Vincent Xavier Shaw's Weblog

Hanging acoustic guitars

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:54:41 PDT

Overview:

Aesthetically pleasing, not distracting.

A few pros: didn't take floor space, like a floor stand. Easy to install. Out of shade, into the light, ready to rock.

Like the Dude says, "That rug really tied the room together." (from The Big Lebowski.) So does this.

Benefits:

Easy to reach, just like a good book.

Almost what it looks like from my couch. Being transparent plastic, I don't notice the brackets. I do notice the guitar!

Display your guitar's beauty!

Since it's right by the door, I find I play it more often, just to practice that difficult F-major chord!

Greets you at the door.

I didn't want something that stuck out into the room, so this near flush design was great for us.

For the long haul, I like how this doesn't strain the guitar's neck. Which, btw, does tower beautifully, freely.

In detail:

Upper brackets:

I practice daily now: it's so easy to lift up the 12 string, or pull out the 3/4.

Note the 12 string's depth and back curve. Just to be safe, I upgraded the guitar strap button from a plastic one to a metal one. Good thing I did, because the original plastic strap button was split. Don't want your girl dropping.

Extra note, between the new strap button and the guitar itself, I added a nut. This helped clear the back from scratching / smashing into the top bracket because of angles.

Lower brackets: Here's a view only the toddlers see:

Modified instructions: When installed normally on electric guitars, the brackets are practically invisible. At first I was worried it wouldn't work on our 2 acoustics. But look, it can be done!

Inverting the brackets may be enough depth, as it was for the 3/4. But the 12 string is very deep, and needed 2 extra spacers. One was borrowed from the 3/4's VM-02 which didn't need any spacers. The other spacer came direct from the manufacturer. They are great!

Visit Lowes or Home Depot for an extra longer screw. Consider extra spacers for the curve (if any) on the back of your guitar as I did.

Musical family: Instead of guitar's stuck in a closet, barely played, my boy will grow up with his childhood home full of music.

Conclusion: So… Woodies Hanger or another hanger? Worth doing the customizing? Helps keep me practicing? Get it, get it up, keep it up.

A good day

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 03:48:05 PDT

Had a great turnout at our Sunday school & Bible Study, singing a hymn together, then dividing into different groups, with 4 teachers. Youth group meeting, napped, taught Tino to dribble a basketball, read "Green Eggs and Ham", now grilling Tri-tip, sipping red wine: a special day. Next up, chow down, bed-time story of Narnia, and crash.

Plum Wine, Delightful Taste and Aroma

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:54:51 PST

I've worked so hard this week and find myself physically more tired each day than the last. So while helping (or was it just talking) with Erica in the kitchen, I noticed a deep olive colored bottle on the table behind her, with red flowers on it's label. In gold, the letters flashed "PLUM" and so immediately I reached across the kitchen to lay hold on the promise of what I knew as one of my favorites.

Thankfully with just a twist, the aroma was released and behold, it captivated my senses. I had to stop and just soak in that this was Plum Wine, but somehow even ...better?! Reading the label carefully, I read that this import was to be my first chance to experience this new world, Hakutsuru Plum Wine - so good, it made me break my non-blogging spell. It reads:

"From ancient times in Japan, people have appreciated the Japanese Plum, Ume, for its delightful taste, and for its aroma. Hakutsuru Plum Wine with other natural flavors is brewed from selected Ume using highly developed fermentation skills and technique. Serve chilled on the rocks or with soda to enjoy its unique and elegant taste."

Aah, elegant indeed. With such a soft color, it may have seemed less something, perhaps less joyful than other plum wine; rather, it had expressed a Lenten joy that I could not expect to favorite so fully.

I was shocked when Erica told me it only cost $11! From Kobe, Japan, this wine is more than a sweet adventure into another country. This plum wine is more gentle than the usual plum wine I've had, those of which practically force one to smile! Hakutsuru, I must leave some room now for my wife's home-made coconut ice cream. Then again...

(The above is an in-restaurant dessert I found on flickr. Nice shot!)

Here’s some beautiful pictures to treasure our Millbridge Ct, our castle in the forest.

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 14:51:11 PDT

I Just love our open floor plan with 2 living rooms. Tino loved running around all the open spaces.Drag the screen below to view the 3D image of our photos of the front of the house using Microsoft’s Photosynth:

The local neighborhood park is connected to our backyard, west of our lot, safe walking distance for the little tykes to play around. Our cul de sac helps keep the traffic to minimum.

Drag the image around below so you can look at the neighborhood and around the streets with Google Maps Street View:
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Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Sebastopol, CA has called Vincent Shaw to be their Pastor

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:36:15 PDT

I am thrilled to have received a call to be the Pastor of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, in Sebastopol, California, of the CNH District of the LCMS. The Lutherans Online website has some additional information, that I am trying to absorb while I somehow keep focused on finishing my remaining 4 weeks at the seminary.

On that day, May 22nd, I'll be eligible to formally accept the call as Pastor of Mt. Olive Lutheran Church. Onto then your prayers are appreciated as we get closer to that time.

Yours in Christ,

Vincent

(Drag the picture below to look around in 3D.)

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What's up with Vince lately?

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:15:10 PDT

My mother tells me that when she doesn't hear from me, she's learned to assume things are alright. That is a pious thing to say, but not always fair for her behalf. For all the people who visit here and care for my well-being, thank you for your prayers and concerns.

The time since my last post has been the good kind of busy. I'm still working at the Library on the Laptop Lab. There's always more work at the seminary to do than can be done. The final Kingsmen basketball team was a blast and we even made it on the evening news! For my graduate paper I am researching how leadership helps increase congregational involvement. I'm teaching my boy more martial arts.

Church planting may happen, but for now I look forward to simply being faithful in the call I hope to hear in less than 3 weeks. I've joined the local Toast Masters and hope to continue growing faithfully. Y'know even the class assignments are enjoyable and include writing a 2 sermon hymn for two different classes. That's something very unique for me. There's so many interesting things to learn more about in theology, an exhaustible well of treasures, but I have to postpone some good things for important and urgent tasks today, such as papers and selling my house. During such times, I am indeed looking forward to completing the seminary program and working full time ministry.

Am I a mission planter? Intense opportunity at CPAC, Church Planter Assessment Center.

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 22:16:16 PST

Serving God’s people is not something you figure out

on a mountain-top experience, stirring the cosmic flow, while reading a fortune cookie of your own making. God pulls the verbs, does the action, and often through those around you in ways much more reliable and clearer than any feeling.

I don’t know if I’m a future church planter, a missionary, seeking the unchurched, to provide them true rest everlasting from our toils and fake comforts. I don’t know… until such an outside call taps me on the shoulder and says, “Green light, Vince. Go you are ready, go now!” Perhaps tomorrow, instead, I’ll hear “Yellow light, Vince. You have many talents that make a successful planter, but you could use more experience / time / etc.” I might even be told, “Red light, Vince. You have many talents as a pastor of a traditional church, but based on our assessment and board of experienced highly successful church planters… planting a church would prove to be very difficult for you.” No sour grapes.

God can work through the most difficult and untalented. Yet, no matter how talented any of us can be, we’d still be way over our head. Ultimately it’s God who does the growing. Some planters may water wiser than others; maybe even cast seed in some “better” way. But God does the pushing up, else we do the pulling out of His precious garden.

These past few days have been intense. We started easy with a fun orientation that helped get us comfortable with our new table friends. But now it was time to show your stuff, preacher man. We each presented a five-minute message to seekers, and another five-minute message to share our vision to a church regarding seeking out the lost. Let’s put that in perspective: 19 candidates for the church assessment, which is a record twice more they’ve ever had at this assessment. That’s 19 candidates times 5 minutes, times 2 different messages… equals a lot of preaching! It’s a blessing to hear so many different styles to my ears, different ways and different perspectives in a short time, to a seminarian that is. Our poor wives, God bless their patience. They were hanging on our words, cheering us on, even if they just got off a nurse’s night shift!

Additionally we had two team projects. We gathered in 4 designated groups, with 4 candidates a set, and rapidly put together our heads to present a proposition to the assessor board. We examined what to do with a “Church Plant gone stale.” Next, we proposed for a real “Metro Church Plant.” There was plenty of room for self-assessment, but the board gave us a ton to think about on how we did, because they’ve been there before. On that, the highlight for me was the Questions and Answers session with the assessors, the successful church planters themselves, in “Highs and Lows of Church Planting.”

For a change of pace, it was interesting to break out and do some more intimate one-on-one evangelism assessment, via role-play, to see how we handled ourselves in a variety of circumstances. After all, that’ll be our primary job, evangelism. Theodore “Ted” Torreson channeled “Kevin”, a highly successful international business man, very smart, intellectual, and engaged. Skeptical, open to spiritual things, but tired of Christianity and jaded against all the know-it-alls. Even after throwing down the gauntlet, Ted’s “Kevin” was lonely and was open to hearing about a love that’d stick around, here and here after. It did help me think on things. Christians ought to be aware of talking "Christianese” that build walls and recall negative feelings; penetrate through the intellectual layers to hear issues, to show the genuine concern we have for others. A sensitive, caring observation can work, as questions do, to transition to spiritual things, which is far more effective than statements. We don’t need a sermon from some spiritual gun-slinger trying to claim us. We don’t need mere institution nor humanly attempts. We need LOVE with SKIN on.

While it’s only the 3rd time they’ve had this opportunity, I can see how this will help us handle our resources in a very effective way. So to the church at large, know that your gift returned to the Lord’s hand is indeed handled with respect. As a Fort Wayne seminarian, I was excited to end early so I can spoil Erica with a St. Louis tour to the Arch, visited the St. Louis Concordia Theological Seminary, laughed it up with some of the seminarians, ate out with our presentation team, and am ready to crash. Tomorrow I’ll know what the assessors will recommend. I will trust it. Soon I’ll post some notes from the CPAC that I had been blessed to hear. Thank you Christ Memorial Lutheran Church being a great place to meet. To learn more about the Church Planter Assessment Center, visit the Center for United States Missions.

Busy week of 2008 Symposia at Fort Wayne and Church Planter Assessment at St. Louis

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 11:55:41 PST

Symposia is this week. I'll be going to the CPAC today, from the Center for United States Mission. That's it for now. More to come this week.

Meanwhile's, to the right is the 4th year picture from our seminary face book, the way many will remember us from the seminary during our last year here.

Laugh at technology and computers.

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 15:04:26 PST

As useful as technology is, it lets you down. So, to laugh off how silly some of these products are, here’s a few things that perked up my day.

But why use buttons at all? Next, introducing the Apple Wheel, powered by the click wheel! “Create products that are simple to use. And nothing’s more simple than a single giant button.”

It comes with predictive technology which will help you type emails faster. “Dear Robber, You wont believe where I am# Ijm at the Mac Expo aend I am USING thep colic new Macwheel laptop. I’LL BET YOU ARE jEAlouz” “…making typing a thing of the passed.”

What to do with that old beige box of yours? How about throw a BBQ? In it! Or start your garden?

Are you tired of having silly options to your technology, that you don’t know what to do with?

St. Nicholas

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 20:49:11 PST

St. Nicholas, originally uploaded by VincentShaw.

Tino placates the nice man, who really needs to ask, "What do you want for Christmas?" ...uh, The truth. "You can't handle the truth!" I'm going back to my daddy. "Fine! Have fun with your lump of coal!" I'll just go play Wii now. Bye.

Halloween 2008 - Shaws dressed: Gotham City threatened!

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 13:37:19 PDT

Catwoman: "I'm so sick of the big bad Bat thinking he runs this town! So I'm going to show Gotham the truth about Batman: that he's pathetically human as the rest of us, by strrrripping him of his mask. Meeeyow!! If by midnight Batman doesn't unmask himself, I'll blow up Gotham's favorite millionaire playboy with all of Brrruce Wayne's mansion and all his guests trrrapped in there. How purr-fect..."

Great Scott! Can Bruce Wayne protect his secret identity of Batman and save the guests at Wayne Manor from the deadly explosion the fanatical feline is about to unfurl?? Can Bruce Wayne's ward, Dick Grayson, Batman's protégé, Robin, dupe Catwoman and foil her felonious plans? Oh faithful citizens, stay tuned for the final conclusion, same bat-time! Same bat-place!

Batman TV Promos (1966)

"When I was big, I wanna be pastor just like you."

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 06:54:10 PDT

To make sure I have my head screwed on right, I've been doing a lot of re-reading. Y'see, I'm going to be pastor soon, God be willing. To do so, I go through a lot of preparation. The paperwork I've been given to fill out shows just how much theological and personal skills a shepherd to His flock needs. I pray God has grown me up out of the fool I remember being.

So I read large portions of the Book of Concord, pastoral epistles in the Word, journals and publications, official releases from the Synod ...all so I make sure I am honest when I promise I will abide by the doctrine and practice herein. It's a lot to do. And it's good work, but it's taken almost all my time lately. Yes, lots.

While my wife Erica and I are going through the paperwork together, pressed by a deadline, a little voice says...

"When I was big, I wanna be pastor just like you."

What a surprise to hear. Never expected that. If anything I'd wonder why he'd want to, with all the stress and worries, thinking and re-thinking... Yes, but even this little 3 year old knows. He knows by the gift of faith that God is working things out, even by his daddy.

(The pictures were taken right after his startling confession. God help this boy!)

3-D Tour of Seminary starts my final year in school

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 19:19:51 PDT

This is my final year here and I wanted to capture the welcoming fellowship, gearing up to complete a year towards service in the world. I was just testing the photosynth web site, right after our opening service for the 08-09 school year at our Seminary. Please visit my 3-D gallery of the opening day here at Concordia Theological Seminary, in Fort Wayne, early this past week.

Perhaps I could get a better file all in one 3D group synth, but this is my first attempt. You'll have to switch to the different 3D groups, via either the slideshow, or the 3 dotted buttons on the top right. This is an amazing time of year and I hope I capture the beauty of the campus and warmth of the saints fellowshipping around such an open walkway right in the middle of the campus. Don't miss the action 3-D shots with Tino running around.

If you are interested in learning more, visit www.ctsfw.edu and come on by. We have daily services that you can learn about at the web site, plus many other things.

Lastly, there is a video so you can see what our new library will feel like. I for one would love to study lake-side.

I want to let the whole world know...

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:36:53 PDT

...my sister is my hero. Just today I received this business card in the mail. My sister, the RN, the registered nurse, the healer!

Regal, I'm so proud of you! I hope to follow her (in my own way) of bringing a little healing to this world of ours.

Yours,
Vincent

PS,
This business card I'll keep proudly in my wallet.

Dear Soldiers: to Everyone who must face war with love.

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:19:59 PDT

Going to war, soldiers don't only risk dying. They risk living ...the life that they left at home, in order to protect that home while overseas. There is a different kind of strength and hero who was left home to take care of business here.

My beloved wife, Erica, was so thankful when my military contract was over. Six years done. Complete. On to the rest of our lives.

But that experience is not tossed aside. After additional training is completed, perhaps I will return to the military. But not until Erica, my beloved, says ok, amen: yes I will support you. Recently, she's been continuing that promise, "I do." The angels sing of her commitment and love.

Therefore I dedicate the following dance (of Joshua Allen and Katee Taira Shean) and song (by Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks) to everyone who must face war with love.

(Intro:) Tell me how I'm suppose to breathe with no air ...

(Jordin verse 1:)
If I Should die Before I wake,
Its cause You took My breath Away.
Losing you is like living in a world with no air

(Chris verse 2:)
I'm here Alone Didn't want To leave.
My heart won't move It's incomplete.
Wish there was a way that I can make you to understand,

(Hook 1:)
But How Do you expect me
To live alone with just me?
'Cause my world revolves around you,
Its so hard for me to breathe.

(Chorus:)
Tell me how I'm supposed to breathe with no air.
Can't live, can't breathe with no air.
That's how I feel when I know you ain't there.
There's No Air ,No Air.
Got me out here in the water so deep.
Tell me how you gon' be without me.
If you ain't here, I just can't breathe.
Its No Air No Air.
No air air (x4)

(Chris Verse 3:)
I Walked I Ran I Jumped I Flew
Right off the ground, To float to you.
There's no gravity, To hold me down, For real.

(Jordin Verse 4:)
But Somehow I'm still alive inside.
You took my breath, But I survived.
I don't know how, But I don't even care.

(Hook 2:) So How,
Do you expect me,
To live alone with just me?
'Cause my world revolves around you,
Its so hard for me to breathe.

(Variations of Chorus Repeats, then Bridge)
Tell Me How I'm supposed to breathe with no air.
Can't live can't breathe with no air.
That's how I feel when I know you ain't there.
It's No Air No Air.

Got me out here in the water so deep.

Tell me how you gon' be without me.

If you ain't here, I just can't breathe.

There's No Air No Air
No air air. (x 4)

Wisconsin State Youth Gathering 2008 videos, Remedy Drive, Star Wars Stars

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:06:52 PDT

The State Youth Gathering was great. We won't forget it soon.

Near midnight on Friday, the band Remedy Drive geeked out with each other and the teens and even our emcee, Pastor Ben Squires. To see me referee (as Master Yoda!) check out these two cam clips:

After a long day, cleaning up Manitowoc, despite the rain... this was a good way to wind down. Yep, that's me, messing around as Master Yoda. (45 seconds in) "This contest could not be settled by the Knowledge of the force, but by the skill with a light saber." Pretty fun times for a vicar and a pastor, in Wisconsin, aye?

About 1min 25sec into it, I, Master Yoda, say, "Ok you are? Yes could you win! Guard up, strong balance, good focus, attack!" Hahaha good times just before midnight at the LCMS Youth Gathering 2008 in Manitowoc. "It looks like Master Obi-wan lost himself a saber...!"

Now just for laughs:

I enjoy DWTS and have been known on occasion to clash light sabers with my son, Tino. Here's that's a video that combines the two! Too bad though, that my camera ran down its battery in the pocket. Great, huh?

I'll be collecting more pictures and video from others who were there and will post them soon, with a thorough rewind of it all. Until then, you can click to some youtube videos of the concert we had.

Is Your Life Boring? Or An Adventure?

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Sun, 25 May 2008 21:19:46 PDT

This weekend premiered the action adventure, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull twenty years after the last movie. "The newest Indiana Jones adventure begins in the desert Southwest in 1957 - the height of the cold War. Indy and his sidekick have barely escaped a close scrape with nefarious Soviet agents on a remote airfield."

Indiana Jones leapt onto the movie screen, and turned archeology into adventure. Is your life an adventure? Don't you know angels are riveted in their seats, while before them unfolds our story? The story of Pentecost is here, on the heels of THE hero's final breath on Golgotha. Golgotha, also known as the skull, that hill is where theology becomes action. Indiana Jones leaps again onto the movie screen, cleaned house by cracking the whip in surround sound, and turned archeology into adventure. But I can bet, outside movies, archeology doesn't get you too excited.

"Now, Professor Jones has returned home to Marshall College -- only to find things have gone from bad to worse. His close friend and dean of the college explains that Indy's recent activities have made him the object of suspicion, and the government has put pressure on the university to fire him. On his way out of town, Indiana meets rebellious young Mutt, who carries both a grudge and a proposition for the adventurous archaeologist: If he'll help Mutt on a mission with deeply personal stakes, Indy could very well make one of the most spectacular archaeological finds in history -- the Crystal Skull of Akator, a legendary object of fascination, superstition and fear."

Remember the part when he whipped the gun out of the bad guy's hand? Then he snapped it around up there over a big hole, and swung across like Tarzan!? Yeah, and then he... all the other stuff.

So you see, although normally un-exciting, archeology can be very exciting, at least in an action movie. Likewise, theology, although normally un-exciting, theology can be very exciting. Theology shouted, “Camera, Lights, ACTion!”

Theology stepped out of the class rooms and colleges, no longer trapped in universities, not restrained by human numb-skulls; God is now universal, everywhere. … Sometimes even where we do NOT want Him to be.

I agree, your spiritual life is yours. “It’s personal.” But private? Don't you know? …it's hard to keep "private" things private. They have a way of being broadcast overhead, for all to see. While some things shouldn't happen, other things must be spoken of. Law… Gospel!

Remember our Epistle text:

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes."

The Gospel doesn't shame me. It gives you life, so there's nothing to shrink from. The gospel is "Jesus died." While some may shrink from such adventure, not venture such adversities, remember the saintly words: “I am not ashamed by the Gospel." I’m not ashamed. It makes me bold, alive. No one gets tired of a GOOOOD story. And with a GRRREAT story you're even excited to tell it.

"Legend says that a crystal skull was stolen from a mythical lost city in the Amazon, supposedly built out of solid gold, guarded by the living dead. Whoever returns the skull to the city temple will be given control over its power."

Gold is tempting. So is power. But on the skull-shaped hill, Golgotha, the skull shined crystal clear the golden city, our treasure prepared for us, God’s kingdom. There the dead are alive. Jesus took ALL the earth… so the hill of the skull is priceless, a Good Friday, where Power is revealed. The power of salvation for the whole Earth, every person. Even flawed heroes or plain zeroes. Inside and outside our circles, both.

"But as Indy and Mutt set out for the most remote corners of Peru -- a land of ancient tombs, forgotten explorers and a rumored city of gold -- they quickly realize they are not alone in their search. The Soviet agents are also hot on the trail of the Crystal Skull. Chief among them is icy cold, devastatingly beautiful Irina Spalko (played by Cate Blanchett), whose elite military unit is scouring the globe for the eerie Crystal Skull, which they believe can help the Soviets dominate the world … if they can unlock its secrets."

There will be trouble. Wherever there are people, trouble will be. So forgiveness rushes in. What good would an action movie be without some trouble, anyways? Jesus did promise "it'll get worse before it gets better." But that doesn't stop the adventure. There is finally an end to this militant march. But to get there has its share of tombs and hissing snakes.

With militant and organized demonic soldiers dispatched against me, how will I get out of this mess? Such beauty alluring, telling you that you'd get out of this mess.

It's miraculous really, providential how if-ever Indy gets out of anything. As if it's scripted, and all under the watchful control of professional stunt coordinators. Life is like that for us as well. Angels guiding each step, hands of the Lord protecting and keeping the worst flames and stunts from harming you more than you can bare up.

Well, sometimes I wish I could get a stunt double, or be as fit as Harrison Ford is 27 years after the first Indiana Jones movie, in 1981, Raiders of the Lost Ark. In 2008, now 64 years old, Harrison Ford joked that he's getting old enough to play his own father. When asked if Harrison Ford was too old to return as Indy, producer Frank Marshall was quoted saying, "It's not the years, it's the mileage." He explained that it would be interesting to see Indy in a different decade, and deal with all kinds of new and interesting things. The age also adds to Indy as a fallible and therefore believable character."

That draws us in. A character I can relate to, a hero for us. That's Jesus. To save us from our mess, and show us what a real man can do. Real man. Real hero. …where His divinity is equal with the Father. …whose humanity unites us.

We his army fight, despite the mileage, the rigors of this earthly life. We live! We live, because He lives. Whether 20 years later, 2000 years later, or 2 million years later, it's not boring, it's action-packed. That's the Gospel.
Amen.

[Blessing] May the peace of the Risen Lord, Jesus the Christ, protect your hearts and minds onto life every lasting.

About posting times and pictures

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:54:32 PDT

I hope to post sermons when I preach them, thanks to the auto-post service from Blogger. That's great in case one is unable to attend service and still would like to be blessed by the Word. (If your church uses the appointed readings from the Lectionary, you won't miss the appointed readings either.)

Making premium content accessible is top priority. Adding relevant pictures may have to wait until later. As is in the following case, of a sermon finally dressed accordingly: Never around when you need them, (how aptly titled.) Now actually, it's one of my favorite posts.

Light-saber vs. Stick-Sword

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Mon, 12 May 2008 22:19:45 PDT

Uh-oh. Tino tries to fight my one plastic-saber with two swords. So to make it fair... I slice his stick-sword in three. Check out the video next:

Growing up is...

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Tue, 27 May 2008 06:35:14 PDT

Birth-pains didn’t end at the delivery room. Love created, love pushed, and after you popped your ugly warped head out, love continued to love you. Your cone-heads rounded out. You learned how to walk. (Oh boy, was that a mistake.) And you learned to talk. (Oh boy was that ever a mistake!) While not at first, you eventually felt it’s time to get out of the diapers, and into the big-kid potty. On that day, do you remember who your biggest fan was? On all days, big and small, I trust you remember love fulfilling its promise.

Today is Mother’s Day. It is fitting to reserve one day of the year to acknowledge what God has done, through your mothers. So treasure your mothers for life just doesn’t start and there end. It’s an on-going work of love. She received life, to take care of those given to her.

Moses went through the desert thirsting, a man alone, trying to father a family. In this text, it is a family of families, numbering over 600,000 emerging adults. Taking care of adult-babies is far harder than taking care of little-babies. The Israelites were given a new life, set free from Egyptian slavery. But has the gift become a curse? So, he felt the pain, cried out to God that indeed it is not good to be alone. So God answered him and sent help.

Hear again the text of today’s meditation that comes from our Old Testament reading, Numbers chapter 11:
Moses gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied.
Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. And a young man (the tattletale) ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

This is where it gets interesting:

And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant to Moses from his youth, said, “My Lord Moses, stop them.”
But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!”

Clearly Rev. Pastor Mark is much more welcoming than Joshua in our appointed text. “My Lord Moses, stop them.” If Joshua served at this church, he wouldn’t have welcomed me half as warmly as you have.

This is my first time to talk with you here (at the UW campus, in downtown Madison, Calvary Chapel.) Yet some of you have heard me speak before. One month ago the International Friendship Center traveled 40 minutes north to Arlington, for a weekend in the country. Hopefully you remember me. I still remember you, fondly.

Now I’m not from Arlington. I was raised in Los Angeles, California. Yep, a big city, not a little town in the country-side. So it was a surprise for dozens of us when we visited a farm, with real… live… baaaa… sheep. I’ve learned a thing or two during my one year vicarage-internship which is now almost over. With the school year ending, the Pentecost story continues the ongoing actions of God which we have just heard in the Old Testament.

After hearing that 2 elders were prophesying, Joshua says, “My Lord Moses, stop them.” Such loyalty a supervisor only wishes he could deserve, even Moses. So also Peter tried to do right by stopping Jesus from marching onward to the cross. Indeed these assistants, these interns, are granted a margin of error, breathing room to make mistakes, as I have. Hopefully we learn from them. … Do we want to learn from our mistakes? Not, do you learn from your mistakes, but do you want to?

Case in point: After we get a mid-term scored, a final, or even a pop-quiz graded, we’re just glad to get a satisfactory grade. With multiple classes demanding more and more of your free time, with friends and family missing those who put education a priority, re-examining my answers (to learn from them) is not a priority, especially when I already got a satisfactory score. Friends, life is more than our scores, we are more than our letter grades.

The farmers out in the country have learned their lessons through the school of lost crops. Over-water and you drown your harvest. Not enough time with the sheep, and diseases grow unnoticed. Even when you do things just right, failure finds a way. Don’t freak. You were never that much in control as you’d like to believe. You can aim for your goals; just know who’s got control. It’s not us.

God provided for Moses 70 elders to serve. God provided for Peter not just the crucifixion, but also the resurrection. Last week we heard of the ascension’s promise that God would send power from on high to clothe them. God’s been providing. From clothes that did not wear out, food from above, (and despite the desert,) rivers of living water, God provides. Yet young Joshua talked like Moses was the show.

But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake?
Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets,
that the Lord would put His Spirit on them!”

Moses educated Joshua that it’s not about the self; rather it’s about loving God by serving others. God divided up his Spirit into 70 men, 70 ways, and even still it was more than their mouths could contain. They’d burst out in words, praising God on their lips and in their life. That’s what any parents wants.

Thousands of years later, along with Joel’s, Moses’ prophecy was fulfilled. Rising to His Ascension, Jesus sent forth the Spirit to clothe God’s people with power from on high. This Spirit is Holy, being of the Holy One Himself. In that unity, the distinction serves the whole. You see, the Spirit is far more than the self. It is the community of God speaking as one. And still thousands of years after the first Pentecost happened, here we are.

Years ago, I’d visit my friend Felix Seo’s apartment, in Los Angeles, and I’d hear all the time, “Hajime.” In my friend’s Ken Takahashi’s house I’d hear, “Ja-Neh.” I bet that a lot of us here can say we’ve heard people “speak in tongues,” the blessing of understanding a foreign tongue. Communicating, understanding what each other is saying, just like right now. But are our tongues on fire? Are our tongues a light in the darkness? …shedding light in this world of ashes?

The harvest is hard work, filled with birth-pain. In Wisconsin, we haven’t had to worry about water too much. Water’s all around. I pray for you all that the gift doesn’t become a curse. Wandering around does that.

The gift that happened and continues to happen is this, that they may hear the Word and believe that the Holy Gospel is calling out to people. It’s not about us climbing up a mountain, walking a path. Moses would say, “Joshua, it’s not about us. You don’t need to play power anymore.” You’ve been given power, power that serves and loves. The gifts of God enlighten us, sanctify, and keep us. He’s working through us, for us. He’s done it all, from beginning to end.

Not just for me, but for everyone. He gives us a unified voice, distinctly full of beautiful accents, joined together like a choir. Now we God’s children hear and believe that we aren’t in it alone, not as our own spiritual gurus browsing in our religious cafeteria. No, we are joined into His Spirit that Jesus breathed out on the cross and gives down to all His people. By that breathy voice we are bought with a price, where Christ was glorified up high. [cross] See not us, up there’s the source, where living water flows out and down, so out of our heart flows the river of living water. Such a family. Such unity in distinction!

From such infinite and outpoured love, living waters pour out that filled us first from the cross. We receive the promise in the water of Holy Baptism that flows from Jesus’ never ending fount of forgiveness. Remember that fount, that source, where true Love gave you life to live and love. It’s not always easy to love one another, especially when we mess all over our selves. While we cry aloud in this birthing-pain, God continues to bring us to our new beginning.

[Blessing]
May the love of God that does transcend all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

What are you watching?

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 14 May 2008 08:40:20 PDT

With the strike off, there are a few things that I find myself watching on TV.

Dancing with the Stars: Since Erica and I love to dance, it's nice to have an alternative to American Idol. When the day's over, and someone's sent home... they take the long back home, to their fantasy job that made them a star, and have to lounge around their 5000 square foot cottage.

Smallville: They just got renewed for an 8th season, which will most likely wrap up the show. Here we are closing in on the 7th season finale, of what has been some of the best writing to date. Good versus evil, nature versus nurture, beginnings, destiny, the road to it...

Resources on Love, Sex, Marriage, and Romance.

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 14:39:39 PST

"Are you gonna let Howard Stern teach us about sex?" -Thomas Nelson asks in 2005.

I have been "teaching" on the Song of Solomon several times now over the course of about 10 years. And friends have been asking now for a copy for their own to have.

The 1995 DVD series I own is no longer available (on Amazon.) Anyone like me owns a copy won't sell it on eBay either! So where are you, my friends, to go find such a good resource?

In 2005 Tommy Nelson released the 10th Anniversary Edition. I'm glad this updated version has sessions no longer than 30 minutes, optional Spanish subtitles. You can watch a small portion of it over at their website: http://www.songofsolomon.com/store/SOS_Series.htm

There are great resources to further deepen your love life, God's way. Visit http://www.songofsolomon.com/ for conferences, studies, and even shop online. I already signed up for for weekly devotions there.

For an economical alternative to the video series, one may enjoy the paperback version: If not available locally, try direct from Nelson's website as well as from Amazon, where you can read from inside the book before you purchase it: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Romance-Solomon-About-Intimacy/dp/0785288988

Never around when you need them...

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:17:26 PDT

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be to you, from our RISEN Lord, Jesus the Christ, Amen.
Our meditation comes from the 1^st chapter of Acts.

We have four confirmation students who this Sunday will eat of the Lord's Supper for their first time. They'll sit up front, march up, and receive publicly what God has promised, His Body and Blood for the forgiveness of their sins. Mothers and Fathers, Sunday school and mid-week teachers have spent at least the last three years preparing them to receive it worthily; that is to believe the promises in the Words of Institution: "This is…!"

Well if you want to see the look of nervous fear in their eyes… to see if their sterling white robes are going to get a little more colorful…? That's Sunday's 2nd service. (You are welcome to stick around 'till then.)

They are an energetic lot. It must have been some challenge to sit down and write their faith down, for ALL the church to hear last week. But after three years of hearing it, they spoke the faith naturally.

Luke is one such son of the Church, who wrote the faith down. Let's take a look of some of what He wrote, in the books of Acts, chapter 1:

"And when He had said these things,
as they were looking on,
Jesus was lifted up,
and a cloud took him out of their sight. "

The Old Testament records many such amazing events that we shouldn't be painfully surprised by the recorded testimony of such miracles in the New Testament. On the other hand, after teaching us for just three years, wouldn't we be surprised if Pastor was lifted up…? A cloud taking our Pastor out of our sight?

Christian throughout the centuries understood and believed the Ascension as fact, uncontested. The Ascension ranks to me as one of the most peculiar things Jesus does. Why does he do it? Did Jesus really fly? If so, where'd he go? That's what today we talk about. Where's Jesus?

Let's get some basics on the Ascension. St. Luke covers the Ascension for us in two books, considered his two-volume work: 1st The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, and 2nd, the Book of Acts: TWO, that's really ONE. Luke's Gospel reports to us the following:

(Lk 24:51) While He blessed them,
He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

The Christian Cyclopedia says this about the Ascension: "Event in which the risen Christ removed His visible presence from the society of men and passed into the heavens." This doctrine is based on Acts 1, Mark 16, Luke 24, which narrate the event; John 6 and 20 which look forward to it; and Ephesians 4, 1st Timothy 3, 1st Peter 3, and Hebrews 4, which imply it. Throughout the apostolic age, the Ascension is assumed as a fact among the other facts of Christ's life, as consistent with them, and as real.

Christians understood this as fact. Recorded by the many eyewitnesses there. But notice what happens immediately following Jesus being lifted up… the disciples just gazed… into heaven.

If that was nowadays, I'd try to watch the clouds to see just where Jesus went… maybe to catch him coming back! "Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's… it's… it's not Superman. Is he back yet?" Sounds adolescent, doesn't it? But we do that too. About heaven, "are we there yet?" "It's been 2000 years, and He's not back yet?"

It's not certain how long this waiting game went on, but God saw it good to record for us how He chose to send two men in white robes to bring them back to earth. It seems that these disciples had their heads in the clouds, longing for the return of their savior; postponing the good work set before them.

Frankly, I don't horribly blame them. Three years Jesus was with them, bonded together, having gone through things we can only imagine. They missed their teacher. They missed their Pastor. They HAVE their Savior. Even though he's lifted up… He's still there with them.

No, not in their hearts. The record clearly shows he left their company! So where'd Jesus go? Where is He? …?

Ask any 1 of our 4 Confirmands. Having studied the catechism they know. And you too have learned it, hearing it from recorded history. During service you'll even say where Jesus is, in the Creed.

"On the 3rd Day,
He rose again and ascended into Heaven,
and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty."

The Ascension marks, for the Savior, the highest degree of exaltation, as it implies His place at the right hand of God, His entering into the full use, according to His human nature, of the divine attributes, of which He relinquished the full and continued use during His State of Humiliation.

So, good for Jesus. He's back up there. But I'm down here. But He's up there, where I want to be. Now where's the answer to the confusion, the hopelessness I feel? Now do I look to myself? Do I look to one another? The two men in robes seem to agree with your downcast soul, "don't look up anymore." Hey, if you're looking down, look down into the Good Book, where the answers are:

(Acts 1:9) And when he had said these things,
as they were looking on,
He was lifted up,
and a cloud took him out of their sight.

He's out of their sight, not out of their midst. Jesus is not only all-knowing, foretelling of His own crucifixion, but he's also omnipresent, at all places, at all times, especially when He says so.

We Christians believe and profess some things the world would call crazy, even illogical. But if you take a look around, you'll see the desire for such unbelievable things. This summer, we aren't short of block-busters with the sequel to Narnia, Iron-man, The Incredible Hulk, and even Will Smith's fallen version of a Superman. Flash back 30 years, Christopher Reeve's portrayal of Superman distinguished him forever as the man, who made people "believe a man can fly!"

But just try to tell some disciples that Jesus is still with them?! After they saw him leave up, up, and away? Their eyes tell them that he's up there, not down here.

Then YOU remind them what they have seen. (Oh Confirmands all of you: once a student, always a student.) Confirmands, recall what you have learned, confess, and believe. Jesus is both God and man, fully. The impossible has become possible. God became man. The infinite has taken on the finite, so there are no limits where God can be. As if there ever was. But now for your benefit, you can see. You can taste… forgiveness right on your lips. Especially when He says so. 1^st humiliation. And now exaltation forevermore!

It'll take a few more chapters in the disciples' lives to see firmly how God has never really stopped being God, not leaving them orphans. But that's how faith is, that we don't have to understand it all. When we could not, cannot, and would not… He came to us. We just eat and believe Jesus' Words. Likewise, the Ascension is not just a fact, it's a blessing.

Ascension is not so much about Jesus going away, or us chasing after Him… it's the on-going story of God acting for us: under, over, wrapping around us, with his presence, never to feel nor eat alone. So that when the time comes… it may not be such a surprise to see us heavenly lifted up, when we least expect it, like He… promised. Amen.

[blessing]

May the Peace of God that does transcend all understanding,
keep your hearts in Christ Jesus, onto life everlasting. Amen.

Noise in the Church

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Mon, 05 May 2008 11:12:06 PDT

What's making all that racket in the church? Oh... it's Hannah Howell and Celina Smith, caught on video. "I got drum skills... nun-chuck skills... computer hacking skills..."

They must've been bored after performing for the annual Bake Sale and Cookie Walk, at St. Peter's. Honestly, they played sax and flute better in the picture below. But the video shows percussion skills... uh, yeah right. (click play on the video above, or click here)

This blog is rated... G? NC-17?

vet3shaws@gmail.com (Vincent Xavier Shaw) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 20:53:07 PST

I just took a test. For some reason I feel like I failed it. It's the "What's My Blog Rated? Find Out Your Film Rating" test. I took it partly in jest, but was also curious: I'm rated what?

http://www.justsayhi.com/bb/blog_rating

Since a blog can be one's honest and uncensored expression, it had to make me think... Am I really that or this rating? Probably. But so what?

G-rated doesn't stand for Good. It means G for general, for all audiences... maybe that means I'm in public form suitable for all ages and types. Maybe though... I'm not letting all of me come through. Nor letting others relate.

NC-17, for words like "death" 30 times, "dead" 4 times, etc. Sometimes to talk about Life, one has to talk about death. Oops, I just upped that toll by 3 now!

Just don't censor me. I'm not hurting anyone. If anything, in talking about such D-words, I'm getting the most universal G-rating possible... which rather than hurting, I'm healing. Rather than you hurting in golden silence, you're healed... reclining in the light that shines in a darkened room.

Just enjoy the show. Don't let labels get in the way. Be intent on the content. Enjoy the show.