Old School

My 30th high school reunion is this fall.  Whoa.  I went on to the class reunion website today to fill out my profile.  I also signed up to receive emails when certain classmates updated their info. 

As I read through the list of 524 students, the memories came flooding back.  I saw names that I remembered hearing, but could not put a face with.  I thought of folks I had forgotten for 30 years.  I felt like I was in high school again:  Does that person want me to stay in touch?  Do they care about me?  What would they think?  Do they remember me? 

I was never part of the "in" crowd.  It always seemed like I was trying to fit in.  I guess that made me a normal teenager, but it was not very comfortable.  Should be interesting to see these people again.  I'm going to get out my old annuals and begin remembering names and faces.

I would much rather just remember the old times than go back and live them again.  I'm glad that I'm not who I was.

Out there

I took the Myers-Briggs personality test yesterday and learned that I'm no longer an introvert.  I took the test in 1997 and I was clearly introverted.  I have noticed my becoming more outgoing, and the MBTI folks noticed, too.

Over all, score as ENTJ, that is, Extrovert-iNtuitive-Thinking-Judging.  I'm real high in intuitive and thinking, and just barely in the categories of Extroversion and Judging.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.

It just shows that people can change.  I may be growing up.  Nah.

Tim Tebow is alive

I'm not a Florida Gator fan, but I do have a ton of respect for their QB.  He is a superior athlete.  And he usually has something curious under his eyes.  He puts Bible references on his eye black. 

Now this 2007 Heisman Trophy winner is to be featured in a Super Bowl commercial which celebrates life.  His mother was advised in 1987 to abort her son, because she had contracted some serious infection on a mission trip.  They told her that she could die in childbirth.  She elected to carry her son anyway, and Tim has lived to tell about it.  The mother and son are both in the commercial, which has been seen by only a handful of people. 

I applaud him for taking a stand for something significant -- something much more important than the Saints or the Colts winning a championship.

I also applaud CBS for allowing the ad, and I'm looking forward to seeing it.

Giving through Samaritan's Purse

As we all wonder what we can do about Haiti, we see lots of worthy relief organizations at work on that island.  Donations can be made to many organizations to help.  In some ways, it almost seems immaterial which organization receives our dollars.

At Crossroads we will be sending our donations to Samaritan's Purse, an organization head quartered here in NC.  Through SP we can help bring food, water, medicine and other relief to the hurting Haitians.  Franklin Graham says that there will be about six flights per day taking the needed supplies into the disaster area.

It is my prayer that this disaster will become a turning point in the history of that impoverished nation, and that the future would bring much better living conditions for all people there.

Curious

I'm sucking wind on reading the NT through in 30 days.  A couple of days behind. 

I read the NT a lot, but have never read it through in 30 days before.  Reading big chunks helps me see the big picture better.  But I'm also seeing some interesting details that I've never noticed before.

Today I have been reading Mark, and I saw something curious in ch. 8.  Jesus meets a blind man in v 22.  The man's friends lead him to Jesus and beg the Lord to touch him.  Then -- and I had never noticed this -- Jesus takes the man by the hand and leads him outside the village. Hmm.  Why did Jesus want to get him out of town?  Maybe Jesus just wanted to talk with him along the way. 

Jesus restores this man's sight partially and then fully:  the only two step healing in Jesus' ministry.  But why did he have to be out of the village of Bethsaida?  You could just ignore that detail, except the last thing Jesus says to him is, "Don't go into the village."  Jesus sends the man home, apparently to another town.

That's just curious.  Sometimes Jesus does things that we don't understand.  He has a reason for everything, but sometimes we just don't get it.  Same is true today.

LOL Cat Bible

I am not making this up.  There is a lolcat Bible "translation" available on the www.  This is an open source translation, produced by people who get into the lolcat scene.  In honor of my current series on the Ten Commandments, here is the translation of the fourth Commandment:

  
"Remembur Caturday An keep holy. U ketch mousies 6 dais An finish ketchin, K? Caturday, u no ketchin mousies. U An all ur peepz go wrship me. And, if yu beez gudd, I maks it so yu can stays home and do alla stuffs yu wanted tu doos.  I maded heavenz An erth An see An the stuff that does teh funney hoppey stuffz in An on it - so I make it holy cuz I no ketch mousies."

This fad began with photographs of cats with clever captions rendered in broken English.  The lolcat language was used for creating a LOLCODE programming language.  Eventually someone took on the big project to translate the Bible, getting many authors to contribute.  I'm not sure if the whole Bible is even complete yet.


I have found some of the wording to be, shall we say, off color.  The translators most likely did not consult the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek texts.  God is called "Ceiling Cat," Jesus is "Happy Cat," and Satan is "Basement Cat."


I am probably really twisted, but I find the whole idea hysterical.  It's not the stuff for personal discipleship, and I can't imagine a lolcat devotional Bible.  According to Wikipedia, there may be a lolcat Koran produced, too.  That's really insane.

Needing Grace

I began reading the New Testament through in 30 days.  First time for me to read the whole thing that fast.  I'm not quite current, but I see that there are grace days ahead.  I did not finish today's reading, as laid out in the newthru30.com website.

I finished the book of Matthew already and need to get on the next book, which is Acts.  It may really help to read a non-gospel book in between Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  Looks like a good plan!

I'm actually becoming a big fan of reading large chunks of scripture at a time.  I get much more of the flow of the book that way.  Especially when I read the Gospels, I think, "Now, didn't I already read that?"  When I read a whole Gospel in a day or two, I can remember better which stories are in that Gospel.  I can see connections.  I can see what the (human) author was trying to emphasize.

I have heard of Christian leaders who would read the whole NT every month.  Maybe I'll get there someday.