Welcome to the world, Elouise Ivy Joy Perteet!

The heavens opened on Saturday evening at 10:59 Central Time when Elouise Ivy Joy Perteet came into the world. 

Wow!

I’ve said many times before that babies change the world. 

The birth of Elouise brought back many memories of the birth of our daughter, Hannah. She was born at 10:38am on Saturday, December 16, 2000 in Rochester Methodist Hospital. We were told that her due date was December 7. The wait for her seemed long. Amy was scheduled to be induced, but her water broke on Friday evening the 15^th at a choir party shared by a third church that Amy was attending. When we got home she called the hospital to see about going to the hospital. They told her to come in. She got her stuff ready, vacuumed the main level of our house (which is not surprising if you know Amy), and then we went to the hospital. When Hannah arrived at 10:38am the next morning and the doctor held her up, my first thought was “she’s finally here.” I still remember clearly holding her in my arms and having the picture below taken.  

It's incredible for me to think that this girl in my left arm delivered a baby this past Saturday evening. 

How fortunate we are in the United States to have a high-quality system for delivering babies. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ten thousand babies are born ever day in the United States. Only 10.49 percent were born less than 37 weeks; thirty two percent were born cesarean; seventy-eight percent of mothers receive some sort of prenatal care in the first trimester; the infant mortality rate in the United States is 5.44 for every thousand births.  I’m thankful that the infant mortality rate in Minnesota is even lower than the national average. 

From my vantage point, Hannah has received terrific care during her pregnancy. Hannah shared with Amy and me that she was pregnant in February. Hannah started receiving medical care in Florida and then continued her medical care with Allina when she moved to our home in Minnesota in July. 

Hannah’s due date was last Sunday, October 22. She was scheduled to be induced yesterday evening. Amy, Hannah, Carter and I took guesses on when Elouise would arrive. All four of us missed on our first guess. We wrote down our second guess and kept it from everyone else. 

On Saturday morning Hannah and Carter went to Mercy hospital as she wasn’t feeling well.  I figured the doctors would examine her and send her home. Amy & I went through our day as it was a normal Saturday. I finished my work for worship at Chain of Lakes in the morning. I then drove to Northfield to watch Carleton play football. As I was coming back to Blaine I saw that Hannah was still at the hospital. Something must be happening! I joined Amy at St. Joseph’s by the Lake Catholic church. During Mass I prayed for her, and Amy & I shared our excitement with others that Elouise would soon come into the world. I found myself weeping on multiple occasions. After Mass we hung out at our home with Hannah’s cousin Olivia. We waited. 

Carter kept us informed through his texts. Shortly after 11pm we received the call we had been waiting for—Elouise had arrived! The first time I met her was hearing her cry over the phone. Ever since then I’ve been thinking about and singing the lyric “I was there to hear your borning cry” that came from the hymn with that name.

 The three of us quickly drove over to Mercy Hospital. Amy   was able to go into the room and be with Hannah. Olivia,   Carter’s mom, and I waited patiently. Finally we were all   allowed to go into the room. And there was Elouise! And like   almost 23 years ago, I held a baby in my arms—though this   time she was in a different arm.

  Babies can change the world as they bring out our happiness. I showed many pictures Elouise on Sunday morning at Chain of Lakes with my phone. I rewrote part of my sermon and included the story about her birth—along with more pictures. I only broke down a few times in worship—I was expecting to weep much more than I did. Yes, this former football player cries! I had the opportunity to go to the hospital twice yesterday. Once in the middle of the afternoon and then again last night. I’m always impressed by the quality of care shared by nurses at the hospital. 

Elouise will come live in our home today. She has a nursery all ready for her that Hannah and Carter and Amy and I have been preparing for a long time. I stood in the nursery this morning and reveled at all of the love that Elouise has already experienced.   

  Amy, Hannah, Carter, and I are blessed to be surrounded by terrific medical care, loving family, supportive friends and a community that celebrates babies. Babies do change the world.  Elouise has already done so. 

  Yay, God!

Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection

At the end of September I had the opportunity to attend Leadership Institute at Church of the Resurrection with five others from Chain of Lakes Church. This was one of the largest groups from Chain of Lakes that have attended this conference. Leadership Institute is a conference shared by Church of the Resurrection (COR) in Kansas City. COR is the largest Methodist church in the United States. The church started from scratch in 1990 and today has become a very large congregation  with six campuses in the Kansas City area. Unlike many large churches, COR’s theology is unapologetically main-line. They care passionately about personal faith AND social engagement. They are welcoming to the LBTBQ+ community. 

I’ve been attending Leadership Institute for many years. I’ve actually lost track of how many times I’ve gone to this conference—maybe twenty. I started attending when I served my previous church in Plainview. Many years ago I stopped attending by myself. Now I always bring a group of people from the church I’m serving. The six of us who attended grew in our friendships with each other. 

Kansas City has a special place in my heart as my family lived in inner-City Kansas City for three summers and a school year in the early 1970’s. While living in Kansas City my eyes were opened to the reality of poverty and the obligation of those who are not poor to help. 

Leadership Institute is made up of lectures and smaller seminars.  One of my favorite seminars was one led by Tom Langhofer on the Recovery ministry that COR is doing. Each Thursday night COR offers a meal and then a talk on some aspect of Recovery. They then break out into different recovery groups. The talks can be downloaded and shared. We’ve talked at Chain of Lakes about sharing some type of recovery ministry with the wider community. Hiring Charlie Clark to be our Minister of Health and Healing will help. After this workshop I talked with Tom about their ministry, and what we want to do at Chain of Lakes. As a reflection of their generosity, he said we could download all of their talk without charge and show them to anyone who wants to gather. He also followed up two days letter with an email.

His personal response to me is one reason that Church of the Resurrection does so well. 

Each time I attend Leadership Institute I give everyone from Chain of Lakes a tour of the neighborhood where I used to live. The summer of second grade, my Dad took our family to work for Cross Lines, a social service organization in Kansas City. We lived in a huge house called, “fading grey” with other people. It was my first experience at Communal Living. I always drive by the house and share stories about “fading grey.” We moved to Kansas City for fifteen months when my Dad took a sabbatical from teaching. Within half a mile were two places that were called “the projects.” I drove our group through these areas. We found the church where my Dad ran a day-camp for the community. I still remember knocking on doors with him asking people to go to the day-camp. 

I was delighted that Carey Nieuwhof shared a presentation and then led a breakout group. I have read many of his books and listen to his podcast. In his   presentation he talked about managing energy and not   our time. He encouraged us to identify the times in the   day when we are at our best and then do our most  i important work during those times. Makes sense to me.  He challenged everyone present to think about how a   local congregation can share a digital ministry. He said   that successful congregations in the future will see   themselves as digital organizations in a physical location. 

Once again Church of the Resurrection provided an   outstanding conference. They provide hope for anyone in   the church who has given their lives to the church.

The eagle is pointing towards Carleton!

This past Saturday, I had the opportunity to attend the Carleton/St. Olaf football game at Sullivan Field in Northfield. According to the Carleton Game Day Program this was the 103^rd time the two teams have met, 100^th time as varsity programs.

This is a big game for football players at each school. I clearly remember the four times I participated in the Carleton/St. Olaf game. The first time was the very first time I played college football. The game was at St. Olaf. We lost 9-0 as we had two bad snaps on punts. The second time I was injured and watched from the sidelines. The third time we lost at St. Olaf. In a low moment for me, I sacked the St. Olaf quarterback. Low, you might think? After the sack I proceeded to point with disdain and challenge the "manhood" of the St. Olaf sideline and their fans. Not a great act of sportsmanship. My best friends on the team almost killed me on the sidelines for that.

After losing three straight times, Bob Sullivan gathered the returning players at the end of the season. He gave us a medallion with the date, “10-19-85” on it. I carried that medallion with me the entire year. The day of the game I taped it to the inside of my uniform. And the game turned out splendidly. Carleton won 35-7.

This game has quite a lot of meaning. 

This year St. Olaf decided to choose this game as their Homecoming. I’ve never heard of a school choosing their rivals’ homecoming as their own homecoming.

I arrived at noon this past Saturday and immediately enjoyed the tail gate party by the parents of the football game. Many alumni were present. The weather was beautiful and close to four thousand people attended the game.

Carleton got off to a terrific start. We scored on our first drive and then forced a turnover and scored again. We missed the extra point, but that didn’t seem to be a big deal. After the touchdown I turned to another football alum and said that if Carleton could stop the ‘Oles on the next drive the game could be a blow-out. But if we didn’t, the game would probably be close. 

Unfortunately, St. Olaf went on a methodical seventeen play drive to score a touchdown. 

Game on. 

Carleton led 23-10 at halftime, but I was anxious. Unless they turned the ball over St. Olaf had proved they could score almost every time they had the ball.

And my premonition was correct. The ‘Oles went on two long, drives and eventually took a 31-30 lead with a little less than four minutes remaining in the game. That missed extra point was important. Their second drive took almost ten minutes of clock and went 98 yards. Ouch!

After the Oles' touchdown, Carleton got the ball back and dropped three passes. We punted. All St. Olaf had to do was continue what they had done, and they would win the game. I have to admit, I was not optimistic.  If I had been charting the percent chance of winning at the start of that drive, I would have said St. Olaf was at eighty percent.

St. Olaf ended up with a fourth and two with about two minutes left. If they made a first down the game was over. They went for it. It made sense to me. But Carleton held. And suddenly it seemed like there was a chance. The percentages were moving towards Carleton--50/50?

Carleton drove down the field with help by two, clutch third down conversions. Carleton’s quarterback, Jack Curtis had ice in his veins. Carleton was left with a 30 yard field goal to win the game. And-the-kick-was good!! Carleton was ahead. 

St. Olaf didn’t have enough time to score and Carleton won!

Pandemonium on the Carleton side of the stands. For the second year in a row Carleton has beaten St. Olaf! 

St. Olaf has a very good football team. They could play Carleton ten times and each team might win five. But all that matters this year is Carleton 33 St. Olaf 31.

We did plenty of celebrating on the field. I got to hold the goat trophy that I had held thirty-three years earlier on the same field. Plus standing next to Pete Machacek, my linebacker mate, with that goat trophy was very special.

We walked down to the town square of Northfield and turned the eagle towards Carleton—another ritual for the winner. The eagle was already facing Carleton as won last year, but it was turned 360 degrees. 

The football alumni continued the celebration at the Armory in Northfield. We remembered the Carleton/St. Olaf game in 1973 when Carleton broke a long losing streak against the ‘Oles. We also lifted up a new program where anyone can make a direct donation to Carleton that will benefit the football program. 

Tom Journell is an outstanding coach. He understands Carleton and the type of football player who Carleton will recruit. He has a terrific coaching staff. The program is in very good hands. 

I love Carleton football alums and players. They are some of the most fascinating people I’ll ever meet. They are intelligent and have the athletic skills to play for a Division III team. But they also know that they will probably never play in the pros. But that doesn’t stop any Carleton player from training as hard as they can to do their best. Before my senior year of football, I'm guessing I trained as hard as any player in the conference. I've always shared with anyone who would listen that when I ran onto the field with a Carleton jersey on my back there was no one playing football at any level that day who wanted to win a game more than I did.

As I was driving back to my home on Saturday, I was musing about why these athletic games are so important. For my entire life I’ve been playing in games and then cheering at games. Does it really make that much of a difference if the team I’m rooting for scores more points than the opposing team? It obviously does. I'm not sure why it matters, but I can assure you that it does. I’ve always said that all is right with the world when Carleton beats St. Olaf in football. If you pressed me, I’m not sure I could explain why this is. What I do know is my heart is happy that the eagle is pointing towards Carleton for another year.

Twins win! Twins win! Twins win!

 Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Target Field to watch the Twins break their eighteen-game playoff losing streak. Wow! 

I decided to go to the game shortly after watching the Twins clinch the division against the Los Angeles Angels on September 22. I wrote a blog about that experience. After watching that game I convinced myself that I wanted to go to a playoff game. I had never been to a playoff game before. I love going to Target Field, so why not? I bit the bullet with purchasing overpriced tickets and invited Hannah’s partner, Carter, and my Dad to join me.

And if you’re wondering about the tickets being overpriced--$131 for a seat in the left field corner? I found out at the game that these seats were being sold for $34 yesterday morning.  Tickets in that same section are being sold for today’s game for $70 a seat. 

I’m not trying to throw cold-water on the experience. The value I received in attending the game far surpassed the cost. 

Before the game the big question was whether Royce Lewis was going to play. He was injured on September 19 in a game against Cincinnati. His personality and baseball skills have led many to believe he is a superstar in the making. His joy in playing the game is contagious. It has to be contagious with other Twins’ players. I remember the joy of Kirby Puckett when he played in the late 1980’s and early 1990s. Royce Lewis has the same “it” that Kirby did. 

Fortunately Royce was able to DH yesterday.

 

We got to our seats early as I wanted to ensure we could find parking and give my Dad enough time to walk to his seat. The ballpark had many empty seats at 2:51. 

But when Pablo Lopez threw his first pitch at 3:40pm, Target Field was almost full.

The fans were immediately into the game. Every two-strike count on a Blue Jay brought us to our feet. Every pitch seemed to sway our enthusiasm. Many fans of the Blue Jays were in attendance. In fact Carter sat next to two Blue Jays’ fans—who were conversational and respectful. The fans were cheering and booing and yelling chants. I can’t say I was in favor of the “USA” chant. I love our country as next to anyone, but I didn’t see this game as a USA versus Canada contest.

I think breaking the Twins’ eighteen-game playoff losing streak captured the fans imagination. We wanted to see a victory. It’s hard to believe that the Twins had bumbled to that many playoff losses in a row. It seems almost comparable to the Vikings’ four Super Bowl losses. And it fit the mantra of a Minnesota Sports’ fan—which I identify myself. Our sports teams let us down in big moments. 

However on occasion someone steps up to break through. This happened when Royce Lewis came to bat in the first inning. Edouard Julien was on base. He blasted a fastball into the left field bleachers. The Twins were ahead. This playoff game seemed different.

 And then in the third inning he came to bat with no one on base. A high, looping fly ball to right center. And AGAIN! Homerun! Carter and I looked at each other for about thirty seconds with a “I can’t believe what I just saw” look on our faces. We were cheering our heads off.

 Without Royce Lewis, I don’t think the Twins would have won. Royce had two hits; the rest of the team had three.  

 The Twins were outstanding in defense and pitching. Michael Taylor had one diving catch, and one leaping catch with two runners on; Carlos Correa made a brilliant throw to home to save a run. The bullpen was rock solid. I questioned why Griffin Jax was pitching in the eighth and when his first pitch turned into a double for Vladimir Guerrero Jr., I was convinced that doom was coming. But he settled down and was superb. Jhoan Duran didn’t even make us sweat much in the ninth.

 Twins win; Twins win; Twins win! 

The walk out of the ballpark was unforgettable. Many fans, including me, were high fiving each other. I’m guessing I shared at least 25 of these celebrations.

I remember the 1987 playoff run of the Twins. We only won 85 games that year. But something special happened in the first round of the playoffs against the Tigers. It was like we captured magic in a bottle. The fans were very loud in the Metrodome and waved their white homer hankeys with joy. This was the feeling yesterday. We were very loud and waving our red homer hankeys with joy.

 Tom Kelly said that momentum in baseball is only as good as your next starting pitcher, so this could all look different in twenty-four hours. 

But yesterday felt like the start of something …