I'm a big nerd

I looked at the bulletin in advance this week to see if Pastor Matt was preaching from the Old Testament tomorrow. I was hoping to have a use for my Hebrew Bible at church, but likely won't.

On another note, I went to a goofy soccer game today. It finally started to be played on the third field that they went to. At half time, 10 or so fans got kicked out of the game. In the second half, one player got kicked out, and 1 coach got a yellow card for kicking a ball into an opposing teams player. In over time, 2 more kids got kicked out. All of the people kicked out were from the same school, who still ended up tying the game. It was an irritating game to watch, as soccer was far from what most of the attention was on.

Flash Card Friday

This fun Friday evening, I'm making (my wife is gluing for me right now) my second batch of Hebrew cards. For the update, I've learned all the consonants, now I have to learn all the vowel marks (making those flash cards right now) and tomorrow starts the 10 vocab words a day. Luckily they sell us a set of the first 1000 words we have to learn, so I'm set for a long time after finishing the set tonight.

Unlike the English alphabet, there is a different vowel mark for every vowel sound. Thus I have 24 vowels to learn tonight, not 5 1/2 like English.

Good luck me.

I bought a Hebrew Bible yesterday, so if you want to see what anything from the Old Testament looks like in Hebrew, and if you'll give me a minute or two, sounds like in Hebrew, just let me know.

Break Time

Today was a day that my idiocy caused myself and my wife to need to take a break. I'll start with myself.

On top of the fact that learning a new language (this is now the fourth I've attempted) will kick my but 6 days a week this quarter (we actually have homework assigned separately for six days every week), I had to finish my September class work. That meant I needed to write a 15 page paper today, which I did. I needed a break after that project.

I also caused my wife to take a break from work. Traffic was bad this morning. I got into the parking lot at Bethel when I was already supposed to be in class. That bothers me so I put myself in rush mode. Put the car in park, grabbed my bag and water bottle from the passenger seat, and in one quick motion, took of my seat belt, opened the door and got out. While getting out I locked the doors and closed the door behind me. Immediately I remembered that I hadn't removed my keys from the ignition, or shut off the car. I locked my keys in the car, in the parking lot at the Seminary, at 8:00 in the morning. Class is four hours and I can't exactly make phone calls. During the first break I finally got a hold of my wife who got to take a break from work to come save me.

It was good to see her during the day. I hope she enjoyed her break.

I'm such an idiot.

Getting beat up

I feel like I lost a fight. You know that feeling you get where you are overwhelmed? You don't really know what just happened, but you know you got the worst end of it?

Those were my feelings leaving Hebrew this morning. Today was the first day. Hebrew is one of the parts of Seminary I have been most excited about, and still am. I just understand that my normal academic style (read procrastination) will be of no use with this class.

I spent a couple of hours tonight familiarizing myself with the Hebrew alphabet (actually just the consonants). I can comfortably tell you the name and sound of those letters now, and with enough time and thought can recite the Hebrew alphabet in order for you. Tomorrow I need to tackle the vowel structure (yes it is a structure, they aren't just more letters) as we start pretty heavy with vocab on Friday. 10 words a day, 6 days a week, all semester. 60 words a week. Good luck me.

If you want to know some of the common biblical words in Hebrew, just ask, I'll probably even have my flash cards on hand.

Class Arguments

I'm one to play devil's advocate in many arguments if I believe assumptions are being made, or standards being taught that aren't universal. I've had the opportunity to start a couple of these arguments in the first two days of classes. I've got plenty to say about the grading scale, about expository preaching, and about inductive and deductive styles to hermeneutics, but those might bore you, which means I'll maybe write about them some other night.

Instead, I'm going to talk about blind spots. We all bring approaches and assumptions to interpreting things we read. No matter what it is we are reading, we are affected, but I'm going to talk specifically about how we are affected by these assumptions when we read the Bible.

I call these assumptions blind spots, because most of them we do unconsciously and don't know that we do. They are in the blind spots of our minds, and we typically can't just look at them. Fortunately, we can find clarification from those looking at us, who see our blind spots clearly, as we see theirs, and both can benefit from mutual discussion.

Lets start with some examples. Some people feel that the small parts of the Bible need to be understood first to make the whole count. Do you take each verse or chapter separately? Do you view them as their own entity with their own specific meaning, or do you view them as a small part of a large whole? The second is those who feel you need to understand the large picture, and basic stories before you are capable of understanding the small parts of the text.

Do you seek to find comforting verses when struggling with scripture? If you come across something like Paul's writing that says we are saved by grace alone, do you refer to James to get faith without works is dead passages or vice versa to comfort yourself or do you allow scripture to continue to challenge you?

Do you assume things about the scriptures through assumptions about God? For example, some people assume redemptive movement in all cases of scripture. God is always redeeming, even if by process, people to himself. Thus all scripture needs to be read in that light. Or maybe you assume historical context is worthless. Is scripture time tested enough that the author's original meaning is less important than the meaning I derive, or do we need to focus solely on the author's original meaning?

We all come to scripture, and other readings, with certain assumptions and expectations. Some of them help us to clarify scripture more accurately, while others impede us from the process and progress that God would have us make.

I know that I make assumptions as I read. I'm looking now for people who can help me find them, and anyone who wants to discuss what a healthy list of "assumptions" or understandings would be to overlay in my mind as I read scripture.

Above all, I pray that the Holy Spirit's presence be more aware to us as we read scripture and that its influence reign above all of those assumptions.

Small Group Discussion

I'm excited for the small group discussion we are going to have tonight. Here is the e-mail explaining it. It'll be interesting to see what thoughts people come with.

Feel free to share yours as well.

I'd like to propose exploring a thought Pastor Matt touched on in his message yesterday….sacrificing for others over self-interest.

I have been struggling the past few days with what God expects from leaders in various situations, with regard to "putting others first" or "sacrificing self for others".

For instance, if the opportunity exists at work to prevent an employee from getting laid off by volunteering to take his place, do you think God expects us to make that sacrifice?

If the reason we choose not to "take the fall" is because we know it will mean a hardship for our own family, are we showing limited faith in God's promise to provide if we don't make the sacrifice?

When does the line between self-preservation and self-interest get crossed? Is there such a line, or are these words synonymous?

Out of the Cellar

After an abysmal 0-2 start for my fantasy team, I'm finally climbing out of the cellar. I managed to have half of my team ineligible this week (because their teams weren't playing) but found good fortune from all of my backups. I will no longer be tied for last place. In fact, I'll pass like 4 more guys as well as my scoring total is above average.

See you later basement, I'm on my way to the attic.

Nap Time or Bed Time

What time of day is it that you switch from thinking about taking a nap, to staying up until it is time to go to bed?

I was ready to sleep at 7:00 tonight, but knew it would throw my schedule off too much to take a nap and get back up. When is the appropriate time to go to bed now? Is 8:00 to early? What about 9:00?

Right now, 9:00 sounds good. Good night in 50 minutes.

Penalties

North Dakota issued a death sentence today. Let's talk about the death penalty. Are you for or against it and why?

Please comment.

Reading is most consuming

I have 35 pages of writing due tomorrow in 7 different 5 page papers. To accomplish 6 of those papers, I need to read approximately 400 pages worth of material. The 7th paper requires me to watch a two hour film.

I started this afternoon at 1:00. Reading has easily been the most time consuming part. I can generally write on of the 5 page papers (which the shortest is actually 5 and a half at this point) in 30-40 minutes while it takes me much longer than that to read the roughly 75 text book pages that are required for each.

I just finished another reading section. I'm about to go type another paper. Thanks for warming up my fingers.

edit: An update for those of you who are curious. It is now 2:40am and I'm going to bed. Overall I worked from 1:00 in the afternoon with 4 hours of break. In the 9 hours 45 minutes or so that I worked I read 400 pages and wrote six papers totaling 34 pages. When I wake up I'll watch the two hour movie and write the last 5 page paper before driving to campus to turn them in. Not bad for a day's work.

The reality show with only winners

Tonight was another night of many Network's Premier Week. Jenny and I vegged out for a while watching the "reality show" the Biggest Loser. The nice thing about this show is that for the most part, the eliminations are based on work rate, and even when someone is sent home, they've left with a new perspective on life, and new tools to reach there goal, as opposed to just the bitterness of a backstabbing.

I haven't seen much of the previous seasons of this show, but my brother and his roommate followed it pretty consistently last year so I saw the last couple episodes. It's nice to see a show where people get happy for each other with a realistic perspective of who has worked the hardest, instead of just canniving and backstabbing to improve in the game.

Finding 4 hours

I used man's sense of false rationale to push back my homework some more. Instead of working on it, I drove to North Central's soccer game this afternoon in Owatonna. It was 4 hours that I had set aside for homework, which didn't get any done. Luckily, I had gotten a little done before that, and will stay up late tonight doing more.

On a brighter note, I'm glad to report, though most of you won't care, that North Central is still undefeated this year in soccer. They have 3 ties on their record, but haven't lost a game yet, which makes our alumni team victory all the more satisfying.

Avoiding the necessary

Often the most productive times that men have in their lives is when they need an excuse for why they didn't do something else.

My dad had a garage project to get done this weekend and spent most of Saturday morning cleaning the kitchen. I can remember times my brother slept in a little past church and vacuumed and cleaned before his roommates got home. I often get more housework, or shopping, or chores done when I have a lot of homework I should be doing than at other times.

Why are we this way? Is it guilt? Is it our weird way of feeling productive? Are we trying to make up, in some way, for the procrastinating we have already done?

I don't understand it, but it is alive an well in my life, as I need to write 35 pages worth of papers by Thursday night, and haven't even opened Microsoft Word. Hopefully by this time tomorrow I will have some of that out of the way.

Free Cell

I've been playing a lot of it lately. I get upset when I lose though. Often times I erase the statistics after the first loss because I always want a perfect record. I can usually win about 15 games or so before the first loss, then I just quit and start over.

Why do I strive so much for perfection? Why would I rather let the game sit here for hours than just click out of it when I need to leave? Why do I put so much effort into the statistics of a stupid game, but let so many important things in life pass with the minimal attention I can give them?

If any of you can figure that out, and help me fix it, I'd be very grateful.

Who gives who a gift?

I'm confused. This year, on Jenny's birthday, she sent her mother a card. She feels that birthdays are backwards. A mother spends hours in labor, and everyone celebrates the result that did no work. So she sent her mom a card on her birthday this year. I thought it was funny.

Tonight, we got a gift from Jenny's co-worker who just resigned. That's right, he gave us a gift. I'm confused. When I left the church, they gave me a gift, not me giving them one. I just don't know anymore who is supposed to give who a gift and when.

33 to Go

The actual class lectures are over for my first class. Granted, I still have most of the work to do, as it isn't due until next Friday. I'm excited to have this one out of the way.

I'll be more excited when the work is done, but even more so when I begin some preaching classes and Hebrew which start in two weeks. Those will be more exciting for me.

If you see me in the next week (not this weekend, but next Monday through Friday) make sure I get some homework done.

Amazing Race Survivor

I watched Survivor tonight. It was the premier. I wasn't all that excited, because I think TOO much hype is being put out over the division by races thing. I don't think it is that big of a deal. Watching the premier tonight only validated my thought that it isn't that big of a deal, just a media savvy move by the creators to get more attention.

The "Asian" tribe said it best when they were meeting each other. With two Koreans, a Vietnamese Refuge a mixed Philippines/Hawaiian, and one I can't remember, they are different within themselves.

Survivor is still a game of work ethic and personality and has nothing to do with race.

What a normal show with outrageous hype and media attention. Good job survivor creators.

Tanya Harding Alive and Well

Injury strikes again in an odd way in the sports world. The story released today is that a backup punter from a college football team was so mad that he did not win the starting job for his school, that he stabbed the starting punter in his kicking leg.

When does the team spirit get lost in team sports? How does greed over playing time and notoriety creep into the game at such early ages? Should/can something be done to make the games more pure again?

Does sport specializing at an early age help or hurt? What about parents involvement in sports? How does the media, or the money spent on sports and sports player affect this cause?

I remember hearing over the weekend that a certain player "deserved" to be making millions more a year than he is. Why would they "deserve" it?

Ignoring You

I'm taking the night off from writing a blog to enjoy ice cream cake with my wife on her birthday.

Class Discussion

We have lots of discussions in class. I spend most of the time arguing for whatever side is not being represented well, but was silent for most of today's conversation. We were talking about cultural identifiers. Specifically, symbols, heroes, and rituals.

It was pretty easy for the class to think of common symbols and rituals that would be identifying of America, but when asked to think of "national heroes" we were left with few specifics. Many people could think of their own personal heroes, but few if any would be considered national heroes. We could think of lots of heroic positions, like military, firefighter, police officer (remembering especially that this discussion happened on September 11). We thought of few names though.

Can you think of any people, living or dead, that would be globally considered (not agreed upon by other nations but primarily agreed upon in America) as a global hero?

We had two specific names to the list, but I want to hear other options.

Sermon Rating

I don't know how I quantify or qualify how good a sermon is. I don't know how one should either. There is the definite in which you must make sure it is accurate to what the Bible teaches, but what else comes into play. Does overall appeal matter? What about hitting the individual in the situation they are in, but leaving out the broad community? How much of the "congregation" needs to be impacted by a sermon for it to be considered good? Does it require that parts of it be easily remembered, or clearly applicable? What can people use to quantify and/or qualify how good a sermon is?

If I told you I had heard a good sermon, what do you assume is true about it?

I'm lucky enough to be asking these questions not because I'm trying to write a "good sermon" or because I think that following some formula will get a preacher there, but because I heard one today. I left church this morning thinking, that's the best sermon I've heard in a long time.

I know that some of the reasons in my head were because of my own personal situation, but I also thought it was good for other reasons.

What things do you think through when you evaluate if something is good?

3 Nuggets from the Road

My mind wanders while I drive. I usually share my thoughts with whoever is in the car with me. Sometimes it is worthwhile, sometimes humorous, sometimes goofy, and sometimes just stupid.

I had three nuggets of thought on the drive home tonight that I shared with Jenny, and will now share with you.

The term "wreckless driving" seems to be a bad one to me. I though we were supposed to aim to drive "wreckLESSly." Why can't they call it dangerous or wreckworthy driving.

Second was a quote that I heard this week but I can't remember where from. It relates to identity. "I'm rarely who I think I am, I'm rarely who you think I am, but I'm usually who I think that you think I am."

Third relates to Presidency. When did the rules for Presidency (35 years old, born a U.S. citizen etc...) come into existence? How many Presidents didn't hold up to it? I'm sure George Washington wasn't born a U.S. citizen, so if he helped make these rules, they seem hypocritical. They wouldn't have been able to have a new president for 35 years after the country was established.

These are the kinds of things I think about while I'm driving.

Major Shifts in Life

Do you like them or hate them? Do you have a good network around you to help you get through them?

I have always enjoyed major life transitions. They are usually challenging, but always rewarding for me. Growing up in a Navy family and moving so often I'm sure played a major role in this, but even after being in the same state for a while now, I've looked forward to all the major changes in my life.

I am enjoying school, as much as an introductory class that I have no interest in can be enjoyed. I'm looking forward to fall starting as I know I will enjoy multiple of those classes. I'm also wondering when the next major change comes. It won't be too long (read under 3 years) before school is done and I'm again looking for full-time ministry oriented work. That will involve major changes in my life structure.

I'm excites, but as stated, I'm always excited about these things. I'm constantly comfortable in these situations. Are you?

Glued to the TV/StatTracker

Football is here. That also means fantasy football is here. I spent the evening watching the season opening game. I didn't have any players playing, but my opponent had two. I was hoping to find that I would have a distinct advantage after tonight (read: I was hoping his players wouldn't do much) but have found that I will have an uphill battle.

Both of his players exceeded their expectations for the evening, leaving me (read: I have to cheer hard for my guys on Sunday) a lot of work left to do.

Don't call me on a Sunday unless you want to hear about my fantasy football stories. Its just gonna be that way until December.

10 day class

Two school weeks. Two full books. 50 pages of writing. This is my task for this and next week. It is an intro course, and similar to some I took in college. It is similar to half of the program Jenny took in college.

Not terribly interesting or challenging yet. Oh well, such is September school.

Otherwise, Jenny has a birthday soon. Next Tuesday is her 25th. Make sure to celebrate her life with her somehow.

You ask, I answer (cloud color)

MDK asked about cloud color. Something along the lines of, is rain from white clouds cleaner than rain from grey clouds?

Imagine taking off in an airplane on a rainy day with the sky covered by gray clouds. As your airplane flies through the clouds, the sky becomes brighter and brighter and eventually you see bright sunlight and look down: the tops of those gray clouds you've flown through.

Now, the clouds are white.

It's a little more complicated than this, but basically, clouds look gray when they block sunlight. The thicker the cloud, the more light it blocks.

There's nothing blue in the sky, it's a matter of blue light reflecting from one molecule to another in the sky with some of these reflections from all parts of the sky reaching our eyes.

The tiny water drops or ice crystals that make up clouds don't scatter, or reflect, only one color or a few colors that make up sunlight. Instead, they scatter all of the colors, which together add up to white.

Cloud particles also absorb some light. In other words, as a "sun beam" goes into a cloud, some of it is reflected back to make the cloud look white to someone who's on the same side of the cloud as the sun.

But if you were in an airplane descending through the cloud — imagine it's a thick one — it would get darker and darker as more and more light is absorbed and scattered in all directions, including back toward the sun.

In general, when a cloud is around 3,000 or so feet thick, hardly any sunlight will make its way through the cloud.

You often see cumulus clouds that are white on top, and dark at the bottom.

Different things could be going on here. First, the bottom of the cloud could be in the shadow of other clouds, or the sun could be setting and is shining only on the tops of towering clouds — this is common since thunderstorms are more likely in the late afternoon than at other times.

Also, larger drops of water, such as raindrops near the bottom of a cloud, absorb more light than smaller drops.

I'm sure you've noticed that gray clouds don't always mean it's going to rain or snow.
To see why, let's take a brief look at why rain or snow falls from some clouds, but not from most of them.

Clouds stay in the air, even though their water drops and ice crystals are heavier than air, because slowly rising air holds up the water drops and ice.

When the water drops or ice crystals grow too large for the rising air to hold them up, they begin falling as rain or snow. Often when we see a cloud as gray the water drops or ice crystals aren't large enough to fall.

To learn more about the color of clouds you really have to look into books. I've done a good amount of looking on the Web, and found some good information. But I've yet to find a Web site that puts the basic science together in a way that's easy to understand.

I found this information on USA Today.

What to wear?

Tomorrow starts the first day of school. I went shopping for back to school clothes today, but only looked, and did not purchase. Instead, I bought 24 new notebooks. That's right, 24 of them.

I'm excited to start.

I start tomorrow with "introduction to global and contextual ministries."

I'm sure many of you have lots of questions about that topic, so over the next two weeks, ask away.

DVD Special Features

Sometimes I realize that I've seen too many movies. Or at least that I've seen some too many times. Jenny and I spent the afternoon today watching the first movie of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but did so with the cast "audio commentary" on while watching it.

It's amazing sometimes to hear about all the work/preparation/energy and humor that goes into making a movie that doesn't make it into the final cut. Or at least to understand the process of how they get the certain feel that they want.

I don't have the patience or attention to detail to be an actor or director, let alone one of the special effect guys. I think the only thing I could do movie related is to throw my body in harms way as a stunt double. The adrenalin rushes sound like fun.

Need two topics

I'm out of topics right now. School starts in three days, I'll likely have inspiration from there. Until then, I need some topic ideas.

Put any topics or questions in the comment section of this blog.

Alumni Win

I never know what to think about the result of an Alumni game, at least, not as an alumni. Today was the North Central University alumni soccer game. It is a tradition at our school to have it take place before the team's first game, giving them an opportunity to have game feel before their season starts.

As a player, these games were never competitive. However, in the last 3 or 4 years, we have graduated enough good players to make this game fairly competitive. In fact, the last four years the games have been split, with the alumni winning two and the team winning two. Today, the alumni won.

Every time I step on the field I want to win, so I hoped the alumni would win. Every time the game is over I wish that the actual team had crushed us, not because we are old, but because it would mean they are so prepared for their season.

I don't really know what to think about this year.