Thank you for your continued prayers for Boyer Valley.

Could you also pray for the following students- they were members of the Volunteer Fire/EMT Departments that were 'first responders on the scene.' There's a 'debriefing' for the VFD in Dunlap tonight at the fire hall.

Tony Kline, Tyler Ettleman, Curtis Reed, and Crystal & Neiko Deemer.

Viewing Friday, Prayer service Friday Night, Funeral Saturday for Kirk Sturgill at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Dunlap

Baccalaureate tonight and BVHS Graduation this Sunday

Thanks again,
In Christ, Ted

Forever Near
by Alicia Block
Even though I’m gone,
Know my soul is here.
I’ll be in your hearts,
Forever Near.

Even though I’m gone,
Know I’m there.
I’m the wind that’s blowing,
Through your hair.

I’m the sun that shines
Upon you all day.
I’m the beautiful flowers
Blooming in May.

I’m the tear that falls
From your cheek.
I’m the reason why
You cannot speak.

But most of all
What I’ll be,
Is the beautiful angel
You cannot see.

I know you miss me,
I miss you too,
I’ll be in Heaven,
Waiting for you.

I’ll watch over you,
Each and every day
I know in my heart
You’ll be okay

So when you miss me
Know I’m still here,
I’ll be in your hearts
Forever near.

In Loving Memory
By Tylor Wilke
We will miss your graceful smile.
We will miss seeing you in the aisle.
You were great, and nice to us.
Now that you are gone we are crushed.
You were like a brother to many.
Your fond memories there are plenty.
Your being gone is a stun.
You were loved by everyone.
Except for the few.
Who didn’t know you.
Now that you are gone.
Your brains and your brawn.
We will not forget.
Kirk Sturgill, just a kid.

The tragedy on Seven Hills Road (or Ghost Road)
I spent all morning working on a memorial page for the yearbook. Lots of kids watched and a few brought in candids that they'd had of Kirk. So, I guess my worry about what to say & do worked it's self out.

It is pretty heavy here.

Here's the official press release:

"At approximately 4:00 yesterday afternoon on dirt road east of town, five students were in a two car accident; Cody Malone, Doug Nichols, Michael Nemitz, Tim Murphy and Kirk Sturgill. Emergency staff worked to stabilize, the students. Three students were life flighted to various hospitals, Crawford County Memorial, UNMC in Omaha, and Mercy Hospital in Sioux City. The nature of Kirk’s internal injuries were severe and sadly, he died last evening. Tim is in Denison and is expected to be released today. Doug and Cody are at UNMC. Cody is anticipated to be released today, also. Mike originally went to Denison hospital and might be transferred to Omaha today for facial surgery.
We are still waiting to hear about funeral arrangements, but you will be updated when we have more information. The crisis team will be at the school to support the students, teachers, and community.

Other facts if students ask:
Senior Tim Murphy- cuts and abrasions
Freshman Mike Nemitz- broke bone below his eye
Freshmen Cody Malone- Broken bone
Sophomore Doug Nichols-Facial injuries
Freshman Kirk Sturgill —torn aorta"

I have been told this morning that Tim is in the best shape and that he and Cody will probably be released today. Doug and Mike will need reconstructive surgery for facial inguries, Doug has a shattered lower jaw. They're discouraging visitors and will probably wait to tell him about Kirk because Doctors don't want too much anxiety/chemical activity/whatever for his brain.

That's all I know at this time. There's lots of talk about when the memorial service and funeral will be. The Sturgills are members at St. Patrick's here in Dunlap. Word is going around that it will be here at school because the Church is too small.

Thank you for your support.

Please pray for Boyer Valley High School in Dunlap Iowa. Five of our students were involved in a fatal car accident this afternoon. A Senior, a Sophomore, and three Freshmen. Two boys are in critical condition, one, a Freshman died of a severed aorta.

Lord Jesus,

Please be with the family of this boy
Please be with his classmates and schoolmates
Grant them comfort and strength
use this occasion to bring unity and intimacy
where there is confusion and pain, bring peace and comfort.

Please be with the other four boys
protect them, heal them and restore them
where there is agony, bring calm
Please be with their families too, hold them up and support them
be with their doctors and nurses, guide their efforts, bless their work

Please be with the Counselors, Administrators, Teachers, Coaches and support staff
Please be with the area Clergy
Guide them with your Holy Spirit and use them as your instruments during this difficult time.

By your blood and in your precious name, Amen

"and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God's children, since they are children of the resurrection." ~Luke 20:36

Religious Democrats?, Sojourners Magazine/May 2004
My point exactly

Sojourners: Christians for Justice and Peace
Not all Christians are Right-Wingers- here is a website that prooves it

Pray! Magazine
I highly reccomend this magazine to everyone

God must think we are poor miserable sinners;
From: Pastor Marty Brauer
Friday, May 7, 2004 8:33 PM

God must think we are poor miserable sinners; knowing we are only
deserving of His wrath and judgment, yet forgives us through the blood
and sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.

God must think that in spite of the sin dwelling within each and every
one of us that those who trust in His Son as their Savior are forgiven
and given the gift of eternal life in a place where there is no more
sorrow, no more tears, no more terror, no more torture.

God must think that those whose aim and ambition in life is to destroy
God's children, like the enemies of His children long ago, are to be
sought out and destroyed.

God must think that those who take a stand against the ungodly, in
spite of their sinful flesh causing them to err in judgment, are to be
lifted up by His righteous right hand for the strength and power to
persevere throughout this life to life everlasting.

God must think that those who He's placed in authority over His people
are to be respected and trusted in the face of lies and deceit by
those whose political bias has skewed their reason and thinking.

God must think that those who attempt to undermine His authority by
undermining those He's placed in authority are simply not trusting in
God's providential power and rule from heaven above.

God must think that all those who are proud to be Americans have the
God-given right to BE proud living in a country whose foundation was
built on the laws of Christ and whose freedom stems from the freedom
Jesus, Himself, has given us from the curse and power of sin in our
lives.

And finally, what we all must think, is that in spite of our political
leanings, the venom we allow to seep and spew from our tongues, the
opinions we so freely give without experiencing first-hand the harsh
realities of war, what an awesome God we have in whom to place our
trust.

Dear Father in heaven: We pray You to continue to uphold our
president and his administration as they continue to strive to do Your
will. Grant them Your wisdom and Your protection as they continue to
stand strong in the face of political attacks and the arrows of
satan. In Jesus' Name. Amen...so shall it be!

And I am chief among poor miserable sinners,

Wow, thank you for your thoughtful, if gently admonishing response
to the column I sent you.

But did you hear Rush Limbaugh blow it off as little more than a
fraternity prank? Please know that I feel pathos and compassion on the American
guards, not venom. I still believe in supporting our troops, I’m not going
to EVER advocate spitting on GIs or calling them names like “baby killer.”
But don’t we bear collective responsibility as a people?

I know that God had His reasons for allowing Bush to become
President, but then He must have for Clinton too, right? Romans 13 gets pretty
complicated when we’re in a “representative democracy,” doesn’t it? Who is the King? The man or the office? The people or the Constitution.

One of my big concerns is the whole eschatological thing, the false doctrines that Reagan and perhaps now Bush subscribe to- it’s like
they want to speed up the second coming (or some kind of millennium), as if
they could.

I struggled with how to finish that column, I thought about calling
for resignations- I truly thought a better ending would have been a call
to prayer. I wonder how Lincoln felt about Grant’s being a “butcher”
and Sherman’s psychological warfare- no wonder he was so depressed all
the time.

The worst part of wars and partisan politics is that they divide
friends, Countrymen, brothers and families. I hope that as strongly as I felt
about things in that column does not place a wedge between us. I consider
you a mentor and a blessing in my life. These are two verses that I use to
remind me not to let politics become an idolatry for me.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name
of the LORD our God. ~Ps20:7

It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. The man who
fears God will avoid all extremes~ Ecclesiastes 7:18

Check out my column from Thursday, March 18, 2004
"Advancing historic principles and ideals"

After a Church Council
meeting one of our Elders was talking to our Pastor about “Slimy Liberals.”
That threw me, I thought he obviously didn’t know how I vote in November.
No doubt many Liberals are slimy, but there are surely plenty of slimy conservatives too.

I may be in error in some points and others may be open questions
that you’d either agree or disagree with, but I think you’ll “get it,” so, I’m
sorry this email has gotten so long, but I hope you’ll print it out and
find time to read it.

In Christ,
Ted


Thanks for your thoughtful response to mine, Ted.
From: Pastor Marty Brauer
Sent : Monday, May 10, 2004 7:12 PM

First things first: absolutely no chance of a wedge coming between us.

Forgive me if I sounded partisan in my response to you. Though I
generally vote the Republican ticket (primarily because of four
issues: abortion, homosexuality, freedom OF religion, redistribution
of wealth), I ALWAYS struggle with the "whole" package.

I do appreciate and respect your stance on why you consider yourself a
democrat. Unfortunately, both sides, in their attempts to demonize
each other, have stooped so low as to question how anyone could be a
Democrat, yet consider themself to be a Christian (my dad and Rush),
or how anyone could be a Republican, yet consider themself also to be
a Christian (my uncle Hank and Hilary C.)

AND...while I respect your position on the heinous torture and
humiliation tactics used on the Iraqui prisoners, I do NOT believe
this is indicative of an evil administration with the impeachment of
the president due consequence. If Clinton were still in office, I do
believe I would have responded similarly to your letter.

Oops, just got an emergency phone call...I'll finish this later.

Blessings
pastor marty

Centrist America
Part of the problem in American politics today is that we tend to demonize people on the opposite side of the spectrum. Here's a website for those of us in the middle.

My favorite (living) Republicans; John McCain, George Will, & Clarence Hoffman

My favorite (dead) Republicans; Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, & Barry Goldwater

Leaving your kids behind

It certainly sounds idealistic. No one can argue that public schools should make every effort to help EVERY student, but did you know that only 6% of the costs to implement No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is supposed to come from the federal government?

Thanks to Bush’s tax cuts, deficits, and pre-emptive war in Iraq, they’re not even coming through with that 6%.

Two of the goals of NCLB is accountability and choice. In a perfect world, these goals also sound like idealistic, but run through a Washington-speak decoder they sound more like deregulation, privatization, and free-market competition. These goals may not even sound all that odious except that we’re not talking about sprockets or gizmos, cogs, or “information systems.” We’re not talking about investment portfolios. We’re talking about children.

Republican proponents of NCLB claim that schools need to be held more responsible for results the same way the business world operates. Carrots and sticks, fines and bonuses, performance reviews. There are several problems with that, besides that I went into teaching to help kids, rather than have to compete in the dog-eat-dog, survival-of-the-fittest world of business.

One problem is what performance are you reviewing? It seems like tests are supposed to measure student performance, but a student can be incredibly intelligent, creative and hard working and yet be a miserable test taker. It’s like when you have something wrong with your car, so you take it into a mechanic, but the car doesn’t malfunction for the mechanic, so they can’t find a problem. Other kids are unmotivated, stubborn, insubordinate, and totally disinterested in school, but for whatever reason, they perform outstanding on tests.

I realize and agree that the basics are vital, but you can’t reduce all learning to only math, science and reading. Some students may be brilliantly intelligent in some areas, but have very little aptitude for others. Some kids have do have Linguistic intelligence ("word smart"), or have Logical-mathematical intelligence ("number/reasoning smart"), but others excel in Visual-Spatial intelligence, Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence, or Musical intelligence. NCLB tests don’t evaluate P.E., Art, Speech/Drama, or Music performance.

Most exciting of all, but most difficult to assess are those kids with Interpersonal intelligence ("people smart"), and Intrapersonal intelligence ("self smart"). Maybe it’s because my wife is a guidance counselor, but these are areas which many children desperately need instruction.

And keep in mind, we’re not talking about sprockets or gizmos, cogs, or “information systems.” We’re not talking about investment portfolios. We’re talking about children. Children have bad days, they have quirks and idiosyncrasies. No test could ever be standardized enough to be truly accurate. There are just some things you can not measure fairly.

Kids also have needs. When those needs aren’t met, no matter how qualified or dedicated their teachers are, they won’t be able to learn well, let alone perform well on a standardized test.

Kids need physiological and nutritional needs. In other words, they need to eat decent. They need to feel safe and protected, accepted and loved. They need to feel value, feel needed, useful, and capable.

If and when most of those needs are met, they’ll need to feel like they can accomplish something and set reasonable goals and achieve them. They’ll need to be able to figure out who they are. There’s no way to standardize students. They aren’t computers or cars or cell phones. And if you can’t control all the variables, you can’t accurately access their learning.
Can any school manage to do all of that for every kid? How would you assess their performance if they could? What is the “bottom line” in education?

Certainly teachers, principals and superintendents should be held accountable, but so should the students themselves, and so should their parents for that matter. Does their time, love, and money get invested in their children? Are they helping and encouraging their child to learn?

NCLB provides hoops for schools to jump through, but doesn’t provide any of the resources to do so. NCLB places the emphasis of education on test-taking skills, not on thinking skills, learning skills, or subject content. NCLB stigmatizes schools who’s statistics don’t look good enough, which they may have little control over.

Schools and teachers can’t control the number of non-English speakers in their district. They can’t control the number of severely learning disabled or handicapped children in their district. They can’t control the poverty or drug use or broken homes in their district. They certainly can’t control the amount of time that parents spend with their children or how much children are read to. Yet if the test scores don’t show enough improvement in a district, teachers, administrators and schools may be seriously penalized.

Bush supporters would argue that parents should have the right to move their students to the best districts. That takes even more resources away from the schools who need to improve. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s social Darwinism, survival of the fittest. So what happens? Schools need to be able to compete to stay alive, scruples and ethics are sacrificed. Corners get cut, numbers are fudged, rules are bent. Sounds like business, not school.

Capitalism is the best system for business (when it works), but surely the lessons of Enron, Worldcom and InCone should show us that competition may not always produce what’s best for the general public. Competition breeds antagonism and greed at the expense of cooperation and community.

Education issues often get eclipsed by “louder” things vying for our attention like the war, gay marriage, and abortion. But if Bush gets re-elected, someone has got to convince him that No Child Left Behind needs to be abandoned or seriously rethought. If NCLB is allowed to continue, every child will be left behind. All of America’s public schools will be worse off then they were before Bush tried to fix them.