What I did this summer

It's September again, and time for the annual first assignment: What I did on my Summer Vacation. Noah started second grade on Wednesday and the only work he has reported doing was journaling, so I'm guessing that's what he did!

Here's a short review:
The boys played t-ball

Jonah had fun just learning which way to run. Noah's a pretty good batter and really ready for a pitched game.







Everyone went to Kansas and picked
potatoes and took them to the fair.
Jonah and Miriam helped to plant the potatoes on St. Patric's Day, they grew all summer and were ready for picking when everyone came back.





Miriam liked the wagon rides with her cousin Katie.











Then we got to go to the cabin in Minnesota and play in the lake.

Miriam and Noah are fish, Jonah likes the water sometimes.

We went to another cabin, a water park and the Minnesota State fair.

It was a busy, fun summer!

Taking GOD outside the box

Those who know me well know that I am a tactile and visual learner, I like to touch and see things in order to understand them. And here I am, a pastor, trying to teach things that can't be seen or touched or tasted in the manner in which, perhaps, one could teach baking. (Pie anyone?)

So when confronted with Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14-21 that we should be empowered to know the breadth and depth and height and width of Christ's Love (which surpasses knowledge) I thought about a box.

I hope this isn't because I'm obsessed with getting boxes unpacked at the house.

But I do like to put things in a box. Packing is almost fun, it's the unpacking that is becoming a problem. It's easy to put things into a box, providing that the box is big enough.

One of the first boxes mentioned in the bible is the Ark, according to the New Living Translation, the Ark was 450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. That's a pretty big box, and it didn't hold God, it held Noah and the animals.

Another God Box of the bible is the Ark of the Covenant. It was 3 3/4 feet long, 2 1/4 feet wide, and 2 1/4 feet high. That's not a very big box. Surely not big enough to contain God.

With a little work I discovered that Zion Lutheran's sanctuary, (another God Box) is 92 feet long by 56 feet wide and about 18 feet high. Somewhere in the middle between Ark of Noah and Ark of the Covenant.

Still, not big enough to contain God, or as Paul is really looking for, God's love.

God's love is bigger than the new boat, Freedom of the Seas, which is 1,112 feet long, 184 feet wide and drafts 24 feet. You get the picture, I hope that there is no Box for God's love. We as humans, my try to put God in a box, but God won't stay there. (unlike my paring knives which are staying in whatever lost box they are hiding in)

We try to put God in our favorite box; the one that contains a God that looks like us and acts like us. The box that we'd like to be in, even if we can't quite get there. Small boxes are sometimes better because there is not so much room to rattle around and get lost and confused. Big God Boxes are scary, because they may contain a God that confronts us and challenges us. God may want us to step outside our box and into someone else' box that doesn't look like ours.

How big is your God Box? How long is God's love? Does it go all the way back to Adam, or even futher back to before humans were created? Cand you imagine a love that extends forward to eternity?
How deep is God's love? Psalm 139 reminds us that if we go to the depths of hell, God is still there. So if we feel like we've descended into the depths, God is with us.
How wide is God's love? It may be harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than a rich man to get to heaven, but God's love cuts a wide swath though human history.
What is the breadth of God's love? What is the fourth dimention to a love that knows no bounds?

Big enough to love you when you doubt or turn the other way?
Big enough to see your tears and wipe them dry?
Big enough to laugh with you when you trip over your own feet?
Big enough to open up the box of your heart and dwell within?


What if you really believed that God loved you as much and Christ says? More than can be understood, asked or imagined? How would you act? What would you do?

On Vacation

It’s summer time! Time to relax, refresh, and get all those chores done around the house that you have put off all winter. And time to take that long awaited Vacation.

As a kid my parents took us on two kinds of vacations. Sometimes we went to visit family, and places that were familiar. Grandma’s house in Kansas was familiar and fun, and we were comfortable and well-fed (body and soul) on those vacations. We got to know our cousins, aunts and uncles, and learned about the history and traditions of our family. How else do you learn to make home-made ice cream or taffy? The drive was long, but we knew when it would end, because we had made the trip before. Family vacations were safe and predictable, but important to the building of relationships that make a family.

Other times we went out to see the world: I think my folks tried to get to all the National Parks and National Monuments in the Western States. We would pile into the Suburban at 6:00 in the morning, and promptly fall back asleep. Every once in a while dad would yell, “Wake up and look at something!” We would look out the window and look at the sand, or the trees, or the mountains, and wonder what it was we were looking at. Dad wanted us to experience the journey, to see this beautiful country that God has made. And while I know we whined the whole time, I still remember seeing the stone bridges at Arches National Monument, the vastness of the Grand Canyon, the stark beauty of White Sands. I know more about my country, and tend to think the whole thing is beautiful and important because of those vacations.

Which vacation are you taking this summer? Are you visiting family and friends, staying in your comfort zone, and being personally well-fed? Or are you going out to see the world? Are you ready to experience all that God has made, even if the journey is arduous and the food is different? Both vacations are important. Wherever your go, take time to experience God’s world and the people God has placed in your path.

Just the Box, Mom!

We're getting settled in our new house, it's never just a matter of moving the stuff into the house and living, there's so many little things to do! But the kids are transitioning well. They don't need much, a box, a swingset, and someone to go running through the sprinklers with and they are happy.

Moving is such sweet sorrow. The excitement of finding a new place is mixed with the loss of an old one. The joy of meeting new people is balanced by the holes left from leaving old friends. We are really enjoying being close to family, Grandma can keep Jonah one afternoon a week, and come watch both kids one night a week. We really miss the community in Clifton Park, knowing where everything is, know who everyone is at work. This getting to know another 1000 people is hard work!

Noah was here for the big move, as soon as his bike came off the truck he was happy! I guess the neighbors down the street at the dead end know all about us, and we've never been down the street! It won't take long for him to get connected in July.

• Pics from top to bottom:
• Jonah and Miriam in their little house in front of the big one.
• Jonah and Grandma Lynda in the sprinklers.
• Noah and Jonah in the fort.
• Miriam and Grandpa Hackbart
  
  thebigboat