I'm Glad God is Still on the Throne

I'm kind of bummed out today, so it's a good thing that God is still on the throne! Don't worry about me. I'm not suicidal or anything. I just wanted things to be different. Let me vent through my keyboard a bit. It might be therapeutic.

Cancer.

It's a terrible disease. And it affects millions. This week, my wife had her second breast cancer surgery in less than a month. She is getting stronger each day, but it's still hard to watch. I've been reading my Breast Cancer Husband book. It is a wealth of information. Each day I hear of more people who have gone through this. Evidently, there was a family history of breast cancer in Rose's family. Just this week we were reminded of Rose's uncle who died in recent years of breast cancer. This morning at church, I spoke with a long-time friend, whose husband had breast cancer. I knew that he had a bout with cancer a few years back, but could not have remembered that it was breast cancer, had I not been reminded. The prognosis for a cancer-free life is generally good when detected early. We'll learn this week about the proper staging, and probably meet with an oncologist the following week. Many people around the world have expressed love for us. We are thankful. Hundreds of people are praying for her. We feel the support. Since returning from the hospital, we have had meals brought in. Our freezer has several meals that we'll get to later. We trust in God, but it's still hard. I had a moment yesterday, shortly before a meal was brought to us, where the tears flowed. Keep us in your prayers. We'll get through this.

Mexico.

Since my last post, we drove our car nearly 4,000 miles, down to Brownsville, TX, and spent time at South Padre Island with our son and his family. From there we entered Mexico, and went across toward the Pacific coast to see Hidalgo del Parral, where our daughter Kim is teaching in a Christian school. She took some time off from her teaching there, and returned home with us, to be present for her mother's second surgery. We are thankful that she could do that. It was difficult for her to wait for news about her mother after the first surgery. Since the second surgery was postponed, she did not have much time afterward to help take care of her mother, before returning to Mexico. Rose got home from the hospital Thursday evening about 8:15 PM. Kim came home a bit earlier, to finish laundering some things and to finish packing for her trip back to Mexico. Our good friends, Ralph and Cindy Shead, picked her up at 4:45 AM for the trip to the Tulsa airport, and on to Mexico (thank you so much!!!). It was difficult for Kim to leave so soon, but she will do well there. We saw her in action on Monday, September 22. She is involved with a great team (3 other U.S. teachers--all graduates of John Brown University). Though she would like to be here, she needs to be there. Pray for her, that she will entrust her mother's care to a klutz like me (for household stuff), and that she will know that she will be all right.

We had quite a few tears (of the three kids, she is the most emotional, I think) Thursday night late. Since the first night at home, Rose didn't sleep all through the night, we were both up to see Kim off for Tulsa/Mexico. There were a few more tears at that time. Both of us went back to bed. Kim called me from the Tulsa airport (and woke me up!) to tell me that she was at her gate, that Ralph had bought her breakfast and had stayed to make certain that she got checked in and through security, and that she was feeling much better. She was no longer crying. What I found out later was that shortly after I talked to her in Tulsa, her older sister, Charissa, talked to her. Rather than talking to her like a man (which she should have done--right! like that's going to happen!), she must have asked her how she was doing (you know, like a woman!), and the floodgates started again. Later that morning, Charissa told me how hard it was on Kim, to which (as a man, I'll have you know) I responded, "She's doing very well. I just talked to her a little after 7 AM." Charissa informed me that she had talked to her a little after I did, and that she had successfully gotten her all worked up (not her exact words, but if you are a man, you might understand my sentiments).

She enjoyed the Passion Conference in Mexico City, which ended last night. She then endured a long bus trip north to Chihuahua (20 hours long). We talked to her just a few minutes ago. She was at home in her apartment, but will resume teaching in the morning. There were 50 people from the church in Parral that attended the Passion conference, so she has already gotten somewhat acclimated to Mexico.

Baseball.

No longer can Cubs fans say, "It's just one bad century." By failing in the playoffs again, the Cubs are doomed to at least one century plus before repeating with a World Series title. Of all the years that I have been watching the Cubs, this was the best team. I'm not sure what happened in the playoffs, but all of a sudden what was arguably the best team in the National League started playing baseball like they were afraid. They were the same players, but they were not playing like they played the regular season. Joe Torre got the Los Angeles Dodgers to play great baseball. They swept the Cubs in 3 games, and were definitely were the best team in that series.

One of the most painful things about the series, however, was listening to the TBS team of broadcasters, Dick Stockton, Ron Darling and Tony Gwynn. Darling was not a bad pitcher in his day, and Gwynn was a great hitter, but in the broadcast booth, they were terrible. The Wikipedia article about Stockton has been edited in the past 24 hours. I checked it early this morning, wondering just how old he was, since he was sooooooo bad. It had a reference to the fact that his performance in the broadcast booth had suffered in recent years, specifically citing many errors he made in the Cubs-Dodgers series. Darling was also bad. When the Dodgers had runners on 1st and 3rd with 2 outs, Darling stated how Cubs pitcher Rich Harden really needed a double-play ball. I wondered if the Cubs pulled off a double play if the Dodgers would only get 2 outs in the next inning. They were just bad.

It is of little solace that the best team in the American League this season, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (that really is the name of the team), are in danger of being swept by the Boston Red Sox. As I write these lines, the game is currently in the 11th inning, and the Angels are threatening to score.

I have taken the Cubs off of the home page on my cell phone, and the song "Go, Cubs, Go!" is no longer my ring tone. Effectively, the baseball season has ended.

US Fiscal Crisis in an Election Year.

The financial crisis in the U.S. appears to be real, but as a taxpaying citizen, I am angered that the government is so free with my money. One party promises to be in favor of social programs designed to help lower-income people. The other party generally is perceived to advocate a smaller government. The mud slinging has been coming and going. We've got less than a month until the election. My wife is tired of it all. Her idea goes well with Rodney King's: "Why can't we all get along?"

Since this is my personal blog, I have the freedom to write what I want to write. I speak for no one but for myself. I have written previously about Barack Obama's opposition to the Born Alive Infant Protection Act. That issue alone tends to send me toward his opponent. The naming of Sarah Palin as his running mate, a person who has walked the pro-life walk, as well as talking the talk encourages me. I was glad that he passed over other potential VP candidates, who may be more open to abortion (like Joe Lieberman). I like Palin, who has weathered the attacks fairly well. She is the most anti-Washington candidate on the tickets (which is a point in her favor). The comment that Jesus Christ was a community organizer while Pontius Pilate was a governor originated from a partisan spirit. Jesus did indeed organize a community of faith, but His job was quite different from that of the current media Messiah, Barack Obama.

My concern on this matter is precisely the work that Obama did as a community organizer, and the tie that it may have to the present economic crisis facing our country. Allegedly, part of Obama's work as a community organizer involved suing banks who did not offer mortgages to lower-income individuals who normally would not qualify. Much has been written about it. Here are some terms that have to do with it:

• Community Reinvestment Act
• Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
• Housing Enterprise Regulatory Act of 2005

My brother-in-law sent an e-mail today to my wife with a Youtube video that addresses some of these issues. It raises questions that I should interest concerned voters. Give it a viewing or two.

Pink Bats and Ribbons

On May 11 (Mother's Day), the Chicago Cubs moved into first place. They have been there ever since, and currently hold a 5 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Central. On Mother's Day MLB stadiums featured a program called Going to Bat Against Breast Cancer, in which players wore patches with pink ribbons on their sleeves, and certain players used pink bats, to raise awareness about breast cancer and funds to find the cure. This program was done in conjunction with the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation. Daryle Ward, the Cubs' left-handed pinch hitter specialist, had not played very well early in the season, used a pink bat to knock in a game-winning 2 RBI double in the bottom of the 8th inning to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks, and move into first place.

Being one of the most avid Chicago Cub fans in Joplin, MO (really there are a lot of us), I was pleased that they moved into first place. The pink ribbon thing was kind of cute. It was for a worthy cause. Today, however, pink ribbons are much more personally significant to me. It was only 8 days ago that my wife Rose and I went to a medical facility, and received the news that she has breast cancer. She had surgery yesterday, and is doing very well.

Yesterday she had a cancerous tumor that measured about 2 cm removed. A Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy was done (click on link to see a video animation about the process). 3 lymph nodes were removed for analysis. Right now, we're thankful that she came through the surgery well. We're thankful for many of our friends all around the world that have been lifting us up in prayer. We're thankful for the cards, flowers, e-mails, and meals that have made their way to us.

We are, however, in kind of a waiting mode. We would like to think that this cancer was discovered early, but we really don't know if that is the case. We will go on Wednesday afternoon to meet with the surgeon, and to receive the results of the lab work. At that point, her cancer will be staged, and subsequent treatment will be outlined. At this point, we believe that we are likely facing both radiation and chemotherapy treatments. Your prayers are coveted for her speedy recovery from the surgery, and for a cancer-free future.

We scheduled the surgery quickly, to give Rose time to recover, before a planned trip to South Texas where our son's family lives, and into Mexico, where our daughter, Kim, is teaching in a private school. I will preach at Central Christian Church in Brownsville, TX (3 services on Sunday morning, two of which are in English, with the other service being in Spanish).

I got a book in the mail today. It was actually recommended by one of my students whose mother has battled breast cancer. Written by journalist Marc Silver, it is titled Breast Cancer Husband: How to Help Your Wife (and Yourself) Through Diagnosis, Treatment, and Beyond. I've begun reading it, and have appreciated some of the advice. I'm not smart enough to do the right thing without adequate coaching.

Thanks once again for your prayers. We'll let you know how we're doing. It's good to know that our hope lies not in physical, social, economic, or political realities (apologies to McCain-Palin and Obama-Biden), but in our great God.

McCain Surprised Them All!

I've not been one of John McCain's biggest fans, but I loved the way the news pundits were faked out by his naming of Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska, as his running mate. Though she was on the "long list", none of the experts that were talking about the VP selection on Thursday got it right. I thought the surprise was great!

Since then, I have heard the Democrat Talking Heads run her down, and the Republican Talking Heads (at least some of them) praise her. On Friday, in Dayton, she was articulate, and came off as genuine. Since my single-issue is the right to life issue, I am so glad that he named a running mate that is not only pro-life, but walks the walk as well as talking the talk.

Since the Friday announcement, I ran across this piece, where Jewish columnist Nat Hentoff recommended Sarah Palin as McCain's running mate, back in May (5-21-08). It is titled John McCain, here is your vice president. Among other things, Hentoff said this:

Because of Palin's reputation as a maverick, and her initial reduction of state spending (including pork-barrel spending), life-affirming Palin connects with voters and has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential running mate for John McCain.

She would be a decided asset--an independent Republican governor, a woman, a defender of life against the creeping culture of death and a fresh face in national politics.

In a more recent article (7-16-08) about Palin's accomplishments, Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard calls her The Most Popular Governor. Obama's supporters call McCain the continuation of George W. Bush. It is interesting that a campaign that promises change gives us a Washington insider as a running mate, whereas the alleged continuation of the status quo brings in someone who upset the GOP status quo in Alaska.

I don't know Sarah Palin very well, but based on what I've seen so far, I think it may get interesting. I'm looking forward to see how she responds to Biden in a debate. I hope he's smart enough not to say, "I know Hillary Clinton, and believe me, you are no Hillary Clinton!"

Random and Disconnected: WW, DNC, Beijing, & UNL

WW: I admit it. I'm fat. I give lip service to dieting. For weeks I have been dieting, without any noticeable gains. I would go "low carb", but that just allowed me to pork up on proteins. I've had it! WW stands for Weight Watchers, and once again I am a member. Today is my 9th day. It is the most sensible approach for me, although I have become some what of a WW Nazi. I was pleased with the results of the first week. Now you know. You can hold me accountable.

DNC: Did you know? Last night the Democratic National Convention began. Michelle Obama was a headliner, and the message was different from her February 18, 2008 statement that "for the first time in my adult lifetime, I'm really proud of my country." Last night she made no gaffes.

Did you know? Abortion is a core "moral" value of the DNC. Jesus was not a member of the Republican Party (nor am I), and yet of the two prominent parties on the U.S. political scene, in the years since 1973 (Roe v. Wade), it has been the Democratic Party that has championed the culture of death (they would call it pro-choice). I have written before about Obama's position (tremendously erroneous in my view) on the issue. Something that happened yesterday underscores the DNC commitment to abortion. Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America may not be a huge player at the DNC, but her thinking permeates the party. Did you see what she said in her short speech (taken from the DNC website)?

On behalf of NARAL Pro-Choice America and our one million member activists, I am honored to be at this historic convention where delegates will nominate Senator Barack Obama as the next pro-choice president of the United States.As a former elected official from Montana, I am proud to say that my party—the Democratic Party—is a party of many faiths and backgrounds united behind these core moral values [emphasis added]: we support and defend a woman’s right to choose safe, legal abortion.

One of the incongruities of my life is to observe so many young (college age) students, many of them OCC students and/or graduates who are championing Obama's campaign. I don't understand it.

Beijing and Child Safety: The 2008 Summer Olympics are in the books. I enjoyed what little part of it I watched. Since the days of Nadia Comaneci, my daughters enjoyed gymnastics. I enjoyed watching the women's gymnastics competition. Bob Costas' asides with Bela Karolyi made for fun television. The U.S. took gold and silver in the Women's overall competition: Nastia Liukin with the gold, and Shawn Johnson with silver. Johnson is a 16 year old girl from West Des Moines, IA, so I imagine we'll be seeing more of her in the Olympics. I watched the overall competition, and when I saw Shawn Johnson, I thought, "She is really short!" Next to her, Nastia Liukin looked so tall and slender. I had to look it up. Shawn Johnson is 4'9" short. The taller Liukin is only 5'3", which in a world on normal people makes her short.

Something that I heard on talk radio (as a public service announcement) made me smile, and I think it's a good thing that Johnson is not 4'8 1/2". To paraphrase Maxwell Smart, "She made it by that much!" I believe that law states that children under the age of 9 need to be in a booster seat (buckled in) when traveling in a car, unles they are 4'9" inches tall. The public service announcement I heard on the radio just emphasized the 4'9", much like this video from the National Highway Traffic Safety Association. Now I heard the radio spot shortly after researching Shawn Johnson's height, and I had to chuckle. Could you imagine an Olympic Gold Medalist (she won silver in the overall, but gold in the balance beam) in a booster seat?

UNL: I'm on sabbatical, working on my dissertation. I have spent very little time on campus, which has been nice for a change. Writing these lines has provided some relief from that arduous labor. Once this is posted, it's back to the grind!

4 Years Ago in Athens

It seems hard to believe that it's been four years, but the Olympics only come every four years, so I remember this Saturday (four years ago). I was to attend a wedding of some OCC students at Fir Road Christian Church in Carl Junction, which is easily 20-25 minute drive from our house.

I refused to leave home at the time required to arrive at the wedding on time. Why? Because the Summer Olympic Games from Athens was on TV, and Chile was playing in the Men's Doubles Match for the Gold Medal. Chile had never ever won an Olympic gold medal before, and here they were, playing for the gold. I was riveted. I knew that I needed to leave for Fir Road, but I couldn't. Now, four years later, I would just let the DVR handle it, and I would watch it when I got home. But no, I had to stay!

The fact that the groom was Mexican, and I doubted that the wedding really would start on time was a mitigating factor. We did not leave home unti l Chile had won the gold, and we arrived at the church before the wedding started, so all was well in the world. Actually, in Athens, Chile won 2 gold medals, as Nicolás Massú, one of the members of the Chilean doubles team, also won a gold medal in Men's Singles.

Why is this significant? Because now, 4 years later, Massúʼs doubles partner from Athens, Fernando González, is getting ready to play for the Men's Singles gold medal. For those who might be interested, it should be on around 3 AM tomorrow morning. The tennis events are on the USA Network, not the normal NBC channels. At that hour, I will neither be late for a wedding, nor will I be awake. I do have the DVR set to record the Olympics happenings, after which time I can watch to see if González can repeat. He will be playing against Spain's Rafael Nadal. In the semi-final, González eliminated James Blake (USA). There was a missed call that went in González' favor. Blake complained that he should have 'fessed up, and surrendered the point. He didn't, went on to win the match, and is playing for gold. Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le. ¡Viva Chile!

Kimberly's Farewell Dinner--Tulsa, August 2

We went to Tulsa on Saturday, August 2, to see Kimberly off to Mexico. Rose, I and Kim went earlier, and checked into the motel that Steve & Charissa booked. We went to P. F. Chang's at Utica Square in Tulsa. The food was delicious, as was the company. Kim's been in Mexico for a week now. I just got an e-mail with photos from that evening. Here is one that the waiter at P. F. Chang's took:

2 Daughters--Each a Blessing

Today is an historic date: 8-8-08. How often do you see something like that? This morning I will perform a simple wedding ceremony, for one of Rose's co-workers. This evening I will attend a wedding of the daughter of one of my co-workers. Ten years ago (on 8-8-98, which is also a pretty cool combination of numbers), our older daughter got married. That means today is her 10th wedding anniversary. I can still bring back waves of emotion when I hear the Butterly Kisses song. Happy Anniversary, Steve & Charissa!

My second daughter, Kim, is in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Μéxico. Αfter a very long trip, partially by air, and partially by land (from El Paso, TX to Parral), she has spent this week in what will be her home for the next year. Her emotions have pretty much been all over the board, ranging from What have I gotten myself into? to I think I can do this! (Photo of the girls taken with my cell phone camera at P. F. Chang's in Tulsa, on August 2)

Modern communications are a wonderful thing. It is so much easier to stay in communication today than when Rose and I (at a younger age than what Kim now is) went overseas for the first time [wise older readers are allowed to insert their favorite "back in my day story"]. E-mail did not exist back then. Air mail communication sometimes took two weeks to arrive. Cell phones may have existed, but were basically confined to Maxwell Smart's shoes. Today there are lots of options.

Skype is a wonderful thing. Last night we had a video phone call (via Skype, computer to computer) with Kim in Mexico. We talked to her, and saw her, sitting in front of her computer, for over an hour! That was pretty cool. Earlier in the evening, she had talked in the same way with her sister for about 50 minutes. During our conversation, I was also chatting (text) with her sister. Total cost for the conversation? How about FREE? Kim actually bought some Skype credit, and initiated the phone call, from her computer to our telephone (at a rate of about 2 cents/minute). We hung up, telling her that I would launch Skype so that we could talk computer-to-computer, but our DSL service hiccuped at that time, and we had to restart the modem a couple times before DSL service was re-established.

Kim has a pre-paid Mexican cell phone, but it is quite a bit more expensive to call Mexican cell phones, than Mexican land lines. It is easy to find long distance service to a Mexican land line for about 2 cents/minute, but calls to a Mexican cell phone average over 33 cents/minute. I found one service that is about 11 cents/minute, but FREE is a great price.

Charissa, enjoy your 10th anniversary! Kim, hang in there, and do your very best. I love you both!

Dad

Kim's in Mexico--It is Hot Here!

I just got an e-mail from Kim in Mexico. She left from Tulsa, OK for Mexico yesterday, and in now in Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico. Yesterday was the longest day of her life, and she has had a pretty good dose of culture shock already. She shed quite a few tears before leaving, and she has shed a few in Mexico. I believe that God remembers all our tears, according to Psalms 56:8, which is a good thing.

It is hot here. We have an atomic clock with an indoor/outdoor thermometer. The reading from this picture was when the outside unit was completely in the shade!

Gerald Baker on Obama's Messianic Designs

I ran across this interesting video/report from a few days back. It is rather long, but very interesting . . .

Kim Goes to Mexico

Within an hour we'll leave Joplin with our baby (she is an adult, and when her mother was the same age as she currently is, she lived in Chile, South America, and already had a child!), who is going to teach school in Mexico for the next year.

We'll drive down to Tulsa, where she will spend the night with her older sister and brother-in-law (alias, best friend). We will return to Joplin later tonight because of church commitments on Sunday. Friends from the Mexican school will meet her in El Paso, and take her to Hidalgo del Parral, Chihuahua, Mexico. We will visit her in Septmember. The name of the school where she will be teaching is Instituto Las Américas de Parral.

Here is a Google Earth satellite image of the city where she will be (420 miles south of El Paso, TX):

Go, Cubs, Go!!! (WGN music video)

Last week the Milwaukee Brewers hop-scotched over the St. Louis Cardinals by sweeping them in St. Louis. They were breathing down the Cubs' neck, actually tying them for first place in the NL Central one week ago today. I was scared. The Cubbies won on Sunday while the Brewers lost, making the Brewers' stay in a tie for first place short-lived. The Cubs opened up a 4-game series in Milwaukee on Monday, and I was scared! The years of Cubbie events flashed before my psyche. "Maybe this is not a magical season afterall," I wavered in my faith.

The Cubs swept the Brewers in Milwaukee, putting a 5 game lead on the board (currently it is 4 games, but the Cubbies are already winning today). After every home win, Steve Goodman's song, "Go, Cubs, Go" is played over the PA system. In Milwaukee, enough Cub fans broke into the song after the Cubs won there, that it was detectable over the radio/TV broadcasts.

WGN radio produced a music video, with some of their radio personnel (and fans outside of Wrigley Field) featured. Here it is:

I'm still alive. I just haven't been blogging!

I'm certain that my vast readership (the number has probably shrunk from 4 readers to 2) has been wondering what I've been doing, since I haven't blogged in such a looooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggg time. I'm still here. I've just been busy.

I've been:

1. Working on my dissertation project
2. Visiting with my son's family (last couple weeks of June)
3. Getting ready for Kim to go to Mexico for a year
4. Watching the Cubs get past the June Swoon, but suffering through one in July
5. Translating for hispanic DWI offenders
6. Doing some reading

On that last front, I've discovered a pretty good writer in the Christian fiction genre. I actually bought some of these books for Rose, basically because they were at reduced prices at our local Christian bookstore at the mall. She usually reads much more Christian fiction than I, but prefers Karen Kingsbury, Beverly Lewis, and similar writers. Eric Wilson does not fit that mold. I would describe him as a mix between Frank Peretti and Ted Dekker. I was probably persuaded to buy the discounted tome because Dekker gave an endorsement (much like I first found Dekker because of a Peretti endorsement.) By the way, Eric Wilson is the novelizer of the Sherwood Baptist Church screenplays, like Flywheel, Facing the Giants, and the upcoming Fireproof.

Another interesting book I've been reading is Jason L. Riley's Let The In: The Case for Open Borders--Six Common Arguments Against Immigration and Why They are Wrong. Riley is African American, conservative both economically an politically (he is on the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal), but differs drastically from the ultra-right wing radio and television populists, such as Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Michael Savage, and others on the immigration issue. Much of my real life is intertwined with hispanics, both documented and un-documented. What I have read so far makes sense to me.

Several years ago, when my good friend Doug Marks joined our faculty, I remember him commenting that today's students are not readers, but rather skimmers. That resonated with me at the time, because I remember asking students if they had read assigned portions of the textbook, and receiving the strange response, "That depends on what you mean by the word read." It's only gotten worse since then.

I've already admitted to you in this blog entry, that I read books. I also read online. There are a number of blogs that I check semi-frequently. One of them is by Douglas Groothuis, a professor at Denver Seminary. I just happened onto it this morning. He has a post that references an interesting article in today's New York Times: Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?

An article by Nicholas Carr in the current issue of The Atlantic is titled Is Google Making Us Stupid? addresses the same issue. And finally, I just picked up a book that I had requested from the local public library many weeks ago. I got an e-mail message from the library this week, and went by to pick it up. If I don't have time to read it, at least I'll skim through it (I have my moments when I can be very funny!). It is Mark Bauerlein's The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Ages Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future.

That's all for right now. It's time to wake Rose up. I spent a couple hours studying Romans 10, checked out the Groothuis blog, which prompted me to write these lines. Now it will be off to worship at College Heights, Sunday dinner with Kimberly at home (her last Sunday in the U.S.), and later on to hope that the Cubbies can begin to turn it around.

Peace to all!

DGF

The Power of a Good Video (Long or Short)

Have you run across the Redbox DVD rental stations? For $1.08 you can rent a just-released movie. That certainly beats the $3.99 at Blockbuster! Problem is that it is for one night, so you've got to make certain you can watch it that night.

We picked up a movie last night and watched it. It was a wonderful story called Bella, that won all kinds of film festival rewards. Because of lack of funding, it had a much-delayed theater release. It is a wonderful story of forgiveness and redemption, and portrays Latinos in a very positive role.

Bella is the long video (1.5 hours) referred to in the title of this post. The short one is a music video I saw on my son Greg's blog site. He posted it shortly after his 8th wedding anniversary. I liked it so much I wanted to post it shortly before my 33rd wedding anniversary. It was done by Warren Barfield, and will be featured in an upcoming movie called Fireproof, from the Sherwood Baptist Church, the same people who produced the movie Flywheel and Facing the Giants. Here is Warren Barfield, in Love is Not a Fight:

Nathan Fish's Song

My son, Greg, is a songwriter. His oldest, Nathan, who will be six years old on June 12, improvised this song. There is a whole whopping 14:20 of Nathan and Eli singing on Greg's YouTube page. I excerpted about 1 minute of that long video, to let you see Nathan's creation.

It was a total improvisation, and starts out saying that Jesus Cares for us Everyday, but soon reminds me of Santa Claus. See if you don't almost hear a transition to "You Better Watch Out!", before transitioning back to a Christian song:

Sabbatical Begins

Grades Submitted on Time.

Yesterday our grades were due at 9:00 AM. I turned mine in at 8:54 AM. Yoohoo! I spent the remaining portion of the day getting ready to move stuff from my office to home, where I will spend most of my time working.

Workspace Set up at Home.

My workspace will be located downstairs in our family room. I moved an 8 foot table in there this morning, and will be taking books, articles, files, etc. home to work on the dissertation. Yoohoo!

Cubs tied for Best Record in Major League Baseball!

Previously, they were tied for that honor with the Arizona Diamondbacks, but now . . . it's with the Tampa Bay Rays! Were they perennial losers before just because of the word Devil in their name?

To Rick Brannan on Aposiopesis

I read Ricoblog with some regularity. Rick Brannan is a software engineer with Logos Bible Software, and blogs regularly about Greek. He is passionate about the Pastoral Epistles and Patristics. In his entry from yesterday, he called aposiopesis the word of the day. Rico just discovered the term in a commentary by R. T. France. I remember when I first discovered the term, so I wrote a piece about it. I think I'll leave a comment on Rick's blog pointing to this comment.

Rick,

I have enjoyed following your blogs for a long time now. I first became acquainted with the term aposiopesis back in 1973, when I was taking a course on the book of Hebrews. The course was based on the English Bible, but I was a second year Greek student, so I ran into this phrase:

ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου·εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου
in Hebrews 3:11; 4:3; 4:5 (apodosis only).

I was puzzled by the English translation:

“As I swore in My wrath,
They shall not enter My rest,” (NASB)

I may not have known very much Greek, but that didn't square with what I knew the Greek said. I searched for the answer, and found aposiopesis. I have been searching to figure out just where I found the term. In my search this morning, I have found A. T. Robertson's Word Pictures, where in his entry on Mark 8:12 mentions the usage of ει instead of ου being a case of aposiopesis, imitating the Hebrew use of im. Robertson calls Mark 8:12 (ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, εἰ δοθήσεται τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ σημεῖον) the only instance of aposiopesis in the NT, except for quotations from the LXX (citing the above-mentioned references from Hebrews). Interestingly, he does not mention aposiopesis in his comments in Hebrews.

BDF §372(2a) references this usage of ει with the indicative of reality as the manner in which the Hebrew particle אִם was translated.

Something curious happened about three years later. My younger sister was enrolled in the same Hebrews course. She had also studied Greek, and noticed the "if they shall enter into my rest" in the passages. As I mentioned, the course was based on the English Bible. Her instructor was really not all that proficient in Greek. My sister asked him the question, "Why does the Greek say 'if they shall enter' when the English says 'they shall not enter'?" He responded, you'll have to ask the Greek teacher that. Instead of asking the Greek teacher, she asked me. I glibly responded, "That's just a case of aposiopesis."

Now, more than 30 years later, I am teaching Greek at the same institution. Aposiopesis has been one of my favorite, lesser known figures of speech found in the Bible.

Thanks for your good work at Logos, and for helping many of us use technology to further our study of the NT text.

Blessings,

David

Jim Edmonds is a Cub

Jim Edmonds has been a very good baseball player in the past. After last night's game, the Cubs announced his signing, and optioned Felix Pie to the AAA Iowa Cubs, to make room on the Cubs roster. Check the story here from the official Cubs page.

I have mixed feelings about this. I have hated Jim Edmonds for years (in the Christian charity-sense of hating the guys on the opposing teams)!!!! Often, when commenting about how much I hated him (to fans of the St. Louis Cardinals), I admitted his quality, and even that "if he was one of our guys I would probably love him."

Still, he's 37 years old (for those of my generation that is old when it comes to playing baseball). He is in decline. Still, he is rumored to have signed for the prorrated MLB minimum. He may be in the lineup today, as the Cubs battle the San Diego Padres (the team that recently released Edmonds). Ironically, 2-times former Cub Greg Maddux will pitch for the Padres, which would normally mean that left-handed batting Edmonds would be in the lineup. He was released by the Padres because he was not hitting well. I hope he comes out of his slump quickly. Jim Edmonds' career stats available here.

The Praise (and Prayer) of a Child

My daughter facebooked me, and embedded something on my Fun Wall. It reminds me of Psalm 8:2 and Matthew 21:16, though it is taken from the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. I liked it, so will share it here for you. Enjoy!

Test

This posting tests out a new function designed by the Logos Bible Software company called RefTagger. It is described here. What it is to do is to insert a link for anything that it recognizes as a Bible reference, like Romans 8:28. When you click on the Bible Reference, and window with the contents of that text should pop up.

I think it works just fine!

Super Mom

A belated tribute to Emily Fish, a.k.a., Super Mom!

You can watch this video here, or on my son's site. To get a high resolution download, check out Sermonspice.com:

Pass the Word Along . . .

The guy in this video looks familiar:

Back from St. Louis

It's always nice to see the Cubs win. I made the trip yesterday with my son-in-law, Steve Robinett. I had assumed that he was a Cardinals fan, but he is not, so we got along really well. Nobody in our section was drinking excessively--in fact, most people in our section were not drinking at all :), which made it nice. The Cubs scored six runs in the 4th inning and won the game 9-3. Ted Lilly pitched a quality start, going 7 innings and even hitting a double.



My friends, Jerry and Linda Mitchell, from the Joliet area were there with some of their friends. I had told them where we were going to be sitting. We had been phone-tagging some, but really hadn't talked (It's easy to miss a cell phone call in a stadium when it's noisy). When we descended from our section, there they were! It was good to see them (my digital camera is still in my car--I'll try to post a photo later.) When I was walking to the parking garage (we only had to pay $5 for parking), I listened to a voice mail from Jerry Mitchell, telling me that they would try to see me as I descended from my section. Thanks for finding me!



I have a new phone, the Samsung Blackjack II. It is a smartphone, combining my PDA and cell phone into one device, which even has a smaller footprint, which is nice. One of the things the phone has is built-in GPS. I got the GPS going with Google Maps, and was messing around with it before the ballgame started. I had the GPS on my phone locate me. I'll post a couple pictures, taken directly from screenshots on my phone. One shows my location on a map. The other one shows my location on a satellite image. When I zoomed in, in pinpointed my location in Busch Stadium. We were sitting in the nosebleed section, but the seat was great. I'll post a 3rd picture, taken with the cell phone camera during batting practice, showing our view of the playing field. Pretty cool!

Off to St. Louis to see the Cubs

Wow! I was really hoping to go see a different team that is is 1st place. I will be seeing a 1st place team, but it's the Cardinals that are in 1st, not the Cubs. The Cubbies have had 2 very disappointing losses in a row:

1. Kerry Wood's blown save on Thursday against the Brewers (that put the Cardinals 1/2 game ahead of the Cubs
2. Last night's loss (5-3) at St. Louis in 11 innings.

What disappointed me most in the loss last night was NOT the walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th. Soriano did some things to drive me crazy:

1. His gross misplay of two very catchable fly balls in the 7th inning
2. His free-swinging approach at the plate, flailing away at nearly anything that comes within five feet of the strike zone

His 2-run homer in the 9th atoned for the above sins, but he really hurt us!

Today we have Ted Lilly pitching against Kyle Lohse. I hope it is last year's version of Ted Lilly, instead of what we have seen so far this season. I'll post some photos from the game (hopefully a scoreboard shot showing the Cubs won) after I get back home.

Because I have a friend named Charlie who lives in Tennessee, I need to be careful about scoreboard photo shots. :)

ESPN's Sports Center is Very Helpful

If you follow a particular sports team, watching ESPN's Sports Center can provide some interesting information about your team. The Cubs-Brewers game was on ESPN last night, and the Cubs won 19-5, to keep them in a tie for 1st place with the surging St. Louis Cardinals (the Cubs are ahead of the Cardinals by percentage points.)

Sports Center informed me of three interesting facts:

1. that the Cubs set a franchise record of 17 wins in April
2. that the Cubs are 14-1 this season when scoring 4 runs or more in a game (the one game that they lost was Tuesday night against the Brewers when they lost 10-7)
3. that the Cubs are 1-0 this season when scoring 19 runs or more in a game.

Thank you, Sports Center! Actually, the Cubs are 15-1 this season when scoring 4 runs or more in a game: wins by scoring 4 runs or more on April 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26, 30; only loss of the season when scoring 4 runs or more on April 29.

Eamus Catuli!

Just One Bad Century

Dusty Baker's boys came through for us last night, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals, and giving the Cubs a bit of space. Now the Cubs have to take care of Milwaukee before heading to St. Louis. In looking at the Cubs' pitching rotation, I think Ted Lilly should take the mound Saturday in St. Louis when I'll be there.

I found an interesting video in a series called The Karma Train on a website called Just One Bad Century that describes the way the Cubs made it into the 1908 World Series:

Thoughts on Jeremiah Wright

Last night I was doing some channel surfing. About 9:30, I grew tired of basketball, and hit the new channels. CNN had pre-empted Larry King to give coverage of Jeremiah Wright's keynote address at a fund-raiser for the NAACP in Detroit.

I was fascinated by the excerpts that I heard. I did not see the entire speech, though I set my machine to record its rebroadcast. A year from now, I will be teaching Anthropology. One of the basic ideas of missionary anthropology is that cultural differences are not better or worse, but rather are different. Wright had a segment that dealt with linguistics, ethnomusicology, even homiletics, where he parodied cultural differences between blacks and non-blacks. It was entertaining, and may be useful when talking about cultural differences my future missionary students may face.

When Wright's inflammatory post-9/11 statements came out, Barack Obama put some needed distance between his controversial former pastor and the campaign. Some of the talking heads think Wright should just fade into the woodwork. I found it ironic that one of the Republican talking heads was irate (and nearly irrational), concerned that this self-centered minister should fade into the woodwork rather than putting himself out there in public, hurting the political chances of Obama. Why was Wright there? Well, there were nearly 12,000 people present at a very pricey fund-raiser. I think he was there because his presence could bring in a lot of cash (and probably put a bunch in his own pocket at the same time.)

Back in March, I became aware that Jeremiah Wright had been featured in Christianity Today's Preaching Today series. Our preaching students are required to listen to a variety of sermons from that series. I made a mental note to listen to him preach in that series. This morning, I listened to his message in the series, dating from 1990. It was titled "The Audacity to Hope", and was based on 1 Samuel 1:1-18, about Hannah looking upward toward God in the middle of her barrenness. It was a good sermon. Ironically, Obama's second book (which I have not read) is titled The Audacity of Hope.

Wright is a proponent of Black Liberation Theology. Fair or not, that is the context from which he moves. The most redeeming part of his speech was the emphasis on cultural differences not being deficiencies, but rather differences. He advocated change in the manner in which we see those who are different from us, and also in how we see ourselves. That also is positive.

Back in March, when Wright's inflammatory statements hit the air waves, I found that one of his supporters, Frank Schaeffer (we used to call him Franky Schaeffer, the son of the late Francis Schaeffer--I plan to write more about him someday), wrote a piece for the Huffington Post titled "Obama's Minister Committed Treason But When My Father Said the Same Thing He Was a Republican Hero."

When I left home this morning, I popped in a DVD-R into the DVD Recorder, and started the replay of Wright's speech from last night. I'll edit the speech, and maybe some comments. I may show it (or portions of it) in Anthropology class next year. As to the damage Pastor Wright may cause to Obama's campaign--well, I guess we are just going to have to wait and see.

DGF

A Week in 1st Place--Will They Be in 1st On May 3?

Next Saturday, my son-in-law, Steve Robinett, and I will make a trip up to St. Louis to watch the Cubs play the St. Louis Cardinals. He has played in a fantasy baseball league for as long as I have known him, but I think if you were to pin him down, he is a Cardinal fan. I've made lots of trips to Cardinals-Cubs games with fans of the Cardinals. It should be fun. I would rather see the Cubbies win, but there are 162 games in the regular season, so who knows what will happen?

Jerry and Linda Mitchell, friends from Joliet (New Lenox), IL will be going to St. Louis. Linda is the sister of a great friend from high school, also a Cub fan. Linda's Mom is a super fan, as was her father.

I was reading a Cubs board, and saw a reference to Stephen Colbert (of the Colbert Report) where he said "Death to the St. Louis Cardinals". I googled that, and found a funny Colbert video (from opening day of the baseball season). It's short, but made me laugh (on the inside at least):

Missions and Baseball

I've just come back from a missions program at Crossroads Christian Church of Baxter Springs, KS. One of my students is an intern at the church, and put the program together. It was great. Shane Wood, of Institute for Christian Resources gave the message, and an excellent message on missions.

I got home, and found out that the Cubs won big-time today, sweeping the Pirates. The Cardinals and Brewers lost, giving the Cubs sole possession of 1st place in the National League Central. Eamus Catuli, indeed!

Combining a Cell Phone and a PDA

My first cell phone was the standard Nokia phone (kind of like a brick) several years ago. I have had several different models over the years. They are getting smaller and smaller.

I have used three different PDAs over the years. My first one was a Palm-based Handspring Visor that I used for a few years. I later sold it, and purchased a Toshiba Pocket PC. That machine died, and for the last couple years I have been using a Dell Axim x50v. As devices continue to shrink, the Dell Axim seemed to be huge. I used to carry it all the time, but recently I found myself carrying it only to chapel meetings or to church. Unless I was preaching somewhere, the PDA was the only Bible I would carry with me.

The problem was that carrying a cell phone AND a PDA was cumbersome. If I had the PDA in my pant pocket, it stuck out quite a bit. Normally I would carry my cell phone in the same pocket. If I had both in there -- well, you get the idea.

What if I could combine the two into one device? I checked with my cell phone carrier, and I was eligible for a phone upgrade. I found I could buy Samsung's Blackjack II in a refurbished model for a decent price. Actually I will be putting my Dell Axim on eBay in the next couple days, and expect to sell it for less than the phone cost.

A major use that I gave my Dell Axim was with Bible software. I have used both PocketBible by Laridian and the BibleReader program from Olive Tree. I had different Bibles that I used in each program. In PocketBible, I mainly had English Bibles (a number of different versions, including Study Bibles), and in the Olive Tree program, I had three Spanish translations, the NET Bible, and the Greek New Testament from Gramcord. A selling point in doing this is that I would be able to get everything the PDA did, plus what the cell phone did, for less money than what I could get for the used PDA.

I owned the Bible versions in electronic format. I thought this would be a proverbial piece of cake. The phone arrived yesterday afternoon, and I really do like it. It is quite a bit smaller than the PDA was. While its basic footprint is a little larger (height and width) than the cell phone I was using, it is a LOT thinner than my old phone. All in all, it's a very small package. I was backing up Bible files, to transfer to the new machine, so that I could put the PDA back to its pristine condition. Then I read, much to my consternation (on Olive Tree's website), that the Gramcord program does not run on a Windows Mobile Smartphone. I was not happy! The difference between a Windows Mobile Pocket PC and a Windows Mobile Smartphone is that the Pocket PC uses a stylus to tap on or to write on the screen, whereas the Smartphone does not. I guess the tapping on the screen was a big part of using Gramcord Lite. In fact, frequently I would tap on a Greek word, and then the lexicon entry would pop up on the screen with the morphological description of the word.

The bilingual readers (Spanish/English) among us will understand my next statement: "No contaron con mi astucia." Olive Tree may say that the Gramcord Lite program does not run on a Windows Mobile Smartphone, but I know differently. You can take a look at a screen capture I did of Gramcord running on my Blackjack II just before I went to lunch. As you can see, Gramcord Lite does indeed run on a Windows Mobile Smartphone. All is well with the world. The text shown is Luke 10:30, which was the basis for an excellent sermon preaching in our chapel today by a deaf brother, Jose Abenchuchen. The message was translated from ASL into audible English, or else I wouldn't have gotten very much out of it.

Now I'll always have my Bible with me, and it won't take up much room in my pocket. Life is good!

Happy Birthday!

April 8 is a good day! I was baptized into Christ on April 8, 1962 (has it been that long?), and my daughter-in-law, Emily, was born on April 8.

We are family! And we share a common birthday! Happy Birthday, Emily!

World's Largest Swimming Pool in Chile

Lola Mitchell (our friend and long-time forwarding agent) sent me a note about the World's Largest Swimming Pool, now certified by Guinness, which is located at a resort in Algarrobo, Chile. We used to go to summer camp near El Tabo, not too far south of Algarrobo, and used a vacation home of a friend a couple time just south of Algarrobo.

Check out this video from Reuters about it.

Gregory Fish is the Featured Filmmaker on SermonSpice.com

Our son Greg now has the distinction of being the Featured Filmmaker on SermonSpice.com. He has worked hard to produce a number of excellent short videos, both in English and in Spanish. Check it out here.

Way to go, Greg!

Cubs Picked to Win World Series--Is That a Good Thing?

On the eve of MLB's season, both Karl Ravech and John Kruk of ESPN's Baseball Tonight, picked the Cubs to win the World Series this year. Kruk picked the Cubs to beat the Cleveland Indians, and Ravech picked them to beat the Detroit Tigers. I would be happy with either one of those results. I thought about taking the video of Baseball Tonight, and converting it to You Tube, and posting it here, but alas, that would be a violation of copyright. If you didn't see their prediction, you'll just have to take my word about it.

The Cubs played their home opener, and dropped a 4-3 game to the Milwaukee Brewers in 10 innings. Neither closer was effective. Kerry Wood plunked the first batter he faced, and ended up giving up 3 runs in the top of the 9th. The Brewers brought in their new expensive closer, Eric Gagne, who gave up a single, a walk, then a 3-run homer to the new Cubs right fielder, Kosuke Fukudome, to tie the score in the bottom of the 9th. Fukudome had a slightly less than stellar Spring Training, but is now batting 1.000, having gone 3 for 3 today, including a double and a home run. Bobby Howry gave up a run in the 10th, and the Cubs were unable to score in the 10th, losing their first game of the season. There are 161 more to play. Maybe they can go 161-1 on the season! There is an off day tomorrow. I hope the Cubs even the Milwaukee series on Wednesday afternoon!

The most recent edition of Sports Illustrated that has made its way to my house (March 31, 2008) makes the prediction that the Cubs will make it to the World Series, but will lose to the series to the Detroit Tigers. Well they lost today too, to the lowly Kansas City Royals. Maybe there is hope for the Cubbies.

Eamus Catuli!

National Honor Society PHI UPSILON OMICRON

This evening we attended a short ceremony in which our daughter, Charissa Robinett, was initiated into the PHI UPSILON OMICRON National Honor Society. She left her job in Human Resources at Leggett & Platt in Carthage last August, to go back to school at Pittsburg State University. She is studying in the Family and Consumer Sciences Department, and plans to start her own interior design/home staging business when she graduates.

She has done very well, and of course we're proud of her. The ΦΥΟ Honor Society website (as I heard in the ceremony) says that "the Honor Society name, PHI UPSILON OMICRON, originated from the initial letters of the first, second, and last words of the Greek phrase which means "The Light of the Home." My problem with that (and one of the things that I do is to teach Koine Greek) is that if I were to write the Greek phrase which means "The Light of the Home", I would use only two Greek words, which would look like this (first in lower case letters, then in all upper case letters):

There is indeed a PHI, an UPSILON, and an OMICRON in those two words. The PHI is the initial letter of the word for light. The OMICRON is the initial letter for the word home. Greek would not use, however, a separate word for the English word of, but rather would use a genitive case ending, which in the case of the word for home would end in an UPSILON.

I guess there aren't many Greek scholars in Family and Consumer Sciences. My sister, Jacque, who is pretty smart (she is an older librarian [private joke]), guessed that those were the three Greek letters that had not been used yet for a fraternity, a sorority, or an Honor Society.

At any rate, we're proud of you, Charissa. You go, girl!

Roger Powell in Italy

Roger Powell (the Reverend) has been playing professional basketball in Italy this year. I have been following his season there, which is not all that hard to do since they only play one game per week.

A couple weeks ago he erupted for 33 points in a game, by far his best game of the season. You can get the results from the Lega A Website. His team page is found at Teramo Siviglia Wear.

I found a video summary of his 33 point game (taken from Italian TV). About 15-16 seconds in, he gets an offensive rebound, and slams it back into the basket. If you watch the video, Powell is number 11 on the team wearing red uniforms.

The Cubs have their season opener on Monday afternoon. It will be cold in Chicago.

After tomorrow, we'll have our Final Four for the NCAA Men's tournament. Can Davidson knock off the Jayhawks? I'll be hoping they can!

Photo of Church Planting Course

Top Row: D. Fish, S. Philip, S. Huffer, R. Fletcher, J. Gibbs, D. Smith

Bottom Row: M. Wulf, L. Schaubert, A. Oliver, J. Henke, L. Hutton

Photo taken in the office space for the Orchard Group

(3 blocks from Empire State Building)

Reflections on my trip to New York City

I accompanied a group on 9 OCC students to New York City on February 29, for a seminar on church planting. These are some thoughts that I shared with our faculty on March 7:

Seminar: Church Planting Orientation with Dave Smith
Location: New York City
Date: February 29-March 3, 2008
Reflections by David Fish

Is this program worth keeping?
By all means! I have gone on a number of trips with students in the past. Never have I seen students so completely engaged in "class" material. Given the fact that students pay such a small fee to cover the cost of the trip, it is a great deal for them. They realize it, and I believe are thankful. We are 1½ semesters into a two-year experiment. I would concur with the students who give rave reviews. The partnership between OCC and the Orchard Group is unique. OCC is in a budget-cutting mode. If we had to cover all expenses for this program, I suppose that we would have to eliminate it. Thanks be to God for our partnership with the Orchard Group. I'm wondering if this program bombs out, if we might want to hire Dave Smith to be Rusty Hedger's assistant.

David Dean House of South Slope, Brooklyn.
Those who have gone on New York trips before are familiar with the David Dean House, kind of a youth hostel building that is part of a Baptist mission outreach in New York City. The accommodations are not up to a 5-star rating, but the people are nice. Sleeping arrangements are dormitory-style (on bunk beds), but that really doesn't matter, since we spent very little time there. The people that work there (Matt and Pamela, and Megan) are very nice. I was surprised to learn that they were from Missouri, and studied at Southwest Baptist University in Bolivar. When I realized they were from SBU, I asked them if they knew Dr. Jim Frost. How what they not know Jim Frost! He is the Chris DeWelt of SBU! They replied, "He was my professor! He married us!" Jim Frost has been a guest lecturer for our Perspectives course for the last couple years, and will speak in our class this year on April 29. I will be happy to give him greetings from Matt and Pamela (a married couple), and their friend, Megan, who live, work, and minister in Brooklyn.

Lectures/Conversations with Church Planters.
We met with a series of church planters, both from within and without the Restoration Movement. Dave had asked each one of them to respond to the following questions:
Why be involved in church planting?
Why do church planting in an urban setting in general, and in particular, why in New York City?
What advice would you give to someone who was considering church planting?
The different church planters offered slightly differing answers regarding methodologies, sometimes dependent upon a particular neighborhood in one of the boroughs of the great city. A common thread was on the church planters knowing themselves, with their particular areas of giftedness. I detected a move away from what church planting science used to say, namely that if you do this, this, and this, you will get this result. It doesn't happen that way in New York. There is a tremendous need for contextualization of the gospel message. The distance from missions to church planting is not far!

Is the Restoration Plea Still Valid Today?
Yes, it is! We met with people from different ends of the denominational world. All recognize that Christ is largely absent from the city, and are working to do whatever it takes to bring the city to him, without holding tightly to denominational distinctives, because the need is so great! I personally enjoyed the contact with Redeemer Church. We even celebrated the Lord's Supper there! The gospel was preached. They are Presbyterians (as were the Campbells). I was able to hear just part of the lecture by Dr. Mark Reynolds, who heads up the church planting division of Redeemer Church. What is so appealing to me, though, is that their church planting division has financially supported over fifty church plants, only fourteen of which would consider themselves to be Presbyterian works. The Restoration Plea is at work in New York, among church planters who see allegiance to Christ as the higher goal, than quibbling over pet doctrines. Are there problems with cross-denominational efforts? Yes, there are, but I applaud the unity efforts. On Sunday we attended three church services, at Redeemer Church, Forefront Church, and Gallery Church. Digging deeper (as we are wont to do) reveals denominational/doctrinal distinctives, but Christ gets the top billing.

Can This Program Create Internship Possibilities for our Students?
It already has! Dave's assistant (of sorts) is Nathan Winstead. He interned at Forefront Church while he was a student here. He returned to NYC to help out. Vocationally, he works for Jews for Jesus. Matt Berry, Tim Little, and Kyle Welch will be doing internships beginning this summer (that is, if Doug Welch approves his brother's internship). A student who went with us (Levi Hutton) will likely do a year-long internship at Park Slope Church starting in January 2009. This is likely just the beginning of internship possibilities.

The Sights and Sounds.
Friday night we visited Central Park, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square. We were on the Top of the Rock observation tower, and it was snowing! Saturday night we went to see The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, which is not something you get to do every week, thanks to generous donors of the Orchard Group. We walked miles and miles (and I found two nice blisters on opposite feet). We rode the subway everywhere we didn't walk. I noted a similarity between roads in Joplin and the subway of New York. Here we have road closings for construction at night. In New York, they have train closings for construction at night.

The city presents unique challenges for ministry. One church planter we met with told our students that they are likely to hear about the need for life-long learning. When I heard him say that, I said Amen! to myself. Then he changed it up, saying that in many ways, to be effective in reaching people in New York City for Christ, we need a spirit of life-long unlearning! He was addressing particular biases inherent in many of us Midwesterners, that create a hindrance to New Yorkers hearing the gospel. I think he was right on!

I'm thankful to have had the privilege of making a trip to the Big Apple with some of our finest students. May God give the increase from our intentional effort to insert ourselves into the city!

David G. Fish
March 7, 2008

Colored Motives

I wrote most of this post over a month ago (final edit on Monday, March 17), but wanted to get it posted. Rose and I participated in an elective class at our church on Wednesday nights since January. It has been a lot more fun than I anticipated. The presenters were what I would call my consuegros (a term that my Chilean friends would understand--I really can't think of one word in the English language that captures who they are), the parents-in-law of our son, Greg, Van and Tammy Benson. Maybe if Tammy were the dominant, up-front, presenter, instead of inserting extremely poignant insights when her fun-loving husband needs a lifeline, it would not be as much fun. The reality, however, is that it has been fun, and lots of it.

I think that Van is a very able communicator, and the group dynamics the occurred in the class sessions were valuable. The class is called Motive Matters. I've been hearing a lot about it for the last year and a half ago, when it came to the forefront of family discussions at the in-law stage. Emily (our daughter-in-law) asked us to take the personality/core-motive profile online. You can take a free test by clicking on the link a in the first sentence of this paragraph. We took the test months ago, which resulted in being assigned to a particular color (in this system: red, blue, white, or yellow). I

have seen personality grouping systems in the past, and have pretty much made fun of them. Several years ago, we as a faculty went through some sessions in a similar system called True Colors. The president's wife was a certified trainer. I think just about every department in the college had access to that training. I heard lots of talk about people being this color, or that color.

Over thirty years ago, we came across Tim LaHaye's Spirit-Controlled Temperament, which divides personality/temperament types into the following categories: sanguine, choleric, melancholy, and phlegmatic. LaHaye revived some ancient personality theory with that system, popularizing it for the evangelical world.

Gary Smalley and John Trent created a similar system based on traits of animals: lion, beaver, otter, and a golden retriever. Those developed in a book titled The Treasure Tree. It appears to me that Smalley may have modified his descriptions, now using these categories to describe basically the same thing: Captain, Social Director, Steward, Navigator.

All of these systems are similar. Van and Tammy credit the Color/People Code with saving their marriage. They will be going to Utah soon to become re-certified as trainers. Most of the training work they do is in the corporate world. As followers of Jesus, however, they enjoy presenting these concepts within the church, as they can freely add Scripture. I commend them and their work. I was enriched by participating in it. I think they will begin a new cycle at College Heights Christian Church as a Wednesday night elective on March 26.

Litmus-Test Political Issues and Barack Obama

I enjoyed living through the transition from the government of Chilean right-wing dictator, August Pinochet, to the democratic process. There was almost nothing in the process that I did not enjoy. As the air waves, and printing presses moved from censorship to the free expression of ideas, I followed the political process with eagerness. My kids remember countless trips across the city of Santiago, practically begging me to turn on an FM station with music. I usually responded with a terse answer: "I bought the car. I bought the radio. I decide what we listen to."

The political process in the U.S. is getting into high gear. Though my beloved wife tires of the issues and mud-slinging, I rather enjoy following it. I count it a privilege to cast a vote, and while I wonder how much difference my vote can make, I continue to exercise that privilege.

Pinochet's followers in Chile assured that unless his followers were elected, there would be chaos. Chile has elected four presidents (all from an anti-Pinochet coalition) since that time, and though there are challenges, life in Chile is pretty good these days.

Since returning to the U.S., I will confess that there has been one issue that has been a litmus-test issue for me: the sanctity of human life. That one issue, more than any other, has informed my vote. I recognize there are problems with being a single-issue voter. My good friend, Dave Schultz, wrote an excellent column on that a few weeks back for the Huntington (IN) Herald-Press. He referenced Timothy Hesburgh, long-time president of the University of Notre Dame, who certainly is on the same side of this issue that I am on. Hesburgh expressed concern, however, that "many of the candidates that were pro-life were 'anti' many of the social issues that he cared about."

Along that vein, the words of Jesus are haunting, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." (Matthew 9:13, ESV) In Matthew 23:23, he calls mercy one of the weightier matters of the law. It is ironic that politicians that show the greatest concern for the rights on the unborn, have little regard for the social issues of poverty. I have read both Sider's Rich Christians in an Age of World Hunger and Chilton's Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt Manipulators. The golden mean of Biblical tension (to use a phrase often used by Robertson McQuilkin) is somewhere between those two extremes.

But let's get back to the litmus-test issue. Jill Stanek is a member at Parkview Christian Church in Orland Park, IL, where Ozark graduate Tim Harlow ministers. Parkview is a megachurch, which may cause some to think they may have watered down the gospel message. Mrs. Stanek was a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, IL, when she discovered that babies were being aborted alive, and then were abandoned to die. She was instrumental in what has become known as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, which passed both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and which President Bush signed into law in 2002. Stanek detailed much of that story in a WorldNetDaily.com column dated July 19, 2006, titled "Why Jesus Would Not Vote for Barack Obama." The cartoon originally appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, and later in Stanek's column linked above.

Barack is the charismatic candidate. Hillary is much maligned. But while Barack was doing everything possible to impede similar legislation in Illinois, the U.S. Senate, of which Mrs. Clinton was a member, passed the bill with unanimous consent.

It makes me wonder . . .