This past Sunday our team was on for Kids' Church. The organization of it all has been shaken up and redrawn this year. It's much more group-orientated, and it's working well. My group is the "Superdudes," and is made up of 6 kindergarten and grades 1-3 boys. This past Sunday, only one little guy came out. It was a great morning, though! Last year, this little guy, Tyler, was quite the handful. He'd spend his time running around, climbing on other kids (or leaders), ripping up whatever we gave him, throwing stuff around, and being generally disruptive. He'd usually end up informing us at some point, "I hate kids' church! I'm going back to my parents!" And so we'd let him go. Why force him to stay if he hates it this much?
But this year, he's a totally different little man! We've had a great time so far this year. He's very attentive, loves to share stories, and loves to participate with whatever is going on. There are a number of factors that I think may have brought about this change, but whatever those may actually be, I'm really glad that he's having a better time!
This past Sunday, specifically, I was really impressed by his grasp of the story we were going over. We were covering the Beatitudes (all in one Sunday -- how is it possible to do that well?!). For sanity's sake, I just focused on one aspect for Tyler and I to talk about -- Jesus' parable of building a house on the rock or on the sand.
To illustrate this as we talked about it, we built two houses out of Lego. He built the strong one, firmly routed on his Lego platform, and I built the weak one, just built on the table and (purposefully) not well connected so we could easily smash it later...
While we were building, Tyler came out with some great stuff! He said, "The guy who built his house on the sand didn't care about God." Or, "He didn't built his house on the rock of God; he built it on the sand of Satan!" Wow! This little guy in grade 1 with a speech impediment has some pretty good wisdom for his small age. Or any age, really. I'm sure God is pleased to watch this little guy working away and thinking about his young life. Ty's words actually felt like an exhortation for me: In all my busyness, thinking about grad school and finances and other things, where am I routed? Better make sure that I'm actively giving the Lord my trust and not setting out to accomplish all these plans myself. Otherwise, I don't think the end of my story will be all that different from the sandman's story at the end of Luke 6. "And its destruction was complete." Luke has some stinging words there for anyone who thinks they can go about their business with no concern for what God demands of us. As the Creator and adhesive of creation, I think ignoring God is probably the worst idea anyone could ever have, and most likely the worst way to spend your time.
Take it from Tyler -- upon what sort of ground is your foundation built?
Well, that was fast... Fall doesn't ever seem to stick around too long in Saskatchewan. As my friend Paul always says, it should rather be called "Blow" for the way it's hot one week, then incredibly windy for a couple of days, and then suddenly Fall is over. The picture above is the view from our patio door. October 9, 8:45am.
The first snow actually came yesterday. I was at work, north of Moose Jaw by 30 minutes, and around 2pm, snowflakes the size of Loonies were falling so thick that we could hardly see 20 feet in front of us!
I'm still holding on to some optimism because there are still some leaves on the trees. But out there in the wind, they look like they are shivering, and about ready to give up... And with highs of -5 C for the next while, that doesn't really shout out "Summer is coming back!"
Anyway, Winter brings other things to our lives that aren't bad at all. It's a time to sit inside and watch hockey, to order books and read them, and to be even more glad than I usually am that I live indoors.
If it's Winter where you are, take care and bundle up! It might be here to stay!
My name is cleared. For weeks (actually months) I searched high and low for two items I had borrowed from the U of R's libraries. I use a lot of books. I usually go to great lengths to ensure that I know what I have and when it's due to be returned (such as Google Calendar, email reminders, a homemade website with library login info, etc).
So, it was very bewildering to discover that, despite my efforts, I had lost two books! When my last renewal had expired, I emailed the library and explained that I had lost their books... But not two days later did they email back, and tell me that someone at their end had incorrectly scanned the returned books, and placed them back on the shelf, while my account showed them as still in my possession! All this time those books were safe and sound on the shelves, and here I was in a panic (or at least with a little pinch in the back of my brain, constantly reminding me that I failed the library).
I felt like Dr. House in that episode when Dr. Cuddy lets him believe that he had wrongly diagnosed a patient. For weeks after that, House was insecure about his diagnostic ability -- that is, until it got out that he was right. And so, much like House, I feel reaffirmed in my care of borrowed books.
This afternoon I took in Ryan Chute's funeral along with thousands of others. It was a beautiful service. I was able to chat with his 4-year old son, Rhett. He's an amazing little guy, who loved his dad and wants to be just like him. When I found him, he was drawing on a pie plate. When I asked what he was drawing, he said, "A picture of my dad."
Click here if you'd like to read Ryan's eulogy from the back of the funeral program.
This past weekend Jenn and I set out for White Bear along with Paul and Darcie. We had a great time staying at the Kenosee Inn, eating at the Moosehead Lodge, playing 54 holes of (mini) golf, eating lots of ice cream, playing with some petting zoo animals, exploring the artistic side of Kenosee, and checking out what's to be had at the Red Barn Flea Market (such as that 'Man of Steel' you see above). We didn't have the warmest weather, so we weren't able to hit the Super Slides, but maybe next time. Check out some pictures here.
A 28 year old Moose Jaw area man is dead after an ultra light plane crashed sometime Monday evening near Saskatoon. RCMP say a student and an instructor went for a flight and were supposed to be back by 8:00pm, but never arrived.
A search was launched with the help of a Military Search and Rescue Hercules out of Winnipeg as well as the Saskatoon Police Service plane. The small ultra light was found just after 6:00am Tuesday, three miles away from the airstrip.
A 56 year old man from Saskatoon and the 28 year old man from the Moose Jaw area were found dead inside. No names have been released as the investigation continues.
Today my boss called to tell me that the man we're building a house for has died. He went down in a small aircraft over the weekend. This is really very shocking news. I had only met Ryan Schute last year. He was a man who loved to live. He was always thinking about the next thing, planning a new project or going to a new place. He has left behind a wife and two young sons. I'm sure he'll be terribly missed by his family. If you're reading this, please pray for the Schute family.
If you ever install new windows into your home, I have some very important advice for you. If you use expanding foam to fill the hole between the window and its frame, make sure you wear gloves. Last weekend Jenn and I installed some windows for some of our friends, and I used the expanding foam, figuring it's just like silicone. Wrong! Silicone rubs off skin once it's dry. The foam does not. Looking on the internet for methods of removal, one site helpfully recommended "three Hail Marys or an atomic bomb." Thanks for that.
What worked in the end was patience, water, and a lot of sandpaper... Not extremely pleasant, but I got my hands back. So, please heed my warning. Use gloves!
At the work site on which we are currently working there lives a little boy named Rett. He is four years old and can do things not many four year olds can do. He drives tractors, quads, seeders, sprayers, combines, and bobcats. Whenever we're working in the yard, this is a very normal conversation:
Rett: "What's that?" Luke: "That's a hammer." Rett: "What does it do?" Luke: "It... hammers things. Hits stuff into things. We use it for nails." Rett: "Oh. Do you have another one of those that I can use?" Luke: "Sure, Rett."
He's very much a hands-on little man. Because of this, we often enjoy asking him questions to see what answer his bright, resourceful, young mind will come up with.
At the front of their yard is a seed plant. It's a tall structure with silos for the grain seed, and all sorts of tubes and ladders. At the top of the seed plant is a Christmas star, which they plug in around the Christmas season since the seed plant is the highest point on their yard. Two days ago, seeing that Christmas star, we asked Rett,
"So Rett, was Jesus born in the seed plant? That's his star up there." Rett: "He was... Yeah, he was. He was working there when it was put up."
Interesting... So, from the mind of a four year old, the creator, sustainer, and saviour of the universe is also one of his dad's seed plant employees... Perhaps some theological training would be helpful... But maybe that can wait until he's at least in kindergarten.
Tomorrow we're off for this weekend's last installment. Saturday Jenn and I spent the day installing 9 windows into a house. Quite the task, and we got it done! It's very satisfying to see how quickly a house brightens up with new glass. Today we rested, which was welcomed after a full week of work. Tomorrow we drive down to White Bear to spend holiday Monday painting signs. I don't know if "full" really captures how this weekend has felt. But anyway, it's nice to have lots to do sometimes, and Jenn and I have had a blast working together on things -- an opportunity that doesn't come about that often.
We flew out of Victoria at 6am on June 22, and headed to Montreal. We had a direct flight from Victoria all the way to Toronto. That's over 5 hours in the air, which means we were able to watch more than two movies on the plane! Needless to say, however, we were more than glad to stretch our legs and get doing what we came for when we reached Montreal Trudeau. It's quite the transition from Victoria, from the trendy, nutritious food-eating, outdoorsy culture of Vancouver Island to the urban, fast-paced, time-for-business feel of the island of Montreal.
Jenn's family picked us up. First stop was Moores, where we learned that my tux rental had come without a shirt or tie! An issue that was sorted out in the next few days, to my relief because I'm not really in the habit of going without a shirt for weddings...
We also got to see Jason and Christina's new home! What a nice place. Great neighborhood, quiet street. And the apartment is very spacious. That will be a fun place to visit!
The week in Montreal was very much like a week in Santa's shop for elves. Each day we worked and schemed to get everything the way it needed to be for the ever-approaching Friday ceremony! There were iTune playlists to organize, toole to place, errands to run, bows to tie, dresses to alter (I didn't do that...), food to eat, phone calls to make, and lots of fun to have in the midst of it all.
To make it all more interesting, Jason and Christina were able to snag that new apartment the week before their wedding. They didn't think they'd get it so suddenly, and so amongst all the wedding preparations, all their possessions had to be moved from Jason's apartment and Jenn's parents' place! Craig, Jenn's dad, Jason, and I spent about 12 hours (from 2:30pm to 2:30am) moving boxes and bed frames and dressers and computer parts and major and minor appliances and bags of clothes and couches . . . down the stairs, through a small doorway, into the truck, over to the new place, out of the truck, up some stairs, through another small doorway, and into the apartment. It was a lot of fun, actually. Most of the time we were laughing about how much work we had. We took a little break at midnight, and went to McDonald's for a late supper. Interestingly, the LaSalle McDonald's was being used as the setting for a new McDonald's commercial. So, if you see a commercial with a jalepeno pepper on a burger, we were there when it was being filmed.
After our Micky D's treat, we finished up our moving, and got into bed for 3am. Quite the moving experience.
While we were moving Jason and Christina's life to their new locale, Jenn was throwing her sister a "hurray-you're-getting-married!!!" party. Those six girls have been close since they were born, and one by one, each of them are having their turn in a wedding dress. Jenn, Dom, and Liz, and now Chris. Only Char and Reb remain. It was a girls' night full of girliness, old home-videos, and a fun send-off for Chris into wifeliness.
The night before the wedding, Jenn and I went to Jason and Chris's new apartment to install an air conditioner (which, you must understand, is essential in Montreal during the summer. It is very sticky and humid every day, and there is truly no relief like a continual supply of cold blowing air!). That was a fun experience... It was 9:30 pm when we started, and 11:15pm when we finished sawing and installing. My apologies to the neighborhood for the terrible noise... But the great thing is that the AC was installed. Extra great since Jason and I spent the night there. To our delight, around 4am we woke up shivering, needing blankets. There is no greater feeling than being really cold after having been far too warm when you went to bed.
The next day was the wedding.
All the groomsmen met at Jason's for breakfast. We had pancakes and bacon. Excellent! By 2:40 we were donning our tuxes and taking the groomsmen pictures. Jason has such great friends! I don't think I've had this much fun in a wedding party for quite some time! The limo was to come at 3pm, to get us to the church for 4pm. However, the limo didn't show until 3:40, which is a big problem because the Mercier bridge which takes us from the island of Montreal to the south shore is usually plugged with traffic, and the closer you get to 5pm, the worse it is. The biggest shock was, after we were seated in the limo, the driver asked us, "And where is the church?" Where is the church?! Well, we got him there, but he certainly wasn't the brightest light in the socket... When we were coming up the church, we told him to turn "droite" (French for "right"), he said, "Gauche?" ("left?"). "No, droite!" "Gauche?" "No! Droite!" "Oh, okay, I go gauche." Sheesh.
When we arrived, he turned around to us and said, "Okay, so how do I get to the bride's house now?" What the --? Usually it is assumed that the driver has done his homework... but not this one! So, an uncle of Jenn's met him at a nearby Tim Horton's, and led him to the Watkins. There, he had Christina's parents go ahead of him so he could follow them back to the church (since he still didn't know where it was...), and, as Christina was waving her parents past the limo, the driver just about caught her arm in the electric window! Who is this guy?! Needless to say, he'll have some reckoning to do.
Aside from this limo-trauma, the wedding was amazing. They chose to have their ceremony in the same church Jenn and I had our wedding, Georgetown Presbyterian, which is older than Canada's confederation. So, it was very nostalgic for us, and very surreal to be back there again so soon. When Christina came down the isle, she sang a song for Jason, "You Take My Breathe Away," as recorded by Eva Cassidy. Chris has an amazing voice to start with, but even more exceptional was how well she performed on her own wedding day! With the eyes of 150 guests on her, and staring right into the eyes of her soon-to-be-husband, everybody was blown away. Watch it here:
Their reception was loads of fun. Great food, lots of family, and crazy folks on the dance floor.
By 3am, everything was cleaned up, and we were headed home. Chris and Jason were off to Jamaica and a life together. After one day's rest, Jenn and I were headed back to Caronport.
What a wedding week! I don't think we've ever seen that much family all in a week's time before! (Or traveled so far, either! 9,500 km in 10 days!) We had loads of fun, but made sure to ask our unmarried siblings to wait a couple of years before getting any ideas...
A few weeks have passed, and the dust has settled, so now seems as good a time as any for a little wedding-trip narration.
It was a balmy 25°C as we left Regina, heading in to a much more temperate 15°C in Victoria. In Calgary, we were told we most likely would not catch our connector from Vancouver to Victoria. By the end of our layover there, they finally told us "there is no way you'll catch it." So, we did what we thought to be the responsible thing - we canceled our hotel reservation for that night, and told our ride (my sister Candyce) that we weren't going to make it to Victoria today. However, half way through the Calgary to Vancouver flight, a stewardess came over the system saying, "I have some great news for you Victoria-bound passengers! The Victoria flight has stated that they will wait for you, so you are going to Victoria tonight!"
OK... So, now what? We landed in Vancouver, were quickly zipped off by golf cart to our Victoria gate, and found our seats on a small little aircraft (37-seater) filled with tired passengers who had been waiting for us for an hour... Sorry folks. 15 minutes later we were in Victoria. Since our ride-givers were probably asleep, we took a shuttle to the hotel, which thankfully hadn't given our room away. Success!
The rest of our Victoria time was smooth. We got to do some wall-climbing with Candyce and Nathan on Friday. That was a blast. I hadn't climbed in a while, but I like it. I used to teach wall climbing at camp, so it was good to get up on a wall again. The wedding day was really neat. We took pictures in the early afternoon before the wedding. We were marveling at the vegetation in Victoria. So many big, old trees and lushness! Quite different from the horizon-based beauty of Saskatchewan. I felt sorry for my poor brother, Brett. He had a mild case of something that felt like H1N1. So, he didn't enjoy the picture taking quite as much as everyone else...
After pictures, we hung out and ate food until the wedding. (That is Candyce in her wedding dress, which is safely concealed by a towel, lest some rebellious bit of food plan a staining revolt.) The wedding ceremony was very rich. It was filled with liturgy and music (a choir hand-picked by Nathan, the groom, sang the ceremony music - very spectacular!). Jenn and I helped with serving communion. It was unexpectedly an emotional experience for me to serve communion, to look each person in the eye and say, "The blood of Christ shed for you." It was the response of especially the elderly that was most striking. There was a sense of security and the knowing that comes from lifelong experience that resounded when an older man or woman would nod and say, "Amen."
The reception was fun. It was like a family reunion for my dad's side. It was neat to introduce Jenn to them as my wife, since she hadn't met most of them. The next morning we all got together again for a brunch at my uncle Larry's, who lives on the Island.
That afternoon, Jenn and got to see something very cool (to us). The Luthor Mansion -- that is, Hatley Castle, but it poses as the Luthor Mansion, the residence of Lex Luthor, in the CW show, Smallville. At least, the Hatley Castle poses as the exterior of the Mansion, since the interior scenes are taken elsewhere, like Burnaby or somewhere. Hatley Castle was built by a wealthy family back at the turn of the 20th century. It now functions as a small university. It is in Victoria, a mere 20 minute drive from our hotel, so how could we not go take a look! The funny thing is, in Smallville, the Mansion is supposed to be in Kansas. Kansas has no ocean (obviously), but if you stand on the landing in front of the castle and look away from it, this is your view:
Obviously some skillful camera work is put to use in Smallville to convince the audience that this old castle really is nestled in the woods of Smallville, Kansas.
Our time in Victoria was a lot of fun. Lots of time with family, and lots of time to sight-see. Candyce and Nathan put a beautiful wedding together, and it was truly wonderful to be part of it. Candyce and Nathan are in Europe now, on a whole spectrum of adventures, which you can follow if you like, at "The Adventures of Nathan and Candyce."
Our trip to the Island was especially memorable for Jenn, since she had never been that far west before. She wasted no time in getting her feet wet!
That concludes the Victoria chapter of our week of weddings. On to Montreal!
In a week and a few short days, we'll be off on a wedding extravaganza week! My sister is getting married in Victoria, BC, on June 20, and then Jenn's sister is getting married six days later in Montreal! So, there will be lots of flying for us in the next little while... We're looking forward to lots of visiting, and involvement -- ushering, serving communion, groomsmaning/bridesmaiding, reception games, and most likely the millions of forgotten/overlooked/near-emergency/gotta-get-it-done-right-now odd jobs on the morning of weddings.
Most of all, it will be nice to have some good time with both of our families.
. . . . . And I look forward to watching movies on the plane.
At work the past week or so we have been building a garage in South Hill, Moose Jaw. Every day we are "supervised" by 5 - 7 little pairs of eyes that, at some time in the morning, peek over the fence from their daycare to see what is going on. Lots of questions. "What are you making?" "Is it a garage?" "Is it hard to make a garage?" "What's your name?" "Which one is the boss?" "My brother works at McDonald's." "Can you pick up my sandle? I dropped it over the fence!" Most of the time we hear happy sounds as the kids play on their lunch break and after school. However, over the last couple of days, we have heard some more curious exclamations from over the fence. One squeeky little voice continuously yells, "I hate you!" to which the worker continuously replies, "Stop being so high maintenance!"
What can we do as construction workers but listen and enjoy! It's hilarious to hear such little kids trying to understand the world. For kids whose day consists mostly of going to school and playing in the back yard, it must be exciting to watch a bobcat dig, a concrete truck pour, walls go up, and a building appear.
One particular day (yesterday), when there was an over-average number of little faces peering over the fence, Phil the roofer, who was shingling the roof, decided to turn the hose on the kids while watering down hot shingles, which caused an eruption of shouts and screams and giggles, and another occurrence of "I hate you!"
Kids in the workplace. They definitely make the day interesting!
Back in March, a wonderful online resource for biblical Greek, zhubert.com, was shut down because of copyright issues with the German Bible Society. I was deeply disappointed because Zack Hubert had put together a great online study-help for reading the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint. It was an interactive library with mouse-over parsing, word searches, vocabulary lists, and more. When it went down, it was a loss of a great tool.
But just this past week I stumbled upon a new resource that is on its way to being just has helpful! The Greek & Hebrew Reader's Bible lacks the Septuagint, but it offers the Greek New Testament (based on Tischendorf's text) and the Hebrew Old Testament. Mouse-over parsing is active for most words (though not all), and there are many ways to filter the amount of information you need to assist you in reading.
As of yet, there isn't a way to perform word searches, or to create custom vocabulary lists, but, much like the Reader's Greek New Testament and Reader's Hebrew Old Testament books, words appearing x-amount of times or less are give beneath the text. The benefit of this website is that the reader can determine that frequency number between 10 and 100 times.
Overall, it looks to be a handy tool. I'm sure it will continue to grow and evolve over time. Three cheers for the Open Source movement!
After work today I stopped in at Superstore in Moose Jaw for a couple of things. On my way out, I saw a most curious sight: a nun purchasing lottery tickets. I found this to be very surprising, because, I suppose, gambling is usually frowned upon in moral circles, and a gambling nun sounds like an oxymoron. Perhaps if I would have asked her why she was buying them, she may have said, "To give the money to those who need it," or, "our chapel really needs a new paint job!" But I didn't ask her... Instead, when I got home, I looked up what Vatican II has to say about gambling.
According to Catholics United for the Faith, "Gambling is not intrinsically evil and can be a legitimate form of entertainment so long as it is kept within the confines of virtuous conduct. Given the tragic consequences of habitual or excessive gambling, one should exercise caution and vigilance in this area."
According to this statement, if the nun was gambling to improve the chapel or whatever else, this would be allowed: "Since bingo and other forms of gambling are not intrinsically evil, they maybe used as a means of raising money for parishes."
And even if she were gambling for only her own gain, she'd still be within her right, as long as she does so for entertainment, and exercises discretion and moderation.
So then, based on CUF's interpretation of Vatican II, it would seem that a nun can gamble as long as it doesn't become an unhealthy habit.
Yesterday Jenn and I enjoyed a funny evening with my little sisters. We had a scrumptious meal of chicken tacos and super soggy salad (it was soggy, but it was super!), played some volleyball, had a roaring bonfire complete with marshmellows, smores, banana boats, and impromptu song composition (always a favorite on these sorts of nights). It struck both me and Jenn how much my three little sisters have grown up. All my life, or perhaps more accurately, all their lives, I've referred to these three as "the little girls." But that seems to be less and less accurate as time goes on. They are now funny, witty, skillful, intelligent, grown-up young woman. Who would have guessed this could happen in such a short time! The great thing is, even as everybody gets older and figures out what they want from life, we can still sit around a fire and sing about silly things like a smore named Jim who just wants to swim, or a songful salute to "counsellors and supporting staff" at camp. Life is good in Caronport.
This is sort of a big announcement for me. Ever since the Winnipeg Jets were sold back in '96, I've been wandering through the diaspora of hockey fandom. I grew up an hour outside of Winnipeg, cheering for the Jets and going to their games. My brother and I even got on TV once during the "Save the Jets" campaign because we happened to sit behind Gary Filmon, the Primier of Manitoba at that time. Over the years, I've tried to cheer for various teams (Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Ottawa... not Toronto - who would?), but nothing stuck. Finally, this year, I settled on Chicago. There are a few reasons why I've chosen to announce myself as a formal Chicago fan:
Old Winnipeg presence. As a player, I like Nikolai Khabibulin, the starting goalie for the Blackhawks. He was the last goalie for the Jets back in 1996. I've sort of followed him around a bit over the years (as I have with other Jets alumni like Temmu Selanne or Keith Tkuchuk). He's not Mr. Consistent like Brodeur or Nabokov and the like, but he can pull off some amazing stunts in net.
New Winnipeg presence. Two of the team's upcoming stars, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith, are from Winnipeg.
Chicago is primarily a Canadian team, though it operates in the US. As you can see from their team roster, cheering for Chicago is just as Canadian as cheering for one of the teams that play up here. 1 French, 1 Russian, 1 Czech, 2 Swedes, 3 Americans, and 15 Canadians.
I don't think Chicago will be the champion in this year's playoffs, but with all their young talent, I think they'll be an exciting team to watch in the years to come.
So there you have it. Call me a Blackhawk. I'm in.
"Leonard Nimoy [a.k.a., Mr. Spock] . . . devised the Vulcan Salute - a raised hand, palm forward with the fingers parted between the middle and ring finger - based on the traditional kohanic [priestly] blessing, which is performed with both hands, thumb to thumb in this position:
a position thought to represent the Hebrew letter shin ש.(This letter is often used as a symbol of God in Judaism, as it is an abbreviation for one of God's names, El Shaddai. This usage is seen, for example, on every mezuzah.) Nimoy says he derived the accompanying spoken blessing, 'Live long and prosper' from this source, as the last phrase of the blessing is 'May the Lord be forebearing unto you and give you peace' (Numbers 6:24-26)."(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Nimoy#Stage_and_screen)
Who would have known that Vulcans are steeped in Jewish tradition?
This morning, Archibald Library at Briercrest College & Seminary is holding a used book sale. I got in there at 8:02am, and already there were more than 20 people skimming the racks. I walked away with a few good titles, such as The Unaborted Socrates(Peter Kreeft), The Christian Educator's Handbook on Teaching(Gangel & Hendricks), and The Dead Sea Scrolls and the New Testament (W. S. LaSor). My favourite is definitely Reverend S. R. Driver's Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy. It's a 1909 edition, originally published in 1902. Driver is one of the bigwigs who put together BDB ("Brown-Driver-Briggs"), a standard Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon of the Old Testament, so you know Rev. Driver knows his stuff. I figure a 2nd edition is pretty good. It's in need of delicate care, and that it will most certainly receive on my shelf!
The past few weeks, I've had the pleasure of helping out some promising, young Greek exegetes. During my time as a student at Briercrest College, I found there was no task I enjoyed more than a good exegetical paper. It's fun to get buried in good books, and to get lost on journal article hunts, and to have an excuse to read Greek all day long. Now that I've graduated (and am taking very few classes -- just 'interest' stuff now), I've found it to be an even more greatly enjoyable task to turn around and help younger Greek students with their exegetical pursuits. Maybe this sounds like a horrible way to spend time to some people... but I've had a lot of fun spending some hours with a handful of Greek students who were in the midst of writing their very first exegetical papers. (That is a very special time!) It was fun to show them how to make good use of lexicons, grammars, theological dictionaries, and divinely-provisioned software like Bibleworks. Somehow I get a big kick out of all this. Helping hungry minds discover the fun in exegesis is like the can of spinach to this Pop-Eye. Maybe one day I can even be paid to do this!
Tax time is happy time for Jenn and I this year. Since we have so much back-logged tuition, we probably won't have to pay the government for many tax years to come. And so this year, we decided to have mercy on our little car that has served me so well since 2003. It's a little white, 4-door, 1992 Chevy Cavalier. I've put plenty of kms on it (and plenty of money into it...). It has been our faithful BA-mobile, but it's time for it to hang up the skates and settle in someone else's pasture.
To our delight, we happened upon a "new" vehicle that will soon be ours. It is in great condition, and has less than 100,000 km on it! And, in a way, it is a bit of a shout out to our old Cavalier. The new car is white, has four doors, and is a Chevy Cavalier hailing from 1990! Two years older, but so much newer!
All we have to wait for now is the big tax-time pay day!
This past Sunday our team was on for Kids' Church. The organization of it all has been shaken up and redrawn this year. It's much more group-orientated, and it's working well. My group is the "Superdudes," and is made up of 6 kindergarten and grades 1-3 boys. This past Sunday, only one little guy came out. It was a great morning, though! Last year, this little guy, Tyler, was quite the handful. He'd spend his time running around, climbing on other kids (or leaders), ripping up whatever we gave him, throwing stuff around, and being generally disruptive. He'd usually end up informing us at some point, "I hate kids' church! I'm going back to my parents!" And so we'd let him go. Why force him to stay if he hates it this much?
