Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Tuesday Again

I'm tired and don't have anything exciting to say, so, I'm posting the obligatory two-fur:

1-My GI doctor called tonight (he's a great doctor). They got the biopsy back and I'm okay, but I do have Barrett's Espophagus. It's not cancer, but it means I'm higher risk and will need a biopsy every year or two, which is okay since I'll be having my esophagus stretched that often anyway. Apparently, I've had acid reflux for some time now and didn't know it was so bad....

2-I'm not going to read the book I have to report on Thursday. I have two things due in that class and I didn't get anything done over the weekend. So, I'm stopping where I am and just doing the other assignment. Worst case, it lowers my grade by one half a letter. I'm having to learn to let go of my GPA and worry more about what I'm actually learning. So, a seminary GPA (especially for the older students) doesn't necessarily reflect the value received.

3-Wendy's cool. You can read about our troubling weekend here. I know, this makes three, but everybody else is cheating. While I'm at it:

4-I got a personal copy of Adobe Illustrator today. We had some money left in an account at the DTS bookstore, so I did it. I've had CS2 at the office for several weeks now, but Adobe doesn't let you put a copy on the ole laptop. I'm still torn--Freehand has a lot of strengths, but so does Illustrator, even though the files are at least double the size.

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Tuesday Duo

1-The Gorillas will be returning in 2006! We tried to practice Saturday, but got ice-drizzled out. Seriously, I actually skidded twice on the way to church Sunday. It wasn't much of a skid, but it was actual ice!

2-There are over 300,000 discrepancies between the 6000 or so Greek manuscripts and fragments we use to form the Greek New Testament. However, 99% of those are spelling differences and such like potato or potatoe. It remains the single-most perfectly preserved text in history, followed by the Old Testament. My prof says, "we have the original texts and more." Our scholars spend much of their effort in trimming away the excess. After that, they add punctuation and paragraphs--neither of which exist in the manuscripts. And, there are another 10,000 Latin manuscripts to wrestle through (the language that Rome would bring). So, when we read the Bible, we interpret. Always. It keeps us humble to recognize the work of centuries of scholars who have so carefully sorted through so much. And yet, no real scholar has ever attacked the Bible on the grounds of it's preservation and authenticity. That's why the DaVinci Code is thin--it tries to cast doubt on something that study would quickly dispell. Ok, I haven't read it yet. I'll probably wait on the movie.

Sorry--I was trying to be short...

Monday, February 20, 2006

Moving the Anchor

Okay, the much debated message is now online! You can get it here, or download it directly from the link to the right (way down). The "notes" file is actually the PowerPoint as a PDF file. It's all pictorial, so it may be hard to follow with the slides, but I think they help. This is from the 4th service, if that matters, it changed very little from service to service. No expectations on my end--but if you want to hear what I said, here it is.

Thanks to all who have chimed in--the feedback is truly helpful and it's a great test of my belief that a blog is a place to have a "real" and sometimes a little messy conversation (if you start cussing, I might have to edit that part ;-) ).

Saturday, February 18, 2006

Tomorrow

I just finished preparing the message for tomorrow. Seriously. I don't think I've ever spent so many hours on one message and felt like I had so little to say. I'll continue to pray, but after being up til 3 last night on it, I don't think I can make more changes. Father, use that platform tomorrow as you wish. Let your Word speak through me and let us see the future of Bent Tree as you would direct.

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Fog

Woohoo! My head is slowly rising from the fog. I just finished a rather consuming exam and now only see sermon prep, missions meeting prep and being "on-call" before me for the week. Right now, I'm between class and my mandatory spiritual formation group and stopped by the library. Tonight, I actually get to run home and just play with my kids and maybe even watch a movie with my college sweetheart! APPENDED: that's after I go register the Gorillas--our soccer team!

I know that's cryptic, but this has been a rather heavy week and I'm finally past one of the big hurdles (fellow Greek students, notice that I said "past" it, not that I "passed" it).

I am excited about pulling together the sermon for Sunday. It's a topic I love and a group of people I love and a method I love (yes I still have to write it, but much has been gathered). I won't be walking straight through a text, but I will be helping our body understand the shift in worldviews that is upon us and how to be Christian in the midst of it. I don't have all the answers, but I'm excited about what I think I know and I can't wait to help us enter this conversation.

Here's my 2 Things Tuesday 2 Days Late:

1-Dad had to get a wheelchair last week due to a back injury. Please pray that it doesn't become permanent.
2-I got Robbie's poem published, kindof. DTS has an arts community site and I submitted it last month. You can see it here. Yes, I'm shamelessly seeking affirmation or for someone to tell me to stop writing poetry ;-)