Brother, where art thou?

Annalee's Hawiian 14th Birthday Party

2009-02-02T19:36:00.007-05:00

Shown here are Monique, Abby, Annalee and Becky all dressed for a sleep over (should be called a 'stay up over') watching all three Pirates of the Caribean movies back to back!

Ah 'tis true... my little girl is growing up! The Hawiian theme encompassed the Dining room too.

There was a little 'carpet surfing'

And of course CAKE

Colin Won AWANA Grand Prix Award

2009-02-02T19:27:00.003-05:00

Greetings friends!

Sorry to have been idle so long. A long explanation is due, but it would prevent me posting these important updates so it will have to wait.

Colin designed and entered his "Madge" locomotive tow truck in the AWANA (stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed from the Bible II Timothy 3:16 -- It's a youth group for kids at our church and, in fact, worldwide) Grad Prix and Won the Most Creative Prize. He cut it out on the bandsaw, sanded and shaped it. I cut some pieces of wooden railway track from his Thomas the Tank engine toys and helped hom glue them on. Then he and I spray painted it literally hand in hand. He held the can and started and stopped the pain and I helped guide his had to get even coverage. We painted the trim together and he finished with a black sharpie marker. I added the washers to get it up to the weight limit to help it race well (didn't work)

All in all we had a lot of fun together!

Bike to the Bay 2008 is History!

2008-09-30T06:56:00.003-04:00

Well, it's over for this year! The Pike Creek Bible Church team are (left to right): John Jobes, Dan Weber (captain), Reed Potecha, Phil McNeil, Mark Legere and myself. It was even raining when we took the picture as it did for much of the two days.

Thanks to the many of you who prayed for us as there were no significant accidents or injuries. Thanks as well to the many who supported each of us by giving to Bike MS in our names. If you pledged and haven't sent in the money yet (or if you haven't pledged yet) there's still time. The cut off is late in October.

That's all for now

Still me... still here

2008-09-08T16:08:00.003-04:00

No, contrary to the appearance of this blog, I am not dead. Although these days I find myself quoting Dolly Parton's Nine to Five character "I'm as busy as a one legged man in a butt kicking contest"

Yes, family are all well. Yes, my work, like yours, is busy but good. I have seen the blessing of answered prayer in my requests for effectiveness and wisdom in my use of time.

In an apparent attempt to compound my busy-ness to near insane levels, I have signed up to ride the Bike to the Bay MS150 to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis. It is scheduled to be a 150 mile, two day ride from Dover, DE to Rehobeth, DE on Saturday, Sept 27, 2008 and back on Sunday.

To move me toward a completing a personal goal to ride 200 miles in one day (sometime next Spring, maybe), I am planning to begin at first light (0-dark thirty, Fred) Saturday in Rehobeth and ride to Dover and back. Then I expect to join a number of friends for the 75 mile return trip Sunday.

This is the third or fourth time I've ridden in this event or one like it (City to Shore). Each time it seems I become aware of more people I know personally that are affected by MS. The training is going well, though the lo-o-ong distance experts I am reading are a little grim in their outlook.

Read up on my trip if you like here or ask me how I did (or if I am able to sit down yet (haha))

Bye for now...
ksk<><<

I've started a picture board

2008-04-18T12:08:00.004-04:00

In order to help me pray for you more effectively, I have started a picture board here at my desk. It has pictures of many of you as well as pictures that remind me of others. I fear that as things continue to be busy, I could overlook my commitment to hold you up before our Abba (our heavenly daddy). At the same time,
I'm memorizing I Sam 12:23 Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for you...

To that end, keep me up to date as to how you'd like me to pray

yours and His
ksk<><

Anxious mind?

2008-03-18T14:44:00.003-04:00

Listen to this quote and tell me, sounds like Old Testament or New?

There, the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life.

It may have been a bad way to ask the question... it is old testament (Deuteronomy 28:65b-66), but it made me think that I sometimes feel like this.

It comes from a section near the end of Moses life when he is re-telling Israel about the blessings of obeying God's Law and the curses for disobeying. A few verses previous, he lays out the way to avoid the foreign captivity that brings about the above desperate mental situation: (58) "...carefully follow all the words of this law..." and "...revere this glorious and awesome name -- the Lord your God..."

I feel al little like I am a foreign captive of sin... longing and pining for the righteousness of Heaven, the eternal joy of worship unhindered by my own sin, the relief of being forever freed of the consequences of my bad choices and those of others.

Should it be this way? God has given us all things freely to enjoy... there are blessings to be had here... am I being too far-sighted?

Thanks for sharing this thought with me...

Daddy, what does "Maundy" mean?

2008-03-17T09:28:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, as my family and I worshipped together, during the announcements both kids, almost in unison turned and asked nearly the same question.

I remember looking it up before, and I remember being surprised at its meaning, but I could not remember what it meant. Turns out the word maundy means command. According to Wikipedia,

The word Maundy is derived through Middle English, and Old French mandé, from the Latin mandatum, the first word of the phrase "Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos" ("A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you"), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.

So we are commanded by Jesus word and example to love one another at the level of washing one anothers' feet: intimate, humble and self-deprecating.

I am praying you'll have a blessed and transformational Holy Week

A little Friday thought... ask for help

2008-03-06T15:44:00.002-05:00

Today, I'm taking time off from work to seek wise advice from a friend. I am anxious that perhaps a decision I've made is unachievably ambitious and I am asking him to look at it with his "fresh eyes" (an expression I learned while working for a Japanese company) and give me his unvarnished opinion. To even have such a friend is priceless to me.

You've read that e mail about people coming into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime? I did not seek to meet this guy, we just happen to share membership at the same church. Yet his very nature is open and available. I wonder if I am that way?

I encourage you today. If you have a problem, ask for advice from a wise friend. If you don't, then build friendships with wise people or seek to be available for those in need. My favorite Book is peppered with quotables about how plans succeed when wise counsel is sought, when many counsellors are employed, and when the Wonderful Counsellor is besought (beseached?)

Thank you for being a friend to me... I trust I can be one to you as well.

A summary of parts 2-6

2008-02-13T14:40:00.003-05:00

Hitchiker said he would love to see parts 2-6. I don't have the time or ambition to flesh those out retrospectively, but I can give you the outline:
1 be grateful see How to celebrate Christmas *properly* pt 1
2 be content. This flows naturally out of the first and sets you up for the rest. Contentment is not complacency. Contentment says 'God is good all the time and all the time God is good'. It is a wilful choice to accept what is yours. If you've ever been around a person that's content, you know what I mean. They're like a big comfy couch: welcoming, comforting, refreshing and encouraging all at the same time
3 be generous. If you haven't done 1 and 2, you're stuck. Go back. Like our words are the overflow of the content of our heart, so generosity is the overflow of our stuff... our material blessings. This is easy for a few of us whose love language is giving and receiving gifts, but for the rest of us it falls somewhere between almost like work and downright impossible.
4 be creative as a way of being generous with who you are instead of just what you have. These are the gifts you really remember. Like the time your kids gave you coupons for them to do things for you.
5 be thoughtful - the gift that is most desired or needed may be a couple hours of your time, your listening ear, a hug or the like
6 be patient and don't overschedule - it helps you savor the joys and gives you time to do the others without exhausting yourself
and 7 be extensive... don't stop celebrating just because the calendar says to. see How to Celebrate Christmas *properly* part 7

A reason, a season, a lifetime

2008-02-13T14:15:00.001-05:00

You've gotten that e mail, I'm sure stating that friends come for:
- a reason: either you have a need they can meet or they have one you can meet
- a season: a period of time which seems to start and end at the Lord's discretion
- a lifetime: obvious

We'll I've just had a ministry that left me. It seems it's season was over... at least for now. This ending has been bitter-sweet to me. Bitter in the sense that I hate to stop doing something I enjoy which also helps men and women get to know my Lord or get to know Him better. But sweet in the way it happened.

I have been asking for wisdom in the use of my time for a long time and a month or so ago, a friend said, "Maybe it's time to let something go..."

I talked to my wife Karen at length and she said "Maybe you should let it go..." Then there were my two accountability partners, Brent and Craig. Each of them counselled the same. Then there was my Thursday morning mens group: Dave, Rusty and Joe who said the same kinds of things.

Seems like sometimes the best thing I can "do" is to stop doing something that's season is past.

PS You know it's been too long since your last post when you forget your blogger password. my apologies.

How to celebrate Christmas properly - Part 7

2008-02-01T14:21:00.000-05:00

No, part 7 has nothing to do with Independence Day... There was a well planned series intended to occupy the space between part 1 and 7. None the less here is part 7: Extend your moderated celebrations (part 2) as long as possible.

You see I have the good fortune of having a January birthday. If you
don't, fret not as there is yet much hope for you. See, on average, one in twelve people has a January birthday. Therefore collect friends and acquaintences until you find one.

Here are photos of a birthday fondue celebration at the Melting Pot Restaurant in Independence Mall in Wilmington DE. with (clockwise from left) my wife Karen Kohler, Betsy Burton, Anita Rafetto, Rod Rafetto, Kevin Kohler and our host, Steven Kohler It just so happens that Rod's wife Anita's birthday and mine fall on the same day.

The point of Part 7 is plainly this: The most important thing about Christmas is that we celebrate Jesus Christ's birth. But we could do no worse dis-service to His mission and legacy than to end our celebrations there. His mission was most broadly seen as He walked among common folk and met needs. The coup d'etat of His mission is celebrated the first Sunday after the first full moon following the vernal equinox, which a few of us call only Resurrection Day. Therefore, in my opinion, the more our celebrations focus on meeting the needs of people around us and remembering His death and resurrection, the more deeply satisfying they will be.

On the above pictured day, we met our own needs (and a whole lot more) and I suppose no one elses... but we did relish the Resurrection and what it meant to each of us and at least in part because of that, I really enjoyed myself.

How to properly celebrate Christmas, Pt. 1

2007-12-04T16:21:00.000-05:00

Step #1 Have all of your Christmas shopping completed before Halloween -- although admirable from many standpoints including stress, budgetting, and economy, few actually achieve this... aspire to it anyway!
Step #2 To prepare for Christmas, fast from all food and drink except water beginning

the day before thanksgiving until Thanksgiving dinner. It's amazing how

much time and brain power this frees up to count your blessings and to make you more aware of how great your blessings are. Attend a Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year, we attended the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia. Here are some photos:

Step #3 Celebrate Thanksgiving as the first feast of Christmas. No better gifts will come from you or to you than can be derived from a heart of gratitude.

Closing Time

2007-11-21T16:01:00.001-05:00

One of my favorite films this time of year is nearly any version of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But today I am thinking of the Muppet one. Early in the film, after Scrooge has gone home on Christmas Eve, the shop staff and Bob Cratchet have a brief celebration of closing time before the impending holiday.

That is exactly how I feel tonight having crammed 40 hours of Engineering into this 3 day week and having kept the hounds at bay at the Financial Planning office to boot. I am brain weary for sure... but very aware that many would like to have a job let alone one with flexible hours as I have. Many would also like a family to go home to and a home to which to go. I am a man greatly blessed of God.

Some of those blessings are structural, like the freedoms and the general and disproportionate prosperity with which the West and most notably the US live by comparison to the rest of the world. Others are relational, deriving from the people I have known and to whom I am related and the many benefits they have showered on me, knowingly or not. But even so, there are some that cannot be satisfactorily explained to me any other way than the direct intervention of Almighty God into the fabric of time and space for my benefit.

The most noteworthy of these is that I am even aware that there is a God Who passionately desires a relationship with every individual that has ever lived on the face of this terrestrial ball for so much as a second, bar none. And the second is that He has wooed me into an eternal relationship with Him

If you are reading this, YOU are very likely one of the people I am grateful for. I cannot always tell how, but somehow, you have been used as the very fingertip of God to touch my life with blessing. And I pray I'll have opportunity to tell you face to face just exactly how I've seen God bless my family and me through you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

(Mother always told us not to eat food that talked)

Fences

2007-11-14T11:51:00.000-05:00

My men's accountability group meets each Thursday morning for breakfast at a nearby restaurant. We're reading and discussing Jerry Bridges Transforming Grace subtitled Living Confidently in God's Unfailing Love. It has been a great book thus far with about a 50-50 balance of encouragement and correction for me personally.

We were to have read Chapter 9 for last week titled "Called to be Free" in which Bridges lays out essentially the Christian's Magna Charta of basic freedoms from legalism and many of the common strictures of organized religion. It is not freedom from God, but rather freedom to worship God without first having to check a list of "do's and don't's" (Curiously, I knew very little about the Magna Charta until I read this and did some research -- interesting stuff)

To illustrate, he cites an example from his own life of a family vacation to the beach. Long story short, there were too many revealing bathing suits for him to really enjoy his time there. He knew that if he stayed, he would eventually look with lust, so he informed the family that he was going to the car. By so doing, he maintained a standard of visual purity for himself without imposing it on his family. Perhaps even more importantly, though, he resisted the naturally human temptation to say, "going to the beach will always lead to sin, therefore the beach is evil and we're not going there ever again."

I am certain that there are places for that kind of statement, mainly when God has made such a statement and we make it to obey Him. But he gained a credible teaching moment for his kids because he chose holiness to the Lord over the path of least resistance. Part of this is born out of Bridges own upbringing in which he was told "Don't go to pool halls." His parents could have initiated conversations to warn him about drug and alcohol abuse, smoking, carousing, unwise use of money, or gambling. Instead they simply equated Billiards with Sin in his mind. The comedy of which is that he had a mental struggle as an adult upon finding a pool table at a Christian conference center. Pool is not evil and the beach is not evil any more than the church or the christian conference center is all good. There are obedient and disobedient people at both places and they can influence you both places for good or ill.

An attractive girl in my growing up church who had parents in positions of respect and leadership is an example of the latter. On a youth retreat with her parents present, she organized a "long walk" that turned out to be a short walk and a long pot smoking (the parent's weren't present on the walk). That could easily have influenced me to go that way. Thank God it didn't... last I knew her life is a mess. Oh Father, please continue to draw her toward yourself.

Fences applied as Jerry Bridges describes here are the modern equivalent of eating meat offered to idols: not clearly right or wrong in itself, but a precipitous place to walk because: applied heavy-handedly we risk treading on someone else's tender conscience yet applied imprudently, too little, too late or not at all, we risk destroying our credibility as a witness for our Lord.

So am I saying build a fence? I don't know. Do you need one? ...then build it. Talk about it with others? Yes, with tenderness of heart so that they can be built up and encouraged in much the same way as our conversations encourage me.

THANK YOU! I am sorry it has been so long since my last post and that there hasn't been much human interest here recently. I'll upload some pictures and write you some balance, Daniel-san!

Disturb Us

2007-10-31T13:04:00.000-04:00

I stumbled accross this today. It intrigued me as I read so that I read with increasing attention and interest, fully expecting to see that the author was some peer or contemporary of ours who clearly understood exactly the unease that comes with familliarity and smooth sailing.
As I write this, I think of a brother who was just lamenting how tall the waves are where he is, and how dark the night. Hang on, brother, God wants to reveal Himself to you there. Your difficulty is no accident and your family are needy to see you boldly holding fast to what you know is true in the absence of so much as a ray from a distant lighthouse.
I myself am in choppy seas with gusty unpredictable winds. I have sought familliar shelter through rest, through dear friends, through worship... but they have not satisfied me. Perhaps now I know why. My Master repeats His invitation to Peter to me, "Come" (Matt 15:29). Not so that I learn to walk on water, Peter failed there too. But rather that I learn to look to the Master.

Disturb us, Lord, when

We are too well pleased with ourselves,

When our dreams have come true

Because we have dreamed too little,

When we arrived safely

Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when

With the abundance of things we possess

We have lost our thirst

For the waters of life;

Having fallen in love with life,

We have ceased to dream of eternity

And in our efforts to build a new earth,

We have allowed our vision

Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,

To venture on wider seas

Where storms will show your mastery;

Where losing sight of land,

We shall find the stars.

We ask You to push back

The horizons of our hopes;

And to push into the future

In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Sir Francis Drake - 1577

Where do you think we go when we die?

2007-10-17T12:34:00.001-04:00

I happened accross an interesting forum this morning, asking "Where do you think we go when we die?" I responded after reading the first page or so of responses with the following:

The fact that the question troubles all humankind so deeply suggests that it is not a cultural, geographical or age related question. It is born out of who we are and where we come from. I as an engineer and a student of nature cannot believe that things got better and better without any train wrecks until the amoeba that crawled out of the primordial ooze finally became a human. The idea of an intelligent creator appeals to me and I find it to be consistent with all that I see around me.

The Bible claims to be the self revelation of that creator to his creation and as has been mentioned above, specifies that there are two eternal dwelling places, to one of which every person will eventually go. It also lays out a history of how this came to be and a path to get to heaven. Heaven is desireable to me because it is "good". Therfore, if everyone gets in, including the Hitlers... it doesn't seem like where I want to be.

I understand that the idea of reincarnation or just ceasing to exist is desireable at some level, because it takes away eternal responsability for your actions and decisions... but again I cannot fathom that it is possible to live like I want without consequence.

THEREFORE, I believe that everyone will go either to heaven or to hell and I hope that you will pursue heaven... I'd love to meet you there.

What do YOU think?

Wonderful to me!

2007-10-04T12:40:00.000-04:00

Your comments both here and to my e mail are so encouraging and I love each of you (even the ones that don't respond!). So many of your names cross my lips as I thank God for the people he has used to bless my life.

segue About 6 months ago, I had a dream that a brother and sister in the Lord were expecting. I mentioned it to them at the time and we all chuckled about it and I completely forgot about it. So imagine my surprise when they called last week to say that they are expecting!

There is an old Jewish saying, "Man plans and God laughs" In this case, I think we're all having a good hearty laugh because what for SO long seemed impossible has turned out to my faithless eyes to be possible with God (just as He said it was all along). So my friends who've been married quite a while are now in the throws of re-arranging their lives and their house to make ready for this new gift of God.

Sometimes, these little things just tickle me and I wind up driving down the road or in the middle of something completely unrelated and suddenly laughing out loud and saying, "WOW, God, You are so wonderful to me!"

These footsteps want to stay

2007-09-27T12:02:00.000-04:00

Wow, friends

long time no writing from me. The light at the end of the tunnel is in view (and it is not an oncoming locomotive)

I have had the Jim Croce song "One less set of footsteps" running around in my head all morning and particularly the line

But tomorrows a dream away
Today has turned to dust
Your silver tongue has turned to clay
And your golden rule to rust

which I found easily at www.jimcroce.com. It is an interesting site as I had no idea about who he was, what forces shaped him and what legacy he (unexpectedly) left. But all that aside

As one with a 'gift of gab', I am wondering how easily I might lead someone to the same conclusion "Your silver tongue has turned to clay" and the one following it "your golden rule to rust" which really bothers me more.

I really am not all that concerned about what anyone thinks of me. I don't mean that as coldly as it sounds, really. But I do worry about the impact my life has on others' perceptions of the Golden Rule and all the good and godly things that reside nearby.

Have I ever ticked you off or let you down? Is there anything I can do to make amends?

Faithful is He...

2007-09-11T11:26:00.000-04:00

I have a regular speaking engagement each month in the elementary chapel at my son's school. I have been working my way through the book of II Timothy with them under the title 27 Imperatives from Second Timothy. It continues to amaze the teachers, faculty and me that first through fifth graders can absorb and enjoy exegesis -- a literal verse by verse exposition of the Scriptures as described in Nehemiah 8:8

So last Friday was my first visit of this school year and after a brief introduction and refresher, we got to the topic at hand, chapter 2 verses 11-13. We can talk about this in detail if you like, but the bottom line is that this quotation is likely a Baptismal recitation of the early church.
- Verse 11 draws the picture of our decision to follow Christ and our transformation from death to life.
- The first half of Verse 12 points to the tie between suffering and reward
- The second half of Verse 12 draws out the reality that I can make a wilful choice for Christ for the wrong reasons or in a half-hearted way and wind up 'backing out' later
- Verse 13 is the Ah-h-h-h at the end of all that. 'If we are faithless...' It is were I live and probably where you live too. We've made a sincere decision to follow and yet we blow it. We don't set out to be faithless, but that is so often what I am. And to this Paul adds the comfort: 'He will remain faithful for he cannot disown Himself.'

It's insanely busy here just now and my quiet times have suffered and in the hunger pangs that surface from that, the Spirit brings back to me that "If (or more accurately for us: When) I am faithless, He will remain faithful for he cannot disown Himself."

Thank you, Oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit 'til
Your work on earth is done

There is nothing that is in front of you or I today that we cannot be victorious over. Not because we're all that, but because "He who promised is faithful, He will bring it to pass". Some stuff might not get done the way we think it should or when we think it should, we may hear about how we botched something up, but we can walk in the absolute assurance that being obedient to the Word and to the leading of the Holy Spirit as they together seek to conform us into the image of Jesus Christ is the Victorious thing to do.

Thank you for hearing me today

Don't watch if you want to be unmoved

2007-09-05T17:38:00.000-04:00

This is a little grisley. I don't recommend it for young kids, though they've seen much more violence in their TV shows. But I titled it correctly: Don't watch if you want to be unmoved.

Your brother writes because I love you...

http://www.ksbj.org/eblogs/afternoonShow/?p=86

When prayers go "unanswered"

2007-09-05T16:39:00.000-04:00

Today I write with questions and few answers. There have been any number of times in my life and doubtless yours too, when I have asked God to heal this person or change this circumstance and He has. And yes, I am grateful for every one. But the troublesome thing for every person on the face of the planet, I think, is "unanswered prayer" Now I'm not naive enough to think that they really are unanswered... I am fully aware that all prayers are answered it's just that some get answered "No" and others "Not now"

My brother and I lost our mom to complications of breast cancer when we were 19 and 21 respectively. She was 42 (same age I am now)

We lost dad in 2003 to complications of a heart attack and consequent bypasses (can't remember how many). He was 72.

Two months ago, my Aunt passed away after a lengthy and painful battle with cancer. We took it as a merciful answer to her desire to be done with the pains of this earth and be reunited with her Lord and her loved ones gone before.

Last week we lost my wife's 42 year old second cousin Amy to cancer of the uterus, discovered only 2 weeks ago.

In each case, the person lived a clear testimony of personal faith in Jesus Christ and therefore, we have the calm assurance of Second Corinthians 5:8 that for the believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and of First Thessalonians 4:13 and following that we will meet again and share an eternity of joyful worship.

Yet each time this has happened, my sense of loss has been more profound than the last. I never met Amy. I had heard of her grim diagnosis and her progresses and setbacks, but her passing hit me like having the wind knocked out of me. I really expected a "Yes"

When my aunt died, I promised my uncle and cousin that I would call in a couple months when everything had settled down. That should be now. But I don't feel ready. Perhaps now is a good time because all the lofty sounding answers aren't there and I can say with them, "this hurts... a lot..." and "I don't know when the hurt will stop..." Thankfully I can also say that I don't remember how or when, but it does fade and the good memories don't (so much). So in balance, it does get better with time, I think.

I went to the hospital to see my mom on the morning she died. She was almost unresponsive... there are tears as I remember... I said, "Mom, it's Kevin..." she said "A, B, C, D..... Jesus loves me..." It was the last thing she said. I never knew her to lie.

Jesus loves me...

Your hurting brother is done rambling now.

Obadiah?

2007-08-22T22:33:00.000-04:00

Yes, it's true, I am continuing to read through the minor prophets and recently had the opportunity to re read the one chapter book of Obadiah. The whole story of that book hearkens back to Isaac's two sons Jacob (who would later be renamed Israel by God) and Esau (whose descendants were called Edomites)

You remember the whole trading birthright for a bowl of lentil stew, right? And the follow up to that was that Jacob, with some coaching from his mom, tricked his dad Isaac out of the blessing that Isaac meant for Esau. Well fast forward a few hundred years. It seems that some of the nation of Israel's enemies were attacking and Edom was aware of it but did nothing to help except to help plunder. For this, God declares that Edom would be destroyed without a trace.

I was trying to think of a way to use this for family discussion and here's the way I pitched it. The whole book is basically a lesson in covering your brother's back and the consequences if you don't. (You'll note in my bio that I am a huge Phil Keaggy fan. On the Keaggy King Dente album Invention (now out of print) the lead song is called Watch Your Back and I really like it.) I had very good attention from the kids at this point. But it is so much bigger than blood brothers. I cannot help but see several applications to us today:

1- We are all human and therefore descendants of Adam, we should be looking out for every creation of God and especially our fellow image bearers

2- As Christians, every man, woman and child that has accepted Christ as Savior is our brother or sister. It doesn't matter how they were baptised or what they wear to church

3- As families, no one should out rank our own in terms of gaining our kind words and gifts of time and affection. Unfortunately, it seems like too often our family gets the worst of us instead of the best.

Your thoughts?

So now you're a movie critic?

2007-08-21T11:58:00.000-04:00

Last night Karen and I watched an excellent but VERY difficult film called the Pursuit of Happiness. I say it was excellent because:

- The plot was discernible but not heavy handed. When I think of heavy handed, I think a line in the Gregory Peck version of To Kill a Mockingbird in which the young daughter, Scout, says to her dad (Peck), "Gosh daddy, that would be like killing a mockingbird!" The protagonist here, Chris Garner, portrayed by Will Smith, often gives narrative comments including direct reference to and quotation of the title, but it is done in a way that seems appropriate.

- The characters are very well developed in a very narrow way. Because it is one man's story, I left feeling that if I met Chris now, we could have a very meaningful conversation. Each other character is above average in his development including the son, the mom, the bosses, etc

- The acting and cinematography made the events palpable. To such an extent that the movie become difficult for me to watch. I became so involved in the film that I had to pause it and walk away for a minute to catch my breath. It took several moments after it was over and the credits were done and the VCR had finished rewinding for me to unpack what I had seen.

It was difficult in a similar way to the Green Mile. The course, in broad strokes, is fairly clear and even though you pretty much know where its going, it still shocks you with its heft and (emotional) brutality.

I alluded in another post to the house of cards I so often feel is mine... that the tiniest puff of wind or inadvertent movement by me or another will bring it tumbling down around my ears on those I love best. This theme compounded my difficulty in watching: the dogged and affable Garner reaps things that would crush my heart and stop me in my tracks. The pains are borne equally by those around him even though they are not responsible for causing them... and yet he goes on.

I don't want to be a critic, it is much too hard to give you a good feeling for what's going on without telegraphing the films punches. I have never respected that trade as I do today.

None the less, this is a film you should consider. It propounds some of those rumored fears that hang on the edge of many of our consciousnesses and succeeds in convincing us, if ever so understatedly, that it will all come out right in the end. There is room for a sequal I'm not sure could work, but then again, I don't know that I'd have given this one the green light until Smith actually did it (as lead and co director)

It accuses me of being too careless as I speak to those around me (especially my kids) and often too prideful to correct myself. It propels me to do some things I have often said I would and never gotten around to like helping to serve at a local mission. And it convinces me yet again that my Heavenly Father cares for you and I so much better than we deserve and that I, at least, am very ungrateful.

Take your prozac if you must but definitely take in the film.

Evangelism and THE Big Fish Story

2007-08-17T09:20:00.000-04:00

Yes, sadly it is true, I inherited my dad's tendency to exaggerate (lie). Confession is good for the soul... but that's not what this post is about...

My reading the last several days has taken me through familiar territory from my childhood in the book of Jonah. And here's the surprising thing to me from the 30,000 foot perspective: in Chapter 2 Jonah prays, confesses his own sin and the fact that his present circumstance (being in the belly of a great fish) is a direct result of his disobedience. (Sorely lacking in modern culture... but no shocker here.) He continues by saying that he would do what God had asked and he essentially confesses that God is gracious. OK, No big revelation here.
But much of Jonah's words and actions in Chapter 4 are about how displeased he is that God was gracious to the Ninevites. Now admittedly, the Ninevites were enemies of Israel and notorious for their unspecified evils. I suspect that it was much more heinous than slapping one another with fishes as the Veggie Tales portray.

I guess it's the hypocrite in me that sees the hypocrite in Jonah so clearly. He fully expected to be forgiven when he agreed with God that he was wrong and decided to go a new direction (the definition of repentance) but desired God to punish an entire nation without giving them a chance and without honoring their apparently sincere repentance.

Even sadder to me is that he had no compassion on those people. Jonah didn't desire their best interest at all. It seems his preaching to them was out or rote obedience to the Word of God. And even that was effective.

So should I be less furious at the folks that go down my street at 40 mph (posted 25) while I expect to go unpunished for routinely travelling 70 or more on a road posted 55 and right now posted at 45? How do I harmonize these? I believe I need to first admit my fault and mend my ways and then be righteously but graciously indignant at other law breakers -- with a knowing smile that says "been there, done that, have the T shirt and the bumper sticker" (bumpah stickah for you Maine-iacs)

It is this last point that is hardest for me... certainly I know that Jesus died for the sins of the whole world, but some of them (us) are really hard to love. Oh, the handsome and pretty ones that are well spoken and polite and civil are pretty easy to pray for and even talk to about what the Lord has done for me. But I mean the selfish and nasty ones, with bad habits and bad breath and ... Those last two sentences reveal the source of my problem: I evaluate people with 5 physical senses instead of with my heart. How do I cultivate a God-like love for the souls of everyone around me? The classical answer is pray for them and I agree with a caveat: I must pray like Jesus prayed - looking at their eternal value before their Heavenly Father with the fullest intent of being the feet through which God would answer. I must pray with a desire to let the prayer remold my own heart.

A folded napkin tips off His soon return

2007-08-15T13:43:00.000-04:00

Why Did Jesus Fold The Linen Burial Cloth After His resurrection?

The Gospel of John (20:7) tells us that the napkin, which was placed over the face of Jesus, was not just thrown aside like the grave clothes. The Bible takes an entire verse to tell us that the napkin was neatly folded, and was placed at the head of that stony coffin.

1 Early morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and
found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. 2 She ran and
found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She
said, "They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where
they have put him!" 3 Peter and the other disciples ran to the tomb to
see. 4 The other disciples outran Peter and got there first. 5 He
stooped and looked in and saw the linen cloth lying there, but he didn't go
in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the
linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus' head was
folded up and lying to the side.

Is that important? Absolutely! Is it really significant? Yes!

In order to understand the significance of the folded napkin, you have to understand a little bit about Hebrew tradition of that day.

The folded napkin had to do with the Master and Servant, and every Jewish boy knew this tradition. When the servant set the dinner table for the master, he made sure that it was exactly the way the master wanted it. The table was furnished perfectly, and then the servant would wait, just out of sight, until the master had finished eating, and the servant would not dare touch that table, until the master was finished.

Now if the master was done eating, he would rise from the table, wipe his fingers, his mouth, and clean his beard, and would wad up that napkin and toss it onto the table. The servant would then know to clear the table. For in those days, the wadded napkin meant, "I'm done". But if the master got up from the table, and folded his napkin, and laid it beside his plate, the servant would not dare touch the table, because the servant knew that the folded napkin meant, "I'm not finished yet." The folded napkin meant, "I'm coming back!"

He is Coming Back!

I recieved all of the above from a godly brother with an e-ministry of encouragement. Fred is also a retired U.S. Marine Master Seargent and up and coming (pun intended) tree surgeon. As I wandered about the web looking to verify or debunk this, it is clearly... unclear. All I can add is: Even so, come quickly, Lord.

Too much Horsepower? (Blasphemy!)

2007-08-08T22:09:00.000-04:00

Wow! Your calls and comments and exortations to write more have been most encouraging. Thank you all so much!

So what happens when you put too much horsepower (if that were possible) into a really snazzy little car? Why you CAN get a very fun car. That was my experience when we built, sold and serviced AC Cobras (a full sized car that looks and works almost identically to the 1963-1969 joint venture among Carroll Shelby, AC Cars of UK and Ford Motor Co. of USA) Here's a pic of our car at Opryland Hotel just before Thanksgiving of 1994.

I suppose the real life analogy for too much horsepower is a life that is skidding out of control. Can you do it with an expensive sportscar? You bet! BUT you can also do it with a Yugo. It's not really a too much horsepower problem (phew!) It is either a too little traction problem (hardware) or it is a driver with poor control problem (software sort of).

You know the tale and it may be yours. It could be finances out of control, or relationships gone amok, or a little hobby that has taken over or a horrible dread that one of these days your house of lies is going to fall in on you.

The problem usually has two root causes, right? One or more bad choices on your part (bald tires, too much gas or turn too late) and some outside factors (rain, telephone pole (OUCH the thought even hurts)) So in my life it could be lack of maintenance (like eating right, exercising, getting enough rest) or it could be setting my sights too high (aiming for President when I'm really well suited for greeter) or I could be doing what I know to do too late or not at all. Most of those should be recoverable by themselves.

But this is where we get cornered so to speak, at least I did. I made my bad decisions, but then circumstances happened around me AND people reacted to me and BLAMMO I own a 10 1/2"diameter lodgepole pine hood ornament with creosote plating!

So what's the solution? I'll tell you what's working for me...

1- do the basics: eat, sleep exercise, be in the Word, in prayer and in worship regularly

2- preventative maintenance: read, introspect, have an accountability partner and listen to them

3- keep it simple: refuse to keep up with the Jonses or even the Grabowskis

4- be thankful for what you have.

Introductions (finally)

2007-08-02T14:14:00.000-04:00

Yes, it took forever, but I now have the second post WITH PICTURES and I think it's now set to accept anonymous comments

My Background tells a lot... but here's a little more

Born 1965 at Jefferson Hospital in PhilaPA. Raised in Audubon (Go Green Wave!) South Jersey which is in the garden part of the Garden State. Dad was an Optometrist, Mom was an RN and later a School nurse in neighboring Haddonfield. Dad went home in 03 and Mom in '85.

We were raised in church. I learned all that I know about right and wrong in the context of the Absolute Truth of the Bible. When I was in third grade, I remember realizing that I was characterized by rule breaking and that it wasn't acceptable to God to live that way. I accepted the gift of eternal life He clearly offers in the Bible for my own and have steadily grown increasingly in love with God for all that He is and all that He has done for me. I continue to press my own life toward obedience and practical holiness and to teach and mentor others.

I attended Drexel University in PhilaPA and graduated class of 88 (It is a 5 year program -- honest) with Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering.

In July of 88, I wedded my sweetheart (who had patiently dated me for 4 years). We bounced around the country doing machine design engineering for O-I Kimble Glass (NJ), the West Company (PA) , Sumitomo Electric Wiring Systems (KY), Terumo Medical Corp (MD) and All States Technical Services (DE). Sat for and Passed my PE in Kentucky (at Sumitomo)

We had our daughter while we were living in Williamsport, PA and our son while living here in Elkton, MD. After the Lord, my family are the joys of my life. She is a floutist and writer and he is all about ferroequinology (literally the study of iron horses = a railroad nut!) (First Picture)

My father in Law invited me to join his retirement planning practice in 2004 because he and I got along well and he felt I had the right personality for it. Long story short, I worked with him then for him and last year bought the practice from him and now he works for me (how cool is that?) Engineering never gave me the opportunity to see and talk to the people who benefitted from my work. Now they sit in my office or I in their home and I help them solve financial problems and achieve financial goals.

I guess I've always been a "car guy" too. In the second picture, I'm working on replacing the cylinder head on Steve's Model A roadster. There was a time early in our marriage when we incorporated the Classic Garage and built and serviced AC Cobra replica automobiles and other exotics. Lotsa fun for me, lots of stress for my wife and we're both glad that's behind us.

I have always bicycled. A man in our church started me into distance riding. The following year I rode my first MS 150. God willing I'll ride my 4th this September.

A view to the Ceiling

2007-07-31T12:55:00.000-04:00

I am looking for a clever way to tell an otherwise pedestrian tale. This weekend, (July 27-9, 2007) I took my brother to Williamsport, PA to help install a drop ceiling in a rental house Karen and I own. I had already done the same job in the other half of the double house (like a REALLY big house split down the middle) back when it was our residence. So I knew exactly what we had to do.

What we found is that it is not at all the same. To such an extent that the job that took me 10 hours by myself on the otherside took closer to 16 hours with my brother and a friend! But the result is wonderful, the lady that lives there is happy and my 'to-do' list is one item shorter. So if this is really an unmitigated success, why did I set it up so you'd read it like a failure or a quagmire?

I think it comes down to this: We have to be careful where we stand and who we listen to when we survey our lives (and others). If a surveyor stands in a valley, it appears from his data that everything around him is TALL. He is also prone to miss many details that he cannot see from his low angle. Conversely, if he surveys from a mountaintop, besides needing a very long plumb bob or story pole, his data will indicate that everything around him is very small. Here, too, he will be hard pressed to detect smooth undulations because of his view from above the horizon.

It is only when I am carefully being circumspect that my appraisal of self or others is reasonably accurate. Paul said it this way in Ephesians 5:15: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise.

I cannot think of an easier way to make a fool of myself than to speak more highly of myself than I ought. But my character and judgement is equally questionable if I denegrate myself in an unbalanced way. My friend Mike and my brother Steve were often called on to check if the ceiling was level to their eye because I was often too close. Likewise, I have often been spared heartache or disaster because I had someone challenge my myopia (and I have lived a few disasters because I didn't or because I didn't listen)

I just realized that these two thoughts tie back together here: you want to have circumspect people in your life giving you input. I don't really desire advice from Betty Better than You or Wally Woe is Me. Besides, there's something comforting about hearing from a peer you respect even if what they're saying isn't rosy... I know it's true.

Thanks for reading. You are a treasure!

ksk<><

first step

2007-07-26T07:15:00.000-04:00

The old Chinese proverb says that the first part of a long journey is the first step. And this is mine. I have never blogged before, but have been reading my dear friends Brent and Emancipation's blogs at www.lefttowrite.net and http://provokedthinking.blogspot.com/and am really inspired both by their transparency and by the encouragement I have gotten from all that they've done there.

Perhaps a bit of introduction would be good, So would some pictures and stuff, but I don't really have time for that now. I really want to post a thought that's been rolling around inside my head:

Yesterday I read the following from Amos chapter 5 verses 21-24 and it would like to have jumped off the page and smacked me in the face:

"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice peace (or fellowship) offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream."

I often wonder what God thinks of the worship I see and hear. I really wonder what He thinks of my worship and I guess in my heart of hearts I fear that this is exactly how He feels. So I re read the chapter to try to ferret out WHY God said this. The chapter title in my Bible (although NOT Divinely inspired) is "A Lament and Call to Repentance" and here's the pivotal verse to me: "Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is" (emphasis mine)

Over and over again, Scripture tells us, in essence:
It is not about what it looks like
It is not about how impressed others are
It is not about how impressed you are
It IS about your heart.

Now my sister Faith will jump in and remind me (rightly) that although it is true, a right heart will not be without right actions like preparation for worship, modest appearance, humility etc. But it starts in the heart.

OK, so how do I straighten out my selfish (and a myriad of other issues) heart? Obey what I already know. God doesn't hold me to an impossible standard. Sure he says, "Be Holy because I am Holy" but the outworking of that is simply to obey what you know right now. It reminds me of a Chinese Proverb.

the First part of a long journey is the first step. Will you step with me?