We drove to Madison to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and Brother-in-law.  Didn’t want then to fuss over all the Thanksgiving fixing for a meal.  They suggested we go to Old Country Buffet instead.  That was a good idea.

We didn’t have to stand in line long after we paid.  But by the time we were seated the waiting line went out the door.  “Table for 15 is ready now,” we heard the staff announce.  Those large parties had to wait longer for tables to open up.  Just imagine taking the whole family out instead of cooking!

The food was very good: tasty, not soggy sitting in pans and a great choice for every taste and appetite.  I chose the prime rib, and ham since I already had eaten a turkey dinner earlier in the week.  All the sides and salads you could want.  Desserts were: pumpkin pie, pecan pie, carrot cake, chocolate cake, whipped cream, cherries, ice cream and then some.

We had great service from a guy clearing the table and refilling our drinks.  All in all it was a fine way to be together and still enjoy traditional Thanksgiving meal without the fuss.  Pain free holiday for the hosts and we were home to watch the second half of the Packer game!

Today we went over to Jim and Cathy’s to have coffee.  Little Kajsa entertained us all.  We chatted with them plus Rob and Jen who were also taking a new call to a church.  Transitions are exciting but also anxiety ridden as well.  We will miss them in our District but wish them God’s best in their new ministry settings.

An elder in our church told me a great story last night.

He and his wife went to Michigan to meet their new granddaughter.  She was born in Ethiopia and adopted by their daughter and son-in-law, who were returning to America.  They went to the airport with balloons, and flowers and gifts to welcome them as they got off the plane.  This new little bundle of joy was a nine-month-old wide eyed beauty.  She was smothered with love and affection.

They attended church and as they were leaving Sunday service  there on the big screen a Bible verse flashed on: Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household…(Ephesians 2:19)

Isn’t that the truth for this little one brought into a loving Christian household?  Love is the best passport.

Pastor friends of mine, Jim and Cathy, did the same thing in bringing home to Madison a new daughter from China last year.  My sister did the same act of adopting love for my niece right here in America.  Thank God their mothers chose LIFE and not abortion.

And isn’t so true for many who at one point did not have any connection to Jesus Christ?  The Church is God’s alternative family for those lost, abandoned, and alone in this world.  Jesus, at a great price,  went the distance and made the trip from Heaven to earth to rescue us and welcome us into his family where we belong forever.

That’s good news!

We had a fantastic time at the wedding today!

First we met eleven family members from far away as Mesa AZ for a noon buffet lunch at “Sweetwaters” restaurant near the hotel.  Great food and lots of fun.

The church is located in a difficult spot behind a K Mart shopping center.  Everyone’s GPS got them lost – including us.  But no one was too late for the service if they left early!!!

I will not lie to you – I was nervous for this event.  Maybe more emotional than nervous so I had to really control the adrenalin.  After doing many wedding ceremonies this was close to the heart to walk to the altar with my youngest son to officiate at his wedding.  Eric got teary eyed at the beginning and so I could not put my eyes to him or I got choked up.  But we go through the service.

Our daughter, Karin, sang so beautifully for the processional and during the candle lighting.  Her voice and emotion goes right to my heart too and that was a big deal.

We then stood in the receiving line and then stood for a gazillion photos.  I checked my watch and it was an hour and a half standing.  My back was getting tired.  It was good to sit down at the reception and visit with friends for church and family and neighbors. The food was excellent.

We also had Jim and Lu come to the wedding and reception.  They were good friends from Union Church back in Monroe at our first church. Now they live up here in Colfax. Faithful Blog Readers, they are!

The matron of honor and Best man really gave wonderful tribute speeches to Eric and Brittany.  Then the party got a shakin’ and a bakin’!

Dance to the music – we all did.  But I had not seen Eric dance like he did.  He was a Michael Jackson on the dance floor with all the smooth moves.  And he and Brittany and their Madison friends had learned swing dancing – was that cool to watch.  I let loose a couple times and really had a joyful time out on the floor with those “young people.” My form of free spontaneous “liturgical dance.”

Now it is five minutes to midnight as I write this blog post.  I am tired but it is the best good tired I have had in a long long time.  God is good.  Thanks for your love and prayers.

I asked, “Do you…?” They each responded, “I do.”  And I thought to myself, “They really have no clue at all what is involved in this institution called marriage.”  God bless them!

This was not easy to do – write a marriage message for my son’s wedding.  But it all came together when the two biblical texts were chosen by them:  Psalm 40 and Matthew 5: 13-16.

Final edit on the three point message is polished off today.

“The Marriage Duet” will be ready to preach Friday at 4PM. Two more days…

A Dad can’t have a better Father’s Day than have his number One son come and fry brats and burgers for him.  I just love to see this happening!

A son frying meat for his Dad - Can't beat that!

Karin called on the phone and wished me a Happy Day.  She and Trevor finished up their membership classes and formaly joined Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis yesterday.

Eric called and also wished me a Happy Pappy Day.  He led two worship services at his church in the morning and evening, so he couldn’t be here for the day.

But I am blessed to have Andy here to share the special Day with me.  I’m smiling as I write this.

We’ve been cousins since I was born
In a Racine Winter of February cold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not  old.

My cousin Randy was my buddy
Since my brothers and sister had left the fold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

We grew up on “Hi-O-Silver”
We were Cowboys, oh so bold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

Randy played guitar with his brother Jer
Folkies and Beatles of the 60’s mold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

We rode the bus downtown goin’ bowlin’
Uncle Willie taught us the ball to hold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

Our hair was blond and thin
We fit the Johnson family mold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

We loved Smokie links and Kool-Aid
That gave us fortitude untold;
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

We went swimming Friday nights at the Y
With underwater sharks we imagined we rolled
When we were young
And our mothers were not old.

Now we share years full of winding trails
With memories that are gold;
When are mothers are in heaven
And now we are getting old.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Poem by Steven J. Pedersen for Friday June 5th, 2009
Dedicated to my Cousin Randy who visited us with his wife MaryAnn as we had lunch out at Whistling Straits on Tuesday June 2nd.

My 1997 Dodge Caravan Sport needs $1,050 repair work. I took it into the dealer service department and was told that a bearing went on the Air Compressor Unit.

I took it in a year ago and they told me the Air-Conditioning Unit was shot.  So I drove away with all windows open like in the early days.  But now it froze up and blew a bearing which made this aggravating noise when the engine started up.  If left unchecked it could throw a belt and pulley that is connected to the whatchamacallit and the gizmo breaking down would cause nuclear war and the end of sliced bread.

This is a CHRYSLER product.  I repeat – this is a product made when CHRYSLER was giving their executives bonuses like Condos in Rio de Janeiro.  The parts guy said a part was FOUND in Chicago to fix the deal and I would have air-conditioning again and a smooth ride and the bowling channel  for 100 years if I repaired the car.  But not until next Monday.  So I said “Okay, do it. And then I’ll just eat Raman noodles for three months.”

The best ever car GM made was the Corvette. wish it had been a Chrysler.  But I never bought one thinking that church members would think I was skimming the offering plates.  Looking back I should have accepted that bright canary Yellow one I was offered after the funeral I did for a guy named “Louie the Hammer.”

Kathy bought the Caravan when I was in England for a month.  She traded in our boxy Chevy Astro for the 3 year old Sport Caravan.  My wife is a go getter of which I am ever grateful for her independent mind as I drank tea and slept in damp old houses along the English sea coast for Jesus.  I have never been away longer than 6 days since then.

The Dodge has 122,000 miles on it and full of memories packing our kids to college at the 3 M’s = Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Madison.

I can’t let her go so she’ll be fixed up until the next time.  I just hope GM doesn’t say then, “We found a part in Naples from a Muslim junk yard.  It will really cost you REV.!”  Even so come soon. Lord Jesus.

My brother, Ralph, and his wife, Lois, stopped in for a visit this week.  They had been at their Wheaton College Class Reunion in Illinois last weekend.  We went out for lunch at Highland House on the Sheboygan River.

The older I get the more I start looking like my brother!

If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper–not a homemaker.
If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness – not godliness.
Love leaves the dust in search of a child’s laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window. Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys. Love is present through the trials. Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive. Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood. Love is the key that opens salvation’s message to a child’s heart.

Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God’s perfection of my child.
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.

Mothers and Fathers — you think you’re special? You think you’re being honored, having one day out of the year dedicated to you?

Consider this: Egg salad gets a whole week. As do pickles, pancakes, pickled peppers, split pea soup, clowns, carpenter ants and aardvarks. Peanut butter (March), chickens (September) and oatmeal (January) each rate an entire month.

Mothers and fathers can draw solace from the fact that along with themselves, such national treasures as the rubber eraser and moles also merit only a single day of recognition.

++++++++++++++++

From the experience of being a son, a father and a minister, Robert Fulghum talks about Mother’s Day in his book It Was On Fire When I Lay Down On It (New York: Villard Books, 1989):

“For twenty-five years of my life, the second Sunday in May was trouble. Being the minister of a church, I was obliged in some way to address the subject of Mother’s Day. It could not be avoided. I tried that. Mind you, the congregation was quite open-minded, actually, and gave me free rein in the pulpit. But when it came to the second Sunday in May, the expectations were summarized in these words of one of the more out spoken women in the church: ‘I’m bringing my MOTHER to church on MOTHER’S DAY, Reverend, and you can talk about anything you want. But it had better include MOTHER, and it had better be GOOD!’

She was joking – teasing me.  She also meant it.”