A first lost tooth

Parents know about the unique moments that tell us our little ones are getting older. Tonight, after a couple of false starts the past few nights our minute younger five and a half (almost six) year old girl lost her first tooth.

Her first tooth came in on Christmas Day 5 years ago. Tonight with just 5 weeks more to go in kindergarten she's taken another little step towards growing up. It came free after just a few seconds of tugging on the dental floss.

Motley Fool Finds the Cullprit behind the crash NCAA bracket style

I've always been amazed at the ways people choose to figure out mysteries.

MotleyFool.com: Stock Madness 2009 has figured out one of the mysteries of our time, who caused the crash behind the current recession. The wise folks behind the Motley Fool gave their readers a chance to determine the answer NCAA Basketball style. Readers gave a solid answer and I think they are right.

There were lots of potential culprits behind the crash; but one act of congress stands out because of how badly it exposed the whole nation to the effects of corporate greed: the repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act. Nothing else compares in its effect on our nation.

the Great Sabbath

Preachers are known to take naps around Easter. But there's an even great Sabbath. The Sabbath between Jesus cross and rising. Most Christians know one section of scripture better than any other: the Gospel accounts of the passion and the stories of the resurrection.

There's a great mystery in these accounts. What happened between the cross and Resurrection morning. The 4 canonical gospel writers offer great details about the events of Thursday night and the passover and Friday morning and the cross; but the intervening space before Easter Sunday morning is a a mystery left unresolved in the Gospels.

The early church confessed a belief that God was at work at some point between Jesus' cross and rising. The Apostle's Creed speak of Jesus' descending to the dead. Some writers have pointed to Peter's allusion in Acts 2:27 & 31 to Psalm 116:8 as an explanation

For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling... (NIV),

1 Peter 3:18-20 speaks of Jesus preaching to the dead through the Spirit. Its a moment of mystery and of Jesus as part of the Trinity was at work. Death could not hold him.

Giving thanks at the start of Holy Week

Its common, among preachers, to have a sort of general discontent this time of year. Lent's home stretch takes alot out of time and prayer. But this year I don't feel the unease; rather I'm feeling some relief.
After a couple years of ministry in interim mode I'm enjoying Holy Week in a new place with new opportunities that come from being in a fully staffed team.
Taking a new call seemed pretty crazy at first; but my beloved reminded me that we don't have to worry. We learned to pray and have faith leaving things in God's hands and not our own to resolve the challenges of our move.
We both came up with plenty of reason not to move. We both needed jobs; then my beloved got a good offer a few days after I had a formal offer. Next we needed our house to sell; and it did. All this time our older 2 girls kept growing; we had a beautiful baby girl who is smiling in my lap right now. It's been pretty amazing.
This past week the last details of our move west came into place a week after we started unpacking in our new home. Our old house closed Friday a week later than scheduled. Turns out the buyers bank wasn't ready on time. But a week later it was done. We paid a extra half moth's interest on the loan and walked away.
Now's time for giving thanks: we had a good house, a new person is moving in. We worked with a great Realtor who came through right at the end and held back some of his profit for a few months to complete the sale; for all that and more we give thanks to our generous God.

Our Baby is Smiling

About a week ago our newest addition started to smile. Now we have pictures to prove it. She's such a joy. She and her sisters and mom can all light up the world when they smile like this.
What a beautiful girl.
Pax, Unlikely

Settling in to the new home and call

One of the real amazing things about pastoral ministry is moving to a new congregation. People my age seem to move from profession to profession and employer to employer pretty regularly.

But what about pastors?

I'm 35 and I've been a pastor for 9.5 years. I spent 2.5 years in my first call before moving to a new call to marry a bride who'd just taken a job in a new state. We moved back to the land of 10,000 lakes after the birth of our twin girls. After five years in a congregation not far from the Mayo Clinic and suburban Rochester we have picked up everything again. We've headed west into the Prairie for a fresh start in ministry and in our family's life.

The folks church we left were stunned that we'd chosen to move; most of my friends in ministry weren't surprised. 7 weeks after we announced the plan to leave I worshiped in another congregation taking a week off. 8 weeks later we were introduced as a family in a new place. 9 weeks later I'll be introducing the Passion reading to the new congregation. It's gone fast, and for that speed I give thanks.

Our fresh steps have given us a lot of opportunities for change. We've sold the rambler and we've bought a big old 2 story frame house in a prairie town. The town is beautiful built around a chain of lakes. Its a good 50 minutes drive to a bigger town; there are a few new big box stores in town and a small mall. We're settling in and getting used to things. My wife will start a new job in the summer and we're getting used to having our little one at home.

Right now I'm giving thanks for fresh starts.
Pax
Unlikely