Our Take

Conner: Put that foot in the fridge. Me: What?? Conner: Put the dog in the fridge. Me: Why? Conner: He's a tiny little dog. He needs to warm up. Me: And dogs warm up in the fridge? Conner: You don't know how good it feels.  You're not a dog. Me: Hahaha. Conner: You're gonna sleep in Lindsay's spot tonight, Darby. Me: Me? Conner: No, Darby is. Me: Haha. Conner: You're too busy laughing at fairies or something. Me: Hahaha! (starting to cry laugh) Hoohoohoo. Conner: Stop crying. Me: Hoohoohoo. Conner: Hoohoohoo! Me: Haha...haha...(realizing he just mocked me in his sleep)

Conversation with Darby while I rolled up the toilet paper roll he unraveled... Darby: That's hard work for you... Me: Yeah. And it's not fun. Darby: But playgrounds are fun. Conversation with Hank during breakfast... Conner: Look at all these beautiful babies, and all of them thoroughbreds. Hank: (totally in earnest) No...I have a whole piece of bread.

You want to cause a fight? Get a bunch of Christians from different denominations together and have them explain baptism. We're having a baptismal service next month, and I was asked to put together a general teaching time on what baptism means. This is funny because we're a nondenominational church. The line about baptism in our Doctrinal Statement can fit into pretty much any theological position. I think this is positive because I'm big into unity within the church. Christ connected the unity of the church to our union with him, that is, our salvation, in his high priestly prayer in John 17. You can't hate the body of Christ, or even significant chunks of it, and love Christ. That's like chopping up somebody's legs and saying "I love you, man" because you like the head and left wrist. A lot of our arguments come from focusing on one aspect of baptism and trying to make every baptism verse in the Bible fit into that small peg. But what if ba...

Sunday, we're singing a hymn to the tune of "Git Along Little Dogies." I can't wait. Introducing new hymns can interfere with worship rather than support it. You want people to be able to concentrate on the truth they're singing and let it flow from their hearts without distraction. If nobody knows the tune, it ends up being a solo from up front and an awkward attempt for everyone else. But I love learning new hymns. And here in Western South Dakota, where ranchers routinely round up their cattle, there's a certain fondness for cowboy culture. Now, one way to deal with that is just to sing the songs from the middle of the 1800s that everyone knows, and I'm including those, too; we're singing "Standing on the Promises" this Sunday. But being limited to about 70 years of the church's musical history isn't ideal. We'd miss out on a lot. So here is Thomas Hastings' "Hail to the Brightness" with Conner Armstron...