Observation

As we argue and discuss the current economic crisis I ask you to examine the chart at left. You will notice that tax freedom day fell later in the year under Bill Clinton. Our income and spending was much closer to being in check. I know we do not like to pay taxes but if our government (at all levels) is going to continue to feed our addiction to more and more services something must give. A real scary statistic that more people need to check out is that in 2006 forty-one percent of Americans paid NO income tax. Is it time for us to consider a flat tax that everyone earning over $25,000 must pay? Even those under $25,000 might pay a flat 2% so they are at least contributing.

To Change the Mind of God

Confessions, no, I will never be another Augustine. But I would like to change the mind of God. Our church found out this week that our directing pastor will be moving this July to Ohio. Ten years at our church and nearly six years as the pastor of Vicki and I. Six years of teaching that exceeded the previous twenty combined. I have learned the value of relationships. I have learned the church must acknowledge that dependencies exist and must be addressed. We are a broken people needing a healing savior.

On a separate note it has been interesting to listen to the regular bombardment of the media regarding Darwin's birth. This morning I even heard an "expert" wondering why Americans can't get over the fact that Europeans have accepted since the scientific revolution, there isn't a God at the top of everything. That statement answers why many of us still doubt American scientists, they don't know history. Most scientific revolution scientists did their research to prove the existence of God. It has only been since Darwin that science and religion have totally parted ways and history demonstrates that has been a good decision???? Both sides need to accept the other in a pursuit of truth, no matter where the truth takes them. God has given minds to think and recognize that humans need something outside themselves in order to control their behavior. Science wants to remove that "control" believing we will make the right decisions without belief in God. I do not doubt that change is taking place. I doubt that something came from nothing. I doubt that something came from nothing for no reason. I doubt that science has all the answers. I doubt that me, a single believer in Christ, has all the answers. I constantly seek Truth, wherever it might lead. Is that too much for science? Knowledge without controls leads to chaos.....single mother without the means to support children having fourteen to support. Science has proven they need to be accountable, no accountability can lead us to disaster. If there is not a God to whom we attempt to be accountable then to whom will we look for accountability? I guess scientists want to look to other non-accountable people from whom they will gain accountability.

House Progress?

January 2009 has been cold and snowy. I had days off from school so the video tracks the progress in our painting of the living and dining areas of our 1933 Sears house. The floor refinishing was started on Saturday morning and will be totally finished on Tuesday, sand, fill, sand, stain, seal, seal, seal. The large rectangle you will see in the floor is where the "central" heat advertised in the original catalog provided coal heated air to the entire house. It drifted up through registers to heat the second floor. Conversion to a gas furnace had the floor patched, we elected not to try and do anything fancy but simply kept the patch.

Facing the Future With Confidence

I have had several days off from school due to the cold weather in the middle of the U.S. It does appear that we will finally get back to school tomorrow! This has been a good time to paint the living room and dining room in our 1930s era Sears home. We are attempting to return to more of the look of the 30s, colors etc. The living room and dining room are now Sage and the stairs up are Oyster Bay (green and tan for those color challenged like me).
Our pastor had another great sermon on Sunday and it started with a question he was asked when interviewing as a candidate for Bishop in the UMC; if you had five minutes with the president of the U.S. what would you say? Dr. Bias made some really good points that can be boiled down to some thoughts that brought joy to a history teacher's heart. The Renaissance brought us the Age of Reason and the Scientific Revolution which brought us the ideas that we can solve all our own problems. The Age of Faith was replaced by the Age of Me. We now have enough history to examine that a conclusion about the success of that change is clear. . . it hasn't worked. Our problems have continued to grow totally unabated. The time to recognize our need for a relationship with our Lord is more important than ever. Our prayers must align us with God, get us working WITH God and not trying to change God. Prayer is a submitting process, submission to God's way, it is working with God, a pursuit of holiness that can only come by recognizing we don't have all the answers. This life is bigger than us. There are problems that can only be solved by God, even problems in our own life. God is not going to act unless we are willing to cooperate. We can't call out the evil without submission to God and following Him in trust and obedience. Evil won't be thrown out by a dictatorial God but by a relationship and partnership with a living and loving God. The impossible becomes possible to those who trust and obey. May our new leaders recognize this, may we recognize this and begin anew an Age of Faith. God is good, He has taken us to a church where our faith is challenged regularly. If you are in Peoria, looking for a church try us, First United Methodist, downtown Peoria.

Springs of Living Water

This photo was taken far from the "modern" world. Vicki and I were in Brazil in 2006 and had the opportunity to deliver this water purifier to a village about 180 miles south of Altamira. Living water came from this purifier, not the river water that made people ill but clean, clear, healthy water that people could drink and find sustaining life. This morning I was privileged to attend a memorial service for Farai Chimvinga, the brother of a close friend from church. Farai passed away November 28, 2008 from complications of skin cancer. He lived in Zimbabwe. How large my world has become.

"Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes," says the Spirit, "they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them." (Rev. 14:13) No spring of living water kept Farai from joining the Lord but at his memorial a "spring of living water" from the Holy Spirit surrounded all of us present. Five African nations were represented, Holy Scripture was read, Amazing Grace, Soon and Very Soon, Blessed Assurance, and Ndofamba were sung. Farai's sister, Irene, shared remembrances and we left filled with the living water of our Lord. We were not Americans or Africans, we were people of God, joined together by a belief in one Lord, one faith, one baptism and confidence that we will join one another in the hereafter.

The family sang Shona Song and the words follow below:
1. Ndofamba ndofamba
Ndosuwa kudenga
Kunyika yatenzi
Isina nenhamo
2. Madzinza ariyo
Hakuna urombo
Hawacha zochemi
Hawana rusuwo
3. Watswene wariyo
Wofara zwikuru
Kuona yonyenye
Mufuri wewese
4. Neniwo ndinoda
Kufamba murwendo
Runoda wasimbi
Kuswika yonyika

English:
1. I'm on a journey, I miss heaven,
where there are no troubles
2. There are tribes there, there is no
poverty. There will not be crying,
and no sorrow.
3. The saints are there, they are
rejoycing, to see the sheep, who died
for all
4. I also want to be on this journey
it takes faith to reach that place.

May you allow yourself to be immersed in the living water of our Lord.

January 2009

Happy New Year! Vicki and I stopped at Frontenac State Park along the Mississippi River while traveling home from Minnesota. I thought this tree, valiantly holding its dead leaves, was interesting. We had hoped to snowshoe but the trails had very little snow and lots of ice. We almost needed our snowshoes because of the bite they provide on a slick surface.

May hope abound in your life as we enter another new year.

St. Paul Cathedral, St. Paul, Minnesota

I'm sorry, I couldn't resist showing the last clip so you can get an idea of the immense size of this structure. I guess you don't have to travel to Europe to see wonderful cathedrals. My sister-in-law feels this matches nearly every cathedral they saw in Europe. So start with this clip and move down through my others and you will move from the outside to the inside of this great church.