A Couple Things…

You may have noticed that we’ve finished our posting on John’s Gospel earlier today.

So, what’s next?

Tomorrow morning, I thought we’d start a new adventure, this time in the Book of Ecclesiastes, and what an adventure that will be! Please make your plans to join us on a most excellent adventure into an often misunderstood little bit of wisdom.

I also wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that I have also added new versions of both Hebrews and John to my website. If you would like to download them, you can find Hebrews HERE and you can find John HERE… or if you want them both, simply click the “Reflection Series” picture on the right column on my blog page. As always, both are free of charge.

“Progaming Note”

Well dear reader, I’m off to Los Angeles to visit the family for the first time in 8 years.

Imagine my reaction when I realized that She Who Must Be Obeyed booked our flight on September 11… can’t wait for the security lines!  Well anyway, I’m off until next week, Wednesday I think. Ephesians will conclude with the thrilling final episode tomorrow at 6 am Eastern, and then TLP will be “dark” until I return.

Have a great and blessed week, and I’ll see you then!

Don

Weekly Podcast: August 18, 2014

The Old Photograph

 

This past week, I came to discover an old photograph taken of the Virginia and Truckee Railroad back in the 1870’s. Tune in now to hear how this came about, and the lessons I learned in the process!

 

Listen Now

A Little ‘Inside Baseball’

In yesterday’s post reflecting upon our recently completed tour of the Olivet Discourse, I made reference to my thought that this experiment might not be quite a success, and I’ve received a number of very encouraging comments as a result. First, I’d like to thank all of those who commented; your encouragement is not only appreciated, but means more to me than you will ever know.

with that said, the thought has occurred to me that I might not have made the nature of the experiment clear. In truth, I really shouldn’t have mentioned that there was an experiment involved at all, because this is really inside baseball, and everyone knows that inside baseball bores most people to death. Yet, since I’ve already gone this far, I might as well finish up the story.

The experiment was really a technical one, it was all about how best to teach or discuss prophetic passages in a blogging format.  There are many posts on blogs about prophecy, but how effective are they in practice? Do they teach anything in a thoughtful way that can be understood by people who are not all that knowledgable in prophecy, and who aren’t formally trained in Bible interpretation?  In my view, most of the posts I’ve read are unlikely to reach those people, for they are either very academic, using vocabulary that most people aren’t familiar with and making references to theological concepts that aren’t in the common vernacular, or they are merely dogmatic recitations of a “party line” that leave no room for thoughtful questions.

My goal was to avoid both of those pitfalls.

My approach was an attempt to relate the passage in an informal, narrative and conversational format, using academic terms as little as possible, and while I have used such a format in many other passages, I’m not entirely sure I have quite found the mark with prophecy just yet. For one thing, it strikes me now in hindsight that I messed up right from the beginning by using the term “Olivet Discourse” as a title. Gee, dummy, weren’t you going to avoid academic terms most people aren’t familiar with? Way to go, you did it the title… duh!

Maybe that’s one reason views were down…

Anyway, in the final analysis, I’d say the results of the experiment portion of the recent study are mixed; some parts of the format are “keepers” and others need improvement, so a second experiment is indicated.

Now, all I need to do is figure out what passage or passages make good candidates, and I’ll give it another go… and that’s about enough inside baseball for one day!

 

Weekly Podcast: July 28, 2014

Does Anything Last?

Welcome to this week’s podcast!  This week, let’s consider what is really permanent in this world, certainly it isn’t cell phones, since I’ve just tossed a perfectly good one into my box of old phones that I no longer use, in spite of the fact that they all work just fine.

Yep, we live in a throw away world, does anything really last>

 

Listen Now!

Reflections on an Interesting Morning

This morning we headed off for our tours, informal, yes, but still tours. We took our grandson to visit the White House and the Pentagon, no simple thing in the rather too complicated times we live in.  She Who Must Be Obeyed made the arrangements, and succeeded in getting us into the White House; my job was finding the Southeast Gate… easy enough, yet all the way from the Metro Station to the gate, SWMBO wasn’t sure I was going the right way! I’ll admit that if I sit my phone down someplace unusual it will be days before I find it, but when it comes to how you get into the White House, or finding something in downtown DC, I’ve got it covered. Southeast Gate? Easy money: One block west of 15th, one block north of E Street…

When we arrived, I couldn’t help recalling my first trip there back when I was 19. In those days, you went to the Ellipse, and got a ticket from a kiosk with a time on it. Then you took a seat in the bleachers and were entertained with live music until your time came and then walked right in the gate of the White House. Now of course, it’s a little different. SWMBO had to request a date from the White House, and give them our information for background checks, and subject to availability, we were approved. (Because she is from the Pentagon) Then you go to a gate a block away from the actual gate for the first round of security, then proceed to the actual gate for more security… a sad fact of modern life. Of course, no cameras or other electronics are allowed. No backpacks, tobacco products, handbags or purses are allowed… and no food or drink. Cell phones are OK if the are turned off.  Not like my first visit! Back then they didn’t really care about anything other than food or drink…

Once inside, we proceeded along pretty much as before, and to my amazement, my grandson seemed fascinated by the portraits of past presidents. OK, I’ll admit that my inner  history geek  got the better of me, and I pointed out this and that and told stories of events that happened there, some of which I could give a personal memory of… and then on to the Pentagon.

The Pentagon is always a hassle to get into unless you work there. You get to answer questions about why you’re there, show your ID (but not as many times as at the White House) and tell them whether or not your escort is coming to meet you. Eventually you get a badge with your photo on it and then meet up with your escort, who just happened to be SWMBO. She took us u to her office  so we could meet her new coworkers, she’s changed offices a few months back, and we met her boss, the Undersecretary of the Air Force.  All along the route through Air Force territory, the walls are filled with paintings of aircraft from the earliest days of aviation to the present. There are great Air Force heroes, model airplanes… all the sort of stuff that I really like.

Since I’m married to a military person, I meet lots of military, and I’m always amazed at how friendly they are. Of course there are all sorts of people in any large organization, but the military, at least the ones who have been there for a while, usually strike me not only polite, but genuinely hospitable, much different from the way they are so often portrayed in the media… but then I suppose that shouldn’t surprise anyone.

I asked my grandson which he liked the most, the White House or the Pentagon.  He couldn’t say, because he liked them both for different reasons. I doubt that at 10, the history of the White House would really sink in for most kids. It may be that his first taste of all of those uniforms at the Pentagon might have been a bit overwhelming… and what 10-year-old has a clue what an Undersecretary is. Everyone’s friendliness made an impact though… and all those airplane pictures didn’t hurt.  I wonder what he will tell his buddies back in Illinois about today, or if he’ll even remember for the next few years, but I suspect the day will come when it sinks in that he walked the halls that most make the news, the halls where greatness has trod.

He was impressed that there is a Taco Bell in the Pentagon, and yes sir, my grandson can say that he’s eaten lunch in the most secure Taco Bell in the world!

A “Programming Note”

I simply wanted to drop in a note to let you know what’s going on around here, and what to expect on The Life Project for the next couple of weeks. My 10-year-old grandson arrived late yesterday from Illinois and will be spending a week here, before we take him home on the 5th.

When I was 10, I would have been thrilled beyond words to fly on an airliner to Washington, Dc by myself… and the little creep just got to do that!

Actually, thinking back on it, I spent the summer I was 10 reading every book in the Public Library on Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War. By the time the summer was over, I had read them all and was ordering more from the main library in downtown LA that they didn’t have in our local branch, and I had those finished by Christmas… the life of a 10-year-old history gook! I can only imagine how excited I would have been to spend a week in Washington that summer, considering that two-thirds of that war was fought within a hundred miles of here… oh the battlefields I would have wanted to visit!

My grandson also has the geek gene, but not for history; he is all about marvel comics characters, a subject that never had the slightest interest for me. To be completely honest, I can only fake being interested in that for so long at a time!

So, I have a strategy: Keep the kid busy! If nothing else, he won’t be able to say that he didn’t see the sights, and in the coming week, we will see who has the physical endurance to go everywhere: old ancient me or a bright fresh 10-year-old. If you are a betting man or woman, put your money on the old guy!

So, while we are seeing the sights (today it’s the B & O RR museum in Baltimore, along with the National Aquarium (he likes that kind of stuff) Monday, Mount Vernon, Tuesday he is touring the White House and the Pentagon, courtesy of She Who Must Be Obeyed who has pull these days that I no longer have, Wednesday the monuments… well you get the idea. So, here on the blog, I won’t be around as much as usual, but I’ll still be checking in. There will be the regular features on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and at least one post in our journey with Mark each day. I also might drop in a picture or two and keep you up to date with our adventures.

After that, starting the following week, we’ll be hitting the road and driving back to Illinois. I am really looking forward to visiting my church family there, along with my daughter and son-in-law, and then we need to visit in-laws because it’s “She” Who Must Be Obeyed and not “He”, a trek that will take us into Iowa and Wisconsin, and on the way back here, we’ll stop in and get a first hand update on our “Case Study” from last winter at Franklin Christian Church. Thus, aside from the features, I don’t expect much in the way of posts after the 5th.

Have a great weekend!