Category: Life

Posted in Life, Rant

Coffee crisis

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Coffee maker crisis. The most annoying thing in our lives right now, at least first thing in the morning, is our coffee maker. We’ve become totally dependent on a Keurig one cup coffee maker, which has developed a mind of its own.

Here’s the problem: you never know how much coffee will end up in your cup. Sometimes it is a normal 8 oz. serving, exactly what you expect. Other times, the coffee maker holds back, giving you a couple ounces of really strong stuff. Still other times, you get more than you expected, more than will fit in the cup you have. I’ve cleaned it, de-scaled it, done everything I’m supposed to do, and we still can’t get the one thing we really want to work in the morning to work in the morning.

I know, this really isn’t much of a crisis, especially when people in Haiti don’t have water to drink and plenty of people in the world have no food much less a cup of coffee. It just shows how easy it is to get hooked on a convenience. This morning I reflected on the olden days when we had to get up and actually brew a cup of coffee, a process that could take 10 minutes. Now we call that roughing it.

There are lots of coffee makers on sale right now, so we’ll probably just shop around for a new one. Then my mind can move on to bigger and better things.

Posted in Life

Jazz 91.1

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I’ve got some new music to listen to while I’m working at the computer. It’s the live feed at http://www.jazz.fm, Jazz 91.1 from Toronto, Canada. All jazz music, all the time, an amazing variety of music and musicians, instrumentalists, bands, and vocalists. A few things I’ve heard before, but a lot I haven’t. As soon as I turn it on, it creates a very relaxing mood wherever I am. I even have the app on my iPhone.

It’s been a long, long time since I’ve been somewhere that had an actual jazz station to listen to. A long, long time ago, there was one in Philadelphia. There used to be a smooth jazz station in Jacksonville, FL, but they changed format to Latin music. So these sounds are very welcome when I find myself parked at the computer, working on sermons or letters or whatever.

It’s got me playing my trumpet more, too, especially some jazz etudes I’ve collected over the years. It would be nice to have some kind of band to play with, but for now, practicing on my own with some occasional background tracks has been a good way to clear my mind and stimulate some different parts of my brain.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

Thanks, God

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I just listened to a message on my answering machine from someone we’ve been praying for who needed some tests done. Pretty serious stuff and a little bit of anxiety. Well, the news was good and the voice on the machine sounded suitably relieved! You’ve got to love a message like that.

Just that moment of joy and the chance to thank God for His care also made me realize that I don’t get to find out what happens to a lot of people for whom we pray. Our petitions for help and healing far outweigh our prayers of thanks and praise.

That’s one of the reasons I keep a list of prayers in the back of my daily devotional journal. That way, I can go back and remember what I prayed for a week or months ago. I would say nine times out of ten, something has happened in that situation, and I become aware of God’s response to a prayer. Without that list, I’d forget, wouldn’t think about the response, and would miss out on seeing God at work in our lives. It’s definitely a faith-building experience when your petitions are replaced by thanks and praise rather than just more petitions.

I do this when I teach prayer in confirmation class, too. We post our prayers on a bulletin board and revisit them each week to see what’s happened. I am just as amazed as the students at all the answers. Of course, not every issue is resolved. Some things remain in our ongoing prayers, but that’s OK, too. Our persistent prayers remind us of our dependence on God and his grace, and build our endurance, character, and hope.

Posted in Life

Manatees

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today we went to Blue Springs State Park in Orange City, FL to see the manatees. As we pulled in, the ranger station announced that 299 manatees were in the springs!

Manatees usually live in the St. John’s river, but when the water temperatures dip below 68, they head in towards the springs that feed the river, which are a comfortable (for a manatee) 72 degrees year round. I think we only got to see a hundred or so of these docile mammals, who were content to just float around, hoping to find some roots or something to eat. While they were comfortable, we were freezing. The air temperature was around 38 degrees, tough for those of us who have adapted well to Florida temperatures. But those are the perfect conditions to view the manatees in their natural habitat.

Blue Springs is both an historic site and a beautiful part of old Florida, filled with Spanish moss covered live oaks. Before the railroads were built, it was an important riverboat stop on the St. Johns. Now, over 15 endangered species make their home near the springs.

Posted in Life

It’s all over

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Today I put away all our Christmas decorations. I took down the lights from the outside of the house, put away all the Christmas items that we set out around the house, like nativities, took the ornaments off the tree and boxed them up, and then took the tree apart and stored it in the attic.

It’s a ritual that is somewhat less exciting that the decorating that took place a month ago, but is not less a part of the year and the passage of time. After all, you can’t celebrate Christmas all year, can you? Actually, more than a few people would like to do just that. Trees are decorated earlier each year, often being put up weeks before Thanksgiving. Christmas items are available in stores before Halloween now. A day that wasn’t even observed in the early church now occupies almost a quarter of our year. Just how much Christmas can we stand?

Posted in Life, Ministry

Real Epiphany thoughts

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Epiphany brings back great memories of touring with the Ft. Wayne Seminary Kantorei each winter I was studying for my M.Div. 12-16 male voices plus an organist and director packed up a couple of vans and headed out for a two week tour of churches in different areas of the country.

My first year found us in Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri. That was a long, cold trip (We always traveled in early January). My second year I think we didn’t roam as far, going to Wisconsin and Minnesota. My fourth year is fuzzy; I’m thinking we were in Indiana and Illinois, perhaps some Ohio.

This was probably my most enjoyable choral experience. Very talented director, voices, and instrumentalists. A lot of camaraderie with men all studying for the pastoral ministry. I still remember the music, the people, and the worship experiences.

The current edition of the Kantorei is touring in parts of Florida this year, but in parts of Florida not close by, so I won’t get to see them. I hope that they have just as memorable experience as I did.

Posted in Life

Baby it’s cold outside?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

People begin to act really strange when it gets cold in Florida. We are so used to temperate weather that any night below 40 throws us for a loop.

We scramble for coats, blankets, sweaters, whatever to keep us warm. We lament the cold, cold, cold, cold temperatures. The thing is, we all moved here from up north. At least most of us did. Where temps were in the single digits in the winter. Where we went out and shoveled snow in single digit temperatures. Where winter lasted months, not days.

I remember running when it was 20 below zero. I think I did it more to prove that I could. Tights and nylon running pants. T-shirt, turtle neck, and nylon running top. Hat, two pairs of gloves, and a scarf over my face. Plastic two pairs of sock. Four or five miles in Des Moines, IA. Actually, it wasn’t so bad. Once the icicles formed on my mustache and I was under way, it was pretty cool to be out in pretty cool temperatures. Crunch snow, bitter air — I felt alive. A survivor. Not a victim of the weather, but someone who could overcome and survive the worst conditions.

So 30 degrees in FL? Piece of cake.

Posted in Grace, Life, Ministry

Premature Ephiphany thoughts

Posted on by William Douthwaite

Even though Epiphany isn’t technically until Wednesday, we’ll be celebrating it in worship tomorrow. I’ve never been at a church where the worshipers were willing to get together on the actual day of Epiphany, so we usually observe it the first Sunday in January.

It seems like everyone likes Epiphany. Perhaps that’s because the account of the wise men coming to worship Jesus with their gifts is such a familiar story. Few are aware of the significance of the day, but they like it anyway, because who doesn’t like presents?

The actual arrival of the wise men would have been a very strange occurrence for Mary, Joseph and Jesus, Christmas-crashers, as it were. Gentiles in the house? Well, they brought gifts…

Most of us Gentiles tend to forget we’re Gentiles and what an amazing truth it is that the Gospel is for us, whether we bring gifts or not.

And lest we forget, Matthew’s gospel does not tell us where they came from, other than the “east.” He does not mention how many wise men there were. Or that they rode camels. Or that they brought a drummer boy along with them.

Posted in Life, Ministry

Reading your Bible in 2010

Posted on by William Douthwaite

I am constantly reading through my bible from cover to cover. I began this some seven or eight years ago, reading through a different translation each time. So far I’ve been through the New International Version, God’s Word, English Standard Version, Today’s New International Version, New Living Translation, and am about halfway through the NET Bible from bible.org. It usually takes me more than a year to do this, so I don’t always start on January 1.

Even though this is a good habit, there are pitfalls to reading the bible in this way. Typically, Genesis and about half of Exodus are pretty interesting. As soon as you get into the specs for the tabernacle, though, it gets tedious. Leviticus isn’t much fun, either. Most people usually give up by then. The other problem is that you will spend a long time in the Old Testament before you get to the New. And if you don’t have a good handle on the whole story of scripture and how the books fit together, you can soon get lost in genealogies, laws, and Hebrew poetry.

Are there some good ways to approach reading your bible in 2010? Absolutely.

  • If you’d like to go through it cover to cover, subscribe to Daily Walk. It’s a little guide that helps you know where you’re at and where you’re headed, and you’ll get through the bible in a year.
  • Use the suggested daily readings in The Lutheran Service Book. Old and New Testament are mixed up enough to keep you going. There are lots off other daily bible reading plans you can find online.
  • Alternate between Old and New testament books, using a good study bible or handbook to give you an introduction to each book as you go.

Each day I also read five Psalms and one chapter of Proverbs. I start with the Psalm that corresponds to the day of the month, and add multiples of 30. So today I read Psalm 1, 31, 61. 91. and 121, along with Proverbs 1. Tomorrow will be Psalm 2,32,62, 92, and 122. Psalm 119 (the longie) is only read on the 31st of the month when it occurs. A pretty nice way to read through the bible’s hymnbook often.

I’d be interested in learning about some ways that you’ve read through the bible.