Winter Weather

I am being reminded that winter weather is fun, fun, fun.

When I was a child I wondered why folks went south for the deep winter months. Why would they want to miss all this wonderful snow and cold weather? I was serious.

I enjoyed the crunch of new snow under foot, the flock of snow geese overhead, the tracks of rabbits over the snow drifts. I looked forward to shadowed evenings in the barns bedding the animals deep with new straw. I found pleasure in lighting a cowboy stock tank heater full of cobs and wood scraps with a little kerosene while pumping water by hand. The cattle were so appreciative with their frosty beards and eyebrows.

It was pure joy to fill the truck full of square bales and run out over the hills of new snow stringing out those bales on that clean stark white table to the following hungry cows. As we stopped to watch and count the herd, a couple of broken-in-half ears of corn went to last years 4-H heifer, still a pet, almost a nuisance.

Supper tasted good, what ever it was, after being out in the evening air taking care of God’s creatures. Double gloves, coveralls, wool hats with ear-flappers, and five buckle-overshoes with bread sacks for liners were standard equipment. So was a heart open to the wonder of God’s creation all around us.

Yes, even now surrounded by melting parking lots and slippery streets I am reminded that this winter weather can be fun if I take the time to see the beauty.

Letting Go

Here is a very interesting quote from Richard Rohr’s book, “Everything Belongs: The Gift of Contemplative Prayer” (Crossroad, 2003.) The idea of “letting go” is foundational. Of what are we willing to let go, so that it can be renewed, reborn?

“The last experience of God is frequently the greatest obstacle to the next experience of God. We make an absolute out of it and use it to strengthen our ego to self-aggrandize and self-congratulate. Then of course, nothing more happens. We need to be converted again and again. We aren’t born again. We are born again and again and again. Accepting and acting upon that principal takes a lot of letting go. If we aren’t willing to move out of our comfort zone, it won’t happen. All great spirituality is about letting go.”

Eulogy for CB Clark

As a gift to the famliy, I wrote this eulogy for CB Clark on October 3, 2009. The Rev. David Kruse preached CB's funeral and used this piece as a witness.

CB Clark liked a straight row of fence posts.

CB’s farmland adjoined the farm where I grew up just north of Dexter. He had two places, one on the East side of the road where he fed some hogs and kept some machinery and the home place on the West side of the road. We could easily see and hear what was happening at the place on the East side across the road from the telephone building as it was only a short walk, 20 rods or so from our house. The home place was further north and stood on the South edge of the South Raccoon River valley and we seldom heard much from that distance. It was a quiet neighborhood with folks who knew each other and were friends, but pretty much did their own work.

My brother: Chuck, sister: Cathy and I rode the school bus with the Clark boys, Charlie and Rod. They were just a few years older and I looked up to them like one would look up to a younger uncle or older brother. That was a good and a bad thing. On the one hand it was great to have additional folks who could and would watch out for each other from the neighborhood, but I have to tell you that Rod and Charlie, especially Rodney, could get me laughing so hard that I could not breathe. He was the funniest guy I ever met.

We were in 4-H with Charlie, Rod, and most all the other kids from up and down that road: the Sanborn’s, Herring’s, Atherton’s, and the Weesner’s. One of our 4-H leaders was CB Clark. I remember CB yelling quite a bit at the meetings; usually to get Rod to sit down and be quiet because he had me, and a lot of others, laughing so hard I was ready to throw-up. That being said, I was kind of afraid of CB because it seemed to me that he yelled all the time.

It was on one of those days at the Dallas County Fair between the show and the sale when not much was happening. I was 12 or 13 years old, just a kid. I remember like it was yesterday. Our Union Pride township club calves were in the East Isle by the big open North doors of the barn. I was sitting on a show box by myself. CB Clark came wandering up the isle and sat down next to me. For the next 30 minutes we visited. We talked about the weather, the crops, the prices of corn, hogs, and cattle. We talked about normal stuff, nothing much important, just talked.

I doubt very much that CB ever gave a second thought about our conversation, but it was life changing for me and I consider it the day I grew up. In everyone’s life there is a time, an experience, which changes our path and further defines our lives. This was just such a day for me and I have pondered it time and again throughout my life.

This was the first time I can recall an adult outside of my family, ever looked at me with enough respect to ask a question and then listen for an answer. It was a simple thing, to sit and be in conversation with the young neighbor boy. I cannot offer a long list of profound examples of the triumphs of CB’s life other than this simple one that he made a difference in my life by his kindness and willingness to take seriously a conversation with me. However, just perhaps, that says it all. Without being too churchy, I would also add that this is how I have always envisioned Jesus visiting with folks; engaging, listening, responding.

And by way, I also noticed: Whenever CB made fence, the fence posts were always tall and straight. My love and respect to you, Charlie and Rod, on this day.
Amen.

Letter to Addilyn Grace - Born Oct 3, 2007

“The River is Here”

The Revelation to John 22:1-7
Dave Weesner: Sermon Preached Salem UMC - Oct 14, 2007

My Dear Addi,
As I held you last Wednesday, just hours after you breathed your first breath, I decided then to share my heart with you through a letter; this letter. I plan to be around for many years to watch you grow into a beautiful young woman, full of love and yes, grace, just like your name.

However, these thoughts I share with you are important, and I do not want miss any opportunity to offer these gifts that I have learned throughout my lifetime. Like wading into the water of a flowing river these ideas will gain power for your life as you learn to trust the current and move further into the flow, finally finding yourself swimming without touching the bottom. Here Goes:

Obey Your Parents
They are the people who love you more than anyone on earth. I have known them for quite a while, and they can be trusted, especially where your well-being is concerned. They have and are sacrificing for you. Did you know you will cost your parents about a quarter of a million dollars to raise? They will not withhold one good thing from you that they believe you really need. Truth is, you will never know the extent of their sacrifice, but you will know their love. That is all I can ask.
So, Obey Your Parents

Honor Your Brother and Your Sister
Today, when I was with you, they would not stop kissing you. And they kissed you with such tenderness and concern, I was surprised at first and then moved to try and understand their love for you even at this young age. You see, you have done nothing for them, except give them someone to love. Maybe that is the best we can ever do in life, give ourselves to someone else openly and honestly, so they can love us. I think that is what God wants from us. So, Honor Your Brother and Your Sister

Do Not Whine
No person anywhere likes someone who whines. Whining ruins good friendships and is wearisome to God. A good rule to live by is: “Never Complain About What You Allow.” If you do not like something, change it. At the very least, do not put up with it and whine about it, as if you have no power to make change. You are a child of God and are able to accomplish far more than you can imagine. Nothing of value will ever be accomplished in your life by whining. So, Do Not Whine.

A Good Attitude Changes Everything
Smile every morning, be cheerful and greet those around you with joy and interest. Refresh your soul with a positive focus on everything that moves through your life. If you can practice this one little step of cheerfulness, you will live a life blessed with friends and good will.
The measure you give will be the measure you get in return. Yes, there will be days of pain and grief. You will lament many things over your lifetime, however the good, will far out weigh the bad, and you will find the world filled with wonderment; if only you will choose to smile and offer a cheerful greeting. It really is just that simple. So, Carry a Good Attitude, it Changes Everything.

Choose to Make a Difference in Another Persons Life
The saddest life is one lived for the self. Work to make a difference in another persons life and you will find fulfillment. This is the second great commandment from Jesus, “To love your neighbor as yourself.” It is not enough to have things and work to make a way in the world for ourselves. The real meaning of life is offered when we sacrifice for another so that their lives may be blessed. You will never find one truly great person in your whole life who did not sacrifice to make a difference in another persons life. Not One.
So, Choose to Make a Difference in Another Person’s Life.


Keep your mouth in your mind, not your mind in your mouth
Many people rattle on with words about nothing. Whatever is in their mind is in the same moment in their mouth and past their lips. They never consider a word before they speak, and in all honesty, they are thought of as fools. Rather, keep your mouth in your mind and consider your words before you speak. Do your words lift and inspire others, or do they tear down and degrade another? Do your words build unity or do they wound and separate? How you speak is just as important as what you speak. Measure your words carefully. Speak truth in all humbleness. So, Make your father proud, and your grandfathers smile, keep your mouth in your mind, not your mind in your mouth.

There is Enough Love for You
As the third child, sometimes you will feel as if you are left behind and maybe there is not enough love for you. Do not trust and believe these feelings. Love has no boundaries, like a river flowing which has no end. Trust me, you are loved regardless of what your sister and brother say or do. There is enough love for you.

Love God with All Your Heart, Mind, and Strength
Loving God is the key to a wonder-filled life. If you want to see miracles, love God. If you want to find blessing upon blessing, love God.

This is hard to do. We are all human with a wildness that wants to turn away from God. (Actually, we want to be God, and try to make our selves into God. But it never works.) We must learn to love God with all our heart. We choose to love God with our feelings, our heart. Much like we choose to love ice cream. Pretty soon it is not only what we like, but we crave God in our lives.

We must learn to love God with our mind. This means we need to study and learn all we can about ourselves and this mysterious God who created you and me. The more we learn the more we will love God and each other.

And we must learn to love God with our strength. It is hard to love God when the day is filled with pain or grief. And yet, that is probably the very day we will find God waiting to offer us our greatest insight or deepest season of peace. Be strong and learn to love God always.

Here is the other part of this same lesson. As you grow, you will need tore-consider your relationship with God. They way you love God you are five or seven or thirteen will not be the way you should love God when you are thirty or fifty. As you grow, so should your love of God and you will need to go deeper in your faith as you grow older. I see folks all the time who have quit growing in their faith. Many quit as a child, they still attend church, but they have not grown for years. This second part is as important as the fist or else you will end up hard and thorny like the stem of a rose branch that once held a glorious blossom.

There are so many things we will visit about as your life unfolds, these are just a little sample. Yet they are foundations, rocks along the river on which to warm yourself on a sunny autumn afternoon.

As you learn to accomplish these things, my child, you will learn to live fully and live well. You will find friends at every turn on days of sunshine and grace to fill your stormy days. You will learn to swim in the river of life and not just stand sadly on the river bank, never trusting enough to enter the water, never faithful enough to swim as the current begins to move your life forward. Live fully, live well.

One final request: Plan to meet me in heaven.
All your grandparents, Grandpa Kurt and Grandma Terri Jo, Grandma Cheryl and myself, have all made plans with Jesus to be present in His heavenly kingdom, and we want you to join us. We cannot make it happen for you, even as much as we would like. But we know you will get to choose, just like we have. And we want you to choose life and join us, just as we have chosen to join our parents and grandparents who have accepted Jesus Christ, and so it has gone for over 2000 years. And we want you to join us someday in that wonderful place.

Read aloud the first few verses of chapter 22 of The Revelation to John from the Bible. Consider how we can wade into the water of the river of life and let ourselves be carried by the current of the Spirit. Do not be afraid. The river is here and before you, even as you hear or read my words.

By faith, I am already there, even as I am still physically with you now. This is the mystery of God and the blessing of God’s grace. And that is the second name your parents have chosen for you; Grace it is, so Grace you will be.

Until I hold you again, Grandpa Dave.

Ragbrai – Take Me to the River

I patiently waited my turn in line. Finally I was at the edge of the river and I positioned my bike, the old Trek, with both tires just into the water. Folks were laughing and snapping pictures, enjoying the moment. I was quiet, introspective, holding on to my emotions. Handful after handful of that Mississippi river water I lifted and carefully washed the frame of the bike which had so gallantly carried me from one river to the other. The top bar, the front forks, the rear chain stays all received a washing, almost a blessing as I mumbled under my breath once again, “ride your own ride,” and, “I can do all things through God who strengthens me.” I recalled the similar actions just days before on the bank of the Missouri, the other river. That day I was alone and quiet, but expectant. This day I also felt quite alone, but was jostled and pushed by a huge crowd. I was again reminded being alone is a feeling, not a literal reality. I kept my sunglasses on.

Then I quickly rose as my turn at the river was completed and I walked the bike up through a waiting crowd. I did not look up, rather kept my head down and moving toward the top of the ramp. Without thinking I moved to a place on the rocks next to the river just downstream. There I dropped the bike and sat on the rocks while I wept for some time. It just came out of me, the emotion, the feelings, I could no longer contain.

My thoughts centered to the sacrifice which allowed this bicycle adventure to be competed. Yes, I trained and put my body through some difficult, even painful days. But my sacrifice was not on my mind, mine seemed the easy part. My thoughts were to the sacrifice of those who rode with me; or more clearly, the sacrifice of those whom I carried in my heart across the state of Iowa. I carried my wife, who cried as I prepared to leave, making me promise to be safe. I carried my family; my sons and their wives and their children. I realized how much I missed them. As a witness to my family I wore tie-dyed shirts from Molly and Ellie. Daily those shirts reminded me of family. I carried my church staff, who are never far from my mind or my heart. I carried my training partners who instructed me and pushed me to go further, farther, faster than I would have on my own. And in my heart, I carried a couple persons who could not ride. Particularly, I carried Bruce Bryant whose tragic bicycle accident last 4th of July changed us all. I carried Bruce with me down every hill. I also carried Randy Osborn whose ongoing battle against cancer inspires me and offered me hope to gain the top of every hill.

It was crowded on the rocks along the riverbank as I sat and wept. Oh, I was all alone, as even the one fellow standing behind me moved along when I began to cry. However, I was in the midst of all these precious ones whom I carried with me, first as I invested mile after mile in training, and finally on the trip across the state itself. As I unpacked my emotional baggage along the river that day, not surprisingly, I also found a familiar small still voice speaking to me. “You are never alone David, I am with you always.” As the tears fell, I offered this simple prayer, “Thank you Lord. I know it, Thank you.”

I rode every mile, climbed every hill. Slept in a tent and showered from a bag. This was glorious and I was never really alone.

After I sat for a while, I went exploring and found our team truck. It was then that the leader of our charter asked if I had any pictures taken by the river. And so I lifted the bike above my head in fine Ragbrai fashion.