Sunday night

While my bride chats with her mom on the phone, I'll update y'all. Here are some facts from today:

We just finished green chili chicken enchilada casserole for supper. And, now the house is warming from all the cooking.

I love my wife's laugh. And, many other adorable things about her.

I am having problems with Kodak's EasyShare software, insofar as deleting pictures is concerned. It only allows me to edit aliases of the original photos, and yet when I want to delete a bad one, it removes the alias and the original. I want to edit COPIES of the original, and delete the ALIASES, so that I can have a folder of edited photos and another of the originals. Why is this so hard? I shall call Kodak tomorrow.

Last night was supper at a little Greek cafe my Dad and Mom recommended. After, it was tickets -- also a gift, thanks Parents! -- to seats at the San Francisco Symphony concert performance of the abstract, religious work "L'Ascension" by Olivier Messiaen and the charged, manic "Symphony No. 1" by Gustav Mahler.

We're still cleaning up from the flooding in our garage. Man vs. Nature, which is always stubbornly fun for me.

Pastor Meyer challenged my thinking again. Enough so that I wonder if a coffeehouse break would be in order. Anyway, the reliable nutrition in today's Divine Service again made me grateful, in spite of my propensity to take God's good gifts for granted. I'll be posting no hymn lyrics for you today, however, because I'm outta time.

This week ought to be an exciting one, filled with deadlines.

How 'boutchu?

35 rueful years of Roe

Gene Veith posts on that fact. I attended a prayer breakfast near the Capitol- something I haven't gotten to do before. Among the guest speakers were some Hollywood producers, believe it or not, and some teary-eyed mothers with babies who came to thank people who had befriended them in their time of struggle and need.

Hymn Text

I don't ever remember singing this one, although it's been around since 1524. It's a beautiful melody that paces the prayer it contains, if you've never sung it before.


The Only Son from Heaven

The only Son from heaven,
Foretold by ancient seers,
By God the Father given,
In human form appears.
No sphere his light confining,
No star so brightly shining
As he, our Morning Star.

O time of God appointed,
O bright and holy morn!
He comes, the king anointed,
The Christ, the virgin born,
Grim death to vanquish for us,
To open heaven before us
And bring us life again.

O Lord, our hearts awaken
To know and love you more,
In faith to stand unshaken,
In spirit to adore,
That we, through this world moving,
Each glimpse of heaven proving,
May reap its fullness there.

O Father, here before you
With God the Holy Ghost
And Jesus, we adore you,
O pride of angel host:
Before you mortals lowly
Cry, "Holy, holy, holy,
O Blessed Trinity!"

Praying Psalms during your day

From a list in Wilhelm Löhe's Seed Grains of Prayer.

Waking up: Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law. (Ps. 119:18)
Getting up: The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down. (Ps. 145:14)
Getting dressed: Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy. (Ps. 132:9)
Washing: Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin! (Ps. 51:2)
Morning: O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. (Ps. 5:3)
Out of my room: Lead me, O LORD, in your righteousness because of my enemies; make your way straight before me. (Ps. 5:8)
As I work: Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways! You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you. (Ps. 128:1-2)
Midday: He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. (Ps. 91:4-6)
Sunset: Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun (Ps. 74:16)
Night: For it is you who light my lamp; the LORD my God lightens my darkness (Ps. 18:28)
At sleep: In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety. (Ps. 4:8)

[Hat tip to Die Heilige Kirche]

The reason for the delay...

... in posting trip pictures is because I have something in the vicinity of 1.5 gigs of photos to clean up. Then, I need to decide where I can host them: Flickr, Webshots, or Kodak. I hope I can get on this during the weekend!

However, here's a few that pick up where we left off before. The next morning, we awaken in the quaint village of Cesky Krumlov. Here's where we stayed, which was a little corner tower of the city's fortifications back in the 14th century. Unlike any place we've stayed before, for sure!

Maybe this is why Luther put music second only to theology

Read about how Bach inspires in Asia.

Hymn Text

Let me quote from The Crazy Lutheran:

The hymn for today really does a nice job of detailing the story of Christ's baptism in verse form...

... If all contemporary worship looked like this, I wouldn't have a problem with any of it. This is another fine example of good modern music. There is so much packed into this. It's not just a versified version of the story of Christ's baptism, but it brings in:

- The Nicene Creed (stanza 1)
- The two natures of Christ (stanza 2)
- The Lamb of God [sacrifice] (stanza 3)
- Original sin and the New Adam (stanza 5)
- The vicarious atonement (stanza 6)

It's amazing to think about how many wonderful hymns are at our disposal, and it's sad to think about how many of them never see the light of day in certain places.

Well said! And, so, we sang this hymn in this morning's Divine Service. As usual, the tune is linked to the title, for you.

To Jordan's River Came Our Lord

To Jordan's river came our Lord,
The Christ, whom heav'nly hosts adored,
The God from God, the Light from Light,
The Lord of glory, pow'r, and might.

The Savior came to be baptized--
The Son of God in flesh disguised--
To stand beneath the Father's will
And all His promises fulfill.

As Jesus in the Jordan stood
And John baptized the Lam of God,
The Holy Spirit, heav'nly dove,
Descended on Him from above.

Then from God's throne with thund'rous sound
Came God's own voice with words profound:
'This is My Son,' was His decree,
'The one I love, who pleases Me.'

The Father's word, the Spirit's flight
Anointed Christ in glorious sight
As God's own choice, from Adam's fall
To save the world and free us all.

Now rise, faint hearts: be resolute!
This man is Christ, our substitute!
He was baptized in Jordan's stream,
Proclaimed Redeemer, Lord supreme.

From Hlavní nádraží to Český Krumlov

The departures from the main train station in Prague, Hlavní nádraží.



Finally deciphered which platform to leave from!



A view outside our Cold War era train car, looking toward the platform next to us.



And, a view of inside our compartment.



Sticking my head out the train window as we paused at the station in Tábor.



It was so cold, the warmth emanating from other open windows in the train caused shimmering heat waves in the frigid air near the train.



Two hours from Praha, a stop in České Budějovice, home of the original Budweiser, to change trains.



We took a slow, little, two-car train off into the night an hour away to the village of Český Krumlov.

From SFO to ATL to PRG

It's raining! Today was going to be the day I unleash the power of my new leaf blower upon the vegetative debris left by the storm. Anyway, while I plot strategy, here are a few opening pictures to spark some wonder about what's to come.

Setting up a computer

Now that my computer's back, it's time to for me to decide what to set up.

For email, Mail or Thunderbird? (Whatever it is needs to be able to import from Eudora, and hopefully be friendly with PCs down the road.)

For web browser, Safari or Firefox? (I preferred Firefox before.)

Let's hear your recos!

$86 is the high price of forgetfulness

We neglected to return a room key to our hotel, and have to FedEx it back.

Problem is, unlike modern motels, this one doesn't utilize a reusable electronic card, but a large, heavy, metal skeleton key. Not as easy to replace, given that the place dates back to the fourteenth century, unless you're near an antique store!

Our minds, appetite, and sleep cycles are still 9 hours off, though

We're back from vacation. My computer is back from the shop, but not yet up and running yet, so I'm on another. More later, when I can.

Now, it's off to continue the unpacking.

Happy New Year!