And death i think is no parenthesis

Well, I had a lot of spare time today (I'm in Wichita at my dad's place) and therefore finished The Heavenly Man . It was an entirely easy read, even though it was a fairly long book filled with many, many stories. It was exciting to hear about the many miracles Brother Yun witnessed, and yet at the same time, it felt terribly predictable. There is a neat section near the end about the Chinese vision for evangelism called "Back to Jerusalem". Some things I didn't appreciate - Brother Yun seems to take an almost aggressive attitude toward defining doctrine, recounting how the Chinese house churches had been unified until Westerners started to send more theological literature. Also, Yun seemed perfectly content with staying in house churches permanently. He even says that he had no intention of building church buildings, because the house churches were working out so well. I think there is a time for house churches, but I don't believe this is ideal by any stret...

I traversed through the dangerous flood waters to Kansas City just a few days ago, where I met Pastor Adams, author of the "Why I am not a Dispensationalist" blog. I heard about Pastor Adams through my church in California. In fact, the Robertson family is largely responsible for dragging him into Covenantal theology. Well, I found out that Pastor Adams not only is familiar with those people back at Saint Andrew's Community Church, but he is also familiar with Pastor Tim, of Sterling Evangelical Bible Church. He also knows the pastor of the CRE church in Wichita, Pastor Brandt. When I visited Pastor Tim last Sunday, I found out that Pastor Adams also knows yet another man in California (whom I thought was disconnected from all of this) named Mr. Federico. This reminds me of the time I found a picture of the Caravaggio sisters in Mrs. Parson's Latin textbook which she lent to me. The six degrees of separation theory must be true.

About a week and a half ago, I finished The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper. I loved how masculine the book felt. The characters were faced with danger around every corner. Protecting the women seemed to be the main delineating difference between the noble Indian tribes and the wicked Indian tribes. The hero of the story, Hawkeye, helps out his comrades despite the danger to himself. It's also cool reading about all of the violent ways the Indians disposed of their enemies. It reminded me of Last of the Breed by Louis L'Amour. I liked it so much that I recently bought another in the "Leatherstocking Tales" - The Deerslayer . The edition I own is the Barnes and Nobel Classics edition, which I really like. They're only around $6 per book, and yet the covers are nifty looking, there are many frills (such as lengthy introductions by literary scholars, timelines, quote pages, etc.) The margins are wide enough that I don't have to pry the book open w...

Here are some pictures of the house my mom and step dad will be moving into within the next two months. Here is the house from the driveway entrance. Notice the large front yard. Here, you see the driveway goes off to the right and follows the tree line all the way to the road. It's a spectacular view. Also, notice the pond. Andy paints, joyfully covering the ugly yellow color with a nicer grayish color. Mom just got braces, and her mouth still hurts a bit, so her smile is a little funny. On the left, notice the cool wavy entrance into the entertainment room. Also, notice the rounded ceiling through the hallway and the cool wall textures. Here is the backyard wilderness. Finally, the twin trees in the front yard. It's a marvelous location, and it will make a great place for my kids to come visit "grandma" and "grandpa" someday.

Well, I'm finally home. Rather than getting home at 4:45pm on Friday, I got to the airport after 10:00pm and didn't get into Wichita until 2:00 in the morning - without my luggage. Apparently, Expedia didn't feel like telling me that my flight had been rescheduled to leave two hours early, so by the time I tried to check in my luggage, the plane was already leaving. A lady at the counter booked me for a different flight, going to Atlanta, GA and then back to Kansas City. So, I waited for several hours in the terminal humming quietly to myself to reduce the stress. I always said that the thing I missed most in California was bad weather. Well, as soon as I got onto the plane in Atlanta, I got some bad weather - bad enough, in fact, that all of the crew had to go inside. I waited for two hours by a French couple and read The Last of the Mohicans . Finally, the weather cleared up enough for us to get on our way to the Kansas City Airport. At the baggage claim, I waited in vain...

Well, I leave tomorrow morning for Kansas. Steve had me read a book about vocation before I left. It's called God at Work by Gene Edward Veith, Jr. It's a really easy read, only 150 pages, so I didn't invest much time in it. I thought it was pretty helpful in getting myself to think about the Biblical view of vocation, and especially that ministerial work is not more meritorious than any other type of work. God at Work: C Also, I finished R.C. Sproul's The Holiness of God a couple of weeks ago. It was nothing that I hadn't heard before, but it was good as a devotional tool - it forced me to think about things that I normally wouldn't have thought about. The Holiness of God: C Finally, I finished up C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters , which we had been discussing once a month in a college group. Since I won't be here for the next many many college groups, I finished up the rest of it about a week ago. The book is extremely thought-provoking, and Lewis...

As promised, here are some pictures to whet your appetite. To start off, we have four pictures showing off the majesty of the Badlands National Park. This is where we might camp out for three days, if we decide not to go hopping from place to place. Next, here is some of the wildlife we may encounter. The goat was taken from Harney Peak, one of the places we may go. The other two are from Custer State Park. A lake near Keystone. Historic Deadwood. Mount Rushmore - in Keystone. A mine near Keystone. The next two show the majestic rock formations that cover the Black Hills. These are the kinds of views we might experience from Harney Peak, the tallest peak in South Dakota.