Vocation in the Valley

Just got back from my brother’s wedding. Congratulations again Jenn and Kev. I was the best man, so I thought I’d post my toast:

I want to dispel some rumors. First, I did not drop Kevin on his head when he was a baby. HE, rolled off the changing table. And yes, I was involved in him getting the scar on the brige of his nose, but how was I to know that he would go “over” me when we were playing goal-line stand. Kev, my daughters thank you for letting me experiment on you. Jenn, my family would like to thank you for taking damaged goods.

Weddings remind me of one of my favorite Bible passages, no not the 1st Corinthians cliche. I’m talking about Ephesians 5:22. For all you non-Biblical scholars it goes “Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.” Good stuff, right? I mean every married man knows this works like a charm, right? Verses 23 - 24 continue “For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Paul would have made some marriage conselor.

But in all sincerity you have to continue to verse 25 which says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her…” See as husbands we are to sacrifice everything, even our lives, for our wives and if we are loving our wives to that extent then our wives should be submitting to us knowing we only act out of love for them. Of course we husbands never sacrifice everything even if we should and wives don’t always submit even when they should, but we have Christ who sacrificed everything on the Cross for us as a picture of what marriage should be.

Escape from Cubicle Nation is a blog I read because it focuses on helping employees become entrepreneurs (my goal). It often becomes “new age” self-helpish. I guess that’s to be expected because when you start to from the perspective that you’re going to do it all yourself, positive thinking and things like “The Secret” are natural progressions.

Today I read a post entitled, Sick of feeling stuck? Focus on the greater good. It was fascinating to read that Dr. Srikumar Rao believes that “Your me-centered universe creates the stress in your life.” His antidote is for you to focus on the “greater good” in areas of struggle. For example if you struggle with loneliness, go out and find someone’s life to be a part of like a drug addicted baby or senior or at-risk youth. You can do it. You can get over the struggles in your life.

This is so close to the Doctrine of Vocation and yet so far. What happens if you keep struggling in the same area or if you don’t do what is prescribed? You either try to do even “greater good” or you beat yourself for not doing enough. Either way, you’re thrown back into the same despair you had before. What we learn from the Doctrine of Vocation is that first and foremost we are sinners that have been given salvation through the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Then, we are free to focus on the “great good” which may be as simple as changing a diaper or holding open a door. We don’t have to go looking for “greater good”, God presents it to us everyday, just by those we are surrounded by. Making dinner for the family, reading to the kids, kissing your wife good night, these are the “greater good.” Sure we’re still going to have our stresses and are struggles, but working for the greater good isn’t going to save us from them.

I often wonder if my kinder graduate listens to me. I may say, “Dinner is ready, put your toys away and wash your hands.” When she doesn’t move I ask her what I just said and she’ll reply “I don’t know” or “Dinner is ready” at best. So I had a most joyful experience when I was putting her to bed last night.

She asked me if I love her even when she makes a mistake and I said, “Of course, and God does too.” Then I asked her how she knows that God loves her. She said, without prompting, “Because He died on the cross to forgive my sins… He sent Jesus to die on the cross to forgive my sins.” So she’s knows the Gospel and she has some understanding of the Trinity. So I’m really happy to know she listens to what is truly important, but sometimes I wish she’d listen to the mundane as well.

After watching part of the news with my wife last night, I’ve decided it brings out too much of the “Old Adam” in me and I will avoid watching the news if at all possible. What sets me off is emotionalism and lack of intellectual depth in both the coverage and the people being covered.

The lead story was about a man who was near death after police shot him in the course of pursuing him after he was part of a drug deal. The coverage showed an angry relative and witnesses decrying the police for firing too many shots at an unarmed man. Thomas Sowell covers these exact same arguments in an article entitled “Bullet Counters”. What Sowell argues is that the man was not “unarmed” he was, as the report glossed over, armed with a car that he was using to try to injure or kill the police officers. Sowell then talks about the notion of firing “too many shots.” The number of shots fired was studied in these types of incidents and it found that just over half the shots missed ever at 6 feet. When lives are at stake, the police don’t have the luxury to shoot single shots and then look around to see if it hit. I’m not for police brutality but I give the benefit of the doubt to the police. This story gives the benefit of the doubt to the emotional relative and sensationalism of police shooting an “unarmed” man.

Another story was on the budget cuts in the city of Alameda that might cause it to reduce the use of some of it’s fire vehicles. The reduction in emergency services is a real issue, but it has to reasonably addressed, I mean wouldn’t it be safest for everyone if there were police and fire stations on every block? But that’s not economically feasible so you decide on an appropriate level of service and set the funding level based on that, but that doesn’t work in the political world because you have unions and politicians with multiple agendas. What broke me on this story was the proposed solution of raising sales taxes to cover the shortfall. It never ceases to amaze me how little politicians understand economics. Thinking that raising local sales taxes will save them is nonsense. Just imagine they raise the sales tax in Alameda by 1- 2% wouldn’t residents just stop off in Oakland on the way home from work to do their shopping thus lowering the city’s revenue.

Those are some of my beefs with the news. I know the news casts aren’t changing anytime soon, so I’ll just avoid them.

Shot my personal best, 85, yesterday. The lessons are really paying off. My irons had good distance even when I didn’t hit them pure. My full wedges were a little off, but I was really happy with my chipping. The driver was all over the place. Cost me four strokes on one hole, but I was more unhappy with the inconsistent ball flight; low liners, popups, pulls, etc.

Overall, this things were better than I ever could have expected. I’m going through some major swing changes and to shoot this low, really felt great.

Since the cancellation of Issues, Etc. the show archives have been up and down with the latest news being that the files are being re-compressed and will be made available after the process is finished. There is a site that is rebuilding the entire archive, http://www.issuesetcarchive.org. Quite a large undertaking and they are currently only linking to the KFUO archives which aren’t available.

My response was to start a blog and podcast called Wittenberg Media. I am taking past shows and not simply reposting them, but repackaging them so that topics and subjects are available in a single episode. If a guest on the original show was held over during the top of the hour break, you would have to grab 2 files. I will combine these into a single episode and remove any extraneous commercials as well.

I’m starting this project by releasing a series on the historic liturgy. The first 3 parts are up. Go check them out - Wittenberg Media (http://wittenbergmedia.org).

I’ve been saddened and contemplative since the recent action of the LCMS to cancel my favorite radio program “Issues, Etc.” That act in combination with some other events and conversations I’ve had at church have me deeply concerned about the direction of the LCMS and to a lesser extent, my local congregation (Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church ). In this frame of mind and after listening to an old episode of “Issues” I thought of a poem. I am obviously no poet, but it’s just something that came from inside me and I decided I’d have the balls to post it. So here it is:

Is God’s Word Enough?

Small is the service that is divine
Empty is the pew that is next to mine
Sinners hear of a Cross hewn rough
Wondering, “Is God’s Word enough?”

Drums and bands, they’ll bring the crowd
On their feet they’ll all sing loud
The dancers spin, soloist hot stuff
Does anyone notice; Is God’s Word enough?

The preacher has 5 tips for life
She certainly knows how to deal with strife
And when she asks if I want my stuff
Will I still ask, “Is God’s Word enough?”

Back to the service that is small yet true
Hearing of the sin that I still do
The answer was always on the Cross hewn rough
Who could still ask, “Is God’s Word enough?”

Today was “Dads and Donuts” day at the Medium Girl’s school and it was the kind of day dad’s dream about (okay, so I don’t actually dream about these kinds of days, but it was really great). I met the my 3 girls in the parking lot and the Medium Girl (MG) was genuinely excited to see me (bouncing around excited). Then the baby wanted me, not mommy, to hold her. So I get a big dose of dad love in the parking lot.

Then when the event actually started, I got to have a couple of donuts (plus MG’s leftover, shhh), which I’ve given up to control the sugar levels and got to read a bunch of books with MG. She also made me a paper tie to wear and a great book in which she wrote and illustrated what I like to do and what I like to do with her.

Truly a gift from God!

I’ve dreamed for a long time about running my own software business. I’ve kicked around lots of product ideas, and I’ve even implemented some of them. But I’ve never hit on anything that would generate an income that would support my family.

The success literature I’ve read says that turning your dream into a goal (make a plan to accomplish your dream) is the way to make your dreams happen. So, I’ve made plans. I’ve mapped out 5, 3, and 1 year goals. So then, why haven’t I reached my dreams/goals? Well, besides being a sinner who procrastinates, I’d say that my children are the biggest barrier to reaching my dreams and goals.

Wow! That sounded awful and it is. That is what comes from the heart of what Martin Luther calls the old Adam; a wicked sinner, which I am. Now, if you know me, you know that I would lay down my life for my daughters (as Christ did for us on the Cross), but I know my own heart which isn’t always so noble. I don’t know if God wants me to own a software business, but I do know that God has given me two beautiful daughters to love and to serve.

So what do I do? Serve in the vocation that God has given me by changing diapers, going to “Dads and Doughnuts” day, teaching the Small Catechism, etc. And prepare for the vocation of software business owner when I have time to work on a plan.

I found a page that list some of the more common “Japanese” words that are used with babies. I write “Japanese” because I’m guessing that at least some of these words aren’t proper Japanese.

• nenne - sleep (from nemuru, to sleep)
• dakko - carry
• mamma - food (I always supposed from ummai, delicious)!
• Tatta - stand up (from tatsu, to stand).
• Iiko - good child.
• Chodai - give to me (from kureru, to receive and kudasai, the imperative).
• Jiji - dirty
• Pon-pon - tummy
• Pai-pai - throw away
• Nai-nai - put away
• Bocha for bath (BTY - We said Bocha-bocha)
• Dame - not good (or ikemasen - will not do) for no
• Abunai - dangerous
• Niko-niko - smile
• Itai - ouch
• Tai-tai - an injury (equivalent to an owey).

Then there were the body parts for all the pointing games –

• Me – eye
• Mayuge – eyebrow
• Matsuge - eyelash
• Hana – nose
• Kuchi – mouth
• Kami - hair
• Atama – head
• Kata – shoulder
• Senaka - back
• Te – hand
• Ude - arm
• Yubi - fingers
• Ashi – leg
• Koshi – lower back
• Oshiri - buttocks
• Hiza – lap