Walking with God: Theology, a New Truck & a New Friend

Three weeks ago this last Friday, Gail was involved in a traffic accident in which she was not injured in any fashion, but the car I normally drive was totaled.  For whatever reason she decided that morning to drive the Taurus to work instead of her Audi.  Thankfully she did, as not only is the Audi smaller and the likelihood of her being injured far greater; but to us the Taurus was just another vehicle, whereas the Audi is a special little car.  The accident was the result of a woman in a SUV running a red light, Gail wasn't even the first person through the green light but rather the third car so it was obvious the woman just wasn't paying attention.

Ever since the accident I have been watching for a used car to replace the Taurus.  I have to say that currently the used car market in Omaha is for the most part in my opinion overpriced and most of the vehicles I looked at were in far poorer condition than I've run into in the past when looking at vehicles.  Perhaps that's because this time I decided to look for either an SUV or a mini-van, and these type of vehicles tend to carry children and so the seats and carpets are filthy.  It just amazes me that folks who are wanting to sell a vehicle don't take the time to bother to clean it up a bit.  Yesterday morning I saw a listing for a Ford Expedition which seemed promising so I called on it and ran over to take a look.  It turned out that the car was listed by a local dealer rather than an individual but I was happy to see that the interior and exterior were in excellent condition.  I took it for a test drive and could find nothing wrong with the vehicle so I went back to talk to the dealer.

The dealer that had the truck was "Mid-American Auto Mart" owned by Russ Joons.  I went in to talk to Russ who is a very likable fellow and we for some reason got to talking about religion rather than about the SUV he had for sale.  I ended up spending about two and a half hours talking with Russ about everything from Free Will, Suffering, Grace, Evangelism, and how do we as Christians deal with Islamic Terrorism.  Russ is a Youth Sunday School Teacher at a local Mega-Church (a Missouri synod Lutheran Church) and we seemed to develop an instant rapport.  After talking for about an hour and a half I did say to him "well I should ask, what is your best price on the truck", he thought a second and gave me a number, but before I could respond to that he asked me another theological question.  So we talked about that for another half hour before I stopped and said "well we have budgeted this amount", he thought again for a second and said "okay for you I'll do that, I've really enjoyed visiting with you".  And we proceeded to talk for about another half hour until I said I really needed to get back to the shop and he offered to meet me at his shop the next day to complete the transaction on the SUV.

This morning Gail, Maddie and I went and picked up the SUV and Russ was just as cordial as the day before.  We both agreed not to get started on another theological discussion as obviously Gail and Maddie wouldn't want to sit there and listen to us ramble on for hours.  All in all a long story shortened, we found a good used vehicle and I couldn't recommend Russ and his services more.

But here is the the really interesting part, lately I've been feeling a little discouraged.  I have not heard anything from any of the churches I've submitted resumes to and the likelihood that I'll find a pulpit to serve anytime soon seems more and more distant.  Russ as I mentioned is a Youth Sunday School Teacher and he has been feeling discouraged lately about whether or not his efforts are making a difference.  After our lengthy conversation I left feeling reassured that God can and does use me to aid others on their faith walk (whether or not I'm in a pulpit) and Russ left feeling that through him God does make a difference in those children's lives.

Now you have to understand that a Missouri Synod and a Liberal American Baptist are really in fairly different theological worlds, and the fact that we could sit down and discuss God and his love in depth and with no holds barred for two and a half hours and both of us leave feeling refreshed, renewed and strengthened in our faith is truly a 'GOD' thing.  Praise God!  I certainly hope that I have not seen the last of Russ for both of us walked away feeling that we had made a new friend in the faith.

God works in his creation through his creation, as I like to say we are His hands and feet in this world, and we all need to be in prayer searching for his will for us in serving him.  Incidentally I had just finished praying for guidance from God in my search for a vehicle when I saw the listing for the Expedition on Craigslist.

I just finished on my Kindle the book "What the Hell, how did we get it so wrong? Eternity, grace and the message of love." by Jackson Baer.  It's an interesting book but I must confess that I find the author's various positions on theology puzzling and inconsistent.  Some of the logic he applies to hold a position similar to my own he disregards entirely in order to hold a position on another point that is entirely counter to my own position.

As I stated in a previous blog post we all are hypocrites in some area or another of our lives, but I'm always puzzled when somebody has a contradiction in their beliefs that is so blatant and obvious.  However he is fair enough to point out these beliefs but doesn't pretend to insist that others must agree with him.  Also the areas that I disagree with him on are primarily not those areas of theology of which attention is being focused in this book.  All in all it's a book worth reading but certainly not on par with books such as "If Grace Is True" or "Love Wins".

On a completely unrelated note, the other night I was at Baker's picking up a few grocery items and noticed a product that they had on sale called "JuMex" a non-carbonated canned fruit juice.  They had several different flavors and since they were only 39 cents a can I grabbed several.  So far the flavor I have enjoyed the most is 'Guava'.  I haven't had guava fruit since visiting Hawaii back in the late 80's but I enjoyed it back then and it was an unexpected treat to discover this product.

At about 170 calories a can I wouldn't suggest making this product a staple in one's diet, but as a treat or as a part of post-workout protein shake the product has potential.  I'll have to try mixing some with banana flavored protein and see how that works.

I hope this blog post finds all that take the time to read through it well and blessed by God's Holy Spirit.

Blessings,
Roy

Martin Luther King, Jr. 2014

It is difficult to believe but another year has passed.  Last year I published a paper that I wrote concerning Dr. King for my ELM classes.  Since my late Mentor Jesse was such a good friend of Dr. King's it's impossible for this day to come and for me not to spend time reflecting on Jesse and the things he taught me.  I do believe he'd be proud of the book I've started penning and I do wish he was here to help me along the way.  His prowess with Greek and Hebrew would be of immeasurable help to me.

May this day of celebration concerning the life and teachings of Dr. King find you all well and blessed.

In God's Constant Care and Ultimate Grace,
Roy

(below is the introduction to last year's blog post and a link to that post)


As I have stated before my late mentor Jesse was a close and long time friend of Dr. King.  As a part of my ELM education I did write a paper about Dr. King.  As an American Baptist Dr. King is a very important man to our denomination and most likely the most famous American Baptist Pastor of all time.

May this essay stand as a tribute to both Dr. King and my friend Jesse's memory.

God's Eternal & Undivided Blessings to you all,
Roy

My 2013 Post for MLK Day

Note to any that may be reading my blog on either Facebook or LinkedIn, please like my post on those sites to help me increase my reach.  Thank you and God's Blessings to you!  Roy

Another Quiet Sunday

Yesterday we started the day off by attending the 8:30 am service at Benson Baptist Church.  It was a good service and we sat beside Susan Gilles.  I had a brief but good conversation with Susan, it is always a pleasure to see her.  After church we came home and made ourselves 'brunch'.  I cooked up some sausage and Gail and Maddie prepared waffles and scrambled eggs.

We all did a little bit of reading after cleaning up before setting out on a shopping mission to prepare Maddie to return to UNL for Spring Semester classes.  Shopping with Madeline can be a tiring event, she loves to shop and unfortunately neither Gail nor I are particularly fond of running from store to store to find that perfect item.  We ended up going to five stores in all before Maddie was content with what we had found.

Once we got home I started doing some laundry and in between spent time reading from the Bible using an RSV translation.  For whatever reason I find that I prefer the Revised Standard Version when I read scripture.  I have finished re-reading "If Grace is True" and I started the other day a book on the Kindle entitled "Hope Beyond Hell".  This book is jammed full of Scripture references and is a fairly dense read.  In order to really do the book justice one would have to reference each and ever bit of scripture as the Author only provides short snippets of the text.  I suspect that at least some of the scripture references are being used out of context however I simply don't have the time to dig up each and every one.  Honestly it would take months to read this book doing so, as it's a fairly long book and as I said it is jammed with references.  I have some fairly strong disagreements with the author on some of his conclusions and I have some areas where I firmly agree with him.  In this book, as I see all too often when reading the author has his own particular set of 'blinders'.  Some of the determinations he references to make a point on one aspect of theology would and do completely submarine a position he raises and supports in another chapter.  This is all too common in our world, inside and outside of religion.  I see this in politics to a large degree on both sides of the aisle.  Rarely do we sit down and try and weigh one position against another, this is why as I often say "we are all hypocrites, we just pick different areas to be hypocrites".  This is one of the things I enjoy so much about my friend Dustin Bower.  Dustin is the Pastor of the DOC Church in Hastings; and Dustin spends an enormous amount of time reconciling his various beliefs about theology, and the rest of the world.  If there is anyone who is rarely a hypocrite it is Dustin.

I also spent some time reading in one of Jesse's books of prayers.  This book is called "Prayers for a New World" and was published in 1964.  It uses a lot of old prayers and the language for most is quite old, but I find that many of these prayers speak to me very well and I do enjoy reading them.

One of my resolutions this year is to finally write a book.  I've wanted to write a book ever since High School and honestly I did write a manuscript back then but never quite finished it.  Somewhere around here I believe I still have that binder.  I wrote a good deal and there are several hundred pages composed.  However, that was a sci-fi book and I no longer have a desire to write science fiction.  So the book I have started (actually I started it over a year ago) is of course a book on theology.  I pulled in up on my computer yesterday and read through and edited what I had already written.  Frankly, I was surprised how much I had composed and I was overall delighted with the composition.  While we were out shopping I picked up a small journal which I intend to keep on the table beside my chair with a list of the minimum things I want to do reading and writing wise each and everyday.  Before I turn in each night I'll go through the check list and make sure that I've accomplished each goal and check them off.  If I've fallen short I'll simply have to stay up until I've reached my minimums, which are not too stringent and honestly wouldn't take much over an hour to satisfy.

The idea is that if I set a minimum time to commit, I know myself and once I get started I'll easily go past that small increment.  But by forcing myself to get started (more so on the writing) I'll actually sit down and put words on 'paper' or spend time reading.  I've set time allotments for reading scripture, reading about scripture, and for reading prayers or devotionals.  The writing won't include my blogging but rather writing on the book.  The next step after writing the book (which I suspect will take me over a year as there is a considerable amount of research to be done in order to complete it) will be to get back to the screenplay that I started writing about twelve years ago.  I have transferred the file from computer to computer and it is saved on the hard drive of this laptop.  That however is a horse of a different color as the screenplay is about a couple during World War II.  Who knows perhaps I'll work on both the book and the play at the same time.

I have finally beaten the dental infection that was plaguing me and I was able to get in a few workouts this past week.  Hopefully I'll be able to do a complete week of training this week.  The only possible road bump would be that I'm getting a root canal on Wednesday.  Wednesday is a rest day for me so unless it is still bothering me considerably on Thursday I should be okay for working out.  One of my goals now is to improve my flexibility.  I've concentrated for so long on gaining size that my flexibility has suffered, so I've started a stretching routine which I will do daily (it's also listed in my little daily journal) and see if I can't make some improvement in that area of fitness as well.

Madeline starts her second semester at UNL today and she has now switched her major from Psychology to Nursing.  She has always been interested in medicine and for many years talked about getting into dermatology.  Now she's thinking she wants to focus on geriatric nursing which of course is a field which will see nothing but increased demand as all of us baby boomers age.  We drove her back to school last night about 7:00 pm, and as always it was sad to leave her behind.  Waking up this morning with just Gail and I there (and all the cats and dogs of course) the house seemed pretty empty.

I am still waiting to hear from any of the Churches that I've asked to have resumes submitted to.  Hopefully now that the holidays are all past I'll hear something from one or the other or both.  The most difficult part of this process is the waiting.  God will eventually find and direct me to the place where he wishes me to serve him and I place my faith and fate in His Almighty hands.  I would appreciate prayers though for His guidance and directions.

May this short update find you all very well and very blessed.  Make this year the year that you grow the closest to our Lord.

God Bless,
Roy

A New Year - A New Chapter

Yesterday was a quiet day.  I spent most of my time just trying to finally fight off this infection in my tooth.  Ultimately, I don't think any of the antibiotics have done much for it (though I am still taking the third antibiotic as directed) and it has come down to my body fighting this thing off.  It's now been over two weeks and I'm feeling very drained by it all.  I am at this moment however planning to go to the gym this evening come hell or high waters.

I did watch the Huskers play yesterday and just the one play was worth the time invested in watching the game.

Huskers Win - video with td pass

Unfortunately I did miss the last few minutes of the game as I dozed off in the recliner.  I was watching the game alone and 'Pansie' wanted to sit on my lap.  Whatever it is about her as soon as she curls up on your lap and goes to sleep she makes you fall asleep shortly as well.  Oh well, I saw most all of the game and I certainly watched that incredible pass play.  So it was all good.

The rest of the day I spent reading in a book of theological essays that Creath gave me for Christmas.  I listened to an Audio-Bible online for a while, and listened to 'Sting' while I read.  The image above is now a couple of days old but, it still applies.  We have a stack of blank pages ahead of us all, let's fill these pages with interesting and enriching words and events.

Each of us has a book or our 'Life' just as Sting says in this song, which is one of my favorite songs of his by the way.  And certainly, the Chapter on religion that we don't understand, but we and myself feel compelled to try and understand.  Even as I am fully aware that it is not possible.  But what we can and all should do is try to improve and strengthen that relationship that we each have with the Almighty.  Trying to feel and see the hand of the Creator that is all about us on a constant basis.

For what it's worth this is my favorite song by Sting.  Though the video leaves a great deal to be desired.  The song lyrics are haunting and one I have burned to several CD mixes of my favorite music.

Likely my second favorite song by Sting, but more for the melody and not the lyrics for this one.  The video on this one is somewhat racy so you've been warned if you are extremely sensitive about such things.

Yesterday I did learn that my Aunt Sylvia discovered a mass in her lung.  The Doctor is fairly certain that it is cancerous but they have not done a biopsy yet.  Sylvia is the last surviving sibling of my Father's siblings.  She has been a smoker for years along with her late husband so in many ways this is not a surprise but it is still heart breaking.  She is such a wonderful lady and if all goes well we should really try and get up to South Dakota and visit her before anything else happens.  It's been far too many years since I've seen her and it is sad how the years slip away from all of us.

Just this morning I've decided that it's time for me to reread the book 'If Grace is True' by Philip Gulley & James Mulholland.  This is one of my favorite books of all time and I'm suddenly feeling the need to read it again.  So I will, it's a fairly quick read really so it shouldn't take more than a day or two for me.

Link to 'If Grace is True' on Amazon

I'm looking forward to 2014 as a year of change for my family and myself.  Where will the dawn of 2015 find us?  Wow, that number sounds 'large'... I can remember as a child thinking I would be lucky if I lived to see the year 2000!  At any rate, there are a number of things 'brewing' for this year and only the Good Lord has any idea what is in store for the Karlen family.

I hope that each of you has a wonderful, deeply blessed and productive year here in 2014.  May God protect and guide you all.

In God's Love and Guidance,

Roy

My apologies for not posting

I am terribly sorry that I haven't blogged anything over the Christmas season.  Unfortunately on the 18th I started having some pain in my jaw and my Dentist and long time friend Paul Bacino gave me an antibiotic for what he believed was an infected tooth.  The next night my jaw was still bothering me but I was able to eat without much of a problem and I worked out at the gym, even though my jaw was very sore.  The next day my jaw was worse but I was still able to eat though with discomfort.  Friday night I started having chills and I was obviously running a fever so my wife insisted that I go to the Emergi-Care on Saturday morning.  The doctor there thought I had a sinus infection and gave me a different antibiotic, which was fine as the one Paul gave me was only a five day regime, so I only had one dose left.

Unfortunately after leaving the ER I felt even worse and went back home and laid on the couch under a couple of blankets and had terrible chills.  Later that night I got the chills so bad that I was almost going into convulsions, Gail checked my temperature and discovered I had a temperature of just over 103.  Fortunately the fever did go down after taking some Motrin and putting on shorts and a tank top.  Gail really wanted me to jump in a cold shower but as violently as I was shivering, I wasn't about to do that.  Maddie really wanted her Mother to take me to the ER but I wasn't having anything to do with that.

I was no better come Monday so I went back and saw Dr. Bacino.  This time he x-rayed my jaw and confirmed that it was definitely the tooth and he could see that there was also no infection in my sinuses.  He drilled into the tooth through the filling and put some medicine into the tooth directly and then put a temporary filling in. Paul told me to continue to take the antibiotic that the ER Doctor had prescribed but to switch to taking it four times a day from the three that she had directed.

Sadly, this antibiotic seemed to also have no effect on my infection.  And whereas I had set up to attend three Christmas Eve services and had every intention of going sick or not; about the time we needed to head out for the first service I again started having terrible chills.  So Gail pulled rank on me and said that this year we would just be staying home and that I was too ill to go out.

Christmas Day I managed to get through all the family celebrations but I was unable to eat and just had a protein shake and some milk.  The day after Christmas I called Dr. Bacino again and told him that I was on my last few pills of the antibiotic and that it had made no dent in the infection and in fact my jaw was more swollen than before.  So Paul called in a third antibiotic for me with the hope that this one might have some effect on the infection.

Finally today I think I'm seeing a little improvement.  There isn't as much pain in the jaw but I'm still having trouble eating anything.  Today though I did force myself to eat a bit more than I have been lately.  I've lost a fair amount of weight through the course of this all and worst of all I haven't been able to train at all.

I can't remember an illness that has laid me low for this long and even my Mother who never gets concerned, has been threatening to come to Omaha and make me go see another Doctor.  I've told her that it's obviously an infected tooth and that it just appears that I was unlucky enough to contract one that has multiple drug resistance.  For whatever reason she seems convinced that there is more to this than just a tooth.  I think she's been doing too much Googling and is making herself worry unnecessarily.

The most frustrating part about it all is that six months ago at my routine cleaning and check up, Dr. Bacino wanted me to have a 'preemptive' root canal in this tooth.  I asked him why would I do that to a tooth that isn't hurting me, he said that his intuition told him that tooth could be a problem down the road due to the size of the filling in that tooth.  My response was that it had been like that for nearly 30 years.  This is a tooth with a large gold filling that was done at the Creighton Dental School shortly after my first wife and I moved to Omaha.  It was done by a dental student who also put several other fillings in for me.  I laughingly told Paul that he just wanted that gold filling.  Sadly, I'm not the one laughing now.  The next time Paul uses his Jedi Dentist skills and tells me we need to do something preemptively, I'm going to be all for it!!  

I haven't been doing any reading to speak of through all this and have spent as much time as possible sleeping and trying to fight off this infection that way.  It's always been my theory that sleep is the best medicine when you are ill.  Hopefully I'll be over the hump this week as one of my Christmas gifts was the two volume collection of NT Wright's new book on 'Paul'.  These two volumes are over 1,200 pages long and it's one of the most comprehensive writings on Paul ever done.  I'm anxious to read these volumes even though I know that Wright and I disagree on at least one aspect of Paul and his writings.  This is another time when I really wish Jesse was still here as this book would be perfect for one of our studies.  Interestingly, the books that I have on the Apostle Paul are second only in shelf space to the books that I have on Christ himself.

I very much do regret that with all of this we did not get to attend Midnight Mass at Saint Cecilia's, that is one of the highlights of my entire year and missing out on this Mass leaves a major hole in my experience of Christmas.

May these ramblings find you all well and blessed.

In God's constant Grace & Love,
Roy

Third Sunday of Advent

Last Sunday (the 8th) since the weather was a bit adverse, we decided to attend St. Paul Lutheran Church here in Millard as it is very near to our home.  It was the second Sunday of Advent and according to the Lutheran tradition it was the Sunday of Preparation.  I really do enjoy taking in a Lutheran service every so often, and Gail really enjoys St. Paul's early service since it's a traditional service.

Today we went back to Benson Baptist for their 8:30 am service.  I was happy to see that John & Stella Watts and their family along with my good friend Edsel Buchanan were lighting the third candle for Advent the 'Love Candle'.  John is the son of Jesse's wife Kathy Brown and Stella is Edsel's daughter.  I'm always happy to see Edsel as he is enduring the onset of Alzheimer's disease.  Thankfully he seems to be doing very well.  He is always happy and lively, and he never hesitates in recognizing me.  I pray that he's able to remain alert and healthy for  many more years.

One of the puzzling things about the Advent tradition is why are there so many different themes attached to the four Advent Candles (purple and pink or rose).

Here are just a few examples:

Promise, Light, Love, Hope

Hope, Peace, Joy, Love

Prophecy, Bethlehem, Shepherd, Angel

Hope, Preparation, Joy, Love

Prophecy, Way, Joy, Peace

Expectation,  John the Baptist, Mary, Magi

Waiting for the Shepherd, Waiting for Forgiveness, Waiting for Joy, Waiting for the Son

But for us American Baptist (at least in the Churches I've attended) it is:

Hope, Peace, Love, Joy

The following is largely taken from this web-page: 

The Meaning and History of Advent

The Advent Wreath

The Meaning of Advent and the Origin of the Advent Wreath

The season of Advent is understood today to be a time of preparation for Christmas, the feast of the birth of Jesus. The name of this season is taken from the Latin adventus, which means “coming”, and in the early Church the word was used mainly for Christmas itself, the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, into the world. Gradually, however, adventus began to have a slightly different meaning and referred, as it does today, to the season of preparation for the feast of Christ’s coming to humanity. In the Middle Ages this meaning was extended and His coming was seen in three different ways: His birth at Bethlehem in the past; His second and future coming at the end of time; His present coming through grace into the hearts and souls of His people. And so in Advent we prepare to celebrate the past; we prepare to receive Christ into our lives in the present; and we prepare for the end of the world and the coming of Heaven.

The Advent wreath originated a few hundred years ago among the Lutherans of eastern Germany. It was probably suggested by the many light symbols which were prominent in folk customs at the end of November and beginning of December. At that time of the year, the pagans of Northern Europe celebrated the month of Yule (December) with the burning of lights and fires to dispel the gloom of the short days and long dark nights of winter. In medieval times Christians kept many of these light and fire symbols alive as popular traditions. Later, in the sixteenth century these practices were given a Christian meaning and lights came to be used as religious symbols of Advent in the home. This practice quickly spread among the Protestants of eastern Germany and was soon accepted by Protestants and Catholics in other parts of the country.

The Advent wreath is a wreath of evergreens of various kinds, some with symbolic meaning. It can either be suspended from the ceiling or placed on a table. Fastened to the wreath are four candles standing upright, at equal distances. These candles represent the four weeks of Advent. A fifth candle the 'Christ' candle is generally added during the celebration of Christmas Eve.

The traditional symbolism of the Advent wreath reminds us of Old Testament times, when humanity was “sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death” (Luke 1:79); when the prophets, illumined by God, foretold a Redeemer; and when the hearts of men yearned for a Messiah who would save the world. The wreath - an ancient symbol of victory and glory - symbolizes the “fulfillment of time” in the coming of Christ and the glory of His birth.

The Many Symbols of the Advent Wreath

The symbols of the Advent wreath should be explained to the children to make the service more meaningful and exciting for them. It makes certain teachings of our Faith visible, even touchable and is a very effective way to present these to children.

First of all, and most important, is the symbolism of light. The children will have surely noticed that in winter the days become shorter and the nights become longer. It should be pointed out to them that at Christmas this changes, and the days begin to get longer and the nights shorter. The progressive lighting of candles symbolizes the coming of the spiritual light of Christ into the world and anticipates the change in physical light which takes place at Christmas.

The wreath itself is round, a circle. This reminds us of the crowns worn by kings and of crowns made of laurel (bay) leaves presented to those who were victorious in the athletic games of the ancient world. It points out to us that Jesus Christ is our true King and that He is victorious over those things which would hurt us - evil, sin, and death.

The wreath, again, is circular and this is a symbol of the eternity of God, who, like a circle, has no beginning nor an end. The candles placed on the wreath remind us that in Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem, He who was eternal, the Son of God, entered into our world of time and change. (Theologians call this the “intersection of time and eternity”. How amazing that such a profound idea can be made visible by a few branches and candles!)

Point out to the children that the differing lengths of the candles show us the passing of time as we get nearer to Christmas.

Each candle on the wreath stands for a Sunday (and its following week) of the Advent season. Candles 1, 2, and 4 are purple. In the ancient world purple dye was very expensive and could only by afforded by kings. The purple candles tell us that the one whose birth we are preparing to celebrate is our true King. The rose candle (3rd Sunday) tells us that Advent is half over and Christmas is getting nearer and nearer. Its lighter color is a symbolic anticipation of our joy when we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

The Advent wreath is made of evergreens, which are symbolic of life itself and, since they last through the winter, point to God’s gift of life which comes to us even when the world is dark and threatening. Many kinds of evergreens can be used when we make the wreaths at Church. Others can be added later on at home. Each has its own symbolic meaning.

Pine , the most common evergreen, points to Everlasting Life.

laurel (Bay), which was used to crown those who won in the games, signifies victory.

cedar , because it is long lasting and aromatic, is symbolic of strength and healing.

Juniper , holly, and rosemary By legend these plants provided shelter and help for the Holy Family when they fled from Bethlehem to Egypt. The fragrance of rosemary, it has been said, began when the Virgin Mary laid out the Infant Jesus’ clothes to dry on this plant. The rosemary bush responded by perfuming the Christ Child’s clothing.

Holly . Its prickly leaves remind us of the Crown of Thorns. Its red berries remind us of the Blood of Jesus shed for us upon the Cross.

Ivy , since it is frequently used as a decoration, has always been a symbol of joy and festivity.

May you all have a wonderful week in peace and love.

In God's constant care,

Roy

The beginning of the Advent Season / And other ramblings

Yesterday marked the first Sunday of Advent and the start of the Christmas season. The Advent season is a time of preparation as we focus on the first coming of Christ. 

Preparing for Christmas - taken from 'A Book of Simple Prayers'

O blessed Lord Jesus, give us thankful hearts for thee, our choicest gift, our dearest friend.

Let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for thee and thine, but quiet homes of prayer and praise where thou mayst find fit company; where the needful cares of life are wisely ordered and put away, and wide sweet spaces kept for thee; where holy thoughts pass up and down, and fervent longings watch and wait thy coming.

So when thou comest again, O blessed One, mayst thou find all things ready, and thy servants waiting for no new master, but for one long loved and known.

Even so come, Lord Jesus

This week we attended the 8:30 am services at Benson Baptist.  It was the first Sunday of Advent, and as is tradition the 'Hope' Candle was lit.  We all have 'hope' for this world, hope that things will improve, hope that eventually mankind will work out it's differences and we'll all live in peace and love with one another.  

But my 'hope' is that more and more will begin to see the 'hope' of Christ.  The 'hope' that he had that we could all learn to live by his example of grace, love, compassion and sacrifice.  These are not things that we need to act out in great and grand gestures such as spending a day serving food at a local shelter, or traveling to Africa to be a missionary; not really... now do not misunderstand me all these are great and wonderful things and we desperately need to do these things.  BUT... where we truly are called as faithful followers of Jesus is to practice these virtues; grace, love, compassion and sacrifice in our day to day and everyday interactions with other people.

As Christians we all need to strive to live our daily lives as a reflection of God.  Even in our interactions with non-Christian and non-religious individuals.  We need to practice Christ's traits of grace, love, compassion and sacrifice in all of our interactions.  In our dealings with friends, colleagues, strangers, and even family.  

Perhaps the greatest irony of life is that the place where we have such difficulty in practicing grace and compassion on the smallest levels is with our own families.  We mistreat our loved ones much more than any stranger we meet.  Anger and frustration rear it's ugly head nearly daily in all too many Christian homes.  I wish I could say that these things never visit my own home but that just isn't so.  In fact I find that as my loving wife and I age there are times when we are frustrated with one another.  This is a result of my ongoing problem with not communicating my wishes and desires and this mixed with my wife's slow and steady loss of hearing can make for times of great miscommunication and misunderstanding.  

It's in these moments of frustration that our greatest opportunities to practice grace and it's companion forgiveness exist.  We need to remember that our family members are just as flawed and imperfect of human beings as we are and that we need to forgive them for their shortcomings.  Shortcomings that all to often are the result of our own failing to listen or communicate adequately.  And let's be honest all to often the reason we are so upset is that we realize deep within that it was our own doing, and there is no one individual that is harder to forgive than one's own self.  Practice grace, love, compassion and sacrifice not only to those around you but with yourself as well.

Blessed are those that forgive, for they exhibit the greatest attribute of God.  For many of us love but all too few forgive....

Other Ramblings:

Thanksgiving week was a hectic week for our family.  On the Monday before Thanksgiving Gail's mother Mary Alice, had another in a now long line of strokes.  They took her by ambulance to the hospital and she honestly only got out yesterday morning.  She is doing well and seems to be back to what has become 'normal' for her.  She is home however and her episode did not require her to spend time in a nursing home as has been the case with previous strokes.

As a result of all this our Thanksgiving was just the four of us this year.  Creath came home from Sioux Falls on Wednesday and went back on Friday.  Madeline was off from Tuesday until today.  I drove her back to Lincoln late last night.  It made for a fairly quiet Thanksgiving Day but all things considered we felt a great many things to be thankful for.

I shared with my family the following prayer as grace before the meal:

Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank thee for this place in which we dwell; for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day; for the hope with which we expect the morrow; for the health, the work, the food, and the bright skies, that make our lives delightful; for our friends in all parts of the earth, and our friendly helpers in this place. Let peace abound in our small company. Purge out of every heart the lurking grudge. Give us grace and strength to forbear and to persevere. Offenders, give us the grace to accept and to forgive offenders. Forgetful ourselves, help us to bear cheerfully the forgetfulness of others. Give us courage and gaiety and the quiet mind. Spare to us our friends, soften to us our enemies. Bless us, if it may be, in all our innocent endeavors. If it may not, give us the strength to encounter that which is to come, that we be brave in peril, constant in tribulation, temperate in wrath, and in all changes of fortune, and down to the gates of death, loyal and loving one to another. As the clay to the potter, as the windmill to the wind, as children to their sire, we beseech of thee this help and mercy for Christ's sake.

Robert Louis Stevenson.

It is a wonderful little prayer and one that for some reason speaks to my soul.

Additional Ramblings:

One of the ironies of the title of this blog is that it really is not appropriate for me to discuss in any detail the process of actually searching for a pulpit.  So much of the 'Path' remains hidden to those that read this blog.  It will only be once the path has reached it's destination that I will in retrospect be able to share any details.

But having said that I do have resumes out and I have been trying to prayerfully locate just where God is calling me to go.  My focus has been on locating a congregation to serve that would allow us to remain in the Omaha area so that we could continue to run the Gallery here in Omaha.  However, I was asked if I would consider a position that would literally take me a third of a world away from Omaha, in a culture and climate that would be virtually foreign to us.  Travel there would be limited and expensive so coming back to the Midwest to visit family would be an extremely rare occurrence.  The great difficulty in physically relocating along with the liquidation of all our business and personal assets would demand in my mind that I intend to make a commitment to this ministry of a decade or more.  Which of course causes a problem with future grandchildren.  Those that know me well know that I am nuts about children, and I am at that stage in life where I am waiting for my children to fall in love, get married and bless this world with little people.  Though neither of our children are married at this time, it is likely just a matter of time before they meet the right person and fall in love.  The thought of being so very, very far away when my grandchildren might be born is one the sits like lead in my very heart.  I am not at all sure I could do that...

There is as well my concern that Gail's health would not deal well with the rather severe climate which would greet us on our arrival.  I have resolved however to be prayerful over this potential opportunity and have asked to be kept informed as to the progress.  A friend of ours may likely travel there to be the interim minister and they have stated that they would fill me in on more details at that time.

I would be very thankful for any and all prayers for guidance and direction pertaining to this matter.

May this beautiful day find you all well, safe and loved.

In the Light of God's Love and Grace,
Roy