Laughter and a 'Can'

Today's sermon was on Genesis 18, an intense chapter which describes God's promise to Abraham and Sarah for a son within the year. One part that really struck me was the pure and outrageous honesty of Sarah when she is told that she will bear a son. She laughs. She doesn't nod and smile, silently wondering about the sanity of the Almighty, her reaction is undeniably truthful. 13 Then the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really have a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the LORD ? I will return to you at the appointed time next year and Sarah will have a son."

15 Sarah was afraid, so she lied and said, "I did not laugh." (Good defense Sarah)

But he said, "Yes, you did laugh."

"Is anything too hard for the LORD?"

I would like to firmly answer 'No' and yet often I find myself agreeing that nothing is too hard for the Lord and yet not really believing it. I am reminded of the father in Mark 9 who seems to have the same half-hearted reaction to the claims of God.

"21Jesus asked the boy's father, "How long has he been like this?"

"From childhood," he answered. 22"It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us."

23" 'If you can'?" said Jesus. "Everything is possible for him who believes."

24Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!""

I believe like Sarah, reacting with an irreverent laugh. I believe like the father, half-heartedly and with a faith that says "if you can Lord".

The Pursuit of Wisdom

I have been thinking quite consistently over the past few years...about how my academic pursuits, especially in the area that I am studying, applies and influences how I in turn influence the world around me. I am a seeker of knowledge, of learning more about a whole host of topics and I strongly attempt to remain aware of the going-ons of the world. A goal of Bethany is discovering the link between the head knowledge that is focussed upon on the academic side of the school, and the heart knowledge, becoming more like Christ.

N.T. Wright provides an interesting analysis of this link in a speech written for the 175th anniversary of the University of Durham. His focus is on the importance of Jerusalem as a place of wisdom and a representation of how the world can be transformed. I found his comments on wisdom to be particularly interesting.

Defining wisdom, Wright says, "It was on the one hand the amassing, and the delighting in, an accumulation of knowledge about the natural and human worlds – trees, plants, animals, birds, music, literature, architecture, medicine. And it was on the other hand the delight in the meaning which all these things have, in themselves and in their labyrinthine complexity and interrelation, and hence the making of wise judgments about what ought to be done, not just what ought to be known. Wisdom, in the biblical tradition, includes in its wide embrace both the encyclopaedic collection and arrangement of the data, the evidence, the facts, and that strange, soft something which sneaks round the back and asks the question, But what’s it all for? What does it mean? And what should we do with it?"

The danger of education is that it will be used strictly to fill up the space between the ears, the danger is even larger in Christian education because the point of higher Christian education should not be merely to fill the space but to in some way cause the learner to impact the world and participate in the second aspect of Jerusalem's importance, the work of God in transforming this broken world.

"the Jesus we find in the New Testament is the Jesus who now relates equally to each place and each moment, and who relates as the one who re-embodies those old Jerusalem traditions, those old Solomonic traditions, so that St Paul can say that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And the way Jesus does that is not by his having visited this or that country as a boy, but by pouring out his transforming wisdom on people, on communities and individuals, so that they can become in turn agents of that transformation in the world around. Christ plays in ten thousand places, lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not his. The new Jerusalem, the ultimate new creation, remains God’s gift; but it is already anticipated in Jesus himself, the one in whom heaven and earth have already become one, and it can therefore be further anticipated as people seek wisdom, not for themselves alone – that’s always the temptation for any scholar, any community of scholars – but for the benefit of the whole world."

Light in the Darkness

A 5 year contract for a big-name defenceman, where have we heard this before. Don't worry though, in the words of the illustrious Gene Principe "His wife has been to Edmonton and is familiar with it so that's not an issue and he says despite his years elsewhere, his dad was always an Oilers fan. Well now Papa Souray knows exactly who his favorite Oiler will be."

What more needs to be said really? Oh yeah we still need some forwards that can score.

The Science of Meteorology- Round 2

I was watching one of those historical narrative shows on Discovery, where they make up a story about a family or tribe a bagillion years ago. It was about this group during the Ice Age who had to go out on the ocean and search for seals and such....yadda yadda yadda....what struck me was when one of the 'informed experts' talked about how they try and piece together what they know of the ice age and put it all together. He said something along the lines of "we put all of the data in a supercomputer and we can determine the temperature on any given day"

Say What?

Get this folks, they can determine the weather on any day in the last bagillion years (maybe it was like tens of thousands) BUT the point is they can apparently determine that but they can't determine 5 days from today....or 3 days....or tomorrow.

The irony pierces my non-cynical, non-sarcastic soul.

Sens Biggest Little Fan

The Science of Meteorology

Working any job outside, or a job dependent on the weather, one quickly recognizes the tendency to turn to the weather channel, or the weather network website, or the paper for up to date, conclusive information on the upcoming weather. When I working in landscaping two years ago I promptly realized that the 14 day forecast shows a sleek graph but is otherwise completely and utterly useless. The 7 day forecast has joined this category and now with my experiences over the last week of checking the weather for this long weekend, I have decided to abandon any sort of hope in the ability to forecast the weather.

***Begin Rant Transmission***

Early last week this weekend was forecasted to be rainy all weekend (Friday, Saturday, Sunday)

Around mid-week the percentages went up and suddenly Monday was added to the mix of rain.

By the end of the week with the weekend fast approaching the forecast changed to Saturday and Sunday being rainy but Friday only have a slight chance and Monday in the same boat.

Friday it drizzled and was cold but we worked. Yesterday we didn't work and it was cold but did not rain. Today I awoke to bright sunshine and no rain.

NOW the forecast says it is to rain overnight and maybe tomorrow morning, will I be setting my alarm for work? Yes.

***End Rant Transmission***

Tour!

Yes this is the 'half-way through tour, getting tired, need support, more deputations, wanna watch hockey' post, they only come around like once every ten million years (like 05/05/05). Anyway things have been going well thus far on tour, we did 8 deputations in the 6 days before today so that was quite the stretch especially when travelling from Hepburn to Airdrie to Calgary to Penticton to Chiliwack and now to Abbotsford. It has been a stretch but it's been a lot of of fun to perform so many times in such a short period of time. We've had a couple of beautiful days here in B.C., the rain is supposed to return for the next few so that's back to normal. We finish up on the Island on the weekend before the wonderful drive back all the way to Hepburn (prayer please?)

I do ask for prayer for energy and unity and patience and all those wonderful things that are necessary for a team to stay strong even when being together in close quarters for an extended period of time. Also that the message of our scripts would continue to be heard by the people, we have a few youth events in the next few days so that would be really cool if we could connect strongly with them.

Thanks all! Oh and if the Canucks get eliminated this weekend by any chance, prayer that our van doesn't get tipped and lit on fire, apparently they do that when they lose....or Guns and Roses doesn't show up.

(Gil the new Office episode:hilarious, Jared and I watched it two times....in a row, and once today!)