Sieder (Boiler)

Like many things in life, they no longer have their original meaning. The name Sieder does have a meaning, even though I was told by a man from Switzerland who knew German that it had no meaning in German.

It turns out to be a trade from the middle ages. Sieders boiled things in pans to get salt out of them. Salt was very valuable to cure meats since there was no refrigeration. They were known as salzsieders. The only current trade that uses the term "sieder" in it is seifensieder, or soap maker. At one time there were zuckersiedermeisters who boiled milk to get sugar out of it as well.

50th Anniversary Photo

Fifty years of marriage in an era where the average marriage lasts a little more than four years is something that has to be celebrated. This was taken in 2002 and this year they celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. The fact that the Lord is so important to each of them has helped them. As I quoted in the article If God Created Love, Did He Make It For Everyone? God is the source of all love and all we can do is reflect Him.

They have indeed reflected God's love to me and it is much easier to envision God when you can see his reflection every day growing up.

Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church- for we are members of his body. "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." This is a profound mystery-but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. Eph 5:22-33 NIV

My Dad

This is my father at a pro football game in the eighties. He had no idea I was going to take this picture and I caught him off guard with a great smile. He is one of the most pleasant people I have ever known and along with my mom, made up a parenting team that my brother has said was such that we would never have wished to be brought up anywhere else.

Father's Day

This is probably a common Father's Day scene around the world. Most dads would like to rest a little bit at least some time on Father's Day.

This photo is actually of me, but it reminds me of my father as it was taken at the time of my parent's 50th wedding anniversary a few years ago. My parents have now been married 54 years and my dad, at 85 years old, has trouble making it to church. He still goes most Sundays with my mom helping him.

Decision Making By Bottle Caps

I could make important decisions in my life based on Sobe bottle cap messages. I don't want to make decisions that way and so I posted the outline from the book Decision Making By The Book on this blog and it gives much better reasons for making good decisions.

Good Advice

This scene is from the Birmingham Zoo. The lifeguards look a little scary.


This is an old photo I scanned into the computer. It was taken near St. Petersburg Beach.

Biblical Decision Making Process

1. Know the Scriptures and have a spiritual relationship with God
a. Make decisions in submission to God’s sovereign will.
b. Make decisions in submission to God’s moral will.
2. Make love and concern for the good of others the motive.
3. Focus on strengths and gifts.
a. Work on your weaknesses, but make decisions based on your strengths
b. Consider other people’s strengths and weaknesses as well
4. Consider the circumstances, but don’t be mastered by them.
5. Seek counsel in three areas:
a. Biblical counsel
b. Experienced counsel
c. Best available counsel
6. General principles
a. Avoid moods
b. Separate facts from problems
c. Commit to “go for it” if you make a directional decision
d. Set a time limit
7. Danger zones
a. Not knowing where you are going
b. Answering the wrong question
c. Be sure of what you don’t know
d. Avoiding disagreement
e. Using yesterday’s battle plans
f. Avoid group-think
g. Adjust your decision if more becomes known
h. List pros and cons – being systematic is a better method than pure intuition

from the book Decision Making By The Book by Haddon W. Robinson

Available from Discovery House Publishers

Good Stuff

Check this stuff out if you ever get a chance:

1) The Alarm, especially the songs The Day the Ravens Left the Tower and How the Mighty Fall.
2) The Clash, Combat Rock - they have the feel of a modern day prophet in their social criticism and a razor-like sharpness in their look at what might happen to the human race. Their unfortunate conclusion after looking at all the problems is that we need drugs just to cope. I did like their line, "I'm not the only one of the caped crusader fan club, watching the sky for mankind's friend." We need a Savior and yes, the world really is that bad.
3) The Seventy Sevens (77's) - a Christian band with a great deal of talent who have been around a long time and should have made it big on secular radio on talent alone. The only problem is they are too diverse and can play too many styles of music well and were too difficult to categorize. They can really make you think.
4) Anything by Bob Dylan and T-Bone Burnett, but understand that they target the world at large with their message and cover adult subjects. Both have huge reputations in the music industry and their contribution to modern music cannot be overstated. They both want to make you think more than anything else. Both will point you toward God. Now if you only heard early Bob Dylan music you might not get that impression, but he has certainly pointed to God since the late seventies, fairly consistently.
5) Kansas combines classical music with rock to create what I like to call "enchanted forest music." Both Leftoverture and Point of Know Return are rock music classics, but they have many other well thought out, concept albums.
6) U2 is arguably the greatest rock band in the world. Many people complain that they don't understand U2, but they obviously connect with people on a very deep level. The Joshua Tree album has been called a proper response of a Christian to the world as it is, full of injustice and yet there is hope, just like a tree that flourishes in the desert.

I hope it becomes clear that God has enlisted some very significant artists to point people in his direction. There are also other artists who are just being honest with themselves who also point people in a different direction than they have been traveling in, even though they don't have the answer. I have found these artists to be worthwhile. There are many artists who are a waste of time.