a memorable quarter

Have you ever had a nasty quarter? Have you ever tried to give it to someone you cared about? How about pawning it off as a present to your boyfriend/girlfriend? If you were my girlfriend you've done it twice. She first tried to give it to me when were sitting on her couch in Portland when I was visiting her. Then after I failed to take it with me (on purpose) she gave it to one of her close friends who gave it to another friend who gave it to another friend who gave it back to my girlfriend. What did she then do? She packed it in an envelope and mailed it to me. On the way from my mailbox to my room, it worked a hole into the side of the envelope and fell out of it, which I hadn't opened yet (this is why you tape money to the envelope). It was lost, that's about the time she started to refer to it as "our relationship quarter". What a punk! I knew it wouldn't be lost forever, I mean I don't know if you can even spend it, and it has been around the block a few times as you can see from the picture. Today, while walking back from doing my laundry, I saw it laying out on a table in the lounge, someone was kind enough to leave it for whoever lost it (that would be me of course). I picked it up, brought it back, procrastinated from doing my homework and wrote a post about part of the life of a nasty quarter. With such a special girlfriend, I don't doubt I'll have received a "wet Willie" (that's where you stick your finger in your mouth and then proceed to place it in someone else's ear) before Christmas. Then again, with such a special boyfriend as I am, I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up smashing shrubs or being put in shopping carts. I promise our relationship isn't too dysfunctional.

screendoor on a submarine

Yeah, it's official, this blog is as useful as a screendoor on a submarine. That was a good song when I was growing up. Good job, Rich Mullins! This is exam week, so I'm trying to study for the looming exam of Basic Christian Doctrine. Have you ever wondered why you aren't allowed to take your notes into an exam? I mean, when I'm in ministry, you better believe that I'll be looking things up that I'm saying. However, I do see the need to commit these things to memory. In other news, I lost the nasty quarter Andi decided to mail to me. She's so precious! Spring break is almost upon me, which you might think would be a great time to take a break, but looks can be deceiving. Instead, I'm going to be trying my best to catch up on my school work and maybe, just possibly get ahead! If that should happen watch out! I could be making a visit to the birthplace of aviation, no it's not North Carolina! I'll try to post something worth reading next week. And till then, remember, faith without works is like a song you can't sing, it's about as useless as a screendoor on a submarine.

The Heavenly Man

No one sells a product like someone who isn’t the salesman. And when the non-salesman is excited about it, man, everybody and their brother is interested. Especially if the person excited about it is someone who never gets excited about anything. That’s my intro to my friend Dj, who started reading the book, The Heavenly Man. This guy is pretty much apathetic to everything thrown at him here at seminary, but now he’s like a little fireball hopped up on this book. Of course this means I ‘m going to have to read it, I just have no idea when I’m going to make time. I’m suspecting it will be spring break, which is coming up in a few weeks. If you’ve got time laying around, maybe you should look at it too.

Changin' tires! Boo yah!

Many times when I post, I think my only motivation is to not be a quitter. I don’t know if that resonates with anyone else, but I hate to quit on things, and I would hate to quit on a blog out of laziness. Today I attempted to change a tire on Andi’s old car, which now has been passed on to her sister. In all honesty, I was feelin’ pretty stinkin’ manly. I thought to myself, “Yep, I’m going to be doin’ man-work. Changin’ tires.” I jacked up the car detorched the bolts (Andi finished taking them off while I was jacking the car up). Then I pulled the wheel off. And then I pulled the wheel off. And then… the stupid wheel wouldn’t come off!?!?! What the heck!?!?!? I pulled, I leaned against the car and pulled. I lifted the tire up and pulled. I pulled and my back started crying. All to no avail. The stupid wheel wouldn’t come off! Andi got some WD-40, I sprayed it in the screw wells and then pulled again. Then Andi’s sister got out the rubber hammer and I tried tapping the wheel off. It still didn’t budge. The car was moving, but the tire was firmly affixed to it. I even tried praying. Nothing. Trust me, many a times I couldn’t get something to work, we prayed and it just started working. God has a sense of humor like that. After a while of pulling and twisting, we gave up, put the stuff away and left the car jacked up just a bit. Maybe I should have offered the tire a bribe. Maybe it knew it was going to the big tire pile in the sky... or Xenia.

The landscape of Christianity – Part I

As I look back and look towards the future of my journey, I doubt the road behind will not be traveled again. The bridge of “once saved, always saved” has long been engulfed in flames and mere charred wood pieces remain. Take a walk through the history of the church and you’ll soon find this theology is a modern invention, not any of the early church nor did the reformers believed this, all affirmed that a believer can indeed fall away, either by God’s sovereign choice or by the choice of the person. The Scriptures testify to this as well. I know this ostracizes me from modern Evangelical America, but who can submit when their convictions are that Scripture teaches otherwise. None of us are above it, nor should pass judgment on what it says. If we find our experience differing, then we should examine it to make sure we understand it as it was originally intended to be understood.