Everett's Blog

A Haiku Psalm

2011-08-06T16:45:00.002-05:00

Last Sunday I was thinking about our church's Living Psalms program that we've been doing this summer. It occurred to me that somebody ought to be the Psalm 117 of the program. That afternoon at lunch I drafted this haiku.

Falling of the rain
On parched summer earth sings of
God's eternal love.

I haven't sent it in to Dave, but I like it.

Luther on the Cross

2011-07-22T19:21:00.002-05:00

"This is the love of the cross, born of the cross, which turns in the direction where it does not find good that it may enjoy, but where it may confer good upon the bad and needy person. 'It is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:25).' says the Apostle." Martin Luther quoted in Gerhard Forde, On Becoming a Theologian of the Cross.

I love the way that Luther includes the quote from Acts 20. I'd never thought about that statement in that way. Of course it is more blessed to give than to receive because that is the model of what God has done. He didn't seek out worshippers to enhance His life by their gifts but He created so as to give the eternal love of the Trinity. And having created He didn't seek fit receptacles for that love but renewed those who were wholly unfitted by their sin.

Karitos Worship Poems

2011-07-17T00:24:00.002-05:00

I just finished the Karitos 2011 conference tonight. This year during the worship times when we were encouraged to participate in free unguided worship I chose to use the time to write. I'm not a dancer nor a very free ad hoc composer/songwriter/harmonizer, so I chose to do what I could to praise God. I ended up with several rough poems. These are the two that are the most finished.

The Syro-Phoenician Women (written Thursday night and based on Mark 7:24-30)

Was I a dog? Did it matter?
My little girl was locked in the power of evil.
He had the power to set her free.
He was a Jew and I should care what he calls me?
But he wasn't just a Gallilean passing through,
He was the one with the power of life and death.
He was the one who spoke and demons fled.
Was there any name he could call me and I would turn away?
He was my daughter's hope
And He was her salvation!
I'll be his "little dog."
I'll be his swine!
And I will proclaim his power forever.

Body Praise

Lord Jesus Christ, King of kings,
Lord of lords, God Most High,
Without whom nothing was made that was made.
In the freedom of muscle and bone
Ligament and tendon we will praise you.

Will the rocks sing and the trees clap,
Will the mountains and hills break forth
and skip like lambs
And our bodies praise only with the tongue?
Rather with leaping and twirling,
Bowing and throwing hands on high
They will exult in the freedom you give.
They will extol the glory that is yours from all time.

Not Dead

2011-07-05T22:18:00.000-05:00

For the record, this blog is not dead. It's just been enjoying a very long nap.

What's Been Up

2010-11-19T21:34:00.003-06:00

As the previous said posts are M-pendng. Actually, I think y 14 year old self ay have channeled into e for that one. It sees ore iature than usual.

Ah, finally.

After all that I sit here waiting for Madman Mundt with nothing but the cries of fishmongers and a Barton Fink feeling in spades.

Truth be told it's really Glen Kaiser's Blues Heaven that's furnishing the cries. I'm rather disappointed to have found that I don't have any recorded contemporary Christian music that really matches Springsteen and the Sessions Band live in Dublin for exuberance. I need some Rez band.

I saw the new Harry Potter movie tonight. It may be my new favorite. It manages to catch the brooding frustrating feel of the book very well. It streamlines the story well hitting most of the high points and dropping most of the exposition. I'm anxious to be able to see the end of the story and watch the two parts together to see how they work as one story. I also curious how the second part will work out without the emotional layer of Harry's struggle for the truth about Dumbledore unless that quest will be included there. Despite the action and the slight heart attack in Godric's Hollow and pretty much in direct opposition to most of my Potter reading I think my favorite parts were the more character intensive scenes as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, then Harry and Hermione, travelled the countryside trying to figure out what to do about the locket and how to find the horcruxes. Plus, Nick Cave and dancing. Some of that was really sweet and tense. I hadn't thought about it this way when I was reading the books, but tonight it reminded me of the Sam and Frodo sections of the Two Towers and Return of the King. Far less action oriented and more focused on the characters and how they keep going. Those were always my least favorite sections of LotR until suddenly they weren't. I can imagine how someone might think these sections of Deathly Hallows are just time filler and draggy, and I've read critics who seem to think so, but they really worked for me. And when it was all done I really wanted a beer, but alas, there was none, nor will be.

I know having said much had happened definitely implied I was going to tell what has been happening and implied so again in the title of this post. But I'm not going to tell much. There's both too little and too much. On the one hand there's not really been anything dramatic happening. I'm sure if you read back into other long term updates I've written you'll find almost the same elements as what I would say here or variants slight enough as to make no difference. I drive to and from Evanston every day listening to audiobooks and spend my day working. At home I watch t.v. I like, or read, or watch movies. I go to church, I spend time with youth and teach them about the Bible on occasion. I make lots of punnishing jokes and banter with Steve. Occasionally I go out and do something with friends. Occasionally I go walking along the Lake Michigan shore or watch a hundred geese fly overhead while hiking over glacial kames. It's not unheard of that there might be crazy improvisational dancing at a friend's birthday masquerade, or simultaneous prizes for sweetest and spiciest chili (same batch) at some other friends' party. Haikus happen sometimes, and even longer more thoughtful poems spring up and then don't get worked on. Maybe a friend's band releases an ep, maybe I go out for birthday pizza with only one new friend and no old ones. But it's not ever really dramatic except in that the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases and His mercies never come to an end. Day to day He speaks and calls and warns and blesses and disciplines and convicts and loves and in each moment is doing something as dramatic as creation and as small and quiet as a precise caesura. "God in the tiniest infinite detail."

And now having all gotten all Finked up, I'll try to contain myself and not start any fights at USO dances. And I'll open the package.

Posting Soon

2010-11-18T22:59:00.002-06:00

Watch this space for future developments. I mean it. Just keep staring here until you see something. Then let me know what it was. Much has happened, as how could it not when I give a three month interval. That's like 131,000 or so minutes or a quarter the opening of Rent. Anyway, posts are impending. Keep watching. NO blinking!

Job for Another Year

2010-08-12T22:19:00.003-05:00

In case you get your news about me here instead of on Facebook (not any more reliable a source), email, or in person, I was told this morning that I will be able to continue at the Northwestern University Library full time for another year. Huzzah!

2nd Quarter Post

2010-06-20T21:39:00.002-05:00

I really don't want these things to get so scarce as to be quarterly. Happy Father's Day, Daddy.

I've just returned from our church's family camp at Wesley Woods Camp in Williams Bay, Wisconsin. It was a fun time of volleyball, fishing, games, fellowship and worship. It's been a fun spring and summer. I attended Chicago's Celtic Fest in May with some friends, including Donna who was on her way back to Texas from Ireland. I found out that I'll have benefits and at least a half time job at the Northwestern University Library after the end of August (my current job situation is kind of complicated in that it's two separate half time jobs in the same department that combine to count as one full time position for benefits purposes; one of those jobs will definitely end in August, one won't). I had a fun trip down to Tennessee and Kentucky over Memorial Day. We took a group of youth to Moraine Hill State Park outside McHenry, Illinois for a day of hiking (were going to go to Starved Rock but the weather looked too prohibitive). I went with a team from my church to help rehab a house and serve dinner at a women's shelter through Roseland Christian Ministries on the South Side of Chicago (I learned to hang blinds). I started a Christian history book club group at my church and we've read Athanasius' On the Incarnation of the Word of God and an edition of the Apostolic Fathers (the first Christian writers in the era after the apostles). Now we're reading Augustine's Confessions.

Looking ahead for the summer I expect to make a trip to Minnesota over the fourth and my now traditional Labor Day swing through Tennessee and Kentucky to visit and to celebrate Cora and Cohen's birthdays. Otherwise I won't get to travel much because I just don't have much vacation time anymore. I also expect I'll get up to the Renaissance Faire some weekend and do some other fun stuff locally. There are movies to be seen (I'm way behind on my summer movie viewing), meats to grill, volleyballs to be bumped, set, spiked, served, blocked, and (more likely) whiffed; and of course there's lots of worship and praise yet to come.

Athanasius on the Death of the Word of God

2010-04-02T17:35:00.001-05:00

Athanasius of Alexandria has this, among many other amazing things, to say about Jesus' life and death.

"For the Word, perceiving that no otherwise could the corruption of men be undone save by death as a necessary condition, while it was impossible for the Word to suffer death, being immortal, and Son of the Father; to this end He takes to Himself a body capable of death, that it, by partaking of the Word Who is above all, might be worthy to die in the stead of all, and might, because of the Word which was come to dwell in it, remain incorruptible, and that thenceforth corruption might be stayed from all by the Grace of the Resurrection. Whence, by offering unto death the body He Himself had taken, as an offering and sacrifice free from any stain, straightway He put away death from all His peers by the offering of an equivalent. For being over all, the Word of God naturally by offering His own temple and corporeal instrument for the life of all satisfied the debt by His death. And thus He, the incorruptible Son of God, being conjoined with all by a like nature, naturally clothed all with incorruption, by the promise of the resurrection. For the actual corruption in death has no longer holding-ground against men, by reason of the Word, which by his one body has come to dwell among them." (On the Incarnation of Our Lord, ch. 9, 1-2)

I hope you have a blessed Good Friday. Christ has Died. Easter is coming.

Out like some kind of Amazing Animal that's Way better than Some Dumb Lamb

2010-03-31T23:17:00.001-05:00

In honor of the end of March I thought I'd revisit one of my all time favorite weather quotes from a friend.

"I feel like March came in like a lion, then turned into a lamb. Then another lion came along and ate the lamb and I'm afraid there won't be any more lambs."

That's not this March. This March has been pretty non-descript. However these last few days have been some of the most amazing March weather I can remember (almost like what I'm told the weather was like here when I was in San Antonio in March three years ago). It was bright sunny and in the mid-seventies today. I don't know exactly what animal this March is going out like but if it's a lamb it's some kind of uber-mega-lamb that all the other lambs bow down and do the we're not worthy bit to.
The forecast is calling for 80 degrees tomorrow so it will probably snow.

Finally

2010-03-28T16:30:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I forgot to post this last week but our church is finally done with our interim period after our original senior pastor left in December 2007. On March 7 we passed our new constitution and bylaws and last Sunday we unanimously approved our new Pastoral Leadership Team and affirmed our interim elders as permanent elders. It's so good to be done with that process. I really believe that God led us through it and raised up a great group of godly men to be our elders.

Knee feeling better

2010-03-27T23:10:00.002-05:00

I mentioned that I tweaked my knee. It's been getting better all week. Today I went for a 2 mile walk around a lake at a local park and the knee's fine. In the process I got to see a couple of herons standing on the shore or in the water fairly close to the path. I don't think I'd ever seen a heron standing out of the water before, so that was cool. Also as I was walking I thought that I'd seen all the types birds that usually hang out at the lake except a cormorant (I thought "ptarmigan", but "cormorant" is what I meant). Then as I was crossing the bridge back to the parking lot I saw a cormorant fly in and land on the lake. That was really cool.

Obscure Movie Quotes

2010-03-27T22:59:00.002-05:00

They don't actually have to be all that obscure, but I was thinking the other day about movie/t.v. quotes I use in actual conversations (or that occur mentally in the midst of conversations) that I really don't expect the other person to recognize at all. Do you do this, and if so, what quotes do you use? Here are some of mine. Does anyone recognize where they're from? From least to most obscure.

"Way, Ted." Useful response to "No way!"

"Nonsense. You're only saying that because no one ever has." Useful anytime someone suggests something can't be done.

"It's like my dad always said. Sooner or later everybody gets shot." Useful response to apparently inevitable situations.

"Shazbat!" Useful in place of cursing.

"Things change. People change. [breathy] Interests rates fluctuate." Useful in response to things changing

"I'm right on top of that, Rose." Useful when your boss asks about progress on an assignment

There're a couple more I can't remember right now, or can't print. Obviously there are also some I use that much better known. But I just get curious about this. Unfortunately I've got movie and t.v. quotes running through my head for almost any situation. Sometimes I've got scripture. I wish the ratios were reversed.

Mildly Amusing Quotes

2010-03-26T17:24:00.003-05:00

Like the title says. Quotes that have given me a chuckle recently.

"I really feel like a nap right now. Either that or a chocolate milkshake."
Co-worker

"Discussing Aristotle and Sotocrates..." somewhat inebriated grad student friend

"I wonder if you could help me. I've been feeling convicted about not
living up to the command in Genesis 1:29. I was thinking that maybe if you
struggle with that too then we could work together to fulfill God's will in
our lives." Suggesting a Christian pick-up line. Get's funnier if you really know what Gen. 1:29 is. 1:28 is the verse that was intended.

"I've lived here for almost seven years. Dishes have always been in that
cabinet. So why did I just look in this one for a plate?"

"Heaven and earth in 3-D!" Clash of the Titans Promo.
"Wow! That is amazing!" Me looking out the window

Not in Kansas Anymore Even if it is Windy

2010-03-25T21:04:00.004-05:00

I'll grant you that someone who's never been in Kansas ought not be surprised to find that he's not there. Still when you're sitting at your desk at work with a case of Guiness on your desk for a flavor pairing event sponsored by your office staff association it can be disorienting if you've lived in dry counties and on dry campuses most of your life (the county I'm in is not remotely dry but my last workplace was). The flavor pairing was a lot of fun. My co-worker Meira and I provided vegetarian shepherd's pie and Guiness draft. There was a lot of great food from pulled pork barbecue and Greek meatballs to honey flavored goat cheese and a Senegalese dish I never caught the name of. There were lots of different wines, our Guiness, some ginger beer, some good old fashioned midwest lager. I thought the most interesting pairing was homemade cherry cordial in a small dark chocolate cup. It was a good time and a long way from the last place.

It was crazy windy today. One of the windiest days I ever remember. Maybe not as strong as the wind that collapsed the revolving door at Hewitt but very strong. As I was getting ready to leave work I saw waves crashing on the island across the lagoon from the library (I love working at a place that has an island and a lagoon and crashing waves). I decided to drop my stuff off at the car and go for a walk along the lake shore. In addition to the wind, which was blowing south, southwest down the shore, the light was also amazing. The sun had dropped behind the campus buildings but you could still see the last rays out on the lake shining up the foam. When I took the path to the island behind the student center I could see the Chicago skyline shining in the setting sun. The wind was take-your-breath-away strong like standing in the de facto wind tunnel between Mohn and Ell at St. Olaf on the windiest days there. When the path turned north up the shore I almost couldn't keep going. The force was so much I thought it was going to blow me over a couple of times. When I made my way over to where the waves were rolling in and splashing against the rocks it felt like the spray was going to cut me. It was awesome.

Even so, the best part came as I was sail walking back to the car. There were a lot of gulls out in the middle of the lagoon where the water was fairly calm despite the wind because of the shelter from the island and the buildings to the north. I looked up and saw a gull almost hovering right over me. He had his wings bent in a little and was just gliding on the wind. It was like he was a kite some kid was playing with. At times it looked like he was trying to work his way upwind to the middle of the lagoon to join the other gulls. At other times it looked like he was just riding the wind for the fun of it. I hardly ever saw him beat his wings. He just floated on the wind riding the gusts, working down and in toward the other gulls. Then another big gust would pick him up and carry him back out and across water. Then he'd start gliding back. I hope he riding for the joy and excitement of that awesome wind because getting to the other gulls looked like it would have been really frustrating. Even so, it was so cool to watch him hit a point where he would just hover in one spot it seemed before swooping down and back. Praise God for the beauty of the world he has made.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T23:21:00.002-05:00

Some things I just don't let go by (sometimes). This year I decided I'd take a break from listening to audio books in the car for a couple of weeks and just listen to music. I grabbed my Eden's Bridge Celtic Psalms and Celtic Praise CD's and have been listening to them in the car. For a long time I've loved their song "Beginning and End" which I believe is loosely based on St. Patrick's Breastplate which I posted a version of last year. Here are the lyrics to "Beginning and End" by Eden's Bridge.

"God in the darkness and God in the morning
God in the work and the pain and the play
Lord of all Heaven and Earth's great creator
God at beginning and end of the day

God in the tiniest infinite detail
God in the nearest and furthest away
Lord of all Heaven and Earth's great creator
God at beginning and end of the day

I lay down my tears and my hatred
Tear down the curtain of sin
Open my heart and let all that is good enter in

I lay down, my heart is so weary
And gaze on His presence with awe
There's nothing too small to entrust to the infinite God

God for the humble and meek and bewildered
God for the nearest and furthest away
Lord of all Heaven and Earth's great creator
God at beginning and end of the day."

That second line in the first chorus is what really struck me this time. "God in the work and the pain and the play." Especially the idea of God in the work and the pain has been speaking to me this week. I've been wanting my faith to be more apparent, to me at least, in my work. Just singing this song quietly all day yesterday and today has done wonders for my attitude. Also I tweaked one of my knees playing wallyball on Sunday so I've been experiencing more pain than usual. Again it's good to remember God is there in the pain, even when it's not very dramatic pain. Anyway, I wish you all a happy St. Patrick's Day aftermath. Slainte.

12 Things I Love About My Mom

2010-03-12T22:52:00.003-06:00

My Momma had a birthday today. In honor of the date I thought I'd put up a list of 12 things I love about my Momma. There are many more than I could list.

1. I love that she’s serious about sharing her faith with people she cares about.
2. I love the way she adopts people into the family.
3. I love that she loves my Daddy.
4. I love that she once told me the Beatles were awesome.
5. I love that she encouraged me to read and to love books even before I could walk.
6. I love that she was willing to let me go away to school and even took me on trips to Southwestern Missouri and all over Ohio looking for schools.
7. I love that she’s willing to offer a lifetime supply of coconut monkeys to someone if they’d marry me.
8. I love that she shares what God has showed her.
9. I love the devotion she showed in caring for Granny and Grandaddy.
10. I love that my friends wanted to travel 800 miles to meet her (and invited me to come along).
11. I love that she’s saved sermon notes, Sunday school notes, and cartoons that she thought I’d find interesting, useful, or funny.
12. I love that she loves to laugh.

Happy birthday, Momma.

Love, Bubba.

A Year from Trinity

2010-03-12T22:25:00.002-06:00

By dates the anniversary's tomorrow, but by days of the week this is the one year anniversary of my jettisoning from Trinity International University. Friday, March 13, 2009 and day that will live forever in my memory (assuming I don't forget) and that of 25 or so other people. I really hope the school's better off for it. The library entrance has been nicely remodeled and the new student center looks great. I hope the people who were let go are better off for it as well. I hope and believe that I am. I still occasionally find myself referring to the Trinity library in the first person. I thought about ways to commemorate the weekend like getting hammered at some point. I decided to bless the Lord and forget not all his benefits for His lovingkindness is great and to pray for the school. It's been and interesting year, and I expect this one will be as well.

Post

2010-03-07T22:36:00.001-06:00

God is good. I'd like to post more now. Maybe in a day or two. In the meantime, and the friendlytime, and every other time, God is good. This is not a subtle attempt to allude to some good news that I don't have time to post now. It's just a plain fact. God is good. Jesus is alive and coming again.

Go Big Blue and funny quotes

2010-01-02T23:14:00.002-06:00

UK continues undefeated after beating Louisville this afternoon. I'm glad they're winning but I'm annoyed by their habit of starting to blow other teams out and then letting the other teams back in to make an interesting game. I don't want to watch interesting UK games. I want to watch UK blowouts. Still beating UConn, North Carolina, Indiana, and Louisville makes for a very satisfying pre-conference season.

"The agitator in the wash on the spin move and then bucket in the rinse." Clark Kellogg describing a particularly amazing layup by John Wall

"All he could think of was the taste of the sauce. If the manifest of ingredients on the bottle had been legible, it would have read something like this:
Water, blackstrap molasses, imported habanero peppers, salt, garlic, ginger, tomato puree, axle grease, real hickory smoke, snuff, buts of clove cigarettes, Guinness Stout fermentation dregs, uranium mill tailings, muffler cores, monosodium glutamate, nitrates, nitrites, nitrotes and nitrutes, nutrites, natrotes, powered pork nose hairs, dynamite, activated charcoal, match heads, used pipe cleaners, tar, nicotine, single-malt whiskey, smoked beef lymph nodes, autumn leaves, red fuming nitric acid, bituminous coal, fallout, printer's ink, laundry starch, drain cleaner, blue chrysolite asbestos, carrageenan, BHA, BHT, and natural flavorings." The Diamond Age by Neal Stephenson.

2009 in Review

2010-01-01T17:52:00.002-06:00

I'm borrowing this format from a friend.

I. Worst Four Memories of 2009 (I've got mostly positive memories. I had to dig for some of these:
1. The feeling of discouragement in mid-June and July when a job possibility I was excited about fell through and it looked like nothing was going to work out on the job search front.
2. March 13th hearing that not only had I lost my job but that three other library co-workers had as well.
3. Watching the final winding down and break-up of the small group I'd been part of since 2000.
4. Hearing over the course of about an hour on Thanksgiving that my cousin Libby was very sick in the hospital and then that she was dead.

II. Best Eight Memories of 2009 (in no particular order):
1. Traveling with Kluths down to Kentucky so Tara and the kids could meet my parents.
2. Auditing the History of Middle Earth class at Trinity in the spring and always playing the orcs with Kurt in the simulation games.
3. Two moments of grace in late January. My confession being met with a word of God's love at an Encounter Worship service and a meeting that could have resulted in summary firing but turned into an offer of a second chance at work (even if I still lost the job a month and a half later)
4. Working on the Extreme Build house with Mom and Dad and lots of other great folks.
5. Standing by Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park with my friend Paul.
6. The Ole reunions at the Kluths' and at Spud and Sonny's.
7. 3 trips to Tennessee.
8. Singing the "500 Miles" song in the pub on the Riverwalk on Christmas Eve.

III. Four Biggest Accomplishments
1. Rewriting our church's constitution and bylaws.
2. Withdrawing and selling 600 of my books and cd's.
3. Reading the Bible through in the year.
4. Organizing at display at Trinity's library on Wisdom in the Movies to coincide with Christian Life Week

IV. Biggest Failures
1. Not fulfilling my pledge as part of the 2009 TCC Prayer Initiative. There were several elements. The only one I got close to was praying corporately every week.
2. Not getting much of anything done with my six months of free time.
3. Losing my job at Trinity. For the most part that wasn't a failure in 2009 and it may be that it would have happened anyway. Still it's hard to believe that if I had been a better organized and more efficient employee between 2006 and 2008 that I would have been on of those to go in 2009. That statement also shouldn't be taken to reflect on anybody else who lost their job at Trinity last year. I just think that the way my specific position developed into expendability was a result of my bad habits in previous years. It didn't have to develop that way.
4. The break-up of my small group. This is another one that may have happened anyway but things could have been different.

V. Favorite 4 Movies seen in the theatre in 2009:
1. Coraline
2. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
3. District 9
4. Avatar
*Watchmen gets a note for being my favorite soundtrack and A Serious Man for being my favorite non-animated, non-sci fi/fantasy/adventure movie

VI. Favorite 5 Non-fiction books read in 2009
1. Planet Narnia : The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Michael Ward - Discusses the medieval idea of the planets in Lewis' thought and fiction, especially as an interpretive key to the Chronicles. The idea sounds farfetched but Ward makes a very strong and fascinating argument.
2. The Figure of Beatrice : A Study in Dante by Charles Williams - Williams discusses the influence of the Dante's idea of Beatrice throughout his poetry and philosophy and highlights the importance of the affirmation of images in theology and art.
3. The Language of God : A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief by Francis Collins - The director of the human genome project presents a reason for the hope that is in him and for the union of faith and science, particularly evolutionary science.
4. The Purifying Power of Living by Faith in Future Grace by John Piper - Piper encourages us to let ourselves be transformed by the power of God's promises.
5. The Cost of Discipleship by Dietrich Bonhoeffer - Bonhoeffer's interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount and what it means to follow Jesus.

VII. 5 Favorite Fiction Books read in 2009
1. The Sandman by Neil Gaiman - Gaimans tragic graphic novel story of Dream, the king of dreams, and his family that twists and twines many different mythologies and creates some new ones of its own leading to end and rebirth.
2. The Cathedral of the Sea by Ildefonso Falcones - The story of a runaway serf and his son in 14th century Barcelona set against the background of the building of a church by the piety of the people. Probably my favorite scene in any book this year is where the boy becomes a man carrying a huge stone from the quarry to the church.
3. The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck - I hated this in high school and gave up after the first chapter. I could/can be an arrogant punk. I'm old enough for it now and it was a beautiful sad story.
4. Anathem by Neal Stephenson - The story of monastic mathematicians on another world coming to terms with alien life while marrying platonic ideas and modern math and science. A good long story filled with interesting ideas.
5. The Diamond Age, or A Young Lady's Illustrated Primer by Neal Stephenson - An exciting story set in a not too distant future of nano-technology and distributed political economy. Once again, adventure combined with lots of interesting ideas. Stephenson's Snow Crash and Baroque Cycle were some of my favorites from 2008 as well.
6. Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami - Way surreal. A teenaged Japanese runaway tries to find himself while living in strange library. An old man who can talk to cats embarks on a strange quest across Japan accompanied by a puzzled truck driver. I really liked this book for its evocative imagery and the idea of living in a library.

VIII. Favorite Fiction/Non-fiction hybrid book of 2009
1. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri translated and edited by Dorothy Sayers and Barbara Reynolds (Sayers died before she could finish her translation and notes on Paradiso)- I read Inferno and parts of Purgatory and Paradise in College and was unenthused. When I revisited the Comedy this year I was blown away by the power of Dante's imagery and his vision of the Christian life. This experience was only enhanced by Sayers' notes and comments on the imagery and its function as an allegory of Christian life.

IX. 4 Goals for 2010 (I've got lots of these but here are 4)
1. Read through the Chronological Study Bible.
2. Pray daily.
3. Find a new job or permanent position at Northwestern by the end of August (or at least have made a pro-active good faith effort to do so).
4. Write a short story.

X. Song of 2009: "Blessed Be Your Name" by Matt Redman
This is the song that meant the most to me last year and that I hope to live in the spirit of in 2010 as well,

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name

Psalm of the Day

2010-01-01T17:46:00.001-06:00

1Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and on his law he meditates day and night.

3He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers. 4The wicked are not so,
but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
6for the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked will perish.
--Psalm 1 (ESV)

Merry Christmas and a Poem

2009-12-22T22:42:00.003-06:00

Aloha! Howdy y'all. I'm heading down to San Antonio tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with Mom and Daddy and friends. In the meantime I'm enjoying work. Tonight several friends and I went and saw Avatar which was amazing.

This is a poem I wrote for our church's Christmas Eve service.

The Shepherd’s Memory

The slumbering fields are filled with terror
The shekinah of God engulfs the watchmen.
Ancient uncreated light that shone on Moses
Shrouds the shepherds’ hearts in fear.

Fear not! the command, and their tremblings cease.
Peace! Not death. Peace and joy the news.
This night Savior, Messiah, LORD
The end of Herods and Romans and Sin born this night.

The Army of Heaven, fiery seraphim, mighty winged cherubim,
Host upon host rending the heavens in praise.
Glory to God in the Highest, Glory Glory Glory!
On Earth peace to those chosen in God’s pleasure.

The sheep abandoned, at rest in green pastures,
The watchers gone to see the truth lying in the manger.
Bethlehem stirs at the news of the light in the field,
At the coming of David’s son to David’s city.

An old man at the end of his days,
A life of darkness, herods, romans, and sin,
Hears a voice crying in the wilderness.
He lays down to rest in hope remembering,
“Glory to God in the highest and on Earth peace in God’s grace”.

Happy Work and Alaska Birthday

2009-10-09T00:17:00.002-05:00

It's been way too long since I've put anything on here. Today (10/8, it's technically the 9th as I write, but I've not been to bed yet.) I celebrated the 8th anniversary of my 29th birthday. It was a pleasant enough day. Some friends took me to Baker's Square last night for pie after youth group. On Monday I started work in the Acquisitions and Rapid Cataloging Division in the library at Northwestern University. It's a half-time position focused on copy cataloging books for the Art and Africana collections and other stuff as necessary. I've already got a big project focused on finding records for a large collection of 40 years worth of exhibition catalogs from California art museums. I'm still looking for something to fill in the other 20-30 hours of the work week.

Tomorrow (10/9) I'm joining my college friend Paul for a short trip to Alaska. We're flying up on Friday and I'm coming back Wednesday. It'll be fun spending time with Paul and seeing the Anchorage area.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CORA

2009-08-23T23:21:00.003-05:00

Happy Birthday to my beautiful niece, Cora. She is three and her arms are longer than this. You can see more picture of Cora and her adorable brother Cohen here.

Happy Birthday Cohen

2009-08-04T22:40:00.001-05:00

Happy first birthday to one of the cutest nephews ever to be a nephew.

Update, Verse, and Quote of the Day

2009-07-19T16:45:00.002-05:00

Not a whole lot has changed around here. I'm still looking for a job and have applied for customer service positions at a couple of companies in Deerfield. I've been reading various stuff and watching too much t.v. and the occasional movie. My small group is on a hiatus but we've been having a good time with the youth at 3-D on Wednesdays. The weather has been pleasantly cool and dry but not very sunny.

Verse of the Day:
"But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing." James 1:22-25 (ESV)
--I was struck by this when discussing it with the youth a couple of weeks ago. Someone who looks in a mirror and immediately forgets what he looks like is no better than a person who didn't look in the mirror at all. The action is of no benefit to him. Likewise, someone who reads scripture but does not put it into practice is not benefited by the act of reading. Scripture is good for many things, but is worthless for reading divorced from obedience.

Quote of the Day:
"There is an unbridgeable chasm between the book that tradition has declared a classic and the book (the same book) that we have made ours through instinct, emotion and understanding: suffered through it, rejoiced in it, translated it into our experience and (notwithstanding the layers of readings with which a book comes into our hands) essentially become its first discoverers, an experience as astonishing and unexpected as finding Friday's footprint on the sand.... To be the first to enter Circe's cave, the first to hear Ulysses call himself Nobody, is every reader's secret wish, granted over and over, generation after generation, to those who open the Odyssey for the first time. This modest jus primae noctis, or 'first night rights' assures for the books we call classics their only useful immortality." Alberto Manguel The Library at Night pp. 218-219

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-07-05T23:07:00.002-05:00

Verse of the Day:

For who is God, but the LORD?
And who is a rock, except our God?—
The God who equipped me with strength
and made my way blameless." Psalm 18:31-32 (ESV)
-My friend David preached this morning on Psalm 18. You can listen to the sermon here. One of the points that struck me was the reminder that in Christ we are fully righteous and blameless. In verses 20-24 David rejoices that God has dealt with him according to his righteousness and here in verse 32 he acknowledges God as the sort of that righteousness. When we respond to God in faith, taking refuge in him and acknowledging our sin, then we truly respond in righteousness.

Quote of the Day:
"Let justice and praise become my embrace
To love you from the inside out." "From the Inside Out" (video with lyrics) Hillsong United
-I've really liked this song since the 3-D winter retreat and this is one of the lyrics that continues to stick with me. The theme that God loves mercy rather than sacrifice is so strong throughout the Old Testament and into the ministry of Jesus. Correct worship is crucial to a life pleasing God, but without obedience, mercy, and justice in the rest of our lives, it is worse than inadequate. The Father seeks those who worship in Spirit and in Truth and they only do that who live in obedience by seeking justice as they praise Him.

Life at Home

2009-07-04T14:35:00.002-05:00

There's not been a whole lot going on here. Steve and John and I went to see Transformers 2 when it came it. Steve's analysis, "It was explodey." I enjoyed it but the action scenes are pretty confusing. I reread the Harry Potter series in six days. That was fun. I also watched the collected Babylon 5 movies. I've done lots of other reading. As I told Ann and Daniel, it was nice being back in my church where we do communion and most of the singing after the sermon. Services that just end after the sermon always leave me feeling a little incomplete now. I want that community response time. I spent yesterday afternoon and evening at the Arlington Park race track with some friends. I didn't bet anything, but I did pick the winners in two races, and got the 1st and 2nd horses in the last race (there were more than two horses). After the races were over there was live music from a Dylan tribute band. Charlie noted he couldn't understand what they were saying, so they were probably pretty authentic. There was also a great fireworks show. Maybe the best fireworks show I've ever seen. There were a couple of moments I thought were the climax of the show and if they had been, I would have thought it a good show. As it was I thought I was going to go blind from the sheer concussion of the finale, let alone the flashes. Then we spent 45 minutes trying to get out of the parking lot; that was less fun.
Life's going on. I'm still looking for a job. We've got a new crop of students in 3-D and that's always fun.

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-06-21T23:06:00.002-05:00

Verse (well, passage) of the Day:
"If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, for this is the testimony of God that he has borne concerning his Son. Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has borne concerning his Son. And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life." I John 5:9-12 (ESV)

Quote of the Day:
"We pray to God because we believe in him through Jesus Christ, that is to say, our prayer can never be an entreaty to God, for we have no need to come before him in that way. We are privileged to know that he knows our needs before we ask him. This is what gives Christian prayer its boundless confidence and its joyous certainty. It matters little what form of prayer we adopt or how many words we use, what matters is the faith which lays hold on God and touches the heart of the Father who knew us long before we came to him." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p. 181.
-It doesn't matter what words we use or what form but only that in prayer we express our faith in the living and loving Father. I need to be reminded of that too often.

Life at Annie Daniel Camp

2009-06-21T22:42:00.003-05:00

On Thursday after I had left Chattanooga to come up here to Franklin, Cora prayed that God would "help Uncle Everett at camp, Annie Daniel Camp." That's my new name for Ann and Daniel's place. We've been having a good time. I got to experience several different kinds of Indian food: sambar, papadam (probably not spelled that way), idlis, green bean curry-very good, curry made from ridge gourd, and some other things, as well as delicious staples like goat biryani. One of the many great parts of Annie Daniel Camp is that the food is so much better than in other camp kitchens. I took Ann to get a library card where we enjoyed the beautiful and remarkably comfortable Williamson County Public library public reading room. We watched an Indian action comedy (several have pretty rough language but I don't think this linked one was too bad), a Tyler Perry play on DVD, A Man for All Seasons, and several Russell Peters sketches on YouTube. Neither is the activity planning skimped upon. The camp directors have had us out playing tennis (an aggregate 20 min. good tennis in 3.5 hrs), swimming, walking at the beautiful Cheekwood Botanical Gardens and Art Museum, and riding around looking at houses while Ann practices driving. We also played the MadLibs card game which is fun even if lamely designed. They have a fine Sunday School class and we heard a sermon which good on the whole even if a couple of parts were quite irritating (other sermons from the series available here). After church we went out to lunch at the Bombay Garden with the camp directors' friends Dora and Santosh and their beautiful daughters. The restaurant was crowded for a birthday party and managed to be hotter inside than outside (no mean feat in 90+ degree weather), but the food was good and the company better. Also the birthday family shared some really good cake with us. I'll be sad to leave. I'm not looking forward to a 9 hour drive with no air conditioning, but I am looking forward to being home and I expect to enjoy the scenery as I travel across western Kentucky and then up the Illinois/Indiana border. I'll be taking the ferry at Cave-In-Rock across the Ohio, which should be fun and the Wabash Valley isn't entirely uninteresting.

BTW, this is post 200. Huzzah!

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-06-20T12:34:00.002-05:00

Verse of the Day:
"And behold, a prophet came near to Ahab King of Israel and said, 'Thus says the LORD, "Have you seen all this great multitude? Behold I will give it into your hand this day, and you shall know that I am the LORD."'" 1 Kings 20:13 (ESV)
-I find it interesting that despite the evaluation of Ahab that there was no King of Israel more evil and perverse, God still gives him opportunities to respond and repent such that when he does repent momentarily after being confronted with the murder of Naboth God commutes his sentence onto the next generation of his family. God will even forgive Ahab.

Quote of the Day:
"It is pathetic to see people preparing for ministry who don't know yet how to give. This is like an athlete entering a race without knowing how to run. If we haven't learned to give money, we haven't learned anything. Ministry is a life of giving. We give our whole lives; God should have ownership of everything. Remember whatever we give God control of He can multiply and bless. God's blessing is not so we can amass goods, but so we can be more involved in his enterprise." John Wimber, The Way In Is the Way On, p. 123-124
-In this chapter on worship, Wimber lists five phases of worship: 1. Call to worship 2. Engagement 3. Moving into loving and intimate language 4. Our expression in worship 5. Giving of substance. The whole chapter, which consists of reflections by both John and Carol Wimber is a good reminder that all our life is to be worship and of the central importance of worship in the Vineyard Movement.

"'Now you're thinking like a scientist,' said Ender. 'Now, now please think like a sleeping person. We have a long day tomorrow.'" Orson Scott Card, Ender in Exile, p. 286.

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-06-19T17:02:00.002-05:00

Verse of the day:
"Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, 'So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.'" I Kings 19:2 (ESV)
-There are a lot of instances of this kind of vow in the Old Testament. Just this morning as I was reading it struck me that it comes true exactly for Jezebel. She vows that if she does not do to Elijah what was done to the prophets of Baal, then even worse shall happen to her. The prophets were slain. Jezebel fails to kill Elijah and is later killed by Jehu and there is not enough of her left to bury. I just found that very interesting.

Quote of the Day:
"If there is no element of asceticism in our lives, if we give free reign to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within limits of what seems permissible to the world) we should find it hard to train for the service of Christ. Where the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of the Discipleship, p. 188-189.

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-06-18T16:33:00.002-05:00

Actually it's quotes first and then the verse. I've been at Geron and Lydia's the last few days having a great time. Now I'm in Franklin with Ann and Daniel.

"This is my butt. That's where the poop comes out." Niece Cora, 2.
"I can't see my hiney." Also Cora.
"I like Domino's because it's greasy and I grew up on it. I like Papa John's because it tastes good and it's made out of food." Ann

Verse of the Day:
"But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." James 3:17-18 (NIV)

Verse of the Day

2009-06-15T09:56:00.001-05:00

"By the word of the LORD a man of God came from Judah to Bethel, as Jeroboam was standing by the altar to make an offering. He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD : "O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: 'A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you.' " I Kings 13:1-2 (NIV) The prophecy against the altar of Bethel almost 300 years before King Josiah of Judah fulfilled it as told in 2 Kings 23:15-20.

Extreme Build Completish

2009-06-15T09:27:00.002-05:00

Sorry I haven't had quite so much time to get the final Extreme Build updates up. We were hit pretty heavily with rain on Thursday morning and afternoon, though still nothing so dramatic as Monday's lightning strike. That threw our schedule off quite a bit. I spent Thursday afternoon doing more ladder holding for people putting up soffits and siding. I caught a guy when he started to slip down, so I felt validated. Later in the day I helped bend metal to cover the outside of the eves and the bird boxes. Thursday night we went back after supper and I helped fill dirt back in where a strip had been dug out along the foundation for patching. Friday was a whole day of work as we tried to make up some of the time we lost to the rain. I built scaffolding along the back of the house to put up the top of the siding and deal with the eves. Most of the morning and early afternoon I spent working on bending the metal and putting up the bird box covers. As Daddy testified earlier in the week those things are a pain to deal with. I also worked on putting up the concrete forms for the front walk and putting up the metal in the back. The Meadors decided to call it a day after supper time but there were several folks out at the site deep into Friday night painting and finishing various jobs.
Saturday morning we thoroughly confused the poor hotel clerk trying to pay with a few different credit cards but eventually got it sorted. Back at the site the house was looking pretty nice since all the exterior work was done once we got the shutters up on the front windows. They also had shutters that went along the front door. I think that's weird but there you go. I helped out with various odd jobs and then helped Dad and Ricky cut shims for the window sills. We had a good lunch and then a dedication ceremony. The site leader estimated we were 95% done at the dedication. Some folks are going to come back next week and finish the job. All in all it was 10 days with over a hundred volunteers to build a house for a single mom and her sons. It was a good job.

After work on Saturday I headed down to Chattanooga to spend a few days with Lydia, Geron and the babies. It was a nice trip down. Cora and Cohen are so cute. On Sunday we heard a good sermon from their friend Merridel on James 4:1-10. We're having a grand time, except Geron's sick.

Amusing quotes:
Cora was playing with one of my shoes. I walked toward her as if I was going to take it away.
Cora: "Don't!"
Everett: "'Don't' what?"
Cora: "Don't, Ma'am!" -I never could get her to tell what she didn't want me to do.

"We Nazarenes have a problem with people who say 'Once saved, always saved.' But what about people who say, 'Once sanctified, always sanctified?' Ask your pastor about that when he comes back."

"Just trade those for whatever you want." Lydia in a game of Settlers of Cataan after a roll got me six wheats while I was on a wheat port.

"If you're not sure what to do, focus on collecting commodities you like in real life. For instance if you like weaving you could work on getting wool. Perhaps you're into carving, then wood is the stuff for you." Geron, quoting from Lydia's hypothetical Settlers of Cataan strategy guide.

Verse and Quote of the day

2009-06-11T09:47:00.002-05:00

"For by me [Wisdom] your days will be multiplied
And years will be added to your life." Prov. 9:11 (ESV)

"We cannot know what God's purpose is in each event and every detail. But we can know that every event, each detail, is part of God's purpose. Everything is grace. Job's sores were grace. Job's abandonment was grace. Jesus' abandonment at the cross...was grace. Our abandonment is also grace." John Wimber, The Way In Is the Way On, p. 74

I'm really enjoying this book which is a collection of Wimber's sermons, articles, and book chapters about the life in Christ. It's dovetailing nicely with The Cost of Discipleship and with stuff I'm learning here on the build. I often find that I want to just quote whole chapters from both Wimber and Bonhoeffer.

Extreme Build Update

2009-06-11T09:42:00.003-05:00

Tuesday afternoon we focused on hanging the ceiling and putting up the drywall. One of the crew leaders was telling me what was involved and said it would involve a lot of holding stuff and screwing up. I said, "I can screw up." That's a little harder than it sounds. I was able to hold up my meaning all right and after I put a few in I could do hers as well. On Wednesday I helped build more scaffolding and put up siding. Mostly though I was a ladder prop and a vinyl cutter. Still, it was a good day. For supper on Wednesday night the Georgetown Baptist folks went as a group to the Country Cafe in Pine Knot, some of the best fried chicken I've ever had.

This morning we found out I've got a crack in my distributer cap. Bummer.

Random EB quote:
"We brought out some big bottles so we'll be able to reuse the water." One of our organizers--he meant we'd be able to refill and reuse the bottles.

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-06-09T10:06:00.002-05:00

"The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
Your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of Your hands." Psalm 138:8 (ESV)

"'Let your speech be Yea, yea, Nay, nay.' This is not to say that the disciples are no longer answerable to the omniscient God for every word they utter, it means that every word they utter is spoken in His presence." Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship, p.153

Extreme Build Update

2009-06-09T10:00:00.002-05:00

LIGHTNING! Yesterday afternoon we felt a few drops of rain and heard some distant rumbles of thunder. Suddenly there was a bright light and one of the loudest thunderclaps I've ever heard. Across the road from our build site most of a tree came down in the woods, less than a hundred yards away. "Everybody off the house!" yelled our foreman. Guys came down from where they'd been working on the roof. People put down metal tools. Bob said he'd felt a tingle just before the strike. It was very exciting. There were a few more drops of rain and another nearby lightning strike before it cleared up and we started working again.
Daddy spent the afternoon working on bird boxes, pieces that go under the eaves at the corners of the house. Gina Whittle and I spent out time putting up nailers for the drywall ceiling and then installing some sheeting inside the front of the attic over the porch. The house is really coming together. Most of the roof was on by the time we left for supper and the electrician was nearly done with the wiring. And nobody got hurt or struck by lightning.

Verse and Quote of the Day

2009-06-08T10:17:00.002-05:00

"This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:11-12 (ESV)

"The truth is that the Lord's work is humble caring. Everybody should serve this way, and we should do so gladly. We learn how to be servants of the Master by imitating the way our Master serves the Lord. Jesus did the Father's bidding on earth; in fact His Father's will is all He did! He spent many hours in fellowship seeking His Father's will, living a life of total dependence on His Father's presence, voice, and directives." John Wimber The Way In Is the Way On
pp. 27-28

Extreme Build Update

2009-06-08T10:11:00.002-05:00

I got down here Friday night after visiting my friend Cindee in Indianapolis for lunch. We had our kickoff cookout and it was good. We spent Saturday working and got the walls and roof trusses up. I got to set up scaffolding on the one side of the house that needed. We didn't have enough, but since it's only for one side of the house we were able to make do. I also worked on putting up OSB sheeting around the walls. It was a long day but good. Even though there was a long stretch where a lot of us had to wait while they worked on the roof trusses it felt like we got a lot done. On Sunday we worshipped with the First Baptist Church of Whitley City, including my cousins' aunt Lana and her husband. I also found out that during the week we'll be working on the afternoon shift and I'll be in Daddy's crew. I'm looking forward to a good week.

Verse of the Day

2009-06-04T21:43:00.002-05:00

I'll be gone on Extreme Build in Southern Kentucky with Mom and Dad for the next week. Then I'll be spending time visiting Lydia and Geron and Ann and Daniel in Tennessee. I'll try to update things as I can.

Verse of the Day:
"But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you might have life in his name." John 20:31 (NRSV)

"The cross and the works of the cross, the poverty and renunciation of the blessed in the Beatitudes, these are the things which will become visible. Neither the cross nor their membership in such a community betoken any merit of their own--the praise is due to God alone... It is by seeing the cross and the community beneath it that men come to believe in God. But that is the light of the Resurrection." Dietrich Bonhoeffer The Cost of Discipleship p. 134

Verse of the Day

2009-06-03T15:01:00.002-05:00

"We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up. But God will not take a life; he will devise plans so as not to keep an outcast banished forever from his presence." 2 Samuel 14:14 (NRSV)

I found this argument really interesting. The speaker is the "wise woman from Tekoa" (also the hometown of the Prophet Amos) who has been sent by Joab to David to intercede for Absalom. Just like Nathan in ch. 12 she sets David up by telling him a story to which he responds with judgment and then turns his judgment back on him. Her claim is interesting because on the one hand we have manifest evidence from throughout the history of the people of Israel that God will indeed take a life but that he also devises plans to restore the outcast. Just a very short time after this encounter David will himself be banished from God's presence when he flees Absalom's rebellion but commands the priests and the ark to remain in Jerusalem saying, "Then the king said to Zadok, "Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, 'I have no pleasure in you,' behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him." (2 Sam. 15:25-26). David is only able to return to God's presence after Absalom is defeated. But there is also the ultimate divine plan to restore the outcast, Jesus' death and resurrection for those who were his enemies and banished from God's presence by their sin.

Chicago Mission Trip

2009-06-01T12:58:00.002-05:00

I spent the weekend at Roseland Christian Ministries on the South Side of Chicago. I went down on Saturday morning with about 20 other volunteers from my church. We spent the day working to renovate a house on a block that is known as "Skid Row". There has been a lot of gang and drug activity on the block. In recent years RCM has been running a homes program where they will buy a foreclosed house, renovate, then rent or sell it at reduced price to local families. The house we worked on will be a rental or may be used to house summer volunteers. We spent the day on several projects in the house. Some painted cabinets, porches, rooms, or the upstairs floor. Some cleared weeds and trash from the yard. Some laid down tile in the kitchen and bathroom. I got to work putting up joist brackets under the porch and helped Mark do the trim in the kitchen. He did most of the measuring and cutting while while I smoothed surfaces, pried off boards to be replaced and nailed down the new trim, and generally supplied a second pair of hands. Mark and I stayed late to try and finish our job after everyone else had headed out. We didn't quite make it but we got to do a walk through before turning out the lights and locking up. I don't know what it looked like before we got there, but the upstairs looked fantastic where the team had been scraping, cleaning and painting all day. The house isn't done but I could really see that we had made progress.

In the evening the team served supper for women and children at The Strong Tower, RCM's short-term living shelter. Mark and I didn't make it back in time to be part of the supper crew but I did get to hang out with the children and play Simon Sez and Duck Duck Goose after dinner. Later we had a short devotional and worship time before same of played Clue and then turned in for the night.

During our devotional time David, the director of the homes program, and his wife Laura, the Volunteer Coordinator for RCM, shared with us about the history and vision of the ministry. This was a neat time. I had been in a small group with David during my second time around at Trinity and had met Laura on occasion. It was very encouraging to hear their vision for the ministry and some of the things that they had learned. We heard about families who had been settled in homes who had then been able to take out equity loans to send their kids to college or start a business. One of the houses that RCM had taken over had been a notorious drug house where someone had been murdered with an axe. The ministry bought the house after the gang was driven out and renovated. It's now owned by a lady from the church who tells the gang members and drug dealers to get out of her neighborhood but also that Jesus loves and is willing to save them too. David describes it as a model of how God works. He is a God of restoration, taking fallen sinners and making us new. Their vision is to see Skid Row become Reformation Row. Laura talked about working with the women at the shelter. When she was in seminary she expected that God would work through the things she said to people. But she has learned that He works even more through her presence, through her willingness to be there and listen and help. They share the gospel and tell the people about Jesus' love, but they are there in the neighborhood living that love. It was a powerful time and honor to be able to serve with them and to be able to pray that God would encourage and continue to support them in the ministry.

On Sunday morning a few of us stayed behind to clean the volunteer space at RCM while the rest of the team served a breakfast for the community at Roseland Christian Reformed Church. We ended up serving breakfast for 30-40 members of the community, some homeless, our 20 volunteers, and 50 folks from Iowa, The Gospel Singers Male Chorus of Oskaloosa, Iowa, with their wives. It was a delicious breakfast and interesting time talking to the men from the Roseland neighborhood who were there for breakfast. After breakfast we celebrated Pentecost at the church. It was a great service with joyful worship, good singing by the Iowans, and a powerful message from Pastor Huizenga about how the God who reigned at Passover, Sinai, Calvary, and Pentecost is the same God who reigns today.

I was touched by the time we spent there and I hope it was a good warm up for next week's Extreme Build in Whitley City. It's good to be able to serve.

Recent Reading and Quotes

2009-05-29T22:16:00.003-05:00

I think I might have mentioned that I've been reading a lot recently. My general reading regimen for several years has been to read a Psalm and a chapter of Proverbs and part of a devotional book every morning. I just finished Future Grace, by John Piper, and have started The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, for my morning book. Until February I routinely listened to an audio book whenever I drove somewhere by myself. This year I decided to reserve that for long trips so I've mostly been listening to music in the car. I'm excited about my upcoming trip to Kentucky and Tennessee because I'll get to listen to audio books again (among other much more significant reasons, of course). For the last two-three years I've been reading epic poetry at lunch time. I've been following a more-or-less chronological path through the western epic poetry tradition. I'm about to reread Dante's Divine Comedy. Before going to bed I read the daily selection from the one year Bible and part of another book. Often my night book is something chosen seasonally. I read something about the incarnation or life of Jesus for Christmas. Something about the atonement and/or resurrection around Easter. I might read something about sin or holiness for Lent. For several years I've attempted to work a book on the Holy Spirit in for Pentecost, but I've only managed this once. Currently I'm reading Piper's book A Hunger for God as my bedtime book. I also try to read several other books as well. I usually have a fiction book I'm working on, The Two Towers currently. I try to read something work related fairly regularly. The last three months that has alternated between something about job searching/finding who you are and something related to libraries or information science. I've almost always got several reading projects up in the air.

Recently I started journaling thoughts and interesting quotations from my morning and evening readings. I write down a summary and a verse or thought that sticks out from whatever my scripture reading is and I write down significant quotes from my devotional books. I've also been keeping a journal of whatever else I did during the day and other things read or watched. That accounts somewhat for my absence from the poor neglected blog. I've really enjoyed this practice and am curious to see how it holds up when I get back to work.

Anyway since I'm doing all this reading and writing I thought I'd reinstitute my verse/quote of the day practice. I might also try again to put up short reviews of the books I read but that might be too much. If I do that I'll try to warn you so you can skip on to whatever interesting might happen around here. So without further ado, I give you...

Verse of the day:
"The fear of others lays a snare
But one who trusts in the LORD is secure." Prov. 29:25 (NRSV)

Double-dip Quote of the Day:
"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. It may be a death like that of the first disciples who had to leave work and home to follow him, or it may be a death like Luther's, who had to leave the monastery and go out into the world. But it is the same death every time--death in Jesus Christ, the death of the old man at his call."

"The yoke and burden of Christ are his cross. To go one's way under the sign of the cross is not misery and desperation, but peace and refreshment for the soul, it is the highest joy. Then we do not walk under our self-made laws and burdens, but under the yoke of him who knows us and who walks under the yoke with us. Under his yoke we are certain of his nearness and communion. It is he whom the disciple finds as he lifts up his cross."

Both of those are from chapter 4 of The Cost of Discipleship, "Discipleship and the Cross". I really wanted to just quote the whole chapter.

In a completely unrelated note I took applications to several local bookstores today and had encouraging interactions at three of them (nothing wrong with the others, just no news). Between these and the registrar job I mentioned in the previous post, I might have good job news next week.

General Update

2009-05-28T16:42:00.003-05:00

Used to be Colonel Update but got promoted. Applied for job in local college Registrar office. Might hear something. Up to the usual, mostly reading, watching t.v., youth ministry, and small group. Not much exciting going on here this month. Heading to the south side of Chicago for a short mission trip this weekend. Heading down to Kentucky and Tennessee for the Extreme Build and visiting on the 5th. Sentence fragments as least as much fun as run-ons.

Updating Again

2009-05-03T17:48:00.002-05:00

I'll use punctuation this time. I, might? even/ use-it properly! as the pos,t goes on.

Another two weeks have passed. I don't have a job but am applying for an interesting position at a local high school doing original and copy cataloging for their library. Otherwise I'm still looking. Thanks to Jenn and Matt for the USAjobs suggestion. I haven't checked it out yet but will tomorrow or Tuesday. I'm having a bit of trouble in that I don't really feel the sense of urgency I should. I like being laid back but usually it's a bit too much.

I had a good time travelling with Matt and Rebekah down to Elkhart, Indiana for the Chicago Area Theological Library Association Spring meeting at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary. The theme of the meeting was "Library as Place". We heard a report on an ongoing research project about student use of seminary libraries and the plans for an addition to the Library at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne. That also led into a discussion of reading as a practice and the future of printed books. In the afternoon we heard a presentation on the new library at AMBS. It is a green building (not in the same sense as a "blonde house", but environmentally speaking). We had done a presentation for the Trinity library staff last year on trends in library buildings and I had done some research on the AMBS library then, but wasn't able to do a tour at that time. It was nice to see the building and what they had done. You can read about it here.

I mentioned somewhere that I'm auditing a course at Trinity College, History of Middle Earth, with Dr. Steve Fratt. For that we've read the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings with a lot of reference to Karen Fonstad's Atlas of Middle Earth. Tolkien said that he was attempting to invent a mythology for the English and we've been trying to approach our discussions as though we were reading actual ancient histories. It says something about his work of world building that people believe it passionately enough to try to argue and puzzle out ways in which it can consistently hold together. We've also been playing a number of games. Dr. Fratt is developing a set of games based on the battles of Beleriand in the Silmarillion and game versions of the Battle of the Hornburg and the Battle of the Pelennor fields from LotR. On Monday night we'll be playing his version of The War of the Ring which covers most of the events from LotR after the Council of Elrond. Last Monday we went as a class to the archives at Marquette University in Milwaukee where they have Tolkien's original manuscripts for LotR and the Hobbit, as well as other bits of Tolkiana. I had seen a lot of this collection when they held a museum exhibit at Marquette's art museum a few years ago. Still it was cool to see it again and to hear archivist Matt Blessing's presentation. We saw a number of manuscripts and lots of original artwork. Often when Tolkien was dealing with a knotty problem in the story he would map it out and it was fun to see these maps, including the original map of Erebor from The Hobbit. It was a good time also to fellowship with Dr. Fratt and my classmates on the ride up and walking around Milwaukee.

As I said, the rest of life is going well. Several of the youth went on Wednesday to set up bedding at a homeless shelter before our group meeting while others of us stayed back at the church and prepared bag meals for the homeless. My adult small group is nearing the end of our study of the book of Romans and our church just had a really awesome missions Sunday this morning. Yesterday I attended a session at Trinity for alumni and this springs grads focusing on resumes and job searching and in the afternoon I went to a Christian Youth Theatre production of The Wizard of Oz that some kids I know are in. I'm getting to do lots of reading and t.v. watching and am generally enjoying myself. Steve was sick this weekend but it appears not to have been H1N1 flu and I didn't pick any of it up myself.

That'll do. Maybe next time we'll try a sentence fragment update.

Run-On Sentence Update

2009-04-16T21:23:00.002-05:00

Poor neglected blog we'd better get something up here before there are more knock knock jokes I'm looking for jobs and hanging around i've read a bunch of Ender books this week someday I'll get them back to Geron we had a great time in Kentucky you can read about that at Jim's blog it was good seeing Jim and Tara and the kids and seeing Mom and Dad and they were fun to travel with I saw the Cubs lose to the Cardinals today at Wrigley Field it was a perfect day if you were in the sun we were cold in the shade so it was only a really good day my friend Tom had free tickets a few rows up behind home plate and invited me to join him his wife and our pastor I'm generally doing ok it would be nice to have a job but it is also nice to be free for a while we had good Easter and Good Friday services though not in that order I sang in the Easter choir I've applied for a couple of jobs locally but am having trouble finding something I am both interested in and qualified for tomorrow I'm going to Elkhart Indiana for a one day library conference I'd been registered for before the job disappeared I'm looking forward to it and travelling with my former coworkers Steve and I are considering a road trip to the Pacific Northwest in May once his semester is done if I don't have a job yet I guess that's an update is it hypocritical to eschew punctuation but still use apostrophes if you want to email me don't use the tiu.edu address it may get forwarded but there's no guarantee use emeadors@gmail.com Aloha y'all

Haiku alert and Thoughts on a sunshiney day At a lakeside park

2009-03-22T22:24:00.003-05:00

Had a job I liked.
"Each person their book, each book
Its person" was good.

Changes certainly arrive
Clouding my spring with shadows.
I number my days.

The March lamb watches
As I wander the lakeshore.
She doesn't know my grief.

I warned of haiku.
The warm sun heats poetry
In the changes' midst.

Seeking open jobs.
God gives growth outside of my
Comfortable past.

Rippling waves roll in
And draw my mind to vision.
Pachomius calls.

Old dreams return in
The vacuum of my purpose.
Is this an exit?

Don't say I didn't give warning. Weather forecasts I saw during the week called for rain, clouds, and chilly temps. yesterday. I ran into Trinity in the morning to use the computers and get some job search books, planning to go home and clean my desk in the afternoon. Instead I ended up at Independence Grove in Libertyville walking around the lake meditating on scripture, my new life situation, and composing haiku.

One of my goals for the first two weeks after my black Friday was to spend time examining myself and listening to God for direction. I didn't want to leap at library jobs without some sense of confirmation that that's where I should be. My first haiku draws on Indian library theorist S.R. Ranganathan's 2nd and 3rd law of library science. The first is, "Books are for use." The second is, "Every reader his (or her) book" The third, "Every book its reader." I am personally committed to the idea that reading, and by extension any encounter with media, is [potentially] transformative. There are people walking about whose lives could be changed by an encounter with the right book. One of the joys of working in a library was knowing that I was contributing to that process. I was recommending resources for the library to purchase and trying to make those resources discoverable in our catalog in such a way that once found the reader could be linked to other resources that were related in some way. Not always on, say, a Tuesday afternoon, but whenever I stepped back out of the workflow and thought about what I was attempting to do, I took great satisfaction in being part of that process. Even moreso when I was a direct part of helping someone find what they were looking for, or what they could have been looking for had they known it existed. To zoom out yet another level, the thing that we encounter in the books, the music, the movies that changes and the encounters we seek through those means are tastes of the true encounter with God and at Trinity I was a part of facilitating that encounter as well. I want to continue to be part of those encounters, even if it means taking time away from the library work to get a library degree or if it means moving from the secondary to the primary encounters.

Another thing that struck me on my walk was the return of an old dream. For a long time I've wanted to thought about forming a semi-monastic community that would host a retreat for pastors and lay people. I sat on the shore of the lake and watch the wind blow in little waves and thought how I'd love to have a big house or a couple of houses on a lake shore where people could come for rest and prayer when they were weary. In some of the fuller pictures in my mind there would be a community like a Bruderhof that lived and worshipped there with whom the visitors could join in worship and for meals or not, as they preferred. Maybe we would live together but work in a nearby town or towns. It's never been a developed vision in my mind but it came in strong on Saturday afternoon. I'd like the community to be self-sustaining so that it wouldn't have to raise support or charge fees from visitors, though it would accept voluntary donations if people felt so led. Obviously such a place would have a nice library.

Just some of my thoughts from Saturday. The main thing I know about my situation is that there are opportunities here now, or on their way, that I would never have seen if I was still cloistered beneath Aragorn and the Argonath cataloging DVDs.

Update with Patrick's Breastplate

2009-03-17T17:01:00.002-05:00

Quick update: I'm doing pretty good with the whole job thing. There are a few reasons that I think it was a good thing for me and I hope that it will be a good thing for Trinity in the future. I'll blog more about some of that later this week probably. Also, by way of fair warning, there may be haiku. My feelings are a mix of sad and excited, but mostly I'm just myself. I've got other stuff to think about.

You may have noticed that it is St. Paddy's day. The following is the hymn attributed to St. Patrick and known as the "Lorica" or "Breastplate of St. Patrick" in Joseph Sanderson's translation. Let's worship forever the God of Patrick's worship.

I bind myself to-day
To a strong power, an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of a Oneness,
in the Creator of Judgment.

I bind myself to-day
To the power of the birth of Christ, with his baptism,
To the power of the crucifixion, with his burial,
To the power of his resurrection, with his ascension,
To the power of his coming to the judgment of doom.

I bind myself to-day
To the power of the ranks of cherubim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the service of the archangels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In the predictions of prophets,
In the preachings of apostles,
In the faiths of confessors,
In the purity of holy virgins,
In the acts of righteous men.

I bind myself to-day
To the power of Heaven,
The light of sun,
The brightness of moon,
The splendor of fire,
The speed of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depths of the sea,
The stability of the earth,
The firmness of rocks.

I bind myself to-day
To the power of God to guide me,
The might of God to uphold me,
The wisdom of God to teach me,
The eye of God to watch over me,
The ear of God to hear me,
The word of god to speak for me,
The hand of God to protect me,
The way of God to lie before me,
The shield of God to shelter me,
The host of God to defend me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the temptations of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against every man who meditates injury to me,
Whether far nor near,
Alone and in a multitude.

I summon to-day around me all these powers
Against every hostile merciless power directed against
my body and my soul;
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heretics,
Against the deceit of idolatry,
Against the spells of women and smiths and Druids,
Against all knowledge which hath defiled man's body and soul.

Christ protect me to-day
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wound,
That I may receive a multitude of rewards.

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length,
Christ in height.

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks to me,
Christ in the eye of every man that sees me,
Christ in the ear of every man that hears me.

I bind myself to-day
To a strong power, an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of a Oneness,
in the Creator of Judgment.

Salvation is the Lord's,
Salvation is the Lord's.
Salvation is Christ's.
Let thy salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.

Winter

2009-03-13T11:08:00.002-05:00

The Crossing, a Christian Celtic/Folk music group took Robert Burns' dirge poem "Winter" and gave it a chorus and a melody that I love. Here are the words with the chorus:

The wintry wind extends his blast,
And hail and rain dost blow;
Or, the stormy north sends driving forth
the blinding sleet and snow:
While tumbling brown, the burn comes down,
And roars from bank to brae;
And bird and beast in covert rest,
And pass the heartless day.

"The sweeping blast, the sky o'ercast,"
The joyless winter-day
Let others fear, to me more dear
Than all the pride of May:
The tempest's howl, it soothes my soul
My griefs it seems to join;
The leafless trees my fancy please,
Their fate resembles mine!

Through the night, through the night
Through the night and all
Tho' all my strength be sorely spent
And stars do die and fall
To thee my King I gladly cling
When black winds howl and blow
When all is done and battle won
Let Christ receive my soul

Thou power supreme, whose mighty scheme
These woes of mine fulfill
Here, firm, I rest, they must be best,
Because they are thy will!
Then all I want, (Oh! do thou grant
This one request of mine!)
Since to enjoy thou dost deny,
Assist me to resign.

Through the night, through the night
Through the night and all
Tho' all my strength be sorely spent
And stars do die and fall
To thee my King I gladly cling
When black winds howl and blow
When all is done and battle won
Let Christ receive my soul

I remember singing that at the top of my voice while peddling my bike up the hill to the Welch's outside Northfield the night I saw Braveheart. I love the imagery and the determination. As it happens, I do also like winter. I brought that cd in to the office today. Mostly I was bringing in a bunch of Irish-ish stuff to listen to going into St. Paddy's day. Trinity laid me off today. I'm really glad I brought the Crossing in with me so I can listen to "Winter".

Quote about Spiritual Disciplines

2009-03-07T16:31:00.003-06:00

"Fastings, vigils, meditations on the Scriptures, self-denial, and the abnegation of all possessions are not perfection in themselves, but aids to perfection. The end of the science of holiness does not lie in these practices, but by means of them we arrive at the end. He will practice these exercises to no purpose who is contented with these as if they were the highest good. A man must not fix his heart simply on these, but must extend his efforts towards the attainment of his end. It is for the sake of the end that these things should be cultivated. It is a vain thing for a man to possess the implements of an art and to be ignorant of its purpose, for in it is all that is of any value." Abba Moses

Or to put it in other, more authoritative words, "I have desired mercy rather than sacrifice." Prayer and scripture and all other disciplines and religious actions are worthwhile only insomuch as they lead on to love for our neighbors and, above all, love for God.

Silly quote

2009-02-25T08:40:00.002-06:00

I have a recurring nightmare/dream in which an alarm clock is going off and I can't make it stop. Yesterday morning I said to someone else in the dream who was going to turn off the alarm, "It's no use. I've had this nightmare before. There's no way to stop it." When I was describing the situation to Steve and some friends last night I added this, "In the dream I was fully convinced that I was awake. Never mind the 500 lb. wrestler sitting on the floor playing with blocks."

Dreams are weird.

In other related news, I've decided to give up my snooze alarm for Lent.

Wrestling with God

2009-02-24T22:32:00.003-06:00

So, Lydia's probably right. I oughtn't to put in all that stuff about wrestling and not mention somewhere the Bible's big wrestling match.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Jabbok Ford Conference Center for our main event. In this corner, in a return appearance from Padan Aram, weighing in at not-too-many pounds, The Beersheba Heel Grasper, master of the Bethel Stone Sleeper, Jaaaaaaacob ben IIIIIsaac. His Opponent, from parts unknown, A Man, maybe an angel, perhaps The Lord God Almighty, The God of Abraham and Fear of Isaac!"

So most of us know the story from Genesis 32. Jacob is returning from exile with Laban and gets word that Esau is coming to meet him on the way. Jacob sends out a bunch of gifts of livestock to delay his brother, sends his family across the Jabbok River, and waits. In the night he encounters "a man" and wrestles with him all night. When the morning comes and the man sees that Jacob will not let him go, he puts Jacob's hip out of joint. The man asks Jacob to let him go and Jacob refuses unless the man blesses him. The man renames Jacob, Israel, saying, "You have striven with God and men and you have prevailed." Jacob again asks the man's name, but the other responds, "Why is it that you ask my name?". Then he blesses Israel and departs. Jacob renames the place, Peniel ("Face of God), saying, "For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered." Then he goes on and meets Esau and things turn out generally well.

Over the years I've mostly heard and read this passage as an encouragement to persevere in prayer. Jacob hangs on until God blesses him. Likewise we should press into God for blessing. "The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force." There's something to that, especially in light of Jesus' teaching about persistance in prayer in Luke 11 and 18. However, my OT Survey professor, Dr. Beitzel, suggested something different. What if this story was not an encouragement but a warning? Jacob struggles with God all night and is crippled by it, but he will not let go. Jacob is stubborn. One of the most frequent accusations against Israel by the prophets is that they are a stiff-necked people. They will not bend to God's will. Perhaps the name Israel is as much a curse and a prophecy as it is an honor and a blessing. If we lived by faith and trust in a wise and good God, when would it be good not to submit? Too often I wrestle with God not to gain blessing from Him but to prevent Him from taking away my sin. I try to become Israel when I could be Judah ("Praise" and the line that survived) or, better still, Yeshua (The Lord Saves, Jesus), the image He's trying to make me into. Some of us are wrestling, struggling, fighting to hold onto God's promises and blessing. I suspect most of us are wrestling and fighting to hold onto this world; this world that He would replace with blessing and eternity. It's time for most of us to stop wrestling with God, fall on our face, and worship Him.

"Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled.
Blessed are all who take refuge in Him." Psalm 2:11-12 (ESV)

Wrestling Memories

2009-02-22T19:18:00.002-06:00

So following on my previous post, I thought I'd list some of the moments that have stood out over the years as I've watched wrestling. I don't really expect this post to mean anything to anyone else and it's probably the last wrestling related post.

1. Watching Hulk Hogan "hulk up" as a kid. I managed to never make the connection that at the point where the opponent's offense stopped having any effect on the Hulkster was when he was turning into "the hulk." I watched that show and knew about not making David Banner angry but I never registered that aspect of Hogan's name or character.

2. Watching Hulk Hogan crotch Terry Funk on the top rope on a Saturday Night's Main Event title match. Happens all the time, but it was the first time I'd seen it and my 13 year old self was impressed with the cleverness of that move.

3. Watching Andre the Giant turn bad and start choking Hulk Hogan. Even when all the faces came down to rescue Hulk and Hacksaw Jim Duggan broke a 2X4 over Andre's shoulders he still didn't release Hogan until he was satisfied. Given that Andre was the penultimate good guy at that point it was really shocking.

16 year hiatus

4. I started watching WWE one Monday night in June of 2003 when I paused on it while channel surfing. I might have been hooked by the Divas' battle royal championship match which was won by newcomer Gail Kim. I was also impressed by athleticism in the InterContinental title match between Booker T and Christian.

5. Wondering why it hurt Rob Van Dam more if he hit the mat on a missed frog splash than if he landed on a body. Seems like the move would hurt just as much, just in different ways.

6. The Dudley Boys vs. La Resistance.

7. Seeing Rosie, the 400 lb. Super Hero In Training, pull off a 360 splash from the second rope on Sunday Night Heat.

8. Watching Batista bat Maven out of the air when the latter was attempting a drop kick off the top rope on another episode.

9. Chris Benoit showing up for the Raw Wrestlemania Title match contract signing between Shawn Michaels and Triple H and exploiting his Royal Rumble title clause to insinuate himself in their match.

10. Watching Kane basically do a push up to power out of Benoit's crippler crossface to extend a match. Until that point the crossface had seemed invincible and did after that as well. That really made Kane look strong.

11. Hearing Jericho call Triple H, "Trips" for the first time on the Highlight Reel with Eugene.

12. Watching Shelton Benjamin leap three quarters of the way across the ring right into Shawn Michaels' "sweet chin music" superkick.

13. Watching Goldberg pull off a jackhammer slam on 400 lb. Mark Henry.

14. The first time I saw Gail Kim win a match with a submission hold. More than anything else that sold the idea that some of the divas could really wrestle.

15. Evolution's turn on Randy Orton. During the celebration of Orton's title win over Chris Benoit, Orton was sitting on Batista's shoulders in triumph with confetti falling and everyone happy. Suddenly Triple H.'s thumbs up became a thumbs down, Batista slammed Orton to the mat and the beatdown was on.

16. 5'4", 175 lb. "heavyweight champion" Rey Mysterio had 6' something, 400 lb. Mark Henry, "The World's Strongest Man," pinned. In the most logical move of Mysterio's title reign, Henry basically did a sit up holding Mysterio against his chest, stood up, and slammed the champion. Rey went on to win the match anyway, but I loved that move.

17. The build to Batista v. Triple H for the championship at Wrestlemania in 2005. I also loved the movie parody commercials for Wrestlemania that year.

18. Any time Stone Cold Steve Austin would drop co-Raw GM Eric Bischoff with a stunner.

19. The Undertaker's entrance, anytime.

20. JBL on commentary.

21. Hearing about Chris Benoit's death. Benoit was my favorite WWE wrestler. He was portrayed as the ultimate professional, a master technical wrestler. He wasn't flashy but he worked hard and he always gave good matches, even on the rare occasions when they tried to portray him as a heel. It was obvious he was on steroids but he was so much fun to watch. Then in one weekend he killed his wife and his son and committed suicide. It was a shocking, tragic, evil moment.

There. That's probably it for wrestling posts.

The Wrestler

2009-02-20T07:42:00.003-06:00

I saw the movie The Wrestler last week. I had a few reasons to go see it. First, I'm a Darren Aronofsky (the director) fan. I really enjoyed Pi and The Fountain, and I thought Requiem for a Dream was very interesting. Aronofsky has made some freaky weird movies and I'm generally in favor of that. Second, I've been a pro wrestling fan, or "mark", for a few years and was interested in seeing how that world was portrayed in the movie. Third, there's all that buzz about Mickey Rourke's performance as the main character, Randy "The Ram".

The Ram is a broken down wrestler who was once a superstar but is long past his hey-day. He's wasted a lot of his life on booze, drugs, and cheap sex, while pounding his body in the ring. He lives show-to-show in a trailer that he can't always make rent on. He works part-time on the dock at a grocery store. He has a daughter who hates him, whom he never sees. His only close relationships are playing with the kids in the trailer park, with the other wrestlers and promoters, and with a stripper at a club he goes to. Those relationships aren't close. The Ram has a heart attack after one particularly brutal match and tries to straighten out his life. He tries to restore his relationship with his daughter, he turns his back on the wrestling and starts working in the deli of the grocery store. He also tries to get closer to Pam, the stripper. Unfortunately his life has left him no margin or grace. Pam, who dances under the name of Cassidy, begins to care for Randy, but tries to cut off their relationship because she can't get too close to a customer. In response he goes out for a wild night with his wrestling buddies causing him to miss a dinner date with his daughter. As a result she finally and irrevocably cuts him out of her life telling that she doesn't hate him anymore because for her he no longer exists. He then loses his job in an outbreak of depressive rage and returns to the wrestling ring for a 20th anniversary rematch of his greatest triumph. As he prepares, Pam shows up to prove she does care for him. But now he is set and heads down to the ring. The film cuts to black at the final moment of the match as Randy dives from the top rope in his signature move, presumably to die.

It was an interesting movie. It was a hard story to watch (even more so since I was tired). I like tragedies but there was very little hope to hold onto. Lance Storm, a former wrestler whose website I read, said that despite the great performances he didn't enjoy the movie because he couldn't like Randy and he sees enough of these stories in real life. The commentary is very interesting in approaching the film from the standpoint of wrestling psychology. In a wrestling match it is important to establish your good guy, "face", as someone the audience can like and root for. You can't expect the audience to care about somebody by default. Storm didn't feel that the movie set Randy up well so that we could care about his fall. I can see his point, but as he admits he may be too close to the story. As someone more removed it was easier for me to root for Randy especially as things begin to lighten for him in the middle of the story. To put it in wrestling terms again it was like a glorified squash match where the bad guy, "heel", is demolishing a weak face or no-name wrestler, but the good guy gets some unexpected offense in the middle of the match and starts to look like he might pull a shocking upset, only to get beaten back down in the end.

The thing that I found most interesting about the movie was the way it played with the idea of real and fake. We all know that pro wrestling is fake in a sense. In their terms, it's "worked". It presents itself as an athletic competition, or even duel to the death, but is really a complex, half choreographed and scripted, half improvised performance designed to entertain. Hence the WWE's self description as "sports entertainment." However, within that there is real athleticism and real risk being taken. Even the best trained wrestlers run tremendous physical risks working together. When Owen Hart accidentally broke Steve Austin's neck with a pile driver it wasn't because either man was an amateur who didn't know what he was doing. When Brock Lesnar lifted the 500 lb. Big Show and superplexed him off the top rope and collapsed the ring, they were working together but that was a real feat of strength. It's amazing some of the acrobatics those guys can do and some of the blows they can take. It was interesting to watch The Wrestler from that perspective and to see some of the discussions before the match where guys are working out what will happen. It was particularly interesting to see the in-ring communication because that's something I've heard about but that they obviously don't highlight on WWE programming. Then there's the level of fakery involved with fans. "Randy 'The Ram' Robinson" is really Robin Ramzinski. There's the wrestler who basks in the adulation of fans and the man with a weak heart who works on the grocery dock or deli counter who's lost track of his daughter. At the same time, Randy's relationship with Cassidy is just as worked as his wrestling life. There's the woman he watches on stage and who gives him lap dances while seeming to care for him. But that is a front for the real woman whose name is Pam, has a son, and dreams of moving into a house down near Trenton in a neighborhood with good schools. She's been working him like he works the fans and when her real self encounters his it scares her and confuses him. Obviously overlaying all that is the fact that neither Randy nor Pam is any more real since they're played by Mickey Rourke and Marissa Tomei who may not be any more real either.

As I said, it was an interesting movie. Rourke and Tomei deserved their Oscar nominations and it's well made. It's rough, taking place in the back stage world of pro wrestling and a strip club. It's a hard movie about a hard life and tragic.

I/IV C Random Things About Me

2009-02-05T19:13:00.002-06:00

This is a Facebook meme that I've also posted here for the convenience of those who either don't do Facebook or aren't my friend there.

I. I like Roman numerals
II. I like simple math.
III. I like language and think its neat that if I were British I would like simple maths.
IV. I'm not a twin but I am identical to my doppelganger and to anyone who looks exactly like me.
V. My favorite movie that's not a Lord of the Rings movie (they're beyond the category movie) is Dark City.
VI. I am not symmetrical.
VII. I like dark colors.
VIII. To this day I don't know if Ms. Moore's car was an olive green or a dark gray. The same uncertainty applies to the couch in my living room, though it may also be brown.
IX. I majored in Classics at St. Olaf mostly because of Dr. Groton's enthusiasm for the subject.
X. I hated coffee until last year.
XI. My favorite thing about volunteering with a youth ministry is watching students realize that God loves them personally.
XII. I enjoy classical music because of Basil Poledouris' score for Conan the Barbarian.
XIII. I played Lazar Wolf the Butcher in a Trinity College production of Fiddler on the Roof.
XIV. My former boss gave me my job as an act of self defense--that way I'd have to solve the call number problems I kept bringing her myself.
XV. I used to live at a synagogue with a private beach on the Lake Michigan shore.
XVI. My favorite pizza is a double decker from Bill's Pub in Mundelein or Buffo's in Highwood. My favorite cheap national delivery chain pizza is Papa John's. My favorite frozen pizza is DiGiorno's.
XVII. Wordplay is the pundation of all good humour.
XVIII. I'm teaching a junior high class at church about Heaven.
XIX. I wish I were artistic and that I could play an instrument.
XX. I once woke up and found my head was asleep (i.e. my scalp had that prickly feeling other parts have when they're asleep)
XXI. I just discovered that I like graphic novels.
XXII. I don't have a cell phone.
XXIII. Narcisistically one of my favorite movie quotes is, "Gopher, Everett?"
XXIV (or XXIIII at Yale). I saw three Jason Statham movies in the theatre last year.
XXV. I give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever.

Wisdom at the Movies

2009-01-31T15:22:00.002-06:00

The following is an introduction to a document that I wrote to explain a display I put up in the library to accompany the college's Christian life week. The theme for the week was wisdom. One of the chapel staff members had suggested we do a display of DVDs the library had that portrayed some aspect of wisdom. I put up 53 DVDs of feature films and it looks like almost all have circulated at least once. At least 35 were checked out yesterday.

What is wisdom and where is it to be found? How does one become wise? Scripture teaches us to search diligently for wisdom wherever it might be found. Wisdom, the skillful application of knowledge and insight to daily life, begins with the fear of the Lord. We begin by recognizing our life as a gift that is dependent on the mercy and grace of God. By trusting in the Lord and acknowledging Him in all our ways we are able to recognize the meaning in the order and patterns in the world He has given us and then to apply that knowledge as we seek our way in that world.

Because this world has been founded and established by divine wisdom there is a great deal of knowledge and insight available even to those who do not begin with the fear of the Lord. Certainly anyone can learn to observe those patterns and to recognize the vanity and contingency of our life under the sun. Filmmakers of all faiths are able to portray many facets of wisdom as they assemble their stories on the screen. Some show us the power of wisdom in a particular person’s life such as Atticus Finch, Captain John Miller, or Will Kane, characters who live by a strong standard of right and wrong combined with the knowledge and skill to back it up. Other filmmakers show us wise mentors and teachers guiding their students on the path of life. Sometimes the wisdom comes from an outsider or, apparent, fool who teaches wisdom by the way they question what everyone else takes for granted. Others show wisdom in the lives of tragic wise men. Michael Corleone, Charles Foster Kane, and Eldon Tyrell have great gifts of skill and knowledge but pursue them to evil ends. Some like “Wise” Sir Bedivere even show us wisdom by its complete absence in their life and actions. At times wisdom comes through a journey as we follow the characters away from their home and daily context to new levels of insight into their lives. Some stay home but encounter wisdom as they face sudden changes in the world they thought they knew. Finally, some receive a wisdom that comes from outside their world.

The movies on the display included To Kill a Mockingbird, Saving Private Ryan, High Noon, The Godfather pt. 2, Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Babbette's Feast and many others. It was a lot of fun to think about and put together.

On a completely unrelated note I discovered that I apparently think of work as "home." It's probably not a good thing that I think of that fact as more amusing than scary.

The Lord's Prayer with Dante and Dorothy in the Snow

2009-01-30T13:57:00.002-06:00

The preaching team at church has been doing a series on the Lord's Prayer as part of our church's prayer initiative. Last Sunday we had an extended worship night that was structured according to the Lord's Prayer. That service was a huge blessing for me.

At lunch I've been reading Dante's Divine Comedy in Dorothy Sayers translation. Today I came across this at the beginning of Canto XI of Purgatorio (p. 150 in the 1955 Penguin ed.). Dante and Virgil have entered the first circle of Purgatory and encounter the formerly prideful struggling under burdens and praying thus:

"Our Father, dwelling in the Heavens, nowise
As circumscribed, but as the things above,
Thy first effects, are dearest in Thine eyes,

Hallowed Thy name be and the Power thereof,
By every creature, as right meet it is
We praise the tender effluence of Thy love.

Let come to us, let come Thy Kingdom's peace;
If it come not, we've no power of our own
To come to it, for all our subtleties.

Like as with glad Hosannas at thy throne
Thine angels offer up their wills away,
So let men offer theirs, that Thine be done.

Our daily manna give to us this day,
Without which he that through this desert wild
Toils most to speed goes backward on his way.

As we, with all our debtors reconciled,
Forgive, do Thou forgive us, nor regard
Our merits, but upon our sins look mild.

Put not our strength, too easily ensnared
And overcome, to proof with the old foe;
But save us from him, for he tries it hard.

This prayer is not made for us - we know,
Dear Lord, that it is needless - but for those
Who still remain behind us we pray so."

Finally, I had a couple of moments of pure weather joy recently as I walked outside.
On Tuesday I came home from work around 4 in the afternoon. As I walked across the hard packed snow that's been in our lot since I don't know when, I thought about how much delight I take in a sunny 'teen degree day with snow crunching under my feet. When I came home last night around 9:30 and I walked the parking lot under the stars and Menelmacar (Orion) shining over the street I had the same feeling. Fresh fallen snow is beautiful, but there's also something about snow that's settled in and is a little dirty and cracked but firm. When it's been there for a while and paths have been tracked through it and its been cleared from the road and the sidewalks it's just a glorious, wonderful thing. I just wanted to share.

Desert Fathers

2009-01-21T17:07:00.002-06:00

I'm finally breaking the ice on my blog for 2009. It's been real cold up here for a while and apparently my blogging system froze. I've thawed it.

This afternoon I attended a lecture hosted by the Carl F.H. Henry Center for Theological Understanding. Presumably it will eventually be available for listening there among their podcasts. The lecture was Scripture and the Quest for Holiness in Christian Antiquity by Dr. Bradley Nassif from North Park University. The focus was on the scripture and holiness in the Egyptian Desert Fathers. I don't have time to do a full blog of my notes but here are some of the interesting thoughts and quotes.

The early Desert Fathers had an understanding of the desert based on Deuteronomy 8 and Matthew 4 where the desert is a place of testing and spiritual warfare but also a place of forgiveness, repentance, and new beginnings that came from the ritual of the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16. Because of the ideas of testing and warfare the move to the desert was not a flight from the challenges of living in the world but an advance and desire to follow the command of Christ to take up their cross and follow Him. Also the landscape of the desert offered a place of simplicity and silence where it was impossible to hide from God and one's own sin. The expansive open space helped them to see themselves in proper proportion to God's greatness.

The Desert Fathers believed that one learned scripture by living scripture. The scriptures were not something to be talked about and known but something to be done and practiced. Dr. Nassif pointed out that we often approach the Bible today to learn something new but our chief challenge with scripture is not to learn new things but to learn to obey the old ones.

The Fathers often used scripture in their fight against the "Noonday Demon". So they called the attack of despondency, regret, and boredom that strikes in the middle of the day and tempts one to abandon one's calling in life. The believed in overcoming the attacks of the enemy by fitting the proper scripture to the situation and reciting it to themselves.

Meditation for the Desert Fathers was an oral rather than mental exercise. The meditated on scripture by constantly reciting and practicing its words. It was said that the Desert Fathers were "living texts." Dr. Nassif pointed out in relation to this that it is vital for us to recover the practice of memorization of large swaths of scripture.

"What is the Christian life? I fall down and I get up." St. Antony of Egypt

"Someone asked Abba Anthony, saying, What must we keep in order to be pleasing to God? And the elder answered, saying, Keep what I tell you. Whoever you may be, always keep God before your eyes. And whatever you do, do it from the witness of the Holy Scriptures. And in whatever place you live, do not leave quickly. Keep these three things, and you will be saved."

"Sit in your cell and your cell will teach you everything." Abba Moses the Black

Immanuel Saves

2008-12-24T22:44:00.002-06:00

In Matthew chapter one we read of Joseph's plan to divorce Mary quietly when he discovers she's pregnant before they've been married. An angel appears to Joseph and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife because her son has been conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. Moreover he is to name the child "Jesus" (rough Greek transliteration of the Hebrew Y'shua, "Yahweh saves") because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew then reminds us of the prophecy of Isaiah that the virgin will conceive and bear a son and his name will be called "Immanuel, meaning God with us."

These two names, Jesus and Immanuel, summarize the plan of God for salvation. Yahweh will deliver his people. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. As He once carried the children of Israel up from their bondage in Egypt, so once more, God would reach down and save not only the family of Jacob, but would bless all the families of the earth by freeing them from their greater bondage to death and sin. And He would do it by coming among us. He would live the life of a man. He would suffer and be tempted as we are. He would take up into himself our broken, corrupted flesh. He would die our death accursed and forsaken and so pay the price of our sin. Then in that same frail, dead, human flesh He would rise again transformed and renewed, made perfect in obedience. He would receive from His Father the name that is above all names and be proclaimed in power as the one and only Eternal Son of God. In that death and resurrection and ascension and sitting at the right hand of the Father, He too would raise all those who by faith are found in Him to a new and indestructible life eternal.

Immanuel, God himself with us, was Jesus, the sign of salvation and deliverance for all.

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

O come let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!

Judah's Praise

2008-12-23T17:25:00.001-06:00

Here's the second Jesse Tree entry, the one on Judah

Judah was Jacob’s fourth son and the son of tag-on wife Leah. He wasn’t

in a position to compete for his father’s love like Reuben the first-born or Joseph and Benjamin the sons of beloved Rachel. As a young man he seems to have been resentful and scheming. It was Judah who realized that the brothers could still get rid of Joseph and make a profit if they sold him into slavery instead of killing him. Later he became a double crosser and a lecher who unknowingly slept with his daughter in law, whom he was cheating, thinking she was a prostitute. When his sin was made known, he had to publicly acknowledge the women he was about to burn for her sin was “More righteous than I.” He was the fourth in a string of disappointing sons for Jacob.

But there came a day when Judah’s story changed. In the face of a past of bitterness, greed, scheming, double-dealing and lechery there came a day when he offered his life for another. Judah, who had hated Joseph, offered to guarantee Benjamin’s safety so the brothers could return to Egypt and buy food for their starving family. When Benjamin was threatened with Egyptian slavery for theft, Judah offered to take his place and so save Jacob from fatal grief. At the end of his life, Jacob prophesied of Judah that the scepter would never depart nor the ruler’s staff leave his feet. From Judah’s son Perez, born of adultery with Tamar, came the line of David and the kings of Israel and the Savior of the world.

Judah seemed a failure, but God changed his heart and gave him a place in the plan of redemption. Is your life like Judah’s? Do you feel like you’ve let down God and those who have counted on you? Ask God to change your heart and renew you like Judah. Judah’s name means “praise.” Wherever you are in life, take the time to praise God for the redemption and freedom that come through Judah’s son Jesus.

Mary's Road

2008-12-22T23:07:00.002-06:00

This fall I got the opportunity to write two entries for our church's Jesse Tree Advent Devotional. The Jesse Tree idea is based on the prophecy of a shoot from the house of Jesse and looks at God's plan of salvation as revealed in the lives of those in Jesus' family tree. I got to write devotionals based on Mary and Judah. This is the Mary devotional.

One day a little while before Jesus was born the angel Gabriel appeared to a teenage girl in Nazareth. “Hail, you who are highly favored,” he said. “You will bear a son and call him Jesus, and he will reign on the throne of David forever.” Bewildered, she asked, “How can this be since I am a virgin?” “The power of the Holy Spirit will accomplish it.” “Let it be to me,” she responded, “As the Lord wills.”

Imagine what that moment must have been like. We know from Mary’s song when she visited her cousin Elizabeth that she expected and longed for the Lord’s deliverance of Israel from oppression by the Romans and the Herodians. But she could not have imagined that God’s answer to her and her people’s prayers would involve her so intimately and dangerously. Before that hour how could she know that she was the Virgin Isaiah had foretold who would bear the One in whom the presence of God would walk among us. She heard shepherds tell how an army of angels had appeared praising God that this child was “The Messiah, the Lord.” Simeon told her that this child was the promised salvation of Israel and a light to the Gentiles and a sword that would pierce her own soul. Could she see that the boy who so impressed the temple rulers would one day be accused by them of blasphemy and be condemned? Could she imagine that there would come a day when she thought he was driven mad? A day when she watched him die, accursed by God and man. A day of mourning and fear that began with preparations for embalming a corpse but ended with an empty tomb, angels, and the words “He is not here. He is risen.” Could she look to the day of prayer and the mighty rushing wind and tongues like fire that signified the Holy Spirit poured out on His church. She stood balanced on the edge of the ages and she said, “I am the slave of God. Let Him do to me whatever He wills.”

Mary longed to see God’s salvation. When it came it was not what she expected or could fully comprehend, but she said, “Yes.” What do you long to see God do? Are you ready and willing to say, “Yes, Lord, I’m your slave. Do what you will?” Mary’s road held fear, doubt, confusion, and pain, but it led to resurrection and glory in the Kingdom of God. Is there some other road you’d rather walk?

Simeon's Glasses

2008-12-21T23:29:00.002-06:00

Our intern David preached an awesome sermon this morning from Luke 2:21-38 and the stories of Simeon and Anna's encounters with Jesus in the temple. Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple when he's about 6 weeks old so that they can offer the sacrifice for the firstborn and for Mary's purification according to the law of Moses. While they are there the old man Simeon sees Jesus and recognizes him as the promised Messiah. Shortly after that the old widow Anna comes up praising and thanking God for Jesus. It was especially funny hearing David wondering what one can see in a 40 day old baby. He's a young, single guy. Anyway, the gist of the sermon hinged on the description of Simeon in v. 25, "And the Holy Spirit was upon Him." David responded to three questions in the sermon: 1. How do I see Jesus? 2. How do I know it's Him? 3. How should I respond to the sight?

Simeon looked at a baby and saw the salvation of God, revelation for the Gentiles, and glory for Israel. He could see this because he looked through the lens of the Holy Spirit that was upon him. If we want to see Jesus as He is then we too need to look through those same glasses. Without the work of the Holy Spirit no one will see Jesus the Deliverer.

When Simeon saw Him, he saw salvation, but from vv. 34-35, we also know that he saw opposition, scandal and a sword. He looked ahead and saw the division that Jesus brings. Shepherds heard of his birth and rejoiced. Herod heard and plotted murder. Crowds later flocked to hear him but the people of his own home synagogue tried to throw him off a cliff. The poor rejoiced to hear his good news and the religious and political leaders conspired to put him to death. Eventually his friends abandoned him and the crowds cried, "Crucify!" The real Jesus brings division. He was a sign for opposition but also for the rising of many. If we see the Jesus that Simeon saw then we will see the opposition as well as the acceptance.

When Simeon saw Jesus he knew his life was complete. He blessed God and proclaimed what he saw. When Anna saw Jesus she gave thanks to God and told everyone about him. So we should respond. Glorify and give thanks to God and spread the news to all who are waiting for His deliverance.

David ended by pointing out the trinitarian aspect of this passage. By the power of the Holy Spirit, Simeon and Anna see the Son and give glory to the Father. Though only one became incarnate, the whole Godhead was involved in the work of Christ's life. After the sermon we had an open time for people to come for prayer. I got to pray with people to receive a new touch of the Spirit. I pray as well for all of us this Christmas that by the power of the Spirit we would receive a fresh vision of the glory and love of Jesus and give praise to the Father.

Simeon's song:

"Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
For my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
A light for revelation to the Gentiles,
And for glory to your people Israel."
Luke 2:29-32 (ESV)

Winter Wonder/Horror Land

2008-12-16T22:19:00.002-06:00

Walking out of work this afternoon was great. There was a light snow falling heavily. That it to say there was a lot of snow falling but it was just coming down in tiny flakes steady and sure blanketing the trees and the campus. I love the silence of snowfall. It was really beautiful. The snow was so light I could almost blow it off the car.

Of course, then I had to get in the car and drive home. In any winter storm it's a challenge getting on IL-22 westbound from Trinity. It's even more so this year since they've got 22 down to one lane in either direction for bridge construction. I decided to go east and try a different route over the tollway. Naturally I almost spun out on the bridge. I finally got back to 22. Then I ended up spending at least an hour and fifteen minutes on a three mile stretch of US-45. It took two hours to get home. With no snow it might have taken just over half an hour.

Still I'd rather have the beauty of the snowfall with the long, tense commute than not have the snow at all. Besides I got to spend two hours listening to Dallas Willard's The Divine Conspiracy on CD. I don't mind waiting in traffic if I get to hear Willard talk about the Kingdom of God, the eternal kind of life now, and the authority of Jesus while I wait Some people on the expressways were looking at four hour commutes tonight. I don't mind two.

If only there were some way to keep the snow from falling on roadways, then it would have been perfect.

Christmas Blogging

2008-12-15T00:01:00.002-06:00

Poor neglected blog.

I've been thinking a lot about Christmas this year, probably at least 1/2 as much as anybody who's liable to read this blog or maybe half again more. So I thought I'd do some blogging about it. Today I want to talk about my all time favorite Christmas gift.

I've gotten a lot of gifts over the years. I've forgotten most and have broken or lost most as well. Some really stick out. Granny and Grandaddy gave me a Star Wars Death Star one year. That was pretty sweet but it had too many parts to survive for long. I'm pretty sure there are a couple of fragments that remain in one of my boxes of toy soldiers. I got a cool castle set that even more parts survived from. I got Axis&Allies once after I helped Mom pick it out. I've gotten some nice sweaters and shirts (actually almost any sweater I have is likely to have been a Christmas gift. I'm not a natural sweater buyer or wearer, but I like some of them and wear them occasionally). I think I got a sled when I was real little. That was a great gift for many years and useful even in Kentucky winters. There have been many other wonderful gifts.

But my favorite gift was the Alamo that my Dad made me. I think this came up here once before after Jenn took me to the Alamo when I visited San Antonio last year. I've always had a thing for the Battle of the Alamo and by extension other desperate last stands. I defaced a children's library book about the battle when I was little cutting out all the cool pictures to play with. I got the John Wayne Alamo movie for Christmas a few years ago. I remember seeing and wanting an Alamo toy set that I saw in the Sears or Montgomery Ward catalog and asking for it a few times. Finally one year I found an Alamo under the tree. It's not real fancy. It doesn't have a lot of detail. It's really only a wooden model of the chapel building (of course that's the iconic part of the whole thing. A wooden model of the corral wouldn't be nearly as impressive.) It's not really to scale with either size of toy soldiers I routinely played with being too large for both (unless you consider it's size in legend in which case it works pretty well). However, it was made by my Daddy and it was exactly what I wanted. Also it was essentially one piece so I couldn't accidentally lose the south wall or the bell tower and it was mostly unbreakable within the scope of uses to which I was likely to put it (I did drop it and break it once but we were able to restore with wood glue made from my tears--or by a wood glue manufacturer). It served as a fantastic fort and storage container for small toy soldiers for many years and still serves in the latter capacity somewhere at Mom and Dad's house. It has served even better as a symbol of my Dad's love for me. It wasn't showy or extravagant but it was simple and tangible and real and virtually unbreakable and, if not perfect, sufficient.

Each year at Christmas we remember an even greater gift from an even greater Father that is far more lasting and perfect. Sometimes we want to shout about the great gifts we receive and sometime we want to just sit quietly and appreciate them. I hope you find the time this Christmas season to do both. To shout with joy from the mountaintops that Jesus Christ is born and to sit in silent awestruck wonder at His love.

Gazing Steadily on the Glory of Christ and Being Changed

2008-11-10T22:25:00.002-06:00

We got the chance to hear a great sermon from Nate at the church yesterday. He spoke on Revelation 1:9-20. The main point was that we are changed by gazing steadily on the glory of Christ. In this passage John describes the beginning of his vision that was a revelation of Christ to the seven churches of Asia. It was encouraging to hear about the glory of Christ. As we look on Him we are struck dead and renewed through His Spirit. He is the one we turn to for wisdom and rely upon for deliverance and judgment. He is the one we seek to emulate in our lives. He is the one whose words are a sharp two-edged sword that divides between bone and marrow and soul and spirit yet bring life in obedience. He is the one whose eyes see straight to the heart and see both the good and the sin that lives there. He is the first and the last, and the author and finisher of our faith. It was especially inspiring to hear how He will meet and renew us in our worship.

During the communion time we sang Ryan Flanigan's song, "Up from the fall". As I broke the bread and repeated to myself the words "On the night in which Jesus was betrayed" and thought how I had betrayed Him I also remembered the words of the Eastern Orthodox communion liturgy "Or rather, the night in which He gave Himself for us all." As I thought that, the worship team sang the words "I have nothing to give to you, but Jesus came and He gave it all." I was struck by how I truly have nothing to offer God but what He has first given me. Then as I reflected on the cup and the words, "This is my blood of the new covenant poured out for the forgiveness of sins," the worship team finished the verse of the song, "He takes our blame and up from the fall we rise in Christ." Somehow I felt Jesus inviting me to drink up, to drink a cup of joy and celebration like a shot at a party. Instead of drinking as repentance it became a drink of affirmation of the pure, new life in Him.

The remainder of our worship continued in that vein, alternating joy and repentance with words from Lord calling us to enter deeper into worship and expect His presence among us. We ended with a call for all who wished to come and pray for a renewal of His presence in our church. We prayed for another half hour after the service. It was a great morning.

"And all of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect His glory even more." 2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)

Good Movie Night

2008-11-09T23:24:00.004-06:00

Friday night the College Union at Trinity rented a screen at a local movie theatre. They showed The Fellowship of the Ring. Dr. Fratt from the college gave a short introduction beforehand and there was a trivia contest wherein I won a Starbuck's gift card and bag of skittles bite size candies (Taste the rainbow) for knowing the name of Tom Bombadil's wife. I was astounded at how much the movie affected me. It has been 59 months since I last saw FotR in the theatre (special showing of FotR extended ed. up in Wisconsin on the way to which I got my first speeding ticket). I was blown away by what an amazing film it is. I've come to realize that I think it is my favorite of the LotR movies even though RotK got all the Oscars. There's just something about seeing Rivendell and Lothlorien (even the brief glimple you get in the theatrical ed.), the Argonath and hearing Saruman welcome Gandalf to Isengard, Boromir's death and Sam's devotion. I loved it. For the first time I noticed the village of Bree behind the Hobbits as they head into the wilderness between Bree and Weathertop. I also noticed the chimes as they approach Lothlorien. It's hard to believe that after seeing the movie as often as I have in the theatre and on DVD there were still things I'd never noticed but these were new to me. I also enjoyed some of the filming errors that were mostly edited out of the DVD's, like the Nazgul's horse materializing out of nothing behind the tree the Hobbits are hiding under and car that drives by while Frodo and Sam are in the cornfield. The icing on the cake was that it was the version of Fellowship from late in the theatrical run that included the extended trailer for The Two Towers. That was a real bonus but a little bittersweet. There are shots of scenes in that trailer that never made it into even the extended ed's of TTT and RotK. That trailer gives you a vision of movies to come that are greater still than what came. The LotR theatrical trilogy is greater than all other movies combined and cubed but the extended TTT trailer shows a glimpse of how great they could have been. Still I just sat there and listed to "May It Be" and "In Dreams" over the credits and nearly wept with joy at what I'd just seen. The plan is to do the same thing with TTT and RotK next semester. I can't wait. Until then I'll have to console myself with my friend Sarah's LotR marathon in two weeks after Turkey Bowl VIII.

Happy Birthmonth

2008-10-15T17:19:00.003-05:00

Thanks to all who wished me a happy birthday. It was a fine day. We had cake at work--eventually I might even get a card (it was still being signed, last I heard). After 3-D, Dianne and other friends took me out to Baker's Square. I had a very good cheeseburger and chocolate cream pie. One of my all time favorite desserts was Aunt Ethel's chocolate pie. Dianne got me a t-shirt that says
"Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense.
Refrigerator."

I love it. She also got me a birthday card in Greek, one of the best cards ever. The translation on the back of the card was lame but I managed to work out something I liked using a Greek dictionary.

I got a nice blog post from Mom that was very touching and comments from Lydia and Ann.

Steve gave me The Tick on DVD, which is another truly great gift.

The celebrating isn't even over. On Thursday I'll be having delicious belated double-decker birthday pizza from Bill's Pub in Mundelein, indirectly thanks to Mom and Daddy. On Friday I'll be spending the day hiking at Moraine Hills State Park on the Fox River near McHenry, Illinois, and hopefully going to the world's largest corn maize Friday or Saturday.

I've also added a feature on the side of my blog. The LibraryThing Random Books from My Library widget is now there doing what it says, showing some of my books. It also includes a link to my library on LibraryThing, so if you ever want to know if I have a certain book, you can just click there to find out.

Looking for Causes and Goals in Life

2008-10-07T10:59:00.003-05:00

I found this on the blog Stuf Christians Like. It's an exhortation to make seeking God the cause and purpose of our lives. I thought it was pretty good. There's a lot of good stuff on there, both satire and encouragement.

Trying to find a cause

Humanism and Vanity, Oh my Droogies

2008-09-21T22:31:00.002-05:00

I wanted to get down some thoughts about A Clockwork Orange, which I've just finished listening to on cd and Burn After Reading, now that I've seen it a couple of times. I've been interested in ACO since reading an old Mad Magazine parody many years ago. I first saw the movie the summer after my freshman year at college and have seen it a few times since. At its heart is an interesting story of dystopian, anti-heroic humanism that resonates loudly in some ways with C.S. Lewis' The Abolition of Man and That Hideous Strength. Burgess' point in ACO is that man is not a creature to be wound up like clockwork and let go to live a determined life whether by the state or by God. Alex is a vicious criminal and hoodlum but he is that way because that is what he wants to be. If he wanted to be good, he could, and it is the very choice that makes him human and makes his actions good and evil. If society wants to "cure" him so that he not only cannot do evil but also must do good to when he desires evil then it achieves a certain short-term goal of reducing crime but does not truly thereby make itself better. In so doing it devalues the individual life it exists to protect and perhaps, to draw conclusions from the ways in which the third part of the book plays out, it may create an even worse evil. It has not eradicated Alex's desire for evil only frustrated it. It seems implied that through a bit of personal application he may in time develop a means of circumventing his conditioning. Interestingly, despite his appy polly loggy for the necessity of the final chapter to his argument (Burgess claims his American publisher originally rejected it because it was too hopeful and Pelagian) in Alex's conviction that his future son will follow in his criminal footsteps and reject his fatherly advice because that's what teenagers do, there seems to be an undermining of the whole theme of freedom. Still its a very interesting story, not least because of the invented Nadsat language that Alex and his droogs use. It was fun to listen to and I'm always open to good dystopian humanism.

One of the other things that I'm always open to is good absurdist humor a la the Coen Brothers. However, one thing Burn After Reading is not is humanist. It seems much more Ecclesiastesical. There's a definite feeling of vanity, vanity, all is vanity. It would seem that all is much ado about nothing as the different characters pursue various ends to often brutal conclusions while in the dark about what is really going on. BAR is definitely in the Fargo vein of absurd and brutally violent comedy. But it likes the stabilizing presence of a Marge Gunderson or even the tired despair of the Sheriff in No Country for Old Men. It just has that feeling of one damned thing after another with no one really knowing what is going on, even the people who are payed to know. Fargo and Lebowski are Coen movies that I'm somewhat repulsed by still enjoy either because of particular characters or techniques. No Country has a power in that it's played straight. After BAR I just want to throw up my hands in frustration and confusion like the chief spook. It doesn't make sense and those poor people are dead and it's such a nice day and there you go (that's Marge Gunderson of course, not the spook). Vanity of vanities, all is vanity under the sun.

Recent Rain and Men's Breakfast

2008-09-19T20:04:00.000-05:00

It rained here last weekend. Apparently it rained enough that people elsewhere got worried about me even though I own a bumbershoot and am not water soluble. Still it rained from Friday to Sunday, records were set and small rivers flooded. I don't live in a place that's susceptible to flooding and never have other than the localized kind caused by bad pipes or other leaks. It was a good chance to test our library's new roof to see if it would hold up against serious rainage. Turns out all that time spent with noise and without air conditioning this summer has not fixed the main leak. It might have fixed some of them, but new leaks opened up so I'd say it's a wash.

I got to speak to a few brave souls at our church men's breakfast on Saturday morning. I talked about the importance of studying the history of the church as the story of what God has done and is continuing to do. In some ways the benefits are the same as studying any kind of history, viz. there's lots of good stories and you can learn from others' mistakes. There is an added layer as well. Throughout scripture there is an emphasis on telling what God has done. Jesus tells us that he will be with us always, even to the end of the age. By looking at our past we see the works of God in the lives of his people, sometimes despite the lives of his people, and are encouraged to worship him. A second focus was on the importance of telling our own stories to one another. The vast majority of the life of the church is not made up of Francis of Assisi or Polycarp or Jonathan Edwards but of unknown people who live day-to-day lives full of God's grace. We are those people and by telling of what God has done in our lives we glorify him and share his work with others. I also like to remember that though most of our stories are forgotten here, "The Lord knows the way of the righteous." He remembers our stories and so they are preserved forever.

Random quotes:
"Those who don't study the past will repeat its errors. Those who do study it will find new ways to err." I believe my St. Olaf History Dept. t-shirt attributed this quote to Charles Wolfe.

"In the end nothing is lost. For good or ill every event has repercussions forever" Will Durant on the fall of Babylon.

"It's like watching Shakespeare." An anonymous friend on watching British movies starring Jason Statham (her intent was to compare the experience of being unable to figure out the language at first and then somewhere in the middle realizing that you're understanding. I can see the point and I am a Statham fan but I bet it's pretty rare that Snatch or Mean Machine get compared to the Bard)

Worship haiku:
Miraculous grace
Drips from the wounds of Jesus,
Healing His broken.

Cohen's Dedication

2008-08-31T21:44:00.002-05:00

This morning I got to be part of the dedication for my nephew, Cohen. Cohen will be four weeks old tomorrow. Geron and Lydia decided that since we'd all be down for Cora's birthday this weekend they would go ahead and dedicate Cohen as well. I was really moved as Pastor Matt spoke about the dedication and it being an act in accord with Jesus' welcoming of the children and as Geron's dad, Preston, prayed for Cohen and the family. I was particularly challenged when Matt charged us as the family to see that Cohen be reared in the way of the Lord. I love Cora and Cohen but I hadn't considered my responsibility toward them before. As their uncle I too am called to instruct them and to encourage and support Lydia and Geron as parents. Obviously the distance involved limits what I can do directly but that only increases my call to prayer for Geron, Lydia, Cora and Cohen. Cora's not just this cute little girl that's fun to play with, she is a precious child to be reared in the love and fear of the Lord. I wasn't there for her dedication, but I am committed to her as well. I love them both and am honored to be a part of their lives even from so far away.

Inadvertently Profound Quote and Leaders' Retreat

2008-08-23T21:06:00.004-05:00

We had our Trinity Community Church Student Ministries Leaders' Retreat this weekend in Round Lake, IL. It was a really powerful time. Friday night after we ate we started at 7:30 into a time of intentional encouragement. Nate had asked us to write something encouraging down beforehand for each of members of the leadership teams for 3-D (middle school ministry) and/or Third Place (high school ministry) depending on our involvement. During the encouragement time we went around and people shared their encouragements for each leader and often pitched in even if they hadn't written anything. This time was scheduled for about 90 minutes. We finished around 12:30 a.m. It was amazing listening to the student leaders encourage one another and the adult leaders. It was a powerful and convicting time as I realized again how much influence God has allowed me to have in the lives of the students and leaders in 3-D. I love watching kids that I knew as shy or goofy 6th graders grow into leaders in the church and in their schools. Later that night we watched Juno until most people were asleep.

On Saturday morning we had a great time of worship and prayer (originally scheduled for the night before) and then had a discussion about what kind of students we wanted to see graduate from our ministries and what kind of disciplers we needed to be in order for that to happen. After lunch we had a brainstorming time to determine our fall teaching series for the two groups (for organizational purposes we teach the same series in both groups, though we adjust the material to the different age groups) and then split into ministry groups to dream about possibilities for our ministries. This was also a very encouraging time as we shared about how we can be more intentional about connecting with the 3-D kids outside of our Wednesday night group time.

During one of the morning sessions one of the adult leaders mentioned that "Shame is often a major tenement in many religions." Obviously he meant to say "tenet." Nobody mentioned the mistake at the time (amazing for me) but as I thought about what he said I realized it carried a lot more meaning than he intended. I had this image of decrepit, neglected building in a slum filled with people who had moved in but were unable to move out because of their poverty and life circumstances. For a lot of people their shame is a really nasty place that they can't see any way to move out of so they live in the squalor and despair. I don't want to say which religions he was referring to, but that can often be very unfortunately and ironically true of evangelical Christianity. Even though we claim to be "evangelical," i.e. gospel based and oriented, too, too often we load people down with a weight of shame instead of the gospel of freedom. As another friend said a couple of days ago our guilt is often more powerful than others' because we get it both ways. We feel guilty for what we've done wrong but then we compound that by feeling guilty about feeling guilty since we're supposed to be all about grace. We just don't believe Jesus when he says, "It is finished!" It's time we piled our stuff on Jesus' back and moved out of the tenement.

Anyway, this retreat is becoming one of the highlights of my August. It's really only surpassed by the annual Labor Day trip to Tennessee to see Ann and Daniel and Lydia and Geron.

Verse of the Day:
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:1-2 (ESV)

Nephew

2008-08-06T12:58:00.003-05:00

I'm remiss in not having posted this sooner. I have a cute new nephew. Cohen Preston Brown was born to Lydia and Geron on Monday morning. Welcome and Congratulations. You can read him and see pictures here.

Random Thoughts and a verse of the day

2008-07-31T12:35:00.003-05:00

Warning: This post is not mistitled. There is no thread.

I played Wii and guitar hero over the weekend with some friends from church. We bowled, golfed, played tennis, and some short weird Japanese games. It was fun and I can imagine how it could become seriously addictive. Fortunately, Steve and I don't have one. I also discovered a fun Yahoo word game called Bookworm. It's like a version of Boggle. It too is seriously addictive.

In my LIFEgroup we've been studying The 10 commandments. The last two weeks have focused on the first two commandments. I was struck by the idea that in prohibiting the worship of other Gods and of the use of idols in worship, God is reserving to himself the right to define himself. We are not to worship our ideas and desires, or imaginings of God, but only the true God as He reveals Himself. It's a very logical extension of His response to Moses. Moses' asks God's name at the burning bush and God responds, "I am Who I Am." It's only in the context of His relationship with Israel, the incarnation in Jesus, and the presence of His Spirit in the church that He will reveal Himself and be encountered.

I think it's neat the way different babies can be cute in different ways.

One of the things I've observed while being part of weeding over 11000 items out of our library in the last three months is that at some point in the 1930's several American publishers of religious books began using Roman numerals instead of Arabic for the publication dates. Books published by Doran, Revell, or Abingdon-Cokesbury in the 1910's or 20's and later in the 50's have publication dates like 1923 or 1918. Books published by those same publishers in the 30's-40's have dates like MCMXXXVIII or MCMXLV (Yale books have MDCCCCXXII). I just find that a curious practice. It might be an interesting thing for someone to research sometime, but I can't think of a good reason to.

One of the books I weeded today was titled That They May Have Live. I had to search that title three times. The first time I entered "That They May Live." That got no results. So I looked at it more closely and realized my mistake. I entered, "That They May Have Life." Again no results. My mind couldn't wrap itself around the apparent typo.

I finally got around to reading Ender's Game this summer and have gone on to The Speaker for the Dead. I've liked the other Orson Scott Card stuff I've read and I was tired of having my sf fan credentials questioned any time I mentioned I hadn't read any of the Ender books. I'm really impressed. I enjoyed Ender's Game, and I really enjoyed TSftD. I would never have expected to like a book that focused so much on interpersonal and family relationships as well as I did. I think Card does a good job setting up the parallel of the humans inability to understand one another with their inability to understand the aliens. I also enjoyed the way biblical allusions fall seamlessly into the story, especially this one about Ender's role in the xenocide:
"Yes, well, it's nothing mystical," said Ender. "I think of it as being like the mark of Cain. You don't make many friends, but nobody hurts you much either."

Have you heard about Cuil? It's a new search engine built by some former Google employees. Supposedly it indexes 3X as many web pages as Google and is attempting a completely different approach to determining relevance and claims to be less reliant on popularity. I like some of their ideas but I've gotten nothing out of performance. So far it's taking forever for me to access the search screen and I've only seen numbers of results, no actual links. I hope that it can get better and maybe if traffic slows down the site'll work better in the Trinity environment. The general consensus on the cataloging lists I follow says, "Wait for 'Cuiler.'"

That's it for today's episode of "Random stuff bouncing around Everett's head."

Verse of the day:

"And God spoke all these words, saying,

"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

"You shall have no other gods before me.

"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." Exodus 20:1-6 (ESV)

Bought With A Price

2008-07-26T20:30:00.002-05:00

From Nicolas Cabasilas The Life in Christ, bk. 7, s.13:

"The blessed Paul makes all things clear in a brief saying, 'You are not your own, you were bought with a price.' He who has been purchased does not regard himself but him who has purchased him, and lives according to His will. In the case of men, the slave is bound to the wish of his master, but only in body; in his mind and reason he is free and can use them as he pleases. But in the case of him whom Christ has bought it is impossible for him to be his own. Since no man has ever bought a complete man, and there is no price for which it is possible to purchase a human soul, so no one has ever set a man free or enslaved him save with respect to his body. The Saviour, however has bought the whole of man. While men merely spend money to buy a slave, He spent Himself. For our freedom He surrendered body and soul by causing the one to die and by the depriving the other of its own body. His body suffered pains by being wounded; His soul was troubled, and that not merely when the body was slain, but even before it was wounded as He said, 'My soul is very sorrowful even to death.'
"So in giving Himself completely, He purchased the whole man. Therefore He has purchased the will too, and it especially. In other respects He was our Master and had control over our whole nature; but it was by our will that we escaped from His service, and He did everything to capture it. Because of the fact that it was our will which He was seeking, He did no violence to it nor took it captive, but He bought it. Thus of those who have been bought, no one will do right by using his will for himself , but will commit an injustice to Him who has bought him by depriving Him of His possession. It is by the self-will and by rejoicing in that which is one's own that one would use one's will for oneself.
"So it remains that none of the virtuous and righteous loves himself, but only Him who has bought him. It must be that at least some, if not all, of those who have been purchased should be thus disposed. How could it be reasonable for such an awesome purchase to have been made in vain? For those who love only Him it follows that they should enjoy all pleasure unalloyed with trouble, since He whom they love does nothing contrary to their desires. They are moved with an exceedingly great and supernatural divine power of joy and this power finds complete fulfilment, and that which delights them surpasses every abundance of grace."

Cabasilas has been my breakfast reading for the past few months (I don't eat breakfast regularly) and has been an interesting read. Essentially The Life in Christ is about the power of the sacraments in the believers' life. As a 14th century Orthodox Greek, Cabasilas has a much different view of sacraments and how they work than we do. Nevertheless, there have been times when I've found some of his ideas showing up as part of my own worship, especially during communion. The idea that in communion God is joining me together with the rest of the worshipping body has been a powerful one. As we share the one bread, we become one body. The last book (chapter) focuses on the joy and perfection of a man who is shaped by the Spirit's power through the sacraments. The whole is more perfectionist and works oriented than I am but it has been interesting and encouraging. Especially when I read the quoted passage above and then heard a message on 1 Cor. 6:12-20 the next morning. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who sends His Spirit that ruined sinners might become His temples.

Extreme Build 2008

2008-07-21T11:51:00.002-05:00

We're back from the Extreme Build. It was an amazing week. It was sunny and hot, but not humid, all week. When we showed up for work on Monday the walls were build but lying on the ground, the foundation and basement were in place, and there were floor boards on the house. We had to get the floor laid and the walls up. By the end of lunch that stuff was in place and Daddy had almost passed out from exhaustion. Mostly I helped carry things and pass flooring and walls up to the house. Still it was a lot of fun watching Bessie, Sarah, and Jacob drive the first nails on the front wall of what was to be their new house. On Tuesday we built scaffolding and began putting on OSB and insulation. It was fun climbing on the scaffolding as we put it up on the back of the house. Wednesday and Thursday were taken up with putting on siding (several false starts) and soffits. Thursday also involved bending metal to cover the face boards of the roof. Friday involved repairing the siding on last year's Extreme Build house. I got to be the crew chief for the scaffolding portion of that job. "I don't know anything about that. Scaffolding I can do. It's like tinker toys." (my response to a question that morning). Friday afternoon and evening afforded the pleasure of working with daddy on building a door for the crawl space and working on the side porch. Saturday involved more porch work including digging "China-holes", building the stairs, and some more metal bending. Saturday also involved the house dedication where we prayed for the house and handed Bessie her keys.
Highlights included getting to know the GBC crew better, especially all the time we spent with Ken, Gina, and Taylor Whittle, and watching 88 year old Vic Carr (who still remembers me as the little boy crawling under the pews at Gano Avenue) build a house. Other highlights were listening to stories from Bob Durbin from Irvine and a lot of the other crew members, learning to use the brake for bending and cutting aluminum, getting to know Fred Doyle, Jim, Mary, Drew, Bob Jones, the Texas crew, getting busted for using an effective but very non-standard scaffolding extension ("No. You can't use the ladder like that." "We've been using it all morning." "Well, now you've been caught."), watching Jacob's joy when Daddy presented him with an engraved hammer, seeing Bessie and her kids working so hard on their house and the support from their family, seeing Mom start to take charge of the rest tent and nagging everyone to drink more water and Gatorade, the trips with the Whittles to Cumberland Falls for supper at DuPont Lodge and to see the moon bow, and to Natural Arch the next night even though we were all wiped out from our first full day of work--the first three days we did half days.
Over the course of a week a crew of 150 volunteers made of Baptist groups from all over Kentucky, from Indiana and Texas, a couple of Habitat teams from Louisville, a work crew from the local housing organization, and the Watson family built most of a house in order to show the love Jesus. We were disorganized and snippy at times and we didn't get it all done, there's a crew coming down today and tomorrow to try and complete it, but it was a good work and I'm glad to have been part of it. It was a good vacation. Of course it was also a special blessing to get that time to spend with Mom and Dad and to see how happy Daddy was to be carpentering again. I know he loves working at Toyota, but in his heart he'll always be a "hammy saw man." I took some pictures and if any of them survived the disintegration of the disposable camera I'll see about getting them up here.

Gospelizing.

2008-07-12T21:42:00.002-05:00

There are two other new posts before this one.

Last night I was reading in Nicholas Cabasilas' The Life in Christ. Cabasilas was an Orthodox Archbishop of Thessalonica in the 14th century. The Life in Christ is mostly a work on the power of the sacraments for Christian living. The final chapter focuses on joy in Christ. As I was reading I was really struck by his discussion of 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a, "You are not your own, for you were bought with a price." (ESV). I left the book at home, so sometime after vacation I'll have to post the pertinent paragraphs. Basically he observed how no one really knows what a man is worth because no one has ever really bought anything more than a body. No one has ever purchased the whole man, body, soul, and spirit. No one, but Christ, who paid an infinite price to redeem the whole man.

This morning at our monthly church men's breakfast, my friend Matt, who is moving away (sob) to plant a church (Huzzah!), spoke on 1 Corinthians 6:19b-20a, and how we were bought with a price. His message was titled, "Gospelizing Your Sexuality...and Everything else." "Gospelizing is a great word. It's a nice Anglicizing of Evangelizing. (Incidentally, I think "holification" is also a fun Anglicized substitute for "sanctification"). His message took in the whole of 1 Cor. 6:12-20 and how the point is not to focus on right and wrong, but to focus on the truth of the gospel for all of life. Namely, that God has purchased us and owns us absolutely but his slavery is freedom (cf. Romans 6). With that in mind, how can we possibly turn from Christ, our master and lover, to immorality. Not only is that an unhelpful thing to do, but, more importantly, it just doesn't make any sense. We need to constantly gospelize our lives so that we remember the truth. After the message we talked some about how we can have that gospel perspective on our lives. I thought, though I didn't say it, that it would be helpful to walk around wearing a sticker that said, "Sold." Then I realize that I already wear a cross all the time. I wear my price tag daily. Unfortunately, it still tends to become more of an accessory than a reminder as does my daily recitation of the Jesus Creed. It's easy for reminders to become background and lose their meaning. The word "phylactery" also came to mind. Various guys mentioned different things they do, such as listing reasons for thankfulness to God or meditating on the obedience of Christ. Ultimately it comes down to two things. The power of the Holy Spirit and remembering. Without the regeneration of the Spirit we're spiritual corpses and nothing matters. Without actual deliberate remembering, howsoever you do it, no reminder will help. It's not technique, it's action.

Some quotes/thoughts that struck me:
-The chiasm of v. 13. The Lord is for the body as food is for the stomach. We are meant to be filled by Him.
-We think about God coming to fill a hole in our life, but God's not that small. He invites us to be part of his plan and kingdom work for the whole world.
-In the context of accountability groups we need to preach the gospel to one another rather than just confess sins. And in gospelizing one another we need to move beyond just proclaiming forgiveness to the whole work of the gospel: You are not your own, for you were bought with a price.
-Matt has given us permission to use other adjectives for the blood of Jesus than precious. It is "effective blood", "powerful blood", "costly blood". I like "strong blood".

I think over this next week I will work on memorizing 1 Corinthians 6:12-20 while I'm on vacation.

1 Cor. 6:12-20 (ESV):

2 "All things are lawful for me," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be enslaved by anything. 13 "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food"—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 15Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! 16Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, "The two will become one flesh." 17But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Feed My Starving Children and Extreme Build

2008-07-12T21:04:00.002-05:00

On July 9th I got the chance to go with 16 kids and 6 other adults from the 3-D, our church ministry to middle school students, to Aurora, Illinois. We went to volunteer with an organization called Feed My Starving Children. You can read all about them here. We joined with 26 other volunteers from BP and another youth group and for about an hour and a half we boxed up 15000 meals that will be sent to Haiti. Our meals will feed 42 children for a year. It was a good time and the youth really seemed to enjoy it. On the way out the kids were asking when we'd be able to come back and do it again. Apparently some children will even have their birthday parties there. It's a great operation.

Next week Mom and Dad and I will be down in McCreary County, Kentucky. We'll be working with a team from their church on the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship's and Mountain Hope's Extreme Build project. It's a Habitat for Humanityish style project where we go in a build a house for a needy family. I'm looking forward to it. It's Mom and Dad's first short-term mission trip. You can follow our progress on those two sites. I'll be having to get up before it's day. That's o.k. I'm prepared to suffer for the cause.

"There is no charge for awesomeness...or attractiveness"

2008-07-12T20:13:00.002-05:00

That's not entirely true, as I paid six dollars for the awesomeness that was the best kung fu movie of the year, viz. Kung Fu Panda. He's not a big, fat panda, he's THE big, fat panda. Anyway, Cindee, Marie, and I saw that last night and it was great. But that's not even the best of the recent awesomeness.

If you read Jim's blog, and some of you might, then you know that last week I almost gave him a heart attack by walking into his house unannounced at about 11:20 p.m. on July 3rd. There he was, minding his own business sitting in his living room wondering why his wife was just sitting there not going to bed, when he heard the back door open. Then it closed. Then there were heavy footsteps in the kitchen and no response to his queries. Apparently it's unusual for people to walk into farmhouses in the middle of the night in the middle of corn fields west of Rochester, MN, without some sort of greeting. Who knew? Anyway as his "Who's there?" sounded way more stressed than his "Hello?", and since he didn't appear rushing out to great me with open arms, I thought it best to throw in a "Hey, Jim." Cue relief, puzzlement, and the open arms bit. Meanwhile, Tara, who'd thought this up and instigated it, sans the middle of the night terror (I told her I'd be there around 10. I don't know how long it takes to get Trinity to their manor house.), held her peace. The next morning I got to surprise each of the children as they came down for breakfast. It was a fine evening and morning of surprising.

Friday we celebrated Jim's birthday and threw a shout out to the country while we were at it. We had a small party with some of his friends and relatives and a trip to Wannamingo for a parade--mostly trucks, tractors, oddities, and, especially, much candy. That night we took a family ride on the trailer, shot the bb gun, and made a fire for s'mores. The older boys got to play with sparklers and Jim and I sat out and talked. He and Evan and I also went through a catechism Jim developed as a means of teaching the Faith to his nephew. I was impressed. Saturday I went out with Friendly Jim in the morning and helped clean a gutter, cart trash to the dump, and move a washer and dryer. We had a good time and I almost did a header into a dumpster. In the afternoon I helped Jim while he cut down a dead tree in his back pasture and we cut up the wood for the winter. Evan also developed a new game of ping-pong wherein he hangs on the tire swing and Jim and I push him back and forth. That night we attempted to watch Big Fish, an interesting movie, but confusing if you keep dozing off. After church and lunch we hung out at the house and played in the yard for a while until I finally headed back to Illinois.

I always have a good time with Jim and Tara and the kids. It was fun this year to see Avery toddling about and being all smiley. She can even say, "Bubba." Of course, almost all babies can, but I was still impressed. I enjoyed when Toby told us that we should stay hydrated or we'd feel sick as we headed out to the pasture to cut down the tree. "Hydrated" is a good word for a three year old, and it is good advice. When I told him that it wasn't cool to take keys out of his daddy's van, he replied, "It's cool for me." We had fun. I enjoyed helping Aidan work on his bounce pass. At 4, he's not yet ready to shoot to the basketball but he's working at being a point guard. On Sunday afternoon while Evan was potting hostas to be sold at the farmer's market, Aidan was rubbing dirt on his hands. I asked why. "So I'll be ready when we dig the next hole." I was really touched when Evan told me having me around was like having a second daddy. It's a lot of fun just hanging out and playing with other people's kids. Especially when they're as smart and cute as Jim and Tara's kids.

It was a good trip, and I was glad to get up there. I was planning to go anyway, but I was especially glad with the way Tara's surprise worked out. It's fun being someone's birthday present.

Free Rice Vocabulary Game

2008-06-28T12:16:00.002-05:00

If you want to build some vocabulary, show off your own, or just get better at Balderdash and help feed the poor at the same time check out Free Rice. It's a great site for someone who remembers that "a baloo is a bear" or "a yonker is a young man". Where else would I have learned that a fleam is a type of lancet. So bulk up your semantic muscles and help some people out.

Worship Haiku

2008-06-06T18:17:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago at our LIFE group we studies Psalm 121. As part of our worship for the night I asked people who were there to think of a Bible verse that was meaningful to them and write a haiku inspired by that verse in praise of God. I ended up doing three.

"Glorious are you, more majestic
than the mountains of prey." Psalm 76:4 (ESV)

Resplendent with light,
Rocky lairs of deer and goats
Kneel before you, Lord.

"All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away." Isaiah 64:6 (NIV)
"'Come now, let us reason together', says the LORD:
'though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.'" Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)

Filthy rags, my good.
Cleansed in the fire of your blood
I wear robes of grace.

"I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth." Psalm 121:1-2 (ESV)

Mountains firm and strong
Seem immovable but melt.
True strength is from God.

Feeling Pretty Good About This One

2008-05-22T08:48:00.001-05:00

Your English Skills:

Grammar: 100%

Punctuation: 100%

Vocabulary: 100%

Spelling: 80%

Does Your English Cut the Mustard?

Evidence I Need to Grow Up

2008-05-19T11:28:00.002-05:00

I really ought to have grown out of this but I couldn't resist. I'm weeding a book called The Church Ministering to Rural Life. It was published in the 40's by The Home Mission and Church Erection Society of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. Perhaps they were too united? It also reminded me of an art history lecture from my freshman year of college where the professor, a Norwegian old enough to have been in a Nazi concentration camp referred to the feat of constructing a gothic cathedral in a relatively short time (less than fifty years?) as "a very speedy erection." I shouldn't, but I still get a chuckle from that sort of thing.

ACTS prayer

2008-05-16T18:09:00.002-05:00

Last week my friend Eric spoke to the youth group about James 5:13-18 primarily focusing on the idea of effective prayer. He went through the ACTS prayer model with kids but gave it a twist I hadn't noticed before. The acronym ACTS is:
Adoration (Eric described this as focused on Who God is)
Confession (Who we are)
Thanksgiving (What God has done. "Part of prayer is worship. The two can never be separated.")
Supplication (Trusting God to supply or as I phrased, What we hope God will do)

Eric also talked about a fifth element, Lamentation, which involves bringing our sadness and pain to God. I've heard the model many times before but I hadn't heard it described in terms of the relation of each element to its focus in God or us and found that very interesting. I hope to incorporate that way of thinking more in my own prayer life.

Eric went on to talk a little about what made Elijah's prayer effective. It was effective because Elijah knew God's will as expressed in scripture and prayed confidently in line with that because he believed what was written. Therefore in our own prayer lives we should know and trust the promises of God. In turn that will direct us in how to pray and what to expect. I thought it was a very helpful discussion of prayer. Afterwards as small groups we took 15-20 minutes to just pray through the model. The guys in the group I was with really seemed to be grasping the basics of the idea and it was encouraging to pray with them.

Eric graduated from seminary last week and has returned home to North Carolina to start an internship in a church. I'll miss him. He was a fun guy and genuinely interested in the youth and in helping them to grow in their relationship with God and especially in the area of worship. I hope he's blessed in his new church and that church is blessed with him.

In other general life news Steve, a few other friends, and myself saw Iron Man two weeks ago and really liked it. Steve and I saw Speed Racer last week and liked it less than Iron Man but had fun anyway. Monday we took the day off and went to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. That was fun and educational and involved lions and tigers and tyrannosaurs, oh my! Btw, should a tyrannosaur named "Sue" be referred to as a tyrannosaurus regina? Though if the name was given by a deadbeat papa tyrannosaur as a way to make the offspring strong.... We also saw exhibits on Pre-Columbian America, the religious customs of various Pacific islands, Tibet, and a special exhibit on mythical creatures. We enjoyed it but it can be very tiring walking from Union Station to the Museum, walking around the museum all day, and then walking back to the station. Tomorrow we'll go see Prince Caspian and I'll enjoy it while Steve grumbles about things not being like the book. I also got to see some of the youth from church perform in a production of the musical of Alice in Wonderland. It was even weirder than the book. Still the did a good job and Amber was especially good as the Cheshire Cat doing some impressive soul music dancing. At work we've started another massive summer weeding project so I'm helping to shuffle up to 10,000 books off the mortal coil.

Verse of the day:
"Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops." James 5:13-18 (NIV)

Random Conversation and quote:
"Who knows what it means to adore?" leader
"It's like a dog." student
Blank look. leader
"Like love." same student after a whispered conference with her friend
"Exactly." relieved leader

"Kids connect to God through games." Unnamed youth pastor.

Life in April

2008-04-28T00:05:00.003-05:00

I missed the second anniversary of my time on blogger. I'm a wee bit bummed by that. It's not as though there's much to celebrate, but still. Anyway, I've enjoyed April. On the 10th I got to visit Menno-Hof in Shipshewana, Indiana. That was a really interesting and inspirational time and involved meeting a TEDS alumnus from before I was born. On the 11th I attended the spring meeting of the Chicago Area Theological Library Association at Calvin Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. I also hit some impressive used bookstores in GR on Friday night and Saturday morning, and B.D.'s Mongolian Barbecue. I was muy bummed when the Vernon Hills B.D.'s closed last year. On the 12th I also got to go for nice short hike at the Cowles Bog Nature Area in the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. That was a cool rainy Saturday so I had the park to myself except for a couple of people on their way out that I encountered on my way in. It was very peaceful and a beautiful path through the woods and over the dunes to the Lake. Because of the weather the Lake was choppy with a mist blowing in. It was only spoiled by the big steel mill 300 yards away down the beach. Still I enjoyed it very much.

On the 16th I got to teach the youth on James 5:1-6 which is a very challenging passage to meditate on and to teach to suburban American middle school kids. The other youth leaders were encouraging about the message and how it challenged them and one of the parents told me that her daughter had one of the verse references from the message written on her hand when she came home so she could look it up and think about it. That was really encouraging. On the whole I hope I was able to challenge the kids to think about how they use what God has given them without being too condemning. On the 18th-19th we had a lock in at the church that was a lot of fun. Also on the 18th we had a farewell party for my friend Anthony who is moving to Florida to paint cars but who will probably be eaten by alligators. We'll miss him very much. On the 20th we had our annual church meeting where we learned of the elders' plan to form a leadership task force of members who will help our church figure out what sort of leadership structure we need in the wake of all the resignations last year. It's nice to have a plan, even if it's just to develop a plan.

This past week was fairly uneventful although it involved a few fun games of Ticket to Ride and at a game night on Saturday I learned to play Quelf, which is boffo, if bizarre. On Sunday we had a lunch for the college students that was hosted at the home of one of the families from the church. The food and fellowship were both good and the student's seemed to have a good time of respite from the end of the semester crunch. As we were standing around talking after the meal it was mentioned that the Sans' dog Snowflake, a German Shepherd/Samoyed mix, knew the word "squirrel". Linda told Snowflake to go get the squirrel, expecting the dog to go to the window and bark. Instead, Snowflake ran over and sat in front of me and barked. Steve, a.k.a. Hot Barbecue (or, possibly, Willow) is now threatening to nickname me "Squirrel". I find that amusing. Tomorrow, Monday, Hot Barbecue and I are joining our executive pastor and another man from the church and going to see the White Sox play the Orioles. We will be 14 rows back from home plate, using tix that were given to Eric by the singer of the national anthem at one of the Saturday doubleheader games. Woohoo! Go Sox!

In other news, Battlestar Galactica and Dr. Who have started their new seasons, which a friend is being kind enough to record for Hot Barbecue and I until she moves out of her satellite dish. Also I've seen Leatherheads, Forbidden Kingdom, and Expelled, which I may blog about some other time. It was a very interesting movie.

Verse of the day:

"They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings--and with him will be his called, chosen, and faithful followers." Revelation 17:14 (NIV) the theme verse from Eric's sermon this morning, about which I will be blogging anon, the third in a miniseries on spiritual warfare.

Quick Update and Amusing Quotes

2008-04-02T17:11:00.002-05:00

I had a good time over the last weekend. Steve and I finished Battlestar Galactica season 3, so we should be ready for the premier of season 4 on Friday. I especially liked the use of "All Along the Watchtower" in the final episode. I got to hang out and go bowling with friends on Saturday night and then hang out at Denny's afterward. Sunday was a good church service. Tuesday afternoon I attended an informational forum on library school hosted by the North Suburban Library System with representatives from Dominican University and the University of Illinois. I'm feeling a more motivated toward applying. Now if only I can find someone to buy some of these arms and legs so I can afford it. Tuesday night we finished up our study of the life of Joseph, so that's been good. I've also been helping out with a display at work. You can see the web portion here. I think Matt did a good job putting the page together.

Random amusing quotes:
"I feel like March came in like a lion, then turned into a lamb. Then another lion came along and ate the lamb and I'm afraid there won't be any more lambs." JA on our recent weather.

"That could have been any short person with a head." My response to Steve in a discussion of how I missed that the car in front of us was driven by a friend. Sometimes it would be nice to think at least as far as the end of the sentence before speaking.

Happy Eastertide.

Psalm 22 for Good Friday

2008-03-22T00:13:00.002-05:00

Every day is a day for remembering Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, but this is the day set apart from all others especially for the remembrance of that sacrifice. I always try to do something special on Good Friday to help me contemplate Jesus' death. Given who I am that usually means reading and/or watching something. Today I read from G. Campbell Morgan's collection of sermons, Great Chapters of the Bible. In his sermon on Matthew 27 he says this regarding Matthew's lack of detail regarding the act of crucifixion:

"It would have been a great advantage if that reticence had been observed down all the running centuries. No painting of the crucifixion, and no verbal description of it has been, in the deepest sense, really helpful in understanding the Cross. Not that the physical was anything less than appalling, but that it is possible to be so occupied with it as to lose the sense of that which is infinitely more terrible, the spiritual side of it." (p.142)

I can see his point. The descriptions of the physical pain of the crucifixion that I've heard from time to time can be arresting, as can a cinematic depiction like The Passion of the Christ. Nevertheless, neither can capture what it must have meant for Jesus who had known perfect fellowship with God throughout his life, a fellowship and communion we can only imagine, and in His divine nature from all eternity, to have become sin and been accursed. We who are born in sin will never know the depth of rejection. We can only approach it in his cry, "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me!", a cry from a psalm of rejection, but also of hope and promise.

'

To the choirmaster: according to The Doe of the Dawn. A Psalm of David.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
and by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
"He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!"

Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me,
for trouble is near,
and there is none to help.

Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.

I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.

For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.

But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!

Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.

From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.

All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it." Psalm 22 (ESV)

Again from Morgan,

"It is impossible to read this psalm, and believe that the singer understood all its meaning. It was a prophetic utterance. It was a case in which David, or some other poet, was caught up, borne along; and through personal suffering and deliverance from it through confidence in God, interpreted the ultimate, central, final sorrows of the Messiah; and how through them, and through them alone, deliverance should come to the meek, who seek; and the sovereignty of God, based upon His redeeming activity, should finally be universally established." (p. 54)

That is what is to celebrate Good Friday and to remember how an event of horrible physical, and unimaginable spiritual, pain should result in our salvation. Christ is dead. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.

Squirrel and Penguin Dueling Banjos and a Quiz

2008-03-15T15:31:00.003-05:00

I saw this on Marko's blog. Here are two great animals, two fine instruments, and some confusing/disturbing yet hilarious imagery. My money is on Penguin.

Marko also introduced me to this book quiz:

You're A Prayer for Owen Meany!

by John Irving

Despite humble and perhaps literally small beginnings, you inspire
faith in almost everyone you know. You are an agent of higher powers, and you manifest
this fact in mysterious and loud ways. A sense of destiny pervades your every waking
moment, and you prepare with great detail for destiny fulfilled. When you speak, IT
SOUNDS LIKE THIS!

Take the Book Quiz
at the Blue Pyramid.

As it happens, I've even read A Prayer for Owen Meany. It's a great book and way better than the movie based on it (as is almost always the case).

This Film is Not Yet Rated and Making Money

2008-03-08T13:17:00.002-06:00

It's snowing again.

Last Saturday I watched the documentary This film is not yet rated. It's a look at the MPAA rating system and particularly at the process of rating a film NC-17 and R. It includes interviews with various filmmakers who've had to fight the ratings board along with disputed clips from their movies. It also focuses on an attempt to identify the people who do the actual rating. Their identities are kept secret by the MPAA ostensibly to protect them from outside pressure. This part of the film involves the hiring of a private investigator and tracking her attempts to identify the raters. The final portion shows Kirby Dick's, the documentarian, own struggles with the MPAA over the rating for his film about the ratings. Not surprisingly given that he includes many clips that had caused their own movies to get an NC-17, Dick's movie does as well. His appeal was rejected and he released the movie unrated. The film is very interesting. It's hard to argue against its position that the ratings are often applied in a very inconsistent manner and that the appeals process is stacked against the appellant. It also makes some cogent points about the differing treatments of sex and violence in films and of independent and studio movies in the process. There is a self-righteousness and stridency to the movie that I did not enjoy. One of the rallying cries is that the ratings, especially the NC-17 rating, harm movies financially because NC-17's are locked out of most major theatres and rental/retail outlets. This is true as far as it goes but I found it interesting that the policy decisions of the distributors and retailers, despite John Waters attacks on Wal-Mart and Blockbuster, where largely left to the side, especially give the late revelation that the majority of the ratings appeals board consists of representatives of distributors. I know, it's a film about ratings, not film distribution, but that didn't prevent a lengthy digression about the MPAA's anti-piracy campaign, which has nothing to do with ratings. I was mostly amused by the apparent shock and outrage that there were two members of the clergy on the appeals board. Gasp! Horrors! One is a representative of the national Catholic bishops' board, the other represents the National Council of Churches, the primarily liberal old mainline Protestant denominations. Also not surprising was the general, apparently unquestioned, attitude that censorship of movies is bad because censorship, as such, is bad. There was an interesting suggestion that violence portrayed in Saving Private Ryan merited a less restrictive rating than that in e.g. James Bond or Arnold Schwarzenegger movies because SPR was more realistic while the others in not showing the true consequences of the actions involved were desensitizing. All in all it was an interesting movie, but once was enough.

I also read Terry Pratchett's book, Making Money last week. It was another amusing Discworld novel. Fresh off his success in reviving Ankh-Morpork's failing postal system, reformed conman Moist von Lipwig is thrust into the position of acting chairman of the Royal Bank of Ankh-Morpork and the mint. Moist has to call on all his wit and resources to fend off the intrigues of the family of the former chairman, to avoid his past, to get AM off the gold standard and onto paper money, and deal with the absence of his chain smoking sweetheart, Adora Belle, who prefers to be called "Spike." It's a fun book like any Discworld but many of the characters and ideas seem underdeveloped. It also reminded me that while Pratchett can set up a world and a situation his endings are often confusing and contrived. Still for me the main joy in any Discworld novel involves the interplay of puns and ideas and satire more than the plot so I enjoyed reading the book and will happily read the obvious sequel if it's ever forthcoming.

State naming

2008-03-06T13:45:00.001-06:00

In 2m 24s

Click here to Play

That was the first, and only, try.

February Books

2008-02-26T22:59:00.003-06:00

One problem with reading (and/or listening to) short, easy books is that if you're planning to blog your books a bunch pile up quick. I'll have to remember to read longer books in March. Consequently, these observations will be short.

The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis, read by Alex Jennings. Of all the Chronicles of Narnia this has always been the one I've least respected because it seemed the least theological and the shallowest. Still I've always loved the story of the talking horse Bree and the boy Shasta and their flight from slavery in Calormen to freedom in Narnia and Archenland. It's a great adventure. It's also a beautiful picture of Aslan's (and hence God's) providence in Shasta's life. As Aslan explains Shasta's life to him in the mountain pass it's an invitation for us to look at our own lives and see God's hand at work to preserve us and bring us where we are today. Did I also mention it's a great adventure story.

The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis, read by Kenneth Branagh. This is the beginning of all the comings and goings between Narnia and our world. The image of the creation, of standing in black nothingness and then hearing the first notes of the song and watching a world come into being is amazing. Branagh's a good reader and really shines on Uncle Andrew's voice.

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. I picked this up and reread it after an image in a Doctor Who episode tickled my memory. Night Watch is a Discworld novel focused on Sir Samuel Vimes and the Ankh-Morpork city watch. Vimes' wife Sybil is about to give birth and he and a few of his men are preparing to celebrate the anniversary of the Glorious 25th of May, a revolution they took part in 30 years ago. Suddenly he finds out they've cornered a dangerous, wanted criminal near the Unseen University. In the midst of apprehending the felon Vimes is caught in a magical storm and they are sent back 30 years in the past to relive the revolution. Vimes is probably my favorite Discworld character and it's a lot of fun to see him struggle with unrest leading up to the revolution and catch the criminal and try to impersonate the man who's training his 30 years younger, rookie cop self while trying to figure out how to get back to his own time. One of Pratchett's best.

Ambient Findability by Peter Morville. Morville is a librarian and information architect. The tagline on the cover of this book is "What we find changes who we become." The book mostly focuses on how we find things and what that can teach those of us who are interested in enabling things, e.g. information or books, to be found. What do people search for? How do they search? How is our knowledge conditioned by its sources and availability? The book discusses all kinds of things from ubiquitous computing via smart phones and wireless networks and radio frequency identification to evolutionary psychology and architecture. It's a very broad but interesting look at how we find our way through life and especially how we find information.

The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, read by Patrick Stewart. I wouldn't have imagined that Patrick Stewart would be so good at reading talking dogs, but he's great here. The Last Battle is my favorite of the Chronicles of Narnia for its picture of heaven. I love how it expands as they progress "further up and further in" so that each ring of the concentric circles is larger than the one outside it. A couple of my favorite quotes:
"Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death, for the Lion (who is worth of all honour) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than be Tisroc of the world and live and not to have seen him." Emeth on meeting Aslan
"'Yes,' said Queen Lucy, 'In our world too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.'"
It's hard for me to get through the end of this book without tears of joy. I love it.

General Life Doins

2008-02-26T22:43:00.002-06:00

So I've had a good time this month. We've had lots of snow, more than 20" with another 5 cold and wet last night. Last night's snowfall got me a 1 hour delay at Trinity this morning, and we're looking at more snow Thursday night. On the news last night they were interviewing people who all talked about how tired they were of the snow. Not me, nor my friends Dave, Dianne, or Anthony. We all love it. "If it's going to be cold anyway, you might as well have snow." says Anthony. So we say, "Bring it on."

We had our Jr. High youth retreat in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin on the 15-17th. It was a good time. The weather was great on Friday and Saturday and the kids seemed to love it. They had a lot of fun and they almost all really enjoyed the times of worship and prayer. It was rainy on Sunday. Of the 17 kids who went at least 10 missed our next group meeting on Wednesday because they were sick. A few of us leaders got sick with colds too but it was definitely worth it. The overall theme for the retreat was Burning Bright but beneath the main theme each of the four sessions has its own theme, To live, To Serve, To Love, and something else. I don't remember much about Friday and Saturday nights' themes (live and love) but the Saturday morning message about burning bright to serve and the gospel presentation on Sunday were both very good. Another good retreat.

Otherwise its been a good time watching Doctor Who with Steve, working, worshipping, reading, and hanging out. I love Doctor Who. It's the best science fiction on t.v., at least until Battlestar Galactica comes back in April, and probably then as well.

Random quotes from February:

"Ignore the shooty dog thing!" Doctor Who villain to henchman
"I planned a ceiling. He's planned a miracle." Pope Julius VI to a henchman who complained about Michaelangelo's new design for the Sistine Chapel in The Agony & the Ecstasy
"But if you keep looking steadily into God's perfect law--the law that sets you free--and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it." James 1:25 (NLT)

Recent Books

2008-02-07T18:22:00.000-06:00

First, more weather. We got a load of snow, maybe 15 inches from Tuesday night to Wednesday night. At about 1 p.m. they decided to close Trinity's campus and send us home for the day. They should have called the day off that morning, but it was nice to have a half day off. Steve, his work closed also, and I watched Judge Dredd and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, before going over to our friends Jason and Bonnie's place to eat pizza ("it's not delivery, it's DiGiorno" and some delivery guy's very lucky) and play Starfarers and Settlers of Cataan. The campus today is beautiful with all the snow covering the trees.

Anyway, one of the things I wanted to do this year was try to blog some thoughts about the stuff I read both to help me think about it and to share it with others. Here are thoughts on three recent books.

The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis, read by Jeremy Northam. I've been listening to Trinity's collection of The Chronicles of Narnia on audiobook in my car. They're produced by HarperAudio and read by various famous British actors. One of the interesting parts is the way the readers pronounce the same words differently. The Silver Chair has been moving toward a place as my favorite of the Chronicles for several years now. Puddleglum the marsh wiggle is definitely my favorite of Lewis' characters. He's so funny in his pessimism but also in his determination and faithfulness to Aslan. I love his assertion to Eustace about releasing the possibly mad and enchanted prince that Aslan didn't tell them what would happen, only what they had to do. The prince might kill them but they will die obeying Aslan. Also, Northam gave him a great accent making him more fun to listen to.

Philippians by Gordon Fee. This is an entry in the InterVarsity Press New Testament Commentary series and is a shorter version of Fee's NICNT commentary. Fee is a Pentecostal New Testament Scholar who has specialized in textual criticism and Pauline studies. I wanted to study Philippians in greater depth so I read this commentary at breakfast and read the focal passages from the letter as part of my quiet time. I wanted to better understand Paul's focus on knowing Christ and the power of his sufferings. It's a brief commentary and for details Fee often refers to his longer one, but it was still helpful. Fee focuses on the letter to the Philippians as an ancient friendship letter and I think that was a helpful emphasis as was the Philippian context as an imperial Roman colony. Therefore the competing claims of Christ and Nero as Soter (savior) were very much in the open to the Philippians and part of their conflict with their fellow citizens.

Body Piercing Saved My Life : Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock, by Andrew Beaujon. Beaujon is a music critic for Spin magazine and non-Christian who got interested in Christian rock music while working on piece on P.O.D. and decided to investigate what it was all about. He spent a couple of years traveling the country to various festivals and events like Cornerstone, Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Music, and the GMA's in Nashville. He also visited record labels, went to concerts, and interviewed many bands, activists, and Christian music insiders. I expected it to be a very interesting book and it was. The research and attention to background detail wasn't always what it could be, e.g. Jonathan Edwards was not an itenerant evangelist, 99% of Evangelicals do not believe that man had nothing to do with writing or translating the Bible (though the survey research he read did indicate 95% of us believe it is the word of God), the hymn is not "The Church Is One Foundation," and, most egregiously from my perspective, equating The Lost Dogs with Petra (especially after praising Daniel Amos and The Seventy-Sevens who provide half the members of The Lost Dogs)--a critic ought to know better. An obvious benefit of the book was having my attention drawn to bands I've not listened to much, or even heard of, like MuteMath, Pedro the Lion, and MeWithoutYou. Now they're on my radar, or sonar. It was also interesting to get Beaujon's perspective on Christian music and evangelicalism as an outsider. One particularly poignant moment in the book came during his visit to Calvin College. He was hanging out with several artists and speakers from the conference and asked one of them why he took time out to answer questions from an angry listener. The singer responded, "Because I'm a Christian." That led Beaujon to reflect on the fact that he liked these people but was fundamentally cut off from them because of his own lack of belief. Often he talks about the fact that Christian rock is really the only genre of music that is defined by its lyrical content. I also found his discussion of worship music very interesting. At first, especially at the GMAs he was very turned off it. It seemed very sappy and individualistic. Other than the obvious emotional high people were getting from the music, he didn't get its appeal. This coincides I think with some things my former worship pastor, Ryan Flanigan has said in his and Sean Carter's blog, Reform Worship. Worship music needs to be considered as part of a life of worship and particularly as a corporate response to the teaching of the faith. Divorced from those contexts it loses its meaning and power, even when it is good music. Beaujon comes to understand some of this through conversations with a friend and particularly through the music of David Crowder and The David Crowder Band. He's especially spot on in his observation at a Crowder concert that it became most powerful at the point when Crowder, still playing, left the spotlight to focus on the music, leaving "the star's" place empty, while people kept worshipping lifting themselves to something beyond the band and the music.
As a complete picture I think the book loses something by primarily focusing on those bands and singers that are trying to crossover to the mainstream or be something more than a "Christian band", other than Crowder, who is unapologetically church-focused in his music. By focusing the book that way he's unable to really engage with the influence of Rich Mullins or Michael Card, or even Steve Camp. He closes by reflecting on the question, "Why Christian rock?" and decides that while it's culturally unnecessary he's glad it's culturally possible. In that decision I think he's still not fully understood the importance of the (W)word to evangelicals. We strive to be people of The Book and our faith is in the living Word, Jesus, but through the revealed, written word. More so than most other religions evangelical Christianity is focused on cognitive belief. Because of that we can't really overlook or ignore musical lyrics but crave something that rocks like what we hear on the radio or ipod. Petra wasn't Guns-n-Roses, probably not even Poison, but I needed something as kid that gave me a taste of what Axl and Slash could do but that didn't offend what I believed and aspired to. As we grow we come, or should come, to a place where we can experience and understand more than just our own faith and music, but we also need those who consciously come from where we have and who can challenge us to grow or draw us on to a shared goal in their songs. So, I liked the book.

Winter Movie Thoughts

2008-02-01T12:11:00.001-06:00

It's definitely been winter up here. This time a week ago all our lovely snow had melted and the temperature was hovering, even at night, in the high forties to low fifties range. When I headed for work on Tuesday morning it was about fifty. When I headed home from LIFEgroup on Tuesday night the temp. was in single digits and headed for negative four. An exciting wild west wind was blowing snow all over the place and making my drive home (c. 15 miles) tense and interesting. By the time I got up we'd had three inches that had drifted into a ridge a foot deep in the driveway between my building and the one next door. On Thursday our predicted snow showers turned into a nine inch deluge. At some point during the super bowl somebody looked outside and noticed that it was snowing and we picked up another 5 inches or so. With temps in the forties and rain today and tomorrow it might all be gone by the time I leave work and by the time I leave LIFEgroup again, the same night it'll be cold and snowing. It's been a fun winter. Some folks are ready for it to go but I'm having too much fun. Thus for the winter part of the title.

Now for the movie part. I saw a couple of things I wanted to comment on. Also we're doing a movie display at work to coincide with Oscar season (whatever happens to the show itself) at work and Matt asked me to write up reflections about some of the movies on our display that students might not have seen so here're thoughts on two I saw over the weekend and the three displayed.
1. U2 Concert in 3-D: I saw this on the Imax in Lincolnshire with my friend Dianne on Saturday. I'm impressed with the 3-D technique. It's way beyond what I remember from watching The Creature from the Black Lagoon on t.v. with the cardboard red and blue glasses back in the 80's. Bono and lads as well as the audience really were jumping out of the screen at me. There were a few times when I thought the kids in the seats in front of me were waving their hands in the air but no, it was the Argentine crowd on the screen. Also U2 rocks. There was something about listening to this huge crowd of teens and 20somethings singing along to New Year's Day and Sunday, Bloody Sunday. There's a lot of stuff said about 80's music, but the decade wasn't all bad. Their new stuff's good too, and so is the stuff in between. It was an impressive spectacle.
2. The Rhinoceros: This is an adaptation of the Ionesco play starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder that came out around 1973. Mostel is truly amazing as Wilder's pretentious neighbour who turns into a rhinoceros. Wilder's is the lead role but it's Mostel's performance that is gripping. I didn't care for their pairing in The Producers, though I might if I gave it another chance, but they work very well together here. Wilder is also very good as the alcoholic accountant who struggles to resist as everyone around him becomes a rhino. Wilder is especially gripping toward the end when he comes to terms with the fact that he's the last human. How, now, does he know he is human? How does he know he is right and all others are wrong? How does he know he speaks while they only bellow and snort? It doesn't matter, he will fight for his humanity. It's a very interesting movie.
3. It Happened One Night: This 1934 picture won Oscars for best adapted screenplay, best actor (Clark Gable), best actress (Claudette Colbert), best director (Frank Capra), and best picture. Colbert plays as young socialite who's just gotten impulsively married. Her family blocks the marriage and to escape their opposition she jumps off the family yacht in Miami and tries to get back to her husband in New York. Gable plays a down-and-out reporter who blackmails her into letting him travel with her in hopes of a big scoop. As they progress through difficulties up the coast they steadily fall in love before having to deal with her father and ersatz husband. Aside from being a fun story the movie is very interesting for the social attitudes it portrays. Gable's drunkenness and his assertion that Colbert's character "needs is a guy that'd take a sock at her once a day, whether it's coming to her or not." pass completely without critique in a way that would be impossible today. Legal scholar Mary Ann Glendon has used the movie on occasion as an example of the way societal attitudes towards what is permissible can change seemingly overnight.
4. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre: This 1948 film won Oscars for best supporting actor (Walter Huston), best director (John Huston), and best adapted screenplay. It stars Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt as Americans down on their luck in Mexico who hook up with Huston's old prospector to look for gold in the mountains. They have to contend with the elements, an interloper, bandits and their own greed. Bogart's Fred C. Dobbs scoffs at the old man's warnings about gold fever even as he descends into his own madness. It's a great study of camaraderie and what good fortune can do to men. It's also the source of the famous line, "Badges? We ain't got no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges."
5. On the Waterfront: This one came out in 1954 and won Oscars for Best Actor (Marlon Brando), best supporting actress (Eva Marie Saint), best director (Elia Kazan), best original screenplay, and best picture. Brando is Terry Malloy, a former boxer who "coulda been a contender," but who now works in the shipyards and for the mob. Eva Marie Saint is his neighbor and Karl Malden is a priest, together they challenge Terry to speak up to the police to help fight the corruption on the docks and take down Lee J. Cobb's crime lord. You could watch the movie just to see Saint's face or to hear Malden's sermon urging the workers to take action on their own behalf against the mob and so prevent new crucifixions, or to see Malloy, beaten by the boss's goons struggling to work in the face of the ostracism of his peers. It's been argued that movie is Kazan's defense for having named names in the McCarthy hearings, whether that's true or not, it's a powerful story of man's struggle to fight against his past and do what he thinks is right.

So there you go, winter and movies. Also how about those Giants.

Clean Mangers and Dead Oxen

2008-01-29T12:47:00.000-06:00

Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, is one of the more famous and controversial pastors in America. Today he spoke in the seminary chapel service here at Trinity. It was a lecture on preaching as part of a church planting boot camp that's going on here this week (Mark Dever, another famous Mark pastor from the other side of the country will be speaking tomorrow at 12:45 and 3:00 in case anyone's reading this who might be interested and able to attend). It was a very good lecture with a lot of great insights on preaching and a lot of stuff that is pretty controversial, as one expects from Driscoll. Anyway, as an aside illustration at one point he referred to Proverbs 14:4. I read Proverbs often, ideally daily. In the last three years I've probably read any given chapter in Proverbs as many as 20 times (it would be 36 if I had self-discipline). Thanks to an exercise I did with my pastor in college I pay especial attention to the proverbs that deal with laziness and work. Proverbs 14:4 never rang a bell. "Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox." At Driscoll's church this is a base verse that they use in a boot camp they hold for new Christian men. It's easy to keep your manger clean if you've got no oxen. You don't have to work at all. But you also get no crops. A lot of young men are lazy. Many of us who aren't so young anymore are lazy, me especially. But if we're really going to have full lives that bear fruit for God and leave a good legacy for future generations then we need to get out and work. We need to get some oxen and get in the field and give up the extra two hours of sleep and the DVD tonight and the playstation or computer game and get into the field. There was a lot of other stuff but Proverbs 14:4 was pretty convicting.

The Week in Review

2008-01-26T17:06:00.000-06:00

I always think of a million things to blog about while time passes. Then I hop on here and can't bring myself to do anything more than post an update of whatever I've done in the past days, weeks, months since last I blogged. That's pretty much what's happening here.

Saturday 1/19. I went over to Cindee's and watched the Lord of the Rings with Cindee and several other friends. We managed it in less than 13 hrs., which is to say that we made pretty good time. I think I agree with Cindee that while the RotK extended edition added some good stuff it's also the only one of the three that added rotten stuff as well, viz. the death of Saruman (good for Christopher Lee but fundamentally misconceived in the writing), all additions to the Paths of the Dead sequence, The confrontation of Gandalf and the Witchking, Aragorn confronting Sauron through the palantir (good in conception but very confusing), The parley before the Morannon (he did need killing). All show the bitter fruits of earlier poor decisions to stray from the text and of fundamental misunderstandings of the characters. On the other hand a movie series that contains the charge of the Rohirrim on the Pelennor Fields and the departure from the Grey Havens is still exponentially better than all other movies combined and cubed.

Sunday 1/20. I got the chance to teach an elective for 3rd Place, our church senior high ministry, on the Virgin Mary in two 35-50 min. sessions. Our area has a large Catholic population and a lot of our students have friends and family that are Catholic, if they aren't themselves, so the differences between our church and the Catholic church are significant. In the first session on the 6th I tried to focus us on what the Bible says about Mary. This week we focused on what the churches say about Mary. It was an interesting time. Since most of the students had the following day off in observation of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday we started off by talking about the students' thoughts on setting aside specific days to honor people. They thought it was good to have a day to remember and honor Dr. King but thought a day set aside by the church to remember or honor someone other than Jesus seemed idolatrous. Then we went into a discussion of some of the historical teachings about Mary, e.g. that she is the Mother of God or Ever Virgin. At this point I realized that I had spent too much time studying and not enough time organizing information or planning the session. I do this almost every time I try to teach something, so hopefully I'll start to learn the lesson. It's not enough to know a lot about something to teach somebody about it.
After 3rd Place ended I went out and watched No Country for Old Men. It was brilliant. It's very much like Fargo but with competent criminals, a West Texas setting, and no music. Anton Chigurh, the hitman played by Javier Bardem, is the force of nature that Gaer Grimsruud and Carl Showalter (not to mention Millers Crossing's Tom Regan or O Brother's Ulysses McGill) dream of being. Tommy Lee Jones steps in to the Marge Gunderson role of the local cop trying to put it all together and Josh Brolin plays the part of the everyman trying to improve his life but calling down the storm (otoh, if Jerry Lundergaard was the man that Llywelin Moss is, his scheme would have succeeded and there wouldn't have been a Fargo). A big part of the power of Fargo is the hardanger fiddle playing over the empty snowscape of the Minnesota winter. Perhaps an equal part of the power of No Country is the silence that reigns over the West Texas plains. I love the way the Coen's use music and this time I love the way that they didn't.
Also on Sunday I heard a good sermon about Ephesians 2:1-10. The Dang Patriots handled the Chargers and have forced to root for the Giants in the Super Bowl.

Monday, 1/21. I had today off for the holiday. I spent it at home doing laundry, arranging my room and waiting for various sites to load on my dial up connection. I couldn't get blogger up or we'd have read most of the preceding parts of the post already. Monday afternoon I saw the movie Juno. It was a very good and entertaining portrait of a teenager dealing with pregnancy and deciding to give the baby up for adoption. It's impossibly hip and witty but also tender, sweet and fun.

Tuesday-Friday. I spent most of the time working. Steve led our LIFEgroup in a discussion of Romans 1:1-17. Nate led the 3-D guys in a very good discussion of how they ought to relate to girls and how to navigate the upcoming dating waters. Most nights involved the watching of Doctor Who episodes from the library. I have a new contender for the favorite show mantle. I've been really impressed with both Christopher Eccleston's and David Tennant's incarnations of the Doctor. I spent most of last night hanging out with my friends Jason, Bonny, Jenn, and Dave. I learned to play Scene-It which is now one of my favorite games but they may not play with me again.

Saturday, 1/26. I slept in--as is right and proper to do on Saturdays. After getting up I did some more straightening in my room and inventoried my cd's. I have way too many cd's. I also went through my clothes and identified some stuff I can donate to Goodwill or Salvation Army and thus be able to put my clothes away. I've got way too much stuff. Then I went online, and now I've blogged.

Verse of the week:
"Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, Rejoice." Philippians 4:4

Random amusing quotes:
"Shouldn't Gandalf's sword be blowing glue, too?" Steve's observation on a recent viewing of Fellowship.

"What's the most embarrassing thing your kids have done?" Youth 1
"My kids are perfect." New volunteer leader, jokingly
"Where did you get them?" Youth 2, deadpan.
In 3-D and 3rd Place it's tradition to allow the kids to ask new leaders any three questions on their first night. I think this is my favorite interaction I've seen from any of these.

Scale Model Candy Battle of the Pelennor Fields

2008-01-11T11:49:00.000-06:00

I'm in awe. I'm also hungry. This is an amazing feat that should be seen to be believed. I wish I had an attention span capable of carrying out something similar.