Moments

As expected, attendance was light, especially Saturday.  Still, it was a great time of worship.  Here are just some of the highlights:

• Celebrated Abby’s birthday.  What a precious gift she is.
• Watched the fireworks at UB.  Always a great display.  I love this country.
• Saturday was quiet so I got a lot of stuff done.
• Tony help with Communion.  He did a great job.  I am thankful for him.
• Sunday we had a Camp Pioneer group led by the joy-filled Leah.
• It was fun to watch Paris so excited to see Micah.
• Fun to see some families who had moved away.
• Bible class on Proverbs was great.  I love the questions and discussions.
• Enjoyed a nice lunch outside with the family and then some games.

Today is a big day for Sue.  Not a lot of people can say they have served in the same church for 25 years!  That is very impressive.  So here are 25 things I love about Sue:

1. She loves the Lord.
2. She loves the word of God.
3. She loves the church of God, especially First Trinity.
4. She has a great sense of humor.  Of course, that is a necessity around this place.
5. She is a phenomenal process person, which is important to have at least one person on staff like that.
6. She is competitive.  Of course, the way she plays cards, well never mind.
7. She genuinely loves the staff she works with, especially the lead pastor.
8. She is a great faith coach.
9. She feels guilty when she picks on me – as well she should.
10. She loves my whole family.
11. She prays for Wisken and Lovelie.
12. It was great to watch her grow during our Israel trip.
13. She has a contagious faith.
14. She is a great friend.
15. She has awesome ideas.
16. I love her children’s messages.
17. She is a great Bible teacher.
18. She is a wonderful encourager.
19. She has the respect of the whole Synod – which means I can drop her name in groups and it just makes me seem better than I am.
20. She makes me better than I am.
21. It is fun to watch her get excited about something.  She can’t contain her joy, which is fun.  She let’s her emotions show, which is a nice quality.
22. I can talk to her and she will always be truthful.
23. She loves the children, and especially her God-children.
24. She reads a lot, which means she can recommend good books.  Of course, sometimes she reads those silly chick-books.
25. She is my eternal friend.

Sue, thanks for all you do.  You show us Christ in so many ways.  Sure, maybe not in the way you play (gun for me undeservedly) at cards, but in so many other ways.  You’re the best.

It was a very busy week at First Trinity.  Here are some of the special moments:

• We had an Executive Ministry Team planning retreat.  It was excellent and we accomplished much.
• Came back Saturday in time to have my car washed by the youth.
• Then a youth group from Messiah Lutheran Church in Joliet, Illinois stayed overnight at First Trinity.  They are doing a work camp in Niagara Falls.  It was great to visit with them.  They came to our 11:15 worship on Sunday.
• Started a new Bible class on Proverbs Sunday.  That was fun.  The class had so many helpful analogies.  I am really looking forward to next week’s class.
• Installed the Ministry Council.  I am so thankful for them.
• Kairos 44 shared their experiences after church.  It was fun to hear how blessed the men were.  It is a great ministry.

It was a long and very busy week.  But it is just an example of the many things that go one here.  I am thankful to be a part of this family of believers.

A few of us went to see the movie, “The Transformers” yesterday.  Here is a warning, if you have young kids, don’t take them.  The plot of the movie was fine, and even enjoyable.  But the movie opened with so many sexual overtones and innuendos, that it just overshadowed the whole movie.  The truth is, just as I was about to get up and walk out, the movie finally got on track.    Still, I am a little upset I didn’t walk out though because I couldn’t enjoy it.

All of that junk added absolutely nothing to the movie.  It could have been a very enjoyable outing, but it wasn’t.

Bottom line, the movie needs a transformation.  Just make a descent movie and trust that is enough.  Don’t try to fill it up with trash.  I cannot recommend this movie.

This is my first movie review ever.  If you would like me to give other movie reviews, let me know.

What a great weekend!  Father’s day is always special because it reminds us to take time to thanks our Heavenly Father for His goodness and love toward us.  It was a joy to gather and worship Him.  Here are some more highlights.

• Sue’s children’s message was great as always, but I really thought this one was excellent!
• During the Bible class hour, we celebrated all that happened this last quarter.  It is always a fun time and a highlight I look forward too.
• Spending time with my wife and kids is always special on Father’s Day.  They never know what to get me because they say I am so hard to shop for.  The truth is, I don’t really need anything.  I would rather just be with them.  Still, they got me some great gifts.
• At the same time, I really miss Lovelie and Wisken.  It seems as if they will never get here.  I was hoping they would be here by Father’s Day.  I will just have to trust God knows what He is doing.

I have been following the news in Iran lately.  My wife and I often discuss what happens when you try to bring democracy into a non-Christian nation, especially a Muslim country.  It just doesn’t seem to work.

Today Iran’s Supreme Leader finally spoke up.  Naturally, my mind started to wander after I heard his title – Supreme Leader.  I have now declared that as my new title.  The great thing about it is I don’t need a Congregational Meeting to bestow that title on me.  If I did, I wouldn’t be a very good Supreme  Leader.  I figure it is best just to declare that title.  So from now on, you may address me as, Supreme Leader.  My next step is to get some new business cards made.

Tim – would you please take care of getting a new name plate for my office door?  Sue – (and you can basically substitute any Sue here, Sue Whited, Sue Steege or Sue Brese) would you please refer to me by my new title while in public.  We all know who the real Supreme Leader is, and I bow to you Supreme”ness,” but out doctrine says only a man can hold the office of Supreme Leader.  So in public I would appreciate your cooperation.

In the mean time, I will consider a dress code for the Supreme Leader.  I do like turbans, but they are over done.  I am leaning toward Pope-like head dress.  I’ve always wanted one.  And until I decide on the right kind of robe, I will be wearing my bathrobe to church.

And my real name is more Supremish.  Supreme Leader Charles will be on my new cards.

Well, I think I have given this enough thought.  Feel free to share yours, just remember who you are addressing.

By the way, this is all pending Kathy Figini’s approval.

We have a great mail lady.  She always brightens our day because she has such a wonderful attitude.  It is always fun when she comes in.  She is like one of the First Trinity family.

Well today I complained about not receiving any cards for Man Day.  Her response, “Really, because I delivered a whole mail bucket of them.”  Funny.   Still, I chose to believe her because it made me feel better.

Today, I am thankful for Elaine, the mail lady.  But I do wonder what happen to all my cards.

Did you know that June 15th is national man day?  Obviously many of you didn’t because I received no cards!  Nevertheless, I celebrated.  How does one celebrate Man Day?  I cooked on the grill.

Now the challenge – what to grill.  When you have an eight and a half month pregnant girl coming over, and others who are not big red meat eaters, what can you grill?  Personally, being a real man (quiche was not an option), I wanted to throw a hunk of road kill and grunt and eat, but that is not easy when there are women around.  My next thought was a nice piece of fresh salmon.  No fit for pregnant consumption again!  I may just end up going back to quiche.  Finally I settled on manly Italian sausage.

Granted, it may not be something with horns or antlers, but it will do in a man is trying to be a man on Man Day, but fighting against all the estrogen in the house.

Next, we will sit outside to eat.  I will demonstrate to my neighbors that I Am Man – Hear Me Roar!  This will be great!  I will set up our nice table and let them see how a real man eats in the wild.  (I hope the gate is shut on the fence).

Problem:  Wheatfield is spraying for mosquitoes.  Chemical challenges prevent me from eating outside.  I am not afraid, but again – pregnancy concerns.  Still, that playing doing low fly overs was kind of cool.

So we ate at the dining room table.  My wife wouldn’t even allow any manly grunting.  She just won’t let me be a man!

I am open for suggestions for next year.  I must start planning now.  How did you celebrate man day?  And if you didn’t know about it, consider that a conspiracy from those opposed to Man Day.  You know who I’m talking about!

This was a different weekend since we had the Eastern District Convention.  Still, here are some special moments:

• We had a special adult baptism on Thursday.  Welcome to God’s family Jackie.
• The convention was very time consuming.  By the way, I forgot to mention, that Sandra Rice was there as well.  That means there were around 15 of us at the convention.  They should just rename it, “The First Trinity Convention.”
• It was really nice to leave the convention and go to worship.  I just love worship at First Trinity.
• Actually, Sunday was the big event day.  We had another baptism at the early service.  Welcome to the family Makayla.
• We also received new members.  We had a large number of people join.  Very exciting.
• Every day faith blessing service at 11:15.  I had the best seat for that.  I could see the emotion in the eyes of the parents as they held their Bible and put their hand on their child and made a commitment to teach the word to their child.  It is just a special moment.
• I saw some old friends who were in town and came to church.  That was fun.
• Did some geocaching with Susan and the kids.  At one place, we walked back in some weeds and the mosquito’s attacked us.  There were millions of them.  We had to hurry and leave and get an infusion.  It was a close call.
• Now I am looking forward to our special celebration this coming weekend.

God is good!

Many of us from First Trinity have spent the last two days at the Eastern District Convention.  It was a pretty good convention as far as those things go.  There were no controversial issues and the convention ran very smoothly.

Here are some results:

District President:  Rev. Dr. Chris Wicher.  He is the pastor at St. Luke in Cheektowaga. He is a great guy and I am excited he is our new District President.

Buffalo Region Vice president:  Rev. Karl Haeussler.   Again, Pastor Karl is a great guy.

Circuit Counselor:  That would be me.  I am afraid that it may consume more time than I have.  My wife will let me know.

Jim Brese and Paul Fromm both received servant of Christ awards.  Both are very deserving.  There were not monumental decisions made beyond these.  Just took a lot of our time.