9th May 2009
So this one time in Japan…
All these people were staring at me and my brother Mike… Oh wait, that’s all the time when we’re in Japan. Mike’s been living in Tokyo since September doing an exchange program with a university here, Nihon U. He’s 6′6″, blonde hair, blue eyes - looks like he could be some sort of European athlete - and kids here… no, everyone here stares at him, compares themselves to him, asks him how tall he is, etc.
I have brown hair, browish eyes, sit 4′5″ in a wheelchair most of the time, and am just visiting Mike for a week and a half. Turns out I can also be a spectacle of sorts, like when I’m getting on or off trains, wheelieing down curbs, riding up or down escalators, going across skinny bridges (think 28″ wide - my wheelbase is 27 1/2″), going up large hills (or down steep, rock covered hills)… Apparently there aren’t too many folks in wheelchairs here who can do what I can do. Heck, I guess I’m a bit of a spectacle at home, too.
Ok, well, I’ll write more about the trip - and post a few pictures - when I get back in a few days!
13th April 2009
Hey guys, check it out…
31st March 2009
“Welcome to Denver, Josh McDaniels…”
At this point, the Denver Broncos new coach needs his team to make it to the Super Bowl this year, or he’s in danger of going down in the lore of Broncos fans as “the coach who wrecked our team”…
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4031893
30th March 2009
A song you should listen to…
Ok, one of my favorite things to do when I’m procrastinating is listen to music online, and there is one song in particular that I think people should listen to. It might not be the type of music you would expect me to rave about, but it’s incredible. Chick Corea (who made his name playing with Miles Davis) and Gary Burton (perhaps the best vibraphonist in the world) won the 2000 Grammy for Best Instrumental solo for their song Rhumbata. Check it out.
22nd March 2009
The one thing I did right this week…
So this week was spring break for the schools that I substitute teach for in Loveland and Fort Collins. I was planning on working on my paper a lot this week - and I did try, but much of that trying ended up with me staring at my computer screen trying to decide how I should say what I want to say… and procrastinating. I kept saying that I would go to sleep early so I could wake up early, because I know that would be a better schedule for me to work from - but I would stay up late and then turn off my alarm when it went off in the morning. I even missed church this morning because I would have been 30+ minutes late, so I just stayed home, intending to work on my paper… but instead watched the ‘Cuse basketball game (they beat Arizona State, woo!).
But this evening I did something that totally redeemed my whole week. What was that, you ask? I grilled a cheeseburger that my mom really, really liked. And she’s definately not a huge burger eater, but she had to admit that it was just really great. I enjoyed the one that I ate quite a bit, too, of course. My technique? Simple, classic burger creation: I mixed in some Lawry’s and made the patties pretty flat so they cooked evenly, and then only flipped them only once (and once more time onto the upper rack to melt some cheese on ‘em) - oh, and toasted buns.
Anyway I feel a lot better now - and now I should probably go back to, uh, writing my paper… or at least trying.
7th March 2009
So…
We're playing at a roller skating party in Fort Collins on Sunday evening!
4th March 2009
The SasqWatch
For those of you who don’t know, my little brother, Mike, is a Sasquatch. Or maybe he is related to Godzilla. Anyway, he’s 6′6″, skinny, caucasian, has blonde hair and blue eyes - and he’s living in Tokyo this year on a college exchange fellowship.
He recently started twittering - I think partly because he was bored and partly because his computer broke (DO NOT eat Ramen while using a laptop…) for a few days and he was trying to figure out how to communicate with people using the cell phone he has there. The name of his twitter page is The SasqWatch, and he has some interesting tweets, which isn’t surprising considering he is a Scandinavian giant living in Japan.
The other twitter that Mikey and I have perused a little is The Real Shaq, where the man actually responds to a fair amount of fan tweets, and posts disturbing pictures of his own gigantic-ness. Which reminds me something I said that made a few people laugh the other day at a study session at the seminary. In reference to a remark about a recent semi-controversial Christian book with a homophonic title (and that I really found to be an interesting and deeply-moving book, though not one to base one’s theology on), I replied: “The only Shack/Shaq for me is 7′3″ and 330 pounds…” A statement I’ll stand by. I do love Shaq, no offense to my beloved Denver Nuggets, of course.
1st March 2009
One step at a time…
I took the comprehensive exams for the MA in BS with NT major at Denver Seminary yesterday (the degree I’ve been working on for two and a half years), and I think it went ok. I’m not 100% confident, but I’d like to think I’ll get an 80% average on the questions for a passing mark. It’s a relief, for sure, but there’s much more work to be done on my thesis now, so I have to get started on that. I’ll try to think of an interesting/funny story from recent history that I can relate to you (you two or three people reading this, that is [Katie R, Laura G]), because I know that is what I enjoy doing for this blog the most - and it’s what you enjoy reading the most, too, I’m sure. Everyone loves when I make a fool of myself somehow. ‘Til then, cheers.
19th February 2009
Yes! I love Akismet spam filter!
That’s all I have to say. It has made maintaining this blog a lot easier and more enjoyable. I always hated deleting all the spam comments, and now that I have Akismet, it does that for me. That’s great. It even filtered through the 6000 that I had left in my queue. So comment away on the nothingness that I have written over the past 6 months, and now I’ll actually get it without much trouble. Or don’t comment because I haven’t written anything worth reading on here in years… Either way, have a great day!
2 comments
18th February 2009
In case you’ve been wondering what I’ve been up to…
I’ve decided to paste in the first page and a half that intruduces my thesis project. In addition to that, I’ll be taking comps on February 28, so I’m studying quite a bit for those. Ok, here are the rules: DO NOT COPY THIS AND PASTE IT ANYWHERE ELSE! Read it and enjoy what little I’m willing to put on here right now, and even discuss amonst yourselves - but don’t put it on your site or anything like that. I need for it to still be considered my own original material when I turn it in so I don’t want anyone else claiming it is theirs - you don’t want it anyway, it’s not that good. Ok, that said, read away:
When I initially started researching John 11, the raising of Lazarus, my hypothesis was that this marvelous narrative had been composed in such a way as to be a physical picture of the spiritual reality represented by John 5:24: “Truly, truly, I say to you that the one hearing my word and believing him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” In this verse, John reveals a view of conversion that brings eschatological hopes into the present. Eternal life becomes a qualitative term for what begins as soon as a person believes and chooses the life that Jesus offers. The raising of Lazarus, without denying that it might have been an historic event, can then function as a story of conversion which believers can relate to: They were dead and in their own tombs, wrapped in the graveclothes of their sin when Jesus called them into life.
However, in my studies it soon became apparent that there are more connections between John 5 and John 11 than I had initially thought. In response to his opponents’ accusation that he was making himself equal with God in 5:18, Jesus claims in 5:19-30 that he possesses (or, has been granted by the Father) several divine attributes and powers. *Throughout the raising of Lazarus in John 11:1-53, the text presents Jesus as both validating the divine attributes and demonstrating the divine powers that he claimed in John 5:19-30.* This is done in such a way that the text makes it clear to the careful reader that the two passages are connected both in content and meaning.
The attributes and powers claimed by Jesus in 5:19-21 fall primarily under three categories. First, 5:21; 24, 25, 26, and 27-28 all refer to attributes and powers related to life and resurrection: The Son is able to raise the dead and give life to whomever he wishes (5:21); those who believe in the one who sent Jesus has eternal life and “passes from death to life” (5:24); the dead will hear the voice of the Son and live (5:25), and those in their tombs will come out (5:28-29); and the Son even has life in himself just as the Father has life in himself. Second, 5:22 and 27 have to do with judgment, assigning all judgment and the “authority to execute judgment” to the Son. Verses 24 and 29 also relate to judgment in that the one who has eternal life through belief in the one who sent Jesus “does not come into judgment” – but those who have done evil in v. 24 come out to a “resurrection of judgment”.
Third, 5:19-30 functions in showing the Son’s equality with the Father by describing the relationship between Jesus, the Son, and God, the Father. While there is, in a sense, subordination in this relationship, it is still a unique relationship (unique in its strongest sense) because Jesus is The Son, not one of many sons. The likewise (o`moi,wj) of v. 19 implies that Jesus’ actions are not only done in the same manner, but are in fact identical and united with the actions of the Father. In v. 20, the Father shows the Son “all the things that he is doing – and greater works than these he will show him;” these greater works include using the powers mentioned above – giving life and judging – that are the powers of God alone. Additionally, the reason for the Father granting the Son these divine attributes and abilities is emphasized in 5:23: “So that all might honor the Son just as they honor the Father.” That the Son should be worthy of equal honor is another way of suggesting that he is equal rank to the Father – and that would require the Son to be none other than Godself.