The Church

The Church wrote the letters and history that has become the New Testament of the Bible.
The Church held sacred the prophecies, songs, and history that we call the Old Testament of the Bible.
The Bible did not create the Church, Jesus did.
Jesus gave the Church authority to loose and to bind, and to forgive.
Jesus is the Son of God and the son of the Virgin Mary.
The Church has undergone terrible episodes throughout Her history, as has Mankind.
Ultimately and forever, God prevails, Christ is King, and He reigns forever!

⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

#143 The Lutheran Hymnal

Tune Herzliebster Jesu, by Johann Cruger, 1640; text from Luke 23: 20-24, lyrics by Johann Heermann, 1630. Translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1863.

O dearest Jesus, what law hast Thou broken
That such sharp sentence should on Thee be spoken?
Of what great crime hast Thou to make confession, 
What dark transgression?

They crown Thy head with thorns, they smite, they scourge Thee;
With cruel mockings to the cross they urge Thee;
They give Thee gall to drink, they still decry Thee;
They crucify Thee.

whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish?
It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish;
Yea, all the wrath , the woe, Thou dost inherit, 
This I do merit.

Jesu, deine Passion

Melchior Vulpius, 1609; based on Luke 18:31-34. Tune by Sigismund v. Birken, 1653, translated by August Crull, 1923.

Jesus, I will ponder now On Thy holy Passion
With Thy Spirit me endow For such meditation.
Grant that I in love and faith May the image cherish
Of Thy suff'ring, pain, and death That I may not perish.

Make me see Thy great dis-tress, Anguish, and affliction,
Bonds and stripes and wretchedness And Thy crucifixion;
Make me see how scourge and rod, Spear and nails, did wound Thee,
How for man Thou diedst, O God, Who with thorns had crowned Thee.

Grant that I may willingly Bear with Thee my crosses,
Learning humbleness of Thee, Peace in pain and losses. 
May I give Thee love for love! Hear me, O my Savior,
That I may in heaven above Sing Thy praise forever.

I can just hear the pipes, those beautiful pipes in the balcony of Greenfield Peace Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod, 7000 West Outer Drive, Detroit, Michigan, 48235....Lloyd N. Schultz's fingers and feet providing our four parts...

...that iron foundry

In Deuteronomy 4 and verse 20, God is described as having taken Israel out of Egypt, that iron foundry, so that they might be His very own people.
Here, the word picture for Egypt is that of a refiner by fire - to purify the people.

I am led to think of situations and circumstances that we are waddling through now as part of our 'iron foundry' - allowed by God, so that we do become pure!

How wonderful are Your ways, LORD!!!! How beautiful and perfect your Fatherly love for us!! You know us, you know what we need and when we need it; You alone are GOD!!!

"That is why you must now know, and fix in your heart, that the LORD is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other." --- Deuteronomy 4:39

Current Events...

We are praying for brother T in the hospital with septic shock and a host of other thyroid issues; thank you, Father, for the progress he's made so far.

Yestreday we got a little bit of snow. In a normal February that would not be too exciting, but this winter has been mild and dry. There are tiny flakes falling now so thick I cant' see across the road and we probably got 3 or 4 inches over the past 36 hours. But this new snow fell on green (or brown) grass! Only piled up where the scrapers had pushed it! NOW it looks like winter out there. Normal average yearly snowfall is 98 inches in Manistee County; ...

Schnappi, my new German friend

Onekama Basketball 2011-2012

Our boys had their final home game of the year tonight and I was blest to be in attendance. I have never seen them play so hard individually, and so well together as a team, than they did tonight. Hustle and desire that I honestly did not think they were capable of...I was so proud, and will always remember this night.

Wonderful LORD, to-day is Your day! I lay at the cross all that would remind me of me, and choose this day to serve You. Use me as You will; may I always reflect Your love, in every situation, with every child of Yours.
For the sake of the sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world.
Please bring brother T back to full health, be glorified through his illness.
You are great, You are holy, in You there is righteousness.

 

Fasting, prayer, almsgiving, repentence...

To-day is the first day of Lent. 

Lord Jesus Christ, you let yourself be nailed to the Cross, accepting the terrible cruelty of this suffering, the destruction of your body and your dignity. You allowed yourself to be nailed fast; you did not try to escape or to lessen your suffering. May we never flee from what we are called to do. Help us to remain faithful to you. Help us to unmask the false freedom which would distance us from you. Help us to accept your "binding" freedom, and, "bound" fast to you, to discover true freedom.

Oh what a day?!?!

Dear diary, to-day I

got up,
called my sweetie,
texted my mom,
prayed the rosary and five of the Stations of the Cross,
made coffee,
cooked veggies, ham, eggs, bagel,
filled my water bottles,
shoveled a bit of snow,
took my med'cines,
took photos of the fresh snowfall-covered landscape,
sent the photos to myself from the iPad i took them with, 
did the rubiks cube after several mistakes (out of practice),
entered two dollar general surveys,
downloaded hg wells' the time machine to read this weekend at my leisure,
emailed my sweetie,
turned on ESPN college gameday live and in person in Ann arbor Michigan (this brings up a concerning issue for me...msu and osu have identical records but state won the head to head meeting so are in first place in the conference. Michigan is a  game behind both and, if they beat osu tonight, will still be in third place AND msu will have the best conference record in the conference...dilemma solved: root for u-m )-8),
strummed through Pink Floyd's The Wall,
washed a load of laundry,
talked to my sweetie a bit,
watched the ending of Kitty Galore,
read some of The Time Machine,
read some of Les Miserables, 
played some spider solitaire, freecell, and hearts, 
read some of Will The Real Heretics Please Stand Up,
found out that the guy who played Chuck in Kitty Galore was the voice for the guy at the carnival in Despicable Me (ohoh, somebody's got a frowny face!), 
warmed up some cheese with tomatoes with chilies and had a feast with corn chips,
talked to my sweetie again,
watched the ending of The Hunchback of Notre Dame,
listened to and dispatched alotta gossip,
strummed guitar til my fingers got sore 8P,
ate chips and salsa and some good pretzel chunks, and
made a huge foccocia bread mustard and mayo pickles and cheese ham and turkey sandwich before bedtime.

If you're not a math's person, you won't get it

MId-Winter Break..

...but the sun is shining, it's about 45 degrees, the snow is almost gone, and it's February!!
A long weekend, before a short work-week, before four regular work weeks, before our Spring Break. (Notice the caps on Spring Break, in Western academic arenas, it demands that much respect.)

Getting ready for Lent 2012

Our Father in heaven, grant that I may love on this day with your perfect love every person I come in contact with, that I may choose to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, and shelter the destitute, in Your strength.
I pray for each of our young people, LORD, please grant them a peace in their hearts; turn their hearts toward you, and bring them to know joy in the Holy Spirit. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen. 

MSU over OSU in Columbus!!

That's what I'm talking about!
It wasn't pretty, but that's OK.

My bride is safe and warm inside our home downstate watching movies with Sparky and Sierra, I am well fed and watching The Town here in Bear Lake by myself, and I am thankful.

God be praised!

Here's the condensed version of the story: I offended a brother last night in a public arena and was immediately rebuked upon by him loudly. I knew I was wrong and felt horrible about the offense. I prayed, as did my wife, as did some close friends (and as did more people than I even imagined) for wisdom and resolution. The offended party sought me out this morning and as we went somewhere private to talk I began with an apology for being such an ogre. He interrupted with a finger pointed at my mouth and told me to just wait while he opened a nearby door to a room where we could talk. We got in the room and he told me that I was indeed his brother and that he was sorry for barking at me and would I please put my coffee down so I could get a hug. This surprised me so in one way, but kind of didn't in another way. "They'll know we are Christians by our love": we need to play that out more often in our day to day lives, I am sure...

What is wrong with people?!?!?!?

With kids, you expect a certain amount ofimmaturity, rudeness, clickiness, cattyness, smallness...why can't i do a better job handling it when big people are like this?!? Can't we all just get along?

Lady Madonna, children at your feet, wondering how you manage to make ends meet...

Talking to a friend this morning; he said he'd become bitter in his old age. Am I also? Am I losing tolerance for people? People?!? You wanna talk about People? Don't talk about People!! People?!? (looking at that word right now it looks like it's spelled funny) ...

“Business!" cried the Ghost, “Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”

God, grant me an extra measure to-day, an extra measure of kindness, love, security in You, compassion, charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence.

Math is a wonderful thing....

SUPER BOWL XLVI

 

That's 46 to you and me, kids.

Doing some math in preparation for the Big Game...you gotta love proving trigonometric identities! 

6:00 and the Kickoff Show has begun...are these the cool commercials yet?...um, no.

Just ate a can of Spaghetios...what crap compared to what I remember as a kid...

Crazy Train as the Pats run on the field! 

Goose bumps when those two came in together on the first chorus of America.

Interesting to see who gets booed during the Anthem...

Fine-tuning things, beverage in place, pretzels nearby, mouse connected well, Spaghettios off the list forever, ...

Ronald McDonald house making me cry already...

Hyndai Genesis around the track..boring.

Al Michaels, Chris Collingsworth are to the 21st century what Pat Summerall and John Madden were to the 20th, can I get an amen?

Will I win a free pizza?!? C'mon heads! .... .... YES!!! OH  yeah Papa! 

The Rocky song Hyndai: pretty cool. 

NBC over-dramatic introduction: please....

Sounds like a Giant's crowd...cool that the intros are done.

Bradshaw for one. Three more on the completion to Pasco. First down to Cruz. Nine yards to Ballard; first down Bradshaw. Jacobs up the middle for 3.   

First down to Nix for 19 yards. First NE sack. Bradshaw nothing to the left. 3rd and 13: 2nd NE sack. PUnt downed at the NE 5.

But Light Platinum...hmmm....

Ooooh, vampires...original Audi.

Long incomplete ... first penalty for I.G. and results in a penalty.

No Pepsi for you. Flavor Flav!!!

Hyundai with the cat...they must have had a good year or something...

2 nuthin, Giants ball.

First down completion. Completion to Ware for 8. Bradshaw first down and more. Ware for 5 more. Plasco completion for another first down to the 18. Jacobs gain of 3. Completion to Nicks at the 11. 3rd and 3: Incomplete? Penalty! First and goal. Inside hand-off Bradshaw for 4 to the 2. TD Manning to Cruz. Nine - nuthing.

Naked m-m's ...yawn.

Best Buy  ... yawn.

NE at the 29. Rund DMC to the break...

Coke it looks like witht eh bears

Chevy..."twinkie?" yeah

Loss of 1. Screen to 42; 3rd and 4. First down to Grampa Branch to midfield. Welker another first down. 42 to the 28. First down end-around to Welker. 

End of first quarter. 

Bridgestone...Deion and Troy!

Go daddy.com...ok.

Lexus gs...boring.

Brady to Hernandez for 2. Up the middle for a couple; 3rd and 4: incomplete. Field goal: 9-3.

Prohibition over by Bud...best yet

Doritos...missed it.

Chevy with the yellow car and the fridge...good.

Touchback on the kick 

Down with OPP yes!!

GE turbines...

TaxACT.com...ok...countin down the minutes to Madonna...

Incomplete Eli on first down. 11 yards up the middle. Incomplete to Bradshaw. 

Big beautiful moon almost full out there!

Jacobs for 4 up the middle.3rd and 6: what a catch for Nicks! Deep and incomplete on 1st down. 12 men in the huddle on NYG. 2nd and 15. Bradshaw for nowhere. Complete to Bradshaw for about 11; punt formation. 

Brady incomplete...3rd and 8. Complete to Welker just short; Romanian punter punts. Giants ball.

Bradshaw has 9 carries for 44 yards...Complete to Bradshaw to midfield. Holding on 3rd down; we'll replay the down. Eli to Mario incomplete deep.

Chevy Sonic song

Friday Star Wars in 3D...

Welker to the 9; 2nd and 5.Rushing first down. 20 and a first down to Grondkowski. 2 minute warning second and 6. 

Samuel L. in Avengers.

The little head off the shoulder is stupid cars.com

I'm not watching the halftime show...i'm doing dishes, just fyi.

First down to Hernandez. First down to Hernandez with 61 seconds left. From the 33. Run for 1: 2nd and 9: Welker to the 21 and a first down. Time out with 29 seconds out. 

Launching the kid for the doritos : classic!

GI Joe 6.29.12

Hernandez first down.2nd and 2. Loss of 1. Touchdown to Woodhead. 

10-9 at halftime. Strike a pose.

Synopsis: nothing even remotely close to being as good as Chrysler's Eminem commercial from last year.

Patriot Pizza: an omen?!?

Look at the shape of my pizza slice...look like a particular team's helmet logo?!?... Coincidence or what?!?

Here we go!

Ocho sinco, Green-Ellis, Welker...14 straight for Tom, a Super Bowl record. Touchdown Hernandez!

You see that hit on Nicks right in front of the microphone?!? Payouw!!!

Giant field goal makes it 17-12.

Fiat: stupid.

PepsiMax: 

Regis!! pretty good!

Pats start at their 17. 

Camry: reinvented...pretty cool.

The coke bears again...

Oikos...yeah!

Century 21...cool

Acura with Jay Leno...ok

GE and their manufacturing ...

Down goes Brady on 3rd (first sack) and that sets up a punt. G-men good field position down by 5.

Grab some Buds the absolute stupidest worst.

Nicks complete over the middle and loses the ball...Giant ball, first and 10 on the 33. Rush of 7 for Jacobs. Brandon Jacobs for another first down. Completion to Pasco over the middle for another first down. Bradshaw to the 8. Bradshaw loss of 2. 3rd and 8: Eli sacked at the 15! The try for 3: good. 17-15 Pats. 

Pretty good numbers for both quarterbacks so far...Touchback on the kick.

Incomplete on first down...Green Ellis to the 38 and that's it for the 3rd.

17-15, 15 minutes left.

NFL.com showing the timeline on the field...good.

Ford F150 boring

Debbiespenditnow: Pete Spenditnot...ha

Truck month...how do these local morons afford super bowl ads?

Green Ellis for a first down. Brady picked off...underthrown...

G-men from their 10: Incomplete. Bradshaw fumble and giant recovery. 3rd and 7: whistles for a giant time out.

CR-V...?

All the cartoon characters; Underdog!! Met Life!! 2nd best!

Incomplete; fourth and 7. ...penalty patriots. replay 3rd and 2.Complete to Nicks to the 28 for a first down.

Cruz completion makes it 3rd and 1.  

Here, Weego! 3rd best

Ooh, incomplete to Mario. 3rd and 5: G-men timeout.

and punt

Brady incomplete from the 8. Woodhead first down to the 31, gain of 19. Green-Ellis who has never fumbled for 3. 

Samsung Galaxy: i hope they go bankrupt for stupidity.

2nd and 7 from the 35 for Brady and company...Welker on a gain of 11 on the reverse.

Woodhead gained 1 up the middle.

After the punt, Eli for 38 yards to Maningham...they're down to the 32, 2nd and 8: first down at the 2 minute warning to Nicks.

The over-under was around 55 at gametime; we're under that now...Pats were picked to win by 3.5 to-day, but the lead is 2 with 2 minutes left. 

GoDaddy.com...stupid...they need Danica back. 

Bradshaw for 7 up the middle. Nicks gets a first down; first and goal. Bradshaw stopped at the six. Pats let Bradshaw score with :57 left; g-men go for 2. no conversion.

80 yards to go for the pats, they need a touch down. Incomplete to Branch; :52 left. Hernandez dropped this one. Sacked! 4th and forever with :36 left. First down to Branch! First down to Hernandez, spike with :19. Penalty then an incomplete with 5 seconds. Jump ball: incomplete! The new york football giants are champions! And the detroit pizza-eating baldner is going to bed.

peace.

Green over Blue

It's a simple excursion: searching for video online to help my students understand rational exponents. It has taken me over an hour and a half to find relevant help for one particular lesson from our University of Chicago School Mathematics Project text. Q: Is it worth the time? A: Unequivocally if it helps even one student understand this crap. Absolutely. 

Those of you who don't teach may or may not have ever had the inner satisfaction of a scholar, after questing, listening, wondering; finally has the facial expression relax and then releases an 'ahhh...'. Amongst our peers we call it the 'aha moment' and nothing in all we do compares. Administrators administrate, counselors counsel, lawers law, plumbers plumb, doctors doc, but those of us who work with kids every day LIVE for that aha moment (and, often, the weekend, yes).

Michigan - Michigan State to-day at 1:00.

I recently read a book by a gentleman I work with occasionally who is a psychologist. He writes about the life of his adopted son both before the adoption when he was in and out of foster homes, and after the adoption. The story is enlightening regarding the 'system' certain kids are entered into for various reasons, none of which are their fault. Mostly, reading this story really made me thankful for the home, family, neighbourhood, and schools I grew up in.