The Arrow's Path

Yeah, Batman didn't make that. The government made that happen. Look at  this price tag .

My daughter was invited to a birthday party from one of here buddies from church and day care. I decided to take the opportunity to make a wooden toy for the occasion. I had a pattern that I had wanted to try for a while involved a big rig truck and trailer. In an attempt to not turn my daughter into a complete tomboy, I have not made it yet. She likes trains, helicopters, and cars enough as it is. This model was actually pretty easy to do. This was a good thing because I had procrastinated on making it and my timeframe for getting it done was fairly short. I was particularly fond of the details I was able to add to this one, namely the steering wheel and gear shift in the cab. I also liked the big rig diesel smoke stacks. I was also fond of the embedded headlights and the lights on the top of the cab. It turned out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

There was a lady in my parish who just had her second child. It was discovered that she had never had a baby shower, so my wife and a few of the ladies in the parish cooked one up for her. They had a good turn out I am told. (I was also told that guys were not allowed, which is fine. I came to the realization long ago that many things have to be left in the hands of the Almighty, or the church ladies, whichever comes first.) Hmmm...more diapers It was requested by the mother that in lieu of regular baby gifts and such that they throw a "diaper shower." So, most of the gifts involved diapers. Having had a child that is now (thankfully) mostly out of diapers, I can only say I wish I'd have thought of this before. Diapers are expensive. The Diaper Cake In light of the diaper shower theme, my wife was scouring Pinterest , which I am convinced is simply Google image search in estrogen form. She came up with this clever "diaper cake." It's not edible o...

Photo Courtesy: Fr. John Floberg St. James, the Episcopal congregation in Cannonball, North Dakota, had its church building burn to ground yesterday . Luckily no one was hurt, but there were some bad pictures of the fire this morning posted on Facebook by Deacon Terry Star and Father John Floberg of the north side of the Standing Rock Reservation. Our Prayers are with all of you!

“Logic!” said the Professor half to himself. “Why don’t they teach logic at these schools? There are only three possibilities. Either your sister is telling lies, or she is mad, or she is telling the truth. You know she doesn’t tell lies and it is obvious that she is not mad. For the moment then and unless any further evidence turns up, we must assume that she is telling the truth.” The Professor to Peter and Susan in CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

Fr. Dwight on " Atheist Trolls ." I would only add that Political trolls are just as bad.

The NCAA "death penalty," as it is know, is when the NCAA finds a school to have lost "institutional control" of a sports program. Basically, the NCAA comes in and shuts down the sports program for a year, the coaches are fired, no games are played, no players recruited, and all scholarships are revoked. The last time it happens was when Southern Methodist University (SMU) got the football death penalty back in the late 1980's. SMU was something of a non-major conference powerhouse back in the late 70's into the early 80's, not unlike some school like Boise State is today. And the fact of the matter is that SMU never really recovered. They finally got their football program going again, but it has never again really been competitive to this day. As such, the NCAA has been loathe to hand out the death penalty again because it is so severe. At least with the Death Penalty, it is just one year. You still pick up the pieces for years, but once it is ove...

A lmighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Lots of things to pray this day, including the shootings in Colorado and the innocents involved in the Syrian civil war as well as the unrest in Northern Sudan.  We, Anglicans, are good at praying for South Sudan, but the North often falls through our prayer radar. I also ask your prayers for myself. I have been discerning some things in my personal and professional life that need serious contemplation and prayer. Lord, in your mercy, Hear our prayer. 

I found this report from NPR about  Syria's Religious Landscape , particularly about what branch of Islam President Assad hails. He is neither Sunni nor Shi'ite proper. He comes from a smaller sect that was not even recognized as a "people of the book" until after the French occupation. I did not know that.

I am disturbed by the trend of going back to turf football fields . (Video clip of my high school alma mater). I know the stuff they use now is way better than the carpet on concrete junk they used to have back in the 70's and 80's, but still...the stuff is awful. I know its more ergonomically and economically correct, but you should never get rug burns from grass.

Scenes from Clingman's Dome in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park:  

18 worst things for Lefties ... I would add Chainsaws, not that I would use them that often. They just don't make chain saws for lefties, and I refuse to use chainsaws with my non-dominant hand.

Well, now that my trip to a youth camp last weekend and the nonsense of General Convention and its fall out has begun to recede into the past, I hope to be back to my normal blogging schedule this week. This summer has been extremely busy, but I think I am on the down hill slide into the fall.

‘The Church is intolerant in principle because she believes; she is tolerant in practice because she loves. The enemies of the Church are tolerant in principle because they do not believe; they are intolerant in practice because they do not love.’ — Réginald Garrigou-Lagrange

Amongst all the goings on this the current General Convention, which has become nothing more than a bunch of West Coast theological liberals patting the backs of other East Coast theological liberals, I give you something to think about. It is just after 9AM central time, and I have already had four pastoral conversations by e-mail or phone by 4 different people I know around the country concerning the fact that they are officially leaving the Episcopal Church because of the passing of resolutions involving the blessing of same sex unions and opening the priesthood to transsexuals. UPDATE: During the very process of writing this blog entry, I was interrupted by a phone call from a fifth person. After a conversation, I think I talked this person out of leaving, at least for now. Thank you, General Convention, for just making my life as a priest so much more difficult.

I have returned from a wonderful few days in the Black Hills at the Diocese of South Dakota's Thunderhead Episcopal Center. I was the chaplain for the 5th/6th Grade/Family camp. I think we had upwards of 30+ campers and parents, which is fabulous for TEC. Not that many years ago, I think we have about 5 campers. It was sheer bliss in that I was completely isolated from the bizarro world of the Episcopal Church's General Convention going on currently in Indianapolis. I really try to make it a policy that this blog not badmouth the Episcopal church or the office of the Presiding Bishop, though I very rarely agree with anything that comes from either of them very much these days. From what I am hearing and reading, General Convention 2012 seems to be more of the same.I am going to refrain from making any further comments about General Convention until the dust settles, and I can study the resolutions and general fallout from this circus august gathering.

Regardless of what you think about Ronald Reagan and his policies, the man was an excellent speech writer. -The Archer --------------------------------------------------- My fellow Americans: Today we join together to celebrate freedom's birthday. America is 207 years old. That makes us the oldest living democracy on Earth. I think there's a good reason for that. It's always been my belief that by a Divine plan this nation was placed between the two oceans to be sought out and found by those with a special brand of courage and love of freedom. Can we imagine the courage it took back in 1620 to pick up family, bid goodby to friends, board those small ships, and set sail across a mighty ocean toward a new future in an unknown world? Can we appreciate what the patriots endured in that bone-cold snow at Valley Forge when they spent a winter without enough food or medicine or even boots to cover their feet? Maybe we can't. Maybe we look around our more comfortable worl...

I had the privilege of being the Celebrant at the Funeral of Leslie Smith, who died at the ripe old age of 104. May her soul, and all the souls of the faithful departed, by the mercy of God rest in peace.