intern pastor, musician, geek, and Dad.
Uppercase or lowercase baptism?
Well, today is the last day for this year’s seniors to work on their ELCA Approval Essays, because they’re due tomorrow. Since the Gospel text for this year is Matthew 3.13-17 (Baptism of Our Lord, Year A), I’ve found myself writing the word baptism a LOT. So, should it be capitalized?
If you’re looking for the official ELCA directions on this, look no further than the ELCA Style Guide. Rather than make you flip through 52 pages of it, though, here’s the one minute version, taken straight from the Style Guide:
The Wholeness / Wellness Wheel is a gift
Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. – 3 John 2
Some people call it the “Wellness Wheel.” Some people call it the “Wholeness Wheel.” Whatever you call it, for the last few years in the ELCA it has been the chosen vehicle for describing a multi-faceted approach to health that goes beyond “Not Dead Yet.”
Down in Dubuque, Phone number fumble
Just a brief note to say that we’re in Dubuque, unpacking, and all is well. We got into town on Friday night and had the truck unloaded in under 90 minutes with the help of Arlyn, Sarah, Chuck, Karen, Ken and our families. Thank you!
Jennifer’s Dad and family returned to Arkansas on Saturday, and my parents drove back to St. Louis this morning. So far we’ve gotten almost halfway unpacked, turned in our paperwork and lease, and
I’m not quite sure how this happened, but we were given the wrong phone number for our house. Our new phone number is 563-589-0387. If you call -0388 you’ll be bugging our nice new neighbors, the Martins.
Pullin’ up Stakes

Grilled Steak. Get it.. stake... steak? It's funny!
Well, according to the calendar it’s moving day, so we’re on our way back up to Dubuque and Wartburg. It’s hard to leave a community you get to know over the course of a year and move someplace different yet again. And even though I’ll know a bunch of people from my own class, I won’t know hardly anyone from the other two classes on campus, so it really is like moving to a brand new place with a whole new set of people and relationships to learn. I’m looking forward to it, of course, but leaving is hard and arriving is hard too.
Our new address as of today is 447 Blair Dr #5, Dubuque IA 52003. Our home phone number will be 563-589-0388. We haven’t decided yet how we’re going to handle cell phones, but it’s likely that our existing cell phone numbers will be disconnected soon as they won’t be necessary for a year on campus and are rather expensive.
So, without further ado… adieu, Sterling and Rock Falls – and watch out, Wartburg!
Saturday Stretch, End-of-internship Edition

From the sanctuary of St. John's, Sterling, IL.
‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me.’ – Revelation 3.20 (NASB)
I want to leave a legacy.
How will they remember me? Did I choose to love?
Did I point to You enough to make a mark on things?
I want to leave an offering.
A child of mercy and grace who blessed your name unapologetically…
- Nicole Nordeman, Legacy
Saturday Stretch

And God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out of them. – Acts 19.11-12 (ESV)
Koine (Biblical) Greek in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx

I’ve been using Ubuntu for several years with KMFL (Keyboard Mapping for Linux), a project to bring “Keyman-style” keyboard maps to Linux in order to type in Unicode. These are vastly superior to traditional keyboard maps because they allow you to type more naturally.
Saturday Stretch, Tuesday Edition

Okay, okay, I confess: with the holiday weekend, I didn’t get around to writing up the Saturday Stretch until now. So much for weekly disciplines!
‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear.’ – Matthew 6.25a (NRSV)
The Amazing Shrinking Sermon

In early October 2002, I was both a smart alec undergraduate doing a minor in Mathematical Statistics and the guy at church who was recording sermons to put them on the internet. I noticed over a span of six weeks that Pastor’s sermons were getting progressively shorter each week. Taking to heart the saying Mark Twain popularized, that “there are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics,” I thought I’d apply some intentionally faulty reasoning and write it up for fun.
I stumbled upon it recently while cleaning up some old computer files, and it shows something very important about trusting models. More on that below.



