May 31 Update

Google Maps Street View
Now you can walk the streets of Oakland Chinatown and 4 other metro areas in the US without ever leaving your computer! Take a look at this new feature inside of Google Maps called "Street View." The feature is in pilot mode so only a few locations are in Street View. These locations include San Francisco Bay Area, Las Vegas, Miami and New York. Look for the camera icon on the large scale maps, and look for the streets outlined in blue on the small scale maps.



The image I've included here is from the sacred corner of Van Ness and Pacific, for many years the home of The Hippopotamus (aka the Hippo or the Hungry Hippo), the finest Hamburger place I've ever been. Since it closed back in the late 1980s (replaced by a stinkin' GAP store fer cryin out loud...), San Francisco holds very little reason for me to return. (via Geoff...)



The Party was awesome!
Tuesday night was the Graduation party featuring These Guys Here as the band. We were apparently the hot ticket on Tuesday night in Kingwood. People were in our house shoulder to shoulder, parking as far as 3 blocks away. Tamara was outside all evening grilling steak kabobs and shrimp kabobs - her grad gift to EC (and us). Other friends also brought food. It was a most amazing and memorable night.


Kingwood's getting hot and humid. Always seems to happen this time of year...


H2$ is getting nearer - tonight is my last free night until after opening weekend.


Miles has had 7 days in a row of (comparative) health - deepening my suspicion that there is a school-phobia elemt to his severe health challenge in addition to the obvious physiological ones.


EC will be singing in the Kingwood College Summer Opera Worskshop.

May 29 update

1. ElenaClaire Graduates! Friday evening



2. Sisters Elena and Rachel were here all weekend. Rachel still here; Elena has just left for San Diego.

3. Miles is on his 5th day in a row of health.

4. Tonight's the party, with These Guys Here playing music!

May 24 Update

ElenaClaire graduates tomorrow from Kingwood High. The ceremony is at 8:30 pm at Reliant Stadium - the same venue where a famous wardrobe malfunction occurred. I feel confident that no such problem will occur tomorrow.

After Graduation, Alicia and I are volunteering at the "Project Graduation" all-night party held at KHS. Alicia and Miles are now at Hobby AIrport picking up Aunt Elena, flown in from San Diego and here until Tuesday afternoon. Aunt Rachel arrives tomorrow by car from Plano, TX. Elena can't stay for Tuesday night's party. We hope Rachel can.

ElenaClaire will spend the summer working part time as a nanny and a couple days a week as a barista at Jitters Coffee. What a thoroughly stereotypical thing for a 2007 grad to do. (One of her favorite songs is "Taylor the Latte Boy". A recording of Kristen Chenoweth singing “Taylor” is available here. Click the stream labeled 30:14 and scroll over to about seventeen minutes into the clip.)

EC was also offered a lead role in Kingwood College's Opera Workshop this summer. If she can work it into her schedule, it would be a great experience. Her role would be Gretel in the opera "Hansel and Gretel" by Engelbert Humperdinck (No, the famous British pop singer from the 1960s -- real name Arnold Dorsey -- the one with the cheesy tuxedo, sappy songs and silly sideburns -- did not compose this opera. The Engelbert Humperdinck who wrote Hansel and Gretel was born in Germany in 1854.)

Miles is officially through with 4th grade tomorrow at noon. Please God, may this year have been the worst year of his schooling. He's missed, I am sure, in excess of 50 days - nearly a third of the year.

I've just completed a re-designing of the basic arrangement of the CTK website. The goal was to make the page designed more for the visitor or person considering a visit, and less for the member (though members can still easily find what they need). The main menuing now makes it much easier for a visitor to find basic information they might need, and avoids churchy language. I implemented many suggestions made by Tony Morgan and the Internet Evangelism Day site.

Mark, my much-valued colleague in Worship and Music Ministry, has decided to remain at CTK rather than accept the call he received from the church in Ohio. We are all grateful. I still find the idea of a congregation officially extending a call to a pastor (or church worker) who has told you he is not interested is kind of unusual. But there are probably ways that seem normal to me that others would find strange.

Mike Breen was here yesterday to meet with our staff. Mike is the developer of LifeShapes, a series of unique discipling tools. He is now gathering 7 churches to be the model churches for a ministry approach that steps away from the well-marketed church growth method in favor of a disciple-making approach. What does that mean, you ask? Most of us are not entirely sure, and if we are, we're still looking for language to explain it. But it appears we are going to be one of the model churches. I am enthusiastic.

Brad was commenting on his blog about his experience of convergence:

he's a pastor and missionary with the Evangelical Covenant Church, serving on Guam in partnership with the Liebenzell Mission and Pacific Islands Bible College, where their primary work is with Micronesians; he's also helping out at the Lutheran Church of Guam, an independent, culturally diverse Lutheran congregation which maintains affiliation with both the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (where he and Cheryl regularly worship) as the intern supervisor and occasional preacher. Their summer seminary intern at LCG is an American who does US Air Force reserve duty on Guam every few months, but who is living down under, studying to become a minister in the Uniting Church of Australia.

I replied that as a Covenant pastor serving an LCMS congregation that has done 2 campaigns from Saddleback (a Baptist Church) and whose leadership is now being mentored by an Anglican who is connected with an ELCA congregation in Arizona, I thought all the convergence was pretty cool.

A confession for Mother's Day

This confession was written to follow a reading of Proverbs 31:10-12, 25-30 (NIV). It came out of an awareness that Mother's Day can be a difficult day for women whose relationships with their mothers were/are strained, those who have experienced infertility issues, etc. and others who find the Proverbs ideal too lofty to attain.

Lord, many of us read these words from Your Holy Word
And are inspired, encouraged, and grateful.
But some of us are tempted to doubt
That Your grace could ever produce
these kinds of virtues in our lives.

Some of us are tempted by resentment and unforgiveness
Because of those who have let us down.
Some of us are tempted to condemn ourselves for past failings,
and all of us remember times when we have fallen short.

Forgive us for doubt, resentment,
unforgiving hearts, self-condemning attitudes.
Remind us of your forgiveness, always available in Jesus Christ.

In Spite of our failures and sin,
We trust in Your power to transform our lives.
Fill us with Your Holy Spirit, Lord Jesus,
So that our lives may bring Joy to Your world
And Praise to Your Name.

© 2007 Rick Lindholtz

Friday 5/4

• For the third time in 6 1/2 years of calling Christ the King Lutheran Church my home, something has happened that I just find so interesting: Another church has extended a call to one of our staff, even though the staff person has clearly articulated that he is not looking and not open to a change of ministry. I find this interesting simply because it is so outside of my experience. In The Covenant I have never heard of such a thing happening. "No" means "No" in the ECC. If you're a Covenant reader, have you heard of a Covenant Church, in congregational vote, extending an official call to a pastor or staff ministry person who has said "no thanks" on more than one occasion?

This time (again)it is Mark, our Director of Worship and Music, who has been called by a church in Cleveland OH. And he figures that if a church is willing to extend a call, he needs to explore whether it is God's will. So he'll be up there next week.

I'm not concerned. God is in control, but I really don't expect this to happen.

• Miles has concluded his course of Prednisone. It has been sheer misery. Probably the worst month of our lives. And it will take a few days for the remnants of Prednisone to leave his system. Further, there is (as far as we can tell) no evidence that it has accomplished anything other than wreak havoc with his sleep cycle [and ours]and his Blood Glucose management. Today he is having a horrible day of abdominal pain - the presenting problem which the Prednisone was theoretically going to help.