Monday, June 09, 2008
scadoosh
Pepes, Kung Fu Panda is hilarious. I heard some reviews that said that it wasn't that funny...well, my friends, those reviewers were crazy! I laughed to tears more than once... I wholeheartedly recommend it (if you like silly comedy). If you want, I will even go see it again with you : ).
Friday, June 06, 2008
Monday, May 19, 2008
3 things
I saw two movies recently that were great. First, Son of Rambow. An indie flick about two very cute little english boys making an action movie. Lots of laughs and lots (for me) of tears, all in all a great movie I thought. Second, Caspian is great! It has had mixed reviews I think, but I really enjoyed it. Wherever they shot was beautiful, I think the kids acted well, and the story is so great, thanks to CS Lewis.
Second, there's a game that's a little addictive that I kept seeing my kids (at school) play after they finished all their work - called Winterbells. http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/bells.htm
And third, I learned how to make a paper clip jump just a few minutes ago and I'm pretty excited about it. Who knew office supplies could be so entertaining?? : ) http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Jumping-Paper-Clip
Second, there's a game that's a little addictive that I kept seeing my kids (at school) play after they finished all their work - called Winterbells. http://www.ferryhalim.com/orisinal/g3/bells.htm
And third, I learned how to make a paper clip jump just a few minutes ago and I'm pretty excited about it. Who knew office supplies could be so entertaining?? : ) http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Jumping-Paper-Clip
Saturday, May 17, 2008
a little gushy
Tomorrow will be a year from the day Marc asked me to marry him...how crazy that it's been a year! I realize that it's a little goofy to have this internal clock of relationship "anniversaries" going on since we do now have a real Anniversary to celebrate, but every month on the 11th I think (and usually say to Marc) "We've been married another month!"...and now there's tomorrow, the engagement anniversary. I say these little things are worth celebrating. Not because I'm worried that this incredible-ness is going to end, but because I'm reminded how wonderfully blessed I've been by God everytime a reminder date comes along.
So tomorrow's reminder is for the day when my heart said "Yes! Home at last!" I'm glad we had such a short engagement too, because it's given us almost a year of being married. So many people told us to have low expectations for the first year, that it would be hell...learning to live with each other and all that. What a load of bullocks (at least for us) - it's been a year of total and utter bliss! I suppose that down the road we may have that period of time when we can't seem to see eye to eye and fight a lot...but I hope not. I know we both are trying to learn to communicate with each other now, and sometimes its hard, at least for me who shrinks from the very mention of conflict. It sure seems like God is blessing our efforts though, because every day I realize that I love Marc more than I did the day before, and every day I realize that I know better that he loves me.
That Colbie Caillat song "Tailor Made" seems about right for us...cheesy as it is to say, I think we were made for each other. Like God fitted us perfectly together, and then put us in different families and let us grow up, only to find the fit again. I know that Marc is good for me, and I think I'm good for him. To have someone tell me nearly every day that I'm hot...oh, how good it is to be thought beautiful by the one who counts. And to have someone support me in the things I dream about...like how I'm interested in cooking, but don't know much about how to make things other than the basics, so Marc got the magazine Bon Apetit, and he willingly tries my attempts at some of the foods I read about. Most have been at least edible, but the best part is that he compliments my efforts. It's fun to make food for someone who enjoys what I make. And to have a friend who is here, no matter what. When I come home crying, having had a crummy day, he's here to bring me more gently down to reality from my idealistic nest. When I'm hyper and crazy, he laughs along with me. When I want to try something new, he's there with me. Oh, it is wonderful.
If you've made it this far, sorry for the gushiness of this post. I am just sometimes overwhelmed by how good God has been, and I want to tell people. All of my tears of the last couple years have given way to complete joy this year. It's like God has said "Rest. For once, your idea of 'Good' and my idea of 'Good' align! Here is the one to fit you, who will love you as close to the way I do as a human can." How can I thank Him enough?! What a beautiful picture of His love marriage is. Oh, how beautiful!
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
interesting trend
Our last week of Perspectives was this week and it was all about what we can practically do with this huge wealth of info we've learned over the past 15 weeks. The speaker threw out an interesting (and really sad) comparison about college kids leaving for the mission field...
He said that he was at a campus where the optional chapel service was completely packed (like 3000 attendees), and where the majority of the kids there were intent on what the speaker said, laptops or notebooks open for notes, etc. He said that the president of the campus said that 60% of the students there will leave for overseas missions (2+ yrs) after graduation. Where was this incredible campus??? BYU...
Our speaker talked about how kids who go to BYU grow up with an understanding that leaving for a mission isn't an option. It's just part of life - you go to school, you graduate and go on mission, you return for the family, etc. He said that these kids would break their parents' hearts if they refused to go. Whole families have gone on mission for generations.
In comparison, the average Christian parent begs their kids not to go when the few kids who get inspired in college come home to say "I'm going to...somewhere far away." Not secular parents, these are the christian ones who say their hearts will break if their kid takes off to China or India or wherever. So, many kids who would've gone stay home.
How sad! I'm not a parent, so I can't imagine what it's like to say "see ya later" to your kid who is heading into unknown waters, but come on! The great commission is for everyone. Some will send others, some will be a strong prayer force at home, etc. - not everyone is to go out to the world, but how can we stop those who would go? God is in control! There is potential for death or pain or scary situations abroad, but there is potential for all that at home too. If Mormon parents have the faith to send their kids off, why don't Christian parents have this faith as well? Especially in light of the fact that they (and their christian kids) have the truth!
He said that he was at a campus where the optional chapel service was completely packed (like 3000 attendees), and where the majority of the kids there were intent on what the speaker said, laptops or notebooks open for notes, etc. He said that the president of the campus said that 60% of the students there will leave for overseas missions (2+ yrs) after graduation. Where was this incredible campus??? BYU...
Our speaker talked about how kids who go to BYU grow up with an understanding that leaving for a mission isn't an option. It's just part of life - you go to school, you graduate and go on mission, you return for the family, etc. He said that these kids would break their parents' hearts if they refused to go. Whole families have gone on mission for generations.
In comparison, the average Christian parent begs their kids not to go when the few kids who get inspired in college come home to say "I'm going to...somewhere far away." Not secular parents, these are the christian ones who say their hearts will break if their kid takes off to China or India or wherever. So, many kids who would've gone stay home.
How sad! I'm not a parent, so I can't imagine what it's like to say "see ya later" to your kid who is heading into unknown waters, but come on! The great commission is for everyone. Some will send others, some will be a strong prayer force at home, etc. - not everyone is to go out to the world, but how can we stop those who would go? God is in control! There is potential for death or pain or scary situations abroad, but there is potential for all that at home too. If Mormon parents have the faith to send their kids off, why don't Christian parents have this faith as well? Especially in light of the fact that they (and their christian kids) have the truth!
Monday, April 28, 2008
missionaries kill culture
Wait one second, do they really?
I have heard a fair amount of criticism from the unbelieving world that missionaries kill cultures. Christians go in to people who were fine on their own and destroy the culture those people have in their efforts to convert them. In some cases, I think the unbelieving world is right on this point. Some missionaries have gone in and stripped a people from every part of its culture in order to indoctrinate them on western christianity.
HOWEVER, not all missionaries do that! At Perspectives tonight we heard from a guy who spent some years in Mongolia with his family and a couple from Sweden, planting churches. Everything they did was for the purpose of changing hearts from cold and dead to alive in Christ. As Mongolians believed, they purposely taught Jesus' teachings in the most simple and direct way, making an effort to keep from teaching religious customs that came from their home churches and denominations. They knew that God didn't desire them to transplant a church identical to the one in California that they left, but rather that God desires worshippers from every tongue, people, nation. So, they taught 7 basic truths (repent and believe, be baptised, love God and love your neighbor in practical ways, celebrate the Lord's supper, pray daily, give generously, disciple others) and modeled leadership and teaching so that the Mongols could take over leading their own groups quickly. They purposely stayed away from teaching the new believers translated worship songs, so in time the Mongols wrote their own songs, in their own style, language, and understanding. The Mongol worshippers also introduced dance to the worship services, and they began to wear traditional ceremonial clothing. They developed dramas for teaching in each service, as dramatizations were a big part of the culture of the people of that area. So while maintaining truth as taught by Jesus, the Mongolian church was developed in a distinctly Mongolian way. The good parts of the Mongolian culture were affirmed and used, and the parts that promoted sin and death began to change as the Mongolian believers experienced change in their hearts. The missionaries didn't threaten the new believers, they didn't ask them to leave their culture and enter into a mission compound, they didn't try to make the Mongolians western mimics. Instead, they taught truth, and the Mongolians responded and developed the church as it is, directed by the Holy Spirit working in their hearts.
God made peoples and cultures different. He works in different ways in different places. Missionaries aren't out to make the beautiful places of the world into America or Europe clones. How incredible it is that He calls some from Every People to worship him in the style and tradition that he has created for them!
I have heard a fair amount of criticism from the unbelieving world that missionaries kill cultures. Christians go in to people who were fine on their own and destroy the culture those people have in their efforts to convert them. In some cases, I think the unbelieving world is right on this point. Some missionaries have gone in and stripped a people from every part of its culture in order to indoctrinate them on western christianity.
HOWEVER, not all missionaries do that! At Perspectives tonight we heard from a guy who spent some years in Mongolia with his family and a couple from Sweden, planting churches. Everything they did was for the purpose of changing hearts from cold and dead to alive in Christ. As Mongolians believed, they purposely taught Jesus' teachings in the most simple and direct way, making an effort to keep from teaching religious customs that came from their home churches and denominations. They knew that God didn't desire them to transplant a church identical to the one in California that they left, but rather that God desires worshippers from every tongue, people, nation. So, they taught 7 basic truths (repent and believe, be baptised, love God and love your neighbor in practical ways, celebrate the Lord's supper, pray daily, give generously, disciple others) and modeled leadership and teaching so that the Mongols could take over leading their own groups quickly. They purposely stayed away from teaching the new believers translated worship songs, so in time the Mongols wrote their own songs, in their own style, language, and understanding. The Mongol worshippers also introduced dance to the worship services, and they began to wear traditional ceremonial clothing. They developed dramas for teaching in each service, as dramatizations were a big part of the culture of the people of that area. So while maintaining truth as taught by Jesus, the Mongolian church was developed in a distinctly Mongolian way. The good parts of the Mongolian culture were affirmed and used, and the parts that promoted sin and death began to change as the Mongolian believers experienced change in their hearts. The missionaries didn't threaten the new believers, they didn't ask them to leave their culture and enter into a mission compound, they didn't try to make the Mongolians western mimics. Instead, they taught truth, and the Mongolians responded and developed the church as it is, directed by the Holy Spirit working in their hearts.
God made peoples and cultures different. He works in different ways in different places. Missionaries aren't out to make the beautiful places of the world into America or Europe clones. How incredible it is that He calls some from Every People to worship him in the style and tradition that he has created for them!
Monday, April 14, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
funny story
I have a german exchange student (whom we will call Greta, not her real name) in one of my classes and the kids like to ask her about Germany and about how she likes (or doesn't) the US, etc. pretty often. Last week I was walking over to answer a question for a group working on the review to a test and overheard a student ask Greta whether she can speak German. No kidding, I overhear "so, do you speak German?" Greta just kinda stares at the kid who asked, I start cracking up, and some of the other kids around say "She's from GERMANY!" So the kid who asked says, "But you speak such good English." I reply something along the lines of "Americans are kinda behind the times as far as languages go. People in pretty much every other country speak at least 2, if not more, languages." Sue (what we're calling the kid who's asking the questions) says to Greta "But how do you know English so well?", to which Greta replies, "I've been taking English since 5th grade...and Latin and Italian and...."
Holy moly, asking a German exchange student whether she speaks German is almost as bad as the students I had last year who thought Africa was South America and who had no earthly idea where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans were...(they were sophomores and juniors). I seem to be sensing a rather depressing lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. At least the German question was entertaining : ).
Holy moly, asking a German exchange student whether she speaks German is almost as bad as the students I had last year who thought Africa was South America and who had no earthly idea where the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans were...(they were sophomores and juniors). I seem to be sensing a rather depressing lack of knowledge about the rest of the world. At least the German question was entertaining : ).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)