Inge is staying?

For now it appears Brandon Inge, my favorite Tiger, will be staying with the Tigers as a super-sub.

As any competitor, he would rather start, even if it is elsewhere, but it appears they couldn't find anyone to trade him to. So it looks like we will be seeing this image again - Brandon as catcher (which he was 4 years ago before Pudge came to Detroit to start).

I just hope he gets to stay and play and is happy. He is one of those players who is a fan favorite because he is such a nice guy. He is also the only player left on the roster from the year that Tigers were one loss short of the worse record in baseball EVER!

Happy Birthday Meg

Two today!

She had a wonderful day. We got her a Little Tykes slide, that we put up inside the house and she rode about 100 times before breakfast!

This evening she got a "princess box", which was a chest full of dress up things (dresses, tiara, rings, etc) for which as a girl she has a natural affinity! She was also given an Elmo doll which is as big as she is!

This picture was taken two weeks ago at Disney.

Happy Birthday Meg.

Seal of the confessional

The seal of the confessional for sacramental churches such as ours is inviolate. I would not, under pains of imprisonment or worse reveal a confession, or even reveal if someone has even come to me and made a confession. Even someone being in 'counseling' of a pastoral nature is confidential.

With the sad situation happening here in the City of Detroit, I was stunned to read this in this mornings Detroit News....

Christine Beatty's pastor said Thursday that the embattled city chief of staff knows she made a "colossal mistake" and is repentant.

The Rev. Ronald Griffin of Rose of Sharon Church of God in Christ said Thursday afternoon he and his wife have been counseling Beatty and that she is devastated by what has happened. He wouldn't be specific, in part because of the potential legal issues she could face, but said Beatty knows she made a mistake.

Be assured that if anyone is in trouble and comes to me for counseling I will NEVER talk to anyone about it, and please don't ask me to be a spokeman for you in this type of situation either! I will consult, advise, admonish, and administer absolution to you...but I won't tell anyone else.

Jesus Christ is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE...

....nobody comes to the Father but by him!

And yet, we hear that the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles holds a join service with hindu clergy and the Bishop APOLOGIES for converting them to Christianity! SHAME. I thought the bible said that we are to go out and baptise ALL NATIONS. Sounds like the bishop and those of distorted faith are ashamed of the good news that Jesus is Uniquely Lord and the only way to salvation. As it says in Luke's Gospel...

Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.

Pray for the conversion of all these folks!
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-hindu20jan20,1,7144896.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

Spring Training.....

From MLB Tiger reporter Jason Beck (www.detroittigers.com)

Pitchers and catchers report on Feb. 14, with the first workout the next day. Position players report on Feb. 19, with the first workout on the 20th.

Sam and Andrew has a pitchers and catchers camp (indoors of course) this past weekend.
Baseball is coming soon! Now to go out and shovel.....

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to St. John's!

I ran into an article from the Friday Detroit Free Press, which mentioned that Dr. King preached in Detroit at St. John's Episcopal Church and St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. With a quick google search I found out that in fact Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was hosted at a luncheon here at St. John's on May 15th, 1958 by then Rector I.C. Johnson and the parish. He preached later in the day at St. Pauls' Cathedral. It was a part of a diocesan conference on the Church and Race. What an interesting tidbit to have found yesterday on MLKjr. Holiday!
Here is the Detroit Free Press article.
----------------------------------
King in Detroit - January 19, 2008
From The Detroit Almanac
Some facts about Martin Luther King Jr. and his appearances in Detroit.

He spoke often in Detroit and, in 1963, led a massive march for civil rights down Woodward. On June 23, more than 125,000 people marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It became the largest civil rights march in the nation up to that time.When King arrived in Detroit, Police Commissioner George Edwards met him at his plane and said: "You'll see no dogs and fire hoses here."

Other King visits:• 1956: Addresses 2,500 people at Ford Auditorium after Montgomery bus boycott.• 1958: Preaches at St. John Episcopal Church and St. Paul Episcopal Cathedral.• 1961: Gives keynote address for UAW's 25th anniversary celebration.• 1965: Attends funeral of slain civil rights worker Viola Liuzzo.• 1966: Criticizes violent tactics in speech at Cobo Hall.• 1968: Speaks at Grosse Pointe South High three weeks before his assassination.

Back Home!

We've returned from our trip. It was great in many ways, from Disney, to weather (80's the first week, high 60's the next), to the way the boys and Meg enjoyed themselves.

The only down point was a diverticulitis attack that put me in bed for 4 days. But by God's grace, lots of prayers, and antibiotics I am on the mend.

We are looking forward to getting back into the routine of our life. Today started with Andrew's basketball game at 9, William's Soccer clinic (indoor) at 11, and now Sam and Andrew are at an indoor baseball clinic (2 to 5pm) at the local high school. Sounds like a routine Saturday.

Heading out of town this afternoon

After the Services on Epiphany Sunday we are headed out of town - going to Disney!

And I am going without the computer, so the blog will not be updated for a while.
(If I brought it I would be tempted to work).

Another cult moving into the neighborhood

Further down the service drive near the old Cass Tech HS, we have a group called the Temple of I AM, a cult affliated with this group http://www.templeofthepresence.com/ . It failings include the works righteousness of earning your way up levels of enlightenment, mixed with magic and other strange doctrines.

Across the service drive from St. John's we have the American Heresy of the Jehovah's Witnesses. For a list of their strange beliefs and practices you can go here http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/2919/printerfriendly.html

Now the Detroit News is reporting that another demonically inspired American Heresy, invented by the sci fi writer L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology, is purchasing a major building in Detroit - The Raymond James Building on the corner of Woodward and Jefferson, across from City Hall. The Detroit News article can be read at http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/METRO/801050347
More a movement against real religion and against psychology, it has the clout of massive amounts of money and celebrity endorsement. Once again there is a works righteousness component as you pay massive amounts of money to earn levels of enlightenment, or in the case of Scientology, becoming a "clear". Here is a website about its strange doctrines
http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/scientology-lies-and-deceives.htm

Interesting enough, St. John's founder, Henry Porter Baldwin's house before moving up to the country neighborhood in which he would found St. John's was on one of those corners. He left it in his will to one of his daughters (we have a copy of the will in our Archives).

Pray that God will turn folks from false doctrines and to the doctrine of Jesus Christ as uniquely Lord.

The boys feel we have been jipped!

We were in Sturgis, MI for the celebration of the New Year, and they got piled in with snow. But when we got home - a dusting at best!

I have to say I enjoyed not having to shovel.

Here are the scenes from Sturgis. Note that the snow is up to Meg's waist!