Introspection

New Direction

2008-11-11T16:29:00.006-06:00

I have decided to stop using this blog. The title is too long and clunky and when I have utilized the blog it has been a catch-all for everything going on my in life. So I have decided to provide more focus for online connectivity to friends and family. I am going to continue to host a blog, but it is going to function as a an arena for me to work out some theological ideas. For family and friends that just want to keep up with pictures and day to day stuff that is going on, you can look me up on facebook.

The new blog can be reached by going here.

I can be found on facebook by doing a search for Jonathan Hughes or by clicking here.

Sanctuary

2008-06-04T14:40:00.003-05:00

On my drive to work this morning I counted 8 smashed red-eared sliders on the side of the road. On my recent trip to Ohio to the wedding of my brother the smashed turtles were too many to count.

For some reason I feel a certain measure of sadness as I view these wonderful creatures splayed out on the side of the road. I don't know if it is because I always wanted to have pet turtles when I was a kid or if I remember rescuing a turtle from oncoming traffic during one of our family vacations.

This recent reflection on turtles has given me a great idea (well at least I think it's great). I am thinking about building a turtle habitat or sanctuary in my backyard where they will be able to swim, eat, sun, hibernate, and even mate.

I am sure the kids would love it; Lyndsay even thinks it is a cool idea, although she just smiles and nods her head at me and says, "You and your ideas," which means, "You'll have forgotten about this idea in a few more days." We'll see.

An Unexpected and Pleasant Surprise

2008-04-09T17:35:00.005-05:00

Some of you know that I am very near the end of the Thesis writing process, and believe me, I am very ready to be done with the project. While I am ready to be done with this specific project, it is not as if I am ready to shove all the books aside and be done with the topics I have been researching.

As with any research, you can always follow multiple rabbit holes, and one has to limit the scope of their research. My plan up to this point has been to finish my thesis and then do further research on the writings of process theists: Charles Hartshorne and Alfred North Whitehead. I also have desired to further study some finer points of Arminian theology, as well as explore the writings of Karl Barth.

The unexpected and pleasant suprise is that I have become quite fascinated with the writings of, none other than, Alexander Campbell. I have been reading parts of The Christian System, which is the closest thing he wrote to a systematic theology, and his articles in The Christian Baptist, which can be found by searching google books.

I'll have to say that up until now, I have not given him enough credit, mostly because, for me, all of the Christian Church "slogans" have overshadowed his brilliant mind. His reflections on Jesus as the eternal logos are similar to the pre-Nicene theologians like Justin Martyr. Also, his view of human freedom is also very interesting, since it departs from the traditional Arminian view and is much more akin to the view of freedom espoused by John Cassian and the Eastern Fathers.

For someone who spoke so pejoratively about theology, he certainly had quite the theological mind. Interestingly enough, after the writing process is complete, my plan is to start reading Campbell and many of his ideas before any of the aforementioned subjects. What a strange twist for me! Since I entered seminary I have been very intentional about questioning and deconstructing my own church heritage, and it seems ironic that I would now discover it in the process! Ha!

Recommended Book

2008-04-02T10:13:00.005-05:00

If you are looking for a good book to read, then I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to you. I finished reading this book back in January and I am very thankful for the content that it contains. The author is J. P. Moreland, who is a professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and has written many fine volumes. This has become my favorite of his works.

I find that books fall into two categories. First, there are books that are well written, thought out, contain logical argumentation, and are all around engaging. These books are typically written by members of academia, but are often times inaccessible to the general population, mostly because the language can be confusing, they don't contain a lot of story, and can seem "dry."

Secondly, there are books published at the "popular" level that touch the emotion, inspire with story, but are often times poorly reasoned, exhibit little research, and argue against strawmen. The authors writing these books are generally not scholars in any field. Every once in a while a scholar/writer will be able to take his expertise and communicate effectively to a wider audience, like C. S. Lewis and Dallas Willard. Kingdom Triangle has that feel. It is not easy or light reading, but it is also not too technical.

Moreland believes that if the Church is going to find its way forward in our current cultural context, we must recover the Christian mind, renovate the soul, and restore the Spirit's power. What excites me so much about this book is that these three themes have been so prominent in my own thinking and learning over the last 8 years. Three seemingly divergent themes coming together in one fine book.

To recover the Christian mind means that we must see that throughout the history of the Church the Christian tradition has been a knowledge tradition. The relationship between knowledge and faith has become lost or grown fuzzy in the minds of many Christians.

To renovate the Soul is to experience authentic spiritual transformation. Moreland's discussion of the empty self is insightful (and is great sermon material) and his Tennis Righteousness illustration of spiritual discipline is very helpful.

To restore the Spirit's power is to begin to experience the supernatural power of God; to experience the "power" of the Kingdom of God. Moreland is among the growing numbers of evangelicals who identify with "third wave" charismatics, who stress miraculous healing and words of knowledge instead of tongues and other sensational phenomenon. He critiques both the cessationist (those who say the charismatic gifts have ceased) and the overtly sensational charismatic in an attempt to find a middle road between the two. Moreland even tells his own story of instantaneous healing he received by God through the prayers of church leaders.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to you, my family and friends. You can also check out Moreland's website to read more of his stuff including his recent paper, which was read at the November 2007 Evangelical Theological Society Meeting. It was quite the "hit" this last year.

Lost Theory

2008-03-05T11:12:00.006-06:00

Edit: Well the most recent viewing of Lost leaves this theory pretty banged up, although, the part about Ben could still be true, but now I'm not as sure as I was about his character. We'll see what happens. As Jason said in one of the comments below, half the fun of watching this type of show is having theoretical conversations about the show.

I am a huge fan of the television show Lost and I have been developing a theory about the subject matter of the show. If you are not completely caught up on the show then you may want to stop reading here, for what I am about to type will obviously spoil your enjoyment of the show.

I want to lay out the two pieces of data from the show that are very conflicted, which have led me to my current theory. I call it the Wardrobe Theory.

First of all, there are conflicting stories about the actual airplane and the passengers of Oceanic 815. In seasons 1 & 2 we saw the airplane break apart, with pieces landing on the island and various people surviving the crash. However, the last two seasons we have heard that all of the passengers on Oceanic flight 815 in fact died, and recently we have seen news coverage of a fully intact plane, submerged, with all of the passengers dead inside.

This leaves us with two versions of what happened.

1. The entire plane went under water and all of the passengers onboard perished.
2. The plane broke apart and quite a few individuals survived.

At first glance, both of these versions of reality cannot be correct, but maybe they can be.

My proposal is that the island is a point of contact between two parallel worlds. We could call them world A and world B, and the island is some sort of wormhole or intersection between the two.

Following this theory, in world A the plane takes off in Australia and breaks apart over the island and passengers survive. In world B the airplane does not break apart but travels through the intersection of worlds to crash land in the ocean in world A.

The reason I call this the wardrobe theory is that one of the recent characters names Charlotte Staples Lewis is a play on the name Clive Staples Lewis, who is more affectionately known as C .S. Lewis, who of course, wrote the Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe. In this book, the children find a wardrobe that allows them to go into another world, all the while no time in their home world ever passes.

This theory can explain why we have two different versions of the plane and fate of passengers.

This theory opens up the possibility of some sort of time fluctuation as well as Desmond's "consciousness" travel.

This theory may also explain why mothers are dying on the island. It could be that the island is actually a real location in world B and some condition in that world is hostile to pregnant women from world A.

This theory also posits a reasonable motivation for the 3 experts (Daniel, Charlotte, and Miles) to investigate the island and or world B. Daniel Faraday is there to uncover all the scientific information; Charlotte is there to investigate the humanity, and Miles the spirituality.

This theory also makes sense of the reference to Steven Hawking, who did a lot of study on wormholes. If you don't remember the reference, think of the jewelry lady who talks to Desmond about the determinacy of the future; her name was Ms. Hawking.

Furthermore, the entire show is filled with many other references to philosophers and scientists. Generally speaking, many of the scientists referenced in the show studied in the area of space-time continuum, and some scientists within the context of quantum mechanics posit many world theories. Philosophers, also engage in modal logic, which centers on possible world semantics. Though the two ideas (possible worlds and alternate worlds) are not synonymous, it is not a stretch to think the writers of the show have been in contact with these ideas.

Finally, I think that Ben is really the good guy or rather the lesser of two evils. In general, he is an important and powerful person, who is keeping this island a secret from those who would exploit it. For Ben, the end justifies the means, and so he is willing to lie, cheat, steal, and murder in order for the greater good to be accomplished. That is why he killed the Dharma people, why he is currently so slippery, and why he is having Sayid hunt other people down in the future.

I would love to see your ideas about this theory: where its weak spots are, what is doesn’t explain, or any other thoughts about it. I hope you are enjoying the show as much as I am.

Here is a link to a website that details some of the connections between the characters of the show and their real life referents.

After 6 months of non-blogging...

2008-02-28T10:25:00.003-06:00

Well, it has been quite a while since I have visited the blogging world, and I am feeling the itch again for this creative outlet. We have been extremely busy over the last 6 months getting adjusted to our new home and chasing dreams and goals. Lyndsay loves her new job and the kids are growing like weeds and make sure to pound out of us the last few ounces of energy on a nightly basis. But we are having a lot of fun and really love being where we are. We feel settled and know that we have found a great place to raise our family.

I have been working feverishly on my Master's thesis and I expect to graduate in May. I have also been doing quite a bit of research for the work that here at the church, so the last 6 months have really been a lot of researching and writing, and I've been having a blast. I have a lot of new ideas, thoughts, and areas of interest, so I hope to explore some of those on this blog. I also hope to articulate my current "Lost" Theory in the near future.

To my friends and family, I hope you are doing well and I'll see you online.

Egg on the Floor

2007-08-27T16:10:00.001-05:00

I returned home Sunday evening from our regularly scheduled men's basketball night to my lovely wife, who began to create a small meal for the two of us within a few minutes of my arrival. Shortly after I had popped a few popcorn chicken pieces into my mouth and tasted their wonderful flavor, I reached for the refrigerator door, which at that moment completely fell off its hinges and sent several items crashing to the floor, one of which was an egg.

Luckily, I was able to keep the door in a somewhat upright position while Lyndsay rescued the remaining items from their designated slots. We then spent the next thirty minutes scrutinizing the architecture of the door and were able to return the fridge to its former glory. So far that has been the strangest event that has happened to us since we bought our new home. And in case anyone is curious, Lyndsay had an important role in this process which only adds to her long resume of fixing bizarre items around the household. Her resume can be found here.

Closing

2007-08-13T23:17:00.001-05:00

We closed on our house today.

Lyndsay will be painting like mad along with her father and Jody.

I drove 6 hours to closing and back so that I can be here when the moving truck arrives tomorrow.

We've been running at full steam and are very tired...but very excited.

Home

2007-07-22T13:05:00.000-05:00

Lyndsay and I now have a contract on this ranch home, which was signed on our anniversary. Lyndsay keeps saying, "You bought me a house for our anniversary!"

In case you are wondering, we did have a signed contract on a different house previously, but the home inspector saw a few issues that turned into a twenty-thousand dollar foundation problem.

So this is our new home and we hope that we will be closing on it the first or second week of August. Furthermore, I am glad to say that this time around the home inspection went great. We are really excited to get all the paperwork done, so we can start moving into our new house.

I personally am very excited about this move, for it will be, for me, the first time in my entire life that the structure that I call home, will be owned by myself or my family. That's right, I've never lived in a home that was ours. Growing up in Streator we lived in a parsonage, when I went to college I lived in a dorm, after graduation I lived in an apartment, and for the last 6 1/2 years we have lived in a church owned parsonage. This will be my first home.

Redemption as a Special Dimension of God's Activity as Creator

2007-07-18T12:05:00.000-05:00

Apparently, the subject of creation theology has been somewhat neglected by professional theologians in years past, and what's more, the subject has often times been subordinate to redemption. Stated plainly, it has often been the practice of theologians to consider God's real work to be redemption.

The reasons for this subordination of creation are listed by Terrence Fretheim in his book, God and the World in the Old Testament: A Relationship Theology of Creation, and are too many to list at this time. As I have read his book, I think that I have at times been guilty of this kind of subordination in my thinking and teaching. His suggestions have weighed on my mind for quite some time and have formed the way I think about creation and its relationship to redemption.

One passage from the book that I find especially poignant:

The redemptive work of God is a special dimension of God's more comprehensive activity as Creator. To equate the two would collapse all of God's work in the world into redemption and diminish God's more comprehensive work as Creator, including blessing. Generally speaking, God's goal for the creation is not redemption; God's redemption is a means to a new creation, and salvation will be the key characteristic of that new reality.

This understanding, in turn, has implications for how one thinks about creation; the creation is not something to be left behind as God works on more important matters, such as redemption. To equate creation and redemption, or to subordinate creation to redemption, is to endanger the status of the world, including human beings, as creation. It is also to place in question God's love for the creation itself, quite apart from the redemption, as if God's goal is to get beyond creation to some other reality. Moreover, such an equation endangers the recognition that redemption has to do with much more than spiritual matters; it includes the healing of the body (finally, resurrection), indeed the healing of the environment.

-Terrence Fretheim

My reflection upon these statements as well as the larger body of Fretheim's work has been very fruitful and provides a framework with which to approach the many environmental issues that concern many people today.

What Is God Like

2007-07-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I read a portion of a book that resonated deeply with me and I want to share them with you for your own thought life. In the work that I've been doing on openness theology I have been wrestling with a very difficult question. Do the metaphors, narratives, and poems of the Bible really reveal to us what God is like? Certainly, God is a mystery to man, and we will never fully understand him, and that is fine with me, but the question is: are the words of Scripture reality-depicting?

I have always believed that when the Scripture said that God was angry, sad, or grieved that it meant that God truly experienced anger, sadness, and loss. Yet, classical theism, popularly expressed in much reformed theology states that God is not affected by the world and does not experience anger, sadness, loss, or joy, but exists eternally in a perfect state of blessed happiness.

Many say that these metaphors and narratives are an example of God "talking down to us." John Calvin wrote that God lisps to us like a nursemaid lisps to a child. With this understanding, it seems difficult to see the metaphors as reality-depicting, therefore many theologians and pastors for years have talked about the God behind the metaphors as the true God while the Scripture "speaks down to us" and gives us the God of revelation. For them it is not proper to speak of God experiencing emotion; it is not "dignum deo" for us to think of God this way.

There are many questions, concerns, and problems that arise if we start talking about the "God behind the metaphors." How could anyone really speak about the God behind revelation? How could anyone verify that the metaphors are not reality-depicting? How can someone make the claim that God does not experience anger or frustration at the obdurate nature that human beings can sometimes display? In order to have such information about the God behind revelation, wouldn't they have to have some kind of privileged access to God in order to see that he was in fact different than what we read about in Scripture?

The following authors reject a "God behind revelation" and believe that God has indeed revealed his essential nature in salvation history. These lines resonated with me:

The revelation of God in salvation history is a genuine self-revelation, not a temporary expedient or a public relations ploy, but a portrait of what God is really like.

-Richard Rice, theologian and professor at Loma Linda University

The very nature of God who is self-communicating love is expressed in what God does in the events of redemptive history. There is no hidden God....behind the God of revelation history, no possibility that God is in God's eternal mystery other than what God reveals Godself to be.

-Catherine LaCugna, Feminist Catholic Theologian, author of God For Us.

This revelation is a genuine self-giving. God's true self, God's innermost reality, comes to expression in God's dealings with creation. Consequently, God's saving actions become central to God's identity. In creating and saving a world, he commits himself to the world in such a way that his own destiny and his own identity are forever linked to that of his creatures. Like British generals who acquired their titles from their battlefield triumphs, God's name derives from his saving activity. For Christians the Trinity names God--as Father, Son, and Spirit--identifying God by the definitive moments in salvation history: the mission of the Son and the sending of the Spirit.

Now, if salvation history is a revelation of God's inner reality, we must think of God in a way that is consistent with what we find in this history. Since the qualities of sensitivity, care, commitment, self-giving, and self-sacrifice are prominent in salvation history, as the cross [of Christ] supremely testified, these are the qualities that characterize God's essential reality.

-Richard Rice

[Quotes taken from, Searching for an adequate God: A Dialogue between Process and Free Will Theists. ed by John B. Cobb and Clark H. Pinnock. pgs. 196-197.]

So if salvation history testifies to the nature of God, then God is affected by our world; he is a God who suffers; he knows anger and frustration; he really rejoices like the Scriptures say. God has shown us his true self at the Cross of Christ; there is no God behind the curtain, for in the crucifixion of Christ we see God's true self--we see what God is really like. In Christ, we see that God is self-giving love.

United With Christ

2007-07-09T11:31:00.000-05:00

Sunday was a great day! For there was a young man in our church, named Caleb, that was united with Christ at baptism, sharing in Christ's death, burial, and resurrection. He is now dead to sin and to the law and is alive to God in our Lord Jesus. For him there is now no condemnation, for his old relationship to sin has been crucified; his old self has passed away and he is free from sin.

Therefore, there is no condemnation for him, for he is now in Christ Jesus. He has been given the Holy Spirit so that he he may no longer be controlled by the sinful nature, but by the Spirit, and with the Spirit he will begin to live the Christian life by putting to death the misdeeds of the body through the Spirit that lives in him.

The Spirit that he received has made him a son of God--an adopted son, who receives all the benefits of a natural born son. He is both our brother and a brother to the firstborn of our new race of mankind, a race of man that will one day be resurrected to a greater plane of existence where death will have no mastery, where we will exclaim that we are alive forevermore. Together we cry out with all of our enthusiasm, emotion, and joy, "Yeah Abba, Father: Yeah Dad."

Together, now we walk in this environment of grace as we become what God has always dreamed we would be--a people formed in the likeness of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While we still experience hardship, may we be reassured that the pain we experience won't be worth comparing to the glory we will experience when we are wholly formed and living in the presence of our great God.

So let us live victorious lives, knowing that God is for us, and that he has revealed himself to us, on the cross, as a God of self-giving love. And let us rest assured that nothing, absolutely nothing can seperate us from the love of Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6-8)

I am so excited for Caleb. It has been my honor and privilege to have been his pastor and to see him grow and mature on his way from third grade to the ninth grade, and I pray that his life will always be Spirit led. I praise God for all the adults that gave of themselves during a week at Church camp, for their effort made an eternal impact in the life of at least one young man, who will never forget one of the most important weeks of his life.

Our New Home

2007-06-30T13:14:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of what will soon become our new home (assuming inspection goes well) in a new town. Lyndsay and I made an offer on this home and the sellers took our offer. We will be closing on the home in the beginning part of August and I will begin my work at a new church on the 18th. Lyndsay is still searching for a new job.

I have resisted blogging about this transition until we had told the church here, about our plans. We will miss them greatly, but we are also very excited about the work we will be doing in the future. I will update this blog more as we progress in our transition. I have purposely left out personal information about the location of the home as well as the church, so if anyone would like to know more info, you can email or call.

He Is His Father's Son

2007-02-26T19:13:00.000-06:00

I knew the day would come when I would say, "Son lets try this video game." I had no idea the day would come before Xander was 2.5 years old. Nevertheless, I was excited to introduce him to one of my very first video games experiences, and I was ecstatic to see how much he was enjoying himself.

We played Duck Hunt on Sunday night and Xander admittedly wasn't the world's greatest hunter, yet he stayed at it for about 20 minutes until it was time for bed (FYI, toddlers playing video games before bed time is not a very good idea). When Lyndsay and i went to bed last night I said to her that if Xander is anything like his dad he will want to play the duck game immediately after waking up tomorrow morning.

Sure enough, five minutes after waking Xander was ready to pump some holes into the the pixeled ducks and when he came home from daycare he wanted to play again. Now up until this point he hadn't really gotten that "far" in the game; but he had managed to get to round two on one of his attempts and that attempt required some beginners luck. But early this evening Xander came into his own and blasted his way into the 6th round of flying ducks where the ducks fly "really fast."

I said, "Round six, mommy can't even make it this far!" My two year old can make it to Round Six! On Duck Hunt! I couldn't be more proud.

These Pictures Make Me Want More

2007-02-16T12:25:00.000-06:00

Boring In A Manger

2007-02-13T11:39:00.000-06:00

Last Thursday was Lyndsay's birthday, and that morning we were busy getting the kids ready for the day. I was feeding Avery her oatmeal and Lyndsay was doing her best to get a bite to eat, while Xander was running circles around all of us.

In the midst of all of this I say to Xander, "Today is mommy's birthday; this is the day mommy was born!" He then replies, "Mommy you were boring?" And before we get to laughing to hard he says, "In a manger."

We Are Famous

2007-01-31T21:35:00.000-06:00

We made it onto the Tribune's website.

Go to fan photos on the right and find picture 54.

Edit: Since yesterday we have moved from picture 54 to 65, so you may have to scroll a bit.

Go Bears!

2007-01-16T19:29:00.000-06:00

Despite our hulking forms, I doubt that we could make up one Brian Urlacher. Let's hope that the jerseys are good luck against the Saints this Sunday.

A New Blogger

2007-01-16T12:03:00.000-06:00

It has been a while since I last blogged. Life has been pretty busy with the holidays, 2 kids, a thesis to write and a church to lead. I just back from a 4 day snowboarding/skiing trip with the youth of our churches. It was a blast, but now I am tired, a little under the weather, and have a bit of pain from one really hard wipeout.

I am excited to tell you that my lovely wife, Lyndsay has just made the decision to enter the blogging world after many weeks of reading the blogs linked to my own. You can visit her blog here.

Hope you are all doing well, and I hope to do some more blogging soon.

Our Buddy Lowery

2006-12-04T12:58:00.000-06:00

I decided a month or so ago that it would be a wonderful thing if this picture were to pop up on someone's blog every now and then, so that Brian's fame can be continually celebrated. Its not everyday that one gets to be the posterboy for the LCC preaching department.

Much thanks to Soebeck for his original post that featured this great pic of Brian and for the photo shop job on the caption at the bottom.

For the confused, you can unlock of the meaning of the caption by visiting the book of Acts chapter 20, verse nine and read about the fate of Eutychus.

Have a great day!

Hope

2006-12-02T23:54:00.000-06:00

In actual fact, however, eschatology means the doctrine of the Christian hope, which embraces both the object hoped for and also the hope inspired by it. From first to last, and not merely in the epilogue, Christianity is eschatology, is hope, forward looking and forward moving, and therefore also revolutionizing and transforming the present. The eschatological is not one element of Christianity, but it is the medium of Christian faith as such, the key in which everything in it is set, the glow that suffuses everything here in the dawn of an expected new day. For Christian faith lives from the raising of the crucified Christ, and strains after the promises of the universal future of Christ. Eschatology is the passionate suffering and passionate longing kindled by the Messiah. Hence eschatology cannot really be only a part of Christian doctrine. Rather, the eschatological outlook is characteristic of all Christian proclamation, of every Christian existence and of the whole Church.

-Jurgen Moltmann, "Theology of Hope." Now available to read online.

Happy Turkey Day....Hot Wing Day

2006-11-21T15:50:00.000-06:00

I'm not sure when this happened, but a few years ago our family decided that holidays such as Thanksgiving, where everyone was home, was to significant of an occasion to eat a food as bland as turkey. Therefore, we have usually cooked the family favorite, beef teriyaki.

This year will be no exception as we will be dining not only on teriyaki but will also be feasting on mom's special hot wing recipe. I'm so excited about eating this thanksgiving. Rumor has it that mom has got a new recipe for General Tso's chicken up her sleeve and that we will be partaking of that glorious food at some point during the Thanksgiving holiday.

I'm looking forward to the holiday, and I wish you all the best and hope that your tables are long and full of your family favorites.

Ahab

2006-11-18T09:31:00.000-06:00

I've been teaching on the book of Hosea at our church the last month. The book is raw, full of vivid imagery and has lots of language that you'd never dream of hearing or saying in church. So far I haven't been tossed out of the sanctuary yet. :)

The form of the writing is poetry-prophecy and the dominant imagery is that of Israel and God in a marriage relationship, but Israel, God's bride has been unfaithful and is "prostituting herself to other lovers" via the worship of the Canaanite god's. In spite of her unfaithfulness God continues to pursue his wife and call for her return.

I am struck by the way that God is portrayed in this compliation of poetry-sermons, because God is pictured as a husband that refuses to give up on his adulteress wife. It is like God's plan to love people cannot be thwarted in the slightest.

One of the Hebrew words that Hosea uses to speak of God's love is the word Ahab (some know this word as Ahava, if you've seen Rob Bell's Nooma video called Flame). Gary Smith defines ahab as "irrational power that is unexplainable and paradoxical, since it is undeserved. It is a free giving of one's self to another to care for, forgive, and protect that person--without strings or conditions. Another commentator writes saying, "love works irresistably as an original force in the nature of God. When he acts in love, God demonstrates no less than his proper character as the holy God. It nearly seems as if God's love is more powerful in its compelling force than he himself."

Several weeks ago, the headlines were replete with stories about the shooting at the Amish School. The Today Show did a story on the incident and on the community's decision to forgive the shooter. One of the experts that they brought on the show spoke about how forgiveness is an irrational act, yet powerful. I don't think she was using the word irrational in a pejorative way, rather I think she was saying that for most of us forgiveness doesn't come naturally. We would rather get revenge and we would rather hate our enemy.

Then a few days later I read an article about how half of the mourners at Charles Carl Roberts funeral were Amish and that their presence and actions were powerful displays of love and forgiveness. Most everyone attending the funeral was moved to tears.

Most of us look at that story and say, could I forgive like that? I'm not sure I could do that. Nevertheless, it is something that the amish have done and in my mind it is a very poweful story of love triumphing over evil intentions. This is a good story for our society to think and wrestle through. The buzz word and attitude of our society is "tolerance," while this can be a helpful concept properly defined, it is not enough.

There is nothing powerful, or motivational about tolerance; you are merely putting up with someone else. Tolerance is an inadequate posture for our society, rather I think our society needs to learn to love unconditionally. What if people from different social, political, ideological backgrounds actually saw the "person" behind all the other junk? What if we cared about people more than our own agenda? If we could truly learn to love our neighbor could we form a better society, neighborhood, or home?

Here Come The Chompers

2006-11-18T08:18:00.000-06:00

Avery now has her first tooth; you can't see it here, but it has just pushed through. It will be interesting to see how fast and furious these teeth will come. If she is anything like her older brother she will start getting a lot of teeth all at once. By the time Xander was 8 months old he had 8 teeth.

Around here we often joke about our mutant powers, i.e. my mutant power is clapping really loud as to annoy Lyndsay. I used to say that Xander's mutant power was shark tooth regeneration. I said that because, sharks have several rows of teeth and when they loose their teeth due to their frenzied attacks on ocean liners and motor boats, the lost teeth are replaced by new ones fairly quickly. And the way Xander grew teeth before he was 8 months old, the comparison was justified.

As for now, it seems that Avery's mutant power is smiling and laughing and basically getting tickles, hugs, and kisses from her daddy.

Ojowee Articles

2006-11-16T18:19:00.000-06:00

I just found out that The Christian Standard is doing a two part series on Open Theism. From what I've seen from the online articles it looks to be a fair investigation on their part, which I am excited about because the point of my thesis is going to be that Stone-Campbell theologians, pastors, and churches should engage in fair, irenic discussion on this topic.

William Baker also offers a list of books to read on the subject. All five resources would be good to read for anyone wanting to famliliarize themselves with the subject. The book, "Does God Have a Future," would be a great book to read since it's the published emails of two friends that are theologians that are on different sides of the issue.

Check out the articles here:

Open Theism Articles

While We Fed The Ducks

2006-11-01T17:28:00.000-06:00

Doesn't she look warm!!

Is One Ever Too Old

2006-11-01T10:35:00.000-06:00

We had a great time feeding the ducks a few weeks ago, and I found that I was really enjoying feeding them myself. I think it is an activity that no one really ever outgrows.

Ojowee

2006-10-19T11:01:00.000-05:00

I have been working on my Master's Thesis lately and I am quite motivated and excited about my topic. My degree is in contemporary theology and philosophy and I am writing about open theism and its relationship to the Stone-Campbell movement (Church of Christ Churches and Christian Churches). Open theism could be summarized in several statements.

1. God loves the world and desires real reciprocal relationships between himself and his creatures.

2. God sovereignly chose to create a world in which humans experience significant freedom. Since God's goal is real reciprocal relationships with mankind, he grants humans with signficant freedom, and that freedom is a means to an end, namely reciprocal relationships.

3. Exhaustive, divine foreknowledge of the future is inconsistent with significant creaturely freedom. (How can God know what you or I will do tomorrow if we are significantly free?).

4. God faces a future that is partly open (because he cannot know the future free acts of humans) and partly closed (because God knows what he wants to accomplish and can bring it about according to his wisdom and almightyness).

5. God does not tightly control or micro-manage the world but exercises a general sovereignty of the world.

6. Mankind is a significant partner in the realization of God's purpose and dream for the world.

If you ask Xander what Daddy's thesis is about, he will tell you it is about Ojowee which is of course toddler speak for theology.

Exhale

2006-10-17T11:22:00.000-05:00

Wow, that game last night wore me out, probably for the rest of the week. I watched the game at the house of one of the elders of our church, and I'm not sure if he was more entertained by the game or by me when I was jumping up and down and running around the room after that punt return. What a horrible game by the Bears, but we still managed the win with defense and special teams. Kinda reminds us of the 2005 Bears.

After watching the game and reflecting on the team, I am reminded of a line spoken about the bears, "If you are gonna beat the Bears, you gotta play a perfect game." That was true last night, let's see if it proves true for the rest of the season.

Hippo Monster

2006-10-13T21:39:00.000-05:00

I watched the Ewok Adventure: Caravan of Courage about 50 times when I was a kid, so recently when I saw the double movie DVD of COC with the Battle of Endor I purchased it without even thinking. I loved this move and still do in spite of its lackluster production; it brings back many memories that I still laugh about with my brothers.

This movie has had quite a viewing here at our house lately. Now, of course the moment I arrived home with the DVD I forced Lyndsay to watch both of the movies, and she claims that they changed her life. That's probably an understatement. But here lately the Caravan of Courage has been viewed at least two time a week, by none other than Xander. He loves this show, and loves the ewoks. So far I've taught him to say wicket's name and the dad's name, Deej. We'll be working on the other names later.

The part that is so funny to me however, is that I think Xander's favorite part is when the Hippo Monster chases the children and then fights the ewoks in the morning. In case you are wondering, there is a very evil monster called the Gorax, who has captured the parents of the human children in the story. This evil Gorax has a nasty dog like pet that the Ewoks have to fight, and for whatever reason, each time the beast is shown Xander yells, "Hippo Monster." I don't know why he calls it that, but it cracks me up every time, even while I sit here typing, I am laughing.

So when we are driving in the car, or sitting around home talking, Xander starts to talk about the Hippo monster. And we talk about how Wicket "got" him with the poison dart, and we all get a chuckle. I can't believe that we are talking and laughing about a movie that I watched when I was a kid.

George Lucas uniting families for three generations.

Recent Photos

2006-10-11T09:33:00.000-05:00

Healing Hands

2006-10-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

Lyndsay has this amazing ability to fix the oddest items around the house, with absolutely no training in say, the field of electronics, yet can make electronic items function when they wouldn't otherwise. This ability seems to work on just about any item, electronic or otherwise.

Back when we were dating, we were at my parents house and the faucet in the kitchen wasn't' working right. I believe several attempts were made by my folks to resolve the situation, but they had been unsuccessful. Enter the future daughter-in-law. She walks up to the faucet, fidgets with it for a few minutes, and what do you know, its fixed. We all got a good laugh about it, for we all knew that she had no prior knowledge of fixing faucets. Then a few weeks later, she fixes my dad's watch, once again without having much knowledge of watch-fixing.

Since we've been married she has continued her string of genius. Our bedroom TV/VCR combo has had a little trouble powering up since Xander destroyed it by hitting the power button repeatedly and in rapid succession. Yet Lyndsay somehow figured out that if you hit the power button and the eject button with a combination of Hail Maries and Our Father's the television will come on.

Just last night her attribute kicked in once again. Two night ago, I was laboring in vain to get Xander's CD working right. It seemed that no matter what disc I placed in the player, it kept giving an error message followed by a no CD signal. I tried different discs, powering it down, a combination of opening the lid...Etc. Last night we are getting the little man ready for bed, when all of a sudden his CD player starts playing his night time music and Lyndsay says, "I fixed the CD player." I said, "How?!" She says, "I'm not telling." Dang Nabit.

I'm so jealous. I should be able to fix the faucet, watch, TV and CD player. But for some strange reason she is able to fix them and in the case of the CD player, she is not even sure what she did. We agree, that she must exude some kind of magnetic field that fixes all things electronic, which would explain the aforementioned fixes as well as the items in our house that have magically fixed themselves (which is a another story for another time story). I just wish she would lay her hands on my DVD player.

I guess instead of being jealous, I should be happy and be proud of my own heroic tales, like rescuing the tooth paste cap out of the sink drain with my needle nose pliers (flex). But for now I still have to ask my wife if she'll turn on the TV for me.

A Milestone Moment

2006-10-04T19:14:00.000-05:00

Before

After

Mountain Top Experience

2006-10-04T08:22:00.000-05:00

This is "Red Nose." I saw it everyday for about a week while I stayed in Colorado at the Blessings Ranch for a Ministry Excellence Week with 7 other pastors. This trip truly was a great trip that will help to sustain me over the long haul in ministry.

I've stated this a few times, but I really believe that in 10-20 years when I look back on the week I spent at the BR, I will still be able to say that the week I spent there was one of the best things I ever did. I feel as though I had been lagging behind in my walk with God and that my passion for ministry had tapered off. But this week renewed communion with God, energized me with passion for ministry, and has given me great hope for future ministry.

Of course it was very difficult to be gone from Lyndsay and the kids, but it was well worth it. It was great however, when I finally saw Xander again. I had met TWH and MKH at a halfway point between our homes (he had been staying at their home that week) and we made the exchange. He is always a little unsure of what is happening in those moments. He may not be sure that I've really come to get him, or if he's coming home with me. But when mema and papa drove away and we got in our car and started down the road, he began to cheer, saying, "Yeah Daddy!!" Of course I cheered back saying, "Yeah Xander!!" We cheered like this as we pulled out of Culver's, as we drove down the street, as we drove down Prospect all the way to the on ramp, and several miles down the interstate.

This was about 5 minutes of cheering for one another; it was hilarious and wonderful. It was like he really realized that his dad had really come for him, and was taking him home. And in the midst of that moment I realized that my interchange with my son mirrored the experience that I had all week long as a son with his Heavenly Father at the ranch, where I feel that God was cheering and smiling at me and I was cheering and smiling back.

Well things are getting back to normal around here. Lyndsay and I have managed to watch 3 whole discs of Lost Season 2 in an attempt to begin watching the third season in "real time." Xander has gone number 1 and 2 in the potty chair and Avery is starting to take cereal.

We were sitting around the table last night talking with Xander about Halloween, trying to get him to say "trick or treat," which he can say almost flawlessly. So Lyndsay decides to get him to say, "smell my feet," to which he would respond by dipping his head down towards his feet and taking a whiff in an attempt to smell his feet every time she said that. We finally got him to say, "smell my feet," but not without the dipping and whiffing. ROFL

Life is good, God is faithful, and children are such a joy. May God bless you this day.

Where's The Sugar

2006-09-19T19:08:00.000-05:00

Today was the second consecutive day that Xander and I have stayed home together in what is becoming a hospital ward. So yesterday, he and I are sitting on the couch eating frosted mini wheats and watching the Return of the Jedi (for the 5th time). We are eating them with our hands, picking them out of the bowl. As usual, I am picking out the mini wheats that have the most sugar on them, which is the right thing to do, so that Xander doesn't eat too much sugar.

As we sit there eating the cereal I begin to notice that the majority of the mini wheats hardly have any sugar on them at all and I'm like, hmm...that's strange. So I look over at Xander and watch him bite into a piece of cereal, a few seconds later I realize that he is biting the sugar off of the mini wheat. A light bulb comes on in my head and I begin to touch all of these seemingly sugarly-challenged mini wheats, only to discover that they are all soggy. Well, Xander got the rest of that bowl.

Hopper Guy

2006-09-16T18:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been forcing Lyndsay to watch the original Star Wars trilogy in its entirety for the second time in our relationship, since the first attempt was marred by her falling asleep through the majority of the viewing. Needless to say this continues to be the outcome of our veiwing attempts. However, this recent advent of the trilogy viewing finds me seated next to Xander who is completely captivated by the Hopper Guy.

See, awhile ago I taught Xander to "say" what Darth Vader says, which if you know anything about Star Wars, you know that his breathing sounds a lot like "hauuu perrrr." Well, to my delight he is actually able to imitate the breathing sound quite well when asked to perform, but when he sees Lord Vader on the screen he quickly says, "Daddy, look Hopper Guy." This unexpected referring to the sinister sith lord of course fills us with much laughter and joy and I hope has provided you with a small measure of glee.

Lyndsay, The Professional Photographer

2006-09-14T11:45:00.000-05:00

I love this picture and it is on the desktop of my home computer. It so well shot that we have had people look at it and ask if the background of the elephants is a backdrop in a photographers studio.

Almost As Dangerous As A Sith Lord Duel Wielding Lightsabers

2005-12-06T08:27:00.000-06:00

Luckily for us, I have been able to parry most of his attacks with wrapping paper rolls. And of course he thinks this is hilarious. For all those guys who don't like to wrap presents and get annoyed at all the wrapping paper stored somewhere in the home, wrapping paper can be fun and very useful. Who knew that it made such an effective weapon against toddlers swinging dangerous weapons ready to exact justice upon those who have put him to bed, made him sit in his car seat and have held him down so that doctors could give him his immunization shots. Hope you are having as much fun as I am today.

I never imagined I'd...

2005-11-08T07:50:00.000-06:00

I am learning alot as I try to fulfill my new role as a father of one 14 month old boy. I am learning alot about myself and I am surprised at the things that I do for my child; things that they never told me in Baby Care Basics.

I never thought I'd share an eating utensil with another male, especially with one who does his fair share of slobering.

I never thought I'd have such a captive audience, that was impressed with my crazy antics, only to realize that the next minute he finds his own boogers to be of equal interest.

I never knew that driving down the road in the car teaching Xander how to headbang to Switchfoot would become one of my favorite pastimes.

I'm surprised at how easy it is for me to scoop large pools of snot from his upper lip that at times hang dangerously low to his mouth and threaten to drop onto the floor, on my shirt, or into his own mouth, with my bare hands.

I never thought it would be so wonderful to be awakened in my bed by a 32 inch child banging on my back, to the prompting of his mother, "Go find Daddy."

I've never knew that the onset of every new cold, ear infection, or terrible tumble would evoke in me a desire to be able to take his pain and suffering upon myself.

I never thought after I reached the age of 8 that I'd ever get down on my hands and knees and play tigers and lions again.

I never thought that "guys night in" would be way more fun than "guys night out."

I never thought that I would still be checking on him at night, even though he is a big boy now.

I've never felt this blessed in all my life, and I never thought that I would be the one who would be pushing sooner than my wife to start having more children.

I never realized how joyous it would be to see my parents play and love on him.

I never thought that I would enjoy some of his toys more than him, haha, some of them are really cool.

I can't believe how this little guy has caused me to fall deeper in love with my wife, and I can't believe how much I love both of them and how much I love our 10 week unborn child.

I can't believe the things that people would say to me when I was in high school. They would say, "these are the best days of your life." Who would have thought that they were dead wrong.

Here We Go Again

2005-10-18T18:08:00.000-05:00

This afternoon I decided to catch on a little reading, which consisted mainly of reading my dad's quasi-new blog which made me laugh out loud on a consistent basis. I had such a fun time reading his blog that i decided that I would once again try my hand at this thing called blogging.

I orginally started blogging a couple of years ago on a blog that is still active, well at least ostensibly, unless you read the date of the last post. For one reason or another I got a little burnt out on the whole blogging experience; maybe I took the act of blogging to too seriously, or maybe I just got sick of reading the negative blogs that are so pervasive in the blogging culture. But with the advent of my father's blog I have been left wondering if it might be time to start blogging again.

So I am starting over again with a new blog, a new name, and new goals. My hope is that this blog can be a place where I can spend some time reflecting on some of my favorite topcs: family life, theological ideas, hobbies and ministry (in no particular order of importance with respect to this blog) with the hope that I will experience more constructive reflection time and that my writings will serve to let family and friends in on what is happening in our lives.

Therefore I wave goodbye to "just a thought" as I start a new leg of the blogging journey and I look forward to letting others into what would otherwise be private introspection.