Couple things

Here is another interesting article about global warming, http://www.junkscience.com/Greenhouse/ .

Earlier this week I read a great article at Christianity Today by William Lane Craig related to philosophy and the existence of God. Its long but really interesting; I recommend it.

A while back I wrote a little satirical post called "An Emergent Teaches Math". It must have been late at night because it made me laugh at the time. I never really finished it and therefore did not ever publish it. It was not intended to be mean, just a silly little satire to make a point. Some of the things that Craig said in his article seemed to affirm the point I was making and therefore reminded me of the unposted post. So, after you read Craig's article, then just for fun, here is "An Emergent Teaches Math"...

"Good morning fellow travelers. Today I'll be facilitating a conversation about an idea known as the Pythagorean Theorem. I had hoped that we could continue all sharing our stories of how we came to be math students. However, my department head was rather disturbed that no one scored higher than 62% on the last examination.

"Now, now, let's not be judgmental. I tried to tell him that he is just being an old fashioned linear thinker and that he really does not understand how to function in the post-modern world. But for now, he is the boss, so we need to explore this concept.

"The Pythagorean Theorem is a formula that applies to right triangles. A right triangle is a triangle that contains one angle of 90 degrees and two lesser angles that add up to 90 degrees (he displays one on the camera projector). Of course, you might not be comfortable with that. I guess there are a couple of things you might do. You could go down to Starbucks and begin a discourse about what a right triangle ought to be. Or if you don't have that much time, you could just recalibrate your protractor so that you have 90 degrees at any point you are comfortable with.

"The sides of the right triangle that form the 90 degree angle are called legs and the side opposite the 90 degree angle is considered the hypotenuse. The hypotenuse is the longest side. The Pythagorean Theorem gives us a way to find the length of one side if the other two sides are known. Specifically, it says that the sum of the squares of the legs is equal to the square of the hypotenuse. We represent it as a²+b²=c² . Where a and b are the lengths of the legs and c is the length of the hypotenuse."

The class practices the formula a time or two and then little Johnny has a question. He says, "Mr. Teacher, you said we could recalibrate our protractor to make 90 degrees something we are comfortable with?"

"Yes Johnny."

"So, what if I were, say, I don't know, designing a bridge and I was using triangular shapes to determine various areas under the bridge and then I wanted to use the Pythagorean Theorem to determine the heights of the supports. With me? Good. But if I wasn't comfortable with the constraints of 90 degrees so I changed my protractor to suit me, wouldn't the supports end up being the wrong height? and then the bridge would not connect properly, and there could be a big waste of materials or worse, we could end up with an unstable bridge and people could die?"

"Well Johnny, I suppose that's one scenario. You've obviously only experienced a strictly Euclidean metaphysic. You're being a little arrogant to think that there is only one way of looking at things. You need to open your mind to what others on your journey may be comfortable with...

Quickie

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. I've been meaning to, but tend to fall asleep before I can get on line and write something. So, today I'm cheating and posting at work--so it is going to be really quick.

All two of you who read this know how much I like the Evangelical Outpost . Well, today Joe Carter has really outdone himself. You gotta go check out his list of 33 Things; they're really good. Especially the first one, and I liked the one about English evolving or devolving, and some others too, but I gotta go.

A couple of thoughts related to time

Technically, it is not even summer yet, but today I found myself longing for fall. However, I quickly stopped. You see, I have learned, especially since becoming a parent, not to wish life away. If one is wishing for a future moment to hurry and get here, one tends to miss the blessings of the "now moment".

For example, say one has a child in the diaper stage of life. Changing diapers gets old fast and it is tempting to yearn for that stage to be over with. The problem is that it will go by all too quickly. Once it is gone one can never get it back. To further the illustration, even though I love my boys now, sometimes I miss what it was like when they were babies. Its not that I have regrets from those days, I just want to hold one of them again as a newborn. But I cannot--ever.

Therefore, do not wish too zealously for the future. It will be here soon enough. Enjoy this season.

In Poems and Prayers and Promises, John Denver wrote,
"The days they pass so quickly now,
The nights are seldom long.
Time around me whispers when its cold.
The changes somehow frighten me,
But still I have to smile.
It turns me on to think of growing old."

When I was younger I agreed. I thought that growing old sounded cool. I envisioned myself as successful and wise and enjoying the fruits of a good life. I think I have come to disagree with myself. I see so many people in my life struggling with the problems of "the golden years"; some physical and some otherwise. It is kind of a welcome to reality show.

The Teacher understood this. He wrote in Ecclesiastes 12:
...3 when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men stoop, when the grinders cease because they are few, and those looking through the windows grow dim; 4 when the doors to the street are closed and the sound of grinding fades; when men rise up at the sound of birds, but all their songs grow faint; 5 when men are afraid of heights and of dangers in the streets; when the almond tree blossoms and the grasshopper drags himself along and desire no longer is stirred. Then man goes to his eternal home and mourners go about the streets. 6 Remember him—before the silver cord is severed, or the golden bowl is broken; before the pitcher is shattered at the spring, or the wheel broken at the well, 7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Everything is meaningless!"

Sounds bleak. However, he also knew the solution. He wrote in verse one, "Remember your Creator in the days of your youth. Before the days of trouble come and the years approach when you will say, 'I find no pleasure in them.'..." We should not long for the future or the past. Neither should we fear the future or the past. We should seize the moment, not in a sense of self gratification or personal fulfillment. Rather, we should seize the moment by "remembering our Creator", that is, living for the glory of God right now, building the Kingdom, right now.

Updates

The mission trip went well. The teenagers did a great job and I think all the campers enjoyed the recreation. Thursday we had a 3% chance of rain, but we beat the odds. I believe that thanks to many prayers we had rain on Thursday. The area is still in a serious drought though, so please keep praying.

It is soooo nice to be back home. I was greeted by squeals of delight from the boys. Of course, five minutes later they were fighting like cats and dogs. But, hey, like the song says, it IS good to be back home again.

A major event happened while I was gone. I am sad that I was not here, but still excited. On Wednesday night at First Baptist, Jonathan made a public profession of faith in Jesus. Many people have prayed for this, even before he was born. So, thank you Jesus. Thanks to all who prayed.

I'm a skeptic by nature, so I am tempted to bug him a lot to find out if he really knows what he is doing. But ya know, Jesus said not to hinder little kids from coming to him. And like I said, many have prayed for this. Therefore, I am trusting that this is real.

He is such a sweet kid. He told our pastor, "Hey, you were there when I was born, and you were there when I was reborn. And maybe you'll be there when I get my new body!" So cute.

So, I've seen a lot of prayers answered this week. Thank you Jesus.

A blog from the road

So I'm in far west Texas on a mission trip of sorts. Specifically, I'm between Alpine and Marfa at Paisano Baptist Encampment. It is remote here and rustic. I suppose there are folks who consider this part of the country to be pretty in a rugged kind of way. Clearly, these are people who have great fondness for the color brown. That's mostly what is here; brown dirt, brown rocks, brown grass, brown trees, etc. What they do not have here is water, brown or otherwise. They are in drought conditions and things are pretty bad.

It really makes me wonder why people settled here in the first place. Water and shade are hard to come by. Farming would be incredibly difficult without modern implements. There is game here but the populations are not dense. Its very hot and dry in the summer and cold in the winter. The wind is tough and it keeps the brown dust in the air so that it coats everything, including the upper respiratory tract. So any kind of life for the first inhabitants-whether agricultural or hunter/gatherer-would have been harsh. Why they would not have moved on to a friendlier environment I have no idea.

Back to the mission trip. I'm here with six teenagers, Alex, Colton, Dustin, Katy, Rachel, & Savannah. We are serving as the recreation team for a Girls Mission Camp. The camp is put on by some of the churches in this sparsley populated area. I think there are four or five churches represented from a radius of over 30 miles. Yet there are only about 45 campers here.
So far the teenagers are doing a great job. My challenge is to try to show them how much better they could be doing if they put more focus and energy into preparation. I have an idea about how to do that. Maybe it will work, but I'm not hodling my breath.

I miss my family soooooo much. Please pray for them while I am gone. Its hard on the boys and because of Kris' arthritis it is really hard on her to have to be the mom and the dad. (My hat's off to you single parents. I don't know how you do it.) Thankfully, Nana is there to help at night. But we know from experience that these weeks are still hard. So any prayers would be appreciated.

TTFN