another saturday post

I have decided that getting up early on saturday mornings is becoming very enjoyable to me. The house is quiet, with everyone else sleeping, so it is one of the few opportunities I have to get several consecutive hours of Bible study, blogging, catching up on the news or NFL draft (why do a lot of people seem to be down on Vince Young's future now?), and drinking lots of coffee. Especially on days like today - it has been a light rain for about 12 hours now, and probably will for another 12. I love these kind of days, we never had them in Colorado. Although once the kids get up and at 'em it has a way of making them into caged animals. And not the tame kind.

Things are extremely busy these days at work. We always seem to be landing more work than we can support, which is supposed to be a good thing, but it seems to keep stress levels high. Anyway, what business isn't these days? However, in contemplating our existence lately I have become more and more aware of what counts in life and what doesn't. There is this innate difficulty in that we can reach out and see and touch what counts, but it is hard to legitimize them in terms of time and effort, and a good part of life is spent on things that don't. And so I have also become more enamored with the stories of the truly great and faithful both past and current.

Leyla's birthday is Tuesday, and she has been looking forward to this for a long time. Hmmm...still no good ideas on how to make it special. I will probably do a daddy daughter date at some point this week. She wants to get her ears pierced - Hmmm - I suppose thats fine, but geez, she is only 4.

I recently ordered another book from Amazon, "Symbolism in the Fourth Gospel", and it looks to be very good. I am amazed at the amount of scholarly writings on the gospel of John, and in my studies I am beginning to feel very inadequate. Obviously some of it you have to sift through as not all of it is good, but by and large it is very helpful. Think about this in relation to the birth of the internet - there is so much information available at the stroke of a few keys. Whatever the subject, there is a lot available. My friend Micah blogged about this a while ago so I won't here.

We had a friend, Melissa Ortez, stop by thursday night on her travels back west. She has spent the last couple of years ministering in the country of Jordan, and we had a fantastic time being encouraged by her in hearing of her work of the gospel there. We knew her from Colorado, and it has been fun to get her emails but finally to see the pictures and hear the stories first hand.

One last comment - I posted a link a while ago on an article regarding the german churches in the time of Hitler. Since I was sick this last weekend, I spent some time on the couch and in doing so watched a public television documentary on the subject of Auschwitz, which was a "death factory" for Jews at the hands of the Nazi's. Absolutely fascinating and horrible. However, in that documentary they backed up alot of what was in the article I posted. They did a special section on Dietrich Bonhoffer, which I thought was very good. They were very true to the message of his work and showing his love for Christ and his steadfast faith in persecution. What a time in the history of man.