Archive for the 'Family' Category

God Feeds His Children

Published August 8, 2011 Children , Family , Food and Drink , Home Leave a Comment

This quote is from a collection of text studies arranged for the church year and published in the 1850s and 1860s. They were compiled from the Harmony of the Gospels by the Lutheran theologians Martin Chemnitz, Polycarp Leyser, and Johann Gerhard, published from 1593 to 1652. This section is on the Gospel for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity, Mark 8:1–9, which is talking about the disciples’ lack of trust that Jesus could provide food for 4,000 as he had for the 5,000.

Let us also recognize our own lack of trust, which frequently tends to plague us in household affairs, when perhaps God grants more children and entrusts a larger family to us for their maintenance. Then these kinds of words are commonly heard: Where will I get enough bread to satisfy this bunch? Where will I get the money and the means, so that in such a precarious situation I will be able to take care of me and my own? But trust in God—He, who gives fodder for the cattle and for the young ravens, who call on him (Ps 147:9)—He will also nourish you. Say to your hearts: Why do you torment yourself with useless worries? God is your Creator; he has given you your body and soul; he will also give you food.

Echt evangelische Auslugen der Sonn- und Festtags-Evangelium des Kirchenjahrs,
übersetzt und ausgezogen aus der Evangeliien-Harmonie
der lutherische Theologen M. Chemnitz, Polyk. Leyser und John. Gerhard.
Vierter Band. 1864. p. 113

A Faithful God—From Generation to Generation

Published July 28, 2011 Family , Hymnody 2 Comments
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The story goes in my family that my great-grandmother, Anna Schindeldecker Linkert (pictured right), sang to her mother as she was dying. According to the story, she sang the stanzas of Johann Heerman’s hymn, O Gott, du frommer Gott (O God Thou Faithful God – TLH 395, CW 459, LSB 696). The hymn closes with these stanzas (omitted from CW):

If Thou a longer life
Hast here on earth decreed me;
If Thou through many ills
To age at length wilt lead me,
Thy patience on me shed.
Avert all sin and shame
And crown my hoary head
With honor free from blame.

Let me depart this life
Confiding in my Savior;
Do Thou my soul receive
That it may live forever;
And let my body have
A quiet resting-place
Within a Christian grave;
And let it sleep in peace.

And on that solemn Day
When all the dead are waking,
Stretch o’er my grave Thy hand,
Thyself my slumbers breaking.
Then let me hear Thy voice,
Change Thou this earthly frame,
And bid me aye rejoice
With those who love Thy name.

By the time the hymn was over, her mother was with Jesus. Great-grandma Linkert must have taught the hymn to her children (perhaps all 15 of them). At least one of them, my Grandpa, knew it and sang it often. In fact, when my mother was in her early teens, Grandpa even offered his family an incentive to learn this hymn by heart: one dollar for each stanza. On Saturday nights, Grandpa was ready with his dollar bills, ready to listen to his daughters or foster sons recite their stanzas.

Because my mother knew that hymn by heart, she could easily sing it while rocking each of her seven babies to sleep, or by their bedside. Because this hymn was frequently heard and sung in our home, it now has the chance to make it one more generation (despite the fact that half of it isn’t even in our hymnal).

While I was up in Minnesota I had to chance to stop at the cemetery in Eagan where my Mom’s parents and grandparents are buried. The mortal remains of those generations who sang “O Gott du frommer Gott” now lie beneath those stones, still resting, still waiting for stanza eight: “Then let me hear Thy voice, Change Thou this earthly frame.”

But I am so grateful that they sang the hymn while they were here. Not only did it teach them and comfort them, but to this day their song continues to teach me and comfort me by the words they passed from their generation to the next. And they have given a voice for me to pass on to my children the fountain of gifts which come from this faithful God, and to prepare them for all of life that is ahead of them.

Evening Hymn

Published April 12, 2011 Children , Family , Hymnody , Music 3 Comments

I can visually remember the words of the hymn up on the overhead in Mrs. Kraus’ first grade classroom. “Lord Jesus, who dost love me…” I can also remember having difficulty finding the hymn in the hymnal at home because we didn’t learn the first stanza.

Those final two stanzas of Paul Gerhardt’s evening hymn, “Now Rest Beneath Night’s Shadow” have probably been sung in our home more than any others. I have sung them to the all kids at bedtime since they were born. I have also sung these stanzas frequently in hospital rooms and in the sick room.

Tomorrow evening our school kids will be singing this hymn during our Lenten Compline service at church. They have been learning it and practicing it at school, and we’ve been singing it at night before bed.

I took one year of piano lessons in grade school, and a few lessons here and there since then. I’ve always wished I had stuck with it, and I’ve always had a strong desire to at least be able to play hymns. For many years now I have spent considerable time at the piano playing through hymns, often slowly and with many mistakes. Since we have had a piano in our home, I have been able to play much more regularly, and there are at least a handful of hymns that I can play fairly well. This evening hymn is one of those. It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to be able to accompany my children and sing these words with them.

Now rest beneath night’s shadow
The woodland, field, and meadow;
The world in slumber lies.
But you, my heart, awaken,
With prayer and song be taken;
Let praise to your Creator rise.

The rule of day is over
And shining jewels cover
The heaven’s boundless blue.
Thus I shall shine in heaven,
Where crowns of gold are given
To all who faithful prove and true.

Lord Jesus, since you love me,
Oh, spread your wings above me
And shield me from alarm.
Though Satan would assail me,
Your mercy will not fail me;
I rest in your protecting arm.

My loved ones rest securely,
For God this night will surely
From peril guard your heads.
Sweet slumbers may he send you
And bid his hosts attend you
And through the night watch o’er your beds. (CW 587)

In this and every place

Published March 11, 2011 Devotions , Family , Military Leave a Comment

In one of the orders we use for evening devotions at home, we pray this petition:

For those who work to bring peace, justice, health, and protection in this and every place, let us pray to the Lord: Lord, have mercy.

Today Auntie Liz (Sara’s sister), who has been living in El Paso for a year now as a nurse at the Army hospital here, left for a six month deployment to Iraq. It has been such a blessing for us to have her here, so we are going to miss her immensely.

We are already looking forward to when she will be back in this place. But until then we will continue to call on the Lord to be merciful to her and all those who serve—in every place they may be.

Joanna Eveline

Published December 28, 2010 Children , Family 5 Comments

Today at 11:24am, we welcomed Joanna Eveline Caauwe into our family. She weighed 8lbs, 5 oz., and was 20 inches long. She did break our “girl…boy…” pattern, but she gets us into the “four daughter” club—an exclusive group of families that have the privilege of raising four girls. I can think of a few closely related families which have that distinction.

I was reminded today what a treasure and a gift each child is. One might be tempted to think that the birth of the sixth might be less remarkable, as though “cheaper by the half-dozen” somehow made Joanna just “one more.” But it is never that way. My vocation as parent is not simply “child x 6″. With each child the complexity and privilege of this calling multiplies exponentially.

Our intent is that Joanna will be born again by Word and Water on January 9th, when we also observe the First Sunday after the Epiphany, the Baptism of our Lord.

I have a gallery of pictures up here, which you can subscribe to if you would like to be notified when I add more.

http://gallery.me.com/caauwejw#100717

The Caauwe Express

Published December 18, 2010 Family 1 Comment
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For almost nine months now, we have been aware that our 7 passenger Toyota Sienna was soon to be too small for our family. For a few months we’ve been looking for a van that would fit our family, as well as let Auntie Liz have a seat. We also realize that eventually the kids will actually get bigger.

It was surprising how hard it was to find used vans that fit this description. Turns out they seem to be about as rare as families with more than 5 kids. But I managed to find one about 3,000 feet from the border. It’s an ’05 12-passenger Chevy Express. It’s well used, but I hope that it will become just as well used in the years to come.

Trip

Published October 8, 2010 Baseball , Family , Military , Travel Leave a Comment

I spent most of the last half of September on the road. On September 13–15 I was in Norfolk, Virginia, for a WELS Military Contact Pastor Workshop. This is for pastors who serve near military installations. There were over 20 pastors there from all over the country. The workshop itself was quite good, and it gave me the opportunity to visit with old friends and to get to know some new ones. We were able to tour the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush.

On September 19th, I traveled to Milwaukee so that I could attend the Symposium on Worship and Outreach at Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. From there I made my way up to Oshkosh, then Rhinelander, then New Ulm, MN, spending the next week in the Twin Cities. We were there for Sara’s brother’s wedding. In between the Symposium and the wedding, I was able to spend time with all my siblings who live in the area, and a great number of friends. I realized later that I was able to spend time with each of the men who stood up with me in my wedding. What was remarkable and enjoyable was not only to spend time with the guys, but I also got to see their families. When I got married, all of those men were single, and now they are all married with children. It was really quite a joy to see these friends of mine now fulfilling their calling as fathers.

During these weeks I was able to step onto the campuses of Seminary, college, and high school. Interestingly, all three of them have new or remodeled chapels which were completed after I graduated. The new chapel at Martin Luther College is the most stunning. I’m looking forward to seeing more of that facility next summer at the WELS National Worship Conference. I got to see a Twins game with my brothers at the new Target Field. I got a couple hours out at the farm. I even stopped for a couple hours and walked around at Bush Lake Park, where I worked summers during college. I even ran into my old boss, who happened to be driving through the park.

So I can really say that I was able to make the most of the time. The only thing that could have made it more complete is if I would have been able to do it all without being away from my family. I realize that it probably would not have been possible. It’s probably not a trip that I’ll be able to make again. But if it means being away from Sara and the kids for nearly two weeks, I don’t think I’ll want to.

Here’s a link to a collection of pictures from the trip.

http://gallery.me.com/caauwejw#100688&bgcolor=black&view=grid

 

Ultrasound

Published August 3, 2010 Children , Family Leave a Comment

This morning I had the privilege of accompanying my bride to an ultrasound appointment. Yes, in early January we will be expecting our sixth child.

I was just about to write about the fact that no matter how many I see, it always becomes real for me when I see the little fingers moving around. Then I thought to myself that I might have written something like that. Here’s what I posted on September 22, 2008, when we saw Miriam for the first time:

Today we got to see ultrasound images of our littlest one. We’ve seen plenty of ultrasound pictures, but seeing those little arms and feet moving around never gets old. It always amazes me to see four chambers of the heart and a cross section of this or that, or to measure the skull or abdomen. But what always gets me are the little fingers and toes.

The remarkable thing is that it gets me every time, but the reason that it does (I think) is because each new child is a new child. Yes, they have so many similarities and they do so many of the same things. But the thing that gets me about the whole things is just how different and unique they all are. Nearly every day I marvel at some unique trait of one of the kids. And that uniqueness starts now. This baby at 18 weeks is not same as any of the others.

Seeing a new baby squirming around in the womb brings home to me the reality that—God-willing—I will now have the opportunity to get to know a brand new member of our family. It reminds me that my vocation as father just got bigger. It reminds me that God has heaped upon me and my family yet another blessing from his gracious hand.

As a Helper

Published June 23, 2010 Family 1 Comment

On June 26, 1998, I was spending some time—as I often did—out at the farm with my Grandpa. We spent our time either working or talking. I knew that those conversations would not last forever, and so I occasionally brought along a little tape recorder and captured those stories that Grandpa told.

The conversations went all over the place, but on this particular day Grandpa had a few words about marriage. The tape recorder captured this little piece of advice, from an 89-year-old grandfather to his 19-year-old grandson.

You have to be careful who you marry. Your girl is going to New Ulm school. If she stays there, and you get married together, I probably will help you. Somebody that goes with you. It can be nice, if you can stay together. You don’t know where you will be sent; God will have to lead you. She goes with you as a helper.

Just three years later, on June 23, 2001, I married this girl after we both graduated from this school in New Ulm (Martin Luther College). Grandpa had told me that he would come to our wedding, and that he would help us. He never got that opportunity. But I have treasured these few words of wisdom that he shared with me that day. My grandparents’ marriage spanned 47 years—till death parted them. I assume that he knew what he was talking about. He knew that if husband and wife stick together, it can be nice—even if life isn’t always so nice and easy. He understood, I suppose, what it means to have a wife as “a helper suitable for him” (Gen 1:18).

I can’t say that I understood all that then. But as I reflect on those words today, and as I reflect on the nine years Sara and I have been married, I think to myself, “I do now.” She has gone with me as a helper, as I completed my training at the Seminary, as we packed up and moved to California and then to Texas. As a helper, she has become the mother of our five children and continues to nurture and care for them with diligence and patience. As a helper, she runs this household in such a way that allows me to serve as a pastor and spiritual father to the members of our congregation.

And so I realize that Grandpa was right. It can be nice. When we stay together. When we live within God’s design for marriage, as a head with his helpmate. When we serve each other. It can be nice. It has. That does not mean it has always been easy. It does not mean that it ever will be perfect. But God has given me a treasure, a gift, in my bride. And I look forward to every day that God has in store for us.

Full

Published December 22, 2009 Devotions , Family 1 Comment

There’s something incredibly encouraging about sitting around a full dinner table with a fully lit Advent wreath, singing hymns of Advent and Christmas.

files.me.com/caauwejw/t0ejsf.mp3

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