US v. Barbados, Part 2

Forgot to comment on the return leg in the US soccer team's World Cup Qualifying. Having won the first leg 8-0, last Sunday's game was a forgone conclusion. But, good God, this was the best they could do? Come on. A totally unconvincing and incredibly boring 1-0 win. What a waste of my two hours. Thanks for that.

More thoughts on the prodigal son

A little while ago I posted first thoughts on the prodigal son. I was thinking today about the though process of the son that brought him from where he was at rock bottom to the act of moving towards home. On one level, the easiest thing to do is stay at the bottom, no effort is needed. Inevitably though it leads to destruction. Life only comes through the hard struggle to move off the bottom. The son only had hope that there was something better.

Shift to the Father. Remember that the son had essentially told his father that he wishes he was dead so he could gain his inheritance. Yet here was the Father, always waiting for that moment that his son would return. Lost in the story is this detail, the Father runs to his son. To do that he must hitch up his robe, the ultimate act of humiliation for a man of wealth. He removes his clothes and puts them on his son. He takes the tattered rags of his son and gives him something clean and magnificent.

How do you respond to this? There you see the grace of God. The father had done everything he had to do out of obligation in distributing the inheritance. Everything after that was grace, his son did not deserve any of it, yet the Father freely gives. And this God does for us. Gives us more than we expect or hope for, cleans us and restores us. We never once stopped being His sons and daughters. In all of the rebellion and rejection, God kept looking down that road, waiting for his son to return so that he could make all things new once again.

A glowing recommendation of God in the Dock

I am a little more through my first book I've set for my summer reading, C.S. Lewis' God in the Dock. This is a collection of essays on a number of theological topics. I can't say enough about this book. Lewis writes in such a unique way about these subjects, probably borne from his being a layman and not a theologian. The chapter on Miracles is one of the best I've read. Lewis brings a whole different way of looking around issues that will make you shake your head and wish you had thought of it that way.

Visual Bookshelf

I'll take a moment to comment on one of my favorite applications on Facebook. I added about 300 books that I've read in the past 8 or 9 years to Visual Bookshelf. I finally wrote reviews for all the books marked already read. I can finally get back to actually doing things around the house. Check out some of the books I've reviewed, there's a bunch of great ones in there.

Facebook Notes

I love that the blog posts can automatically post to the Notes feature on the Facebook Notes. Unfortunately, the feature doesn't work in reverse. I wish your posts and comments in Notes were cross-posted to the blog and comments on posts were cross-posted as well. Except for the helpful comments of my "friends" of course.

Reflections on the Prodigal Son

I did a bad job of explaining to a friend why this parable resonates deeply with me. For reference it is found in Luke 15. Read it over but note the context in which this story come up. I'll take that up later. The story is well know. The youngest son asks his father for his share of his father's estate. He wastes his money in wild living in another country and ends up feeding pigs and starving. He decides to head home and see if his father will take him back as a hired servant.

Right away we learn the heart of the son. In order to get his inheritance he essentially tells his father that he wishes his father was dead. he wanted hos father to have no part, no influence, no practical affect on his life at all. he wanted to be free to do what he wanted with complete freedom. Now he never denies that his father still lives, he's just irrelevant to the son.

Man, is that ever how I spent a good part of my early adult life. I knew God existed and even knew I was a child of God but that was pretty much the end of it. I took the opportunity to live a life free from God. Like in the parable, I ended up hitting rock bottom realizing the emptiness of my situation.

But maybe, just maybe, there is something better back home. Maybe there is something better. It was just a little bit of hope.

I'll stop there so this post isn't too long. Comment if you want to.

US v. Barbados

Well its a big jump from playing #1 Argentina one week to playing #121 Barbados the next. But it is World Cup Qualifying so it is important. How do you evaluate an 8-0 scoreline? You got to figure it was not a real evaluation of the talent on the US squad. It does set up the return match for next week as basically a foregone conclusion. And it was good for Brad Guzan to get a "competitive match" on his account for his next UK work permit application. Maybe he gets the nod again next week.

The Last Day

Well, drove out of the lot this afternoon with two kids and 97 (or so, Deb, what's up!!!) exams to finish grading and obviously got to thinking. I usually cannot wait to get out of school for the summer. I know teachers are supposed to live for it, but frankly, right now I'm just plain tired. However, I realize that some of these kids will not be back this year and any impact I could have on them is now passed. It got me to think about what I accomplished this year. Did I do enough? Did I show them Jesus or turn them away? Did I blow my one shot? Did I teach them anything of real value? Did my conversations encourage them or discourage them? I don't know how to answer these questions. Here is what I wish my students learned more than anything:

Did you know how much you are loved? That God loved you so much, that he values you so much that to have a relationship with you he suffered through the sacrifice of His Son. That Jesus cares so much that the pain of torture and death was worth less than the possibility that you would came back to him. Do you know how special you are? When friends hurt you, or piss you off, when you feel alone and abandoned, this you can know. God loves you. And so do I. God will do anything for you. And so will I. That God is passionate about you.

OK now. Let's put this to rest: I suck at spelling and grammar. I don't proofread well because I'm too lazy to do it. If that's my biggest flaw (truth be told, it isn't) I'm doing all right.

The Penultimate Day

Well, we stand here on the next to last day of the school year an thought I'd take a few minutes to comment on my fifth year as a teacher.

1. This was my first year as a full time High School teacher which has been very different. It was the first time I felt I actually got involved in the lives of my students (as much as a teacher can). Maybe that's the difference between being in the elementary school, or splitting my time between elementary and high school like last year, or maybe I just had a different attitude. I don't know what it was but I enjoyed the year immensely. I can actually say I loved all my students, even the ones that drove me crazy. I've said before that you must see teaching at Christian School like being in ministry, because the pay is crap if its just a teaching job.

2. I as so glad I'm not teaching science next year. With all apologies to my students, I didn't enjoy it much at all. That wasn't there fault, they were great and a whole lot of fun. I didn't feel qualified to teach them and I felt I let them down.

3. Our principal resigned after only a year. Gregg was a great leader for the teachers and he really cared about the students. In my mind its a big loss to the school. He was a great role model for me. And crap, I might have to start doing lesson plans again.

4. I get a little frustrated looking back on the year, because I see too many students that are like I was when I was a student at King's. Apathetic, especially spiritually, defensive. Standing where I do now, I forget that they are teenagers and I know that the way I was then does not define me forever, thank God. God does amazing things, i know that from experience.

5. I am so encouraged by the desire to know, serve and worship God. Comparing them to me at that age is humbling. The number of students willing to serve on mission trips, to complain about not enough chapel, etc. is amazing to me.

6. So next year there's a good chance I actually have a classroom. Frankly, wandering around from classroom to classroom really sucked.

Well that's a lot. I might add a part 2 later. God bless.

BTW, I ran it through spell check, so if there's any errors, get over it. I'm tired and have other stuff to do, so get over it!!!!

The Youth Are Revolting

I have now heard from many of my students that the spelling errors in my first post are something to be ashamed of. To any and all that were shocked to find that someone they only know as the brilliant scholar they interact with everyday has a flaw, I am truly sorry. Let it be known that my dyslexia does make spelling a challenge, but if they are okay with mocking my disability, I guess I can only pray for them. May God have mercy on your cold, dark souls. By the way, my blog is designed to foster theological discussion. Anyone want to comment on anything beside by demonstrable inability to spell? Anyone?

US v. Argentina

Just got done watching the US take on world #1 Argentina and had a few comments. The US played their best game in a long time, keeping with Argentina and taking it to them more than a few times. Tim Howard is far and away the US #1 keeper and played his butt off tonight. Freddie Adu shows again why he should be starting. Eddie Johnson showed why he shouldn't. Landon Donovan again showed how you can have amazing talent and not really make anyone around you better. All in all a very entertaining game.

A Trinity of Conscienceness

I have been thinking alot about how we are counscience of the world around us and came to an odd kind of Trinity of ideas that I want to flesh out more. At our most basic, our body's senses detect the world around us: sounds, smells, texture, images, etc. Our minds then interpret thoses stimuli: for example, that sound was a dog barking or a car horn or a human voice. Our soul then gives those stimuli meaning: that baby crying means it is tired or that person slumped over is sad.

I don't know it this is something significant or even interesting, just something I've been thinking about.

OK, so its been a while

Sorry for the long delay in a new post. School and other parts of real life have been very, very busy. It seems I went right from the South Africa missions trip to setting up the trips for next year to Senior trip to getting ready for finals. Throw in teaching every day and I am so ready for summer. Look for some substantive post starting today.