Beautiful Reminder in Prayer

In my daily prayers, I often utilize some prayers from a hard-to-find book titled, The Daily Office by Herbert Lindemann. (I add them to my use of the great resource, The Treasury of Daily Prayer.)

Anyway, from the Daily Office for this week there were these great words, under the title, A General Thanksgiving:

Because through suffering and weakness Thou hast taught us patience and given us the sense of dependence upon Thee; because in health and strength Thou hast given us to share Thy joy in being active; and because in sorrow Thou hast revealed to us the glory of others’ kindness:

Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
For the discipline of life; for the endurance which is learned through drudgery; for the work which is its own reward; and for the difficulties which are the materials of victory, Thy victory in us:
Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
Because through the turmoil of life we find Thy peace; because for the challenge of life we need Thy strength; and because in the adventure of death we have Thy blessed hope:
Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
For the laughter of children; for pure mirth and kindly wit; for the jest of gallant souls and the cheerfulness of sufferers, which puts to shame our self-concern:
Glory be to Thee, O Lord.
For Thy church on earth; for the comfort and encouragement of the blessed company of all faithful people; and above all for the sense of Thy companionship in sacrament and prayer:
Glory be to Thee, O Lord.

A Big Day for a Little Girl

Look, no ... training wheels!

A Longer Summer

I think for most people, unofficial "summer" is from Memorial Day weekend until Labor Day weekend.

Well, if you like summer, I've got good news for you.Memorial Day, observed on the last Monday of May, is as early as it ever can be, May 25. (Note: that means that there is a Sunday in May after Memorial Day, May 31.) AND, Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is as late as it ever can be, September 7.

That means that there are 15 plus weeks of "summer" to enjoy. So get out there and enjoy it. And hopefully, we'll get some warm weather up here in Duluth to go along with it. :)

Summer "Convertible"

Wow, the month of April was busy for me, between Holy Week and Easter, and then other events. Now things are getting better. Warmer in Duluth, too. Time to get out the "Convertible."

Well, it doesn't really "convert" from anything, but it is a great outdoor vehicle for nicer weather in Duluth. I bought this a few years back, and have been very happy with it for getting around Duluth. It is a recumbent tricycle, and has served me well. It is geared down pretty well for getting up the Duluth hills. Sure, it is work going up hill, but you can go slow and not worry about tipping because of the third wheel. (Also, when I stop at lights or stop signs, I don't tip.) The wide padded seat is very comfortable, and I can pull a trailer with kids or groceries. From my home it is less than four miles to ust about anywhere I want to go, along nice streets or even the lakewalk. And when I'm running various errands, the miles can add up without seeming tiresome.

Last year the lakewalk was extended to 36th Avenue East, so I can get to or from downtown pedaling right along Lake Superior. (The only disadvantage is that coming home from downtown I end with almost a mile straight up the hill.)

Most of the winter I work out on recumbent aerobic machines, so those particular muscles stay in pretty good shape.

One fun trip I took a few years back included packing some camping gear in the trailer and biking to Jay Cooke for an overnight. I've taken this up to the Willard Munger Trail up the North Shore, too. I hope I can take this out camping this summer, one way or another.

Bible Bowl trophy

This past Saturday, March 28, was the Minnesota State Bible Bowl. LCMS Churches throughout the State of Minnesota sent 34 teams to Concordia University, St. Paul, to show off their knowledge of this year's topic, the Gospel of John, and compete for the top six individual and team trophies.

My own church sent a team for the third year in a row, each year improving, and this year coming home with the sixth place team trophy. Congratulations! In fact, we were the only church from the Minnesota North District to get a trophy this year.

We went down on Friday night and spent the night all sleeping on mats at University Lutheran Chapel's library. For fun on Friday night, we walked over to Mariucci Arena where the University of Minnesota--Duluth's hockey team was playing in the NCAA Division 1 tournament, so we were there when UMD scored two times in the last 40 seconds, sending the game into overtime and eventually winning in OT. Wow.

On Saturday morning, we had to get up pretty early, and the kids had been up late playing games and studying. Josef roused us all with the words, "Arise, take up your mat, and walk."

Love is an Active Thing

There was a great interview with Robert Gagnon, author of The Bible and Homosexual Practice, on Issues Etc. back on March 4. There was much in that interview, but what struck me was a quote from Augustine.

Gagnon pointed out that someone opposing his point of view and arguing for a more open point of view towards homosexual practice was quoting Augustine as saying "Love, and do what you want." However, Augustine uses this quote in the immediate context of rejecting homosexual behavior, and in fact shows the need for us as Christians to speak up and be more active in rejecting all immoral behavior. True love for the neighbor must not be lazy and let the neighbor do whatever, but must be active in helping that neighbor be what God wants him to be.

Here is more from Augustine: "If any of you perhaps wish to maintain love, brethren, above all things do not imagine it to be an abject and sluggish thing; nor that love is to be preserved by a sort of gentleness, nay not gentleness, but tameness and listlessness. Not so is it preserved. Do not imagine that . . . you then love your son when you do not give him discipline, or that you then love your neighbor when you do not rebuke him. This is not love, but mere feebleness. Let love be fervent to correct, to amend. . . . Love not in the person his error, but the person; for the person God made, the error the person himself made."

That's sometimes hard to live out. It is so much easier to say nothing. But that's not real love, either. I'm not sure who coined the phrase, "Hate the sin and love the sinner," but this quote from Augustine comes awfully close.

St Urho's Day

Happy St. Urho's Day everyone.

Here is my favorite St. Urho's Day poem:

The Legend of St. Urho
By Linda Johnson
(Published in The Finnish American Reporter)

There once was a boy, a Finlander fair
with sky-bright blue eyes and sunshine blond hair.
He came from up where the summer days
last twenty-four hours. From tough stock he came.
The Finns call it Sisu, it's courage and strength.
He was born in the sauna with sweat and steam.
One look at his face, and his mother just laughed.
Wrinkled and red, the babe looked like his dad.
"We'll call him Urho," his mother proclaimed.
"He's a strong boy, he needs a strong name."
Weaned on black coffee, hardtack and toast
he loved cardamon bread and ate more than most.
Urho grew like a weed; a typical boy.
The farm was his home, the land was his toy.
Urho's dad grew grapes to ferment over time
to make the Lutheran's communion wine.
At church the sacrament of body and blood
was Urho's dad's wine and cardamon bread.
Urho worked on the farm with his dad and his mom,
doing chores with a whistle, filling the sauna with song.
One Sunday at church Urho heard pastor say
"Dear folks we need Sisu and we all need to pray.
The grasshoppers are here and they're eating the vines,
Without any grapes we won't have our wine."
Urho snuck out of church and ran home that day
as fast as he could while the pastor prayed.
Urho rushed to the field where the grasshoppers ate.
Did he make it in time? Or was he too late?
Urho cried out aloud with all of his might.
His voice echoed like thunder and made day turn to night.
Heinasirkka, Heinasirkka, mene taalta Hilteen!
and with his fierce words the green plague was beaten.
Translated these words in English say
"Grasshopper, grasshopper, please go away."
The ugly beasts flew away into the night
and the darkness changed from shadow to light.
As Finland was freed from the insects so vile,
they pronounced Urho a saint and not just a child.
The legend has grown and spread through the years
of a brave Finnish boy without any fear.
Now each March 16 we celebrate this way:
wearing purple and green for St. Urho's Day.

Christians and Contraception

A great hour-long discussion about contraception on the Issues, Etc., radio program. Play below or Listen here.

Sermon on the Death of a Baby

Texts: 2 Samuel 12:15b-23; Romans 14:6-9; Matthew 18:1-5,10-11; Mark 10:13-16

Dear friends,

We gather in sadness, mourning the death of this little baby, [n.]. Death is never easy. But there should not be caskets this size. We know death is in this world as a result of sin, and death is always a reminder to us of the fact that this world is not as God first created it. We mourn the loss TO US of the life of this baby, [n.], and yet we know that God is in control, and that this child is in the arms of Jesus.

The readings this afternoon reflect that. The first reading was from the life of King David. David of course is well-known. His battle against Goliath, his rise to Kingship, even his great sins of adultery and murder. Perhaps less well know is the illness that plagued his son, the first son born from Bathsheba. This son was sick and died shortly after birth, longer than baby Caleb—seven days, not seven seconds. And yet, for that boy, seven days was one day too short a time. For it was on the eighth day that their boys were circumcised, a sign of being in the family of God, like our baptism, and on the eighth day they received a name. Instead, that boy died without circumcision or a name. And yet despite that, King David expressed his confidence in eternal life and that eternal life had been given to his son in His words: “I shall go to him, but he will not return to me.”

In the reading from Mark, Jesus was indignant that his disciples were trying to keep the children from him. “Let the children come to me,” Jesus said. “Do not hinder them; for to such belong the kingdom of God.” To such, meaning NOT, as some people think, that ALL children are saved, or that we need to become like children in general. To whom belongs the kingdom of God? To people who are like the children that are brought to Jesus!

In truth, each of us NEEDS, if we are to be saved, to become like children brought to Jesus. It is in the nature of children to trust their parents. That’s just a fact. Little children trust that their earthly parents will take care of them, feed them, clothe them, and give them what they need. Unfortunately, we as earthly parents aren’t always able to do that for our children. We aren’t always able to give our children what they need. We don’t always know what to say to our children, we aren’t even always able to ensure that our children can live. This should be so, but it is not. And it is a frustrating part of life in this fallen world.

But that is why we are taught, as parents, to give our children what they TRULY need, and that is to bring them to Jesus, to let Christ the good shepherd and God our heavenly Father take care of them. He knows their true needs. He cares for each of His children in ways we cannot. He is the father to the fatherless, the nurturer, the life-giver to those who die physically. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones,” Jesus said, “For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.”

From this passage, we know that even in the womb, our children have angels watching over us, caring for our needs at the command of God the Father.

Just a day or two before this baby’s birth and death, as you sat in the hospital uncertain about the fate of your unborn child, I read that passage from Romans 14: “If we live we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.”
Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection is the key event for each of us. Christ’s death and resurrection is the promise that we, too, will be raised again, raised to eternal life from death, to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

Christ our Lord, Christ the Good Shepherd, is truly the Good Shepherd of all his children, all those brought to him, and to him we commend this little one, [n.], placing him in the arms of His Good Shepherd.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Duluth Clinic Fitness Center vs YMCA

For years, I enjoyed one of the healthy benefits of being a Campus Pastor at UMD--inexpensive access to the gymnasium and fitness center on campus. This was very convenient when we lived right across the street, a little less so once we moved a mile away from campus. I mostly enjoyed using the fitness machines and the sauna, Gayle the aerobic classes. However, about two or three years ago, UMD significantly raised the cost for my category of affiliation with UMD, and Gayle, who to her credit had been keeping up with classes geared for 20 year old students, was getting a little tired of the background music styles used by the instructors. Therefore, we started looking at different fitness options in the community.


The two major facilities are The Duluth Clinic Fitness & Therapy Center and the YMCA. Gayle and I initially settled on the Fitness Center, and have belonged there for over a year. However, we finally gave in to the requests of our children and joined the YMCA when, on February 14, the YMCA had a day where they waived the joiner fee. I thought the readers of this blog might be interested in my evaluation of the two facilities, especially as it relates to our family's needs.


While the two organizations have a significat overlap of the services they provide, there are some different focal points as well. One obvious one is that the YMCA is geared towards families, while the Fitness Center is aimed at serving adults in their fitness needs. (Older children can use the Fitness Center, but mine did not find much of what they wanted to do there.)

Membership costs are similar, with initial joining and monthly membership fees. (The YMCA has rare times where they waive the fee.) You can locate the fees at their web sites above. The YMCA's family membership includes all your children at home, a nice deal for large families. Also, the YMCA has financial assistance for which you can apply that can reduce your costs. This can help a lot.


As to transportation and location, the two facilities are very similar. The Fitness Center is in the Miller Dwan and Duluth Clinic Second Street building in the medical district of Duluth at 2nd Street and 4th Avenue East. The YMCA is right downtown on First Street at 3rd Avenue West. Parking is similar. Street parking at meters are located around the buildings, and you may or may not find a spot close to the building. The Fitness Center has an attached parking ramp that costs $2 per visit. (Early morning and later afternoon visits are 50 cents per hour for Fitness Center members.) The YMCA has arrangements with three ramps nearby (one-half to three blocks away) for two hours of free parking. The closest of these is the Holiday Inn ramp. (There are plans to connect the YMCA to the Holiday Inn ramp by a skywalk soon.) Bus transportation is also similar. The Fitness Center is right on most of the eastern bus routes. The YMCA is a block away from just about every bus line as they go through downtown Duluth.

As far as the upkeep of the facilities go, the Fitness Center is pretty well kept up, though some parts of the facility are showing their age. The YMCA is quite a bit more run down, but will soon be undergoing a $4 million dollar renovation with funds raised separate from membership fees. (I think they are over 75% done with the fundraising.)

The fitness machines and weights I would evaluate as about even between the two facilities. Regarding aerobic classes for adults, the Fitness Center probably gives more options, but there are plenty at the YMCA. Gayle does the classes more, and she hasn't been to any classes at the Y yet. (I should point out that the YMCA DOES have what they call "Adult time" for a couple hours around lunch, and Saturday evening, where kids are not at the facility other than in the Kid's Club.) The Fitness Center has a sauna in the locker rooms. The YMCA's saunas are currently in locker rooms that require an additional monthly charge, but after the renovation, there won't be separate locker rooms and the saunas and steam rooms will be available to everyone.

Both the Fitness Center and the YMCA have pools for use in classes and lap swimming. The YMCA also has a smaller (and warmer) therapy pool that is nice for smaller children. The Fitness Center has a therapy pool, too, that is frequenly used for therapy but is open for adults when not so used. Both places have a whirlpool/hot tub/spa. (The Y's is actually a little nicer, but not open as many hours.) Both have walking tracks that are similar.

The YMCA includes many things that are not at the Fitness Center: Basketball courts (my older girls like this), racquetball courts (it's been way over 20 years since I've played racquetball, but I might try to relearn this sport now), a gymnastics area for the kids, and a free Kid's Club area with supervision and toys for younger kids to play with while parents are working out. There are also a lot of different programs for people of all ages at and away from the building itself, with varying costs.

I'm sure there are other differences, but these are the ones that mean the most for my family and that I have noticed.

I put our membership at the Fitness Center on a temporary "Freeze" until we decide for sure what we want to do. I will miss some of the things at the Fitness Center, especially the sauna, and I think if it were just for my wife and I, we would be continuing our Fitness Center membership, but with the activities for the kids, we'll probably be YMCA members for a while.

Turkey Dinner

A fairly inexpensive way to prepare a meal for a large family is to buy a good supply of turkeys when they are on sale at Thanksgiving and Christmas and get them out occasionally throughout the year. I got a turkey out to thaw last week, and when the ice storm kept me in yesterday afternoon, I decided to go ahead and make the meal yesterday. Turkey and gravy, mashed potatoes, fresh whole wheat bread, and corn from the freezer. Mmmm. A big hearty meal. And then the leftovers. I didn't make enough of the sides for leftovers, but there's turkey meat, plus of course the real bonus when making turkey: broth! Take the turkey carcass and giblets, boil it with some vegetables and spices for a few hours, strain it, cool it, take off the fat, and you've got a great supply of terrific broth for soup, pilaf, and other recipes. Unbeatable.

35 Days Below Freezing

It was 40 warm degrees out this afternoon. The first time it's been above freezing since December 27, thirty-five days ago. Nice.

Back a few weeks ago, someone noted that here in Duluth we were below zero degrees for something like 94 hours. Zero is an important temperature mark. Another one for me personally is 10 degrees above zero. Warmer than that I wear my LL Bean warm-up jacket. Colder than that I wear my Eddie Bauer down parka. So warmer or colder than 10 degrees means quite a difference in bulk. That's what I do--look at the temperature and grab one coat or the other based on the the temperature. It makes it easy. No fashion statements for me in that category.

But certainly another important mark is 32 degrees, when water becomes a liquid. And it was nice to be that warm outside today. My neighbor was on her porch basking in the sun and reading a book!

Mini Vacation

Some friends had given us a gift card to the Edgewater, a local Hotel and Waterpark. As one of the rewards for good results on our January Health Plan we spent the night on Thursday night, enjoying hotel food and repeated trips to swim, splash, run around, and go down the water slides. Fun. Also enjoyable was the 80+ degree temperatures in the waterpark and the nearly 80 degree temperatures in our hotel room. (Within the waterpark, they had one of those indoor/outdoor thermometers, much like mine shown below. A nice touch.) Our room reservation was even upgraded for free to a bigger suite that was available very close to the waterpark, making it that much more enjoyable.

Shaved Ice

It is nice when you find a tool that works tremendously well for a particular purpose.

Shaved ice is something that is nice in the summer (think snow cones) and essential for the queasy stomachs of sick people. I don't know how many inefficient ways we tried making shaved or crushed ice in the past, like pounding on ziplock bags of ice with a rolling pin. Most ice shavers you buy require large frozen chunks of ice that are hard to make and take a long time to freeze. They work well, but you need that frozen chunk first.

A few years ago I found an Ice Grating Disc for our KitchenAid Food Processor that works wonders making piles of snow-like shaved ice from plain old ice cubes--just what's needed for a sick family or on a hot summer day. (Can you picture one of those hot summer days in your mind? I know you can.) I highly recommend this disc if you already have a KitchenAid Food Processor.

Dogsledding

Here's something you can't see anytime or even anywhere. Once a year, I can walk three blocks from my home and watch dogsledders running a marathon. The start of the John Beargrease Marathon is less than half a mile from that point, and we can watch the dogs and sledders go by. Very interesting. This year there is plenty of snow, and the temperature is very nice for hardworking dogs, too. (Meaning it's mighty cold.)

By the way, if you listened to the Prairie Home Companion radio show last night, you heard it broadcast live from Duluth's Entertainment and Convention Center, and they even had a couple of dog sledders and dogs there. I was at the DECC later in the evening, for a hockey game, but picked up a program just for the fun of it.

A Good Sleeper

My youngest son, Joshua, is 20 months old. As any parent of several children will tell you, they are all different, but one thing about Joshua is he LOVES to sleep. He takes a regular 2 hour nap after lunch and sleeps from about 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. And typically, if he is well fed and not sick, he'll practically climb into his crib and go to sleep without a peep. Wow. None of the rocking and the walking around carrying a baby and the crying that we went through with all the other children. I couldn't begin to count all the books I've read or hymns I've sung getting the other children to bed. I woudn't give it up at all, of course, but I'm just amazed at how well Joshua hits the hay!

Statistical Leader

I'm proud of my oldest daughter, Hannah, who is currently the region's leading high school girls' basketball rebound leader, with 16.6 rebounds per game. Read the Duluth News Tribune's stats here. Hannah started playing basketball last year, and has really done a great job over the past two years. Congratulations, Hannah.

OFL Cold

A number of years ago, a good friend gave me this atomic clock and thermometer with an outdoor transmitter that lets you know INSIDE what the temperature is OUTSIDE. Pretty cool. I've always liked it. But it was not really designed with a Duluth temperature range in mind. The lowest temperature it records is minus 23, and below that, the display simply gives the letters "OFL," an acronymn which I think indicates "Outside Farenheit Limits" due to the fact that when I switch the display to celsius it reads "OCL." Still, that "OFL" reading is kind of fun to see. My wife, though, takes the three letters as a word in its own right, and reads it as the thermometer's evalution of the temperature as "awful."

The Franck January 2009 Health Plan

There's a new poster up on our refrigerator: the Franck January 2009 Health plan.

Each member of the family can earn points each day for such things as: no sweets, chocolate, candy, pie, or cake; exercising 30 minutes; no pop, energy drinks, kool-aid, (or beer); eating 1 cup of vegetables in two 1/2 cup servings; losing pounds of weight; and drinking 8 cups of water in a day. A cumulative tally will be kept, with community prizes like spend a night at the Edgewater resort with waterpark, take a trip to the Cities, go to the YMCA, etc. More rewards will be posted.


This will certainly be an interesting and hopefully healthy January.