Saipan

The Goods (Our friends from San Fransisco)
recently visited Saipan.

Here they are, reveling in the splendor of matching garmentry:

Profoundly deeper

I dreamed about my mom last night.

The conversation was one-sided and brief.

"Don't worry about your life -
Everything is going to work out fine."

"Take good care of my grandson."

"The food here is great."

"See you soon."

She looked young and thin, like she did in her wedding pictures. All the age lines were gone from her face, except for her laugh lines, which were profoundly deeper.

When she moved she didn't walk. She ran, like the wind.

Don't worry about the Da Vinci Code

Sorry,
but people are really getting on my nerves with all of the protesting and complaining about the Da Vinci code. I really wish they would stop worrying about the insult to their 'religious' sensibilities and instead consider a biblical approach in their response.

The Da Vinci code is not a threat, it is an opportunity.
If you take the time to understand the main points of the book and learn the refutations, you can not only easily expose the ficticious claims in the book, but more importantly use the book as an opportunity to share your faith (1 Peter 3:15).

If the Da Vinci code causes 1 million lukewarm Christians to fall away from the faith but gains the Lord even one hot one, God will consider that a bargain. (Revelation 3:15-16)

Who's Faith will be shaken by the Da Vinci code?
People who profess to be Christians but have not taken God's message to heart.
The bible says that only a fool's faith can be 'shaken':

Matthew 7:24-27
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Who will be turned off from Christianity because of the Da Vinci code?
People who do not want to consider Christ to begin with:

John 10:25-30:
Jesus answered, "I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father's name speak for me,

but you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand.

I and the Father are one."

The Author of the universe cannot be thwarted by an author of lies.

Psalm 33:10-11:
The LORD foils the plans of the nations;
he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

But the plans of the LORD stand firm forever,
the purposes of his heart through all generations.

Job 5:12-13:
He thwarts the plans of the crafty,
so that their hands achieve no success.

He catches the wise in their craftiness,
and the schemes of the wily are swept away.

So don't worry about the Da Vinci Code.
Instead consider why there is a market for it, and that God allowed for it to be written, for all things, even acts of rebellion, can NEVER decrease but only increase His Glory. Consider this and look for opportunities to join God in his work. (John 5:19)

Coronation

I guess I am a king now. I had a crown put in this morning, after limping around on a temporary molar for the past month. I'm still not ready to resume eating taffy or anything; something feels a little weird about the crown. It's as if it's a little too high in one spot. It seems to clear OK if my jaw is lined up straight but if I close my mouth with my jaw skruntched over to the left it bottoms out before the rest of my teeth come together.

That's hardly the end of my teeth problems. I'll have so many crowns by the time the dentist is done with me that they will have to name me emperor.

In the midst of Life

There is a busy road near my house that cuts through a wetland, and at 7 in the morning it is congested with me and all of my neighbors from the surrounding developments as we race from our homes to our workplaces. The posted speed is 50, which means that everyone goes about 65.

This morning I was in the left lane when the car in front of me came to an abrupt halt. I had to stand on my brakes to avoid hitting him - I felt the bottom drop out of my stomach as I heard the screeching brakes behind me and I waited for the impact. It never came, because thankfully the drivers behind me were alert. The car in front of me slowly started rolling forward, and I saw that he had come to a stop on top of a group of ducklings. The mother hopped up on the median and turned back to look at her brood. It was too dangerous for me to even think about staying stopped in the road, or getting out to check for survivors. I too rolled forward, over the crumpled bodies of her young.

It doesn't take a lot to change your entire perspective for the day. As I continued on to the babysitter I looked over my shoulder at my own 'duckling,' in his carseat, so helpless and at the mercy of his parents. I voiced a prayer of thanks that we were spared from an accident.

That hen led her ducklings into a slaughter because she could not understand the danger that she was walking them into. Thankfully for me there is a higher wisdom to lean on in my own life, and the undertakings that come with it. I just need to remind myself daily to lean on that wisdom, rather than my own understandings. I prayed for myself and my wife for more wisdom & foresight, so that our son might never have to bear the consequences of a lapse in our judgement in such a terrible fashion as those ducklings had.

It seems to be a little perverse to suggest that the deaths of those baby mallards achieved some sort of meaning because some fat white suburbanite who played an active role in their demise was reminded to put his trust in God. But then again, are there many things more perverse than a meaningless death?