Best Non-Fiction #6-10

Okay, to stretch the list thing out as long as possible, today I'm going to post the best non-fiction books I've read this year numbers #6-10 and I'll post #1-5 tomorrow.

NOTE #1 - And as always, these are NOT books that have necessarily been released this year, just ones that I have read.

NOTE #2 - While all of these lists are obviously my humble opinion please do not think I am completely wrapped up with my own opinion or conceited enough to believe that everyone is dying to read what I think about books, movies, music, etc. I know it's not the number 1 thing on your list today and I'm doing it for pure entertainment and because it's fun to hear what other people have to say as well. I'm looking forward to reading your own lists as much as I look forward to creating my own.

My favorite Non-Fiction Books of the Year (#'s 6-10)

6. God’s Greater Glory – Bruce Ware
-This was a strange book for me to read as I am not close to a Southern Baptist Seminary student, nor am I a hyper-Calvinist. But I did find this book extremely thought provoking and enlightening as to what the "meticulous providence" school of theologians think and I believe Ware laid out a compelling case for his view including an explanation of compatablist middle knowledge and freedom of inclination. Well written and thought provoking. It proves that you don't have to agree with everything a book is saying for it to be worthwhile and good.

7. The Way of Ignorance – Wendell Berry
Another great book of thought provoking essays. Even the ones about agriculture and farming were somehow interesting. I've never read any author before and thought, "it would be cool to be a farmer and work the land." But Berry does that to me every time. There's something cool about a farmer who types essays and novels on an old typewriter at home and has his wife as his editor. Wendell Berry's awesome.

8. Organic Community – Joe Myers

I read Joe Myers first book, "The Search to Belong" and found his ideas of creating different "spaces" for people interesting as well as why everyone should NOT be in a small group even though most churches goal is 100% small group involvement. Myers most recent book develops what this kind of organic community looks like a little more specifically. Plus even though you can read this in about two sittings, it gives you many ideas to think through.

9. How to Read Genesis – Tremper Longman III

I read this book before I did a personal study of the book of Genesis (also my favorite book in Scripture) earlier this year. This book is easy to read and helps you read and understand the form and structure of the book making your read through Genesis much more fruitful. I highly recommend reading this book before you start through Genesis.

10. Under the Overpass – Mike Yankowski

This is the story of two young men who decide to live on the streets homeless in six different cities for around a month each (one of those is Portland). The stories they tell and insights they have into the homeless world are intriguing. You will think differently when you pass someone on the street asking for money after this read.





So there is 6-10. I will post 1-5 tomorrow. Hope you can sleep tonight :)

Making a List, checking it about 20 times.

Tomorrow is December 1st. That may not mean much, other than Christmas is coming up. But like I said last week, December for me is a month of lists. A ton of people/mags have already started their lists:

Here is a very poor list from Metacritic.

Here is Paste Magazine's top 100 albums, books, 50 movies, and games.

Rolling Stone's Top DVD's of 2007.

Stephen King's Top 7 Albums. Wait a minute, why do we care what Stephen King's favorite music is? Speaking if, I'm scared of several things, but mist is not amongst them.

Christianity Today lists a bunch of artists no one's ever heard of.

Anyway, list season is here and I shall begin with books tomorrow and work my way into music. It's a little too early to be giving away the top ten music picks. I heard Devin was going to create some lists too which is very exciting. It's fun to make lists but it is even more fun to read other's lists so get crackin!

Life's Ultimate Questions

I have been refreshing on Ronald Nash's book "Life's Ultimate Questions; An Introduction to Philosophy" as of late and I am loving it. This was a book that I didn't appreciate in college but am seeing a huge benefit in now. I can't get enough of it! I'm trying to have a little basic philosophy refresher before a philosophy class next semester where we will study some of the philosophers that have had an influence on Postmodern thought in depth such as Wittgenstein, Rorty, Ricoeur, Foucault, Derrida, Fish, and some others. I'm really excited to dive into more of the primary source material rather than just take Christian theologians word for it.

The primary questions that philosophy should (and used to) ask include five things:
1. God - Is there a God? How does he relate to the world? Is this God personal?

2. Metaphysics - These are questions of ultimate reality and purpose. Is our universe closed/open? Purposeful?

3. Anthropology - Are humans inherently good/evil? What is mankind?

4. Epistemology - How do we know what we know?

5. Ethics - How and why do we make moral decisions?

Unfortunately more current philosophical streams have gotten sidetracked with the minors and majored on little pieces like linguistics or epistemology without connecting the pieces to the larger puzzle. They may give us little bits of truth here and there, but unconnected to the whole, they have limited value. Without a larger, consistent framework, there is no way to evaluate reality, our worldview turns into a jumbled mess and our lives stop working.

I'm also excited in December to read through Atlas Shrugged and use some of the criteria to critique philosophy that Nash gives. These tests include:

1. The test of reason - Is this worldview internally consistent? Are there any logical contradictions? Do the five pieces of the puzzle (as listed above) fit together?

2. The test of outward experience - Is this worldview consistent with what I experience as to be reality within the world we live? Nash uses an example of what is not consistent with reality such as the claim, "pain and death are simply an illusion." That is obviously false and should be rejected since we experience pain and death!

3. The test of inward experience - Is this worldview consistent with what my conscious and brain tell me is true?

4. The test of practice - Is it possible to claim to adhere to this worldview and consistently practice it as a way of life daily?

I think these are helpful criteria to examine worldviews and world religions and I am excited to use Atlas Shrugged as a guinea pig for this. If you have not read "Life's Ultimate Questions", I highly recommend it as a primer on philosophy. I have found it very valuable.

Some Subjects

Books:
I have recently read the book Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer about his summit of Mt. Everest in 1996 on the trip where several people died. It's a gripping and emotional story. I highly recommend it. I'm obsessed with Everest now. I've joked to Kelli about climbing it. But then I realized that I could see what it is like in the warmth and comfort of my home without even losing any toes! Just click HERE. By the way, statistically one in four people die trying to summit Everest. Not good odds! I highly recommend any of Krakauer's books. They've all been phenomenal! In other book news, I only have 2 books to finish before I start Ayn Rand's 1200 page monster Atlas Shrugged. Kelli read it a few months ago and I must catch up! Total that will bring me to 63 books completed this year, about seven less than last year but a better list overall. Yes, I am bragging and I don't feel bad about it at all.

A Warning:
During the month of December I'm going to go freaking nuts with lists. It will be that time of the year when we all reflect on what we've experienced, read, listened to, etc. over the past year and how they rank! Yes, it will be total overkill and I will love every second of it. There is nothing I love more than lists! I will do the top 20 albums of the year, top books, probably even make a list of books I will read next year, favorite moments, seriously, I'm going to go nuts with it. Be warned.

Hebrew:
Only 4 class periods left, a few quizzes and a final. Woohoo! I just got done memorizing the paradigm for the Hitpael and the Niphal verb. It is getting easier to memorize the verbal paradigms as there are some common trends that apply to all of them but still brutal work. I didn't have to memorize near this amount of stuff for Greek! I still have no idea how I'm going to remember the paradigm for all seven strong verb forms. That remains to be seen.

The Patriots:
We definitely know now that the Patriots are not invincible. Honestly, I haven't been real impressed with their schedule. Besides almost losing to Indianapolis, who have they played??? My prediction, they lose one regular season game and they don't win the Super Bowl.

The Bears:
They're awful, no doubt. But we did see a glimpse of hope yesterday as Hester remembered how awesome he is and won the game for the Bears to keep their playoff birth alive (at least until next week). Rex Grossman is still the worst QB in the league however so that poses a problem.

Demotivational Posters

Due to the recent comeback of mock posters, I thought these were funny.

Thanks Jeff.

We've Been Elfed

Whatever you do, you should probably NOT click HERE.

Robbed

Today I went to the chiropractor for this back pain I've been having for about a month now. I was literally in there for about 15 minutes while he asked me questions, pushed here and there, made a little small talk and then he said, "well, you're all done, we'll need to make an appointment for next week to go over my findings and get you on a plan back to being pain free."

What? But why can't you do that right now since I'm already paying 95 dollars?

I'm in shock right now. He gave no advice, no diagnoses, just a "we'll see you next week so I can charge you another 40 dollars".

I simply cannot believe the state of our countries medical world. Why couldn't he just tell me what was wrong and start treatment today? Was it really necessary to schedule another appointment next week since there was not even one other patient in the office? I honestly can't believe this. I wish I had a job where I could chat with someone for 10 or 15 minutes, give them no help AT ALL and make 95 dollars off of it. I guess i'm in the wrong field. I should be doing chiropractic work.

Great Impressions

Charles Barkley's is hilarious! Thanks Jeff!

Paste Magazine - Pay What You Want

Falling in line with Radiohead's ground breaking idea of allowing fans to pay what they want for their new album, for a limited time Paste Magazine is doing the same thing with subscriptions.

This is my favorite music magazine (unlike most music mags, I actually read the articles) and I highly recommend you give it a shot. After all, you only have to pay 1 dollar for 11 issues and 11 cd's! Pretty good!

Hebrew Tools

I have been keeping an eye out for Hebrew tools that will help me next semester as most of the work will be parsing verbs and translating and stumbled upon one book that parses every verb in the Old Testament, an interlinear that has a complete Hebrew text with an English translation right under it, and some laminated sheets that has all pertinent translating information on it.

They are great tools and I will definitely ask for those for Christmas but here is my questions: is having those and using them next semester some sort of cheating??? After all, those tools pretty much do all the work for me, if I were just to refer to them constantly. But would it be foolish not to use the tools that are available to me?

After all, this book pretty much got me (and everyone else) through my fifth semester of Greek!

Your Weekly Onion

Medical Miracle: Man Lives Thanks To Heart Stolen From Dead Man

This isn't going to win many friends.

NEW YORK -- The NBA has spoken with the Los Angeles Lakers about a sexual reference coach Phil Jackson made in a comment following Tuesday night's game in San Antonio.

The Spurs made 13 3-pointers in their 107-92 victory, and Jackson was asked if too much penetration was leading to open outside shooters.

"We call this a 'Brokeback Mountain' game, because there's so much penetration and kickouts," Jackson said. "It was one of those games."

Whoa!

Top Nintendo Games of All Time

Inspired by Devin's great post, I can't imagine not making a list of my own. I'm going to have to narrow it down to just Nintendo games for this post however. I don't have the time nor the brain power to widen it any. Just for the record, Devin may have beaten me yesterday at NCAA Football 04 on PSII (while I was supposed to be studying Hebrew) but the Miama/Virginia Tech game we played may go down into history as the greatest game ever played on the 2004 version of that game. I can't even begin to describe the excitement nor heartbreak that is caused. It will haunt me the rest of my days. But now, on to the list!

#1 - Super Tecmo Bowl
If I owned this game today I would still play it over Madden, NCAA Football, anything. Nothing compares or will ever compare to this game in the sports genre. In fact, I have a friend in Florida who last I checked was still battling it out with his brother in-law and was keeping a record book of everything they accomplished.



#2 - Mike Tyson's Punch Out
This was the great omission that I noticed on Devin's blog. I'm not sure I trust a man who doesn't have this in his top ten. Could have been a complete mind blip though. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.




#3 - The Legend of Zelda
Granted I was shocked to find out that Zelda is a girl, but nonetheless, almost perfect game.






#4 - Super Mario Bros. 3
There was no greater hype in video game land then when this game came out. Arguably one of the greatest games of all time.






#5 - Contra
Any game that has a t-shirt with the cheat code on it, has to be in the top 5.






#6 - Double Dragon 2
Obvious.







#7 - Mega Man (any of them)
On sheer entertainment value, it's hard to beat Mega Man with anything.






#8 - Metal Gear
Besides Mario Bros. this might be the first game I owned.







#9 - Blades of Steel
I don't even like hockey and this game had me hooked.







#10 - Little League World Series
This game was my first introduction to globalization. I learned what major league teams have just started learning. Japanese pitchers are unhittable!







#11 - Baseball Stars
Is everyone happy now?









#12 - Double Dribble
Free throws are still impossible but a great game nonetheless.







#13 - Micro Machines
It's sad to note how many people never gave this game a shot. But while I could never afford to buy it, it was a top rental when I was 10.






#14 - Paperboy
This game honestly is not that good, but for some reason I still have to put it in this list. Kind of a requirement.






#15 - Ducktales
Make fun of me if you will but this was fun.







#16 - Excitebike
Another standard must be on the list game.

A Lot Can Happen in a Year

My wife is about ready to start her busy season this Friday at the Salvation Army. For forty days they will have bell ringers placed all over Washington County. I remember last year all too well! We were living in a cold, dark basement, I was working at night at Hollywood Video (whom just declared bankruptcy by the way) and she was working about 80 hours a week; from morning till night while getting more and more exhausted and stressed out. That all culminated with her being in bed sick for about two weeks. Last year was a very difficult time although we survived off of the excitement of being in a new place.

Quite a contrast with this year! Kelli has a full time assistant that is going to help her schedule the bell ringers and has another assistant who will be there to count every night so Kelli only has to be there about three nights instead of six. Plus she will not have to go in on those days until around noon or so. I am working part-time with Evergreen as you all know which I cannot express how much better that is than Hollywood Video! And we are not living in the basement! Granted, we live above a garage, but come on, one step at a time!

God has really shown us many blessings in the last year and a half and we are very thankful!

Can someone show me one important story on here? Are these seriously the most important events happening in our world? Or are these the stories that a majority of people will read? What does this say about our culture?

I'm not trying to sound harsh but it just seems that CNN intentionally tries to appeal to the dumbest 5% of our nation! Even the way they word things and shape the titles for the stories tries to appeal to the worst part of us as humans (the same part that watches reality TV shows).

Just looking at this list makes me feel stupid.

Ben and Angela's Wedding

Can you tell this is the the Bagby family? Those are my three cousins Ben, Brian, and Brad and my aunt and uncle Mike and Jane. Some people would say the Bagby's all look quite a bit alike? What do you think?

Sorry for the pic quality, I took them off the website and have not bought any yet!

Stewie on American Idol

Oh man, this was SO funny last night. I feel like Family Guy gets better every season. Hilarious!

Today's Confession...

My guilty pleasure....

Dashboard Confessional - Dusk and Summer

I'll admit it, I like this album. I'm not sure what this means but I can't keep it to myself anymore! It's just so frickin catchy. It's kind of like the candy Airheads. I love the taste but it still kind of makes me want to throw up.

For the record however, I still want to beat this guy up a little bit. But not as much as I would like a shot in the ring with Bright Eyes. Give me one round, that's all I want.

Running is taking a toll on my body. My knee is starting to swell up with a little fluid again which hasn't happened since prior to my second surgery. I've really started to enjoy the challenge of running and yesterdays 2 1/4 mile run felt really good. My lungs are in good shape and my legs feel strong. But at the same time I am hesitant to overdo it because I would really hate to have a third surgery on the same knee. Other than that, I've had this constant back pain right underneath my left shoulder blade for three weeks now and it hasn't gone away! I feel like such an old man. Makes me wonder how Jerome Bettis played pro football all of those years. Can you imagine being 40 years old and playing professional sports???

Not much to say today but one great resource to (highly) recommend and one that I just found online if you are looking for a different perspective on N.T. Wright's current thought. While I'm not a big Piper fan it would be interesting to hear another side, plus it's pretty cool that he puts his books online to read for free.

The Centrality of the Gospel - Tim Keller

The Future of Justification; a response to N.T. Wright - John Piper

Plus a random quote for free: if you are bored when you are alone, you're probably not in very good company.

Good News Abounds!

-Kelli had a job interview last week. There are three positions open so we are praying (a lot) that she will get one of those. She's definitely qualified, has the education and experience and we are excited about the possibility. I think it would be a good challenge for her plus it would help us pay off our debt quite a bit quicker.

-I found a copy of Stanley Grenz "Theology for the Community of God" at Goodwill yesterday in perfect condition for 4 dollars! Glad I stopped in there!

-Devin Vaughn has a blog!

-All I have to do is get a 50% on my final to pass Hebrew with the way things are going! That's encouraging (although I hope to do a little better than 50% but nothing is guaranteed). I've really neglected Hebrew the last few weeks and feel pretty much lost in general. I can memorize junk for the weekly quizzes and pass with the best of them, but I'm still doing quite poorly on translation. I've found it quite bizarre that the major portion of the class is memorizing all seven verbal patterns perfectly and having to spit them out on the test when in about two days after the test I will forget them anyway. Plus I have a great little laminated card with every verbal paradigm on it for me! What's the point, you know? It is pretty cool being able to read the Hebrew Bible though and understand some of it. I've been reading through Genesis 12-14 and I can actually understand some of it.

-Kelli's crazy busy season with the Salvation Army is about to start but we're thankful that this year she has an assistant and we have a plan to make sure she doesn't exhaust herself and get sick again. Plus we're going to start the day together every one of the 40 days reading a Psalm together and praying. I'm excited to experience that with my wife.

-We've played Settlers of Catan (one of the greatest games on earth) about 20 times since I won it from Devin! I love it. Thanks Bob for introducing it to us.

-The only bad news I have is that I scheduled the Managing Money Workshop for Evergreen on the day and time that the Chicago Bears are playing the Seattle Seahawks. What was I thinking?!?!

Love vs. Retaliation

Last night in our home group we had a great discussion on this idea that comes back over and over again in I Peter:

"Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation." 2:12

When we are wronged in some way (as the early Christians Peter was writing to surely were), it is almost natural to want to lash out or retaliate. We have been taught that we have rights and we should fight to the death for our rights to be honored! When we are wronged, sue! When we are cut off in traffic, go into a rage! When we are slighted by the boss at work, let bitterness stew up within us! But that is not the way of Jesus, and not the way Peter directs us.

Again Peter says, while talking to servants, "What credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God." 2:20

When I think of this verse (other than Jesus as the prime example) I think of Martin Luther King Jr., although not a perfect man, he was a man who lived by this motto and changed thousands and thousands of minds through his non-violent resistance. He was beaten, he was shot at, his home was bombed and he never retaliated!

As Philip Yancey says in his portrait of King:
"The civil rights movement gave King many opportunities to test his nonviolent philosophy. A deranged woman stabbed him in New York, her weapon lodging a fraction of an inch from his aorta. A white man in Birmingham rushed the platform and pummeled King with his fists. (Don't touch him! King cried to his supporters, who surrounded the attacker. "We have to pray for him.") Southern sheriffs delighted in roughing up their famous adversary as they handcuffed him and hauled him away in paddy wagons. They clubbed his marchers with nightsticks, sicced German shepherd dogs on them, blasted them with water cannons that cracked ribs and sent bodies sprawling on the streets."

When he accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, King referred yet again to the principles he has learned from the Sermon on the Mount: "When the years have rolled past and when the blazing light of truth is focused on this marvelous age in which we live, men and women will know and children will be taught that we have a finer land, a better people, a more noble civilization, because these humble children of God were willing to 'suffer for righteousness' sake."

I have a whole new respect for Martin Luther King Jr. and am challenged by his godly example.

Charles Bridges...on ministry success

“In making the specific character of this warranted success, we may observe that visible success is various. There are some that plant-others that water; some that lay the foundation-others that build upon it. Some are designed for immediate-some for ulterior, work. Yet all have their testimony and acceptance in the Lord’s own time and way. Success is not limited to the work of conversion. Where, therefore the Ministry fails to convert, we may still be assured, that it convinces, reproves, exhorts, enlightens, or consoles, some one in some measure at all times. It never “returns to God void,” when delivered in the simplicity of faith; nor will it, under the most unpromising circumstance, fail of accomplishing his unchangeable purpose.

But we must remember also, that present success is not always visible. Apparent must not be the measure of the real result. There is often an under-current of piety, which cannot be brought to the surface. There may be solid work advancing under ground, without any sensible excitement; as we observe the seed that produces the heaviest grain, lies the longest in the earth. We are not always the best judges of the result of our ministry.”

Who knew that a book from the mid 1800's could be so relevant to today? Charles Bridges, I'm sorry that I judged your book due to it's oldness before I encountered it's timelessness.

November Running Challenge

A new month, a new challenge, a new diversion...

The Forgotten Ways Pt. 1

I've recently started reading "The Forgotten Ways" by Alan Hirsch. He asks some very timely, probing questions. "The church is on massive, long-trended decline in the West. In this situation, we have to ask ourselves probing questions: "Will more of the same do the trick? Can we simply rework the tried and true Christendom understanding of the church that we so love and understand, and finally, in an ultimate tweak of the system, come up with the winning formula?"

He responds: "However, most of the new thinking as it relates to the future of Christianity in the West only highlights our dilemma and generally proposes solutions that are little more than revisions of past approaches and techniques. Even much of the thinking about the so-called emerging church leaves the prevailing assumptions of church and mission intact and simply focuses on the issue of theology and spirituality in a postmodern setting."

Hirsch has some fascinating insights drawn from times of extreme growth such as the growth from 25,000 disciples in 100 AD to 20,000,000 in 310 AD and seeks to draw answers from these types of movements to discover how to "reactivate the church."

The most critical insight so far has been that the church continues to try the "church growth model" (putting on a quality performance with great facilities, good parking, bagels, etc.) even though only 12% of the world has any interest in this consumeristic way of "doing church", which leads to people just church shopping around for whatever the flavor of the month is (to which Hirsch says:
"Statistics right across the Western world where this model holds sway indicate that the vast majority of the church's growth come from "switchers"-people who move from one church to another based on the perception and experience of the programming")

So the dilemma is this: you have 95% of the world's churches competing for 12% of the population and 88% of the population being absolutely untouched because we don't know how to do anything else!

"What is becoming increasingly clear is that if we are going to meaningfully reach this majority of people, we are not going to be able to do it by simply doing more of the same. And yet it seems that when faced with our problems of decline, we automatically reach for the latest church growth package to solve the problem-we seem to have nowhere else to go. But simply pumping up the programs, improving the music and audiovisual effects, or jiggering the ministry mix won't solve our missional crisis. Something far more fundamental is needed."

I highly recommend this book!

Charles Bridges...on the minister and prayer

"Without prayer, a minister is of no use to the Church, nor of any advantage to mankind. He sows and God gives no increase, he preaches and the words are only like sounding brass, he recites the praises of God while his heart is far from him.

It is prayer alone, then, that gives the whole strength and efficacy to our different administrations: and that man ceased if I may use the expression, to be a public minister from the time he ceases to pray."

Prayer therefore is one half our ministry, and it gives to the other half all its power and success." The Christian Ministry Pg. 146-148

My weekly ode to the Onion

Preemptive Memorial Honors Future Victims Of Imminent Dam Disaster

King of Kong

Last night we went with Elvyss and Kristyn to see The King of Kong which might possibly be the most entertaining movie I've seen all year. It was FANTASTIC! I highly recommend you check out the trailer and find a theater that is playing it. Well worth the effort. So many laughs and a great story.

One other entertaining thing to note. Some random lady just pulled over on the side of our street and went on a rant to our neighborhood for about 5 minutes saying, "If gay women don't like who I am, then so be it." I'm not sure who it was directed at, but the whole neighborhood could hear her. Finally a guy came out and told her to leave and she said, "Ok, thank you for listening to me." Then he told her to leave again. I have no idea what just happened. I don't think the people with the bumper stickers that say Keep Portland Weird have anything to worry about.

Eat This Book

I finished Eugene Peterson's second volume in his forthcoming five volume spiritual theology collection last night. This in my opinion is better than "Christ Plays in 10,000 Places" and is worth reading if you are interested in what it means to read Scripture not just for information and what we can get out of it but for allowing God to transform us through it. The last chapter of the book is a very interesting "apologetic" for The Message translation and how the whole thing came about.

I'll just leave you with a few passages from the book:

"It is far too common among us to develop a problem-solving habit of approach to the Bible, figuring out what doesn't seem to fit and then sanding off the rough edges, so that it slips into our way of thinking more easily. We want to use it for comfort, and if it doesn't work comfortably we reconfigure it so that it will. One good friend warns his students against becoming expert text-nicians. Text-nicians learn this text, master it inside and out, so that they can repair it when we sense it's a little "off," so that it will run smoothly and get us where we want to go with our needs and want and feelings. But nothing in our Bibles is one-dimensional, systematized, or theologized. Pg. 65

The most frequent way we have of getting rid of the puzzling or unpleasant difficulties in the Bible is to systematize it, organizing it according to some scheme or other that summarizes "what the Bible teaches". If we know what the Bible teaches, we don't have to read it anymore, don't have to enter the story and immerse ourselves in the odd and unflattering and uncongenial way in which this story develops, including so many people and circumstances that have nothing to do, we think, with us." Pg. 66

And finally a great reminder on the importance of good exegesis (this is in the context of not letting our exegesis divert us from Jesus and helping us to submit to the text):

"But without exegesis, spirituality gets sappy, soupy. Spirituality without exegesis becomes self-indulgent. Without disciplines exegesis spirituality develops into an idiolect in which I define all the key verbs and nouns out of my own experience. And prayer ends up limping along in sighs and stutters." Pg. 58

Hebrew Midterm Complete

1 Hour and 20 Minutes is what it took. Much longer than I thought. The test itself was very thorough. I believe I got 29 out of 30 on the vocab and 20 out of 20 on the verb paradigm. I also think I got most of the fill in the blank translation and most of the parsing correct.

So what's the problem?

The 15 lines of translation! That, like I thought it would be, was a brutal part of the test. I honestly believe while reading some of the sentences I translated the professor will laugh out loud because it's no where in the ballpark of what the sentence means.

So how can you know all the vocab and verb paradigm and still translate like crap? I have no idea! But that's the case!

Anyway, I believe I got at least a C which was my goal. Now I can stop talking and thinking about this and get on with my life! Until the Final that is. ...

The Day Has Arrived

Finally, the day of the Hebrew Midterm has arrived! That dreaded, wretched, horrifying day.

All in all...I actually feel pretty good. I know the Qal verb paradigm and have written out the entire thing about 50 times. I know all 150 vocab words like the back of my...well, whatever you want to add there. That is 2/3's of the test right there. I think if I could at least get all of those right, I will pass. The translation section is out of my hands! At this point, you can either do it, or you can't. It's too late to play catch up for the time being. That is the part that I will need divine inspiration!

At 1pm pacific standard time my fate will be revealed!

Just out of curiosity, Bob, how did you do in Hebrew the first time?

Graduation Run

After four weeks of running 5 days a week, this past Saturday Devin and I had our graduation run which turned out to be 3.5 miles through Tryon Creek Park. Thus far I had been running on flat ground and was not prepared for the gradual inclines or the steep hills. Here is the route we ran.

Larissa and Kelli were nice enough to make us a finish line at the end and present me with the victory prize (Settlers of Catan).




By the time we were almost done I was hurting pretty bad. There was a final incline which almost did me in and I may or may not have said, "Devin, I hate you and your entire family." It's debatable. I don't remember anything.

The night was just beginning however. We had an awesome Oktoberfest community dinner at the Leonardo's and then we were off to play Settlers at Devin and Larissa's. Kelli went on to victory! Congrats!

Did I mention that it poured rain all day before our run? It was a mudfest. To quote Devin, "the run was epic."

The Sabbath

"Sabbath is a deliberate act of interference, an interruption of our work each week, a decree of no-work so that we are able to notice, to attend, to listen, to assimilate this comprehensive and majestic work of God, to orient our work in the work of God. Sabbath-keeping preserves and honors time as God's gift of holy rest: it erects a weekly bastion against the commodification of time, against reducing time to money, reducing time to what we can get out of it, against leaving no time for God or beauty of anything that cannot be used or purchased. It is a defense against the hurry that desecrates time."

Eugene Peterson - Christ Plays in 10,000 Places

How do they do it, week in and week out???

Poll: Bullshit Is Most Important Issue For 2008 Voters

Entire Precinct Made Up Of Loose Cannons

Five Kinds of Church People

In my pastoral management class yesterday we talked about five kinds of people you will likely encounter in any church setting (this was actually a tangent but helpful) being the following:

1. VRP (Very Resourceful Person) - These are the people that you go to when there is a need. They are people with resources, connections, influence to get things done that need to get done.

2. VIP (Very Important Person) - These are more of the influencers, those that are already leading in some context. Could be staff, elders, pastors, etc.

3. VTP (Very Trainable Person) - These are the people that could become the VIP's. They are the future leaders who are teachable and have a desire to learn and grow. It is crucial that these people get the majority of our time.

4. VNP (Very Nice Person) - These are people that are fun to be around, people like them, they're a blast to have around the church, but they will never really step up like you wish they would. They're just nice people.

5. VDP (Very Dependent Person) - And, our favorite people. Those who cannot and will not do anything on their own. They will not take responsibility for anything, but will want the pastors and leaders to do EVERYTHING. They are usually those that complain the most and desire the most time out of the pastor but are willing to give little to nothing to make church better.

This obviously could become simplistic when you only think of people in these categories especially when we do not take into consideration that God's grace is enough to make a VDP a VIP! But regardless, I find this helpful while processing the question, "who should get the most time on our calendars?" Time is limited and we have to be wise when we choose who to spend it with as a pastor.

A constant problem is that the VDP's will try to suck up all your time but the result of that time will be little to no progress. Plus if we spend all our time on the VDP's we will miss out on training those who are trainable and these are the people that need most of our time.

Anyway, I hope you find this helpful as well as you consider who needs your time.

Disaster Training

Last night I volunteered (or rather was wrangled in by Kelli) at the Portland Disaster Training event at the International Raceway which is a three day event that started yesterday with a staged explosion and then response training. There were actors (victims) strung out along the ground, policemen with dogs searching them out, fireman and bomb squad units all over the place. Unfortunately, I missed all of the exciting stuff. I got there in the evening and served dinner to policeman and firemen for a few hours and looked at the mangled tri-met bus on field wishing I would have seen the explosion. Anyway, interesting evening anyway. Those guys are working some long hours! Kelli had to be there at 2:30 am!

Yesterday I also ACED my Hebrew test and I am feeling more confident in the language as we approach the midterm next week. Suffixes can't freaking handle me! I can actually translate whole sentences now! Woohoo! Steep learning curve, the first six weeks were definitely the toughest but it's starting to make more sense now.

And finally and most importantly, today I will complete the Catan Running Challenge and secure my victory in the annuls of Devin's mind for eternity! Unless I get struck by a bus or kidnapped on the way to our staff meeting, I am pretty sure I will run my final mile for this challenge around 4pm!

Two Books I Really Want to Read

1. The Omnivore's Dilemma (which just came out in paperback) by Michael Pollan

From Publishers Weekly:
Pollan examines what he calls "our national eating disorder" (the Atkins craze, the precipitous rise in obesity) in this remarkably clearheaded book. It's a fascinating journey up and down the food chain, one that might change the way you read the label on a frozen dinner, dig into a steak or decide whether to buy organic eggs. You'll certainly never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again. Pollan approaches his mission not as an activist but as a naturalist: "The way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world." Pollan's narrative strategy is simple: he traces four meals back to their ur-species. He starts with a McDonald's lunch, which he and his family gobble up in their car. Surprise: the origin of this meal is a cornfield in Iowa. Corn feeds the steer that turns into the burgers, becomes the oil that cooks the fries and the syrup that sweetens the shakes and the sodas, and makes up 13 of the 38 ingredients (yikes) in the Chicken McNuggets.Indeed, one of the many eye-openers in the book is the prevalence of corn in the American diet; of the 45,000 items in a supermarket, more than a quarter contain corn.

2. The Year of Living Biblically by A. J. Jacobs

From Publishers Weekly
What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year? That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from Jacobs (The Know-It-All). He didn't just keep the Bible's better-known moral laws (being honest, tithing to charity and trying to curb his lust), but also the obscure and unfathomable ones: not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard; eating crickets; and paying the babysitter in cash at the end of each work day. (He considered some rules, such as killing magicians, too legally questionable to uphold.) In his attempts at living the Bible to the letter, Jacobs hits the road in highly entertaining fashion to meet other literalists, including Samaritans in Israel, snake handlers in Appalachia, Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and biblical creationists in Kentucky. Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer, lacing his story with absurdly funny cultural commentary as well as nuanced insights into the impossible task of biblical literalism. (Oct.)

Today is a New Day

You know those days where you feel incredibly down and you have no idea why? Every little task seems overwhelming? I had one of those days yesterday. It's completely unexplainable but mentally and emotionally I just felt wiped out. Everything was a challenge. Plus I got news from the Seminary that they would NOT allow me to take the online class from Lincoln Christian Seminary. They thought it would be better if I continued the plan at Western. That is unfortunate, so I will be taking Hebrew again next semester. Yippee!

Thankfully yesterday was also our weekly Office Party at the Leonardo's so that really had a positive effect. There is nothing more healing for a day like that than being around friends and laughing. And let me say for the record that The Office is fantastic this season! I wish every episode would be an hour.

I'm thankful that today is a new day and the sun is shining! I feel much better! I'm even doing Hebrew work and not complaining. Speaking of, the Hebrew Midterm is a a week from Tuesday and is 20% of my grade for the semester so all extra-curricular activities are pretty much off for about a week and a half.

I have four more runs and then a graduation run next Saturday of 3 miles and then I officially will receive Settlers of Catan. This has been a fun challenge in many ways. I'm glad I did it and I plan on continuing to run about four days a week. Five is a little too ambitious of a pace to keep up with for now. But after the last three weeks I have started to enjoy the challenge of running, although many days I still hate the running itself, until I'm done and then I feel great!

What to Read? What to Read?

Selecting a book to read is an extremely important and overlooked process. This is an author you are going to spend anywhere from 4-30 hours with (sometimes more). Because of that, you don't want to look back and feel like those hours were a complete waste of time. As a voracious reader, too many times have I put down a book wishing I would have given my time to something (anything) else!

Charles Bridges in "The Christian Ministry" (which I never thought I would be quoting) said this:
"There is an art and benefit in the right choice of books, which we should be familiar, as there is in the election of other friends or acquaintances with whom we may most profoundly converse. No man can read everything; nor would our real store be increased by the capacity to do so. The digestive powers would be overloaded for want of time to act, and uncontrolled confusion would reign within. It is far more easy to furnish a library than our understanding."

Over the past two years I have been trying to be more selective in my book selection. One of the ways I am protecting my time is by not selecting every new book that looks interesting, but weighing very heavily trusted friends opinions and seeing if the book will add any value to my life rather than just useless knowledge or redundant opinions. Just because it says 2007 does not mean I have to read it. In fact, with the ever increasing publication of books and seeing all of the crap that comes out, I am becoming more skeptical of newer books. C.S Lewis was on to something when he said for every new book you read you should read one old book. Wise.

So, for me to read a book, it's got to be either...
A. Ground-breaking (something that 35 books haven't already said in a different way)
B. An author I respect and know to be consistent.
C. A classic novel (Dostoevsky, Steinbeck)
D. A book or author that is a hot topic of conversation (N.T. Wright, Mclaren, Da Vinci Code)
E. A book I know I will disagree with. I do this to keep myself thinking critically.
F. A book that reflects the attitudes and values of our time (keeps me up to date).
G. Spiritually challenging (Merton, Peterson, Willard, Nouwen, Foster)
H. A book or series that is just absolute fun (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings)

Just having some type of criteria helps me from just picking up whatever is new at the bookstore that looks interesting and then realized I wasted my time. This is basically why I only read about 1% of current fiction. There is SO much coming out that how much could possibly be good? Does anyone else feel cheated a majority of the time they read popular fiction?

What's your criteria?

Hebrew is Smiting Me!

I'm almost positive by now people are tired of hearing me complain about Hebrew. In fact, I am tired of hearing me complain about Hebrew! But I want to say that I studied for today's quiz for almost 4 hours total.

Quite a bit of time for one little quiz that we have once, sometimes twice a week. I thought I had everything memorized perfectly and was expecting to ace it! I memorized the Imperative, Infinitive and Participle paradigms and all the vocab from chapters 1-9 which is almost 100 words. But I get there and it turns out we didn't just have to know vocab from chapters 1-9 but also for chapter 10 which I hadn't studied at all! I do not recall him ever saying we needed to know vocab from 10. In any case, I got everything I had studied right, but I missed two of the vocab from chapter 10 so I ended up with a 12 out of 14.

Unfortunately that is a C and does not improve my chances of passing! Crap!

The other thing is, the Midterm is worth 20% of our grade (which is in two weeks) and the Final is worth 30% of our grade. 50% of my grade is left up in the air of these two huge tests! Ouch! That's not so great considering I'm already probably getting a C in the class. I can't imagine these two tests helping that C improve any!

I'm just not a language guy, what can I say?

Victory is right around the bend.

I ran 2 miles today finally! I've been meaning to take that run for the last week but just now after a rest day had the energy. It wasn't too bad.

Another observation I have had is that running outside is MUCH harder than running on the treadmill. I don't care what anyone says, running on the treadmill where the ground moves for you is not equal to actually running on a hard surface.

I have almost done all that is necessary to win Settlers of Catan which makes me pretty happy. Only 7 more runs plus a graduation run with Devin and I will own the game (by the way, you better have the game in your hands the day I win Devin! Order it now!) I know Devin is still praying for injury but it looks unlikely at this point.

A final observation that I will make today is that while the distance may increase that you are able to run, running itself does not get easier! I think Devin would concur with this.

Cubs 0-3

Ok, so the Cubs are out of the playoffs. I certainly did not think they would have been swept by the Diamondbacks but so goes baseball. The D-Backs played really well, not that they really needed to. The Cubs could never get any offense going against Arizona. I'm not real disappointed. It was actually just a nice surprise for the Cubs to even make the playoffs. Maybe next year :)

Now, the Bears are another story. Granted it's only 7-0 in favor of Green Bay but man, the Bears look awful. I wonder what they are going to do in the long term for Quarterback. They need to make a move. I would hate to see Kyle Orton back out there! I'm hoping Griese has a good showing tonight regardless. Well, off to our home group! Now that's commitment!

Onion

In The Know: Situation In Nigeria Seems Pretty Complex

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW

That may be a strong statement for the news I have received but you have no idea how this boosts my morale!

Next semester I will NOT be taking Hebrew 2 in class at Western! I will be taking it as an online class from the Seminary connected to the college I graduated from back in Illinois! No in-class quizzes every week! No super stressful Midterm or Final exam, but simply exercises I do and send in every week as we translate the book of Deuteronomy and one Final exam which I take in the comfort of my own home! You have no idea what ease this puts my mind at.

It's not that I'm trying to bail out of Hebrew but I am not gifted at language, have plenty of language tools and truly just hate the stress of reading and translating a language in class and feeling stupid all the time. If you want someone to study something, read a ton of books and write a paper on it, I'm your guy, but if you want me to memorize 500 Hebrew words in a semester, plus hundreds of verb endings, that's where I'm at my worst! I just can't do it. So I'm excited to do Hebrew online without the public humiliation and stress that comes along with doing it in class. That means I just have to survive this semester! Phew!

Cubs 0-2

Ok, well the Cubs are sucking it up aren't they? Hate to be negative but this could be a very quick exit from the playoffs. If that happens, I can't imagine this not going back to Lou's game 1 blunder. I'm just a spectator but that seems just moronic.

Cubs 0-1

I'm not going to blame Marmol for this one. Obviously he sucked it up, but he shouldn't have been in there in the first place. Piniella blew it! My friend John V. said it well in an email to me this morning:

"Can you please explain to me why Piniella, after letting Zambrano bat and not using a pinch hitter in the top of the 6th with the bases loaded, took him out of the game before the bottom of the 7th when he had only thrown 85 pitches??? Then Marmol comes in and serves up two runs and the game to the D'backs. I don't get that. I was a little surprised they let him bat there, but he was dealing on the mound. I'm just thinking that if you let him hit there then you're pretty much banking on him going at least 2 more innings unless he gets shelled."

That is a great point! Piniella's decision (after letting Zambrano bat in a bases loaded situation where the Cubs could have scored another run or two) was to try to save Zambrano's arm since he's pitching him again in Game 4, but how about this Lou? How about you focus on winning THE FIRST GAME!!!!!

The Cubs

Begin their path to becoming World Series Champions tonight!

I like Jayson Starks spirit!

Go Cubs!

By the way, the Cards are actually my hope at winning the world series this year. They managed to win last year when they were the worst team in the playoffs and I'm hoping the Cubs can do the same thing this year!

Really, once you make the playoffs in baseball, it's up for grabs. Just depends on who is playing the best ball right now and thankfully the Cubs are playing some pretty good ball.

The End of Memory #2

“The greater the wrong suffered, the more it gets ingrained into the identity of the person who endured it. Such a person sometimes comes to view himself-and others also come to view him-primarily as a sufferer of that particular wrong, for example, as a “survivor of the Rwandan genocide”. It is as though the wrong suffered is the most defining event of his life-an event that trumps creative accomplishments, friendships, joyful events, whether old or new, and all else. When wrongdoing defines us, we take on “distorted identities, frozen in time and closed to growth.” Pg. 79 - Miroslav Volf

I would even say that when we hold on to how we have victimized others in the past (regretfully) we are also distorting our identity and closed from growth. I would also add being victims to wrongdoings such as addictions. When our identity is wrapped up in, "I'm an alcoholic" I think something has gone terribly wrong. When a personal identity is wrapped up in a disease, addiction, behavior, etc. there is a rejection (conscious or otherwise) of the identity as a "beloved of God".

Volf does a good job in the book of talking how we should "remember rightly". For example, the Israelites could have formed their identity around their suffering in Egypt but instead their identity was formed around God redeeming them from Egypt. There is a large difference in how they remembered. Because they remembered themselves as being redeemed by God rather than enslaved by Egypt, they were able to live and grow.

Running Update #2

Another observation: Running is A LOT easier with a partner! Kelli has run with me a few times, Elvyss ran with me last week and Dan Zollner ran with me today and for some reason, having a person running along-side of you makes the whole thing seem MUCH easier.

I haven't pushed myself much this week so far as I have only been running a mile a day mostly because at the end of last weeks running my knee was starting to fill with fluid and I didn't want to overdo it. But tomorrow and Thursday I really want to push myself. On Thursday I want to run 2 miles. Now, for a non-runner like myself on his second week, that is stretching it for me! But it has been nice during the last two weeks to see the progress. To feel it getting easier on my legs and on my lungs has been encouraging. I think I can definitely be able to run 3 miles consistently when I'm done with the four weeks and that has been my goal.

I feel better physically and it is a nice challenge. I find myself during the day now thinking about running and actually having a desire to run! Weird!