Take a look at the picture below. Notice a familiar name?
They published my article, “The Four Loves on Stage,” which looks at Lewis’ fiction to find examples of the four different types of love, and their perversions, Lewis describes in his book The Four Loves.
Posted in Misc.
The title of the blog gives away the ending, but let me tell you the story or those who don’t know yet.
In December of 2010 Eli was born. Everyone knows what a miracle he was and how hard of a situation we were in. During that time, we leaned heavily on our family. Different members came to stay with us at different times to help lighten our load. We realized at this time how much we missed being near family and how much of a help living near them would be. In March of 2011 Abby and were able to go to brunch alone and talk about the enormous changes that had happened in our lives (you can read about it here). Over the course of the conversation we decided that the next time we moved, the next time we took a new job, the next major change in our lives should take us closer to family. At the time we figured it was probably about 1-2 years from happening.
Fast forward to October of 2011 and Abby is interviewing to be the Director of Operations at NACCAP. Over Thanksgiving break she accepted the job and we began mentally preparing for the move. (Thankfully NACCAP allowed Abby to stay at Asbury and finish her time as RD.) This job would be in Huntington, IN just 30 minutes from Abby’s parents. It was exactly what we were looking for.
So, now Abby has a job and it was time for me to start looking. I am an admissions counselor and traditionally admissions counselors let their schools know they are leaving in the spring and jobs are posted in May, so I was a little worried about finding work before then. Thankfully I was able to connect with some people at Indiana Wesleyan University, introduce myself, and eventually find out about some openings. I am happy to announce that last week I was hired to be the Assistant Director of Admissions for Wesley Seminary, the Wesleyan Seminary located on Indiana Wesleyan’s campus.
Praise God! We decided to move near family and both of us were able to find jobs near Abby’s family. In fact, Indiana Wesleyan is in Marion, IN, the same city where Abby’s parents live.
So, Abby and Eli moved up to Marion, into her parent’s basement, May 6th. Abby started her new job the next day on May 7th. I am still in Kentucky but my last day is May 25th, which isn’t too far away. I look forward to rejoining my family soon.
So, yea, just a little update. Excited about this new chapter in our lives. Sorry that I haven’t been updating more, but with all the transition, blogging just doesn’t top the priority list. Also, our external hard-drive, on which all of our pictures and videos are kept, has broken. Until it is fixed, I am afraid there wont be any Eli Updates. Does anyone want to send me $500 so I can pay to get it fixed?
Posted in Misc.
So Acts 4 continues with the story of Peter and John who just healed a crippled man. They are telling people they did it in the name of Jesus and the local religious leaders don’t like this so they have them locked up.
5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?”
Annas and Caiaphas – these are two of the guys named as begin behind the conspiracy to kill Jesus. Peter and John have to face the people who just killed their friend, their Messiah. If this was me I would be both furious and incredibly intimidated. They killed Jesus, so one would assume they could have Peter and John killed too if they wanted. But Peter and John don’t back down. Instead they speak with boldness.
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among menby which we must be saved.”
Not only does Peter not back down, but he name drops Jesus, the man these people had gone to such trouble to kill. The dude is preaching without fear! And the thing is, the leaders know that they have no rebuttal. The man just healed was 40 years old and was known as a cripple. Everyone knew this was not a hoax.
18 So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.
Basically, the haters back down when the crowd gets loud. People were praising God too much for these people to try and stop it.
I want to be this bold. I want to speak my faith in God, in Jesus, regardless of the circumstances. Peter and John were basically facing death, and they stood their ground. I want to do the same.
Posted in Theology
Inheritance by Christopher Paolini
Inheritance is the fourth and final book in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle. I read the first book in the series in 2007 when I lived in India. Several of the kids had read the first book, Eragon, and Tammy was going to purchase the Eragon DVD and show it to the whole house as a treat. I like to read the book before I se the movie, so I picked it up. Paolini was only 15 when he started writing Eragon and it showed. It was easy to see the influences Lord of the Rings and Star Wars had on this young writer. Despite the occasional amateur feeling of the writing, the story was captivating, the world Paolini built (Alagaesia) had depth and, most impressive to me, magic in the world of Alagaesia made sense. There was logic to it. I am not a huge reader of fantasy but the logic of magic in Paolini’s story made much more sense than it does in Lord of the Rings, Narnia, or even Harry Potter. It made the story feel more realistic.
So I read Eragon in 2007 and then listened to the second and third books, Eldest and Brisingr via iPod while working in a library in 2009. Eldest was good but Brisingr felt much too long. Paolini started to chase rabbits instead of staying to the main story and the book overall suffered for it. While I enjoyed Inheritance it seems that Paolini chased a few rabbits in this book as well. The book is hefty at 850 pages. This is because Paolini is thorough. He feels the need to tell us almost everything that happens, day by day, to our main characters. While Eragon is definitely the main character of the series, his cousin Roran took on an important role in book two and is a dominant figure in Inheritance. At some point the book begins alternating chapters between the two, making sure we stay engaged in both of their stories. You could cut out entirely the story of Roran and the story would read fine. In fact, Paolini might have been better off to cut out the majority of Roran’s scenes in the entire series and then written a seperate series just focused on Roran. It would have made the books he has written much more manageable.
My complaints about length aside, the book really was enjoyable. I was very intrigued as to how the last battle would go and was pleased with Paolini’s solution. Remember the end to the TV show Avatar the Last Airbender? Ang got put in a tough place where he had to defeat the villian and killing him was the only option, but he had also swore not to kill him? And then he came up with this crazy but incredibly satisfying way to defeat him? The story ends in a similar way.
Posted in 2012 Reading List
Acts 3
1 Peter and John were going up to the temple at three o’clock in the afternoon, the established prayer time. 2 Meanwhile, a man crippled since birth was being carried in. Every day, people would place him at the temple gate known as the Beautiful Gate so he could ask for money from those entering the temple. 3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he began to ask them for a gift. 4 Peter and John stared at him. Peter said, “Look at us!” 5 So the man gazed at them, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Peter said, “I don’t have any money, but I will give you what I do have. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, rise up and walk!” 7 Then he grasped the man’s right hand and raised him up. At once his feet and ankles became strong. 8 Jumping up, he began to walk around. He entered the temple with them, walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 All the people saw him walking and praising God. 10 They recognized him as the same one who used to sit at the temple’s Beautiful Gate asking for money. They were filled with amazement and surprise at what had happened to him.
I read this passage this morning and it blew my mind. When I think of God taking care of us, I always think of the spiritual. Healing me of the scars my sins have created, freeing me from sinful bondage, saving me from hell by his grace.
But here, God is clearly focused on the physical. Peter and John could have said, “We don’t have money, but we will give you what we do have” and then talked to him about Jesus, about him rising from the dead and how believing in him will bring eternal life. And that would have been amazing. Life altering. After-life altering.
What they did instead was use the power of the Holy Spirit to heal the man’s crippled body. Save him here and now of physical pain. They restored the man’s health.
So many other things happened because of this. God’s name was praised because a cripple was healed, faith in Jesus increased, the Disciples message was probably more widely credible, and the man himself was probably restored to a normal social status now that he was not a beggar and could work. And all of that is amazing and good. But what is blowing my mind is that his physical body was healed. It seems that we are taught so often to consider the physical realm of least importance, that we need to be focused on the spiritual. Yes, but not so that we forget or neglect the physical. The physical realm is where people live and die. God cares about what happens in the physical because it is intimately tied up with the spiritual.
This feels like it has become rambling and I could go in a million different directions right now. What I want and mean to say above all is this; I often deem my physical needs as something small. And this passage screams to me, “God cares about those needs.” He cares. He cares about something as small as the health of my body. He cares. And it blows my mind.
Posted in Theology
Dark Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis
After Marvel’s status-altering event Secret Invasion left Norman Osborn, aka the schizophrenic/psychopathic killer Green Goblin, in charge of S.H.E.I.L.D. there had to be a book focused on him, right? I mean, he showed up everywhere but there had to be something to follow his specific exploits. Dark Avengers was that book.
Thankfully Dark Avengers didn’t just follow Osborn, but also his murderous bunch of criminals masquerading as Avengers. The crazy individuals and their interactions are what made this book so fantastic. I wont go through each story, but what I will say is I loved every character. Bullseye was as deviant and selfish as they come. He kept reminding you that Osborn had really pulled in evil onto his team. Ares was a great character who got to sine in the book. Even while sided with Osborn, and while murdering people, he still felt noble somehow. Venom was mostly used for humor, which was fun but unfortunate, and Daken was criminally underused considering. Moonstone was really the character I liked least as I could never really get a read on why she did anything she did. The stars of the book though, from beginning to end, were Norman Osborn and The Sentry.
I loved that Bendsi made me actually sympathize with Osborn at times. You sometimes felt that he was actually doing what he did because he believed in his heart it was the right thing to do. He even did things that seemed good on occasion. As crazy as it feels to say, he was the sane one for much of the book. He was portrayed the way many dictators act; they do what they do because they believe it to be right, but ALSO because they love and want to hold onto power. Little by little, we see Osborn unravel and I almost hated to see it happen. I almost liked Osborn. Almost.
Then there is The Sentry. What a nutcase. Dark Avengers grows even more the story of Bob Reynolds and his schizophrenic fight between The Sentry and The Void. His character seems to me to be unlike anything else in comics. You root for him but he fails again and again. Why? Because he is CRAZY! Every scene with The Sentry is my favorite scene, but especially the origin scenes. Peeling back the layers and finding out how Bob became the Sentry and adding even more depth to this deep character was so enjoyable. And then there are the Siege issues, which do not touch on the events of Siege at all, but give us more backstory on The Sentry and his involvement. Stellar. There was one little connection Bendis made between events of history and The Sentry that I didn’t like and choose to avoid/forget/pretend didn’t happen, but other than that, I loved it.
I highly recommend the run. Even better if you had been reading New Avengers and all the ups and downs of The Sentry before this point.
Posted in Misc.
Siege by Brian Michael Bendis
After reading through the first omnibus of Invincible Iron Man byMatt Fraction, which included the story “World’s Most Wanted” where Norman Osborn is hunting Tony Stark, I became curious to how Osborn’s “Dark Reign” would end. Siege is the story of how Osborn’s end game plays out.
The book begins with a prologue that sets the stage for Osborn, who he has on his side, and what he plans to do. This is pulled off well, setting up Osborn’s mental state and the devious plans of Loki.
Bendis had been building to this point for a year. Issue one starts the whole event off with a bang and never lets up. Bendis must have rightly felt that his multiple Avengers books had established his characters well enough that they did not need to be fleshed out, but that we could jump straight to action. Issue 2 keeps the action coming and pays off plot points from seemingly every major Marvel book including Thor, Invincible Iron Man, Dark Avengers, New Avengers, and Secret Warriors. And talk about a great last panel.
Issue 3 doesn’t stop. panel after panel is big action. I was a bit frustrated with Iron Man’s appearance as he was supposed to be basically out of commission and he takes down Osborn was to easily. If he could do what he did to Osborn, why didn’t he do it Day 1? Why run from Osborn for so long? It just seemed like too easy an out. I would rather have seen them beat Osborn to a pulp. Oh, and then all hell breaks loose.
Issue 4 gives us a nice Loki moment where we get to see a side of him rarely seen. Unfortunately it comes with a ridiculous power upgrade for the Avengers that literally lasts only four pages and does nothing to move the plot and therefore feels like a waste of those four pages. The end comes in a very anti-climatic way. The final blow, so to speak, seems soft and weak compared to the enormous blows traded in earlier pages.
In the end, I enjoyed the book. I probably enjoyed it much more than the average person because I had also read the entire Dark Avengers series. I might have enjoyed it even more had I read Secret Avengers and New Avengers.
Posted in Comics of 2012
