brea 8k

The only place where you can watch people chowing down on pizza, tacos, chips & salsa, salad, and pasta at 9:00 in the morning. Sick. I didn't feel so good after a short night, early rise, and a dinner at Cheesecake factory last night (!) but pulled off 44:15 which was faster than last year. :)

Jesus is Lost on a tropical island

This weekend I watched the Gospel of John movie, all three hours of it (the "theatrical" version). I love this depiction of Jesus and his ministry, it's one of my favorites. The guy who plays Jesus, Henry Ian Cusick, does a great job, plus he's easy on the eyes :) (Okay something feels just WRONG about saying that about Jesus.) Anyway, I had read that Jim Caviezel became a Christian after filming the Passion of the Christ, so I was very curious about Henry Ian Cusick's story. The John film was made for evangelistic purposes, so surely he must be a believer...?

I found this article on him, which starts off on a humorous note ("When I last saw Jesus, he was showing the wounds of his crucifixion to his disciples. Now he is leaning across the counter of Starbucks, craning to read the menu.") and gives some information on the actor. He is half Peruvian and half Scottish, a stage actor in London (did you know Jesus had a British accent?), and he grew up Roman Catholic. So after memorizing the entire book of John and portraying Jesus from baptism to ministry to crucifixion and beyond, this is what he had to say:

"The whole experience has rubbed off on me, too. It's made me think more carefully about who Jesus was. I go to Mass more often, and when the priest reads from the Gospel of John, I find myself saying: I know every word of this." Hmmm. I found myself disappointed. He was able to portray the charisma and character of Jesus so well, he memorized all his words from that gospel (and undoubtedly still knows them to some extent). Yet for all of that, the message apparently remains external. The true meaning of those words seems to be lost. How does that happen?

Speaking of Lost, which I never got into, Jesus is now one of the main characters on the show! I'm glad I haven't been watching it, that would definitely throw me off. :)

Jesus in a tie

Lunch

tonight

Joshua Bible Study, most of us (picture of the day!!) :)

Let me out!

Who invented the 8 hour workday?

I have been thinking about doing a "picture of the day" thing...so I'll try it. Can't promise every day, but I'll try (if I can remember to bring my camera with me).

pleasantries

Conversation yesterday regarding my unnamed but required Christian Education class with unnamed fellow Talbot student who also happens to be an unnamed overseer at church:

Unnamed Overseer: What class did you just have?
Me: [Unnamed unpleasant class]
U.O.: [laughs boisterously]
Me: Thanks
U.O.: How are you enjoying that?
Me: Ummm…well…
U.O.: It only gets worse!
Me: I can imagine.
U.O.: No, you really can’t!

Fabulous.

The other day I was struck by the hilarity of a parking lot. Do you ever think of normal everyday things such as traffic laws or even driving and think how weird it is that EVERYONE does it, knows how to do it, or submits to social norms and laws? I pulled into the big empty parking lot at church the other night, and maneuvered my car in between the two white lines comprising a parking spot, even though there were no other cars around. This struck me as weird at the moment, as does the fact frequently that I know how to and regularly operate a huge piece of metal machinery that is my car. Am I weird???

Perhaps my body was not made for this

I lathered up my toes in Vaseline, put on my double layer socks and tied my shoes loosely…yet by the end of our 9 miles I could barely walk! I seem to have been blessed with a heart that could power the Energizer bunny. But my knees are slowly failing me, and Saturday my feet hurt worse than anything else (at least I didn’t have any blisters). My running threshold seems to be 6-8 miles pain free. It could be that that is what I’m used to, and if I regularly ran longer distances my joints would adjust. But I’m not sure I want to take the chance, or face the toll that more and more miles per week would put on my whole body. Maybe I just need to be happy with 8 or less (which would mean no half marathon). I find it frustrating that my heart & lungs & muscles are fit for this, and I just love running for a long time! but my joints are just not as supportive of this hobby…blast my skeletal system!!

I’ve been curious about checking out a place like this, looking into things like correct training intensity, mechanical flaws, and possible orthotics (?) … just seems like so much trouble that takes the fun and ease out of just going outside and going for a run.

I'm trying to emit the right fragrance...

D. and I are memorizing 2 Corinthians together, four verses a week. We just finished chapter 2, and these last four verses have probably been the most meaningful to me yet. I'm not one for floofy figurative language (oops--am I allowed to call Paul floofy? I'm confident he was FAR from floofy) but I really like the "fragrance" and "aroma" imagery.

“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ.” (14-17)

This causes me to check what kind of "aroma" I put off -- here's hoping it's more of a fragrance than an odor -- and it's also a great picture of the influence we have on those around us. (Just think of something like fish and how the smell carries, how long it lasts, and how certain smells seems to stick around in rooms or clothing! One lady at work has fish at least once a week, and I am fortunate to have the desk closest to the microwave...) I would pray that these verses characterize my life, as one who spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him. WE are the ones who are the aroma of Christ to those around us, believers and non-believers alike. Perhaps I can pray for a more distinct, pungent scent. :)

dying form of communication

I think handwriting is a lost art. Today I typed an entry for my journal, to print and then glue into my journal! More pages have typed glued in entries than are handwritten lately. And last semester I started taking all my class notes on my laptop. I used to write SO much when I was younger, journaling, writing stories, etc., that I think I did permanent damage to my hand. I can't write more than a few minutes without it starting to hurt. And it's partially laziness and partially because it's faster to type. But with email, Word, electronic calendars, blogs :) ... who even needs to write anymore?

What is Christian Education?

(I know I said I wasn't looking forward to my classes this semester, and that is sort of true, particularly one of them. However I have come to the realization that that feeling is largely due to the fact that this is my second-to-last semester of grad school, I have been at this for nearly four years, and I am just ready to be DONE!)

From the perspective of someone who teaches women's Bible Studies (yes ME), I found our class discussion today particularly interesting. Educating the church body is far more than simply teaching. It involves bringing individuals and community into a full knowledge of God through many different means, ultimately resulting in transformation of both the individual and the body.

As far as teaching is concerned, there are five different words used to describe this in Scripture, in two groups...

RATIONAL/INTELLECTUAL:
1. yarah (Ps. 32:8) - to instruct, direct, point out
2. bin (Dan. 8:16) - to understand + discern + distinguish concepts (intellect)
3. shanan (Deut. 6:7) - to impress, sharpen, pierce, convict

RELATIONAL/EXPERIENTIAL:
4. ra'ah (Ps. 23:1) - to tend or feed, edify (also Greek poimen, to shepherd or pastor)
5. lamad (Deut. 4:5) - to train

The reason I write all this out is because the pendulum of rational and relational teaching, faith, and worship is something I've been thinking about and swinging on for years. Really a full knowledge of God includes both, so good teaching has to include both. Today there is a heavy emphasis on the relational experience of faith (personal application), which is more post-modern. Older teaching you might notice (also older worship - hymns, etc.) focus heavily on content and reason rather than experience and application.

When I moved to California three and a half years ago and started to look for a church, I had a hard time finding one that balanced my mind (which I think is more rational) and my experience of faith (yep, the Foursquare roots). :) I have swung back and forth on this pendulum, and I think most churches have a difficult time balancing the two as well. I notice that my teaching is a lot more focused on the rational & intellectual, mostly because I have a harder time thinking of good illustrations here and there, plus I just really like to dig into the text! :) But holistic teaching, as was Jesus' teaching, involves both the mind AND the heart, intellect and personal application that should cause the listener to make changes leading to life transformation.

Talbot puts a lot of emphasis on Spiritual Formation in addition to intellectual study. This balance is vital in communicating the truths of God from the head to the heart. Those times when my faith is balanced appropriately are the best. I find myself attending and working at a Baptist church, sometimes moonlighting at a Vineyard church (Sunday evenings!) to get my charismatic kick, and balancing it with some theological study and personal study and prayer time. It works for me. :)

boot camp

I would do THIS in a heartbeat. Give me six weeks, send me away, I would LOVE LOVE LOVE it. :)