12.30.2005
Books I read in 2005
Here is the list of books that I read, and completed this past year. I thought about briefly reviewing them, but for the most part, if they're on this list, I liked the book. If I don't like a book, I usually just stop reading it! There were quite a few of those this year as well.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis
When You Rise Up, RC Sproul Jr.
Calvin, Geneva and Reformation, Ronald S. Wallace
Henry and the Great Society, H.L. Roush
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
I'll Stake My Stand, Twelve Southerners
Survival Tactics in the Parish, Lyle Schaller (did not finish, did not like)
Family Friendly Farming, Joel Salatin
Practical Skills: A Revival of Forgotten Crafts, Techniques, and Traditions, Gene Logsdon
Empire Falls, Richard Russo
The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner
The Homeschooling Revolution, Isabel Lyman
Five Acres and Independence, M.G. Kains
Pastured Poultry Profits, Joel Salatin
Contrary Farmer, Gene Logsdon
An American Homeplace, Donald McCaig
At Nature's Pace, Gene Logsdon
All Flesh is Grass, Gene Logsdon
Back to Basics: How to learn and enjoy American Skills, Readers Digest
Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Natural Theology, Thomas Chalmers (portions)
Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Natural Solar Architecture, David Wright
Little House on the Prarie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis
The Magician's Nephew, C.S. Lewis
When You Rise Up, RC Sproul Jr.
Calvin, Geneva and Reformation, Ronald S. Wallace
Henry and the Great Society, H.L. Roush
The Brothers Karamazov, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Prince Caspian, C.S. Lewis
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, C.S. Lewis
The Silver Chair, C.S. Lewis
The Horse and His Boy, C.S. Lewis
The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis
Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck
I'll Stake My Stand, Twelve Southerners
Survival Tactics in the Parish, Lyle Schaller (did not finish, did not like)
Family Friendly Farming, Joel Salatin
Practical Skills: A Revival of Forgotten Crafts, Techniques, and Traditions, Gene Logsdon
Empire Falls, Richard Russo
The Sound and the Fury, Faulkner
The Homeschooling Revolution, Isabel Lyman
Five Acres and Independence, M.G. Kains
Pastured Poultry Profits, Joel Salatin
Contrary Farmer, Gene Logsdon
An American Homeplace, Donald McCaig
At Nature's Pace, Gene Logsdon
All Flesh is Grass, Gene Logsdon
Back to Basics: How to learn and enjoy American Skills, Readers Digest
Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder
Natural Theology, Thomas Chalmers (portions)
Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Natural Solar Architecture, David Wright
Little House on the Prarie, Laura Ingalls Wilder
12.29.2005
Christmas Booklist
Here is my booklist of gifts from this Christmas.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Whitney
Christian Apologetics, Cornelius Van Til
Defense of the Faith, Cornelius Van Til
The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Ideas Have Consequences, Richard Weaver
The Bible and the Future, Anthony Hoekema
I look forward to working through them in the next year. I will be cleaning out my reading list from my sidebar and starting fresh for the new year.
Here is my booklist of gifts from this Christmas.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, Whitney
Christian Apologetics, Cornelius Van Til
Defense of the Faith, Cornelius Van Til
The Idiot, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Ideas Have Consequences, Richard Weaver
The Bible and the Future, Anthony Hoekema
I look forward to working through them in the next year. I will be cleaning out my reading list from my sidebar and starting fresh for the new year.
12.27.2005
We have a new house
We got a new house for christmas! Three-story colonial house with 5 bedrooms, furniture included. I think I am going into the furniture repair business too.
12.21.2005
Sin, Scandal and Satan
In times such as these, when we see good men fall, it is tempting to turn our backs on them, not because we do not love them, but because they have caused us shame. They have brought revilement to the body of Christ. But we must remember what such men have endured, and why they have fallen. Is it not common knowledge, and proved by experience, that men of leadership are routinely attacked by our enemy in order to discredit the work of Christ?
As Richard Baxter says in his work "Reformed Pastor":
The church universal suffers because of the scandals of particular churches. But we must still remember that these men are our brothers, and we must remember our Christian duty towards them. We need to be careful not to further drag the name of Christ and His body through the mud as a consequence of our gossip. Be on guard for yourselves, that you, in wanting to make sure that everyone else is aware of the pit that is in the road, do not fall into it yourself.
Love and pray for you elders, that they may resist the devil and that they would not fall into scandal or sin, and in so doing, bring humiliation on the church. Eagerly forgive those who have done so, and pray for their restoration and repentance.
As Richard Baxter says in his work "Reformed Pastor":
'whenever he [Satan] ruineth you, he will make you the instruments of ruin to others. O what a conquest will he think he hath got, if he can make a minister lazy and unfaithful, if he can tempt a minister into covetousness or scandal! He will glory against the Church, and say, 'These are your holy preachers! See what their preciseness is, and whither it brings them.' He will glory against Jesus Christ himself, and say, 'These are thy champions! I can make thy chiefest servants abuse thee; I can make the stewards of thy house unfaithful.'
...
Take heed therefore ... Would it not wound you to the heart to hear the name and truth of God reproached for your sakes; to see men point to you, and say, 'There goes a covetous priest, a secret tippler, a scandalous man; these are they that preach for strictness, while they themselves can live as loose as others; they condemn us by their sermons, and condemn themselves by their lives; notwithstanding all their talk, they are as bad as we.' O brethren, could your hearts endure to hear men cast the dung of your iniquities in the face of the holy God, and in the face of the gospel, and of all that desire to fear the Lord? Would it not break your hearts to think that all the godly Christians about you should suffer reproach for your misdoings? Why, if one of you that is a leader of the flock, should be ensnared but once into some scandalous crime, there is scarcely a man or woman that seeketh diligently after their salvation, within the hearing of it, but, besides the grief of their hearts for your sin, are likely to have it cast in their teeth by the ungodly about them, however much they may detest it, and lament it. The ungodly husband will tell his wife, and the ungodly parents will tell their children, and ungodly neighbors and fellow-servants will be telling one another of it, saying, 'These are your godly preachers! See what comes of all your stir. What better are you than others You are even all alike.' Such words as these must all the godly in the country hear for your sakes. 'It must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!'(empasis mine)
The church universal suffers because of the scandals of particular churches. But we must still remember that these men are our brothers, and we must remember our Christian duty towards them. We need to be careful not to further drag the name of Christ and His body through the mud as a consequence of our gossip. Be on guard for yourselves, that you, in wanting to make sure that everyone else is aware of the pit that is in the road, do not fall into it yourself.
Love and pray for you elders, that they may resist the devil and that they would not fall into scandal or sin, and in so doing, bring humiliation on the church. Eagerly forgive those who have done so, and pray for their restoration and repentance.
12.20.2005
On Images, Idolatry and False Gods
Deuteronomy Chapter 4:15 "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. 23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
Deuteronomy Chapter 4:15 "Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 beware lest you act corruptly by making a carved image for yourselves, in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, 17 the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, 18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth. 19 And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. 20 But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day. 21 Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me because of you, and he swore that I should not cross the Jordan, and that I should not enter the good land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance. 22 For I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you shall go over and take possession of that good land. 23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God, which he made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the Lord your God has forbidden you. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God."
12.19.2005
Wanted: Humility
While eating dinner with Richard and his family the other week, my wife asked his wife what they did to have such well-behaved children (a good habit to get into when ever you see such children). His wife replied that they just asked their children for forgiveness all the time.
Being a parent is a great way to begin to understand the idea of authority. It's so easy to use our God given authority to "lord it over" our children. But it's often more effective to humble ourselves, and admit that we don't have this parenting thing down. Sometimes we need to entreat our children's forgiveness and explain how we also need Jesus' help in raising them. This been something that we were blessed to learn early on in our parenting, but I think that we are too quick to forget the lesson. It's easy to be tempted to "lay down the law" and sometimes that is necessary, but I need to remember to be a humble father in front of my children, as one who answers to a higher authority.
While eating dinner with Richard and his family the other week, my wife asked his wife what they did to have such well-behaved children (a good habit to get into when ever you see such children). His wife replied that they just asked their children for forgiveness all the time.
Being a parent is a great way to begin to understand the idea of authority. It's so easy to use our God given authority to "lord it over" our children. But it's often more effective to humble ourselves, and admit that we don't have this parenting thing down. Sometimes we need to entreat our children's forgiveness and explain how we also need Jesus' help in raising them. This been something that we were blessed to learn early on in our parenting, but I think that we are too quick to forget the lesson. It's easy to be tempted to "lay down the law" and sometimes that is necessary, but I need to remember to be a humble father in front of my children, as one who answers to a higher authority.
12.16.2005
A formatting break
For those of you using Internet Explorer, if my site is showing up kind of funky (links and pictures are not on right side) I apologize. I just found out that it doesn't show up right sometimes in IE for some reason. You should just go get Firefox anyways, it's not the 90's anymore, after all.
For those of you using Internet Explorer, if my site is showing up kind of funky (links and pictures are not on right side) I apologize. I just found out that it doesn't show up right sometimes in IE for some reason. You should just go get Firefox anyways, it's not the 90's anymore, after all.
12.14.2005
Virginia
Well, we are back from our fine trip to Virginia, where we encountered snow, ice, good food, and nice people. I was in DC for business and Lindsay flew up to meet me last Thursday. From there we drove down to Lynchburg we had dinner with the Okimoto's. The food was very good and the conversation wonderful, but we had to leave much too soon due to the impending ice on the roads and our further travel south to Troutville where we spend the night.
On Saturday we traveled to Wytheville, Chilhowie, Saltville, Tannersville and back to Wytheville for the night. I am thoroughly in love with the area. You know you are in a beautiful place when it looks good in the winter. Saturday we traveled back to Saltville where we stumbled across this fine store:
We then made our way up to Floyd, which if you have been there you will know is one cool town. We had lunch at the local diner and then strolled the streets. Floyd county is amazingly pretty. That afternoon we went to the Chateau Morissette where we tasted some wines. We planned on staying for dinner, but did not want to risk the drove home on icy back country roads. So we went to Christiansburg where we went to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Sunday we made our way to Prospect which is near Farmville, directly between Lynchburg and Richmond. We had a wonderful brunch in downtown Farmville, which is also a great town. Afterwards we made our way up to Falls Church we spent the evening with family.
It's hard to get back into the groove of things back down here in Florida. I know that the Lord wants to teach me contentment and I am trying to yield to His loving hand.
Well, we are back from our fine trip to Virginia, where we encountered snow, ice, good food, and nice people. I was in DC for business and Lindsay flew up to meet me last Thursday. From there we drove down to Lynchburg we had dinner with the Okimoto's. The food was very good and the conversation wonderful, but we had to leave much too soon due to the impending ice on the roads and our further travel south to Troutville where we spend the night.
On Saturday we traveled to Wytheville, Chilhowie, Saltville, Tannersville and back to Wytheville for the night. I am thoroughly in love with the area. You know you are in a beautiful place when it looks good in the winter. Saturday we traveled back to Saltville where we stumbled across this fine store:
We then made our way up to Floyd, which if you have been there you will know is one cool town. We had lunch at the local diner and then strolled the streets. Floyd county is amazingly pretty. That afternoon we went to the Chateau Morissette where we tasted some wines. We planned on staying for dinner, but did not want to risk the drove home on icy back country roads. So we went to Christiansburg where we went to see The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. Sunday we made our way to Prospect which is near Farmville, directly between Lynchburg and Richmond. We had a wonderful brunch in downtown Farmville, which is also a great town. Afterwards we made our way up to Falls Church we spent the evening with family.
It's hard to get back into the groove of things back down here in Florida. I know that the Lord wants to teach me contentment and I am trying to yield to His loving hand.
12.08.2005
I'm not dead or anything like that
Lindsay and I are enjoying a nice visit to Virginia where we have had our first experience with "freezing rain" tonight. I keep telling everyone that we don't have stuff like that down in Florida. We had a wonderful dinner with Richard and his family tonight. More on all of that later, we had a great time. Pray that us Floridians don't doing anything stupid up here in this cold weather!
Lindsay and I are enjoying a nice visit to Virginia where we have had our first experience with "freezing rain" tonight. I keep telling everyone that we don't have stuff like that down in Florida. We had a wonderful dinner with Richard and his family tonight. More on all of that later, we had a great time. Pray that us Floridians don't doing anything stupid up here in this cold weather!
12.02.2005
Isn't this a bit Ironic?
Mazda Recommends Employees Walk to Office
Mazda Recommends Employees Walk to Office
Japanese automaker Mazda Motor Corp. is recommending its employees walk to the office, rather than commute by car, as part of an effort to improve their health and protect the environment, a company spokesman said Friday.
12.01.2005
Community and Church
Ok, admittedly this a topic that gets plenty of press, and I have dealt with it in the past, albeit briefly. I have been working on a paper on the parish system and one of the things that I explore is the idea of "intentional communities" where like-minded people join together to form a community.
Now I'm not so sure.
In a comment on a post about community on Mr. Degenhart's Blog, Rick Saenz said something that confused me the first time I read it:
This coming from a man who was living in the current prime example of an "intentional community!" Reading it now, months later, it makes total sense to me. I think Rick makes a great point here about where a community must come from. For some reason, while planning to relocate our family and pursue a more "agrarian" way of life, we have only been slightly tempted by places such as Bristol or Moscow, and quickly dissuaded. Not that we have some kind of insight, but probably just that I'm intimidated by crowds! I'd much rather find a small country church that we can slip into and try to be a part of the body. As I have alluded to, we have been a part of some interesting homechurch groups, and think that has made us weary of the party-spirit. Not that we are immune to such things, but we do have quite a bit of experience in being hurt.
While I want to be with my like-minded friends who seem to be on the same page as I am, and would love to have them as neighbors, the weight of history probably should advise me to stay away from such "intentional communities." The fact is that our theological and philosophical like-mindedness is probably going to change, that's just a part of the Christian life, we are supposed to keep growing.
I found this link outlining some problems of two such communities: Tyler, TX and Bristol, VA. Now, I am new to this discussion, I don't know much about the Bristol community and I know practically nothing about the (former) Tyler, TX community, but they both pertain to men that I do respect and appreciate. I think that we as Christians are always looking for something to make our walk easier, and intentional communities seem like a great idea. It'd be a lot easier to deal with like-minded people, but is it really what we are called to? Isn't there something to learning how to fit into this diverse body of Christ, of how to love brothers and sisters despite differences? I'm not calling for a sweeping acceptance of all stripes, but if we all weeded out from the church those with whom we had theological differences, we'd be left standing alone.
So now I need to go back through my parish paper and re-examine my propositions. It's not that I think a community of like-minded believers is a bad thing (obviously not), it's more of an issue of how they are formed. I do want to see such communities, and I do believe in the parish system (more on that later) but I am weary about how they are formed. As I said in a previous entry, I still believe that community must be pursued, that it doesn't just happen, but I need to redefine what my idea of pursuit really means.
Let me hear some thoughts on this.
Ok, admittedly this a topic that gets plenty of press, and I have dealt with it in the past, albeit briefly. I have been working on a paper on the parish system and one of the things that I explore is the idea of "intentional communities" where like-minded people join together to form a community.
Now I'm not so sure.
In a comment on a post about community on Mr. Degenhart's Blog, Rick Saenz said something that confused me the first time I read it:
"These days I"m thinking that community and church, while not orthogonal, are less connected than we wish they were. Being on the same page theologically just isn"t enough. The like-mindedness that community requires is deeper and more specific than what is required for brotherhood. We happily attend church with folks who will never be more than acquaintances because of our difference outlook on how to raise a family and live a Christian life, and we don"t feel the need (or have the right) to impose our outlook on them. And we have strong relationships in the local community with people whose theology would probably keep them from attending church with us; some of them are brothers, and some of them may not be.
The best situation is the one where parishioners are on the same page both theologically and community-wise. But I suspect that community would have to come first, i.e. that it would be more of a possibility to get a community on the same theological page than to take a bunch of theologically like-minded folks and forge a community out of them."
This coming from a man who was living in the current prime example of an "intentional community!" Reading it now, months later, it makes total sense to me. I think Rick makes a great point here about where a community must come from. For some reason, while planning to relocate our family and pursue a more "agrarian" way of life, we have only been slightly tempted by places such as Bristol or Moscow, and quickly dissuaded. Not that we have some kind of insight, but probably just that I'm intimidated by crowds! I'd much rather find a small country church that we can slip into and try to be a part of the body. As I have alluded to, we have been a part of some interesting homechurch groups, and think that has made us weary of the party-spirit. Not that we are immune to such things, but we do have quite a bit of experience in being hurt.
While I want to be with my like-minded friends who seem to be on the same page as I am, and would love to have them as neighbors, the weight of history probably should advise me to stay away from such "intentional communities." The fact is that our theological and philosophical like-mindedness is probably going to change, that's just a part of the Christian life, we are supposed to keep growing.
I found this link outlining some problems of two such communities: Tyler, TX and Bristol, VA. Now, I am new to this discussion, I don't know much about the Bristol community and I know practically nothing about the (former) Tyler, TX community, but they both pertain to men that I do respect and appreciate. I think that we as Christians are always looking for something to make our walk easier, and intentional communities seem like a great idea. It'd be a lot easier to deal with like-minded people, but is it really what we are called to? Isn't there something to learning how to fit into this diverse body of Christ, of how to love brothers and sisters despite differences? I'm not calling for a sweeping acceptance of all stripes, but if we all weeded out from the church those with whom we had theological differences, we'd be left standing alone.
So now I need to go back through my parish paper and re-examine my propositions. It's not that I think a community of like-minded believers is a bad thing (obviously not), it's more of an issue of how they are formed. I do want to see such communities, and I do believe in the parish system (more on that later) but I am weary about how they are formed. As I said in a previous entry, I still believe that community must be pursued, that it doesn't just happen, but I need to redefine what my idea of pursuit really means.
Let me hear some thoughts on this.
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