Autumn

Some random thoughts:

Took what will more than likely be my last walk around the University Golf Course this afternoon. it is a beautiful sunny day with the temp around 60. The wind is a warm and blustery, attempting to tear the dead leaves away from their anchors. When it is successful clumps of brown debris dive bomb unsuspecting victims below. The wind pushes stray leaves around amassing some into tightly woven clumps, until the wind again snares those on the outside edges, pushing them further along. The wind reminds me of the Holy Spirit (Ruah, Pnuema) stripping away the old to make way for the new.

Found two more golf balls bringing the total for the season to 48.

Game three of the World Serious is tonight. I am rooting for the old guy, Jamie Moyer, age 45, pitching in his first ever Fall Classic. It's not so much that it is his first time, but I think he represents all of us old guys in that age does not have to be a factor. There are a lot of things we can do when we get older and that it doesn't always have to be left to the next generation and that sometimes age can be a plus when it comes to these kinds of things (Of course he got bombed in his last two starts, so we will wait and see).

Tomorrow will be another painful reminder that winter is closing in on us (snow flurries forecast), so the windows will stay open late tonight, soaking in the last remnants of summer.

Confimania

One of the privileges I have of being an intern is to help out with the Wednesday night confirmation program at Peace. There are over 50 young (and I do mean young, 7th and 8th graders) adults that are participating in this program. In addition there are 10-12 mentors, two worship leaders and a bevy of adults who prepare dinner prior to the start of activities. (This dinner is also provided for the 20 -25 high schoolers that also show up each week). The program is structured similar to Melheim's Faith Inkubators, but Pastor Wayne (PW) has tailored it for Peace (and by the way it IS called "Confirmania").

PW doing what he does best, MBWA

This is the fellowship hall where Confimania is held each week. As you can see there is plenty of activity happening. And, the energy level is always on the high end.

A view from the other end. This was "servant night" and the participants were putting together Christmas shoe boxes for children in Africa. Each shoe box was individually wrapped, and then filled with various gifts, including some toiletries, beany babies, school supplies, and a card from the student who put the box together. There are also 3 instruction nights, a test night (where the mentors also debrief), and a fellowship night (where last Wed we went to a corn maze [try doing that fast in the dark!]). PW leads the first two 6 week units and I will get to lead the 3rd unit prior to Lent. Updates will be forthcoming.

commute

I realize this may be a more whimsical post, but I thought you would like to see what portions of my 50 mile commute looks like. If you are following by map, I take I-35 West from Falcon Heights, up through Lino Lakes to Forest Lake. Hanging a right I follow TH 97 east to TH 95. I follow this north to TH 243, take that across the ST Croix river, which separates MN from WI, through Osceola and up Th 35 to Dresser. (TH stands for Trunk Highway. This is one phrase that prior to moving here had never heard of, so I get to add to the list of colloquialisms I've accumulated).

Heading north on 35W

Leaving Forest Lake on TH97

Coming to the end of 97. This looks across the St Croix River Valley.

Heading north on 95

Yes, watch out for those deer!

Crossing the bridge on 243 looking north up river.

The booming metropolis of Osceola.

Apples

Deb and I have this ongoing conversation about what our plans are for our days off? You know, checking in to see if there is anything pressing that needs to be done. This can range from getting the hair done, to shopping, to taking the cat to the vet. So, when our schedule became free last Friday, the question became: What to do on a gorgeous autumn day? Let's go to that same place we went to last year (Nelsons Apple Farm, Webster MN [by the way this is not some shameless plug!]) and pick some apples. However, there are practical questions to be asked: Why do we need these apples?; What will we do with them?; Do we have to drive so far when there are closer places? And then there are the not so practical answers: I don't know; I don't know, make some baked goods?, and hey we know this place and it will be good to go someplace away from work. So we did, and ended up with 18 pounds of Red Harelson and Fireside apples, and a recipe for apple oatmeal raisin cookies. Yum!

A tree of Red Harelsons. Most of the trees were this laden with fruit.

Don't these look tasty?

The picker and cook of the operation.

Quick Fact: Red Harelsons are very tart and are good for eating, pie, salad, and sauce; while the Firesides are good for eating pie and salad, although we were advised to find the largest as they were the sweetest.

Clothesline Project

As I was visiting a parishioner at Regions Hospital a couple of days ago I noticed a bunch of t-shirts hanging up on a clothes line struck along one of the hall ways. Upon closer inspection, each t-shirt had a story to tell. These stories were not cute stories, but rather common stories of abuse, murder, and death. The size of the t-shirts ranged in size from new-born to XX large. This is the clothesline project. You can view their web site at,
http://www.clotheslineproject.org
It has gotten me thinking about how the church can help out in these situation, although I have not come up with any definitive answer.

Attack Ads

In case you haven't noticed, we are now into the extremely silly season of the political campaigns. Here in MN it seems to be especially virulent. not only are there the presidential ads, but we also have a very acrimonious Senate race between Norm Coleman, the incumbent (by the way has anyone noticed he talks just like Denzel Washington?) and Al "Mr Saturday Night Live" Franken. The third race is between two newbies vying for the vacant seat in the 6th district. All of these ads by both the candidates and their surrogates characterize the opponent as the devil complete with horns and pitchfork, while they themselves could not be more angelic. With one month to go, I am already beyond sick and tired of all of it. I can even predict the order of the ads on the local newscasts; attack ad #1,car ad #1, attack ad #2 (by the opposition), car ad #2 (different mfr.) attack ad #3(different race), furniture ad (no interest until 2025!), attack ad #4, car ad #3, attack ad #5 (3rd different race), furniture ad #2 (buy one piece get three pieces free!), Attack ad #6 (same as 2nd race), Car Ad #4, back to the weather. Enough already!

One last note: watched the vice-presidential debates last night. In my opinion, nobody won last night, including the voting public. There was so much obfuscation the answers looked like a scenic road through the mountains (you know curvy with no apparent direction to it). I was so disgusted I flipped it to the Cubs-Dodgers game after a half hour. Unfortunately there was no relief there either, with the Cubs losing 10-3.