We're in Fort Wayne now...

Well, after two years of wondering whether this would actually happen, it has. We are living in Fort Wayne, Indiana now where I'll be attending the seminary, taking Greek in the fall. I'm spending my time trying to memorize as much Greek vocabulary as I can. So far it's been very nice here. We haven't run out of money yet... The Lord will provide.

Where is this place?

That is a refrain in this video which is posted at Andrew Sullivan's website. Though you might have to hold your nose when he does his partisan bashing of "neocons," Sullivan's site is a good place to go to follow the Iranian situation.

I've gone green...

in honor of the protest in Iran. This is the best picture from Iran I've seen.

Apparently there is a certain kinship with Ohio. I got this picture from Eleven Warriors - via a link from National Review.

To the Memory of Uncle Ed on Memorial Day

War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stewart Mill--

Theologians call certain figures in the Old Testament whose lives parallel Christ's "types" who point us to him. Who is more a living type of Christ among us than the soldier - the one who gives his life for the rest of us? The only combat veteran I have ever known personally was my uncle Ed, who served in the Korean war. After coming back from the war, he went to work at the Marion Power Shovel company and lived in the home he grew up in for the rest of his life, where he took care of my grandmother. He died only about a year after she did. I'm ashamed to admit that sometimes when I was growing up, I looked down on him for not doing more with his life, but I don't see him that way anymore. For one thing, you can never really know a person well enough to make such judgments, because you can never really know what challenges he is facing. For another, there is nothing wrong with staying home and taking care of your mother, and finally, he contributed more to the common good in those four years of serving in the army than I have in my entire life, and more than I probably ever will do. To paraphrase J.S. Mill, we are free by the exertions of better men, and my uncle Ed was one of them.

Lilacs Up North

We arrived here in Harrison, MI, at lunch time yesterday. I had opportunity to take a walk and noticed that while down in the Detroit area, the lilacs are about done, up here they are in their full glory. Since it's only about a two and a half hour drive to get up here, I wouldn't have thought there would be such a difference. It's amazing the difference one hundred seventy miles make. Of course, whenever I see lilacs, I think of Whitman's famous poem about the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd. I guess it shows how ignorant I am that I've often wondered about Whitman claiming to see lilacs in mid-April, when I never seem to see them until May. But if Whitman had been working as a nurse in Washington, D.C., at the time, I suppose he would have seen lilacs in mid-April. Thanks to Whitman, I always think of Lincoln when I see lilacs, and hence I think of death, but because of spring, and it being the time of the resurrection of the Lord, I also think of life.

The best beverage with a hamburger

Last week, on the occasion of my birthday, I got to pick what I wanted for a birthday meal. Since my wife doesn't love hamburgers the way I do, I've been deprived for years of having a home-cooked hamburger in the state of Michigan. So I chose to have hamburgers. And, boy, were they good. I went to Kroger the day before and bought some angus ground round, some vine tomatoes, red onion, and lettuce. Oh my, did those hamburgers taste good. On that day, for the beverage with my favorite cuisine, I had a Blue Moon. I discovered a few years ago that Blue Moon is the best beer to have with a hamburger. I never liked wheat beers, nor have I ever appreciated having a fruit in my beer, such as limes with Mexican beer, but I make an exception to both of these things with Blue Moon. That slice of orange really brings out the taste. I've always thought that the best beverage to go with a hamburger was either a cola of some sort, or perhaps a root beer, or a beer. I've never considered wine as a beverage with a hamburger - until tonight.

During that pre-birthday visit to Kroger, I bought a bottle of wine in a display of clearance sale half-off bottles. On that shelf I saw a $20 bottle of wine for $10. Having never in my life had a bottle of wine that cost over $10, I decided, for my birthday, I'd buy myself one. It was a bottle of Clos Du Bois merlot. I didn't actually open up and drink it until about a week later, and I discovered that, to my palate, a $20 wine doesn't really taste much different than a $5 wine. I had it yesterday with some flank steak that my wife prepared which has a nice tomato sauce.

Today we had leftovers for dinner - a kind of every-man-for-himself night. I thought I would make a cheeseburger with the last remnant of the angus ground round, but my daughter wanted it, and being the sacrificial parent, I made a cheeseburger for her while I had the leftover flank steak with a glass of wine. As is usually the case, Lauren only ate half of the cheeseburger, so I ate the other half and washed it down with a glass of wine. To my surprise, wine goes very well with a cheeseburger! I'll have to reconsider what I drink on the rare occasion when we go to Bagger Dave's. Wine with a cheeseburger? What's happening to me? Maybe in these days of the Obama administration, I'm becoming more - God help me - European!

New Chapter of Brothers of John the Steadfast

A new chapter of the Brothers of John the Steadfast is forming in the Metro Detroit area. I attended the first meeting last night where we got acquainted and discussed preliminary things such as when and where to meet and how to begin reading the Book of Concord together. I'm looking forward to regularly studying the Lutheran Confessions with like-minded people.

Bluebird, You Missed Me

Click here to listen.

The morning comes too fast. It streaks across the sky.
It seems like I just got into bed.
Like forty years have passed in the blinking of an eye--
I'm left with only memories in my head.

Bluebird, you missed me when you took your morning flight,
but that's what you always seem to do.
Spread your wings and lift me, and then I too can fly
and sing sweet melodies with you.

When I was a young man, all I had was time;
tomorrow seemed like my best friend.
But all our best laid plans are quickly undermined
with life's mundane business to attend.

Bluebird, you missed me when you took your morning flight,
but that's what you always seem to do.
Spread your wings and lift me, and then I too can fly
and sing sweet melodies with you.

But I'll take the morning sun and all it has to give.
I'll show that bird - I'll show him what I'm made of.
My life may be half done, but I still have more to live,
enough still left to dream, enough to love.

Bluebird, you missed me when you took your morning flight,
but that's what you always seem to do.
Spread your wings and lift me, and then I too can fly
and sing sweet melodies with you.

Life as a Gift

Jennifer Roeback Morse of the Ruth Institute is increasingly becoming my favorite guest on "Issues Etc." She really has some wonderful insights about marriage, family, and life issues. Recently on the March 13th show she had this to say about how Christianity teaches us to view others:

Christian teaching has always taught that every human life is a gift, and if you see yourself as a gift and you see other people in your life as a gift, I think that that posture is the most life-giving, life-affirming posture you can take towards the universe...Children [are] a gift from God and even troublesome people [are] a gift from God... and really and truly to view yourself in relation to others as a gift - that posture is the best way to live. Whereas if you look at other people as some kind of object that's out there, and if they're inconvenient and you don't like them, you get to do something about them, or at the very least, you get to walk away from them - that's really a recipe for loneliness and isolation...

Just hearing this has made me begin to look at people differently, although I frequently slip back into my usual sinful ways and generally regard people as a pain in the butt.

On that very same day, Pastor Weedon had what I think is a related thought at his blog:

When we pray "thy will be done" we are not merely recognizing that all things come to us from the hand of God, but we are praying for the grace to accept all things from His hand as He would have us accept them, as gifts given from His heart of love and to be received lovingly by us. It's miles from fatalism; it is the triumph of faith.

Here is the "Issues Etc." episode. The quote starts about 22 minutes in:

LCMS withdraws opposition to Issues Etc. Trademark

It looks like the LCMS has withdrawn its opposition to the trademark application for the name of Issues, Etc. This is a relief, yet apparently some questions remain unanswered.

Here is a timeline of the entire controversy.

Another Issues Etc. Petition to Sign

Now LCMS, Inc. is threatening to sue Todd Wilken and Jeff Schwarz over the Issues, Etc. trademark even though they let the trademark expire back in 1999 and they cancelled the show. Please go sign the petition to persuade the synod to just let it be.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/trademark/

When I Give You Roses

Another new song. If you'd like to listen, click here.

When I give you roses, I only give you one
because our love discloses the one and only Son.
Light will shine whenever two or more are together
and I will give you roses until our days are done.

I'd give you a moment. I'd try to make it true.
If I trapped time I'd own it, but that's something I can't do.
Days slip from my fingers. Out of reach they linger,
but I'd give you a moment custom made for you.

I'd give you a rainbow though it won't touch the sky.
No water and red bordeaux flowing from my side.
A promise made forever is one I can't endeavor,
but I would give you rainbows until the day I die.

Winter has taken away all the roses.
Temptation has squandered all of my time.
A promise, like petals, decomposes,
'til we're left here holding all my lies.

So I'll give you a promise that doesn't come from me.
You'll find it in the psalmist and at Gethsemane.
It seems too good to be true, extremely hard to hold onto.
It's like perfect roses that you cannot yet see.

Farewell, Mr. President

Last Thursday night I watched President Bush's farewell address. I've made it a point to watch every televised speech President Bush has given because I like him. I've always liked him since he ran in the Republican primaries back in 2000, and the reason I like him is because he's real. He's not a poseur. After eight years of enduring the president before him, the ultimate poseur if you ask me, it was refreshing to have Mr. Bush occupy the White House. Even after eight years of President Bush, I still find him refreshing when I compare him to all the other politicians around him. When you watch this president you don't see someone who is trying to impress with rhetorical flourishes or give the impression that he "contains multitudes" or "feels our pain." Instead you just get the impression of a guy who is trying to do his best and leaves it at that. And his hasn't been the easiest presidency, either. From the very get-go, his opposition has given him nothing but putrid vile attacks. Even during his inaugural parade, the television media made it a point to show people holding up signs saying "Hail to the Thief" and throwing eggs at his limousine. People always talk about a "honeymoon," where the media sort of takes it easy on the the incoming president for the first few months of his administration, but President Bush never had a honeymoon. Despite all the vicious attacks put to him by the Democrats and their shills in the mainstream media, he never stooped to their level. He just kept plugging away, doing the best he could, and in the course of doing his best, he has kept me and my family safe from another terrorist attack while enduring a constant barrage of ludicrous criticisms of the tools he used to keep us safe, such as listening in on terrorists' cell phones and keeping cold-blooded killers where they belong, behind bars at Guantanamo Bay. I'm grateful to President Bush for putting the country above himself even when it meant doing things that would make him unpopular and even hated. Thank you, Mr. President. It may not seem so right now, but I have a feeling, as time goes on, you will be missed.

New Song

I was inspired to write a couple of songs over the holidays, one of which is a New Year's Day song. Since I got a new MP3 player, I was able to make a rough recording of it. You can also see the lyrics and hear it, as well as other songs, over at our music website.

Who Knows?

Who knows how this new year's going to go?
It may end up like last year, I don't know,
but fortune's winds will blow on good friend or on foe.
Who knows how this new year's going to go?

Who knows how this new day's going to end?
Where all the time goes I can't comprehend.
All the time I spend, I won't get back again.
Who knows how this new day's going to end?

Who knows if my time will come around?
My ship comes in, my train rolls in to town?
Though I'm even pound for pound, I always get knocked down.
Who knows if my time will come around?

Where are all the people I have known?
Where are all the friendships I have sown?
Mutual interests are outgrown, still the fault is all my own.
Where are all the people I have known?

Who knows why you love me like you do?
Before you, days of love for me were few.
Despite all we've been through, your love is always new.
Who knows why you love me like you do?

Who knows how this new year's going to go?
It may end up like last year, I don't know,
but fortune's winds will blow on good friend or on foe.
Who knows how this new year's going to go?

Treasury of Daily Prayer

Hope everyone had, and is continuing to have, a merry Christmas. I am up north at my wife's parents' house in Harrison, Michigan. There's a lot of snow up here, but the view of the lake sure is pretty.

I received more presents than I deserve. One of them which I'm really enjoying is the Treasury of Daily Prayer. It is convenient to now have all the daily lectionary readings plus a writing from one of the church fathers - including old Lutherans, of course - expounding on one of the readings. If it is a day commemorating a saint, it provides a small biography or explanation. For instance, today is the day the church remembers the martyr of the holy innocents - the children two years old and under whom Herod had put to death.

I only have a couple of complaints about the devotion. One is that they don't give the table of Psalms found in the Lutheran Service Book. The LSB provides one psalm to read in the morning and two in the evening, and it's my understanding that it is a common and historical schedule. The Treasury provides Psalms, but they do not seem to follow that same schedule. Instead it provides a schedule for reading the entire Psalter in a month, which may be a good idea, but I'm not sure I'd have the time. My second complaint is that they put the biography of the commemorated saint as the last reading, but sometimes the daily writing of the church theologian may partly have to do with that saint. It would be better, I think, to have the biography before the writing so that we could get the context of what the theologian is talking about. As it is, I might have to flip back and forth a page or so - a minor inconvenience, I know. Still, I'm planning to read part of this to my wife and 5-year-old as a daily routine after dinner, and it would be nice for it to go as smoothly as possible.

Happy New Year!