Thoughts on Wisdom, a Few Quotes, and a Little Poetry

Today I finished reading "A Table in the Mist: Ecclesiastes Through New Eyes" by Jeffrey Meyers. This is a book I would highly recommend to anyone interested in a more thorough approach to Ecclesiastes or just interested in wisdom in general. Meyers takes the view that Ecclesiastes is indeed a book of true biblical wisdom, written in faith for those with faith. This less popular exegetical approach is opposed to the more often expressed idea that Ecclesiastes is written from a pagan or skeptic view of the world to express what life is like without faith in the Triune God. Meyers argues that Solomon (if I may assume his authorship for now) would challenge us to see that life is even "vapor" for those in faith. All of life is "vapor" . . . for us, but, "Time and events are not vapor for God, only us." What Solomon does argue is that all of life is not vapor but is full of meaning, but only to God because He will judge all things; and we must see life in relationship to God's Sovereignty if we are to have meaning in life.

This may lead us next to the question of how we live by faith and seek wisdom in light of God's Sovereignty.

"Remember this theme in Ecclesiastes - the wise man is precisely the one who confesses ignorance of the future and who trusts God. Even the wise man remains ignorant of the appropriate times for action because God has not given access to the details of his plans; even a wise man has no privileged knowledge of God's purposes and plans. It is impossible for men to make use of the way in which the world has been organized, because God has deliberately withheld the knowledge of it. God has deliberately kept man in ignorance of the things that he needs to know in order to live with absolute security and uninterrupted success (read Eccl. 9:11). The wise man knows he is never in a position to stop trusting God. The wise man admits he has no control, no leverage over God and his creation, and so does not make brash, stupid claims about what he is going to do and accomplish."

This statement should remind us that a wise man will put his complete trust in the Lord in all things and at all times, seek to be generous with what he is given, and strive to enjoy all of God's earthly blessings.

"Go, eat your bread in joy, and drink your wine with a merry heart, for God has already approved what you do. "Let your garments be white. Let not oil be lacking on your head.
"Enjoy life with the wife whom you love, all the days or your [vaporous] life that he has given you under the sun, because that is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun. Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or thought or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, to which you are going." (Ecclesiastes 9:7-10)

Sam has a great, short post (here) on a foolish man's striving and a bit of wise advice from the writings of Samuel Johnson that follows this discussion well.

I will end with a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley entitled "Ozymandias" that I believes shows some of the foolishness of man's hubris that Solomon is warning against. (I have only come across this poem thanks to George Grant's Giles Kirk Antiquity Curriculum.)

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my words, ye mighty, and despair."
Nothing besides remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

A New Year Quickly Approaches

As promised, here is a picture of our Christmas tree this year! Hope you had a joyous Christmas and I wish you a wonderful New Year! This year was my first all-out experience with trying to visit both of our families in three different towns around one holiday. Thankfully our families live in close proximity and we were able to see everyone in a somewhat orderly fashion, but I will be looking forward to the day when we have an excuse for everyone to come see us instead.

In our travels through Butte, America this holiday season we were taken to a new brewery in town named "Quarry Brewing" with its catchy slogan: "We Dig Beer". Very nice place, started by a young man who had his beginnings in homebrewing. Stop by and check it out if you are ever in town.

Speaking of beer, Sam and I have brewed three new beers in the last few months and have two more set to go soon. Sorry I failed to post on those earlier. The three currently on tap are an English Special Bitter ("Rust Remover"), a Brown Porter ("Annie Street Porter"), and an Irish Red ("Brendan's Red") which turned out more black than red but has a rich, wonderful, toasty taste (the remains of a this one are shown in the picture).

Owning the Name "Christian"

Today I was listening to a lecture on some of the beliefs of Islam and one man's "tactics" for sharing the Gospel with them. In the lecture, the man (who is fluent in Arabic) was approached by a Muslim in a restaurant in the Middle East, and the Muslim overhearing his conversation and realizing he was American, asked him when he had become a Muslim. He told the Muslim that he wasn't, but that he was a "follower of Jesus".
"A Christian you mean?" asked the Muslim
"No, a follower of Jesus," replied the man.
He went on to explain that most Muslims associate "Christians" with the Crusades and the oppression that their people have suffered from "Christians" in the past. This man wanted to free himself from that stereotype to tell the Muslim what a real "follower of Jesus" is like.

Now I can understand the thinking behind this, and maybe even the effectiveness of it by drawing another's curiosity; but, the whole sound of it struck me funny. My thinking is that a "Christian" is what a Muslim says a "Christian" is in some sense, good, bad, ugly, or indifferent. I do want to associate with the men of the Crusades, not because I believe what they did was right, but because, in the end, they are still my brothers. I don't want to abandon association with the historical church because there have been times of grievous sin in it's past or because their have been tares mixed with the wheat. I would argue that if the name of "Christian" is wrongly viewed, it is our own fault and up to us to redeem it . . . not abandon it.

Thoughts, anyone?

"Is Christmas Christian?"

Jeff Meyers of Providence Reformed Presbyterian Church (PCA) has some helpful and interesting posts on his blog about the legitimacy of celebrating the Christmas season:
"Is Christmas Christian?"

This Place Seems Vaguely Familiar . . .

. . . Hmmm . . . yes, this does look familiar. Oh wait! There's a picture of me below! Ahh, its all starting to come back now.

So, today I was attempting to leave a comment on someone else's blog and needed to sign in to my old blog account to do so. Sadly this took about 45 minutes, but 2 or 3 passwords later I had succeeded and decided to read over some of my old scratchings. I decided I do miss having this outlet for thoughts and discussion. Most of any of you coming across this site will already know that Beth and I have already celebrated our first Wedding Anniversary just shy of a month ago. No need for updates I don't think. God has gifted me with new responsibilities throughout the last year and so my time really is more constrained, but not so much that I couldn't make a regular weekly post on passing thoughts, ideas, and current issues. Don't check back right away, give it a few weeks, then you may not be quite as disappointed.

Here's a wedding picture for those of you who may not have made it (no, the service was not held on a hillside):


Here was our first Christmas (last year) and our first real Christmas tree (pictures of this year's will be soon to follow):


Lastly, a picture of my new little sister, Alivia, helping to prepare a Sabbath meal with her older sister:

Good Excuses . . . I Promise!

So I haven't written in quite awhile . . . like over a month, sorry about that. It hasn't been for lack of blog worthy thoughts, just a lack of time. Maybe I'll get to some of them another day, but today won't be the day either. Life is good and busy as usual. My growth group as officially started up again and looks to be going for most of the summer. I may slowly be taking on some extra work besides the job I have now in an attempt to begin my own small business on the side. We have another voice recital coming up at the end of June or beginning of July. And so, if those aren't good enough excuses, I have also had the blessing of spending a fair amount of my time in the last few weeks with a wonderful, beautiful young lady who I have somehow convinced that I'm a decent enough guy to hang around with. (I also thought I would add a couple pictures from last weekend since I know a couple of you are curious.)


Beth and I had the privilege of traveling to Butte last Saturday to see my mother perform (in the Chorale) in the Butte Symphony. They performed Mozart's "Requiem"; not a bad way to start your Sabbath evening. We also attended a reception in the "Art Chateau", a large, old, elegant home just a couple of blocks north of the Motherlode Theatre. Of course there was more reason to have a fireplace in every room back them, but I still love it; and I think this was the first house I have been in that had a ballroom on the third floor!

Here's one more picture . . . had to try playing with my computer's picture effects.

Our First Good Friday Meal

Last night we had our first Good Friday meal; the first of hopefully many to come and another step towards dipping ourselves further into our rich Christian heritage. We had fourteen people over for an evening filled with song, fellowship, wine, and good food. Just to give you a "taste", I'll show you some of the pictures we took, our menu, and our liturgy for the evening.

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Our menu for the evening (prepared by Sam) consisted of:

Spring Mix Salad w/ Homemade Champagne vinaigrette;

Crab & Albacore Bisque;

Rosemary Bread;

A red wine from the Ten Spoon Vineyard (in Missoula); and

A Pinot Noir from Parker Station.

For dessert we had:

Pound Cake with whip cream and fresh raspberries and blackberries.

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Can you spot the wannabe wine connoisseur?

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Good Friday Dinner Liturgy 2006 A.D.

"But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." - Romans 5:8
Beginning Prayer
Scripture Reading: Genesis 22:1-18
Song: "Psalm 22" (pg.31)
Scripture Reading: John 3:14-17
Song: "O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" (pg. 263)
Scripture Reading: Hebrews 10:5-10
Song: "How Sweet and Awful Is the Place" (pg. 258)
Prayer
Our Good Friday Meal
Prayer
Scripture Reading: John 13:1-7
Song: "O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus" (pg. 264)
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 53
Song: "Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands" (pg. 269)
Scripture Reading: Luke 23
Song: "Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted" (Handout)

Ending Prayer
"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave him up for us all; how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" - Romans 8:31-32

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Winston decided to get a little too close while he was watching Sam prepare dessert!

Hajime!

Here is a picture of Tjabe and I at our first Judo tournament in Missoula a couple of weeks ago. We had three members compete, including myself, from the Cair Paravel Martial Arts Club in Bozeman, a ministry of Gallatin Valley Presbyterian Church. It was a good time, a little rough, but a good time. Sorry I haven't posted in awhile, hope you are all doing well.

P. S. The latest batch of honey wheat is also done and ready to be enjoyed!

Good Morning!

I just happened to leave my blinds open last night, and woke up to see this beautiful view of the Tobacco Roots out my bedroom window. Just thought I would share. Have a wonderful Lord's Day!

Grey Mountain Ale

Last night Sam and I bottle our third batch of beer, an English Bitter which we finally decided to call "Grey Mountain Ale". (A fourth batch will also be ready for bottling in a few days.) There were more ingredients used to create this beer than in our previous two or the one that is soon to follow. This ale will have a darker, golden hue to it, slighltly lighter than the nut brown ale we made last. There are three different kinds of hops used in this English bitter recipe, one with an alpha acid rating of 6.2%, almost double what we have typically been using. This beer will definitely taste more "hoppy" than most beers and finish with a stronger bitter flavor.

In light of the Lenten season that is upon us, we decided that "Grey Mountain Ale" would be an appropriate name with respect to the season and to the type of ale itself. If you remember, the "Grey Mountain" is the great mountain from Lewis' novel, Till We Have Faces, where Pysche is sacrificed to Ungit, the goddess of the land of Glome. In the story, we see a young, beautiful, compassionate girl, that is even portrayed as possibly being perfect, who is tied to a tree at the top of the mountain as a human sacrifice. It is a time when sin is running rampant through the land, it is a time of drought and suffering; it was indeed a bitter time, and most of all for Pysche's oldest sister.

What Pysche's oldest sister really needed, and what we seek to do more thoroughly in Lent, is to seek out our own sin and repent of it, to seek to place our trust in the Lord again in areas where we have been failing to, to spend more time praying, more time fasting, more time in Scripture, and to remember the greatness of the sacrifice that was needed to cover our sin. As the season comes to a close, we will climb up the mountain, and if we see with faith, we will realize what no one else has suspected . . . Pysche is alive, and not only alive but the true God of the Mountain has made her His Bride!

Trinitarian Highway Design

This might be my first post on engineering if my memory hasn't failed me somewhere; which is exciting for me, even if it has been a long time coming.

My short civil engineering experience in Bozeman has proven to be one where practicality and common sense go much further than most of the formulas in my Fluid Mechanics book; not to say that that book hasn't been extremely useful at times already. It seems that when the theoretical design must find its place somewhere in the real world (when and where the rubber meets the road, so to speak), strict adherence to mathematical calculations isn't always enough, and isn't always successful.

Today I attended my first day of the Spring Engineering Festival held at the Montana State University Campus. My first session was specifically given on the "Interactive Highway Safety Design Model" (IHSDM); software that has been developed from a government funded agency to develop another useful tool for designing safer highways in our country. There are a number of factors that come into play when evaluating how "safe" a roadway is: steepness of grades, design speeds, stopping sight distances, radius of curves, accident history, volume of cars, to name a few. But, one factor that was emphasized to my surprise was human perception; and out the window went any possible argument for relativism.

Our presenter showed us a picture of a windy road through a town and asked us to assess the safety of the roadway and how we might gather data to make an evaluation on it. Finally, the presenter asked if we could see the house on the corner, "What about knocking on the door and asking the people who live there what they think about the safety of the road?" He went on to emphasize that even if a road has a low accident history, people may still perceive that the roadway is unsafe, and a very real problem may still exist.

The presenter later quoted a high-level design engineer who made the following statement: "The direct application of established design criteria or standards (i.e., nominal safety) is no assurance that a certain quality of design (i.e., level of substantive safety) will be achieved -- indicating that such criteria are not sufficient in themselves." "Nominal safety" is based on a pass fail system; a roadway either meets safety policies and design codes or it doesn't. "Substantive safety" is based on expected crash ratings and how this relates to other similar roadways or other ratings in the area; it is a grayer shade of measurement, but just as important.

Now, at least two ethical and economical issues present themselves. First, say a roadway meets all state road design policies and codes, but has a high accident history? Do you spend the money to improve the safety of the road even though there is no law requiring it? Second, say a roadway has a low accident rating and performs well, but isn't up to state design code. Do we "waste" money to bring a well-functioning road up to code?

How do we quantify safety? How much weight should safety have in relation to financial and property issues?

I really believe that the IHSDM seeks to provide a tool that helps engineers compare, more efficiently, other wordly factors that are not quite so mathematically measurable, such as demographic factors: weather, number of animals on the roadway, average age of drivers on the roadway, and types of vehicles on the roadway to name a few. What I so thoroughly appreciated here was the understanding of the relationships between all of these factors and the effects they have on drivers, and also the compounding effects factors have on each other.

The presenter went on to admit that every model can seek to explain the effects of specific elements on a design, but they always break down when you try to explain how the interaction of these elements with each other effect the design -- and yet, this is crucial to the actual performance of the roadway! Most drivers don't drive the speed limit, how does this effect the danger presented by sharp corners? How does Fall effect the number of deer on the road? How will a driver perceive the road ahead in light of the road he has just traveled? How does a highway patrolman effect the flow rate of a highway?

Now, if you are still reading after all of the engineering mumbo jumbo, I will try to explain what was so encouraging about this session. First, I was chest deep into a theoretical science that was seeking to expand itself into realms that were more relational than quantifiable and still using that for design criteria. The bartender on main street could offer his opinion on the efficiency of the traffic light system on main street, and it would be taken into account. We had to assume that the safety of people's lives are very much our responsibility, and to successfully carry out the duty of protecting them we need to better understand the relationships between people and creation and how different elements in creation effect each other. The task is daunting, overwhelming in the least, and yet exciting at the same time. At this stage it is still messy, but there was a glorious element to it.

Through sanctification God takes what is corrupted and begins to perfect it, ultimately bringing it to perfection. We play an active role in this process. We actively seek to rid ourselves of sin and live more faithfully, knowing that we will still never reach perfection till the return of our Savior. The discussion of highway design today was seeking to better model and understand the relationships between people and nature in order to better design safer and more effective roadways. We will never reach perfection in highway design this side of Redemption, but we strive for it anyway.

I wonder how much more efficient our progress we would be if we began to research these relationships knowing that a Triune God has designed them?

*Another Advertisement*

In case any of you had not yet heard, Charlie has now started his own blog. It can be found at: http://becauseitsbewitched.blogspot.com/

It's well worth checking out. His most recent post tells the story of the repentance and forgiveness of a sophomore in the the school Charlie teaches at who around a year ago attempted to try to burn the school down, and was successful in doing a lot of damage.

You can also find an intriguing discussion on art and science; by the way, Charlie has also begun to teach a worldview class this semester (get your shots in now).

WOW

You all may well know that I'm not a huge basketball fan, but you all have to check this out, unbelievable: Autistic Teen's Hoop Dreams Come True
(click on the blue video link in the story.)

"A Man, The Man"

"I ended my first book with the words 'no answer'. I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against other words. Long did I hate you, long did I fear you. I might - "



Before I comment on the excerpt above, I want to persuade any of you who haven't yet read C. S. Lewis' Till We Have Faces to do so. I just finished reading it this morning, for the fourth time, and I am beginning to find that I can't go much longer than a year anymore before I am forced to pick it up and read it again. Lewis has such a gift for creating his own worlds (fantasies) in his writings that are intertwined into what we naturally assume to be reality, that we become hard pressed not to become anxious about simply walking out our doors after we have finished reading him. It is like watching a dark malt extract syrup being slowly poured into a pot of boiling water when creating a wort, and the extract swirls in the water, darker, thicker, richer; but as it continues to swirl the distinctions between water and extract begin to disappear and soon you are mixing a dark brown liquid that gives off a sweet, nutty aroma setting off a chain reaction in your stomach and mind, and the excitement builds in anticipation because we know in the end what blessing will come from the mixture that continues to swirl in the pot.

I believe there are things Lewis has seen about our God more clearly than most of us, and therefore, truly has a way of writing the fantastic and unbelievable into a tangible form without putting the fantasy at risk; indeed, I believe it makes it all the more exciting!

Now re-read that passage at the beginning of the post. This is the last paragraph written in the novel. Queen Orual has grown up filtering life through a worldview that is influenced by Greek philosophy and a "barbarian" religious culture. She knows the arguments of Plato and Socrates, and she has been raised in a culture that has created a piest, holy, and law-abiding fear for the religion of the land. In the end, the gods bring her to understand that life is not understood through great knowledge or through a system of sacrifices and religious ceremonies, but it is understood through the Lord. In a Man, the answers are found.

When Charlie was last here, he asked me, "What did Christ mean when He said that He came to fulfill all the Law and the Prophets?" What Charlie was driving at was a need to understand the Gospels better than we do (Which will also demand a need to understand the stories of the Old Testament better too). Christ did not come to begin another Law or to start a new Law, He did not come to bring more prophecy or even to fulfill a prophecy . . . but He came to fulfill all that is written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and Psalms. This fulfilling can only be done in the form of a Man, who comes to play the roles where all the priests, kings, mediators, prophets, warriors, and husbands of Israel had failed in the Old Testament. It must be done this way because our God is a relational God, He is covenantal God.

As we are sanctified, we are not becoming conformed to the Ten Commandments, we are not being conformed to a set of theological standards, nor even a list of godly characteristics; we are being conformed to a Man, a Man whose life took on many roles in order to achieve our salvation. Our sanctification is preparing us, as a body, not to be the perfect citizen of heaven, not to walk a line words have drawn in the sand, but to be a Bride, the Bride of the One Man, Jesus Christ.

Created In His Image

I have been reading some of James Jordan's book, Through New Eyes, which has begun to stimulate and mix with some other current thoughts of mine.

What does "being created in the image of God" mean for us? Now, I know this can be a loaded question, and I don't presume to tackle it in its entirety by any means, but I would like to talk about one application. Is it safe for us to say that if we are created in His image then we (or our lives, etc.) should reveal truths or characteristics of Him? If yes, then I wonder how well-rounded we are in doing this? What I mean is, do we tend to just pick the characteristics we like or that seem to fit us and leave out the rest or do we work to reveal all the truths about who our God is? Now, I am already assuming that you realize I am writing this in regards to a church body, and not to every individual Christian; but of course we all already realize that we function as a community more so than individuals, right!?

In an attempt to stimulate discussion, I'm not going to mention anything immediately and hope that whoever is out there will be willing to add their 2 cents on any characteristics of our God that we could be more faithful in "imaging". So, please, don't be afraid, let's hear what you have to say.

Here are some ideas to get you started . . .

Our God is like:
~ a Lion
~ a Tree of Life
~ a Rock
~ a Refuge
~ the Sun
~ a Fountain
~ a Shield
~ a Temple
~ an Eagle
~ a Dragon Slayer
~ a Lamb (one of my favorites to talk about)
~ a Mediator
~ a High Priest
~ a Judge
~ a Comforter

Worldview Quote:

In support of the true sovereignty of God, it is often said in Reformed churches that there is not a single atom in the universe that God does not have control over, or as Pastor Bryan Clark likes to put it: there is not a single "renegade atom" anywhere in the universe. But here is a quote I like that takes it the next step further:

"There is 'not one atom of the universe' in which His divinity does not shine forth."
- Herman Bavinck (19th Century Theologian)

Not only is every atom under His rule, but every atom declares something about His being!