Issue 30, Mar 2010
Two soldiers from the same family in Spring, Texas, are the very first brothers to serve as honor guards at The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The older is 5’,11”, while his younger bother is 6’,7”, taller than the regulated measurement. The military waived that requirement for the brothers.

 

I mention this because these soldiers who stand this guard have to meet very strict standards in

 uniform and behavior. These soldiers even stood guard during hurricane IKE.

This all came to mind as I read another article in the same newspaper about people looking for churches. The arti ... Read More »

Issue 29, Feb 2010
I was born into a Lutheran Christian family. I was baptized in the Lutheran Christian faith in a church building which my great grandfather, grandfather, father, and uncle physically built as the stone masons.  I was confirmed in the Lutheran Christian faith.  From the tenth grade through graduation from college as a Lutheran school teacher I was educated in Missouri Synod schools.  I served a total of ten years in called positions. In college my major emphasis within education was Theology. I am a Lutheran Christian.

 

In 1997, after personal loss and divorce, I was working seven days a week and looking for a local church in which to worship on a Saturday evening service.  A friend at work suggested I attend her church’s Saturday evening service.  It ... Read More »

Issue 29, Feb 2010
Rules are rules, or are they?

 

My thoughts today are sparked by a Miss Manners' column. One item deals with the question, “At a dinner table, is the bread and butter plate on the left side of the dinner plate, or the right?” The questioner had been at a dinner where 80 people had used the plate on their right. Miss Manners' reply, ”Even 80 wrongs don’t make a right.” The plate you use is on the left, so your water and wine glasses have room on the right.” So 80 guests did it wrong. Well, 79 did, and the 80th had to fall in line if he wanted to use a plate too.

Issue 27, Dec 2010
As I prepare this article people everywhere are getting ready to celebrate yet another Christmas. Down the street from where I live several houses have hung their Christmas lights and put out their plastic reindeer even though it is not yet the month of December. Christmas/holiday music is heard on radio and TV. In our family we’re deep into discussions about where to go and with whom we’ll gather for Christmas. I also find it amusing that we have to pretend here in Houston that we will have snow and ice on our Christmas trees.

 

In the years of my youth the Nazis made a concerted effort to replace Christian traditional understandings of this festival with what they considered more ancient and Germanic ideas. Irmgard Hunt tells of her experiences with the redefined Christmas as a child ... Read More »

Issue 26, Nov 2009
Last month we began a discussion of the difference between ministry and vocation, based in part upon the book God at Work, Your Christian Vocation in All of Life by Dr. Gene Edward Veith Jr., Crossway Books (2002). In these articles we are summarizing what is taught within the book. All quotes are from that book. We recommend you read the entire book.

 

Christ calls us to faith in Him by His Word. This calling is not just a personal, subjective experience or an inner voice. Such feelings or desires may mislead us. Instead Christ calls us to faith from outside ourselves, through the language and power of His Word. That Wor ... Read More »