Married

Our son Ben married his Ramona last Saturday in a beautifully decorated old church in Hilversum, followed by a celebration in a cafe behind the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
For more pictures, click to my daughter's weblog.
I officiated the ceremony. I usually don't do that sort of thing for my own children, because I want to stand next to my wife and be husband and father on these occasions. But one thing led to another, and there I stood.
It was great.
The blessing is always the climax of any wedding service for me.
In order to bless Ben and Ramona with both hands (otherwise you have to choose which partner gets the blessing!....;-) I had to hand the microphone to the person standing close by.
Turned out to be my youngest son Will, a best friend of Ben.
Just today, when I saw this picture, I realized that he was blessing them too.

Revelation

It seems that people needed a special revelation (in addition to the Holy Writings) in order to understand and/or be filled with wonder at the birth of Jesus.
The shepherds saw angels and Gods glory in the sky.
The Wise Men a star.
Mary and Zacharia received a visit from the angel Gabriel.
Joseph dreamed.
Simeon experienced a direct revelation from the Holy Ghost.
We do not know how Anna received her prophecy.
We do know that she was a widow for eighty four years, serving in the temple, worshipping, fasting and praying night and day.
Elizabeth's baby lept in her womb, and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

Why do we look down on special revelation of this kind in our time?
It seems that those folks needed it.
Why wouldn't we?

Christmas Mash-up

This video is going around the blogworld now.
Have a great Christmas!

Frozen mist

We had a fascinating weather phenomenon here on Saturday.
The thick mist in the air froze on everything.
It made quite a different picture than ice.
A real Narnia wonderland.
Two pictures.

Mid-Life

‘To hold the same views at forty as we held at twenty is to have been stupefied for a score of years, and take rank, not as a prophet, but as an unteachable brat, well birched and none the wiser.’

— Robert Louis Stephenson

Sometimes you can learn something from another weblog.

Lawsuit

I haven't blogged here for more than a week.
Don't worry, I still think George Bush is, at best, incompetent.
And I still believe neither HIllary, Obama or Guiliani will be the candidates for President.
But I've got something else on my mind.
I'm being sued. Yep, sued. I guess I'm American after all.
It's like this:
I own a duplex of rental appartments in Willow Grove, Pa.
Have for 30 years.
Last March a lady fell on the sidewalk, broke her wrist, and is suing me for damages.
"In excess of $50,000."
Turns out the person managing the property (a professional realtor) did not keep the insurance up to date, so I am not insured for this.
I've been busy looking for a lawyer to defend me, no easy job from this distance.
Fortunately my son and daughter-in-law are studying law at Rutgers in Camden, and they have helped me get some good referrals.

But that doesn't soften the blow of having to write a check for a large sum of money that will gain me exactly what I would gain if I took that cash and threw it in the fireplace (except that I have the joy of knowing I am helping the lawyer pay for his yacht.....;-).

This situation does raise interesting faith questions:
1. How important is money to me really?
2. Do I really believe that God will take care of me and my retirement?
3. And how do I not let these circumstances ruin this holiday season in which we will be together as a family to celebrate the marriage of Ben and Ramona (our second child and his wife)?

OK. Deep breath. Let's go.

If it's broke, fix it

Here's a little parable about the George Bush government and some marriages:

Health Insurance

Today's my day off, and there are some interesting things going on in the world, so there may be a couple of logs today.
This one is about health insurance, which is a hot issue on the candidate trails.
Michael Moore's Sicko is now playing in Holland, but not at a convenient time for me today, otherwise I would go see it.
I read the weblog Real Live Preacher.
Guy is a pastor of a small church in Texas and a crackerjack writer.
He almost joined the ranks of the uninsured.

Jeanene and I work hard. We’ve never been unemployed. In fact, for the last decade, we’ve had three jobs between us. We don’t smoke and we don’t take risks. We’ve never had a single major medical incident. You’d think a company would want to insure us. No. And we came just that close to being uninsured.

Read the whole thing here.
Something needs to be fixed, and I hope you guys elect someone who will fix it.
But I'm not holding my breath.