I'm back, maybe

I finally finished the fall semester and took a week off without much other work. I did spend some time in Hebrew and Kathy and I are trying to memorize some of 1 John in Greek, but that is the fun application that comes from the hard work of this past semsters. Besides that I have not done much that relates to school, which includes writing (this blog is included in the writing). I hope to post a couple of my book reviews in the next couple of days that I had to write this past semester. I doubt that anyone cares to read them, but what the heck I'll post them anyway.

Here is a rundown of what has been going on this past semester, not that you care. I am now teaching 8th grade science,. I took Hebrew 3, Greek 1, and Philosophy of Religion at SWBTS-Havard. We have been going to Dr. appts every month, and we moved during finals week. Yeah you heard me, 2 finals and book review in the middle of moving....I don't recommend that. I have also been "training" for the Houston half marathon. I wouldn't say it was much of a training schedule, it turned into long runs on Saturday morning and not much else. I did about 10.5 miles this morning and feel confident that I can make the 13.1 without passing out. The last few months I don't think I have done anything very well and most times felt like I was just trying to survive. I hate that feeling, my sinfulness doesn't want to rely on a Holy God to provide.

I'll have some post coming up in the next few days that deal with more than just me. Also Kathy wants to blog about some heresy isms of church history. She is reading Heroes and Heretic which I think is a very helpful overview of church history. I recommend it to anyone who wants a beginning place to start studying the history of the Christian church.

Pretty much the worst song ever

I hate to cut off the lively (5 comments is a lot around here) discussion about Jesus' birthday, but I coulndt keep this to myself. We've found a lot of old cd's that were recovered as we moved our stuff to our new place. One was (Amy's) top 25 greatest old country hits. Its a great cd, but there is one song on its list that we dont understand how it got there. Its GOT to be the worst written song ever--on so many levels. All I can say: If Dirk listed off coffee, grass, birds of the world and squirrels--oh, and me too--as things he loved, I'd be pretty ticked. Here's the link if you'd like to enjoy it too: "I love"

--Kathy

Happy Birthday Jesus

Last night we went to my sweet neice Evelyn's Christmas recital/peagant. It was really cute; there is nothing better than watching a bunch of 4 and 5 year olds dressed up like livestock and various nativity figures space out and sing off key. It was fabulous. Evelyn, however, did not lose focus--she was one of the few who actually sang all the songs and didnt start playing with her costume. We are so proud of her. :)

I had a thought, though, while we watched the program. They sang the song "Happy Birthday, Jesus", you know the one: its always sung by little kids as mostly a ploy to manipulate the parents to tears. So I sat there thinking, " Is this a theologically sound song? Isn't this fostering Arianism in our children? Does this matter to any of their parents?" I know, I know, no one is trying to make little heretics out of our children, but seriously, is that song helpful?

It seems like people are missing the point when they put up signs and sing songs that celebrate Jesus' birthday instead of the incarnation of Christ. I admit that maybe its a hard concept to grasp, and it may seem like I'm splitting hairs, but if parents dont get it, will their children? If you treat the 'meaning' of Christmas as Jesus' birthday, doesnt that make Jesus 2006(or 2009 depending on your sources) years old and in effect a created being?

Instead, it would be wiser if we shifted our focus from 'baby Jesus' to celebrating the fact that Christ came down and took on flesh and became man. John 1:9-18 and Philippians 2:5-11 would be better passages to meditate on in December than Luke 2 and Matthew 1-2. The fact that a member of the trinity stepped down and became a man and lived among us is more astounding than any events we attribute to December 25 --Kathy


Littlefield Update: we have moved to our cozy one bedroom apartment!

Watch this space

I know, its been a looong time since we've updated--we'll be back on our game soon. Check back often. :) --Kathy