Against Nothingness

Vancouver Trip Plane Trip and Arrival Wednesday night and the red glare of my clock is bleeding into my eyes: 1:45. In 3 hours I have to get up. Its hard to be anything but excited about the prospect of only having 3 hours of sleep because I am flying out to see Chapter. I close my eyes, putting a stop to the bleeding, and drift into a very light sleep. 4:45 and awakened by the annoying tonal blips of my alarm clock. The drive to the airport, graciously given by Superman (who got no more sleep than I) passes in the early morning haze of the man who’s still in bed in every way possible; I need caffeine or sugar. When I awake I have checked in, Superman is presumably on his way back to bed, and somehow a half eaten Tim Horton’s donut is in my hand. The haze lifts and I head to my gate, only to be accosted by one of the most tempting things you can put in my path. A book store. Next thing I know the plane is taking off. I have been so engrossed in this book, William G...

The Question in Job “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” Job 1:9-11 “Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” Job 2:4-5 (Both NRSV) I have had the pleasure of being able to research Job for two essays this semester. It has been fun. One of things I like is that Job brings up so many questions, and seems to offer so few answers. It is most often associated with the problem of pain. How can God allow evil? Or why do bad things happen to good people? This may be the most common question, but it is not so central in the text itself. Getting closer to the center, one might ask where did...

The morning before my last exam. My hardest exam. The exam after which I am as close to being graduated as I can get (the rest being up to the university; giving me my degree, processing marks and such). Feels wierd. Then a flurry of travelling, moving, marriage, and, God willing, teaching ESL in S. Korea. You can probably guess which of those is most exciting for me :)

Due to a large amount of seemingly random input over the last week or so, I have been thinking about a few things I want to share. Isn't that how it always works? I have been thinking about technology, learning/education, stories/imagination, and spirituality, and how all these things interact. I have realized that my views on these things are heavily interrelated. I hate it in school when they make us memorize things, especially names and dates. Who cares about the names and the dates? I realized why I hate it to; it is because it is useless and pointless, just the kind of work I hate. I can look any of those up on the internet in less time than it takes to find them in a text book, and chances are it will only get easier, so why should I waste time memorizing them? Isn't understanding why an event happened, how it happened, if it was a good thing, how we could prevent it or duplicate it, how we know what happened, etc. much more important than knowing who did it, wh...

Just stumbled across this article, which I thought I would pass on. Sex Abuse by Teachers Said Worse Than Catholic Church The article points out that though the studies indicate public schools are worse than the catholic church for this stuff, the public school issues have recieved little to no news coverage. Gotta wonder why... I must say though, that the numbers seem a bit high, almost unbelievable... you can check this article out to.

"When I get honest, I admit I am a bundle of paradoxes. I believe and I doubt, I hope and get discouraged, I love and I hate, I feel bad about feeling good, I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. I am trusting and suspicious. I am honest and I still play games. Aristotle said I am a rational animal; I say I am an angel with an incredible capacity for beer." Brennan Manning "The Ragamuffin Gospel"

Love by George Herbert Love bade me welcome; yet my soul drew back, Guilty of dust and sin. But quick-eyed Love, observing me grow slack From my first entrance in, Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning If I lacked anything. "A guest," I answered "worthy to be here"; Love said "You shall be he." "I, the unkind, ungrateful? Ah, my dear, I cannot look on Thee." Love took my hand, and smiling did reply "Who made the eyes but I?" "Truth, Lord; but I have marred them: let my shame Go where it doth deserve." "And know you not," says Love "who bore the blame?" "My dear, then I will serve." "You must sit down," says Love "and taste my meat." So I did sit and eat.

"I thought of a rather cruel trick I once played on a wasp. He was sucking jam on my plate, and I cut him in half. He paid no attention, merely went on with his meal, while a tiny stream of jam trickled out his severed oesophagus. Only when he tried to fly away did he grasp the dreadful thing that had happened to him. It is the same with modern man. The thing that has been cut away is his soul." George Orwell I wonder if you could make this same point about the church. It is the Spirit that has been cut away, and thus a large number of Christians never know the abundant life in Christ. We happily eat our meal, the ABC's of church, and it is only when we try to fly that we realize the terrible thing which has happened to us. Just a thought.