Month: April 2006

Meanwhile I’ve Been Pining

I am frantically scrambling to finish all my schoolwork before the last of the semester. I have one class left (Greek) and three exams pending. I had a paper due today (on the fundamentalists in the 1920’s, of all things), but my professor graciously extended it until the exam on the 27th. This was a good thing, since I had only completed 1/3 to 1/2 of it, minus quotes and footnotes. (I discovered long ago that attempting to write down the things I was going to cite beforehand was a waste of time. No matter what I write down, I don’t use half of it, and end up citing other things instead, which I then have to look up on the spot) I think it’s going to be a great paper though – it’s a fascinating subject.

Meanwhile, I’ve been pining for non-school reading material. Howard Tayler has finally released his first Schlock Mercenary book. Valerie and I have already gone halves and preordered the thing, and it will arrive sometime in May. I highly recommend. The best science fiction being written in English today is currently available in a full color glossy comic book. What’s not to like? At the other end of the spectrum, I’ve been being reminded that Mere Comments is only a mere piece of what I would get if I subscribed to the print version of Touchstone Magazine. Again, I want. My best description is that Touchstone is to theologians what The Economist is to economists. If reading Megan McArdle makes you want to subscribe to The Economist, Mere Comments makes you want to subscribe to Touchstone. I want both.

Since I am a perpetual starving college student, this is an example of creative budgeting. Continue reading “Meanwhile I’ve Been Pining”

Vending Machine God

Slowly catching up on my blog reading here. Last week Hobbes was discussing something I touched upon briefly in Saturday’s post. You can’t divide God into bite-sized chunks.

When we come before God in our private devotional times, we sometimes approach Him hoping to experience Him according to the particular attributes that we think we need at that moment. For example, yesterday I needed God to be my ‘Forgiver’. Today I need God to be Father to me. Tomorrow I may need Him to be my Healer. The next day I may need Him to be my Strength. God is clearly all of these. But, He is all of these things at the same time, and infinitely more! The danger is that we approach God with a vending-machine mentality. We put our prayer into the slot, and select the Divine Attribute we want to consume at that moment. We seek bits of God, rather than all that He is.

Read the whole thing (just a couple more paragraphs). He presents a profound understanding of what it truly means to worship God.

Roadmap Part 2: The Long Term

O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo?….
What’s in a name? That which we call a rose
by any other name would smell as sweet;
so Romeo, were he not called Romeo,
would retain that dear perfection which he owns
without that title. Romeo, doff thy name
and for that name, which is no part of thee,
take all myself.

–Romeo and Juliet

By any other name, “long term planning” is really just fantasizing, isn’t it? Very well, in the long term, I plan to have a large, rambling house in a wooded, sparsely settled area. We’ll have eleven children, of whom six will be girls and five will be boys. One of them will be a medical doctor, one a lawyer who works for a major religious organization, one a physicist, one an engineer, and one a theologian. The theologian, of course, will be the oldest. I myself will be the president of a conservative seminary, and Valerie will be head and founder of the nation’s largest midwife association. People will love us and greet us by name as we walk down the street.

Right. Did I mention I’m a direct descendant of Jonathan Edwards? Oh yeah. We Fr… uh, Edwardses have a long history of excellence. (The Frenches and Dobbses, by comparison, are famous for hardheadedness and hyperbole. I have none of these traits.)

Actually, it’s a little embarrassing how close my actual long-term hopes for the future might match the above. Continue reading “Roadmap Part 2: The Long Term”

Roadmap

Princess, I – – Uh, how’s
it going, first of all? Good? Um, good
for me too. I’m okay. I saw this flower
and thought of you because it’s pretty
and – – well, I don’t really like it,
but I thought you might like it ’cause
you’re pretty. But I like you anyway.

–Shrek

Since I seem to be currently unable to provide any of the kind of content that I would like to read (i.e. erudite ruminations), I thought maybe I’d say something that interests everybody else. (But I like you anyway.) So I would like to announce that (once again) I have my whole life planned out. I’m sure this is a relief to all parties. Continue reading “Roadmap”

And the Amazing thing is…

Just as I was sitting down to write the above piece, there was a huge crack of thunder and a previously unannounced overcast day rolled in and began drenching the countryside. I finished my sentence and made a mad dash outside to roll up my windows.

It was thick. The first thing that might actually count as a “thunderstorm” here in Massachusetts. This gave me even further haste and put wings to my feet as I was sprinting to save my unprotected car.

And the amazing thing is, when I go there, all windows were tightly sealed. I rolled them up after dropping Valerie off at the station.

(And you people wonder why I keep my hands clean of everything “practical”…)

[ps. Said “above piece” is currently on hold pending imminent Greek homework.]

I am not dead, honest.

Well, I’ve officially started hearing grumbling from family members that Kyle is saying too many high thinky things on the website and that there is not enough content in the way of what’s going on lifewise for us. I just want you to know up front that I haven’t fallen off the face of the earth and that I had planned to do more writing and haven’t had the chance to clean the apartment properly let alone post real life stuff on the website or write real letters. It has been an extremely busy semester for both me and for Kyle, but hopefully I can take a short break and send a note to you all.
Continue reading “I am not dead, honest.”