If you haven’t figured it out already… I’m very conservative. Gun control is an issue near and dear to my heart. I learned to shoot when I was quite little and have always had guns around the house since I grew up in the country.
While I don’t yet have a conceal and carry permit, I plan on getting one. I followed the D.C. gun-law supreme court case with great interest naturally. I’m amazed at the complete idiocy of the council-members, mayors, and gun-control advocates who argued for the ban (now ruled unconstitutional). They argued that the removal of the ban will cause gun crimes to rise. Prove it to me. D.C. has had a gun ban in place for years and their crime rate is terrible. Chicago and some of the suburbs have tough gun bans, but they still have high crime rates. Today (if I heard on NPR correctly) a Florida law is going into effect that allows employees to exercise their right to bear arms by keeping a gun in their vehicle while they are at work. Of course, liberals are crying out that this will lead to more gun violence. Wrong.
People who legally carry guns are not the issue. Gun violence hasn’t gone up in states that have conceal and carry laws. We simply need to make sure criminals don’t have guns. So what if your employees legally have guns in their car. A gun law isn’t going to stop ANYONE from bringing a gun into the workplace.
Remember folks, gun control means using both hands.
A few days ago I mentioned a “big event” in my life that was coming up. Well it has happened and it was awesome.
A few weeks ago I was presented with the opportunity to be part of distinguished visitor trip to the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), a nuclear powered aircraft carrier. Naturally, I said absolutely. The group included:
Coach Ron Zook, University of Illinois Football Head Coach & 2007 Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year
Mr. Adrian Melendez, Director of Football Operations, University of Illinois
Ms. Cassie Arner, Director of Football Sports Information, University of Illinois
Dr. James Thompson, Dean of Engineering, University of Missouri-Columbia
Dr. Richard Blahut, Head of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Univ. of Illinois
Mr. Jeffery McDonnell, Board of Directors for PBS Channel 9 KETC, VP & CCO for J&J Management Services
Mr. Scott Page, Videographer for PBS Channel 9 KETC
Ms. Anne-Marie Berger, Producer and Director for PBS Channel 9 KETC
Mr. Dave Kurland, Senior Director for Community Relations, NBA Chicago Bulls
Mr. Samuel Powell, Pastoral Candidate, Concordia Seminary St. Louis MO
I’m not actually going to post about the trip in detail tonight. I’m tired… I didn’t get much sleep while on the trip (Monday through Thursday night). All I will say now is that the trip was incredible. It included:
A carrier trap (a landing)
A catapult shot (takeoff)
Viewing takeoffs and landings from 20 feet away
Viewing all aspects of the ship
Meeting incredible sailors and marines who literally put their life in harms way each and every day.
Ever wonder what a seminarian does over break? Do you think that we lock ourselves up in our rooms/houses, eagerly awaiting the start of the next term? Well, yeah… some of us look forward to class… but we also have lives outside of the seminary.
What am I doing this break (two weeks between end of spring term and start of summer term)?
First, I’m helped out at a wonderful church in Southern Illinois last weekend and I will be preaching this next weekend at my home church. This will be my third time helping out there… and my first time preaching… ever! While I am certainly nervous about this… I’m also excited about this opportunity.
Second, I’m doing a lot of work with the American Red Cross. I’ve been a lifeguard instructor for about six years now. I’ve since expanded out to nearly all the available first aid and CPR courses that the Red Cross offers. Yesterday and today I helped with a lifeguarding course at SLU. Tomorrow is a day of rest and preparation. Thursday I teach a First Aid and CPR course at a Lutheran Camp. Friday I will help with testing and skills tests at a lifeguard class.
Saturday I head with my wife to see my grandfather who is having is oil changed… aka… getting a new defibrillator. This will be his third one. Please keep him in your prayers… his name is Elvis (how cool of a name is that!). With this visit to Central MO comes preaching at my home church.
Then the big event begins on Monday… I’m still not entirely sure if the “big event” will happen… so I’m not going to talk about it. If it does… I’ll be posting pictures and videos. All I can say and ask is that you keep me in your prayers as I will be partaking in something that has an “inherent risk of injury or death.” Don’t worry… I will be with trained professionals.
Then… back to class. Lutheran Confessions II, John and the Catholic Epistles, and (pending approval) Christian Initiation (a independent study course looking at Christian initiation rites and working toward a faithful Lutheran practice of the catechumenate).
I do really miss my 1994 Geo Metro. I learned to drive a stick shift in that car when I was in middle school and continued driving that car all through high school. It was quite normal for me to put gas in it ever 3-4 weeks. My gas mileage averaged around 45-50 miles per gallon… it peaked at 52. Now certainly it didn’t have much power, it only had three cylinders. However, it was the perfect car for a young guy who had a lead foot. People often said it was unsafe… guess what… the car was actually built like a tank. It was knocked around, driven on gravel roads every day that it was owned by family family (12 years), hit by two dear, and it kept on trucking along. On a side note… I did once race a thunderbird… and won. They underestimated how hard I would push that car, especially off the line. When my family finally got rid of it…. it had over 185,000 miles on it… and it is still running.
My plymouth neon does get good mileage… but nothing else compares to my metro. I’m tired of all the hippies who brag about their car that is so fuel efficient… getting 35 miles to the gallon. My old metro may have been the “egg mobile” but it could kick your car’s butt.
a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object : the cult of St. Olaf.
a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister : a network of Satan-worshiping cults.
a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing : a cult of personality surrounding the leaders.
Now the question… are we, the Holy, Catholic, and Apostlic Church a cult?
This question got posed to me in my contemporary cults class at CUNE. The general consensus of the class, after some debate was, “Yes, we are a cult.. and that’s okay.”
I started thinking more about this on Friday as I gave a presentation in my Teaching the Catechism with Luther class. I’ve been researching the early church catechumenate, specifically focusing on the mystagogical preachers, Ambrose of Milan, Cyril of Jerusalem, Chrysostom, and Theodore of Mopsuestia. I’m also studying Augustine, since he was a catechumen under Ambrose. As I was describing the early church rituals surrounding the catechumenate, specifically focusing on the Lenten discipline, the Easter Vigil, and the subsequent Mystagogy (preaching on the mysteries), I brought up the secrecy and the mystery that surrounded the church. This was not discouraged, but was encouraged by the Fathers. They didn’t want people to know, prior to Baptism, what took place with the Sacrament. They were encouraged to keep the creed amongst the baptized and not let it “get out.” A fourth-year said, “This sounds awfully cult-like,” to which I responded, “Yup… and I think that’s okay.” I also said, “think about it… we make exclusive claims about salvation, are a relatively small group (the invisible church), we have an exclusive object of our faith (Jesus Christ), and we do things that are considered strange (pouring water on a baby’s head and drinking small sips of wine and eating small pieces of bread).”
We have a joke with our neighbor that whenever we leave town something bad happens (power outages, floods, windstorms, trees falling, etc.). Well now she is out of town and we have an earthquake. Thanks Sue.
Lisa woke me up at 4:36 a.m. with the cry, “The house is shaking.” To be honest… my level of caring at that time is next to none. This she realized in the winter storm of 2006 when I refused to go outside and check on things when a limb hit an awning and made a lot of noise. I guess I’m a bad husband. I suggested that it was an earthquake and sure enough… the USGS (United States Geological Survey) website has this event listed as a 5.4 magnitude earthquake with its epicenter in southeastern Illinois.
Now I want to go back to bed but we are watching the news broadcasts of the event
Some time ago Pastor Weedon posted some nice pictures of his study. However, being the seminarian that I am… I don’t have a study. I have a computer desk that I share with my wife, a kitchen table, and a study carol (which I am eternally thankful for). My wife tolerates my organizational method… stacks of books. An example follows. I’m not sure exactly how many books are stacked on there… but I know at least one English Bible, a Biblia Hebraica, three volumes of Pieper, two Hebrew grammars, and probably 50 pages of copies. Oh… and some Luther!
