Beowulf

Finished reading Beowulf. What a great epic poem. Beowulf is The Hero who is self-sacrificing, noble, forthright and true. A bit proud by our standards, but true. And strong, really, really strong even when he must be Seventy or Eighty fighting the dragon. Sure he's an idealized hero and at the same time has rough edges but its good to read about a hero. A hero who knows his place under Heaven and trusts the Lord God Almighty with his life and for his time to die. I had forgotten all the faith references . These were Christianized Danes and Geats and Shieldings and the poet reflects their belief in this poem and lore. You also see all kinds of source material for J.R.R. Tolkien. I wonder if the movie accurately reflects Beowulf or includes his faith.

Thanksgiving

We had a great thanksgiving day with friends. We had it all - food fellowship and fun. After the huge dinner we broke out the potato cannons. yes- I said cannons, plural. When we got to the house I sheepishly asked if they would be interested in fireing off the spud gun we had just made "for the boys" using the plans we found in a great book. Turns out they have the book too and had just made the spud gun themsleves. After a while of bombarding their back lot (and the neighbors once or twice) we ran out of ammo and had to go on a potato run- on sale for a dollar a bag! There is something that is satisfying about a loud bang and a projectile flying really far! Yes- I'm thankful for that.

Ministry

Rev. Tim Keller giving the message Gospel Centered Ministry.

bullet at 5000 frames per second

Bullet At 5000 Frames Per Second

OK- I'm sure something theological could be said about this.

This is just cool

simple and unaware

Trying to bring some humor to a serious topic, I used this video last Sunday (sans music) to describe the simple young man who lacks judgement in Proverbs 7:7 and 7:22. Reminds me of a scene straight out of Road Runner. We go blindly into folly. When I first saw this video I was laughing out loud. Growing up we had a deck and the squirrels would chew it to bits. Wish we had one of these.


(HT: JJM)

His Excellency

Just read His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis. George Washington was a fascinating character. His biographer indicates that he was always aware of and concerned about what posterity would think of him. In later years he went back and edited his diary from the French and Indian war, presumably to polish his record. At the same time he was a fearless leader and also the one man who could in reality unite the colonies before and after the war with the British. He was a pragmatist and one of the few men of social rank among his peers to die wealthy- most others, especially his fellow Virginian land owners were in debt. Lot's of other interesting stuff. For instance Jefferson and Washington had a great falling out later in their relationship, Hamilton seemed to want to militarize the whole continent and out Napoleon- Napoleon on this side of the Atlantic. Reading this book and learning of all the intrigue and political maneuvering that took place amongst the colonial leaders reminds me that there is nothing new under the sun. Also reminds me that these were just men, very flawed, often good, often admirable, but men. Good book

Birthday Fun

a friend bought our son a book for his birthday. I'm excited- find out why here. Did I mention I'm excited?

theater in the ancient church

Both Augustine and Chrysostom had nothing but invective for the theater of their day. They were both alive in the late 4th century and very early 5th century AD. Augustine likens the emotional highs and low and empathy to a kind of false self stimulation. Chrysostom condemns theatre too. He comments that men walk away with images emblazoned in their minds that cause them to sin. He uses colourful language to describe this. There is no misunderstanding his concerns.

I wonder what the modern parallels could be for us. I'm sure that we could all come up with probable comparisons. I guess they weren't playing "The Sound of Music" at the Constantinople theatre in the 390's.

Riches and Job

working through mark and am thinking about the rich young ruler and Job. Wondering about the comparison. We don't have a final outcome with the young ruler so I guess we can't do to close a comparison. More of a speculation maybe. Although some treat him walking away as a final outcome. The disciples and people of their day seemed to see riches as a blessing. We see them the same way today. It's hard to argue that riches don't change life and in general for the existential better. Wealth does seem to open up individual contengency and feedom. But what if that is stripped from you. Job goes through this and is miserable but maintains his confession- to Gods glory. With the rich young ruler Jesus looks, loves him- and then points to the thing in his life that he is least willing to give up and says -essentially- 'that's mine too'. Hopefully those in the church don't value, or cling to, something so much as to prevent their entrance into the kingdom. I wonder how often we see things that might be close. Job's confession in trial was, "I know that my redeemer lives." I wonder what the rich young ruler's response to those trials would have been. Obviously riches and the abuse or veneration of what God has given is a great example used here by Jesus. That ruler seemed to have it all together. We have to be diligent that the riches that are so often a blessing don't become a curse to us. Just another example of the need to keep gospel perspective in life.