heath's blog

SillyOpening

Originally uploaded by bheathr.

There are (at least) two kinds of stupidity that run rampant in this family. Stupid might sound harsh, but just wait.

First there is Courtney. She has some mechanical difficulties. This picture demonstrates one of the problems this creates. This is not the first time Courtney has demonstrated there there are some usability issues with zip-lock bags. Another problem this deficiency causes is with making paper airplanes for our boys. She has to keep a model to copy for every flyer.

Secondly, there is me. Sunday, I was walking back from Sunday school, and noticed that I didn't have my keys. I asked Courtney if she had them. She didn't, so I went to check if I had left them in the van. As I walked up to the it, I noticed a sound. I had left the car running the entire time. That way it was warm for the church-going theives.

You can bet there are more stories where these came from. It is good to have a sense of humor.

I thought this was pretty interesting. Bono is not exactly who you would expect at Bush's prayer breakfast. I don't know exactly what strip of Christian Bono is, but think I could have said almost everything he did. I am not sure I agree with his politics, but I agree with most of what he said. I am not sure if I think it is right to tax and give the money to others. I definitely prefer voluntary giving. I suppose you could argue that the government could be a type of Robin Hood hero. However, it is awfully hard to see it that way.

I especially liked what he said about justice vs. charity.

I just got finished watching my two older son's (4 and 2.75) repeatedly taking turns slugging each other in the back and saying, "Ouch." Boys really are different than girls.

This makes me think of a conversation I heard recently. I heard Soren crying. Then I heard Gage say that he was sorry. Soren said that he did not forgive him. Gage said, "You have to." There was about a two-second pause. Then Gage said, "Do you want to play shoot-down (a game where you just try to knock each other down)?" Soren says, "Sure." Then they happily start to run around and knock each other down.

I am sure there are great things about having girls, but I sure enjoy the quick recovery of the hearts of boys.

Updated: Shortly after I wrote this I came across this blog entry from the JollyBlogger.

More photos of Pax and family mere hours after his birth are available on our flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bheathr/

Perhaps the title is melodramatic, but this is the blogosphere.  Gage and Soren both love Pax, but Soren is just a tiny bit ambivalent.  I don't know if the little vingette I am about to share is due more to Soren's and Gage's personalities or their different relationship to the new one.

A friend of Courtney's asked a very good question about our son's middle name. Having read the Wikipedia article I liked to, she asked, "Was Athanasius really a good guy?" This was my resons:

The Wikipedia article is largely from a 20th century perspective. It doesn't really judge as sympathetically as I would. But then again, I think it is really important that he played a major role in shaping Christian doctrine during his life time. Judged in his context, I think he would come out more admirable.

Maybe I should have picked a different source to link to. It is just a generally recognized reference, and gives a brief overview of his life. I probably should have given this disclaimer for all of the articles. I pretty much read everything with a healthy dose of skepticism. This is especilly true of secular judgments of church history. Modern historians for the most part have a progressive view of history that everything gets better and better. While WWII changed some of that, there is still a strong influence. Many evangelicals (conservative Christians) think things are just getting worse and worse. I see things going up and down with no particular pattern with respect to time.

For a better view of how I view Athanasius, you could read the introduction to his On Incarnation by C.S. Lewis.

Three Sleepers

Originally uploaded by bheathr.

Pax was born at 12:45pm on Friday Jan 27. He weight 8.0 oz, and measured 19in in length.

He and Courtney are both doing well. Courtney is an amazing baby deliverng machine. She looks as good as ever only a day after. As you can see, Pax, also quite a looker, if I do say so myself, has quite a head of dark hair. More pictures are coming, but I need to get them from Courtney's dad. I borrowed the professional camera to record the moment.

In case you are wondering, Pax means peace in Latin and Athanasius is the third in our series of church father names. For more info see the wikipedia entries:
Gage Augustin
Soren Basil
Pax Athanasius

For the most part these were all great men. Like all of us, they have their stains, but they were used by God to shape what all Christians believe even today.

Thanks for all your prayers. Praise be to God! Human life is an amazing thing!

I thought it would be funny to share this survey that I recently got from DefCon America. It is suprising how much they sound like fundamentalists.

I think they might be as evangelistic as a church planter. I saved off a copy to share.

I heard a quote recently about C.S. Lewis saying that every third book we read should be from a different century. He says that this will help us see our cultural blind spots.

Many people read books from the same group of authors if not the same author. Some only read mainstream evangelicals, others only charismatic writers, still others only reformed writers. Reading old books would help us break out of our own tradition enough to see beyond the set of problems usually addressed by the books we read and might help us to see issues that authors of our own culture fail to see because they all have very similar lives.

Sometimes we avoid old book because we think they will be difficult or irrelevant. However, classics, Lewis says, are classics because they are so accessible and I would add relevant. Surviving the test of time is proof that they are readable and relevant.

I haven't picked my "old book" yet, but I am planning to. I have a few seminary that I could reread. I am sure it would do me good. It's not like I really remember all of what is in them. Plus, I am a different person now: I am sure I would different ideas would stick out to me.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. (Rom 12:12)

I became all things to all people. (1 Cor 9:22)

I listened to an interesting lecture by Piper on Athanasius. One of his big points is that the principles from these two passages must not be viewed as sequential but as equal and ongoing.

On one hand we must be missional in that we must be able to communicate our faith in terms that others can understand. On the other hand, the God described in scripture is so far beyond a culture's pre-existing categories we must not be afraid to, and indeed must be committed to, showing the truth in scripture in such a way that it overloads the circuits of the culture.

It often seems that we are at war with each other along these lines. Both are taught in scripture. We must do both.