On a car kick
I am a little bit on a car kick right now. We are borrowing a 2006 Ford Mustang convertible (I know, its such a hard life) for the next couple of weeks. It doesn’t replace the Jeep but it sure does feel good to drive. Speaking of Mustangs, have you seen this commercial:
Also, did you hear about the three year old who bought a bright pink convertible on Ebay? His mother says he’s just a whiz on the computer. That will make you think twice about locking your computer when you step away, even at home. Read the story on Yahoo News.
Found a car
I know I said before that I don’t like small cars. As a matter of fact, its one of my greatest fears. But I also don’t like to wash cars (that’s why I had a Jeep before. They’re suppose to be covered in mud). So when we do move to Germany, I think this is the car I want:
Painting in the dark
Have you ever read a book and when you were done just went “Wow”? “Painting in the Dark: The longing to be seen, to be heard, to be known” by Paul Thorson is that kind of book for me. Paul writes in such a way that you can understand. He admits his ADD and when he writes, you can tell. Which was great for me because that means he doesn’t write in an ongoing, boring fashion (like most of the required reading for seminary – sorry seminary professors out there) but skips from story to story, emphasis to emphasis quickly to make his point.
Probably the best way to describe this book is to tell you what it says on the back cover: “This book is about rocks being lobbed at people like you and me who have climbed some tree somewhere looking for safety.”
Paul Thorson talks about how when we come to know Jesus Christ, we expect our life here on earth to become this great thing but as the back cover says: “Yet for most of us – author Paul Thorson included – “new life” often looks like the old, and it’s irritating. Is it also futile? God, you left me here in a darkened, dangerous place, and I’d like to know why. It is a pursuit so mysterious, a question so nagging, that it continues to shake and surprise all who seek it. But hope lies closer than we expect…..”
If this sparks a cord in you, read the book.
Paul is a musician and has traveled the world speaking and performing. Currently, Paul is in Kiev, Ukraine starting a church for reaching artists and musicians. Paul, if you read this, I hope we can meet up sometime when I travel to Kiev. God bless.
Added a photo album
Well, thought it was about time to add a photo album to this here website (more than just a few posts with pictures in them). So now if you look on the right, you’ll see some random pictures. If you want the whole album, on the right under Pages you’ll see a link to the Photo Album (or just click here)
Big words, little understanding
Can you decipher this famous nursery rhyme?
A triumvirate of murine rodents totally devoid of ophthalmic acuity was observed in a state of rapid locomotion in pursuit of an agriculturalist’s uxorial adjunct. Said adjunct then performed a triple caudectomy utilizing an acutely honed bladed instrument generally used for subdivision of edible tissue.
I think the only person who could get this is also the same person who keeps that business that makes “Word of the Day” toilet paper profitable. I knew what most of the single syllable words meant but that was about it.
I know we computer geeks sometimes speak a language that others don’t understand. (and are infamous for using it to scare co-workers) Sometimes I’ll be talking about computers and I’ll look at my wife who has that “deer caught in the headlights” look. That’s when I know I need switch gears and talk in a way that she can understand.
This is especially true when Christians are trying to explain why and what they believe to a person who has decided not to follow Christ. We use words like “Evangelical”, “Salvation”, “Sanctification”, “Born-again”, and many others that have totally different meanings to the world than to us. We use words that seem outdated like “Lord”, “King of Kings” and other references from Scripture that to a non-believer would seem like God wants to keep us in the Dark Ages. We quote Scripture as proof without explaining how Scripture has the authority to be proof.
As Krista and I have been preparing to move to Europe as missionaries (yet another term that is misunderstood by the world), we have thought more and more about the use of words to help lead people to an understanding what it means to become a follow of Christ. While we don’t have it all together nor are we saying that we know how to do it all, one conclusion we do have is: Why did we wait until we were missionaries to think about this? God has always asked us to share Him with others in this world way before He asked us to move to Germany.
So my challenge to you: If someone asked you why you are a follower of Jesus Christ, could you explain it using words that they would understand?
Team in Ukraine
Several members of the eDOT team left Germany on Sunday for Ukraine where we have a lot of different things happenings. We are asking for anyone willing to pray for them as they have a lot of things packed into a short period of time.
They will first be going to Zaporozhye (which is in the eastern portion of the country) meeting with the new director of the Zaporozhey Bible College & Seminary. This is a school we have been working with for some time creating a distance education program. During this time of meetings they hope to speak with some of the students (both Bible College students and those that came in from one of the outreach computer classes) at the eLCs (eLearning Centers) and learn more about how their lives have been impacted so that we can share that with many of you.
After a few days, they will then travel to Kremenchuk Bible College where similar meetings will happen. Then they will travel to Kiev to meet with our major partner, Bible Mission International, to look at the installation of more eLearning Centers and other projects. They also hope to meet with another partner, ABWE Ukraine, to discuss the Russian translation of a Bible Study Methods course.
Please pray for this team of four. Some of these places will be a little “rough” (they were advised to bring their own toilet paper – seriously). They will also being going through an area that was highly effected by the Chernobyl accident in 1986 which has never fully recovered. Please pray for our team that the Lord will go before them and open the doors He wants them to go through. Also pray that they will sleep well, have plenty of energy and be safe. Pray especially for one of the members as it is her first time in Urkaine and this is to be an especially intense trip.
Thank you.
Einstein and the Train
There’s a story out there about how one time Albert Einstein, the well known Physicists, when he got onto a train going from Princeton, NJ to Boston. Soon after he got on the train, he began searching for his ticket. When the conductor arrived at Einstein’s seat the conductor said, “Mr. Einstein, I, and everyone else on this train know who you are and I am sure you have a ticket, rest assured that you have a seat on this train”. Einstein was relieved momentarily but then continued to frantically look for his ticket. When the conductor had finished checking everyone’s ticket, he noticed Einstein still trying to find the lost ticket. The conductor walked down the aisle and tapped Einstein on the shoulder and said, “Dear sir, I have total faith and confidence that you have a ticket. Please take your seat and be sure you can ride this train”. To which Einstein replied, “Thank you again, kind sir, but I need to locate that train ticket to find out where I am going!”
As many of you know, Einstein is one of my heros. Not because of his accomplishments or fame and definitely not his religious beliefs, but because of his “out of the box” thinking. He would look at things from different perspectives not allowing the perceptions of history and personal bias to matter when looking from the other perspectives. He included these perspectives in his overall conclusions but he isolated each perspective and then evaluated each perspective to draw up his conclusions. This sometimes made him lose touch with the reality that he was living in, hence the need to look at his train ticket to know where he was going.
I think this process of thinking plays well into the realm of God. So many of the arguments I hear are full of the single perspective of one’s self clouded with their perception of history and their personal biases. So many times we go to understand God from the perspectives of this world pushing our ideas of reality onto God saying “He must fit into this mold because this is how I see the world around me working!” But if we open our mind to go to another perspective, removing our notions of how the world works, from perceptions of history that may or may not be accurate, and look at God as the creator of all things. Look at God as if He truly were all powerful and that all things revolve around Him and not us. Now from that perspective, what are we able to see about God? What are we able to see about the world around us? What are we able to see about ourselves?
So as I read Scripture, I like to look at it from different perspectives. Sometimes from my personal perspective, sometimes from the perspective of the culture it was originally written in, sometimes from the perspective of a culture totally different than me, and sometimes from the perspective of a perfect God. Then I also like to do the same thing with the world around me. I again look at it from many different perspectives. Looking at the different perspectives – my conclusion is this: The perspective from a merciful and just God is the one that makes the most sense.
From what perspectives have you looked at life lately?