The Peaceful Gnome

Yesterday my friend Tom and I went on a little tour of the Livermore Valley Wine Country by bicycle. The weather was sunny and warm, around 75 degrees so the conditions were ideal for riding. We started off at our house and rode the back trails to downtown Pleasanton where we stopped for a late breakfast at Dean's Cafe , they have fantastic Omelet menu , real good fuel for the ride ahead :-) We then rode out Vineyard Avenue until we reached Mitchell Katz Winery . We were a little early, they don't open the tasting room until noon, so we sat at the picnic tables outside and played a card game Tom brought called "Lost Cities" until they opened up. Mitchell Katz makes some really nice wines, the best was the "Fat Boy Cabernet" that we sampled out of the barrel, that won't be bottled until January but it's already really good :-) From there we rode on to Concannon Vineyard , one of the oldest wineries in the Livermore Valley. Their main claim to fa...

... and give up on being "confessional" I mean isn't THIS what it's really all about? Click here for "True Worship"

Issues Etc., murdered by the LCMS, is rising from the dead! Check out http://www.piratechristianradio.com/ Woo Hoo!.... er, I mean, AARGH!

What's up next... First, this Friday I'm going on a 25 mile bike ride with pit stops at wineries: View Larger Map Then on June 7th is the regular Mount Diablo Astronomical Society public night on top of the mountain, great time looking at planets and stars through telescopes... Then on June 14th it's time for pirates! In between is reading, and playing with Serenity, and learning with her about the world...

This is from Weedon's Blog and lays out in plain language what the fight in the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is all about. I still say we should compromise with the Happy-Clappys and split the name down the middle, we confessional Lutherans can keep the "Lutheran Church" part and they can have the "Missouri Synod" part, since they really aren't Lutheran and are barely Church anyway they will never miss those two words. Anyway, here is Pastor Weedon: Thoughts Ablaze... I posted this on the ALPB site in response to some words from Bishop Benke. A friend suggested they might be of value also on the blog, so here they are: As far as the family squabbling goes, I've tried to suggest that what the squabbling is about is not merely whose turn it is to do the dishes, but precisely caused by those who, from inside or out, would insist that the very things that make the Lutheran Church be the home that it is are the things that need to be dumped: her ...

I recently read "A World of Difference" by Ken Samples. This is a "world view" book that sought to demonstrate that the Orthodox (Standard) Christian world view is superior to all others. While I agreed with his conclusion that it is superior, of course, I found his actual arguments less than compelling. I had difficulty with his choice of criteria for the "tests" he gave the several world views he looked at. For example test number 7 was what he called the "Existential Test: Does the world view address the internal needs of humanity? " In spite of his efforts to make that seem other than subjective and somewhat arbitrary it seems to me that particular test was a ringer put in to make sure his side won. He used it to discredit Pantheistic Monism in what I felt was an unfair manner. He pretty much just declared that believing you are one with the cosmos and that all is God is "unsatisfying." I never found that to be the case...

...means, Homeschooler Lives here :-) At least it does at this house ;-)

Here is a link to the Daily Readings for the LCMS in calendar format. I've been slowly working on transcribing all of the daily readings for my own use that I link to in two week chunks at the top of this blog. I was thinking I might just link to this site which seems to be up to date so far. Of course I've tried this in the past in other places only to find the spot I linked to either vanishing or being less than accurate sometimes, so I think I'll keep working on my own version of this for the time being.

So true about the American Empire's capital city, and many other government buildings in the US, be sure to click on the image to see it full size:

Diane Flynn Keith proposes that since the government is trying to say that homeschoolers are outlaws we should: Be A Homeschool Pirate! Hoist the Jolly Roger! What a cool idea! I've got the pirate flag by the front door already, all I need to do now is to get a bracket for the staff and I can put it up. I'm going to do this for sure! Be sure to read the story here, there are whole bunch of really cool pirate links at the bottom of the article .

Today, the first Sunday after Pentecost, is celebrated in traditional Christian churches as Trinity Sunday. On this day our church, Messiah Lutheran Church in Danville, California , will once again confess the Athanasian Creed as we do each year. We also confessed it during this Thursday's celebration of the Holy Eucharist, so I didn't miss out. This is one of the three ancient creeds of the catholic church, the other two being the Nicene and the Apostles creeds. This creed, which tells of the doctrine of the Trinity, is somewhat like a Zen koan, it cannot be processed rationally, or at least it can't by me! When you try to understand it with your rational mind you are wasting your time, you can only accept it in faith through the Holy Spirit. Athanasian Creed Whoever will be saved shall, above all else, hold the catholic faith. Which faith, except everyone keeps whole and undefiled, without doubt he will perish eternally. And the catholic fait...

Today Serenity and I went to the Giants game in San Francisco along with Kathy and her son Danny. It was not nice and cool the way it normally is, instead it was 99 degrees at China Basin today! China Basin Landing, San Francisco, CA — Current Conditions Daily Summary for May 15, 2008 Current: High: Low: Average: Temperature: 83.8 °F / 28.8 °C 99.9 °F / 37.7 °C 64.3 °F / 17.9 °C 81.3 °F / 27.4 °C We had a good time anyway, lucky for us we were in the Club Level that has an enclosed and air conditioned concession area behind it, we were in our seats for about an hour, then at the play area for the kids for about an hour then we fled inside for the duration. Kathy gave me a ride home because I discovered that BART was FUBART once again with 45 minute to and hour delays all over the system. Here is Serenity with the giant spider that lurks along the Embarcadero Serenity...

It just keeps on getting better and better! When I got back to the Pleasanton station after work and went to my bike I discovered that some idiot had locked his bike to the rack by running his cable lock through the frame of my bike! Even with my locks removed my bike is still locked to the rack! I cannot believe this. I have decided that there is only one way to solve my bike and BART woes. I'm going to start driving my car to San Francisco. NOT! No, what I'm actually going to do is to take my bike on the train the way I used to do. It's just that it's a little bit of a nuisance to hang on to it and it's hard to have it there and use my computer while I'm on the train. I do use the computer some on the train, like I did when I was venting this morning, but not frequently enough to make this sort of nonsense worthwhile! Well a very kind BART police officer, Dexter, gave me a ride home since Lora and Mike are both up in Danville at choir practice, that...

I gotta get me one of these ! Swiss pilot Yves Rossy, who calls himself “Fusion Man”, becomes the first person to fly with jet-fuel powered wings strapped to his back. He completed several loops at 300km/h (186mph) above the Alps.

John Climacus on Anger from Uneasy Priest These words from St. John Climacus really cut me to the quick in my devotional reading this morning. I pray they work upon you as well, that you might repent of your sin and trust in Christ's blood and righteousness as the cure for sin and death. Anger is a dislike hatched from the memory of offenses received, a desire to hurt the people who have hurt us. The sweet scent of humility, however, makes it disappear, as the darkness scatters when the sun rises. Some people with a hot temper do not worry about it and ignore the remedies that would heal them. They forget, unfortunately, what is written: "Surely anger kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple." (Job 5:2) Anger is like the rapid revolution of the mill-wheel. It not only crushes but also scatters more grain than a reaper could do working a whole day. It is also like an outbreak of fire when the wind is blustery: it scorches and burns up the field of the heart more ...

BART , normally reliable, is FUBART today! Man, I’m sitting on the train trying to go to work, so first we stood there with no train at the platform, then, 5 minutes late, a train pulled into the wrong platform, we were told to board that train, which we did, then for the next 15 minutes, nothing. Then just now we rolled out of the station, in the wrong direction . There really must be a mess in the BART schedule this morning! Yet there are no advisories on the BART web site. Now we are finally moving in the proper direction and are on the proper side of the Dublin Station, man they are totally messed up! Finally, a full 20 minutes behind schedule, with the train already at capacity, we have rolled out of the station toward San Francisco. Full speed for about 30 seconds and now we are moving at about 5 miles an hour... and now we've stopped... I wonder if I will ever get to work today? I suppose I will just get out my book, A World of Difference, and read for a while a...

I know it can be hard sometimes. In fact over the years I’ve been through periods when I thought that “the Yes” have become extinct. They can be slippery buggers – sometimes so small and great at hiding. Its as though you’ve got to feel them first… believe in them… then maybe, just maybe you might start to see them. Not like finding “the No” . They are so easy to see and so numerous that I used to think that I would drown in them. I’m sure my daughter felt the same way a few years back and even today I find my self swatting unwanted ones away. Things are improving though – these days when one of my children asks for something I try to pause, to think and even enroll their help in searching for “the Yes” . Read the rest at The Parenting Pit.

...or is it Mother's Day? What do you think of those phony Hallmark Holidays that we dare not skip completely, Mother's Day and Father's Day, and that, if we are in a romantic relationship of some sort, then we must pay attention to Valentine's Day as well? These are what I think of as "Increasing Florist and Greeting Card Makers Profit Days." They were designed to literally force us to spend money to prove our love and devotion to someone we ought already to love and be devoted to! They are a scam, and yet I, along with nearly everyone else in the country, must obey our corporate masters and send cards and flowers and make phone calls. We should do these things anyway... but we don't do we? Ah, maybe these days are not such a terrible idea after all... In any case, the real Holy-Day today is Pentecost! This is the day, 50 days after Easter, when the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples. The Holy Spirit is that wonderful person/gift from God whos...

From Augsburg1530: Incompetence Posted on May 8, 2008 by Mollie Yesterday I linked to a job announcement in the Synod’s official newspaper The Reporter . The position David Strand is trying to fill reads almost word for word as the job description the Board for Communication Services had for Rev. Todd Wilken. The only thing left out is the term “staff Pastor.” (Rev. Wilken was KFUO’s staff pastor.) It’s odd that Strand would cancel the show and “eliminate the positions,” and then advertise to fill one of the “eliminated” positions. How does this guy keep his job? If you’re trying to convince a church body that you fired Rev. Todd Wilken for financial — and not political or theological — reasons, can’t you cover your tracks a little bit better than this?

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