A Poem for Your Weekend

Here's a favorite poem of mine. Whaddya think???

The Calf Path Sam Walter Foss (1858–1911)
One day, through the primeval wood, a calf walked home, as good calves should;
But made a trail all bent askew, a crooked trail as all calves do.
Since then two hundred years have fled, and, I infer, the calf is dead.
But still he left behind his trail, and thereby hangs my moral tale.

The trail was taken up next day by a lone dog that passed that way;
And then a wise bell-wether sheep pursued the trail o'er vale and steep,
And drew the flock behind him, too, as good bell-wethers always do.
And from that day, o'er hill and glade, through those old woods a path was made.

And many men wound in and out, and dodged, and turned, and bent about;
And uttered words of righteous wrath because 'twas such a crooked path.
But still they followed — do not laugh — the first migrations of that calf.
And through this winding wood-way stalked, because he wobbled when he walked.

This forest path became a lane, that bent, and turned, and turned again;
This crooked lane became a road, where many a poor horse with his load,
Toiled on beneath the burning sun, and travelled some three miles in one.
And thus a century and a half they trod the footsteps of that calf.

The years passed on in swiftness fleet, and the road became a village street;
And this, before men were aware, a crowded city thoroughfare;
And soon the central street was this of a renowned metropolis;
And men two centuries and a half trod in the footsteps of that calf.

Each day a hundred thousand rout followed the zigzag calf about;
And o'er his crooked journey went the traffic of a continent.
A hundred thousand men were led by one calf near three centuries dead.
They followed still his crooked way, and lost one hundred years a day.

For thus such reverence is lent to well-established precedent.
A moral lesson this might teach, were I ordained and called to preach;
For men are prone to go it blind along the calf-paths of the mind,
And work away from sun to sun to do what other men have done.

They follow in the beaten track, and out and in, and forth and back,
And still their devious course pursue, to keep the path that others do.
How the wise old wood-gods laugh, who saw the first primeval calf;
Ah, many things this tale might teach — but I am not ordained to preach.

Journal Notes

This Thursday is the National Day of Prayer. In 1952 President Truman signed the bill into law which created a National Day of Prayer. In 1988 President Reagan set the date as the first Thursday in May. On April 15 of this year, federal judge Barbara Crabb declared the 1952 law unconstitutional. The government has appealed this decision. In the meantime, President Obama will issue a proclaimation calling for a National Day of Prayer.

I don't think prayer is something that comes easy for any of us. Even Luther struggled with prayer at times. He wrote to his friend Melancthon in 1521, 'I sit here like a fool and hardened in leisure, pray little, do not sigh for the church of God, yet burn in a big fire of my untamed body. In short I should be ardent in spirit, but I am ardent in the flesh, in lust, in laziness, leisure, and sleepiness.' Luther was a great pray-er but even he found it hard at times it sounds like.

I'm reading John Ortberg's 'Know Doubt'. He's one of my favorite authors because he writes from a common man point of view. I'm still early in the book but I want to share a few quick excerpts for your consideration:
'Those who believe they believe in God but without passion in the heart, without anguish of mind, without uncertainty, without doubt, and even at times without dispair, believe only in the idea of God and not in God Himself.'
and
'Doubt is a good servant but a poor master.'
and one more...
'I would like some assurance that when they play taps over my body down here, Someone will be blowing reveille on the other side.'
lastly...
Ortberg quotes martin Luther, ' Faith is a free surrender and a joyous wager on the unseen, unknown, untested goodness of God.'

I read this week that researchers from Noah's Ark Ministries International believe they have found Noah's Ark. "The search team has made the greatest discovery in history. This finding is very important and the greatest up to now," said a team archaeologist, Prof. Oktay Belli, in an April 25 press conference. Although many "people have searched the mountain for the holy Ark," he added, this recent discovery "is the first serious search (and) that the team found a wood structure under ice." Makes me wonder, is science proving our beliefs again??? And how cool would it be if the picture below really is the ark and I'm looking at the same wall Noah did???


A Chinese explorer inside one of the wooden structures on Mt. Ararat. Credit: Noah's Ark Ministries International.

Going to go hear Ollie Olson lead a Bible study at Calvary Lutheran (a Keystone neighbor church) tonight. He does a great job and when he comes to town they get about 50 people or more in his class. Tonight's topic, The Revelation Churches of Philadelphia and Laodicia.

Anfechtungen!

I had a PET scan on Monday of last week. I had a doctors appointment to hear the results of the scan on Friday. That made for a whole work-week of uncertainty. I went back and forth, from thinking I would get good results- after all I was taking treatment to stop future activity, to concerns of a worst case scenario. What if the cancer was now in my lungs or another organ - maybe in my brain. Every ache became a cause for concern last week- and let me tell you, at age 50 new aches have become way to common!

The results came back somewhere in the middle- with more good news than bad. The good news is all my organs came back clear as did a very important area- my neck where some pretty dangerous cancer has resided in the past. The bad news showed a few lymph nodes in the arm pit that are suspicious (especially with my cancer history). So we'll need to get after them starting with a possible biopsy. Maybe radiation will follow, my team of doctors is talking about next steps and best treatment options.

So that was my yo-yo week, my long distracting week. I liked the stretches of time where I didn't think about it at all. I didn't like hearing I wasn't 'all clear'. In the end, I am thankful for the healing I have received and pray for continued healing where necessary.

I'm also thankful for the diagnostic technology which makes treatment more focused and successful. Pinpointing suspect lymph nodes which are only 1.7 millimeters big is an amazing thing really. The brand new giant donut-like machine at Bergan Mercy did its job. In the not to distant past, I might have gotten 'all clear' news because something so small would not have been detected.

So now what? I'll keep getting weekly chemo to try to prevent the spread or new growth of any cancer. This could last up to a year. Then of course we still need to figure out what we are going to do with those 8 little problem nodes. Stupid, bad nodes. So they remain a concern- but not an 'anfechtungen'.

Anfechtungen was the word Luther used to describe the deep worry and despair he felt about the possibility of God judging and condemning him because he was a sinner. After dealing with a week of uncertainty I can understand better Luther's worst case senario concerns. Maybe you can remember times where you had deep worries and a time of uncertainty- maybe you too can understand Luther's anfechtungen- his dark worries. I wonder, are we ever as concerned as Luther about our eternal life?

Luther overcame his fears to a large degree after the Reformation. I like what Dr. Richard Bucher wrote concerning Luther 'His anfechtungen were valuable because they drove him to Scripture and compelled him to cling to God's promises. They taught him by experience, how sure, mighty, and comforting, God's promises can be. Thus, he not only knew, but lived God's Word.'

Here's to overcoming our fears and worries this week! Let's go to the Word as Luther did to find our source of strength to do just that. And let's all pray for the killing and destruction of 8 tiny nodes and the worry that goes with them. Have a great anfechtungen-free week!

Blest Regards,
kp

Organ Donor

Sherri and I went to the Annual Donor Family Reception event this past Sunday. It was held at the LaVista Convention Center which is a fantastic new facility out by the new Cabela's just off I-80. The event drew about 500 people and was very touching.

Three families spoke about how organ, tissue or cornea donors had changed their lives. In a couple of the families the donation had actually saved lives. Little Amanda got a new liver, and baby Watson got tissue to build a new aorta. Without these life-giving donations, these families would have experienced heart-breaking losses.

I can't really describe here adequately how much emotion these families spoke with, how thankful they are for such a life-giving gift. Tears flowed. Touching slide shows with smiling children reminded us how precious and awesome life is- especially when it's the life of your child.

At the same time though, there is another side of the coin. Some family did experience loss to make these donations. Yet they made something good come out of their tragedy, their great loss. And at this event, 40 or so organ donor reciepients from years past came forward to honor and give thank-you plaques to the 75 or more families who had loved ones who made life-giving organ donations. It was a wonderful and powerful time, filled with tears and hugs and thank yous.

The whole event was a testimony to the goodness that sometimes we can muster as humans. I couldn't help but think that every worship service we take part in should be just as powerful, just as touching, just as emotional - even more so really. The analogy is obvious. Jesus died so that we might live. We have a new lease on eternal life thanks to Him!

So why do we take that gift so lightly? We all do really. We grumble over getting up to go to church, we skip service opportunities, the list goes on from there. Don't we know we were more than sick, we were dead? Do we really understand, can we comprehend the magnitude of what our new heart means? Why is this gift so easily taken for granted - in my opinion by all of us?

I'm not saying we need to be basket cases, but rather that we need more power and joy in our singing, more heart in our confession, more attention in our hearing, more gratitude in our prayers- you can add to this list. Our gift was great- so our response should be great as well. I want to encourage each of us to truely consider the cost of our gift and respond accordingly. By God's great gifts of the Holy Spirit and faith we can do just that. Each Sunday should be for us from now on a life-giving Donor Reception event! See you fellow reciepients in church this Sunday.

Blest Regards,
Keith

Vacation Time!

It's family vacation planning time again at our house. Some folks enjoy new cars or houses or furniture- in my family, we enjoy life experiences- time together on vacations. So again this year we are looking for someplace new and fun to decend upon.

We are like decending locusts in a way. When I say family, I mean the whole family- as in grandma and grandpa (now recently great-gma and gpa), Sherri and I and our boys, Mark and his family including Kathy's brother and wife, and of course our newest additions- soon to attend their first family vacation, Luke and Logan.

Last year we rented a big million dollar house in Colorado Springs and had a blast. We went to the top of Pike's Peak where Jake promptly went to the edge, climbed a pole and did a gymnastic move that scared his mother half to death!
We played golf, went to the Air Force Academy, toured the Royal Gorge, visited Focus on the Family and went white water rafting- which as you can see was wet and cold!

In the past few years we've been all over, we took a giant motor home to Atlanta, did a resort in Brainard MN, loved the beaches in Los Angeles and Lake Las Vegas and jet skiied till we were exhausted at the Lake of the Ozarks.

This year we will return to Missouri to spend time on Table Rock Lake and finding things to do in Branson. Should be another fun trip. Now I know there is nothing more exciting than listening to others talk (or write) about their family vacations- so I really do have a point beyond listing our past summer experiences. Here it is- how would you like to take an all-expense paid eternal vacation?

And while maybe that sounds a bit goofy- or simplistic, how amazingly cool is our adventure in heaven really going to be? What new sites will we see, how many will there be, will we get to explore and enjoy for an eternity? Is that even long enough to discover all the wonders God has planned for us? It all starts with a giant banquet and then some praising and then, well, we can only imagine.

Start planning for this vacation today. Confirm your room reservation by spending time in the Word and prayer, by going to church and taking communion- a foretaste of the feast to come. The price has been paid for us by Jesus Himself! This is going to be one big family vacation you won't want to miss. In the meantime, a short week of vacation is on tap- and I can't wait.

Blest Regards,
kp

Adieu

The E-Tidings is coming to an end. Six years of sorta weekly updates comes to a close. Pastor has decided go another route to keep you informed. And so my weekly column comes to conclusion as well.

Or maybe not. You can find this short blog and many previous ones at www.bottomcorner.blogspot.com
where I write even a little more often than I do here. If you are interested, stop by and look- I try to make sure to add thoughts at least once a week. Who knows, maybe you'll see an email every so often in a new and improved format from me.

February 11, 2004 marked the very first E-Tidings. The premiere issue reminded us of our Monday night Bethel Bible study, a possible 'The Passion of the Christ' movie event (which we later did, selling out a theatre), the opportunity to hear our very own Pastor Chris Boehnke on KCRO each week and to pray for Phyllis Rhodig who was having a back issue. Lots of things were going on in 2004!

In the almost 300 columns since, my intent has always been to encourage. Hebrews 10:25 tells us we are to encourage one another because the day of the Lord is drawing nearer. That verse has driven me to try to speak an uplifting word of encouragement into your life each week through seven short paragraphs.

I've enjoyed commenting on life and our church in this small space. Maybe most meaningful to me were the times I wrote on those we lost from our church- like Max, Joe, Jack and Jeannie, Viola, and Bev. Even tougher was writing about the loss of family, Sherri's mom Bette, her aunt Peg and our nephew Christopher. All these losses still sting but they also remind me of faithful witnesses who now know how awesome heaven really is!

I've also learned alot while writing. I learned about the legend of St. Dennis (while trying to figure out if my new 'Sedona' van had any meaning to it's name) carrying his head while preaching a sermon in France. I learned lots of Latin phrases including Coram Deo- the face of God. I learned about Titus, Barnabas, St. Francis and Mother Theresa. I hope maybe you learned a little as well while being encouraged.

So blest regards to you my friends! Keep encouraging one another, and stay strong in your faith. Maybe the best encouraging word of farewell I can leave you with is 'adieu'- which means 'I commend you to God'. This thought I can't say any better than the children sang in the Sound of Music- so just picture me singing......
'So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Adieu, adieu, to yieu and yieu and yieu.'

Adieu! And Blest Regards,
Keith

Ring My Bell....

This Sunday is Quasimodo Sunday. Really? A Sunday in our church year named after a hunchback bell ringer at Notre Dame? What symbols on the paramounts do we use for that?

Actually 'quasi modo' are the Latin words which begin the traditional Introit verse (Introit is latin for entrance- as in the beginning of the Lutheran service) 1 Peter 2:2 which says, 'as newborn babies desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby,'. So, literally, quasi modo means "as if in [this] manner".

In the book, 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame', Quasimodo was found abandoned on the doorsteps of Notre Dame on the Sunday after Easter, 1467. As Hugo wrote: 'He baptized his adopted child and called him Quasimodo; whether it was that he chose thereby to commemorate the day when he had found him, or that he meant to mark by that name how incomplete and imperfectly molded the poor little creature was. Indeed, Quasimodo, one-eyed, hunchbacked, and bow-legged, could hardly be considered as anything more than an almost.'

I think it would have be cool to use this 1831 Victor Hugo character as the theme for the Sunday after Easter. Today the name Quasimodo has become synonymous with a courageous heart beneath a grotesque exterior. I think that can describe us after our Easter salvation- rough looking people, sinful people even, yet people with a courageous heart based on Jesus' saving work.

We could use our courageous hearts to be post-Easter bell ringers, calling people back to the church and the sanctuary of the Gospel. In the book Quasimodo rescues Esmeralda from the gallows- from certain death. She finds safety in the church under the 'law of sanctuary'.

Sadly, the book does not have a happy ending (unlike some of the movies based on the book). Quasimodo can't save Esmeralda when the priest gives her back to the king's people. He then pushes the priest to his death, and goes to the graveyard to lie next to his dead love until he starves to death. Maybe Quasimodo Sunday is best celebrated afterall as a reminder of 1 Peter 2:2 as noted above.

Maybe instead 'Got Milk?' should be our theme. On this Sunday after Easter let us return to church to get fed- laying aside our grotesque traits outlined in verse 1: deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all evil speaking. It would be kinda cool to have everyone leave church with a spiritual milk mustache. Some churches have Ash Wednesday, some could have Milk Mustache Sunday!

Anyway, back to Quasimodo Sunday. The good news is that each of us, even though we too are a 'poor little creature', is loved by God with a great Easter love- on this Sunday and every Sunday and every day in between. May God grant us the courageous heart we need to share this message wherever we can, to proclaim it from the bottom of our heart or maybe even in storybook fashion, from the top of a belltower.

Blest Regards,
kp

And the Survey Says....

The results of the latest Barna study are stunning to me. I realize that fewer people go to church these days but I hadn't considered what that would mean until I saw these numbers. Let me share just a couple of them with you.

Of those who don't go to church, what percentage of people identify Easter as a religious holiday? Seems pretty obvious doesn't it? Should be a big number shouldn't it? The answer? Only 46% of non-church goers attach any religious meaning to Easter. Ask what that religious meaning is and the number drops even further - only 25% can tell you Easter is about Jesus' resurrection.

Certainly the numbers are much better for church goers right? Ummmm, not really, I mean not anywhere near where I think they should be. For Protestants, 78% said Easter is a religious holiday but only 51% could identify Jesus' resurrection as the meaning. Eeeesch! Catholics scored even worse at 65% and 37% respectively. There is no pride to be taken in any of these numbers.

There are plenty more breakouts of percentages, liberals versus conservatives, young verses old, gender, marital status, region and more. The news isn't very good in any category though. You can see all the results for yourself at: http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/13-culture/356-most-americans-consider-easter-a-religious-holiday-but-fewer-correctly-identify-its-meaning

What the numbers tell me is that there is a consequence to not sharing the Gospel message. Keeping your faith to yourself has a result. Not following the Great Commission to make disciples encourages people to be disciples of an MTV world- where faith is mocked and truth is scorned.

I think it is becoming clearer every day that we are no longer a Christian nation- we may claim to be, but we don't even know what Easter is, what it means- how God's greatest gifts of atonement, redemption, forgiveness, grace and eternal life came flowing out of this day. How can Christians not know that? How can Christians not share that? How can we not live differently because of that?

Let me encourage you this week to live so that others ask about the hope that is in you. Let me encourage you to share, even in the smallest of ways the Gospel message. Visit the sick, help the widows and orphans, love your neighbor - be a doer of the Word that encourages others. These are the things that we do in joyful response to Easter- and they raise the spirits of others (hopefully to an eternal destination) and maybe even survey numbers as well!

Blest Regards,
kp

Feelin Good!

I'm sure I've told you, Easter is my favorite day of the year- by far. The meaning of Easter is so important to me- Jesus is risen! means I will too. I'm saved for an eternity and that's a perfect length of time as far as I'm concerned.

I love sunrise services, Easter breakfast and hearing 'Jesus Christ is Risen Today'. I love bright Easter clothes and the message of hope. I love family and friends gathering to worship. I love big Easter meals. All these things taken together form the best day of the year.

Last year I took Cale to Philadelphia to see a blues guitarist and singer Joe Bonamassa. If you like your blues mixed with a little rock then Joe is worth checkin out. He wrote a song that I'm sure didn't have an Easter intent but it perfectly describes how I feel on Easter. Check out a couple of the verses:

Birds flying high , you know how i feel
Sun in the sky , you know how i feel
Breeze drifting on by , and you know how i feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And i'm feelin' good


Stars when you shine , you know how i feel
Scent of a pine , you know know how i feel
Oh freedom is mine , and i know how i feel

It's a new dawn
It's a new day
It's a new life for me
And i'm feelin' good
Yes i'm feelin' good oh oh
Mmmmmmm Mmmmmm
And i'm feelin' good

A new dawn on that first Easter day means a new life for me- an eternal one. And especially on Easter morning, that has me feelin good! Yes I'm feelin good!

I hope you realize the 'hope', the sure confidence of salvation, is yours also thanks to Jesus' work on that first Easter morning. Its a new dawn, its a new day for you as well. I hope this morning you're feelin good! You should you know. The creator of the universe loves you- yes you- with an everlasting love.

So have a great Easter morning, a great Easter day. He is Risen! He is Risen indeed- and I'm feelin good!

Easter Blessings,
kp