue Augsburg for the NRSV bible whenever is says anything about about the left hand, since those references have long caused me, a humble and emotionally fragile left-hander, severe distress.

who's with me?

name change!

So, you may have noticed that I changed the name of the blog.

There's a good reason for that. Another blog of religious reflection and deep philosophical thought also goes by the title of Semper Ubi Sub Ubi. Since this blog in no way, shape, or form, has any content on it which is of that nature, I decided that they could have the latin pun.

So, since we produce associates fairly frequently, Macintyre, Macintyre, and Associates just seemed a little better.

But if you're craving deep thought, I've added a few more friends to the links. Jennifer, over at Second From First, is a friend from Seminary. Jeff and Deanna just finished their Sem journey.

happy reading!