Katie’s Beer

Everyone knows that you click on the reddish-pink box in the upper left hand corner of each post to leave comments, right? It turns green when you click on it, too. How fun is that? Seriously…you can return to leaving comments now.

Tags: Blog-keeping by TK
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The Reverend Professor Norman A. Madson

Excerpt from his address to the 75th Anniversary of the Synodical Conference held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on August 10, 1948

Fellow redeemed, grace be unto you and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Though it be not the same text with which the beloved Walther greeted our sainted fathers when our Synodical Conference first convened in this very city three-score and sixteen years ago, we have no other aim nor holier desire than had that fearless confessor of the faith, when he is his ex corde prayer pleaded with the Father: “Forsake us not, but grant us now and evermore, as oft as we foregather, Thy gracious presence, and sustain us, for without Thee we can do nothing but err, sin and destroy Thy work.”
Well might we have chosen the selfsame text: “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and then that hear thee, 1 Timothy 4:16, stressing, as he did, the fact that “the holy apostle does not say: “Take heed unto the chief doctrines,’ but: “Take heed unto the doctrine,’ - everything which is taught in God’s word.” But while the text be different, the tenor of our anniversary address will be the same. In fact, were we not to stress the absolute need of purity of doctrine, all doctrines, and the unequivocal acceptance of the same within our brotherhood, our very existence as a Synodical Conference would no longer be justified. For our founding fathers made that clear, from the very day of its inception, that the Conference desired to retain unsullied and inviolate as its highest good and most precious pearl, doctrine pure, as found in God’s verbally inspired word and our treasured Confessions based thereon. And they pledged one another their sacred word of honor that they would fight shoulder to shoulder in contending for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints, be their enemy “Rationalism, Unionism, Indifferentism, or Sentimentalism.”

This will involve us in stark realism, to be sure. But there is no higher realism that of our Christian religion. It must ever be frank as it is fearless. It has little room for diplomatic double-talk as it s Founder had patience with the hypocritical church leaders of His day. And we would most certainly violate a rule of all true Lutheran preaching, were we to address you as though nothing had happened during these three quarters of a century to disturb our sacred alliance.

Read on at Be Strong in the Grace

Tags: Religion, Lutheran by TK
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1. Whining in his cage at 3am because we let him eat or drink too much at 10pm.
2. Whimpering for my husband, whom he worships and adores (I might be a little jealous on that one because I used to be the dog god).
3. Clawing madly at the screen door handle because he desparately needs to be with his master.
4. Angrily throwing himself down in his metal kennel to let us know he doesn’t want to be in there (Ok, maybe I’m projecting with that one).
5. Entertaining himself by mouthing an empty plastic water bottle (the crunching sound is unbelievably annoying, second only to nails on a chalkboard)
6. Worriedly yelping at a very high pitch (for a 90 lb dog) when cornered by our 9 lb orange tabby cat.
7. Barking at a pathetically high pitch while simultaneously drooling like a starving child when we attempt to eat in front of him.
8. Snoring at night, especially as he tries to make himself fall asleep (?!?).
9. The worried barking he makes when he locks himself in the truck on his first fishing outing with Rob (this just happened one hour ago
10. (insert future annoying sound here)

Next: The Top Ten List of the most wonderfully endearing noises my dog makes

Tags: dogs by TK
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This is very funny, but then I’m Lutheran! Thanks to Pastor Tom Chryst!

Join in the fun at Lutheran Survivor

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Photo by Jerry Holt, StarTribune

In this photo of a picture taken Jan. 13, 2006, Puckett is in Arizona with his puppy, Payton, named after Puckett’s hero, Chicago Bears great Walter Payton. Both Payton and Puckett wore No. 34.

The StarTribune has posted the first of a four-part series on Kirby Puckett’s life after he was forced to retire from baseball. The first post is very good. I hope the rest will be.

Read: After the Game: The Kirby Puckett we never knew by Richard Meryhew of the Minneapolis StarTribune

Tags: Baseball by TK
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It is easy to put an amazing woman like Lisa S. on a very high pedestal, but she’d be the first to whack me on the head if I did and if she could. Lisa Stapp, disabled for most of her life, keeps a blog called, Blessed and Content…and Disabled.

She shares her thoughts on embryonic stem cell research:

While it isn’t Parkinson’s Disease that I have (and I don’t live in Missouri) I do INDEED have a dog in this fight!

I have Intermediate Spinal Muscular Atrophy (Also known as SMA Type 2), which started showing up when I was nine months old.   Read on…

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Get Religion is an interesting blog. A well-known and well-respected Scripps-Howard News Service religion journalist, Dr. Terry Mattingly, runs the site with Douglas LeBlanc . [Read more →]

Tags: politics, Current Events, Lutheran by TK
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This was posted recently at Pastor Walter Snyder’s blog, Ask the Pastor: A Dog in the Fight

Reflections of a Lutheran Pastor Suffering from Parkinson’s
Contrary “opinions” from people like me might be rejected by supporters of Missouri Amendment 2. After all, I suffer from none of the afflictions they claim might be cured by experimentation upon the cells of human embryos. In matters of personal health, I have, as the saying goes, no “dog in the fight.” …
With this in mind, I contacted a recently retired pastor from my area to see if he’d share his personal thoughts on embryonic stem cell research and the upcoming vote here in Missouri. Not only do I respect him as a man and as a wise “old” pastor, I know him as one who has battled Parkinson’s Disease for a number of years.
Actually, my first look at Michael J. Fox’s video supporting the McCaskill campaign and ESCR made me immediately think of this brother, so I wrote him, “I’m curious as a brother pastor, a friend who enjoys your personality and insight, a Christian, and a voter what your personal thoughts are on Amendment 2 and the arguments surrounding it from both sides.”
He replied as follows and graciously gave me permission to use his private thoughts in this most public forum of blogging: Read the rest here

It’s too bad that this man’s firsthand opinion doesn’t make the news. Even if it did, his comments would probably be bashed as religious rhetoric. He certainly wouldn’t likely get the reception that everyone’s favorite actor, Michael J. Fox, gets.
M.Z. Hemingway analyzes the Washington Post’s coverage of Michael J. Fox’s recent commercial in favor of embryonic stem cell research in her post, Killing Embryos , at Get Religion.
M.Z. writes,

Last night, as I settled in to watch my St. Louis Cardinalsbeat the Detroit Tigers (fairly, no less!), I told my husband about a > political ad I’d seen the day before. It featured actor Michael J. Foxasking people in Missouri to support an amendment to their state constitution that would ensconce embryonic destructionfor the purpose of stem cell research.

I’m a big fan of Fox and I have followed his battle with Parkinson’s for a while. Which was why I was shocked to see what a devastating turn for the worse the disease had taken with him. He was writhing around, lifting a contorted hand and bobbling back and forth. When I had seen him on a television show a few weeks ago, he seemed to have been doing well.

Her contention is that “this and almost all other stories dealing with embyronic-destroying stem cell research is that they fail to distinguish between stem cell research and embryonic-destroying stem cell research.”
Both pieces are interesting.

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I heard a beautiful soulful song on Paul Allen’s Sundays with Soul program on KOOL108. With lyrics reading like a Contemporary Praise song but with a voice and rhythm speaking of love between man and woman, Freddie Mercury sang One Year of Love back in 1986.   It was written by John Deacon, who also wrote “You’re My Best Friend“, “Another One Bites the Dust“, and “I Want to Break Free”
According to Wikipedia:

One Year of Love is the third track on the first side of Queen’s 1986 album A Kind of Magic and also appears in the film Highlander. It was written by bassist John Deacon. A Kind of Magic was the band’s twelfth studio album, and was based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander. One Year of Love features a string orchestra conducted by Lynton Naiff and a saxophone played by Steve Gregory. Guitarist Brian May is absent in this song

One Year of Love
Just one year of love
Is better than a lifetime alone
One sentimental moment in your arms
Is like a shooting star right through my heart
Its always a rainy day without you
I’m a prisoner of love inside you -
I’m falling apart all around you - yeah
My heart cries out to your heart
I’m lonely but you can save me
My hand reaches for to your hand
I’m cold but you light the fire in me
My lips search for your lips
I’m hungry for your touch
Theres so much left unspoken
And all I can do is surrender
To the moment just surrender

And no one ever told me that love would hurt so much
Oooh yes it hurts
And pain is so close to pleasure
And all I can do is surrender to your love
Just surrender to your love
Just one year of love
Is better than a lifetime alone
One sentimental moment in your arms
Is like a shooting star right through my heart
It’s always a rainy day without you
I’m a prisoner of love inside you
I’m falling apart all around you
And all I can do is surrender

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I am so happy and surprised that Jeffrey Sebelia won this season’s Project Runway. I never intended to start watching the show, but my daughter and my mother drew me in. Like most reality TV shows, it wasn’t just about the clothes but about people’s lives. I wasn’t hooked on the show until I saw the episode about the designers’ home lives. Up until that point, I was offended by Jeffrey’s outward appearance. As I watched him at home with his wife and young son, I was heavily convicted of my inaccurate judgement of him.

To be fair, when you dress and tatoo yourself like Jeffrey you MUST be aware that people will inaccurately judge you as a scary person. I felt guilty when I heard his story of a rough childhood and overcoming drug abuse.  I was floored when I realized that the tatoo around Jeffrey’s neck, written in script letters, was about his son, Harrison.  I hate tatoos, but even I find it hard to criticize an ode to one’s son written in script around one’s neck.

However, I quickly became a Jeffrey fan, my affection for him second only to Laura Bennett who surely wins a Super Mom designer award. How she designs and creates such beautiful clothing with 5 children (and pregnant with her 6th) is legendary stuff for a mother!

Tags: television by TK
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