The color of (a) sound (board)

Pictured above are the colorful switches on a soundboard. I shot this picture earlier in the year
while enjoying a Saint Paul Chamber concert at Wooddale Church, in Eden Prairie.

Recognizing and responding to hungry children in our midst

A tutor and mentor at a Huston-area school discovered there were students who were only getting small  cold cheese sandwiches because their parents couldn't afford lunch trays.  So he decided to donate $465 to pay for the delinquent meal accounts, so that these students could have a full lunch.

Having worked in the mentoring field I recall countless mentors sharing how amazed they were at the often desperate life circumstances of the children they mentored; be it poor quality education, dangerous neighborhoods, inadequate nutrition, or simply a lack of adult supervision.

In a society where neighborhoods have become increasingly economically segregated, many good intentioned people simply have no concept of how challenging the living environments are for people living on 'the other side of the tracks'.

Thank God for this generous volunteer who noticed and responded to the needs of disadvantaged children.

You can read the full story online, Houston school volunteer notices kids' meager lunches, pays $465 to cover delinquent accounts.

A push for more composting

It was great to see that Hennepin County is pushing the city of Minneapolis to compost more of its waste, rather than burning it (Hennepin County drops trash-burning request, pushes Minneapolis on composting).  With an estimated 30 percent of trash being organic material, there is a lot more that can be done in the area of composting.  At our home we've long practiced composting and enjoyed the benefits to our garden along with the reduced amount of waste.

I will be continuing to encourage our lutheran church and children's learning center to be better at composting.  We certainly do generate a lot of coffee grounds, among other things.

Reducing energy through adjusting your water heater temperature

Following is a message I am relaying from The Earth Day Network Team... Did you know that the average water heater makes up 14-18% of a home’s total utility bill, costing each household up to $600 a year? Make the pledge today to reduce your water heater’s energy consumption and lower your utility bills! So why do water heaters use so much energy? For one, most are programmed to heat water up to 140⁰F—a temperature so hot that it can burn you. Fortunately, there’s an easy way to change that. By simply turning down the thermostat on your hot water heater to 120⁰F, you can cut energy use and save money. If just 1/5 of the households in the US made that change, they could collectively save up to $1.3 billion! Make sure to consult your owner’s manual to find out how to turn down the thermostat safely. If your thermostat is already set at 120⁰F, a simple water heater insulating blanket can also save you money. Join us by pledging to reduce the temperature on your water heater. It’s good for you and the planet—and it’s easy. Don’t forget to tell your friends and family. And share your story on Twitter: #ActOfGreen

Oak leaves and snow

City of Lakes Loppet Dog Sled Race

 

Yesterday there were sled dog races at Theodore Wirth Park in the city of Minneapolis.  This was one of many activities which were a part of the City of Lakes Loppet.

A ministry of auto mechanics

I chuckled a bit when someone from church suggested I ought to consider going into the ministry after my last children's sermon.  The reason for this amusement is that I've long believed in the "ministry of all believers".  Ordained ministry is by no means the "be all and end all"of how people can act upon their values and beliefs.

An article in the Minnpost, Social worker wanted to help the needy- so she became an auto mechanic, provides a great example of someone who is actively practicing her values in the world.  Cathy Heying discovered simply praying over cars in need of repair wasn't as effective as enlisting volunteers and renting a garage to affordably service vehicles.

As we enter February, here is an early Valentine's Day message from 1 Corinthians 13

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.

If I speak God’s Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, “Jump,” and it jumps, but I don’t love, I’m nothing.
If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don’t love, I’ve gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

 -The Message