The post that needs no title

Meet my mom's dog, Lacey. I captured her in a rare moment when she was changing into her other identity: Super-Fluffy (In Latin this would be
superius-caninius-fluffutopia).

Snapshots of Oregon: A glimpse of my dad's creativity

When I go home to Oregon, the profound dryness of Southern California is most strikingly apparent to me in my first glimpse of my dad's backyard. Trees of numerous variety burst with their fruit: peaches, pears, apples, plums, blueberries, raspberries,and grapes. Healthy plants set in neat rows promise future vegetables such as broccoli, beets, lettuce, tomatoes,kale, and squash. Because of the abundance of domestic and exotic flowers, butterflies float throughout the yard, and birds occasionally visit the feeders. The pond is framed with luscious ferns and moss, and orange koi will bob up for a few pellets of food. My dad has also set up a tadpole habitat...a small tank of pond water is covered with another container hosting a microcosm environment. That way, after the tadpoles begin to grow legs, they can transition right into a "shore" environment. After they are full grown he transfers them to the pond. Why is he cultivating frogs? He likes the sounds they make in the pond at night. If anybody is passing through Oregon, I would strongly suggest stopping by to experience a little sampling of the Garden of Eden.

P.S. The pictures definitely do not do it justice.

P.P.S. Part of that may be the fact that I do not seem to be gifted photographically. How is one supposed to use lighting to one's advantage?

The Sentence

I start a new class on Monday…Hebrew Prophets. I am really looking forward to be challenged in this area of Scripture and broadening my understanding of God’s redemptive work in ancient Israel. Sometimes, however, in my humble, non-scholarly opinion, the “extra-curricular” reading gets a bit too ridiculous in its “Bible scholarliness”. Here is an example of a reading I was doing in a Bible Dictionary (as preparation for the class) under the heading “Deuteronomistic History”:

“In the mind of the present author, the current state of confusion in Deuteronomistic studies ultimately is the result of an overly optimistic opinion of how much redactional activity might be isolated within a finished piece, augmented by the atomistic tendencies that seem to be inherent to the critical methodologies of OT exegesis”.

Whew, that was exhausting just writing that! Now, I know that most of you might think this sentence would be easier to understand if you had read it in its context. But let me assure you that reading it in its context made no difference in my comprehension. In other words, I still have no idea what this sentence is really trying to say. I have decided, in situations like this, that there are certain ways in which I will not respond, such as: a). Believing I missed that particularly vocab lesson in grade school and therefore am a bit “behind”
b). Thinking that I should really look up all the words I don’t know and try to figure out the meaning so that I can feel smarter c). Scoff at this scholarly language by jeering, “Yeah, well I bet this guy has never climbed a mountain

Instead, I believe a happy compromise is to say, “Well, I don’t really think this particular sentence is going to help me study the Bible any better, so I will just leave it and move on”.

P.S. For those of you who now are worried that I may emerge from seminary a dry husk of a human being, let me assure you that sentences such as these are definitely the minority…. most of the reading is very interesting and informative.

P.P.S Thanks for letting me externally process.

The Tale of the Amazing Bird Rescue

The other day my friend and I were gathered with a bunch of people playing a game of ultimate frisbee at a park. All of a sudden, we noticed a loud commotion by a tall lightpost. A crowd (mostly kids) was gathering around this lightpost(about 12 feet tall) because a bird was tangled up in string wrapped around the top of the lightpost and was frantically fluttering around.

To me, it seemed a lost cause...how would we help the bird? However, one guy in the crowd thought differently. With apparent ease, he shimmied up the smooth lightpost like someone would a coconut tree, and reach out for the bird, cutting the string off the pole. When he slid down, he could only do so with one arm, because the other one was carefully cradling the bird. Once he was down, I went over to look at the bird. The string was actually a plastic thread off a tarp, and it had tightly wound the bird's leg and neck together. The man painstakingly snipped each little offending string from around the bird's neck until it was free. Then, as all the children of the park collectively held their breath, he released the bird, and everyone cheered as it soared away.

Now, I know some women are impressed by a man's flashy car, power, wealth, or his ability to surf well, but I have to admit, this was one of the most impressive feats I have ever seen! I was so in awe, that had that man turned to me, fallen on one knee, and said, "I know this is kind of sudden but shall we tie the knot right now?", I may well have been sufficiently star-struck to have said yes.

I mean, if you guys could have seen this pole and how he got up it! Where is the video camera when you need it?