The Masters

Philly Cheese Steak

We have been on the east coast visiting churches for a few weeks.  Now we are headed to Colorado.  We have had some great meetings and have enjoyed making new acquaintances and renewing old ones.  So far we have driven over 5,ooo miles.

With the current economic crisis it is probably not the best time to be trying to raise new support.  But God is sovereign and He is not over leveraged in the stock market.

Meanwhile, we are enjoying the trip.  We saw the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia and we had a Philly Cheese Steak at Pat's, the place where they were invented.  Bet you didn't know they use Cheese Whiz.  It is good stuff.

God's Thumbprint

There was a solar eclipse today.  It was visible in the northern hemisphere, especially across Russia and China.  As you know, a solar eclipse occurs when the moon comes between the earth and sun.  So what are the odds that the earth's satellite would be positioned at the exact distance, and have the exact diameter to precisely cover the solar disc so that the corona is revealed? 

Wikipedia has this helpful commentary in case you happen to be a caveman, "In ancient times, and in some cultures today, solar eclipses have been attributed to supernatural causes. Total solar eclipses can be frightening for people who are unaware of their astronomical explanation, as the Sun seems to disappear in the middle of the day and the sky darkens in a matter of minutes."  Maybe if we thought about it a little more some of the fear might return. 

The picture is from Yahoo News.

Error Message

We are still having problems with Typepad. I want to put up the pics from Ecuador and from the survey trip to Salta that Marcelo Brondo led.  I have contacted Typepad.  We will see how they respond.  The only other time I had an issue they did really well.  Overall, I have been very happy with the service.

Guest Cartoonist

Gary Pauley, who pastors in the Kansas City area, is a gifted cartoonist.  He has had some of his stuff published in the Leadership Journal.  He sent me this one.  It is titled “What We Have Become”. Click to see a larger version.

The Winter Games

We like to watch the Olympics but coverage in Argentina is usually limited. Tonight, the kids are out with friends for the church so Carita and I are watching the opening ceremonies of the winter games in Turin. Like most such ceremonies in recent years it is bizarre. It begins with a guy banging a giant anvil. The announcer describes him as ‘Shaman-like’. A flame emerges representing passion. Ahhh…neo-paganism in all its splendor. (The announcer just said that the stadium was built under Mussolini. Seems appropriate since we are on the neo-pagan theme). Too bad you can’t fast forward past the most overtly idolatrous parts (and the figure skating) and get to the downhill.

Flash Flood

We have had quite a bit of rainy weather lately. We prefer this to the normal December heat in Argentina.  Last week we were rained out twice when we tried to take our visitors from the States shopping downtown.

Thursday night after our midweek meeting we had something of a flash flood.  The streets always look like rivers in a serious storm but this was about the worse I have seen.  We crammed 10 people in our little Renault Kangoo and started making deliveries.  Hail fell and the water rose.  The street always floods badly on the corner by our house but I thought we could make it through. 

When we bought the Kangoo four years ago the salesman told us it was practically a four-wheel drive. It is a very tough little front-wheel drive but obviously it is silly to say it is “almost” a four-wheel drive. Whenever we abuse it by loading it down with teenagers or going on expeditions to La Rinconada we jokingly say it will be fine since it is almost a four-wheel drive.

Thursday night I thought “it is almost a four-wheel drive” and drove into the deepwater and drowned the poor Kangoo.  It stalled halfway across.  Water started coming in so Dan and I dived out. The water was above our knees.  We pushed it out and up the street to our house. A neighbour helped us get it into the garage.

Yesterday, when I started it the oil light stayed on so I called the mechanic. He said call a truck and take it to him.  He opened the hood and pulled out branches, plastic bags and other debris. Thankfully there wasn’t water in the engine.  The sensor blew out when the engine hit the cold water. It still hasn’t dried out, and it has a bad smell.  But it is running fine.

Click for larger pictures.

Scarey

Hate crimes legislation made bias a crime. Now some shrinks want to make it an illness. This is even more dangerous. Punishment for a crime has limits. An illness, however, must be treated until it is cured.

The Emergent Church and Authority

My sending church pastor, Russell Johnson sent me this link awhile back to the transcript of a PBS interview with Emergent Church guru Brian McLaren.  There is enough mushiness and murkiness in what he has to say that it would take a critic all day to wade out.  One thing that stuck out at me was his comments on the issue of authority.  Speaking about how Emerging Church people try to engage others he writes:

Short Post

Francis Bacon said, “"Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." I guess conference here means conversation.

The end.

Punkin Chunkin

Now this makes me proud to be an American.  I can’t say that I would spend much time or money on building an air cannon that can hurl a pumpkin a mile, but I wouldn’t mind watching someone else do it.

The Economist seems to think it has found a hermeneutical key to unlock the mystery of both men and America.  The headline is Pumpkin-shooting: The meaning of America.  About men they write:

It is not just that men like shooting things. Many of them also like fiddling with big gadgets. And the Punkin Chunkin shows what can be achieved when hundreds of mechanically adept minds focus on one utterly pointless objective.

So there you have it.  Punkin chunkin explains everyone except for non-American females.