Friday, July 17, 2015

The family just finished a wonderful week at Westminster Spires church camp near Red Lodge, Montana. It's owned by the Yellowstone Presbytery. Mikey and Danny were there are campers. Joleanna and I attended as vacationing adults, gleefully leaving the care of our children to others! We did spend time with them during the week, in worship and other activities at camp.

It is also a week of transition. Joleanna is able to return to work this week -- working Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night shifts at Billings Clinic. She's happy to be back at work, although the patient drug system has forgotten who she is and other nurses have to help her get meds out.

Mikey and I worked the concession stand the the Rosebud County Fair for a 2 and 1/2 hour shift today. I worked the cash register. Mikey helped with pulled pork sandwiches, pretzels, nachos, hot dogs, and "walking" tacos (taco mixed in a bag of Doritos or Fritos). Danny came, too, but couldn't stop touching his face with his gloved hand. He spent the rest of the time playing games on my phone.

I caught up with Beau Blake at the Fair. I haven't seen much of him or his family since they moved to the other side of the world to work a new piece of land for their ranch. Beau was on the search committee that called me hear as Pastor and I reminded him that in February I'll start my 4th year in Hysham. I told him it was his fault; he said he would gladly accept the blame.

The boys and I are going to a Dice Masters Age of Ultron Rainbow Tournament tomorrow at Hastings in Billings. Two weeks ago I won the Justice League Rainbow Tournament there.

The cats and dog are happy we're back... have gathered around, and are waiting for me to go to bed. Hint, hint.

Who Watches the Blogger?

When Joleanna and I were married, I volunteered to put away all of the frivolous items I had attained over my lifetime. This included such silly things as Star Trek starship miniatures, superhero toys and games, my TARDIS, numerous books about role-playing games, and other so-called "collectable" items. They were a waste of time and money.

[Looks around]

Okay, Joleanna has left the room...

The truth is, she made me put away those things!

And guess what? Now that we have two little boys, I get to put them back out again!

YES!!!

The simple fact is I love having two little boys. And not just because I can play with my toys again. I mean, they can play with my toys now. Well, you know what I mean.

I love sharing life with them, and lessons from life. Simple things like don't touch the stove when it is hot. More difficult things like riding a bike. And now, we have moved into questions about God. And that is the easy stuff... wait 'til the discussion turns to girls!

I like sharing with them the TV shows I watched growing up - not the stuff on TV now. We watch the Adam West Batman, George Reeve and Christopher Reeves Superman, classic (and new) Doctor Who, Match Game, The Six Million Dollar Man (they love Big Foot), and of course, Star Trek.

I enjoy telling them stories, made up off the top of my head. Their favorite is of Thomas the Tank Engine falling down a hole (with sound effects). Superman, Mr. Spock, The Doctor, and Steve Austin all take turns in the stories trying to rescue Thomas. Sometimes Spider-Man shows up, too. Sir Topham Hat is upset with Thomas, but the hero-of-the-day explains the situation and all is well on the Island of Sodor.

I look forward to reading with them. You can guess what we read, I'm sure. Added to the mix is Scooby-Doo, Sonic the Hedgehog, Justice League, and Young Justice.

I am fascinated by what captures their interest. Mikey loves Star Wars, even though I have shown only a minor interest in it. Danny loves Doctor Who, although I really tried to turn him into a Trekkie instead.

I have fun playing with them, whether is wrestling on the floor, tickling them, fighting with light sabers or sonic screwdrivers, or outside play baseball, basketball, or football. The boys are into sports. For Mikey, it is basketball, and for Danny, football. They love to do gymnastics and acrobatic moves, often scaring their mother or grandmother in the process.

I am proud that both boys have a love for animals (particularly our menagerie of pets), an understanding of the importance of nature (no littering here), and a desire to share their knowledge with others (just ask Danny about the queen ant).

I know that because the boys both have ADHD they can be a handful sometimes. Despite that, they are generally well-behaved, well-mannered, and well on their way to becoming perfect gentlemen. Danny has a gentle, caring spirit, and Mikey naturally sympathizes with others.

I also know that I am biased in this situation, so no need to point that out to me.

That Magic Touch

I visited a couple of church members in their homes today.

It is always exciting to see how others' houses compare for cleanliness, especially since they usually do not have children at home and we do. I think it is an unfair comparison, but interesting none-the-less. Out of respect for those visited, I'll keep my assessment to myself.

More important was the content of the visit. I have tried to share with the church's Session, adult Sunday school class, and other groups my ideas about visitation. These certainly are not unique to me, and I make no claim on their creation. I learned this from others.

"Pastor, what do you hope to get out of this visit?" a deacon asked me once. This was soon after I arrived in Hysham.

"A friend," I replied.

One source for this idea is Geroge Hunter's The Celtic Way of Evangelism. It proposes an emphasis on community - communal life, really - and the creation of an organic relationship that leads towards "growing" Christians rather than "converting" them.

This idea was a part of the ministry of my former pastor, teacher, and mentor, Dr. Richard C. Boyd. Dr. Boyd always stressed the importance of relationships. Relationships are the foundation of any organization, but especially the church.

And I am reminded of another catchy phrase the seems appropriate: "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."

So I am on a relationship building campaign in a church that is starved for pastoral attention. Sounds like a good combination, except that one or two are looking for ulterior motives. Maybe it is commonplace in today's world to expect me to have "an agenda," some reason for doing whatever I am doing, besides the stated or obvious reasons. Slowly I am winning people over... not winning souls, but friends.

And now that we're friends, who knows what might happen?

Back to today. I was visiting, and my church member's printer was not working. Others had looked at it, but to no avail. The plan was a trip to Billings in the afternoon for repair or replacement. I turned the printer off, then on, and then off and on again. And suddenly, the printer worked! I did not really do anything to it. Kind of like Fonzy beating his fist on the record player and it starts up.

It is not the first time I have helped someone in Hysham with their computer problems. My original degree, way-back-when, was in Business Computer Programming, and I have tried to keep with the times in computer software and basic repair. It has been helpful over the years. And it is another way to make friends - for the sake of having a friend and no other reason.

It has been a good day, and it is nice to know I still have the touch.

Monday, Monday

My typical Monday is to spend the morning helping get the boys ready for school, and then go to Forsyth after lunch to visit at the assisted living center and the nursing home.

There's nothing that compares to the joy of sharing my music with others, especially those who may not get out much. My visit is anticipated each week by me and the residents. The songs I play are all from a hymnbook.

This led to an interesting situation one week. I was called to fill in for a pastor  that could not be there on Sunday. When I arrived I started playing out of the hymnbook like I usually would. But then something strange happened -- someone came up to me and said even though it was church time they want me to play some country music. Which I don't do. And then the same thing happened again twice more with different people. So I was encouraged to play out of the hymnbook and sing even louder, and I was really getting into it. I had a great time and I'm sorry that those two or three people who wanted to hear the country music didn't like what I was playing.  I know there were many others that did enjoy the music that day. The next day the activities director called to apologize. She said they knew it was church time and shouldn't have asked for different music.

That one incident aside, my visits are very enjoyable. I love seeing the people and they look forward to seeing me. Some of them I pray with and others I'll just sit and chat with them.

There's a hospital at the other end of the nursing home and I will visit there as well. The nurses seem to look forward to my visits as well and they enjoy the music and time that I spend with the residents.

Mondays are special. I get to share my gift of music and love for God with some of the people who need it the most.

How do you answer a 5-year-old?

“Daddy, why did God let Jesus die?” Danny asked.

I suppose I could wax theological here. I have been reviewing class lecture notes on atonement theory ever since the controversy over the exclusion of “In Christ Alone” from the new Presbyterian hymnal.

So, there are four main theories about the atonement:

1. ransom
2. satisfaction
3. penal-substitution
4. moral influence

The line in “In Christ Alone” that caused a problem is “the wrath of God was satisfied.” The hymnal editors wanted to replace that line with the words “the love of God was magnified.” So, the original line is linked to the satisfaction theory, and the proposed change is… well, what is it? Isn’t it sort of all of them? Seriously, don’t all of these theories, in one way or another, show that “the love of God was magnified”?

Some Presbyterians are upset over the song being left out; even some on the committee wanted to include the song, but with the changed lyrics.

I’ve done a good job of avoiding the original question. What do I say to a 5-year-old who asks, “Daddy, why did God let Jesus die?” I was able to deflect the question by changing the subject. But Danny is no slouch – the question will come up again.

The best I can come up with is, “It was part of God’s plan.”

How would you answer a 5-year-old?

Hysham Pool Fund

Help Hysham Build A New Pool!

Fun, fun, fun in the sun, sun, sun...

Photo by Laura Reich

What a great time we all had in the Taylor Cup softball game! The graduate students beat the undergrads by 2 runs... despite Amanda Matthews trying to skew the score in the undergrads favor.

Yours truly served as the impartial, can't-be-rattled umpire. Despite the threat of an "F" from Dr. Cogdill and Dr. Jones (they were just joking, right?), I called the game as fairly as possible.

Add to that a little sun burn and a voice blown by yelling "You're out!" several times and it was a blast!

Now I just hope my voice recovers before my recital this Saturday...

More pictures from the game can be seen here.