Medicine of Immortality "It's a cold, and it's a broken, 'Hallelujah!'"

Moscow Trip/Biblical Nonviolence/Christian Socialist EconomicsPosted by Rachel on May 25th, 2008

On Friday, we went to Moscow to spend some time with Isaiah. We enjoyed a terrific Italian dinner at the home of Lisa Jackson, and we met some new friends, as well as some old friends. Throughout the course of the night, our old friend Davey Henreckson mentioned that he has been interested in political theology, and he asked me about my recent reading of Caputo’s What Would Jesus Deconstruct? As we discussed the book a bit, I mentioned that I had been shifting toward a biblical theology of nonviolence over the past several years. I was shocked to find out that Douglas Jones has been doing work in this area. If you haven’t checked out the Biblical Theses on Violence, I highly recommend it.

I also found out something interesting at church today. After the service, I started talking politics with Bishop Cavalcanti. It turns out that he was a political science professor before becoming a bishop. After this discussion Fr. Jerry mentioned that Bishop Cavalcanti was a major player in South American politics, but we know little of him since he doesn’t write in English. A search on Amazon confirmed this as his name pops up in many books on evangelicals in politics in Latin America. One of them calls him a “leader of the evangelical left,” which I find a funny term since those are almost exclusive adjectives in America (though I would probably throw myself under a title like that).

An interesting weekend to say the least.

ThankfulPosted by Rick on December 10th, 2007

I was just listening to Rebecca St. James and Todd Agnew sing “Our Great God,” and it just reminded me how thankful I feel right now.

We’ve had a ton of bills lately with the new table (we outgrew the old one), computer (it died), washer and dryer (they were dying together), computer, midwife, doula, tuition, and visits from family. God has provided a lot of money to meet those bills. I mean a lot. Close to $10,000 in the last three weeks. (I broke a Black Friday sales record and received my overload pay from teaching all in the last three weeks.) That almost covers everything (yeah, they add up). What would normally have been a stressful time has not been that bad.

I have a beautiful new son. The birth was incredible. It couldn’t have gone any more perfectly. The doula was incredible when it came to supporting Rachel. The whole time Rachel was in labor, I kept thanking God for her. The midwife was great too, but let the doula pretty much handle things.

My daughter continues to grow in her relationship to Christ. She amazes me sometimes.

I’m glad to be in a church where we can chant, receive communion every week, feel loved, and our children can commune. We’ve actually been able to develop a relationship with a fellow congregation member (though in its early stages, it’s nice to be able to connect to someone other than the pastor and his family). The lady is a bit older than us, but her youngest son is close to Kyrie’s age.

My class this semester will be taught by Reggie Kidd, and it’s on my favorite subject. How great is that? I’ve been able to finish most of the books (I saved the best ones for last, so woohoo).

I’ve had off of work for three straight days. I don’t think I’ve had more than one day in a row off since August (and even then I was usually working on my day off). It’s been a time of healing and rest (though I must say I am wiped out from all the work I am doing—but it’s different work, so in a big way, it’s restful).

We have family coming to visit. Forrest and Rebekah will be here in less than two weeks. The Enloe family also plans to come by. Mommy and daddy plan on coming in February. It will be so nice to have company again, and it’s nice to have a table that will fit everyone (tightly though!).

I love how all of our close friends’ families are growing. Exponential growth is nice when it involves friends.

We are planning to stay our entire summer in Spokane, if possible. Actually, it would be nice to just move up there, so maybe a job can fall in our laps (pretty please!).

It’s Advent. The long green season is fully over.

Oh, Lord remind us once again of your wonderful works. Hallelujah! Glory be to our great God.

If you’re interested in Fred Thompson…Posted by Rick on September 24th, 2007

A friend of mine is an archivist at the University of Tennessee. The UT archives are becoming pretty popular because they house the political letters of Fred Thompson. My friend sent this article on his work this morning. If you’re interested in Thompson, it’s an interesting read.

Mutual Defenestration Means Self AnnihilationPosted by Rick on September 4th, 2007

Over the past couple of years, I’ve gotten to know Reggie Kidd, and I’ve come to appreciate him as a faithful man of God, who is open and honest with what he believes. Over the past few semesters, I’ve had a few discussions with him concerning the Federal Vision and the New Perspective on Paul, and when I told him that the PCA had adopted the MS Valley Report (we were at a class session when the vote came in), I could see the look of frustration on his face.

I asked him why he never wrote anything on the subject that might have swayed pastors to vote the other way, and the answer was that he just didn’t have the time. It looks like he found the time recently, and his thoughts are right on the money:

As the Scoutmaster once said to his troop of Boy Scouts who couldn’t do anything but bicker: “Boys, it’s time to start whizzing out of the campsite instead of into it.” (Apologies to my friend Wes Sumrall for the euphemism.)

Is it possible that Sparta and Athens understood better what was at stake in their time than we do in ours? Can we stop devouring our own? Can we make common cause against common enemies instead of against one another?

We’re better than this. We’re wiser than this. And the gospel deserves better than this, because more is at stake than when the beneficiaries of the sacrifice of King Leonidas and “his brave three hundred” took stock of the price that had been paid for them.

Blevins Wedding PicturesPosted by Rick on August 20th, 2007

Thanks to Justin and Naomi Eastwood for these pics:

Evelyn and KyriePosted by Rachel on August 18th, 2007

We had a great time with the Companiks this week. Kyrie loved playing with Evie (Ewie, she called her) and was sad to see her go this morning. Here are some pictures of some of the fun they had together.

Oh Happy DayPosted by Rick on August 11th, 2007

We just returned home from Natchez, MS, where we witnessed the wedding of my dear friend Nathan Blevins to his new bride, Courtney. I have joy in my heart from this great occasion. The wedding was at a plantation home, Stanton Hall, and went off without a hitch. Well, there was one hitch. Nathan had just been released from the hospital after an emergency appendectomy. Something so bad couldn’t happen to a better person the day before his wedding. In spite of his pain, he had a big smile on his face.

I’m coming home…for less than 24 hours.Posted by Rick on June 20th, 2007

I’ll be leaving Florida in a few hours, and as usual, I’ve gotten to see some glimpses of God’s glory. Friday was Bob Webber’s memorial service. This was the memorial service that the family chose to attend. It was good to see Joanne again, to see that love she has for Bob. You know how they say some couples were “made for each other”? It’s that way with Bob and Joanne. When Jim Hart asked her if she’d rather be called Bob’s wife or widow, she replied, “Wife.” I was standing right next to her and heard her mutter under her breath, “Forever and ever.”

The mother of one of my classmates passed away suddenly on Monday. My classmate handled it with great faith. His father was diagnosed with terminal cancer on the last day of last term and was supposed to be in heavenly glory by this term, so this has been a bit backwards for the family. She had gone into the hospital on Wednesday and seemed fine on Thursday. She found out that a hole in her esophagus. This, in turn, caused acid to leak into her blood and poison it, causing her organs to shut down. She started taking a turn for the worse on Sunday while we were at the beach. By Monday, they were going to take her off the ventilator by evening, but she didn’t make it that long. It was shocking to me how quickly it all happened. I guess that with her husband dying of cancer, she probably didn’t feel the need to fight for her life. My classmate kept saying, “She always said she didn’t want to live without dad; now she doesn’t have to.”

Another classmate who had missed last semester (due to a viral heart attack) was back again this semester. He told the story of how, through misdiagnosis and wrong treatment, his blood was thinned to the point of leaking out of his stomach. He woke up in a puddle of blood (after having been changing bandages for several days). He thought he was going to die, so he prayed with his father, who is also a pastor (I believe). When he came back into the room five minutes later to take him to the hospital, there was a crusty scab that looked like it had been there for days. Incredible.

On Sunday I hit the beach after worship and stayed in the water a couple hours longer than everyone else. After the beach, I went to a worship service. Brian McLaren was the celebrant, and I had a good chat with him on the glories of teaching English (He was an English prof. Before going into the ministry and then public speaking). He reminded me once again why my background is oh so useful for what I hope to do in the future. Of all the well-known pastors and theologians I’ve met over the years, I have to say that McLaren is probably the most approachable. He’s had this “Hey, guys, what’s going on? Can I play?” smile on his face for the last three days.

Hmmm…I’m too distracted to blog anything else.

Kyrie SadPosted by Rachel on June 12th, 2007

So Kyrie just burst out into tears when the bad guys caught George in a net. I’d never heard her act like that. This is the first time I’ve seen her sit and watch the whole movie, so I think she’s actually following the plot.

Rachel calmed her down, and about five minutes later she started wailing.

Rick: What happened?
Rachel: They showed George in his cage, and he looked sad.

And…there she goes again.

Freaking adorable. She cares for that silly monkey.

The Jungle GymPosted by Rachel on May 20th, 2007

Today I wanted to do something fun for Kyrie. She is usually cooped up at home with Mommy, and we both get a little stir-crazy from time to time. I felt bad that she couldn’t really play in our yard (it’s just not a great yard to play in, and the grass is too long, so I’m afraid of snakes…and the mosquitoes are problematic), so I suggested to Rick that we take her to the park. She went down the slide a couple of times and then we went to the swings. She was having fun, but her cheeks and legs were turning bright pink. She’s very sensitive to heat, and we were worried about her, so we decided to look for an indoor place to play instead. There’s a place called The Jungle Gym in West Monroe, so we checked it out. Kyrie had an absolute blast. She was climbing up netted ropes, flying down slides, burying herself in ball pits, crawling through tunnels, and bouncing on this huge inflated floor—not sure what those are called, but she was seriously having the time of her life. One of Rick’s students was there with her kids, and her 5-year-old girl really helped Kyrie out a lot through some of the stuff for bigger kids. They were so cute going down the slide together. The older girl had her arm around Kyrie and was acting like such a big sister. Kyrie wanted to hold her hand as our two families walked out as the place was closing. It was such a sweet little moment. Kyrie is really so great with other kids; it makes me proud. It was really sweet of Rick’s student’s girl to be such a little mommy, too. With all the bratty kids running around in those places, it is nice to run across a sweet, responsible kid every once in a while. Anyway, I wish I’d gotten some videos or pictures. Maybe next time!