Personal
The Kind of Stuff I Find Nowhere Else II
07/20/2008 08:27
In the KIND OF STUFF I FIND NO
WHERE ELSE, ROUND 2 department:
You may remember that last year while in Louisiana, I actually saw a jar of pickle pigs’ LIPS in a jar (again, NO, I didn’t partake) while shopping in a grocery store. Well, this year, when visiting friends and relations a week or so ago, we went to the same store. Yes, the pickled pigs lips are still on the shelf. But this year we took another picture of the kind of stuff you just don’t seem to find in grocery stores outside of Louisiana very often:
Obviously, the alligator filet is the most exotic of the bunch. Note that it says “Certified Cajun.” We didn’t buy any of these items (I’ve actually never eaten aligator). I did look at the packages of pre-cooked and shelled crawfish meat, but it was just as pricey as what I can get here in Kentucky.
The oddest thing we saw in the frozen section at this store is pictured below:
This was in the regular frozen seafood section: “wild caught, head-on” bait shrimp--the kind of stuff you can go fishing with. But notice the top left corner of the box: “Good eating too”! Well, why not, I guess.
I didn’t buy any of the food pictured above. but I did fill up the ice chest with Natchitoches meat pies, crawfish pies, andouille sausage, boudin (regular and jalapeńo), purple hull peas, and Albert’s Hot Sauce.
You may remember that last year while in Louisiana, I actually saw a jar of pickle pigs’ LIPS in a jar (again, NO, I didn’t partake) while shopping in a grocery store. Well, this year, when visiting friends and relations a week or so ago, we went to the same store. Yes, the pickled pigs lips are still on the shelf. But this year we took another picture of the kind of stuff you just don’t seem to find in grocery stores outside of Louisiana very often:
Obviously, the alligator filet is the most exotic of the bunch. Note that it says “Certified Cajun.” We didn’t buy any of these items (I’ve actually never eaten aligator). I did look at the packages of pre-cooked and shelled crawfish meat, but it was just as pricey as what I can get here in Kentucky.
The oddest thing we saw in the frozen section at this store is pictured below:
This was in the regular frozen seafood section: “wild caught, head-on” bait shrimp--the kind of stuff you can go fishing with. But notice the top left corner of the box: “Good eating too”! Well, why not, I guess.
I didn’t buy any of the food pictured above. but I did fill up the ice chest with Natchitoches meat pies, crawfish pies, andouille sausage, boudin (regular and jalapeńo), purple hull peas, and Albert’s Hot Sauce.
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Why eBay Insurance Is Important
07/20/2008 08:26
In the “THIS IS WHY YOU
SHOULD ALWAYS GET INSURANCE ON EBAY ITEMS”
department:
I was doing a bit of early Christmas shopping for Kathy, and I had won an eBay auction for a “Sango Sangria Vegetable or Relish Tray” (she likes the Sango Sangria stuff). As you can see above, it didn’t survive the journey. So now, I’m out about $30 after paying for shipping, too, and nothing but a broken tray to show for it.
The insurance which I opted not to get: $1.70.
I was simply being cheap--trying to save less than two bucks. Well, lesson well learned, I suppose.
Whatever you do, don’t tell Kathy.
I was doing a bit of early Christmas shopping for Kathy, and I had won an eBay auction for a “Sango Sangria Vegetable or Relish Tray” (she likes the Sango Sangria stuff). As you can see above, it didn’t survive the journey. So now, I’m out about $30 after paying for shipping, too, and nothing but a broken tray to show for it.
The insurance which I opted not to get: $1.70.
I was simply being cheap--trying to save less than two bucks. Well, lesson well learned, I suppose.
Whatever you do, don’t tell Kathy.
A Reflection on the 17-Year Cicadas
06/25/2008 10:19
Early in June This Lamp was
still down, so I wrote this and sent it to a few friends via email.
Now that the blog is back up, I’ll share it with all of
you.
I walked out back to
hear quite the cacophony of sounds as the 17-year cicadas sang
their love songs. The trees were filled with the red-eyed bugs
conversing and singing to one another. The trunks and ground
beneath filled with discarded skins set aside like old changes of
clothes.
As I took pictures, I was mesmerized by the beauty of these alien beings. So odd looking, and yet, God created even these--part of a cycle, part of a purpose. When I was a child, we always called cicadas "locusts." But they really aren't locusts. The biblical writers had nothing good to say about locusts because they always came as destroyers; but really, even locusts served God's purposes.
Whereas locusts were harmful, cicadas are the opposite. According to the Wikipedia, "Cicadas do not bite or sting, are benign to humans, and are not considered a pest." In the 4th century AD, the Christian preacher John Chrysostom compared the pleasure of reading the Old Testament prophets to the song of the cicadas.
I've always identified the sound of cicadas with summer. But I believe that looking into the dark red eyes of this 17-year variety, for the first time, I found a new summertime connection to the majesty and glory of God's creative power. I would imagine that in heaven, in addition to the trumpets of angels, cicadas must also sing their praises to God.
Psalm 145:10-11 states
Follow-up. After I sent the above out in an email to a selected few, I was sitting on my back patio a few days later. We are on the outermost edge of the Eastern time zone, and during the summer, we have sunlight well past 9PM. I enjoy sitting on my patio swing watching the skies as the gray bats indiginous to this part of Kentucky emerge from their secret sites of slumber for their nightly hunt. As the bats began their patrol, and the sound of the cicadas began to lessen for the evening, I thought to myself, “What a great summer to be a bat--a nice, fat, happy bat.”
See the pictures I took of the cicadas (be sure to click on the thumbnail to see a larger view).
Also, if you’re interested in this particular varitey of cicada, check out the recent Courier Journal article, “17-Year Cicadas Sounding Off in Kentucky.”
One More Thing: I believe this will be the last post with mismatched comments. If I’m correct, comments that were originally part of Theron’s review of the Orthodox Study Bible will be attached to this post. If you leave a new comment, it will be below them. One day I may try copying previous comments to the correct posts and deleting the misplaced comments. But as this will be tedious and time consuming, it won’t take place soon.
As I took pictures, I was mesmerized by the beauty of these alien beings. So odd looking, and yet, God created even these--part of a cycle, part of a purpose. When I was a child, we always called cicadas "locusts." But they really aren't locusts. The biblical writers had nothing good to say about locusts because they always came as destroyers; but really, even locusts served God's purposes.
Whereas locusts were harmful, cicadas are the opposite. According to the Wikipedia, "Cicadas do not bite or sting, are benign to humans, and are not considered a pest." In the 4th century AD, the Christian preacher John Chrysostom compared the pleasure of reading the Old Testament prophets to the song of the cicadas.
I've always identified the sound of cicadas with summer. But I believe that looking into the dark red eyes of this 17-year variety, for the first time, I found a new summertime connection to the majesty and glory of God's creative power. I would imagine that in heaven, in addition to the trumpets of angels, cicadas must also sing their praises to God.
Psalm 145:10-11 states
“All your creatures praise
you, Lord,
and your loyal servants bless you.
They talk of the glory of your kingdom
and tell of your might,” (REB)
Surely, this includes even the
cicadas.
Follow-up. After I sent the above out in an email to a selected few, I was sitting on my back patio a few days later. We are on the outermost edge of the Eastern time zone, and during the summer, we have sunlight well past 9PM. I enjoy sitting on my patio swing watching the skies as the gray bats indiginous to this part of Kentucky emerge from their secret sites of slumber for their nightly hunt. As the bats began their patrol, and the sound of the cicadas began to lessen for the evening, I thought to myself, “What a great summer to be a bat--a nice, fat, happy bat.”
See the pictures I took of the cicadas (be sure to click on the thumbnail to see a larger view).
Also, if you’re interested in this particular varitey of cicada, check out the recent Courier Journal article, “17-Year Cicadas Sounding Off in Kentucky.”
One More Thing: I believe this will be the last post with mismatched comments. If I’m correct, comments that were originally part of Theron’s review of the Orthodox Study Bible will be attached to this post. If you leave a new comment, it will be below them. One day I may try copying previous comments to the correct posts and deleting the misplaced comments. But as this will be tedious and time consuming, it won’t take place soon.
This Lamp is BACK (for the love of Margaret...)
06/20/2008 09:24
In case you’re just tuning in, we’ve (yes, that’s a royal plural) been down since late February. I create this website in a program called RapidWeaver and a few months ago, the main file for the site got corrupted. I don’t know why. I don’t know if it was a RapidWeaver problem or a me problem. Whatever it was, everytime I loaded the file, all of my blog entries immediately deleted themselves. What that meant is that if I were to publish with that file, all of my blog entries on the internet would have disappeared.
Of course, I know you’re saying, “But didn’t you have a backup?” Well, normally I would have. But in a freak convergence of events, I was switching over to the new Time Machine method for backup. In order to do that, I had to erase the backup on my external hard drive that had been created with my previous backup software. I erased that backup BEFORE I realized that the RapidWeaver file for This Lamp was hosed. That was a bad day... a really bad day.
That left me with my only other backup which was dated from last October. My task over these past few weeks has been to re-create all blog posts from October 2007 through February 2008 based on what was published on the web. It wasn’t as easy as a simple cut and paste. All links had to be re-created as well as a lot of formatting including any text that was in italics. It really shouldn’t have taken more than three weeks or so working on it in my spare time, but I had a couple of other projects that came along that were paying projects, so well...
When This Lamp went into cardiac arrest at the end of February, it had hit a peak of roughly 700 hits a day according to Sitemeter. The interesting thing is that even in its hiatus, the website has still managed to maintain over half that amount of traffic. I think the average blogger would love to have between 350 and 400 hits a day, so it’s not too shabby, and hopefully readers will come back.
Normally, I have a number of upcoming blog posts in the works started within RapidWeaver. All those posts that would have come your way in early March were lost including a review I had been working on for a while on the NET Bible. Of those lost projects, the NET Bible review is the only one I will begin again. Look for it in July, and my apologies to those who have been waiting a year or so. The other lost posts will just stay lost as their time of relevance has past.
Sometime next week, I will launch a second blog-based website that has really nothing to do with most of the normal stuff discussed on This Lamp. This Lamp isn’t going away, nor is it going to be neglected, but rather, I am creating a second site with a different focus which will attract a whole new and different group of readers (I do have wide and varied interests, you know). Look for that announcement next week. I don’t know how many of you regular readers will be interested, but you’re welcome to join us there, too (and no, that time I was NOT using a royal plural).
My thanks and appreciation to all of you who sent regular emails asking about my progress restoring This Lamp and encouraging me in the process. I really didn’t enjoy the tedium of rebuilding the site, and never once did I consider abandoning it, but it was your encouragement that kept me pushing forward.
One more very important thing. In the reconstruction, for whatever reason, the HaloScan comments are completely messed up. I have no doubt that as soon as I publish this post, comments from what should go with a previous post will be attached to this one. I have no real way of ever fixing this, BUT it should work itself out in a few days as I add new content to This Lamp. In other words, eventually moving forward, new posts will be matched to the right comments. In fact, if you post here, your comments will remain, but will follow comments that were originally intended for an earlier post.
Well, it’s good to be back. I look forward to our upcoming discussions.
My Conversation with Kathy this Morning as We Were Getting Ready for Church
02/17/2008 17:52
Kathy: Yes, I love you more today.
Me: Do you love me more today than you did last week?
Kathy: Yes, Rick. I love you more today than I did last week.
Me: Do you love more today than you did yesterday?
Kathy: (getting frustrated) Yes... I love you more today than even yesterday.
Me: Some days do you love me less than others?
Kathy: Sweetheart, I could not possibly love you any less than I do right now.
???
Baptism Anniversary
02/15/2008 16:39
Queenie Pennington (1919 - 2008)
02/09/2008 21:04
Queenie Pennington, 88, of Ruston, Louisiana, formerly of Malvern, Arkansas died Saturday, February 9, 2008.
She was born on October 12, 1919 in Manning, Arkansas. She was the daughter of the late John Nelson Amis and Fannie Irma Hood Amis.
Funeral services will be held at 2:00PM on February 11, 2008 in the Atkinson Funeral Home Chapel with her grandson, Rick Mansfield, officiating. Burial will follow in Resthaven Cemetery.
Queenie was a long time member of Taylor’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church and a member of the Senior Ladies Sunday School Class. Having been raised in Sparkman, Arkansas, where she received her formal education, Queenie found great satisfaction as a homemaker in her adult life.
Survivors include her husband of 71 years, Edward Dale Pennington; two daughters, Margaret Sue Duty and husband Douglas of Benton, Louisiana; Barbara Ann Orren and husband, E.L.”Sonny” Orren of Ruston, Louisiana; one son, Charles Edward Pennington and wife, Dianne of Malvern, Arkansas; one sister, Ida Lou Ellis Heard and husband, Dale of Camden, Arkansas.; grandchildren Debbie Jayroe of Benton, Louisiana, Cindy Selmer of Shreveport, Louisiana; Richard Fowler Mansfield, Jr. of Simpsonville, Kentucky; Rodney Pennington of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Angela Bevill of Hot Springs, Arkansas; Brandy Richards of Foley, Alabama, Jody Dickson of Jessieville, Arkansas and Jeremy McInroe of Malvern, Arkansas; twenty-one great grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; two step-mothers, Blanche Crossley Amis and Daisy Parker Bettis Amis; three brothers, Homer, Harvey, and Marshall Amis; one sister, Esther Ora Tabor and one grandson, Rusty Pennington.
Pallbearers; Frank Burton, Merle Jordan, Carl Robbins, Orman Wallace, Henry Holt and Travis Pennington
Honorary Pallbearers; Ollie Caldwell and Jim Ledbetter
Memorials may be made to Taylor’s Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, 29966, Hwy. 67, Malvern Arkansas 72104, Temple Baptist Church of Ruston or charity of donor’s choice.
Visitation will be from 1:00PM until service.
Special thanks to Dr. Ed Mariano of Green Clinic in Ruston and Dr. Ray Bollen of Malvern for their kind, compassionate care.
The Kind of Stuff I Find Nowhere Else
12/27/2007 13:07
New Café Press Designs: Greek Uncials, Odysseus, Belshazzar, Halo 3, Latin Sayings, Erasmus and more...
10/11/2007 17:03
I've added a few new designs to the
This
Lamp Café Press Store in addition to the "A. T.
Robertson Is My Homeboy" and This
Lamp logo offerings. I'm having fun creating these as certain
ideas come to my mind. These are the kind of shirts I've always
wanted to find myself, but no one made them. Well, now I make
them--or at least Café Press makes them for me. And hopefully,
you'll like some of them, too.
And by the way, I've set up more than just shirts. Most of the designs are available with mugs, totebags, bumper stickers, journals, and more.
Servant of Christ Jesus (Greek Uncial)
In Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1, the Apostle Paul refers to himself as a doulos Christou Iesou, which is translated "servant [or bondslave] of Christ Jesus."
The design in this section uses an uncial Greek font which is indicative of the time when the New Testament documents were actually written. Shorthand versions of holy names, called "Nomina Sacra" were employed in these manuscripts with lines on top of a two letter abbreviation. What looks like XY and IY is actually the genitive form of the Nominative Sacra of Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ or "Christ Jesus."
Servant of Christ Jesus (Greek Standard)
The concept of this shirt is the same as the one above, but the design for this shirt uses a standard Greek font and the accepted presentation found in critical editions of the Greek New Testament.
Odysseus Is My Homer-Boy
This is another take off on the "[Insert Historical Figure Here] Is My Homeboy" designs. If you don't get the pun, you need to take remedial high school English.
The Doom of Belshazzar
Daniel 5 tells the story of Belshazzar, ruler of Babylon, who in a bout of drunkenness insulted the God of Israel.
This shirt has two sides. The first side contains the Hebrew words that God wrote on the palace wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
The back side of the shirt contains the interpretation of God's words given to Belshazzar by the prophet Daniel:
MENE--
God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
TEKEL--
You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
UPHARSIN--
Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
The words on the front side of the shirt are in Hebrew, and the back side of the shirt includes Daniel's interpretation from Dan 5:26-28 in a handwritten-style (of course!) font. The wording on the back is adapted from the Revised English Bible.
Unfortunately, this shirt's a bit pricier because it has designs on both front and back. Nevertheless, where else would you possibly find a shirt as cool as this?
John 117 Lives
"John 117 Lives" is a takeoff on the "Frodo Lives" bumper stickers, buttons and shirts of the late 1960's. My apologies if I just spoiled the ending of the story for anyone.
Mors Certa, Vita Incerta
I first read the Latin phrase MORS CERTA, VITA INCERTA not on some ancient Roman inscription, but rather in Philip K. Dick's book Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep (the basis for the movie Blade Runner).
The phrase means "death is certain; life is uncertain." I've always been struck by how this statement is so brief, yet so profound. It's what separates us from the animals: we know we are mortal and are heading toward an end. In reality, this is the only thing that is constant in life. Everything else may be predicted, but never guaranteed.
I've often suggested that MORS CERTA, VITA INCERTA would make a great epitaph on my tombstone one day--a reminder to those who remain to live life to the fullest, but never to take anything for granted.
Erasmus on Buying Books
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (October 27, 1466 - July 12, 1536) was a theologian responsible for the first published critical editions of the Greek New Testament, the ones used by both Martin Luther and William Tyndale in their translations.
Further, there's a great quote attributed to Erasmus in which he purportedly said, "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes."
Some of the items have the quotation to the right of the image of Erasmus, while the items further down are Erasmus alone.
I hope that you'll find these little designs amusing or intriguing enough to pick up for yourself.
You can visit the This Lamp Café Press store at http://www.cafepress.com/thislamp
And Kathy has gotten in on the act by starting a Café Press store related to our upcoming adoption. Be sure to check out http://www.cafepress.com/kolloquy
And by the way, I've set up more than just shirts. Most of the designs are available with mugs, totebags, bumper stickers, journals, and more.
In Romans 1:1 and Philippians 1:1, the Apostle Paul refers to himself as a doulos Christou Iesou, which is translated "servant [or bondslave] of Christ Jesus."
The design in this section uses an uncial Greek font which is indicative of the time when the New Testament documents were actually written. Shorthand versions of holy names, called "Nomina Sacra" were employed in these manuscripts with lines on top of a two letter abbreviation. What looks like XY and IY is actually the genitive form of the Nominative Sacra of Χριστοῦ Ἰησοῦ or "Christ Jesus."
The concept of this shirt is the same as the one above, but the design for this shirt uses a standard Greek font and the accepted presentation found in critical editions of the Greek New Testament.
This is another take off on the "[Insert Historical Figure Here] Is My Homeboy" designs. If you don't get the pun, you need to take remedial high school English.
Daniel 5 tells the story of Belshazzar, ruler of Babylon, who in a bout of drunkenness insulted the God of Israel.
This shirt has two sides. The first side contains the Hebrew words that God wrote on the palace wall: MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.
The back side of the shirt contains the interpretation of God's words given to Belshazzar by the prophet Daniel:
MENE--
God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end.
TEKEL--
You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting.
UPHARSIN--
Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.
The words on the front side of the shirt are in Hebrew, and the back side of the shirt includes Daniel's interpretation from Dan 5:26-28 in a handwritten-style (of course!) font. The wording on the back is adapted from the Revised English Bible.
Unfortunately, this shirt's a bit pricier because it has designs on both front and back. Nevertheless, where else would you possibly find a shirt as cool as this?
"John 117 Lives" is a takeoff on the "Frodo Lives" bumper stickers, buttons and shirts of the late 1960's. My apologies if I just spoiled the ending of the story for anyone.
I first read the Latin phrase MORS CERTA, VITA INCERTA not on some ancient Roman inscription, but rather in Philip K. Dick's book Do Android's Dream of Electric Sheep (the basis for the movie Blade Runner).
The phrase means "death is certain; life is uncertain." I've always been struck by how this statement is so brief, yet so profound. It's what separates us from the animals: we know we are mortal and are heading toward an end. In reality, this is the only thing that is constant in life. Everything else may be predicted, but never guaranteed.
I've often suggested that MORS CERTA, VITA INCERTA would make a great epitaph on my tombstone one day--a reminder to those who remain to live life to the fullest, but never to take anything for granted.
Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (October 27, 1466 - July 12, 1536) was a theologian responsible for the first published critical editions of the Greek New Testament, the ones used by both Martin Luther and William Tyndale in their translations.
Further, there's a great quote attributed to Erasmus in which he purportedly said, "When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes."
Some of the items have the quotation to the right of the image of Erasmus, while the items further down are Erasmus alone.
I hope that you'll find these little designs amusing or intriguing enough to pick up for yourself.
And Kathy has gotten in on the act by starting a Café Press store related to our upcoming adoption. Be sure to check out http://www.cafepress.com/kolloquy
One More Step On the Road to Robots Making Us Batteries: My Xbox Is Writing His (Its?) Own Blog
10/11/2007 14:18
I think I'll begin an occasional
series. Consider this installment the second after my post from
earlier this year, "First They Won't Let Us Browse the Stacks; Then
They'll Turn Us Into Batteries and Throw Us Into the
Matrix."
I've got a new blog. Well, technically, I don't... my Xbox
does. Yeah. Really.
Well, kinda.
The folks over at 360voice.com allow folks to submit gamer tags and then narrative voice is given to the Xbox 360 owner's latest activity (assuming there is an Xbox Live account). The perspective of the narrative is from the Xbox itself which is very intriguing, if not a bit cheesy at times. In fact, he (my Xbox) tends to whine a bit on the days I don't play anything. There's even a place for comments.
And evidently, besides all this existing as a very interesting, but unusual gimmick, there's a bit of cutting edge computer AI stuff associated here. From the About page at 360voice.com:
So, yes it's all very weird, but somehow still I have to go look and see what my Xbox has written for the day--even after days when I've played nothing.
By the way, my Xbox will refer to me in his posts under my gamertag name, Borofaxx. I got that name from the cream of the same name that my mom used to put on my cuts and scrapes when I got hurt as a child (and she put it on diaper rash when I was an infant, but that's probably more than you want to know). I'm pretty sure it's no longer being produced (we all have Neosporiin now!), so I thought the name would make a good and unusual gamertag. And of course I added the extra X at the end because that makes any word or name cooler.
One last thing. Sometime my Xbox is...frankly.. a liar. No, I don't mean about my gamer score. Take for instance the statement he attributed to me on October 5. It's simply not true. I have chosen not to use that particular word.
Feel free to check it out (and even leave a comment) if you want at http://www.360voice.com/tag/Borofaxx.
Well, kinda.
The folks over at 360voice.com allow folks to submit gamer tags and then narrative voice is given to the Xbox 360 owner's latest activity (assuming there is an Xbox Live account). The perspective of the narrative is from the Xbox itself which is very intriguing, if not a bit cheesy at times. In fact, he (my Xbox) tends to whine a bit on the days I don't play anything. There's even a place for comments.
And evidently, besides all this existing as a very interesting, but unusual gimmick, there's a bit of cutting edge computer AI stuff associated here. From the About page at 360voice.com:
How did you come up with the idea for your site?
As a member of the Xbox Community Developer Program, Steve had access to the live gamer feeds and was playing around with the data. I attended the O'Reily Emerging Technologies conference where I heard Bruce Sterling give a keynote about blogjects (a term coined by Julian Bleecker)... futuristic objects that write "blogs" about their interactions with the world and other devices just like humans write about their interactions with the world and other people. In discussing this keynote with Steve, it didn't take long for us to see how this academic concept could relate to the Xbox 360, albeit in a much more scaled back fashion. We got quick prototype of the idea up and running in a few days. The response from the prototype was so huge that we immediately developed it into a full blown product which became 360voice.com.
So, yes it's all very weird, but somehow still I have to go look and see what my Xbox has written for the day--even after days when I've played nothing.
By the way, my Xbox will refer to me in his posts under my gamertag name, Borofaxx. I got that name from the cream of the same name that my mom used to put on my cuts and scrapes when I got hurt as a child (and she put it on diaper rash when I was an infant, but that's probably more than you want to know). I'm pretty sure it's no longer being produced (we all have Neosporiin now!), so I thought the name would make a good and unusual gamertag. And of course I added the extra X at the end because that makes any word or name cooler.
One last thing. Sometime my Xbox is...frankly.. a liar. No, I don't mean about my gamer score. Take for instance the statement he attributed to me on October 5. It's simply not true. I have chosen not to use that particular word.
Feel free to check it out (and even leave a comment) if you want at http://www.360voice.com/tag/Borofaxx.
I'm Gonna Have to Say "No" to Facebook (and the rest)
09/26/2007 19:06
And I never will be.
Not too long after Facebook friend invites started pouring in, one friend who requested I add her, and after obviously seeing a neglected profile and no interaction sent me a text message saying, "You've got so much to learn about Facebook!" Of course I interpreted her message as saying, "Ha ha, I know more about something on the internet than you do for once!"
Well, not exactly true. And perhaps if you're one of the folks with whom I've exchanged invites you feel the same way. But let me explain my position. Here's the thing... I've got this website that you're on right now called This Lamp. In spite of the fact that I haven't had time to update the site much lately, Sitemeter tells me that I'm still receiving over 400 hits a day, which is pretty healthy for a personal website, especially a neglected one, in my opinion. And that's not even counting the folks who read This Lamp strictly on the RSS feed which I'm not tracking at the moment. And I wonder how many pastors, politicians and other public figures would love to have that kind of audience on a daily basis? Thus, with my limited time, if I am going to invest my online efforts anywhere, I think I should simply do it here.
In fact, I'm going to completely cancel my FaceBook profile in a few days. There's no point in keeping it. I'm warning you now. I have no idea what happens when one of your FaceBook "friends" disappears. Just don't take it personally.
So am I being anti-social by saying no to social networking? No. This website can be quite the social place at times as are some of yours. Frankly, I consider myself a very social person, and if you've ever received an email from me, you'll notice that I even give out my cell phone number freely. Plus, I've got four different instant messaging identities because I have different friends who use different systems. I often have all four running during the day. Feel free to add me:
AIM/iChat: rmansfield@mac.com
Microsoft Messenger: rmansfield@hotmail.com
Yahoo Messenger: rick_mansfield
ICQ: 7367293
Feel free to chat away with me on any of the above. You'll find I'm quite social. But as for FaceBook, and last year's "in" social site MySpace and all the other social networking tools (Twitter, LinkedIn, and all the new ones that launch each day), I'm going to have to pass.
Who's got the time?
1989 Was a Great Year for Hot Dogs
08/22/2007 22:08
Blogging has been slow of late. New
semester started, and as some of you know, I'm teaching elementary
Greek at SBTS four days a week. It's a first time prep for me, so
I'm keeping busy. But I've got a number of posts on the back burner
of my mind, so stay tuned. I'm starting to get back into a
routine.
Meanwhile, I figured that some of you might get a kick out of this picture of Kathy and me from 1989. A college buddy of mine sent this to me tonight, and I'm not too proud to share it.
Meanwhile, I figured that some of you might get a kick out of this picture of Kathy and me from 1989. A college buddy of mine sent this to me tonight, and I'm not too proud to share it.
Click on the picture to get a larger
view (if you're up for that kind of thing).
This Lamp Is Not Moving (Sorry for the Confusion)
08/13/2007 09:45
Well, I apologize for being so fickle.
I shouldn't have jumped ship quite so fast. iWeb 2.0 is much
improved over the older version, but after playing with it some,
it's still not quite mature enough for me to leave RapidWeaver--in
spite of the problems I'm having with RW.
So, I apologize to all the folks who reset their links and subscriptions. I promise not to do this again anytime soon.
But for right now, everything is staying right here.
So, I apologize to all the folks who reset their links and subscriptions. I promise not to do this again anytime soon.
But for right now, everything is staying right here.
This Lamp Set to Move (Tentatively)
08/08/2007 10:57
I also think I've begun to reach the limits of RapidWeaver's ability to handle my site. The recent update improved this somewhat, but there are still problems. The actual site on the web is over 1300 separate files, but RapidWeaver keeps them all contained in one file on my MacBook. Right now, this file is over 150 mb in size. It takes a while to load and forever to save and shut down. I have continued fear of it losing integrity one day, but I do back it up regularly.
If you simply have my site linked/saved/bookmarked as www.thislamp.com, you will be fine as I will simply change the pointers to the new site. However, if you link directly to these files or subscribe to the RSS feed, you will have to update your bookmarks.
There's still a chance this won't happen, but from everything I've seen of iWeb '08, I think it's about time to pack my virtual bags.
New Teaching Assignment
05/25/2007 08:02
Although I got my official welcome
letter a month ago, somehow it seems more real now that my name is
entered into eCampus:
I've been hired in an adjunct position at SBTS for the fall as "Instructor in New Testament Interpretation" with one teaching assignment: elementary Greek. This will be my first time teaching a masters level course, and I'm really looking forward to it.
I've been hired in an adjunct position at SBTS for the fall as "Instructor in New Testament Interpretation" with one teaching assignment: elementary Greek. This will be my first time teaching a masters level course, and I'm really looking forward to it.
LID Status
05/01/2007 04:00
From Kathy's blog today:
Oh...yeah...and actually raising little Ellie once we get her.
Now it's all over but the waiting.Rick received the phone call today from our Adoption Agency letting us know our Log In Date or LID. LID is when your dossier is officially logged into the China database for adoption. Our LID is April 10, 2007! Now, the long wait continues, but at least we know that we are officially accepted for adoption in China. The current wait time for a referral of a baby from Log In Date is approximately 17 months. That, of course, can change -- it can be shorter (hopefully) or longer.
Oh...yeah...and actually raising little Ellie once we get her.
The Biggest News: We're Expecting
03/17/2007 15:56
We're now officially paper pregnant as of Friday. Our documents were mailed to China yesterday by the adoption agency. This is known as DTC status (Dossier To China). This would be the equivalent of expecting a baby, because now it's all over but the waiting. To keep up with our progress, be sure to regularly check in at Kathy's blog.
Who Said Gambling Is Only for Suckers?
03/16/2007 01:27
Actual conversation over dinner
tonight:
Kathy: I filled out one of those basketball bracket thingies at work today.
Me: [stares}
Kathy: It was only three dollars.
Me: But you don't know anything about the teams.
Kathy: Sure I do. I asked what their colors were.
Me: You filled out a bracket based on the teams' colors?
Kathy: Yes. And if I win, I'll get $54!
Me: You're not going to win.
Kathy: It's okay. I paid in pennies.
Kelland and Henry, you should be ashamed for taking money froma
little gi my wife.
Kathy: I filled out one of those basketball bracket thingies at work today.
Me: [stares}
Kathy: It was only three dollars.
Me: But you don't know anything about the teams.
Kathy: Sure I do. I asked what their colors were.
Me: You filled out a bracket based on the teams' colors?
Kathy: Yes. And if I win, I'll get $54!
Me: You're not going to win.
Kathy: It's okay. I paid in pennies.
Kelland and Henry, you should be ashamed for taking money from
Rock the Casbah
03/10/2007 17:07
So, I'm sitting in the 6th & Main
Coffeeshop in Shelbyville, Kentucky this afternoon, trying to catch
up on some stuff for church and grade some papers.
They've been playing eighties music the whole afternoon, which I really like since I was in high school from 1982 to 1986.
Earlier when I bought my coffee and a scone, this was the conversation I had with the guy behind the counter (who evidently is younger than me).
ME: "I like that song, 'Rock the Casbah.' It reminds me of a high school dance."
Guy behind the counter: [thinks for a few seconds, listening to the song]: "Yeah, I can picture that. Like in a movie or something."
ME: "No. They used to play that at my high school dances."
Guy behind the counter: [stares]
They've been playing eighties music the whole afternoon, which I really like since I was in high school from 1982 to 1986.
Earlier when I bought my coffee and a scone, this was the conversation I had with the guy behind the counter (who evidently is younger than me).
ME: "I like that song, 'Rock the Casbah.' It reminds me of a high school dance."
Guy behind the counter: [thinks for a few seconds, listening to the song]: "Yeah, I can picture that. Like in a movie or something."
ME: "No. They used to play that at my high school dances."
Guy behind the counter: [stares]
Tagged: Five Things About Me
01/15/2007 13:40
Back on December 27, Matt Perry tagged me to offer five things about
myself. I have to admit that at first, I started to simply ignore
it. Most of the posts on This Lamp are of a topical nature and
while offering a personal perspective on issues don't focus on the
personal side of my life (that's what Kathy's blog is for!). But
then I thought that perhaps I was being a stick in the mud. And
could the instructions for this tag have been any easier? All I was
asked to do is tell five things about myself. So, I decided to
comply.
But what to tell? Some things about myself are fairly well known from this blog: issues about my faith, my wife, my dog; where I teach, where I go to school, where I attend church, etc. So, I decided to offer up five things about myself that all readers may just not know about me. Here they are.
1. Although I've lived in Kentucky for over a decade, I still call the state of Louisiana home, where I lived for more than the first two decades of my life.
And I should add that I make a mean pot of gumbo, and my jambalaya isn't too bad (from what I've been told, of course).
But what to tell? Some things about myself are fairly well known from this blog: issues about my faith, my wife, my dog; where I teach, where I go to school, where I attend church, etc. So, I decided to offer up five things about myself that all readers may just not know about me. Here they are.
1. Although I've lived in Kentucky for over a decade, I still call the state of Louisiana home, where I lived for more than the first two decades of my life.
And I should add that I make a mean pot of gumbo, and my jambalaya isn't too bad (from what I've been told, of course).
2. In my senior year of high school (1986), I was voted
"Most Talented" by my peers.
Oh, I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "If most
is a superlative, why are there three of you in the
yearbook photo?" Well, the three of us were known for
different talents. Todd was known for his guitar playing,
Susan for her artwork, and me for my dramatic acting ability. In my
senior year, I had the lead in our two plays, Cheaper by the
Dozen and Lunatics at Large. I would continue after
high school to participate in community theater and church drama,
but I've since officially retired from acting. I did, however,
enjoy going to high school and college in the 1980's. Looking back,
I feel like my life then was one long 80's John Hughes
Movie.
3. I have a favorite Bible verse from each
testament.
Each verse has to do with my own sense of identity. I memorized
both of these years ago in the NASB, which is how I will represent
them here:
“Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to
practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in
Israel.” (Ezra 7:10)
Study, practice, teach. These are the three things that I
feel called to do as well.
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the
flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave
Himself up for me.” (Gal 2:20)
I don't feel as if my actions are always completely
Christlike, but Gal 2:20 reminds me of both my calling and
standing in Christ.
4. I have a tattoo on my right ankle.
In case you can't make it out, it's the
Greek phrase, "δοῦλος
Χριστοῦ
Ἰησοῦ" ("bondslave of Christ Jesus")
from Rom 1:1. I was also going to have
"ἀφωρισμένος
εἰς
εὐαγγέλιον
θεοῦ" ("set apart/separated for the
gospel of God") from the same verse added, but it hurt so much
getting this done on my ankle that I had him stop with just what
you see above. I've had this tattoo now for about five and a half
years.
5. I have a great diversion for stress
relief.
After Kathy goes to bed, I often take it upon myself to save the
world through the elimination of aliens, terrorists, and other
known bad guys.
I've always felt that medicines make
the best gaming names. I used to have a character named "Theraflu."
"Borofax" was the name for the ointment my mother used on my diaper
rash when I was an infant. I added the extra x to the name
because that makes it cooler. Right?
So there it is--five things about me that you may or may not have
already known.
I now tag Kathy (Kathy's Kolloquy), Theron Mathis (Sword in
the Fire), Bill Craig (Billog
Tremors), Wayne Leman (Better Bibles Blog) and Philip Wade (Wade's
Rants).
Interpreting This Lamp
01/08/2007 12:30
So this past Saturday, I received another email from Bob in which he offered his own meditation and interpretation on the graphic. I was so moved, I asked him if I could repeat it here for my readers. Here is what Bob wrote:
It is early (5: 57 a.m.) and I just made some coffee. If you don’t mind, I am going to pass along a few thoughts that the lamp image brings to mind.
Nowadays, libraries tend to be open spaces with big windows, big tables, and lots of computers. They are as much a place to congregate and access databases as anything. This has not always been the case.
Gone, particularly in library facilities built in the last thirty years, are the nooks and crannies, winding halls and archways, and solid oak furniture. Gone are the spaces you can retreat from the world and absorb—much more than mere read—the thought of another writer. Gone is the tunnel where your mind connects with another mind through some kind of portal.
The image you found at Microsoft hints at the lost portal. First, the image presents the best wallpaper there is for the portal—the spines of books. The winding hall and archway of the image lets you know you walked through a portal to a nook and cranny. And the lamp in the image casts a protective wall around your space. Here the warmth and glow of the lamp lights the tunnel your mind travels to meet another mind in a book—a Box Of Organized Knowledge. You open the door and take the important step as you open the book and turn the page. The only sound you hear is the crinkle of the page.
All this requires the wallpaper, the winding hall and archway, the nook and cranny, and the small lamp. Rick, the image you found tells me that and much more. Have a good journey the next time you find yourself at this portal.
Bob Patrick
Frankfort, KY
Thanks, Bob!
Pennington 70th Anniversary
12/22/2006 12:13
Yesterday we celebrated my
grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary. Below is the toast I gave
at the reception.
On December 23, 1936, two teenagers, Dale Pennington and Queenie Amis got married.
That was seventy years ago. Seventy years is a long time. When they got married, they couldn’t call their friends on their cell phones to share the news. They couldn’t fly to some exotic honeymoon spot because there were no commercial flights in that day. Their announcement couldn’t be made on the evening news because there was no television. The wedding could not be blogged because not only was there not an internet, there were no personal computers or computers period. Heck, there weren’t even pocket calculators in those days. Cars did not have cruise control, automatic transmissions, and certainly not GPS satellite location. There were no space shuttles, no moon landing, not even a chimpanzee had been shot into space. My grandmother didn’t have a microwave oven to cook their first meal in, but she did have a cast iron skillet.
When Dale and Queenie got married, it was in the midst of the Great Depression, so they didn’t have a lot. But they did have tremendous love for each other. That love saw them through good times and bad times, military service, good jobs and bad jobs. Their love literally gave birth to three children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Seventy years of marriage is a milestone and testimony to Dale and Queenie’s faith in God and love for one another. You are an inspiration to me and all those assembled here today. We celebrate your seventy years, and as you walk hand-in-hand into the sunset of your days, we pray that they will continued to be filled with the happiness and love that has marked your lives together.
To Dale and Queenie Pennington, Happy 70th Anniversary!
On December 23, 1936, two teenagers, Dale Pennington and Queenie Amis got married.
That was seventy years ago. Seventy years is a long time. When they got married, they couldn’t call their friends on their cell phones to share the news. They couldn’t fly to some exotic honeymoon spot because there were no commercial flights in that day. Their announcement couldn’t be made on the evening news because there was no television. The wedding could not be blogged because not only was there not an internet, there were no personal computers or computers period. Heck, there weren’t even pocket calculators in those days. Cars did not have cruise control, automatic transmissions, and certainly not GPS satellite location. There were no space shuttles, no moon landing, not even a chimpanzee had been shot into space. My grandmother didn’t have a microwave oven to cook their first meal in, but she did have a cast iron skillet.
When Dale and Queenie got married, it was in the midst of the Great Depression, so they didn’t have a lot. But they did have tremendous love for each other. That love saw them through good times and bad times, military service, good jobs and bad jobs. Their love literally gave birth to three children and numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Seventy years of marriage is a milestone and testimony to Dale and Queenie’s faith in God and love for one another. You are an inspiration to me and all those assembled here today. We celebrate your seventy years, and as you walk hand-in-hand into the sunset of your days, we pray that they will continued to be filled with the happiness and love that has marked your lives together.
To Dale and Queenie Pennington, Happy 70th Anniversary!
Andrew Wells: 1973-2006
11/05/2006 00:25
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on 11/4/2006.
Andrew Wells was a frequent contributor to This Lamp and my very good friend.
The Andrew Wells Report
10/11/2006 20:10
Continue to pray for Andrew, and you can keep up to date at http://andrewwellsreport.blogspot.com/. Any encouraging comments for Andrew and Leila on their blog would certainly be appreciated by them.
Pray for Andrew Wells
10/11/2006 12:43
Andrew Wells, a frequent contributor
to This Lamp, was hospitalized in ICU on Tuesday suffering from
respiratory issues related to graft vs. host disease from a bone
marrow transplant he received as part of his treatment for
leukemia.
Andrew's condition is very serious and he needs your prayers. When I talked with his wife Leila Tuesday, she said that they were trying to sedate him because his body seemed to be fighting the respirator--trying to breathe over it. I asked Leila if he was awake. She said that when she went in to see him his eyes never opened so she doesn't even know if he was aware of his surroundings. This is a result of graft vs. host disease in his lungs and he may have a touch of pneumonia on top of that.
As of this morning Andrew was calm due to meds to sedate him. His heart rate is still very high and his blood pressure is fluctuating sometimes fairly low. Apparently the heart and bp issues are somewhat normal for what he is going through. One scan found nodules on his lungs which are likely pneumonia but further tests today will confirm if it is that or something other. He is on antibiotics for the possible pneumonia.
Leila and Andrew's mom stayed at the hospital overnight. She said she was able to get some sleep--she actually sounded a little better this morning.
A little while ago, I received this email from Leila:
"Rick, Just to let you know that we have some tentative good news. Andrew's fever has dropped by a degree (from 102 to 101) and they have gotten him off of one of three blood pressure medicines. This is good news. (It was bad that they had him on three.) I'll send out a larger update later once we have spoken to the doctors. The prayers are working. Keep 'em coming!"
I will post updates as I know more. If you are a praying person, please pray for Andrew.
UPDATE 10/12, 10 a.m.: Leila sent an email this morning with good news:
Andrew's condition is very serious and he needs your prayers. When I talked with his wife Leila Tuesday, she said that they were trying to sedate him because his body seemed to be fighting the respirator--trying to breathe over it. I asked Leila if he was awake. She said that when she went in to see him his eyes never opened so she doesn't even know if he was aware of his surroundings. This is a result of graft vs. host disease in his lungs and he may have a touch of pneumonia on top of that.
As of this morning Andrew was calm due to meds to sedate him. His heart rate is still very high and his blood pressure is fluctuating sometimes fairly low. Apparently the heart and bp issues are somewhat normal for what he is going through. One scan found nodules on his lungs which are likely pneumonia but further tests today will confirm if it is that or something other. He is on antibiotics for the possible pneumonia.
Leila and Andrew's mom stayed at the hospital overnight. She said she was able to get some sleep--she actually sounded a little better this morning.
A little while ago, I received this email from Leila:
"Rick, Just to let you know that we have some tentative good news. Andrew's fever has dropped by a degree (from 102 to 101) and they have gotten him off of one of three blood pressure medicines. This is good news. (It was bad that they had him on three.) I'll send out a larger update later once we have spoken to the doctors. The prayers are working. Keep 'em coming!"
I will post updates as I know more. If you are a praying person, please pray for Andrew.
UPDATE 10/12, 10 a.m.: Leila sent an email this morning with good news:
I have some wonderful news to share this morning. (I would have put it on the blog, but the Blogger server is not accessible at the moment.) Through the night, Andrew began to respond to the medicines. His heart rate is now down to about 120 beats per minute, which is the best it has been in a very long time (even before all of this started). His blood pressure is holding steady and they have taken him off of ALL of the blood pressure medicines! His fever is gone. His oxygen level is holding at 99% and they have scaled back the level of O2 they are giving him. Finally, they have identified the bacteria that brought on the sepsis: it is a garden-variety strep that caused his pneumonia, not the strange fungus or unidentifiable bacteria they originally suspected! We're not out of the woods. He's still on a vent, he's still on heavy antibiotics that bring increased risk of bleeding, he's still heavily sedated. We've got a long way to go, but we're pulling out.
Prayer works!!!!!!! Please keep praying and praising God this morning, because the lung doctor who is second in command here at Emory gave Andrew very little chance of pulling through the night yesterday. Given that he has/had sepsis, is severely immuno-compromised, and has pneumonia, I can't say that we had much confidence yesterday either, except in our God!
I'll update the blog as soon as I can get on the server. Thank you, everyone, for your fervent prayers. Please spread the word for us.
Family Correspondence from Five Years Ago Today
09/11/2006 18:46
Subject: New York
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 11:15 AM
From: Barbara & Sonny Orren
To: "'R. Mansfield'"
Rick,
The white house has been evacuated because of an explosion at the World Trade Center in N.Y. All airports have been shut down. The third explosion collapsed the World Trade Center in N.Y. People jumped out from the top of the tower.
Mom
Subject: Do you know where your children are?
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 12:21 PM
From: Barbara & Sonny Orren
To: "'R. Mansfield'"
Rick,
Do you know where your dad is at this time?
Mom
Subject: Important Things!
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 2:42 PM
From: Barbara & Sonny Orren
To: "'R. Mansfield'"
Early this morning, I thought that I had important things to do today!
I’m going to run my errands now, but somehow they all seem so trivial.
Love you,
Mom
Subject:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 3:14 PM
From: Mansfield, Kathy
To: "Mansfield, Rick - work"
are you keeping up with the news?
Subject: Re:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 3:48 PM
From: Richard Mansfield
To: "Mansfield, Kathy"
Yep. Your rehearsal is cancelled tonight. They are having an emergency prayer meeting tonight instead. I think we ought to go.
Subject: RE:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:05 PM
From: Mansfield, Kathy
To: Richard Mansfield
I'll go home to let Bessie out. I can just meet you at the church at 6:00
then.
Subject: Re:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:07 PM
From: Richard Mansfield
To: "Mansfield, Kathy"
OK.
Subject: RE:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:11 PM
From: Mansfield, Kathy
To: Richard Mansfield
Clark works at Barksdale Air Force base. The President stopped by their on
his way into hiding. I emailed Mom to see if Clark was evacuated from the
base since he's a civilian or if their was a lock down situation or
whatever. Haven't heard back from her, yet.
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 11:15 AM
From: Barbara & Sonny Orren
To: "'R. Mansfield'"
Rick,
The white house has been evacuated because of an explosion at the World Trade Center in N.Y. All airports have been shut down. The third explosion collapsed the World Trade Center in N.Y. People jumped out from the top of the tower.
Mom
Subject: Do you know where your children are?
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 12:21 PM
From: Barbara & Sonny Orren
To: "'R. Mansfield'"
Rick,
Do you know where your dad is at this time?
Mom
Subject: Important Things!
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 2:42 PM
From: Barbara & Sonny Orren
To: "'R. Mansfield'"
Early this morning, I thought that I had important things to do today!
I’m going to run my errands now, but somehow they all seem so trivial.
Love you,
Mom
Subject:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 3:14 PM
From: Mansfield, Kathy
To: "Mansfield, Rick - work"
are you keeping up with the news?
Subject: Re:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 3:48 PM
From: Richard Mansfield
To: "Mansfield, Kathy"
Yep. Your rehearsal is cancelled tonight. They are having an emergency prayer meeting tonight instead. I think we ought to go.
Subject: RE:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:05 PM
From: Mansfield, Kathy
To: Richard Mansfield
I'll go home to let Bessie out. I can just meet you at the church at 6:00
then.
Subject: Re:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:07 PM
From: Richard Mansfield
To: "Mansfield, Kathy"
OK.
Subject: RE:
Date: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 4:11 PM
From: Mansfield, Kathy
To: Richard Mansfield
Clark works at Barksdale Air Force base. The President stopped by their on
his way into hiding. I emailed Mom to see if Clark was evacuated from the
base since he's a civilian or if their was a lock down situation or
whatever. Haven't heard back from her, yet.
Where Were You on September 11, 2001?
09/11/2006 08:46
Few of us will ever forget where we
were on September 11, 2001, when we received the horrible news of
the attacks upon our nation. Just two or three weeks earlier, I had
begun my second year of teaching Bible at Whitefield Academy (then
known as Highview Baptist School). My classroom had been moved to
the basement (eventually referred to as "the dungeon"), which I
liked very much because its isolation allowed for fewer
distractions for my students. Although the first tower was hit at
8:46 AM, I did not receive word of it until early in second period
(the classes were roughly an hour long at the time--before block
scheduling). The seniors were in my classroom that hour. And that
morning, since I was also chaplain, we were planning a chapel
service revolving around their experience from the retreat we had
taken the seniors on during the first week of school.
At the exact moment I received word that something had happened, I was sitting at my iMac helping Hannah Davis, a senior, edit footage that we had filmed at the retreat. David Balty, our English department chair, sent word via a student that something had happened in New York and there was smoke pouring from one of the World Trade Center buildings. There was a television in my room used for videos and PowerPoint, but it was not connected to cable service, so all we could see were static-filled images. From what we could see, though, there was definitely something happening in NYC. I know that a teacher is not supposed to leave students alone, but I slipped upstairs to the office of our principal, Brian Rose, because he had a television in his office. There was already a group huddled into his office transfixed by the images on the television. After viewing the images on television, I went back down to my classroom and informed my students with what I knew at that point. We said a prayer, but not knowing how serious the situation was yet, I encouraged them to continue planning the chapel service. My students remember that they first heard the name "Bin Laden" from my lips that morning (of course at the time, they asked "Ben who?"). Coincidentally, I had just read or seen something about Bin Laden in the days before this event. When my students asked me who I thought would do something like this, he was the first name that came to mind. Over the next couple of hours I stole up to Brian's office at various points. It was on his small television, that I saw the horrible images of the second tower struck, the attack on the Pentagon, and both towers fall. I remember people in Brian's office and on television speculating how many people worked in those towers. The highest figure I heard at the time was 50,000.
That was a very frightening day for us all. I remember the uncertainty as to how widespread the attacks were. We had seen the twin towers fall, a plan crash into the pentagon, and a false rumor that a car bomb had gone off in front of the State Department. From the point that the second tower in New York was hit, we knew that this was no accident--that our nation was under attack. When word reached us that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania, there was fear that the attacks were spreading west. How widespread was this attack? Would it hit us, too? There were reports on television suggesting people stay away from public places such as malls and especially government buildings.
I can only remember a couple of parents coming to pick their children up from school that day. Such parental instinct is certainly understandable, but I was glad that this was not the pattern. As word of the attacks spread through the student population, many in my classes wanted to suspend our work and move to one of the classrooms with actual television reception. A few students maybe even thought I was slightly unconcerned about the situation because I insisted that outside of a prayer for the situation that we carry on class as usual. I still believe that was the right thing to do.
The best Christian reflection I've come across on September 11, I only read a few days ago. In the current issue of Christianity Today, Timothy George writes a profound piece titled "Theology for an Age of Terror" (not yet available online) in which he looks to Augustine, St Francis, and C. S. Lewis for direction on how to look at the world in the midst of seeming chaos. I especially identified with the words of C. S. Lewis quoted in George's article. The quotation came from an address Lewis gave at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Oxford on October 22, 1939. He was speaking to students a mere two months after the Nazis had invaded Poland. Lewis said:
Lewis was right. History has indeed shown us that life is short and the world can be fragile. But in the midst of seeming chaos, we must never forget that God is in control regardless. We have a calling, and in response to that calling, we press on.
At the exact moment I received word that something had happened, I was sitting at my iMac helping Hannah Davis, a senior, edit footage that we had filmed at the retreat. David Balty, our English department chair, sent word via a student that something had happened in New York and there was smoke pouring from one of the World Trade Center buildings. There was a television in my room used for videos and PowerPoint, but it was not connected to cable service, so all we could see were static-filled images. From what we could see, though, there was definitely something happening in NYC. I know that a teacher is not supposed to leave students alone, but I slipped upstairs to the office of our principal, Brian Rose, because he had a television in his office. There was already a group huddled into his office transfixed by the images on the television. After viewing the images on television, I went back down to my classroom and informed my students with what I knew at that point. We said a prayer, but not knowing how serious the situation was yet, I encouraged them to continue planning the chapel service. My students remember that they first heard the name "Bin Laden" from my lips that morning (of course at the time, they asked "Ben who?"). Coincidentally, I had just read or seen something about Bin Laden in the days before this event. When my students asked me who I thought would do something like this, he was the first name that came to mind. Over the next couple of hours I stole up to Brian's office at various points. It was on his small television, that I saw the horrible images of the second tower struck, the attack on the Pentagon, and both towers fall. I remember people in Brian's office and on television speculating how many people worked in those towers. The highest figure I heard at the time was 50,000.
That was a very frightening day for us all. I remember the uncertainty as to how widespread the attacks were. We had seen the twin towers fall, a plan crash into the pentagon, and a false rumor that a car bomb had gone off in front of the State Department. From the point that the second tower in New York was hit, we knew that this was no accident--that our nation was under attack. When word reached us that a plane had crashed in Pennsylvania, there was fear that the attacks were spreading west. How widespread was this attack? Would it hit us, too? There were reports on television suggesting people stay away from public places such as malls and especially government buildings.
I can only remember a couple of parents coming to pick their children up from school that day. Such parental instinct is certainly understandable, but I was glad that this was not the pattern. As word of the attacks spread through the student population, many in my classes wanted to suspend our work and move to one of the classrooms with actual television reception. A few students maybe even thought I was slightly unconcerned about the situation because I insisted that outside of a prayer for the situation that we carry on class as usual. I still believe that was the right thing to do.
The best Christian reflection I've come across on September 11, I only read a few days ago. In the current issue of Christianity Today, Timothy George writes a profound piece titled "Theology for an Age of Terror" (not yet available online) in which he looks to Augustine, St Francis, and C. S. Lewis for direction on how to look at the world in the midst of seeming chaos. I especially identified with the words of C. S. Lewis quoted in George's article. The quotation came from an address Lewis gave at the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin at Oxford on October 22, 1939. He was speaking to students a mere two months after the Nazis had invaded Poland. Lewis said:
It may seem odd for us to cary on classes, to go about our academic routine in the midst of a great war. What is the use of beginning when there is so little chance of finishing? How can we study Latin, geography, algebra in a time like this? Aren't we just fiddling while Rome burns?
This impending war has taught us some important things. Life is short. The world is fragile. All of us are vulnerable, but we are here because this is our calling. Our lives are rooted not only in time, but also in eternity, and the life of learning humbly offered to God, is its own reward. It is one of the appointed approaches to the divine reality and the divine beauty, which we shall hereafter enjoy in heaven and which we are called to display even now amidst the brokenness all around us.
Lewis was right. History has indeed shown us that life is short and the world can be fragile. But in the midst of seeming chaos, we must never forget that God is in control regardless. We have a calling, and in response to that calling, we press on.
What I Really Needed Was an Essay Section to Adequately Explain My Answers
08/21/2006 15:28
Two quizzes. I felt like the second
one didn't offer enough options to adequately express my beliefs,
but at least it shows I'm not an extremist in any area, and I can
live with that. 
For what it's worth, I do not consider myself Neo-orthodox, but there just weren't enough options in that quiz. Like I said, I really needed an essay section.
 |
You scored as Zwingli. You are Ulrich Zwingli. You
believe that bread and wine are mere symbols of the absent Jesus.
You believe in interpreting Scripture reasonably.
Eucharistic theology created with QuizFarm.com |
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You scored as Neo orthodox. You are neo-orthodox. You
reject the human-centredness and scepticism of liberal theology,
but neither do you go to the other extreme and make the Bible the
central issue for faith. You believe that Christ is God's most
important revelation to humanity, and the Trinity is hugely
important in your theology. The Bible is also important because it
points us to the revelation of Christ. You are influenced by Karl
Barth and P T Forsyth.
What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com |
For what it's worth, I do not consider myself Neo-orthodox, but there just weren't enough options in that quiz. Like I said, I really needed an essay section.
Ecclesiastes 7:9
08/05/2006 20:09
Patience
06/14/2006 14:11
Oh
Lord,
in this world
of instant coffee
grant me the blessings
of a tim