Category: Life

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.

Posted in Life

What’s in store for 2010?

Posted on by William Douthwaite

This has been a very eventful year for my family and I. My oldest, Adam, graduated from Florida State University. My youngest, Olivia, started high school. My oldest daughter, Katie, had an awesome internship this summer at an amazing Christian music venue. My wife Lisa and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a trip to Alaska.

What’s in store for 2010? Another college graduation, lots of high school events, some travel I’m sure (like to St. Louis, where my son attends seminary). Most of what we’ll experience will be a surprise. We really don’t know what’s coming.

I don’t have many resolutions to make. I already exercise, read my bible each day and pray, watch what I eat, and don’t smoke. Maybe I’ll make some reverse resolutions and exercise less, eat more, and get out of shape. I could start smoking. Then I would have some positive resolutions I could make for 2011.

I don’t think it’s supposed to work that way, though

Posted in Life

Crash

Posted on by William Douthwaite

We had a computer crash at our house last night. I was minding my own business, scanning some pictures and listening to Pandora, when suddenly, the computer burped and I got the SOD (Screen of Death.) “Windows has shut down…” I couldn’t reboot. Couldn’t reboot from an emergency boot disk. Couldn’t do anything.

Today, I just reloaded Windows XP, thankful for having done some good backups and not losing anything but a few pictures. But it’s a pain to have to reinstall software. But not as much of a pain as it used to be. Most of what we do is in the “cloud.” I use Google Docs more than I use resident word processors and presentation programs. So everything I use the most is always there, somewhere for me.

I had to take the machine apart, too. Change the CD player from slave to master. Unhook the DVD drive. And wait a long, long time for about 60 updates to be loaded. But in the end, everything works good. In fact, it was a blessing, since we had some Google redirect virus somewhere in the bowels of the machine that no program could find and deal with. No problem now. Kind of like a clean slate.

Posted in Life

Wine recommendations

Posted on by William Douthwaite

A woman stopped me in the wine aisle of Publix today to ask my opinion of some wine she was considering buying. I wasn’t dressed like someone who worked there, just jeans and a t-shirt. But she assumed I could help her understand the subtle differences between two bottles of red wine she wanted to give as a gift.

My knowledge of wine is limited, although I have learned quite a bit over the last few years by hanging out with people who do know something about wine. As we talked, she mentioned having bought a bottle a few years ago that was over $20. Now I knew I was out of my league. My league is the under $8 varietals. She seemed to be more interested in the price that anything else about the wine, so I helped her find a more costly choice on a top shelf. She was grateful for my help.

When it comes to wine, I mostly know what I like (mostly reds) and what my wife likes (Chardonnay), and buy what’s affordable. I’ve had many people comment about how much they enjoy the communion wine at church. We use Manischewitz Concord Grape, which is a bottom shelf variety (on sale this week at WalMart 2 for $7).

My best wine advice: buy what you like and enjoy.

Posted in Life

Holiday concert

Posted on by William Douthwaite

My wife and I attended our daughter Olivia’s holiday concert at her high school this evening. There are few things I enjoy more than attending our kid’s events, and I am admittedly biased towards band concerts, since I played in many of them myself over the years.

Attired in long black dressed and tuxedos, the band looked so different from the marching group who just finished their season. A number of the students played different instruments than they did for marching season. Many from the percussion section and pit were back on their primary instruments, which looked strange at first.

The jazz band started and played some very nice, swinging Christmas numbers, including a medley from the original Charlie Brown Christmas special. The concert band followed with some Christmas and Hanukkah pieces. The low brass resonated beneath the talented, well-blended woodwinds, trumpets and horns. A nice way to spend a chilly, rainy evening in Palm Coast.

I can still remember many band concerts from elementary school through college and even some community bands after that. I can even remember some of the songs we played. It’s amazing how all those notes tend to stay with you, as well as the faces of the people you played with.

Posted in Life

It’s over…for now

Posted on by William Douthwaite

The party is over, kind of. My two oldest children have gone back to school and our home is suddenly a little emptier and much quieter. The last few days have been a blast with the five of us home. Twice as much conversation, food, games, mess, and laughter.

I know that everyone will be back again in just a few weeks, for Christmas, but when you all don’t get together too often, you take in and enjoy every minute you can.
Here are my favorite memories of this Thanksgiving:

  • Adam leading worship with me on Sunday and Wednesday.
  • Adam’s turkey made of olives and pickles, Katie’s pumpkin bread and green bean casserole, Lisa’s pumpkin pie, and Olivia’s mashed potatoes.Little ones hanging on the altar rail trying to see Pastor Bill.
  • Bike rides on two beautiful days.
  • Two posters filled with sticky “thank-you” notes.
  • The image of Jesus giving thanks right along side us.

As we head full steam ahead into Advent, these memories will quickly fade, so I’m glad I jotted them down here to remember.