Erin called me at work today to see if I'd heard that the US has leveled against Ghana.... as I was asking her to explain how they scored she went silent..... then she told me that Ghana had been awarded a PK for no apparent reason... and I knew the US was finished.
When I got home from work guess what was waiting for me? My US Soccer Hat had arrived in the mail! I wore it as I watched the game on our DVR in disbelief..... I thought we were the better side against Italy, and I thought we were the better side against Ghana.... if Reyna doesn't jack his knee... then Dempsey's goal puts us up 1-0. If McBride was standing three feet in any direction, Beasley's goal puts us ahead against Italy....oh well.... I guess all the fair weather fans can go back to feigning an interest in the 768 game-long baseball season. There's still a lot that interests me in this cup..... and I guess I'm back to supporting Italia.....
Erin's first exam is tomorrow... she's been learning about parasites and random neurological disorders.....amongst other things. The other day I came upstairs and she was watching a lecture on various STD's which made me nauseous.
My Mom & Dad went to a family reunion this past weekend in OR for the Umbriaco side of the family. I was quite sad to miss it as I haven't seen many Umbriaco's lately. It's always nice to be around family....even family you've never met.
I've been thinking about this quote a lot lately:
“The gospel always comes to people in cultural robes. There is no such thing as a ‘pure’ gospel, isolated from culture”-- (David J. Bosch. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. 1991:297)
Specifically how this relates to Lord's Day Worship..... and contextualization of the Gospel in the way it's presented in song, Word, and sacrament....
I wonder if that statement is true. I suppose I'd need the full excerpt to really evaluate it but it has me thinking of this paradox: The Gospel is transcendent v the Gospel is imminent; The Gospel transcends culture v the Gospel is received in 'cultural robes.'
Where is the balance in that tension? Is it a cop-out to say that because the Gospel comes to us in cultural robes that there is no transcendent way of communicating it (I'm thinking here of the Lord's Day context)? Is it a cop-out to say that it really does come in cultural robes as though it were an unavoidable conclusion? And therefore the cultural robes limit the audience?
I think to some degree this 'contextualization' discussion (though profitable) has become a shelter for us to run to when we need things to make sense. When pragmatics overwhelms our faith in the Holy Spirit - contextualization becomes our friend. It makes us OK with the fact that we only reach people who look like we do, because our gospel is robed in our culture. It seems to me that Christ crucified means the same thing regardless of the time period in which it's received, and that Abraham believed God's promise concerning the Seed and that it was credited to him as righteousness is still the Gospel.... we all come to faith in the same way. I think the real 'contextualization of the Gospel' happens post conversion as the Spirit provides a context and lense for interpretation. I think there is a transcendent way to speak the Gospel to all mankind regardless of their culture..... and I'm sick of being bound by this 'I can only reach people like me mentality.'
Wasn't it the Christ who said 'Love your neighbor as yourself?' I don't recall any qualifiers in the Holy Writ regarding loving neighbors who you identify with culturally...... nor do I remember reading anything about it being more effective for neighbors of similar cultural identity to love each other. The Kingdom transcends culture. How are we announcing the Kingdom with this 'oh well... I don't identify so perhaps someone else can reach them more effectively' mentality?
Are the answers holy mysteries we're just not meant to grasp? I doubt it........ I think we've just lost sight of the Holy City and all our means of contextualization are referenced to the city that passes away.
Ps. 46
God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High. God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns. The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!" The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
I'm not sure if this post will make much sense to the readers.... but it's late (12:45 AM) I'm trying to stay up with Erin tonight so she will have energy to study.....
This blog is brought to by the letter 'p.'
Friday, June 23, 2006
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Happy Birthday Battlecat!
Sat. June 10th was Battlecat's 1st Birthday (and my 25th....),
We celebrated with new toys, tummy scratches, and long walks. We gave Battlecat a soccer ball toy with 4 ropes for tugging attached to the ball. The ball contained a noisemaker, so whenever she bit the center of it, an announcer's voice could be heard saying "He shoots.... He SCORES! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" It's pretty awesome... any time Battlecat bit that part of the ball she'd freak out....she'd dance around and bark... and then as soon as the voice stopped, she went back to chewing the ball!
We celebrated with new toys, tummy scratches, and long walks. We gave Battlecat a soccer ball toy with 4 ropes for tugging attached to the ball. The ball contained a noisemaker, so whenever she bit the center of it, an announcer's voice could be heard saying "He shoots.... He SCORES! GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL" It's pretty awesome... any time Battlecat bit that part of the ball she'd freak out....she'd dance around and bark... and then as soon as the voice stopped, she went back to chewing the ball!
After we celebrated Battlecat's birthday, Erin and I went with some friends to Doneraki's. Doneraki's is a Mexican restaurant here in Houston. When I was here 3 yrs ago for an internship, my friend Hieu (on my right in the picture) and I would eat there all the time. It was close to where he lived, and the menu's stated that it is the "Most Authentic" Mexican Restaurant.... who can pass that up?
Anyway, we were all at the restaurant eating and hanging out... and this mariachi band comes out and starts playing for a large group near us in the restaurant..... after they are done playing... Hieu disappears to 'go to the bathroom.' Shortly after his return I was swarmed, and the next thing I new, I was wearing a sombrero and I had whip cream on my face from the spoonful of dessert the waiter served me... while I was still stunned from the donning of the 300 lb. sombrero.
We had a great time at the restaurant and then went back to our place for cake and ice cream. A couple others came over and we sat around and talked while Battlecat entertained all with wit, charm, and soccer ball.
Today Jason (also pictured above with his wife Julia) taught Battlecat to catch a tennis ball in her mouth. Battlecat's previous experience with balls mostly involves chewing them to pieces.... sometimes we'll throw it, and she'll go and pick it up.... but she never brings it back... she just gets bored and walks off..... but now we've got a new move to work on.
Erin has finals starting on Friday and then she's officially a 2nd Year Med Student!!!!!!!!!!
We're going to Belize for a week after she finishes and we're really excited. We're staying in an amazing hotel (www.ramons.com) and will post pictures of our trip sometime before December.
Other than that... I am freaking out about the World Cup.... tomorrow I'll be quite distracted in the morning.... go USA, and go Italia!
Friday, June 09, 2006
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Family Visits & The Flight of Battlecat
Long time no post...... sorry..... we've had some visitors and things have been quite busy.
My parents came to visit the 2nd weekend of the month! They got in Thurs. night and left Sunday night (their flight wasn't scheduled to leave until after 9 which is quite late for my mom!).
When they got in, we went to eat at Golden Corral - as is the tradition of my people. On Friday Erin went to get her haircut with my mom while my dad and I hung out at Borders and read books.... My dad was flipping through Horton's Intro to Covenant Theology and I was reading Knoll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind! After haircuts and dinner, we went to an Astros game... it was Astros - Rockies... my mom was rooting for the Rockies..... the game was pretty blah until the 6th or 7th when I donned my rally cap and the Astros went on a 6 run tear in response. My mom (who was rooting for the Rockies) was mortified that I rallied the Astros with my Denver Broncos hat..... I fear that I am something of a Colorado traitor to her......
The Astros have sucked since that game so perhaps God (who is a Broncos fan) is punishing me for abandoning a Denver-based team in their time of need.....
On Saturday we went to IKEA in the morning and to NASA and Kemah (www.kemahboardwalk.com) in the evening. We ate at a restaurant called The Aquarium which has a lot of....get this.... fish tanks in the restaurant. There were some pretty cool sharks and eels. On Sunday we went to Kaleo and then paid our homage to Katy Mills.... the largest outlet mall around.
Apparently Continental had some issues leaving on time as they were waiting for travelers coming in from the port in Galveston after arriving late from a cruise... my parents didn't get back to Layton until 3 am.....
I really miss my parents! My mom - who is petrified when approached by anything with more than two legs was excellent with Battlecat.... she petted her and never once was she (my mom) compelled to dive onto the couch in fear! My dad got me an early birthday gift - The Mel Brooks Collection on DVD!!!!!! We got to watch cool movies together including The Blues Brothers. My parents also got Erin and I an armoire as a house-warming present. The cool thing about the armoire is that my dad and I got to put it together.... and we like putting things together and watching cool movies (cool movie is defined as any movie that my mom would deem as inane or otherwise contributing to the death of my brain cells). As an aside I did watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights two times in a row the other day!
Two weeks after my parents came, Joshnita came for Memorial Day weekend. Josh arrived Friday morning and after lunch, he and I dug up our backyard. We loaded our garbage can and wagon with grass and dirt and smoothed out the rest.... we tried to get some dirt bags to even out the backyard the next day and quickly realized that we needed a truck to do the job.... perhaps I will get that done this weekend if it stops raining.
On Saturday we went to Nasa and the Aquarium restaurant in Kemah (sound familiar..... there's not a whole lot going on in Houston.....). The strange thing about the Saturday adventure was that there was nobody at the Aquarium....... two weeks before we waited for at least an hour and a half to be seated but this time we walked in and were seated immediately.....Erin and I had bought three tickets to a water park to use for the weekend... we'd planned to go Sunday but alas... it was raining so after church we went to the Galleria..... the Galleria is a huge mall right near our house.... and again..... there was hardly anybody there... the whole thing was kind of eery..... After the Galleria we took Erin home to study and Joshnita and I went to see X-Men 3.... which was an OK action flick, but I really enjoyed the first two better.....
On Monday Joshnita and I went to look at cars... we looked at Cobalts, Corrolas, and the Yaris which we were both impressed with! Then we went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the musuem of natural science (www.bodyworlds.com). This is an exhibit of real human bodies..... an anatomical exhibit... there was only time where I really felt compelled to vomit......it involved a trapeze. We also got free tickets to the Ur exhibit.... Ur is where Abraham (you know... Father Abraham.... he had many sons... and many sons had Father Abraham.... I am one of them.... and so are you... so let's all praise the Lord ________ insert motion). Unfortunately the Ur exhibit was more like a pottery collection...which I guess is cool if you're into that... I was hoping for a bit more history......anyway we rushed through it to get Joshnita to the airport for his 5:30 flight.
After we dropped Josh off we were on our way home when he called to say that his flight had been delayed.... to 9:30..... so we decided to go back and pick him up to take him to dinner..... unfortunately the airline wouldn't let Josh leave.... they made it sound like at any moment they were going to pull an aircraft from the hangers and head to SLC.... Erin and I got temporary gate passes and had dinner with Josh inside the airport. After we got done with dinner (around 8) the departure board said the flight had been delayed another hour.... Erin called the airline and the told her that the flight which was taking Josh to SLC wasn't going to arrive in Houston until 10:27 if it left on time..... so there's no way the flight would leave by 10:30..... so we decided to try to get Josh on standby for the 9:05 at another gate..... we went to board the tram to the next game only to find out that the tram was temporarily out of service.....
Long story short... Erin and I enjoyed 4 hours at George Bush Intercontinental with Josh and he was able to get on the 9:05 and arrived in SLC around 11:30.......
The Flight of Battlecat.....
Battlecat has been growing in her rebellious efforts......she seems to be incapable of heeding the command: Come. She will sit from a mile away but if you tell her to come she just runs..... Erin and I have been letting her roam free on our gated street so she can frolic, eat wood chips, and poop! Two days ago I was walking out the door to pick up some groceries when Battlecat met me at the door looking quite distraught. She pleaded with me to go outside.... and I acquiesed. Battlecat ran to the end of the street..... I went to the end of the street and she bolted to the front of the street... coincident with her sprint, our neighbors were loading stuff into their trucks outside the gate.... Battlecat seized the moment and ran into the street.... I followed her....walking so as not to make her think I was giving chase... she ran up to another man with a dog and stayed there barking and hopping until I arrived and she bolted down another street and into a cul de sac. There are two homes with no fence dividing the backyards..... after 10 min of chasing her from one side of the backyard to the other I enlisted the help of a man who was at the used car dealership across the street.... the plan: to chase Battlecat from one side and have her cornered by my accomplice. Unfortunately Battlecat realized she was cornered and sprinted past me before I could pounce. Back up the street she went..... by this time Erin had decided to come see where we were.... and Battlecat went right up to her.........must be a chick thing....
This morning Battlecat tipped Erin's study table over as she was goofing around and Erins cereal tipped onto her laptop.....bummer #1.
Erin called me on the way home from school while she was on the train.... and that's the last place she remembered having her phone. So Erin is having a sad day..... we're hopeful that someone turned her phone into a train operator. When I got home from work, her laptop seemed to be in working order (other than some sticky keys....).
Well.....I will post several pictures this weekend....
That's all for now.
My parents came to visit the 2nd weekend of the month! They got in Thurs. night and left Sunday night (their flight wasn't scheduled to leave until after 9 which is quite late for my mom!).
When they got in, we went to eat at Golden Corral - as is the tradition of my people. On Friday Erin went to get her haircut with my mom while my dad and I hung out at Borders and read books.... My dad was flipping through Horton's Intro to Covenant Theology and I was reading Knoll's Scandal of the Evangelical Mind! After haircuts and dinner, we went to an Astros game... it was Astros - Rockies... my mom was rooting for the Rockies..... the game was pretty blah until the 6th or 7th when I donned my rally cap and the Astros went on a 6 run tear in response. My mom (who was rooting for the Rockies) was mortified that I rallied the Astros with my Denver Broncos hat..... I fear that I am something of a Colorado traitor to her......
The Astros have sucked since that game so perhaps God (who is a Broncos fan) is punishing me for abandoning a Denver-based team in their time of need.....
On Saturday we went to IKEA in the morning and to NASA and Kemah (www.kemahboardwalk.com) in the evening. We ate at a restaurant called The Aquarium which has a lot of....get this.... fish tanks in the restaurant. There were some pretty cool sharks and eels. On Sunday we went to Kaleo and then paid our homage to Katy Mills.... the largest outlet mall around.
Apparently Continental had some issues leaving on time as they were waiting for travelers coming in from the port in Galveston after arriving late from a cruise... my parents didn't get back to Layton until 3 am.....
I really miss my parents! My mom - who is petrified when approached by anything with more than two legs was excellent with Battlecat.... she petted her and never once was she (my mom) compelled to dive onto the couch in fear! My dad got me an early birthday gift - The Mel Brooks Collection on DVD!!!!!! We got to watch cool movies together including The Blues Brothers. My parents also got Erin and I an armoire as a house-warming present. The cool thing about the armoire is that my dad and I got to put it together.... and we like putting things together and watching cool movies (cool movie is defined as any movie that my mom would deem as inane or otherwise contributing to the death of my brain cells). As an aside I did watch Robin Hood: Men in Tights two times in a row the other day!
Two weeks after my parents came, Joshnita came for Memorial Day weekend. Josh arrived Friday morning and after lunch, he and I dug up our backyard. We loaded our garbage can and wagon with grass and dirt and smoothed out the rest.... we tried to get some dirt bags to even out the backyard the next day and quickly realized that we needed a truck to do the job.... perhaps I will get that done this weekend if it stops raining.
On Saturday we went to Nasa and the Aquarium restaurant in Kemah (sound familiar..... there's not a whole lot going on in Houston.....). The strange thing about the Saturday adventure was that there was nobody at the Aquarium....... two weeks before we waited for at least an hour and a half to be seated but this time we walked in and were seated immediately.....Erin and I had bought three tickets to a water park to use for the weekend... we'd planned to go Sunday but alas... it was raining so after church we went to the Galleria..... the Galleria is a huge mall right near our house.... and again..... there was hardly anybody there... the whole thing was kind of eery..... After the Galleria we took Erin home to study and Joshnita and I went to see X-Men 3.... which was an OK action flick, but I really enjoyed the first two better.....
On Monday Joshnita and I went to look at cars... we looked at Cobalts, Corrolas, and the Yaris which we were both impressed with! Then we went to the Body Worlds exhibit at the musuem of natural science (www.bodyworlds.com). This is an exhibit of real human bodies..... an anatomical exhibit... there was only time where I really felt compelled to vomit......it involved a trapeze. We also got free tickets to the Ur exhibit.... Ur is where Abraham (you know... Father Abraham.... he had many sons... and many sons had Father Abraham.... I am one of them.... and so are you... so let's all praise the Lord ________ insert motion). Unfortunately the Ur exhibit was more like a pottery collection...which I guess is cool if you're into that... I was hoping for a bit more history......anyway we rushed through it to get Joshnita to the airport for his 5:30 flight.
After we dropped Josh off we were on our way home when he called to say that his flight had been delayed.... to 9:30..... so we decided to go back and pick him up to take him to dinner..... unfortunately the airline wouldn't let Josh leave.... they made it sound like at any moment they were going to pull an aircraft from the hangers and head to SLC.... Erin and I got temporary gate passes and had dinner with Josh inside the airport. After we got done with dinner (around 8) the departure board said the flight had been delayed another hour.... Erin called the airline and the told her that the flight which was taking Josh to SLC wasn't going to arrive in Houston until 10:27 if it left on time..... so there's no way the flight would leave by 10:30..... so we decided to try to get Josh on standby for the 9:05 at another gate..... we went to board the tram to the next game only to find out that the tram was temporarily out of service.....
Long story short... Erin and I enjoyed 4 hours at George Bush Intercontinental with Josh and he was able to get on the 9:05 and arrived in SLC around 11:30.......
The Flight of Battlecat.....
Battlecat has been growing in her rebellious efforts......she seems to be incapable of heeding the command: Come. She will sit from a mile away but if you tell her to come she just runs..... Erin and I have been letting her roam free on our gated street so she can frolic, eat wood chips, and poop! Two days ago I was walking out the door to pick up some groceries when Battlecat met me at the door looking quite distraught. She pleaded with me to go outside.... and I acquiesed. Battlecat ran to the end of the street..... I went to the end of the street and she bolted to the front of the street... coincident with her sprint, our neighbors were loading stuff into their trucks outside the gate.... Battlecat seized the moment and ran into the street.... I followed her....walking so as not to make her think I was giving chase... she ran up to another man with a dog and stayed there barking and hopping until I arrived and she bolted down another street and into a cul de sac. There are two homes with no fence dividing the backyards..... after 10 min of chasing her from one side of the backyard to the other I enlisted the help of a man who was at the used car dealership across the street.... the plan: to chase Battlecat from one side and have her cornered by my accomplice. Unfortunately Battlecat realized she was cornered and sprinted past me before I could pounce. Back up the street she went..... by this time Erin had decided to come see where we were.... and Battlecat went right up to her.........must be a chick thing....
This morning Battlecat tipped Erin's study table over as she was goofing around and Erins cereal tipped onto her laptop.....bummer #1.
Erin called me on the way home from school while she was on the train.... and that's the last place she remembered having her phone. So Erin is having a sad day..... we're hopeful that someone turned her phone into a train operator. When I got home from work, her laptop seemed to be in working order (other than some sticky keys....).
Well.....I will post several pictures this weekend....
That's all for now.
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