Limericks

As I was looking through various folders and notebooks yesterday, I found a newspaper clipping that I had tucked inside the pocket of the spiral notebook I take along on trips. It aptly explains the initial problem I had with the limerick as a form of poetry.

The limerick is fertive and mean;
You must keep her in close quarantine
Or she sneaks to the slum
And promptly becomes
Disorderly, drunk, and obscene.

However, I did use a limerick when I was in Nicaragua to engage one of my teachers who was estranged from his parents.

St. Augustine thought he had found
The sin by which mankind is bound
"It was not," so said he,
"The fruit on the tree,
But the lust of the pair on the ground."

Two Girls Reading

I framed a print of Two Girls Reading by Renoir and hung it in the dining room. I had bought two of these prints with the idea of giving one to each of my daughters - but the time never seemed right. I happened to buy the prints at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art 15 to 20 years ago, on a Sunday afternoon, after a docent talk where we stopped by this painting and the docent read "Ballade Of Lost Objects" by Phyllis McGinley (below are the last three verses). It made me think of my girls growing up so fast. And now I think of my four granddaughters.
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This is the house I used to share with
Girls in pinafores, shier than does.
I can recall how they climbed my stair with
Gales of giggles, on their tiptoes.
Last seen wearing both braids and bows
(But looking rather Raggedy Annish),
When they departed nobody knows --
Where in the world did the children vanish?

Two tall strangers, now, I must bear with,
Decked in my personal furbelows,
Raiding the larder, rending the air with,
Gossip and terrible radios.
Neither my friends nor quite my foes,
Alien, beautiful, stern, and clannish,
Here they dwell, while wonder grows:
Where in the world did the children vanish?

Prince, I warn you, under the rose,
Time is the thief you cannot banish.
These are my daughters, I suppose.
But where in the world did the children vanish?

Difficult task provides opportunity

As an elder at ACRC, I try to keep in touch with my Shephering group members. What's difficult for me is calling members that I haven't seen at church for some time, and so I try to put it off. However, today I decided to call all those who I don't see.
One of my people explained to me that he just doesn't think this is the right time for him to be affiliated with any specific church. But he was seemed receptive to talking so I invited to take him out for lunch. He said he'd like that.
I was fully expecting to be turned down but next Monday I will meet him for lunch. May God bless our time together.

Justice, Mercy & Grace

I was listening to a sermon by John Ortberg (Menlo Park Presbyterian) and he gave these memorable definitions (I provided the examples):
JUSTICE - You get what got comin.
(You get a ticket for speeding when you were doing 62 mph in a 45 mph zone.)
MERCY - You don't get what you got comin.
(The officer just gives you a warning for doing 62 mph in a 45 mph zone.)
GRACE - You get what you don't got comin.
(The officer's motorcycle won't start as he is about to chase you to give you a ticket)

Change?

How many Reformed church people does it take to change a light bulb?

Change?
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Our church council met from 7 pm til 10:30 pm tonight - one of the longest meetings we've held so far. However, the meeting was productive. We each spoke our thoughts on what should be provided at Anaheim CRC during Sunday evenings - standard worship service or consider changes. The consensus was that there should be church activities planned and changes would be welcome. Members of the council were receptive to pastor Joel's comments about in-depth small group study time as people meet together on Sunday evening.

Banana tree troubles

I worked on fixing the backyard sprinkler system this morning. The banana tree broke one of the heads so I had to dig a channel next to the playstructure to run a bypass line. Unfortunately, in the process I cut through the wires that activate the two valves by the pass-through kitchen window.
Water lines fixed, sprinkler control sytem broken - one step forward, one step back.

Prayer with your hand up? YES

Pastor Joel did not preach this morning but did lead the children's message. He taught the children a way to organize their prayer. He was taught this by his grandmother.
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Look at your hand, either one
(this doesn't apply to my brother Ed)
Start with the thumb (its closest to you)
- pray for your family members (those closest to you)
Index finger (its pointing up)
- pray for those that teach you (about God, about how to behave, about the world)
Middle finger (the tallest finger)
- pray for those in authority, in government
Ring finger (its the weakest)
- pray for those who are ill and have special needs
Pinkee (its the smallest)
- pray for yourself

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I wish I had learned this earlier and I think I'll quiz Troy, Quinn, William and Lilly about this the next time I see them.

Prayer retreat

This is a three day event, organized by Steve Nyenhuis - Friday evening talk at church by Magid (Egyptian pastor), Saturday quiet time at place of your choice, and Sunday evening worship service with prayer focus.

I went to Huntington Beach this morning at 7:30 am and spent an hour and a half in prayer sitting in Eva's soccer chair wrapped in a blanket 20 feet from the water under an overcast sky. With the waves crashing, the fog rolling along the horizon, and the pelicans skimming over the surface, it seemed like this scene has not changed in over a hundred or thousand years. It made me wonder why I so often am in a hurry.

The Pelican

by Ogden Nash

A wonderful bird is the pelican,

His bill can hold more than his beli-can.

Psalm 8: 1
"O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth."

Which is your spiritual gift? What is your story?

I attended a talk by Sue Mallory this morning at the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Torrance. She has been active in promoting the consideration of people's gifts as they are enrolled in ministry in the local church. Her talk today stressed the need to "listen" to the stories that people have and that a gift assessment is only part involving people in ministry.

Maybe now that Joel is onboard as pastor, we can make some headway at Anaheim CRC about having an intentional system that identifies peoples gifts and identifies ministry opportunities for them to pursue.

PC Repair 101

Eva's desktop computer quit working while I was in El Paso last November. Last week I finally took it apart and determined that the power supply was inoperative. I ordered a supply via the web ; it arrived yesterday; I installed it this morning; the computer still didn't work.

I googled "PC repair Anaheim" and found a site which said "No Geeks". I called the number and talked with the site owner, Tom Madracki (former IT repair guy for the city of Yorba Linda, now retired). I brought the PC to him, in Yorba Linda, and by the end of the day he called me back and said that the original power supply had malfunctioned causing the motherboard to become toast. However, he happened to have another motherboard that would fit our chassis and was willing to install it and then try to get the system up and running. I suggested that if he could get the computer operational again for under $150 to proceed. We'll see what happens.

Ora et Labora - St. Benedict

The meeting of Classis Greater Los Angeles had two parts today. The first part consisted of our annual prayer meeting where we spent an hour in prayer in groups of 4 -- 6 persons for the work of classis and related ministries. It was particulaly moving for me as we prayed for the chaplains that are affiliated with our classis, both military chaplains and those serving in hospitals and other venues. I had the opportunity to praise God for bringing Tim home safely from Iraq.

The last part of the meeting was the examination of our new pastor, Joel Van Soelen. He did exceptionally well. He answered confidently, succinctly and gave specific scripture references for the positions that he took. He also showed his sense of humor. When given the suggestion by one of the Synodical deputies that he should never be afraid to say, "I don't know", Joel answered the following question from that deputy by saying, "I don't know."

Tuesday, January 20, was an important day for our nation and for our church. May we all work for true health and healing in whatever arena God gives us.

To Point or Not to Point (PowerPoint that is)

Yesterday I scrambled to make sure Anaheim CRC was ready to host the Classis GLA meeting at which Joel Van Soelen would be examined. If slide projection was required for any part of the meeting, I needed to make sure we had a technician who would run the video system.

Mike Van Dyk, our video guru, told me that he would not be able to be there but he would be happy to train me on the system. At 7 pm Monday, Mike and I spent 45 minutes going over what it takes to power up and shut down the system. As usual, Mike had everything well documented and after our time together I was prepared to handle any requests that classis might throw my way.

Tuesday morning I got the system ready by the time the classis officers arrived and was then informed that there would be no need for any projection. Was Monday's prep a waste of time?
No, because 1. now I'm ready to run the system for any event that we may have at church and 2. I have a new appreciation for the work that Mike Van Dyk and Bruce Ornee have done to get us a quality audio/visual system.

Inaugeration Celebration

"As I prepare to assume the presidency, yours are the voices I will take with me every day I walk into that Oval Office." said president-elect Obama.

What a great day! And he even speaks a message of hope, in complete sentences.

Juno - the movie

Eva and I finished this week like many others - pizza and beer while watching TV during dinner on Saturday night. We watched the movie, Juno, recorded earlier in the day. My favorite line was toward the end when Juno's dad is giving her advise on what it takes for a marriage to last - "Find someone who loves you for who you are. Then even if you screwup, they'll still think the sun shines our of your xxx."

Crude language but there's something to it.

R.I. P. (w/o cell phones)

I went to the memorial service for Joan Prins at the Artesia Christian Home this morning. As Pastor Doug Van Gessel was midway through his message, my cellphone rang. I've had it for about a month and haven't figured out how to silence it. I had planned to leave it in the car but I didn't. I quickly got up and left the little room and as I left I could hear Pastor Doug apologizing to the family for not telling people to turn off their phones as the service started. I didn't answer the call but rather tried to power off but I hadn't mastered that either. I did not project an image of one who had things under control (I guess they saw the real me). This afternoon, I read the manual on my phone so that I now know how to set the phone to silent and vibrate and how to power it off.

The Shack

MaryJo, Eva, Royal and I picked up Norberto Wolf for the bi-monthly book club at Bethany CRC. The Shack by Wm P. Young was a big hit. My sense was that the book's focus on love and relationships over rules and regulations has made it so popular. Maybe it is a needed reaction to what many perceive about the established, organized church.

Tough Times for Roscoe

At the Men's Group tonight, it differed from other meetings in a number of ways:
1. Pastor Joel spent the first half hour with us so that he could meet the participants.
2. Dave Treydte led the lesson on the New Testement letter of James after Ed Knaus couldn't make it. James starts his letter by discussing trials that Christians face.
3. Pete Pacheco was ill but wanted to join in on the discussion so we put him on a cellphone speaker-phone and he spent the whole time with us via our improvised audio hook-up.
4. Roscoe, who has been struggling to stay clean, told us that his older sister is dying. She has had a number of strokes, is suffering from dementia and is being cared for in Palm Springs. He will go to see her tomorrow. Even though these are tough times, Roscoe appreciates that he can come to the Men's Group and get encouragement and prayers.

A Free Cup of Tazo Tea

I've had a coupon for a free Starbuck's Tazo latte for a couple of weeks (a promotion that they are doing). Eva laughed that I was using that as an excuse to leave the house but it didn't surprise her.

My thought was that is was late in the afternoon and I needed a change of activities, it wasn't going to cost me anything, and I might discover a new favorite drink.

I was successful. I went to the Starbuck's across from Pat and Oscar's at the Buena Park mall and learned a couple of things.
1. Starbucks employees are pleasant even when you are just using freebie coupons
2. I don't like Tazo lattes
3. You never know who you'll meet at Starbucks. I recognized Dan Stadler from Project Management Institute and we had some time to get caught up on working and retirement.

Forrest Gump: My momma always said, "Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

The Bleeding has Stopped

Yesterday, while preparing the dinner for our Bible Study group, Eva sliced a part off of her thumb. She came to my office so I could help her stop the bleeding. I applied a tourniquet with bailing twine and then we went back into the house to the scene of the crime. As I looked at the vegetable slicer, I thought I saw a sliced garlic clove, but it in fact was part of Eva. We tenderly picked up the piece of thumb and put it back onto the wound and then called MaryJo for further directions.

MaryJo said, "Don't use a tourniquet, just apply direct pressure, apply some antibiotic ointment, a dressing and then wait to see what happens. If it keeps bleeding, starts to throb, or gets infected go to ER." Eva felt fine after the initial shock of just looking at it, so we continued with dinner preparations - Eva gave directions and I followed them the best I could.

The dinner guests all loved the vegetarian lasagna!

Before Eva went to bed Monday night, I changed the dressing again and it looks like the "sliced garlic clove" is adapting nicely.

Sunday events

What a great day!

Tim Becksvoort led the morning worship service and gave a terrific sermon, "On This Rock I will build my Church". His slides allowed the congregation to see the general setting where Jesus said these words.

The evening Pastor Joel Van Soelen preached his classical examination sermon, "Who is Jesus Christ?" and did an outstanding job. BTW, the short answer is "our creator and redeemer" (Colossians 1:15 - 23).

Bible study was held at our home and Guenter and Carol Urham joined us for the first time. Eva fixed a great meal and our discussion time had good participation. I was even able to use some of the hermeneutic points learned yesterday in tonight's discussion.

How to Read the Bible

Saturday morning I attended a lecture on reading and understanding the Bible. It was presented by Dr. Jeffrey Wiema of Calvin Theological Seminary and sponsored by Classis GLA - excellent material presented by a gifted teacher and presenter.

Some people might say, "God said it, I believe it, and that settles it for me." This approach to understanding scripture can lead to many mistakes and devalues the intellectual gifts that we are given. Weima presented us with 5 major elements of a Reformed hermeneutic of scripture: 1. the Holy Spirit's involvement, 2. the Grammatical element, 3. the Literary element, 4. the Historical element, and 5. the Theological element.

I'm sure many opportunities for using these rules (i.e. hermeneutics) in understanding scripture will continue to surface. And now I'm ready to remind people that we all use some set of rules for interpretation but many times the rules aren't consistent or well thought out.

Carlos and Rori

We met Carlos and Rori at the Fish Company for dinner tonight. Rori is still working part-time in "home health care" and Carlos is Business manager for St. Iraneas Catholic Church in Cypress. Carlos suggested that I should pursue being business manager for Anaheim CRC, but there is a world of difference between the running of a Catholic church and a typical CRC church. I suggested that it would be worth exploring what Pastor Joel thinks is needed at ACRC after he has had a chance to talk to many of the people in the congregation.

Stage gives way to Storage

Our garage will never be the same. The stage that was once used for entertainment for the neighborhood kids has been razed and the space is now a resting place for our old black refrigerator.

Eva and I were initially concerned when our new stainless steel cabinet-depth refrigerator was pressed into service for the kitchen makeover - where did all the space go? With the old unit neatly tucked into the garage spot, we will have plenty food space when the grandkids come over - even as their appetites increase with age.

I Love La Quinta Hotels

I looked at my latest AmericanExpress statement and noticed a charge I hadn't planned on.

When I went to El Paso in November I stopped at the La Quinta hotel and made reservations for the Christmas holidays since the plan was that Eva and I as well as Byran and Stephanie and kids would be visiting for a few days during Tim's short time home. However the Army changed Tim's plans for a leave and so we convinced Kristen to come to Anaheim for the holidays but no one contacted La Quinta and cancelled our reservation.

I called the hotel and explained what happened. The desk clerk sypathetically told me, "I'm sorry sir, but it's our policy to charge for a reservation if we aren't notified in advance that it is cancelled." I acknowledged my error and told her I would like to speak to her manager. She put me on hold for a couple of minutes and then came back and told me that the manager would credit my account for the charge but to please be aware that the next time this happens I would get charged.

Moral of the story: It never hurts to explain the situation and ask for a break.

Hank and Joan

Hank Lambooy called yesterday and asked if I had the policy manual for Anaheim CRC in electronic format and if so could I make him a copy. He'd like to use it for developing policies for the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Redlands that they attend.

Hank and Joan stopped by for tea this afternoon. They live in Beaumont but were in this area to visit their daughter Pam. We got caught up on the lives of each others children and church activities. Angie and her three year old son visit them every Wednesday. Angie has her own business as a marketing consultant and with her laptop and cell phone can work from anywhere.

There is comfort in seeing friends from 10 years ago and realize that eventhough their environment has changed their personalities haven't.

Fifty years old and at the end of his rope

As I was leaving Anaheim CRC having concluded a meeting with our new pastor, Joel Van Soelen, Manuch Zia approached me. He's in his fifties, is a former Muslim (converted to Christianity three years ago) who has been ostricized by his family and community. He is out of work and close to being homeless. He told me that he needs help! He'd go back to Iran but he knows that he'd be imprisoned and executed because he is Christian.

I prayed with him, took him to Walgreens and paid for his hypertension medication and gave him $20 for food and gasoline. I also suggested he go to Orangethorpe Christian Church for a free meal this afternoon and invited him to come to worship on Sunday and after worship he could meet with our deacons.

Our Days are Numbered

Matt Ford preached at Anaheim CRC tonight. As we start a new year it's good to review our situation.

• Our days are numbered.
• There will be a judgement.
• What did you do with your life?
• Did you live the righteous life? do the right thing out of love with the right priorities

"Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts." Isaiah 26: 7

Goodbye

We said goodbye to Bryan, Steph, Troy and Quinn. Each person has their own way of taking leave - Bryan smiled and was calm and matter of fact, Stephanie was red-eyed and teary, Troy was solemn and initiated a warm kiss, and Quinn was very quiet and gave big hugs.

After they left, I finished taking down the outside Christmas decorations, and placing everything, including the tree, in bags or boxes and stored them in the attic. It feels good to get the house and garage back to normal. Now, where should the old refrigerator go?

Eva and I spent the evening watching a great Christmas movie, "The Bishop's Wife", starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven. I would like to have Dudley visit me sometime.

Jan 2

A day of cleanup - Eva took down the Christmas decorations, I cleanup files in my office, and Bryan and I trimmed the banana plantation. Later Bryan and I caught the movie,Valkeryie - a plot to assassinate Hitler. We finished the day with a light dinner at Mimi's with Bryan, Steph and kids. They went to Artesia from there while Eva and I returned home and watched a TV movie about culture shock for an Indian family living in New York.

Thursday - New Year's Day

The family events are drawing to a close. Kristen and the kids left this afternoon for El Paso and Bryan and Stephanie and kids will be leaving Saturday for Switzerland. Today was an action-packed day: Bryan took all the grandkids except Lilly to the Rose parade and then we watched the Rose Bowl game in the PM. By days end it was obvious that soon Eva and I would be back to our quiet environment and looking forward to the next time when we can all be together.

In looking back on the past week and a half, I think that planning events helped all family members get the most out of our time together. We shopped, saw movies together, went to Bolsa Chica State beach for a walk, to Huntington Beach for bike rides along the coast and some running, had dinner with Royal, Roger and Marjean, Danah and Eric and fam, Jim and Teri, Ryan and Lindsey, and MaryJo and we sang with the karioke machine.

2009 is off to a good start.