A Zoo of a Week

This past week we went to the Como Park Zoo twice. Hey, a free zoo is a good place to meet up with people. On Thursday we met with Petey & Erin & Baby Elliot. They were up visiting during Spring Break. Elliot was awake most of the time. He didn't care too much about the animals, but was more interested in the other kids there.

My brother & his family came up for the kids' Spring Break on Thursday. We took them to the nature center by our house (since Beth was at work with the car) on Friday. On Saturday we all went to the zoo, along with my sister & her family (with whom they were staying). So all the Wenell cousins were together. It was (pardon the terrible pun) a zoo there. The weather was absolutely beautiful and many people were on Spring Break. But the kids had fun together--for the most part. They haven't all been together since Christmas.

Who Do You Hear Speaking to You?

"I believe that the voices of fear, both from without and within, can only be dispelled by trusting the voice that comes from the heart. Be still and listen to it. If it speaks of love and compassion for others, for the world itself, it just might be the voice of God--or a reasonable facsimile. If, however, it snarls with fear of the unknown, fear of losing what you have or of not getting what you want, then it might just be the voice of Rupert Murdoch--or a reasonable facsimile." - Chuck Lorre Productions, #212; The Big Bang Theory

Scenes from a Park

St. Patrick's Lorica

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.

I arise today
Through the strength of Christ's birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.

I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.

I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.

I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man's body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation

attributed to St. Patrick (ca. 377)

For a good read on the life of St. Patrick, read Stephen Lawhead's book aptly titled Patrick. It's a fictional story, but based on the historical accounts of Patrick (who, was born naemed Maewyn Succot in England & taked by pirates to be a slave in Ireland. Eventually he would escape, go back to England, then went to learn in a monastery, eventually becoming a bishop and returned to Ireland to share God to the country he came to love during his enslavement).

Spring is in The Air

It's been in the 50s the last couple days. Yesterday, the boys and I went for a walk around the lake. The melting snow was creating all sorts of "rivers" along the way that the boys liked to splash in (thankfully, I planned ahead with boots on the boys). We went out again today for more sun and more splashing. In the past 24 hours, most of the snow had melted and the water dried up, but we found a good "river" at the south end of the lake. It took us 4 times as long to walk around the lake (also because the boys walked most of the way themselves), but we enjoyed the time outside. I think it's a good sign of things to come: Spring!

Gain By Giving: God's Economy

We’ve missed the last couple weeks of church because we’ve been gone, so we’ve missed the first couple installments of the sermon series at church: The Road to Financial Freedom.

I need to go back and listen to the last 2 sermons to see what else we need to be doing. Actually, I feel we’re fairly good about handling our finances: we don’t have a lot of unnecessary spending, we give as best we can, we do need to save more. We just need more income. At least it would be more helpful.

Pastor Efrem read from Proverbs 11 today. He reminded us what God’s economy is. Righteousness trumps riches (not that it’s wrong to be rich, but it’s more important to be righteous; a lot of our economic problems now have come about because those with the money have been without much righteousness). It’s not wrong to buy Prada or Air Jordans, but you must make sure your consumerism is balanced with your giving. When people see you, do they just see the new items you’re sporting or do they see your generous nature?

The main economic mantra that we hear at Sanctuary is: Give, Save, Live. When you receive your paycheck, first set aside the part you’re going to give away. The Old Testament talks about a tithe to God (10%); Jesus uses the tithe as a springboard into giving more (“Give away all you have to the poor, then follow me”). Next, set aside a part for your savings. Then live on the rest. And really live. It’s okay for me to order a good root beer with my pizza once in a while (honestly, I haven’t done that for a while).

It all comes down to, are you a slave to your money or are you in charge of it?

Happy Purim

Purim began last night at sundown. Purim celebrates the success of Esther, Mordecai and many other Jews in captivity who overthrew the plot of Haman to kill them all. Esther, after rising to the position of Queen of Persia from being a lowly Jewish exile, found herself in the midst of a genocide plot. But she wasn't sure she should risk revealing her ethnicity to the king. Her uncle Mordecai told her that perhaps God placed her in this situation for "just a time as this."

God tends to place us in all sorts of situations for "just a time as this." It may be at work, or on the bus, or in the grocery check-out line or where ever. We often miss those moments because we're not anticipating God to use us in our everyday situations. But He wants to use us. We just need to keep our eyes and ears open.

I Guess It's All About Love

Last Friday after Beth got off work we headed down to Iowa for a wedding. My maternal grandmother rode with us. I got some good family stories out of her. She had been up in the Twin Cities staying with a friend the past week. The boys have been sick all week. They finally got some rest in the car.

Saturday morning we went into the nursing home to see my paternal grandmother. She had a stroke last year. It was good to see a big smile on her face when we showed up, but it's very hard to see her unable to respond to much the rest of the time. We sat in the lounge for a while. Another lady came and played the piano for a while. Nils danced to it for a while. A few other people stopped to watch. Grandma did kiss my cheek when I hugged her goodbye.

The wedding for was one of the camp staff kids (I guess he's not a kid anymore). He was marrying a girl from Albert City. It was good to see so many friends we hadn't seen in a while (including other camp staff who are in Texas now).

We were planning on going down to Des Moines for some family birthdays, but found out the party wasn't until later in the afternoon on Sunday which wasn't going to work as well for getting home at a reasonable hour. So, we ended up going to P-Cov for church and joining the 20-40 somethings group for lunch at Pizza Ranch. I know we've only been gone for 2 years now, but it still feels like "home" in many ways. Some churches have that feel, others don't. It's a good feel.

Pastor Karl preached on love (there, Jane, you can let him know he made the blog). Sorry, Karl, I'm not remembering most of it. Anders didn't want to go to children's church so he was on my lap for most of the sermon. He noticed the lenten cross up front. And we're called to love like Jesus loved. But we can't love others unless we love ourselves ("love your neighbor as yourself"). I don't think we can even forgive others unless we can fogive ourselves as well ( forgiveness is a part of love in God's example). And, I do remember Karl saying, that we can only love others because God first loves us. If we're not doing things out of love, then we might as well forget doing them because they don't matter (to sum up 1 Corinthians 13). And one final quick reminder: this kind of love isn't a feeling (no kind of love actually is). "Love is a verb" (DC Talk). So do it.

3.3.09

Happy Square Root Day.

I wish I was on top of my game enough to notice the mathematical significance of today's date without being told about it on the evening news. In my defense, though, I hadn't really looked at the calendar.

There are days though where I feel that my intellectual prowess isn't what it used to be. Or maybe what I thought it used to be was mostly a delusion. But I fit in a Sudoku or a crossword puzzle here or there. And I try to intermingle my readings of Star Wars and Stephen Lawhead novels with classics, as well as nonfiction pursuits (I'm awaiting the next installment of Thomas Cahill's Hinges of History series). Not to mention that I am learning new things. But sometimes I just feel a little dumber than I used to (or that I'm not remembering things as well). Maybe I should be watching that Dr. Daniel Amen special on TPT instead of The Big Bang Theory on DVD. But, as the writer of Ecclessiastes said, "Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the body" (Ecc. 12:12). (The irony is that I'd love to write some books myself.)

Anyway, I know it's important to keep the brain sharp. It's also pointless to make that your main pursuit in life. So, I'll keep on learning--and continue to have a fair amount of fun along the way. After all, Charlie Chaplin was a genuis, wasn't he? I think my point has been made.

Into the Hinterlands

This past weekend, some friends from church invited us with them up to their family's cabin in the Wisconsin north woods. It's one of those wonderful instances where we all get along with everyone else in the family. We got to know the parents because Anders started in Sunday school with one of their kids. And we've been good friends ever since.

We had a good snow storm (I think it was officially our biggest of the season), but got up there just fine. They had made it clear to us that it wasn't a cabin ahead of time. And it wasn't. We had all the amenities needed. Really, all we needed was some good food, board games and a fireplace (all of which we had). Some video diversions were nice for the kids once in a while.

Luci & Nils with their moose; Anders & Nathaniel watching a video

It was Beth's birthday on Saturday. I had made a pumpkin cheesecake for my wonderful wife and brought it with to enjoy. We didn't do much else special--the weekend itself was a treat. She did get in a snowmobile ride, which I think was enjoyable for her.

On our way home, we had a few minutes with my family (Mom, Dad, Amy, Bella & Grandma Trumper were up at April & Wilder's house because Riley was dedicated on Sunday--we had the trip planned before that was on the calendar) before they had to depart for Iowa. The boys sure love them all--it's fun to see them play with FarFar and Uncle Wilder.

So, now we're back from the peacefulness of the woods to the hustle and bustle of the city. And a few of us are trying to get over colds or something. And there's plenty of laundry and other things to do. Why did we come home? I guess life wouldn't be as enjoyable if every day was a getaway retreat. But every day wouldn't be enjoyable if we didn't do those getaway retreats once in a while, too. (Kind of like how we need Sabbath days to get us ready for the rest of the week.)