I posted a Dostoevsky quote from Brothers Karamazov about suffering a while back. Ben Morrison left a comment today with it in the original Russian so I thought I'd post them both up as it is a good thought on suffering.
"I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mind of man, that in the world's finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, of all the blood that they've shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened. "
"я убежден как младенец, что страдания заживут и сгладятся, что весь обидный комизм человеческих противоречий исчезнет как жалкий мираж, как гнусненькое измышление малосильного и маленького как атом человеческого эвклидовского ума, что наконец в мировом финале, в момент вечной гармонии, случится и явится нечто до того драгоценное, что хватит его на все сердца, на утоление всех негодований, на искупление всех злодейств людей, всей пролитой ими их крови, хватит, чтобы не только было возможно простить, но и оправдать всё, что случилось с людьми."
Friday, July 31, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Sense, Lies, or Paranoia?
As a child I was taught that, when I was home alone, if an unknown or untrusted person were to call or stop by that I should never tell them that I was home alone. The classic answer to "is your mom home" when she wasn't was "she can't come to the phone right now." If it was evident to the person dropping by that parents were not present I would say that they were returning at any moment. I'm not sure if I had any instruction about the later, or if my imagination led me to the logical conclusion that strangers shouldn't be trusted with information that might be detrimental to myself.
Something I noticed the other day is that I still do it. Whenever Danny's not home and a neighbor drops by I tell him that Danny should be home any minute. In truth Danny is rarely inaccurate about his return times and I know it might yet be a few hours.
My question: is this lying? If so, is it in the Hebrew midwives sort of way (which itself is debatable being that God could still have delivered his people even if they refused to lie. And secondly, isn't the first lesson in Systematics something about not everything that is descriptive being prescriptive? But that's another post)? Or is it the half-truth for the sake of common sense kind of thing? Or is it perfectly acceptable? Or . . . ?
Upon further pondering I began to wonder how I would instruct a child to answer a stranger. I'm am in favor of a limited amount of information because we live in a fallen world of sinners. And lucky for me we live in a culture where one is allowed to be as vague as possible and it's not rude. I was also wondering if allowing a child's imagination too much power over the consequential outcome of the reason for the ruse might cause paranoia. Thus resulting in too much "reality" too soon. Obviously, if a child is old enough to be left home alone he also should be old enough to understand the reality of the fallen world in which we live. I wasn't a naive child and I understood what the world was capable of but I'm wondering if the childhood practice led to its prolongation into adulthood and what my husband calls soft paranoia. My personal opinion is that the practice was a good one. But that's what it is, my personal opinion, not necessarily scripturally sustainable. Am I committing moral outrage?
Something I noticed the other day is that I still do it. Whenever Danny's not home and a neighbor drops by I tell him that Danny should be home any minute. In truth Danny is rarely inaccurate about his return times and I know it might yet be a few hours.
My question: is this lying? If so, is it in the Hebrew midwives sort of way (which itself is debatable being that God could still have delivered his people even if they refused to lie. And secondly, isn't the first lesson in Systematics something about not everything that is descriptive being prescriptive? But that's another post)? Or is it the half-truth for the sake of common sense kind of thing? Or is it perfectly acceptable? Or . . . ?
Upon further pondering I began to wonder how I would instruct a child to answer a stranger. I'm am in favor of a limited amount of information because we live in a fallen world of sinners. And lucky for me we live in a culture where one is allowed to be as vague as possible and it's not rude. I was also wondering if allowing a child's imagination too much power over the consequential outcome of the reason for the ruse might cause paranoia. Thus resulting in too much "reality" too soon. Obviously, if a child is old enough to be left home alone he also should be old enough to understand the reality of the fallen world in which we live. I wasn't a naive child and I understood what the world was capable of but I'm wondering if the childhood practice led to its prolongation into adulthood and what my husband calls soft paranoia. My personal opinion is that the practice was a good one. But that's what it is, my personal opinion, not necessarily scripturally sustainable. Am I committing moral outrage?
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
What does it mean to love?
"To love is to be caught in the vortex of another's humanity, to spiral down and down into the murky, tragic tangles of the sinful flesh, where only pure love can go without being defiled." Mike Mason, The Mystery Of Marriage.
Can you even say that about love?
Can you even say that about love?
Friday, July 24, 2009
Camp Counselor Training
Our church's youth group and children's ministry team are working with a church from the city of Zvenygorodka to do a 10 day kids' camp outside of Zvenygorodka starting next week. Most of the kids from our sunday school will be going to the camp and a group of teenagers from the youth group will be going as camp counselors. The leaders thought it would be good to have a couple days of team/counselor training before the camp, so all the counselors from Zvenygorodka came out to Kaharlyk.
The training days were Tuesday and Wednesday and the goal was to prepare these 10 kids to be counselors, work as a team, and be examples to the children of God's love and grace.
I ended up teaching a couple bible studies and giving lectures on teamwork, communicating the gospel, and having a redemptive attitude. Wayne gave a lecture on the use of team sports in building character and teamwork. Lyena and Alyona also gave lectures on teaching children's bible lessons and the purpose of rules and discipline at camp.
I think it went pretty well and everyone was really tired after two 10 hour days. This camp will be a good opportunity for our youth group to serve, grown in their faith and work alongside other believers. It will also be a good time for the kids from Sunday school to grow. I'm not a fan of doing things at the last minute (we planned the whole thing Monday and I found out about it a week ago), but when the youth leaders and children's ministry leaders told me what we were doing I decided that this would be a really good way to build up those in our youth group who want to serve and to disciple them and equip them to be better able to serve, not just at camp but in other areas of their lives.
The training days were Tuesday and Wednesday and the goal was to prepare these 10 kids to be counselors, work as a team, and be examples to the children of God's love and grace.
I ended up teaching a couple bible studies and giving lectures on teamwork, communicating the gospel, and having a redemptive attitude. Wayne gave a lecture on the use of team sports in building character and teamwork. Lyena and Alyona also gave lectures on teaching children's bible lessons and the purpose of rules and discipline at camp.
I think it went pretty well and everyone was really tired after two 10 hour days. This camp will be a good opportunity for our youth group to serve, grown in their faith and work alongside other believers. It will also be a good time for the kids from Sunday school to grow. I'm not a fan of doing things at the last minute (we planned the whole thing Monday and I found out about it a week ago), but when the youth leaders and children's ministry leaders told me what we were doing I decided that this would be a really good way to build up those in our youth group who want to serve and to disciple them and equip them to be better able to serve, not just at camp but in other areas of their lives.
Raining Apricots
We have a huge old apricot tree in our yard that decided this would be a good year to produce thousands of tiny apricots and then drop them from 30 feet all over our driveway and yard.
This picture was taken a couple hours after Liese swept/shoveled a wheelbarrow full of them. We waited until evening and then filled another wheelbarrow full of them and this morning it was completely covered again with no end in sight as we look skyward at full branches (and then get hit in the eye by a really ripe one).
This picture was taken a couple hours after Liese swept/shoveled a wheelbarrow full of them. We waited until evening and then filled another wheelbarrow full of them and this morning it was completely covered again with no end in sight as we look skyward at full branches (and then get hit in the eye by a really ripe one).
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Back in the swing of things
We had a pretty mellow week as most of our church was at the Camp 120. I did take the camera around a bit with me this week so here are some pictures of our week:
After being gone for two months our yard was overgrown with weeds so we pulled weeds and mowed and what not until I got too hot and then Liese just did it.
Our garden had a ton of potato bugs (the colorado variety) so Liese goes out every day to catch a jar full and then smash them into a gross pulp. But the garden is looking a lot better and she seems to enjoy the smashing bit as well as just being in the garden.
The main grocery store in town (the Boomi as I call it) closed for remodeling (they are making it like 4 times as big) so we went to the market to do our shopping. It was hot. I hope they reopen the Boomi soon as it has AC. But it is amazing the things you can find at the market, like this lady had marshmallows in snack size packets. You know, for when you want to eat marshmallows when you are on the road.
Our fruit trees are dropping fruit all over our yard so Liese decided to do something with the apricots and made jam. It looks good but I haven't tried it yet.
Today we made sushi with Oksana and Sasha. They are getting married soon and we've been going through a premarital counseling course with them. Making sushi was fun and it turned out to be quite tasty (does anyone say tasty or is it just me translating in my head?)
After being gone for two months our yard was overgrown with weeds so we pulled weeds and mowed and what not until I got too hot and then Liese just did it.
Our garden had a ton of potato bugs (the colorado variety) so Liese goes out every day to catch a jar full and then smash them into a gross pulp. But the garden is looking a lot better and she seems to enjoy the smashing bit as well as just being in the garden.
The main grocery store in town (the Boomi as I call it) closed for remodeling (they are making it like 4 times as big) so we went to the market to do our shopping. It was hot. I hope they reopen the Boomi soon as it has AC. But it is amazing the things you can find at the market, like this lady had marshmallows in snack size packets. You know, for when you want to eat marshmallows when you are on the road.
Our fruit trees are dropping fruit all over our yard so Liese decided to do something with the apricots and made jam. It looks good but I haven't tried it yet.
Today we made sushi with Oksana and Sasha. They are getting married soon and we've been going through a premarital counseling course with them. Making sushi was fun and it turned out to be quite tasty (does anyone say tasty or is it just me translating in my head?)
Monday, July 13, 2009
Wednesday, July 08, 2009
The Gutenberg Bible online
The Harry Ransom Center's web site has an exhibit of the Gutenberg bible. I can't read the type setting but I thought it was pretty cool anyway.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Trip to America 2009
We made it home yesterday after a long trip and a mad rush through JFK airport to make our connecting plane. It is good to be back in our own home but we are glad for the time that we had with our family and friends.
We got to spend some time with our niece Ina. She is a lot of fun and one week with her didn't seem like enough time. We had a good time with Shawn and Sarah too, even though I didn't take many pictures of them.
In Yuba City we got to spend time with our niece Sarah who is growing up very fast. We also got to play softball with Liese's little brother Micah and watch one of his after school games. We were able to help out with some projects around the house and even helped Liese's uncle paint the inside of his house.
On the Central Coast we met our niece Alana and had a lot of fun hanging out with her (and Mike and Sarah). Dad was able to take some time off work and so we did a lot of fun things together, and I managed to change his schedule so he'd surf with me more often.
It was a fun trip and we are glad that we were able to spend a lot of time with family this year.
We got to spend some time with our niece Ina. She is a lot of fun and one week with her didn't seem like enough time. We had a good time with Shawn and Sarah too, even though I didn't take many pictures of them.
In Yuba City we got to spend time with our niece Sarah who is growing up very fast. We also got to play softball with Liese's little brother Micah and watch one of his after school games. We were able to help out with some projects around the house and even helped Liese's uncle paint the inside of his house.
On the Central Coast we met our niece Alana and had a lot of fun hanging out with her (and Mike and Sarah). Dad was able to take some time off work and so we did a lot of fun things together, and I managed to change his schedule so he'd surf with me more often.
It was a fun trip and we are glad that we were able to spend a lot of time with family this year.
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