Camping Worries Conquered

Gary Smalley has a video series on married relationships in which he suggests that the greatest bonding time for families happens during camping trips, because that's when so many things go wrong. Of course, he wasn't familiar with our situation, which is why he is so far off.

We prepare things thoroughly. Looking over Ly's shoulder, it appears that she had a two-page, type-written packing list, which I believe had two columns on each page. We arrived at the camp ground in time to pick a beautiful spot. The ground did not slope. We set the tent up without any problems whatsoever, the air mattress worked flawlessly, and everything turned out as desired. Going swimming was fun for the girls, though Jo hated the cold water (we're talking H-A-T-E-D!). At night, the lantern gave a nice light, and we had enough flashlights that no one had to go to the bathrooms in the dark. Ly had prepared a menu that included all the necessary food groups, including fruit. Jo went to sleep without too much trouble, and Ch and La did pretty well, too, considering that this was their first camping trip ever. As we were fixing to shut it all down I looked around, and everything had gone so perfect that I almost felt bad that we had cheated the camping complications. We had managed to plan the worries out of camping. It was nearly as if I had broken a new toy.

The rain started at 2 a.m.

Rough-ing It

We went camping Monday-Tuesday, and since we were going to be in the great outdoors, we decided to disconnect from our normal way of life, and only take the minimum with us. I did prepare a few electronics that would come in handy while we'd be far away from civilization. So before we left, I charged

- 8 D batteries for the lantern
- 2 AA batteries for Ly's camera
- 2 AA spares for Ly's camera
- 2 AA batteries for my flashlight
- 2 walkie talkies
- 1 BP-511A battery for my camera
- 6 AA batteries for my external flash
- Ly's cell phone
- My cell phone

We also bought 2 block batteries for the weather radio at Wal-Mart.

P.S. Just before anyone complains, I really did cut down. For instance, I didn't take the razor, the FM transmitter, the Pocket PC, the laptop computer, the portable hard drive, the CD player, or the MP3 player this time.

Waylaid at Home

As we arrived home this evening, someone was already waiting for us. On the bathroom windowsill near our entrance, a black ratsnake lay in expectation. A friendly neighbor knew what to do and brushed it into a trashcan, and took it to the lake, so that it could continue hunting rats and the like. The adventures never stop...

Mary ...

During our picnic today, I sang

"An so 'nem schoenen Ferientag mit Mary
Muss man guter Laune sein..."

Everyone gave me a blank look, and Ly asked, "What? Which Mary?"

I said, Mary ... POPPINS with a big "POP" sound.

To which Ch responded, "Noooooooooooo! Mary ... Christmas!"

Frisco

Frisco is an Oklahoma ghost town. For all I know, the graveyard is the last reminder of a place that once hoped to be what Yukon became - a town along the railroad just West of Oklahoma City. The railroad took a more Southern route than the founders desired, and Frisco went the way of many an early settlement in Oklahoma.

Several of Ly's relatives lie buried in Frisco cemetery. It's a square plot of land out in nowhere, with fields to the horizon all around. A road passes by just South of it, and there are a few trees planted parallel to the road, which can't keep away the noise of the cars traveling past the cemetery every few minutes. We visited with her parents, and our three children. As Ly, her parents, and the girls walked across the graveyard to another tomb, I had to think about the people buried here, and the scene in front of me.

Many of those who found their final resting place here have relatives whose tombs they visited during their lifetime. One life overlaps portions of another life, both have a starting and an ending point, but each is over now. There's an uncle of Ly's who died 11 days after the girls were born. His wife's grave is here, and he surely visited it often. Now, he lies next to her, with his nieces, still to young to understand why you don't climb on tombstones, running about and enjoying their childhood. An even smaller nephew is sleeping in a car, unaware of what's happening.

Looking to the South and to the North, it's like I can see the passing of time in the endless fields, reaching to the horizon with not so much as a real hill in sight. It is as if this graveyard was a symbol of a few lives, many of them interconnected, somewhere in the course of earth's existence. Much time has passed and many life stories were written before those of the people buried here, many more are to come. Some of us are alive right now, full of vitality, joy, curiosity. To the North, power lines go toward the horizon, the increasingly "smaller" poles hinting at the ever farther distance. Blooms that have broken off the plastic and cloth flowers put down for Memorial Day have been taken northward with the wind as if those who have gone away want to send a message to the future, alas, they are kept from leaving the cemetery by a fence. Maybe that is so that we can see them, maybe pick them up? What will we do with them? Throw them in the trash?

Above the entire scene, a blue sky and a few clouds spread majestically. It makes me think of an old Steven Curtis Chapman song I listened to this morning.

"Way beyond the blue, where the Father is calling
Let Him take you to a life beyond compare
His love is wider than the skies above you
And He has plans for you, that go way beyond the blue"

I Love You

What could be sweeter to a father's ear than to hear his baby girl say as he carries her to bed, "I love you...I love you."

Fuller - Week 2 Recap

In the second week, our topic was "Biblical Foundations of Mission." We discovered how God's desire for the return of the nations into His family is displayed in Scripture from beginning to end. As a matter of fact, you would be hard pressed to find five successive chapters that do not mention it in some way. We considered various motifs that appear repeatedly in Scripture. An example for a motif would be God's using people that were not special in their own right (compare Gideon, Saul, David, Naaman's wife's servant girl, the fishermen among Jesus' disciples, the boy who brought the five loaves of bread and two fish).

We saw an amazing graph showing how phrophecy in the Bible has been fulfilled and witnessed to elsewhere in Scripture. With the Biblical books at the bottom, lines were arching from left to right like a time exposure of a starry night. It was powerful indeed!

The Story of His Glory, by Steve Hawthorne, summarizes the theme of our week well. It's definitely worth reading.

Wichita Mountains

Is this a great world or what?

We Found a New Way to Discriminate

"It is the policy of [organization name] not to discriminate with regard to

• race
• color
• religion
• gender
• national origin
• age
• marital or
• veteran status, or
• disabilities.

Inquiries concerning application of this policy may be directed to the Human Resources Director, who serves as the Coordinator of Title IX; Section 504; and Americans with Disabilities Act, at [address]."

Add a new one to that... . In addition, plenty of places are now adding, "sexual orientation."


Addendum:
I should probably add some perspective here. The article talks about people getting fired for putting on too much weight, among other things. I have a hard time thinking of a situation where that would be appropriate (maybe a woman who was hired to be a model, with a particular idea of what a model should look like, and then she gained 200 lbs.?). However, as soon as a new form of discrimination actually makes it into law, it has very far-reaching repercussions. For instance, a court just ruled against a Christian photographer in New Mexico who refused to shoot a gay commitment ceremony, citing religious objections. That case may be appealed. Once there is legislation banning a particular kind of behavior, businesses providing a public service are held to not discriminate. On the one hand, I believe Christians are called to love everyone, including those who disagree with them on a matter. I can't see a restaurant saying, "sorry, we don't serve food to people who are ... ." However, being forced to shoot the homosexual equivalent of a wedding seems to err on the side of the freedom of the photographer to be forced to do things she shouldn't have to participate in.
Obviously, body weight isn't such a heated topic. However, if it becomes law, I wouldn't be surprised to see lawsuits against airlines whose coach seats were to small. Would that be a good thing? Maybe it would be. It certainly makes a lot of things very complicated as we evaluate everything we do so there's no one who's going to get hurt. Then again, doesn't that seem like an appropriate thing to do for Christians?

Thoughts?

Lindley House

We had a wonderful anniversary celebration this weekend, staying at the Lindley House Bed & Breakfast in Duncan, OK. They have several beautifully decorated rooms as well as three dreamy cabins. Their landscaping is magnificent, and the property is large enough that you forget you're in the middle of Duncan. The breakfast was out of this world.

Birding

I spent some time watching a bird in our backyard just now. We have many pretty birds, including blue jays and cardinals, among others (they appear amazingly beautiful if you grew up where I did - virtually none of our birds had any color). Anyhow, I saw a bird I hadn't seen before (though I suppose I really should have): a Gila Woodpecker. They have a beautiful red cap, and this one (a male) had a deep black chest (OK, maybe all the males do). Trying to find out what it was, I ran across the Birds of Oklahoma web site. They have photographs of lots of native birds, making it easier to identify them if you're ignorant like me. Used to be, you'd have to buy a book for this, and now it's just "out there on the Internet." It's a great time to be alive.

Oh, yeah, I better be careful about doing too much birding. If I watch them too often, I'll want this.

A Chance at Redemption

We made it into the UI Cup, a chance to qualify for the UEFA Cup. That gives us the opportunity to redeem the season, and play internationally next year, though I'm sure Armin Veh and all the others would have much preferred any of the five spots ahead of us.

Manuel Fischer came in about the 70th minute, when we were down 0-1. His first touch of the ball resulted in a penalty kick in our favor, and later he marked the 2-1 (they still tied us afterwards). Not a bad game, there, his third for our team after a few minutes against FC Barcelona in Camp Nou, and 10 minutes against Nuremberg. If Gomez ever leaves, he'll take his spot. Better yet, though, may be a combination of the two. I wouldn't be surprised if they were our starting strikers by the end of next season. Time will tell.

I Shall NOT Want

We're praying about doing something very bold (at least to us), giving up comfort and security and launching out into the unknown. Let me rephrase that: the to-us unknown, but we know Who is going with us, and that He is faithful.

Nonetheless, the thought of leaving behind a life of ease, comfort, and security is somewhat scary. To this, He says:

"[You] shall not want."

Furthermore, He promises, "[I will make you] lie down in green pastures [and lead you] beside quiet waters" - pictures of plenty. If we mean that we trust Him, we should have confidence that taking the step is safe. Note that the psalm (Psalm 23, you guessed it) talks about lead to quiet waters - they are not right next to you, an expert is needed that leads you - past what? desert? - to those quiet waters. "He restores my soul" - what from? This is not a picture of perpetual ease, but one of faithfulness of God that difficulties that will come are not going to negate His arms of protection that support us.

Yet note further, "My cup overflows" (verse 5).

For "I shall not want," compare Psalm 34:9-10, Philippians 4:19. However, let's not forget, either, Paul's words in 1 Timothy 6:8, "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content."

Also, verse 4 "rod" and "staff:" the shepherd not only leads, but also defends the flock (Lange, A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures).

Finally, one thing we shouldn't forget as Christian leaders is that the picture is of a flock (me, us) and a shepherd (Jesus). Too often, we limit ourselves to the "chief shepherd" - "shepherd" verses, and think of ourselves as the shepherd only, and those we lead as the "flock." While that is biblical, too, we must not forget to remember that we and those marvelous leaders God placed around us are also (dumb, helpless, needy) sheep led by the Shepherd.

Should We Water Down the Gospel?

In a conversation yesterday, a friend of mine mentioned that we "don't want to water down the gospel." As I considered those words later, I realized that we probably never defined what we really mean by that. There are probably at least two things we may mean by it. The latter appears to me to be the biblical way of discipleship.


Scenario A: We water down by permanently removing portions of what believers (or potential members of the body of Christ) ought to receive. We never feed them any proteins, or not enough of the various vitamins to sustain them. In the process, they are malnourished because they lack a balanced, wholesome diet. In spiritual terms, this diet may be that we teach them they should be nice people, and think of God as a really great guy that is an example to follow. This "pandering to the consumer" may include the addition of foreign elements to encourage consumption. "We're overcooking the vegetables until the vitamins are gone and add sugar on top so they'll eat them."


Scenario B: When our son was a few months old, Ly started introducing him to "solid food" ("cereal" that looks more like powder). She mixed the cereal with plenty of baby formula (OK, so we're baby formula-ing things here). We never intended that he would not one day eat Jaegerschnitzel and Spaetzle. However, because his body was not yet able to handle meat, etc., we gave him what he could take in small portions, mixed with plenty of what his body is already comfortable with. If we didn't, his body would reject it (yup, spitting up or diarrhea). Note that watering down is not about changing or leaving out, but about providing smaller amounts of the real thing in a manner that will actually be digested rather than rejected, and delaying other things (e.g., honey) until the baby will not be in such great danger of developing allergies. The aim is that we learn to eat the real thing. Instead of saying "Great is Thy faithfulness" which may be obscure to the audience, and therefore be blended out as they listen, we may say "God, you do exactly what you said you would do, and we can trust you to take care of us." If the well-tried line is going to be lost on them, and the latter wording will bring the concept across, is the latter maybe the right "watered-down" version that will start them growing until one day they can grasp the whole range of meaning of "God's faithfulness" - using that term or not?


As you will have guessed, it seems to me that we probably should water down the gospel. However, since the term has such a bad rap, we're going to waste a lot of energy and spend a lot of time explaining it if we actually call it what it is.


1 Cor 3:2 - I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren't ready for anything stronger. (NLT)

Sign of the Beast Deciphered

For years, I didn't know what to make of the "sign of the beast." What's the point of a three-digit-number? Driving to work this morning, the solution finally hit me. Right there in front of me, in Conoco-Phillips red, I saw the number 366. Bingo! Three conclusions:

1. The end is near. At the rate gas prices are rising right now, the world will be destroyed in about two years.
2. California is going first.
3. We should switch to selling gas by the liter.

Joe's Rule of Potty Training

The greater the desire for stickers (Ds), the greater the need to go use the potty (Ng).

Multiply by two.

A Long Week

I promise, I'll stop blogging about the VfB for a while soon (that's not much of a promise, as you will see in a moment). One week is terribly long to be under such tension. There's two UEFA cup spots available, and four teams are vying for it - all have 51 points. Unfortunately, we have the worst goal difference. The third of the four spots still qualifies for a play-off of sorts that may get you in by the backdoor, the fourth (our current ranking) means you're doomed. I'm cautiously optimistic that if we can win our home game - the last game of the season - that we can at least get this "UI Cup" spot. That's because second-placed Bremen is playing Leverkusen, one of the four. They should at least manage a draw against them. My preference would be a VfB win over Bielefeld, a HSV draw, and losses for Leverkusen and that dreadful Wolfsburg team that slaughtered us last weekend (0-4). If you're quick at math, you'll notice that would put us on top (actually, in fourth place on the whole grid, there are three champions league spots ahead of us). I'm not sure we can lay any claim to deserving to get in after some of the mistakes we've made all season. Anyways, Saturday morning will be torture until it's all over.

Until then, hope dies last.

BTW, the European championship starts in early June ;-)

Fussball

When I was in Pasadena, I chose to get a "surprise" for the girls. Unfortunately, Pasadena appears to lack tourist traps, which meant I had to go to Target for my purchase. Worse yet, California is too backwards to have supercenters. Consequently, I found myself in the enviable situation of buying a soccer set for my children (they had nothing else that was appropriate. I promise!). It said 3 years and up, so it seemed fairly appropriate. They loved it.

Ch is actually doing very well with it already. She's got the concept of kicking the ball down, and she knows that it needs to be kicked into the goal. There's one small nuance that she's still working on. Instead of kicking the ball towards the goal, and then through it, she leaves the ball wherever it lies, picks up the goal and sets it in front of it, and then kicks the ball through it.

Toooooooooooor!!!

Debt Culture

Yikes!

"The Fed's measure of consumer borrowing, which does not include any debt secured by real estate such as mortgages or home equity loans, stood at a record $2.558 trillion in March."

Source: USA Today

An Evangelical Manifesto

A large number of Evangelical leaders, including Fuller Theological Seminary President Rich Mouw, have composed "An Evangelical Manifesto." Aptly worded, it lays out the Evangelical position. There's room for you to sign, too, if you desire to. There's even a study guide if you want to look at it more closely with others.

"An Evangelical Manifesto is an open declaration of who Evangelicals are and what they stand for. It has been drafted and published by a representative group of Evangelical leaders who do not claim to speak for all Evangelicals, but who invite all other Evangelicals to stand with them and help clarify what Evangelical means in light of “confusions within and the consternation without” the movement. As the Manifesto states, the signers are not out to attack or exclude anyone, but to rally and to call for reform.

As an open declaration, An Evangelical Manifesto addresses not only Evangelicals and other Christians but other American citizens and people of all other faiths in America, including those who say they have no faith. It therefore stands as an example of how different faith communities may address each other in public life, without any compromise of their own faith but with a clear commitment to the common good of the societies in which we all live together.

For those who are Evangelicals, the deepest purpose of the Manifesto is a serious call to reform—an urgent challenge to reaffirm Evangelical identity, to reform Evangelical behavior, to reposition Evangelicals in public life, and so rededicate ourselves to the high calling of being Evangelical followers of Jesus Christ."

Fuller - Week 1 Recap

This photo isn't going to win any prizes. However, I wanted to capture a view of our classroom (and only remembered when pretty much everyone had left... thanks, K and J, for the smiles!). We had an amazing time these two weeks. Hearing everyone's stories was incredible, and reason to thank God for His faithfulness.

We would start with a time of worship. Every group led in worship once, as did the instructors. We worshipped through joint prayer, prayer for one another in small groups, meditating on our Community Rule of Life, considering a graphical depiction of how prophecy in the Bible has been shown to be fulfilled elsewhere in His word, giving our dreams for the future over to Him, and many other ways. Our perspective of how God can be worshipped was surely expanded, and it was a wonderful way to start off the day.

In the first week, there were a number of presentations on character as the significant determinant of finishing well. We explored Willard's concept of the capacity ladder and the character ladder, noticing how the two can be combined to avoid the fallacies of climbing the unstable capacity ladder only. We also met the MAGL faculty and staff, and took a campus tour. We even met the person who came up with the name for Fuller's Coffee by the Books cafe.

A Powerful Picture of Community

Photograph by George Steinmetz, National Geographic.

Original Caption: In Guandong Province toulou, the traditional dwellings of the Hakka minority group, curve around each other like the rings of a tree. As the village grew, new homes were built around older ones.

What a powerful image of community!

P.S. I hope I have done justice to copyright laws, if not, please comment.

Five Purposes Revisited

Some people are going to be ready to shoot me. I have spent the last 5-6 years drilling the five purposes into the heads of people at our church: Worship - Fellowship - Discipleship - Ministry - Evangelism. However, recently I've started to wonder whether a change would be wise: would the purpose of "fellowship" be better expressed as "community?" While I'm at it, would "service" be better than "ministry?" So, this may be my new language:
Worship
Community
Discipleship
Service
Evangelism

The Germans say, "Worte sind Schall und Rauch" (or something like that). "Words are like echoes and smoke." I suppose that's supposed to mean that the exact word used is less important than what it stands for.

Thoughts?

Outlet Mall Ante Portas

Oklahoma City is getting an outlet mall! The city council approved a mall that is supposed to be twice the size of Gainesville, TX, located at I-40, Council, and Reno. That's Western Heights' school district (also part of Francis Tuttle's CareerTech district). We're talking new jobs for an area that can use them, and possibly new opportunities for Francis Tuttle to serve her stakeholders, too. You can see Francis Tuttle's Reno Campus from the site. For more info, check out the City Council package PDF about it (there's a map as the last page).

Several Scripture Passages Side-by-Side

This one is for novices...oh, well. If you want to look at several passages from the same translation side-by-side, open your preferred translation, then select "Window, New Window" from the menu.

Three Times is a Charm

Bless Bayer Leverkusen, their kindness lasts forever... . Every time we fall behind them, they are nice enough to lose their next game to put us back on top. You can't complain about that.