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Various stuff from today December 27, 2007

Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 4comments

Today my blog reached new levels of… fame.  Or something like that.  

So, will I make opckid or Carpebanana today? [Bob]

Never before have I had anyone ask me that!  So of course he gets to be quoted just for that.  And Mom has more of the stories about him up on her blog.

And let’s see.  I am working on another post which brings together Chesterton (again) and a song of Go Fish’s… intrigued yet?  However, much to my annoyance, there is a third source which I want to use a quote from.  I think it’s Lewis, but it could be John Piper or Chuck Colson… it could even be someone else, but those are the ones which come to mind.  It is something about how God transformed the cross from a symbol of something terrible into such a beautiful picture of triumph that Christians wear it for jewelry… and really it is as shocking as if we wore little gilded electric chairs.  (The pun was only partially intended.  I thought the sentence before I typed it, realized that it was a bad pun, and decided to leave it.)  If you have any ideas where that quote is from, please let me know!  I don’t think it’s from Mere Christianity or God in the Dock. 

So let’s see.  I talked with Bob’s kids (he is unofficially my “uncle”, being a long-time friend of Dad and Mom, so does that make them my cousins?) and his son has firmly made up my mind that I am a football player.  *sighs*  At least someone else recognizes my… how was it put?  Ah yes.

I still respect you and your mad athletic skill.  [Griffin]

Mad is right.

Notice, though (or maybe you shouldn’t notice) that the people who say these things are the ones who have not seen me play football. 

And… hmm.  IM’ing was fun today; I got to talk to Sam L and Samwise and Antion and Ben B and Christine & Jessie and Peter and Caleb B, aka Revvi.  Yesterday I talked to StrongJoy, which was really cool… also it’s becoming increasingly weird to me how many of my friends live in other countries. 

Christmas continues.

Wherever we go, that’s where the party’s at.

And this “Currently Reading” book… it’s pretty good.  I especially enjoy it since Mr Montgomery is the same person who got me started on listening to Derek Webb.  Yes, he is to blame thank for that. 

Currently Reading
Soulmancer
By Jeremiah W. Montgomery

Merry Christmas! December 25, 2007

Posted by Anya in : smiling is good for you , 6comments

Today’s post can be found here.

Micah 6:8 December 22, 2007

Posted by Anya in : I won't keep things purposely vague , 2comments

I’m currently reading (or perhaps contemplating would be the better word) Orthodoxy by G.K. Chesterton and I’m on the chapter The Suicide of Thought. It’s a long chapter, but Chesterton says so many things so beautifully that it is worth reading.

The man of this school goes first to a political meeting, where he complains that savages are treated as if they were beasts; then he takes his hat and umbrella and goes on to a scientific meeting, where he proves that they practically are beasts. In short, the modern revolutionist, being an infinite skeptic, is always engages in undermining his own mines. In his book on politics he attacks men for trampling on morality; in his book on ethics he attacks morality for trampling on men. Therefore the modern man in revolt has become practically useless for all purposes of revolt. By rebelling against everything he has lost his right to rebel against anything.

There are so many things which his words make me think of that it is almost impossible to untangle them all in my head: the sign which I saw a few years ago at the March for Life which showed a baby panda holding a sign saying “Save the Humans!”, C.S. Lewis’ oft-quoted words from The Abolition of Man

And all the time — such is the tragi-comedy of our situation — we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more ‘drive’, or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or ‘creativity’. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honour and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.

Also Steven Garber’s thoughtful book The Fabric of Faithfulness: Weaving Together Belief and Behavior During the University Years, and that book takes us back to Francis Schaeffer and his question (and book) How Should We Then Live?

How indeed? That question summarizes so much of the Christian life: we know what is true and now want to know how to live it out. What do knowing what is good and doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God look like? Pretty much everywhere I go where there are people who want to think, our questions come down to those things, and we talk about it… on the Rebelution, in the summae of Omnibus III, and with people I know. And it’s not usually like we’re trying to talk about these things; we just do.

He has told you, O man, what is good…

The other night, during carolling, the girls in my car were touching on this: what do we, as Christians, want to listen to on the radio, and what do we want to avoid? Is it good and “noble” to be giving up something for your family? Is it good to criticize someone who does that?

But to do justice…

Ben B and I hit on this point the other day (between simultaneously bashing our heads — into the wall or the table, not each other!). Is it justice for preachers to preach a gospel of self-help, rather than of the salvation which can only be found in Christ?

They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
No, they were not at all ashamed;
they did not know how to blush.
[From Jeremiah 8:11, 12]

So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
[Habakkuk 1:4]

To love kindness…
Samwise and I talked about this the other day in relation to wasting time. He hit the matter on the head in his characteristically honest way: “a problem is our own selfishness… self-oriented.” *sigh* Some of my friends have the habit of being convicting. Imagine that. He had a very good point though — to waste time (and he and I don’t always agree on what that means!) is selfish… and being selfish is not being kind or merciful.

And to walk humbly with your God.
This point came up (and actually, for once, in very close words) with Griffin a few nights ago. We were talking (well, he was talking and I was mostly being a bad friend and being distracted by something) about walking with God — that it is what we need to face a life with a lot of uncertainties.

And I don’t have anything terribly clever to wrap this up with, I’m afraid; it was a long blog of a bit of my thoughts. :)

He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
[Micah 6:8]

Randomness December 18, 2007

Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, I won't keep things purposely vague , 2comments
Currently Watching
It’s a Wonderful Life
By James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers
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Item # 1:  Who wants to buy used journals?  This question coming after reading the post on the Rebelution which led to the post on Josh Harris’ site which led to Amazon offering “new and used“.  Right-oh.

Item #2:  In case anyone else gets Tabletalk, there is something in the January issue which kind of jumped out at me.  R.C. Sproul says “His reasoning, though strong, was not always technically sound.  For example, in his defense of the resurrection, he used an argument that has impressed many despite its invalidity. He follows an age-old argument that the truth claims of the writers of the New Testament concerning the resurrection of Jesus are verified by their willingness to die for the  truths that they espoused. And the question is asked: Which is easier to believe — that these men created a false myth and then died for that falsehood or that Jesus really returned from the grave? On the surface, the answer to that question is easy. It is far easier to believe that men would be deluded into a falsehood, in which they really believed, and be willing to give their lives for it, than to believe that somebody actually came back from the dead. There has to be other reasons to support the truth claim of the resurrection other than that people were willing to die for it. One might look at the violence in the Middle East and see 50,000 people so persuaded of the truths of Islam that they are willing to sacrifice themselves as human suicide bombs. History is replete with the examples of deluded people who have died for their delusions. History is not filled with examples of resurrections.”  (Taken from http://www.ligonier.org/docs/Tabletalk-Sample/January-2008/index.php)

Now, is it me?  Or did Dr. Sproul change the argument slightly somewhere in there?  The argument is that if the men had created this myth, they would not have died for it.  Dr. Sproul states that if they had been deluded into believing this myth, they would have died for it nonetheless.  This is, no doubt, true.  Paul goes into this in great detail in I Corinthians 15:12-28.  But the argument is not that they are deluded into believing it; rather, it is dealing with the possibility that they made it up.  The only way these two ideas seem to fit together would be if the apostles claimed that Jesus had risen and gotten so carried away with the whole idea that they forgot that they had made it up.  And that seems a bit far-fetched.

It’s entirely possible that there is a flaw somewhere in the argument, but I don’t think that was it. 

And I do have a lot of respect for Dr. Sproul… so much so that this was note-worthy enough to be “bloggable” just because I did not agree with him for once!  (Although I also don’t about the book The Five Dilemmas of Calvinism, from what I read of it.)

Item #3:  I ended up thinking of a blessing the other day which I don’t recall giving much thought to before.   Not only am I thankful for my friends, and that we met, and that we didn’t kill each other before realizing that we liked each other anyway, but we all speak the same language.

Weird thought, that.  And obviously it was part of God’s plan for our lives but…

won’t it be strange to meet people in heaven who were alive at the same time we were, but we never even knew it?  This relates to why I don’t like big cities; because I wonder about absolutely everyone in them. 

Item #4:  I’m thinking about my Best and Worst of 2007 post.  Slight problem, but it isn’t a terrible problem to have — there have been a lot of good CDs I found this year.  Oh well. 

Goodnight.

New Alternative to answering questions with “42!” December 14, 2007

Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 3comments
Currently Listening
Who’s Next
By The Who
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The quote of the night last night at quizzing:  “It’s because of the Crusades!”
Samwise, David, and Josh were lined up.   When one of them jumped…
#1:  “It’s because of the Crusades!”
#2:  *jumps up*  “The Crusades!”
#3:  *jumps up*  “The Crusades!”
#1:  *sits down*
#2:  *sits down*
#3:  *sits down*
#1:  “Oops.”
#2:  “Oops.”
#3:  “Oops.”
the rest of us:  *glare*

I, meanwhile, was not exactly intently quizzing.  I was helping Anna study for her test on the Korean War.  That worked alright.  Lizzie was answering questions, so I got to cheer for her.    And I did get plenty of my own, but, hey, you never know when it will come in useful to know more about the Korean War, right? 

And… let’s see.  I am nicely sore all over in the back, due to having been matched up with Andrew B in inner tube wars.  OW.  And as if he had not already murdered me about five times during the game, as we finished and I started to stand up, he walked into me and knocked me over.  I would have been annoyed, but he laughed and helped me up and so it was okay.

Youth council was… interesting.  First there were two of us.  Then three.  I think we finally got six of the eight people there. 
Mrs. F:  *comes past and sees us*  “What is this?  Youth group detention?  I wouldn’t expect to see you in detention!  What did you do?”
Samwise:  “You don’t want to know what all the kids in the gym did!  I’m keeping an eye on Mr. K.”
And a good thing, too, as Mr. K was engaged in smelling Edward’s shoes.    Greg also came by and started talking to Edward, and we had a discussion on what an accomplished pick-pocket Lizzie is when it comes to cellphones.  (She does return them, though.)  Note:  it is easier for her to do this if your phone has an antenna.

Of course, I had to explain to Sam L how much Miracle had made us cry.
“You,” he said sternly, “are a bad liar.”
I explained that this is because I so rarely lie.
He still held firm that I am a bad liar, so I burst into tears on him.  I don’t think that convinced him.    Especially since there were no tears in evidence… just… erm… laughter. 
Oh well.

It’s because of the Crusades!
(Although I don’t know why…)

Cow Eye Dissection! (With a pictures… so… not for the squeamish.) December 12, 2007

Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , 2comments

Currently Reading
Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book
By Walker Percy
see related

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The first incision.  Bwahahaha. 

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Look!  (No pun intended.)  It’s a cornea!

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And the lens. 

I did take a lot more pictures, but those’re all I’m bothering to put up right now.  I enjoyed the dissection.  It went pretty well, Ib thought it was disgusting, and I forced AJ to take pictures.  Aren’t I a sweet and loving older sister? 

When I mentioned it to Samwise, he turned green (sorry, hermano… I couldn’t resist… not after you mentioned skinning a cat…) and I pointed out that this is why he loves chemistry.

And, by the way, I think this book which I am reading is stupid.  ^_^

One thing I find really fascinating abou the internet… December 10, 2007

Posted by Anya in : Uncategorized , 2comments

The Maximalist Approach December 7, 2007

Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , 2comments
Currently Watching
Miracle (Widescreen Edition)
By Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich, Sean McCann, Kenneth Welsh
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The Maximalist Approach

I’ve been reading A Tale of Two Cities in school.  Dickens has an odd style of writing… he stretches every detail out into a page long description (and that’s if he can’t think of much to say about it).  Anyway, I had the lovely assignment of writing a story out of the two sentences which they gave me.

But before I give you that, I’d like to mention that tonight we went to see A Christmas Carol (yes, MORE Dickens), in which Peter L (seat #3 on my quizzing team) played Tiny Tim.  They did a lovely job, although a bit too much fun with Marley’s voice… making it echo and echo and… O_o  Yep.  Then afterwards Peter did what was probably a record change into street clothes and came out to see us…

“Hey!” he hollered to the one girl.  “Come meet my –”

“Did you just say my fan club?” I asked.

No no.  He said my people.

Thank goodness.

Although he did have a fan club — us, another family from his church (who it turned out that we knew, but neither family knew the other’s last name.  Go figure.)

So it was quite a fun night.

And now, the Dickens-type thing.  I did write it to tie in (somewhat) with another story.  ^_^

Beebo Appleby walked into the room, looked out the window and patted his jacket pocket.  He heard his mother’s footsteps approaching and turned to the door to greet her.

Beebo Appleby was a young man, about 23 years old and a bit plump for his short height.  He had many times wished to change his name, because it seemed in some odd way to imply plumpness and good-natured laziness, but he could never quite be bothered to take the trouble to have it changed, when it came to that.  So his name had remained Beebo Appleby, and it was indeed likely to remain that for the rest of his life. 

He entered the living room, vaguely wondering where the light switch was, but it wasn’t uncomfortably dark, so he didn’t look for it.  He was unaware that he was leaving muddy footprints on the ornate (but somewhat shabby) carpet, just as he was unaware of the girl sitting under the table.  She was involved in a game of hide-and-seek, and had selected that table as a good hiding place because of the long tablecloth which brushed the carpet, thus concealing her from view unless the tablecloth was lifted up.  But Beebo knew none of this.  He sat on the couch for a moment, stood up, and moved over to stare out the window.  He did not really notice anything about the landscape, although it was beautiful in the dim evening light.  The shadows of hills fell into grassy dips in the land, and a large golden retriever and a young boy were engaged in tugging on opposite ends of a stick.  The sinking sun cast a warm glow over the whole scene, but there were some ominously dark clouds on the horizon. 

Beebo did not observe this.  Rather, he was occupied in looking at the smudges on the window and trying to discern if someone had pressed their face up against the glass in a moment of enraptured interest, or if they had breathed on the window and then written letters in the breath-fog, or if there was a third possibility.  He had forgotten that last weekend he himself had pushed his hand against the window in an absent-minded motion, and the glass had likely not been cleaned since. 

He ran his hand along his jacket, feeling proud of how finely he was dressed.  To the honest observer, the jacket did not fit him well at all, and its grey tones did not compliment his red face and dark blonde hair, but Beebo was blissfully unaware of these facts.  With a feeling of smug satisfaction, he patted his jacket pocket, feeling the shape of the folded papers inside.  The papers had been given to him only that morning, as he slid into his seat on bus 137A in the course of his clandestine mission.  He believed that they contained predictions for how peanut butter would sell over the course of the next year, but that was bogus.

Woven into the fibers of the parchment was an extremely sophisticated GPS and a recording system.  The Gem spy group had reason to believe that his movements, over the next day, would lead them to the location of one of their rogue members.  The rogue member was currently sitting under the table in the living room, only a few yards from the oblivious Beebo.  She did not know that those looking for her had a GPS in the same room as she herself was hiding in, but she would not have been overly concerned if she had known. 

Beebo, who knew none of this, heard footsteps coming down the slightly creaky hallway.  It was his mother, who doted on him, and was eager to see him again and make sure that her boy was not harmed by another week in the city, nor was he starving.

The rather unstarved Beebo turned to greet her, unconscious of the frustration which the Gem agents would experience the next day when all their recordings told them was what he had eaten over the past week and his mother’s opinion of his diet.

Two random quotes December 6, 2007

Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration, smiling is good for you , add a comment

Currently Reading
The Collected Works of G.K. Chesterton, Vol. 1: Heretics, Orthodoxy, the Blatchford Controversies (Collected Works of G. K. Chesterton)
By G. K. Chesterton
see related

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“And you call this fixed?”

The candle was having wick-issues, obviously.

 

And then I loved this one, last night at youth group… I forgot to return Sam L’s movie Miracle.  I was in, shall we say, Hot Water. 

He yelled at me, partially seriously.

I retorted, “You’re already not speaking to me… so what happens now?”

Sam looked understandably flustered.  “Well…” he sputtered, “Now I’m REALLY not speaking to you.  Like if I wasn’t already not speaking to you, I would definitely be not speaking to you now.”

December 5, 2007

Posted by Anya in : Uncategorized , 1 comment so far

It’s so hard to see with the glare coming down
It’s so hard to breathe
It’s so hard to tell what is lies and what’s truth
It’s so hard to believe
But I will stand in the rain and say
I still believe you
I will scream through the storms
I still believe you
I still believe youIt’s so hard to go on when I know I deserve death
It’s so hard to smile
It’s so hard to get up  when I’ve fallen again
It’s so hard to go onBut I will stand in the rain and say
I still believe you
I will scream through the storms
and the pain and the darkness
I still believe you
I still believe youIt’s so hard to trust you for myself
It’s so hard to lead
It’s so hard to find peace after all the shame
It’s so hard to be forgiven

And the screams turn to sobbing
And I will cry
I still believe you, I still believe you
The tears will turn to joy some day
I still believe you…

I think I wrote this sometime this spring, compromised mostly of various parts of IM convos.  There were a lot… talking about trusting God, about ways life changes, about trusting God, about salvation, about trusting God… you get the idea.

Anyway, I’ve found that it happens this way a lot, and with a lot more than the one person whom I was talking with.  Things happen that we don’t understand, that we hate, and we keep screaming through the storms that “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him… If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.  But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Job 13:15… Daniel 3:17-18)  It is not just a defiant scream, it is our trust.  We will live for it and die in this hope — that God is faithful and will bring to completion the good work which He began in us. (Philippians 1:6)

Even when the refining feels like it is turning our hearts into “tar”, as it was put this spring.

And the good news is that God also gives laughter, even in the midst of the storms.  There were things that were supposed to be funny and weren’t and thus became funny, arguments about who was ADD after all, and if “night night” is a blessing.

God is great and God is good.