After listening to my brother (who is spiritually somewhere between being a deist and a Unitarian-Universalist/Lutheran hybrid) and I talk about theology and early Christianity (well… that and Sean having to act it out during our “friendly” family game of Charades on Christmas night), my mom decided that I needed to read The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown. I had three hours of air time yesterday (and a 15 minute sprint across MSP to my gate because we were 30 minutes late leaving Great Falls due to the crew needing to sleep in and the airport taking its sweet time in de-icing the plane) so I read it. Did I enjoy it? Immensely on an intellectual level. Did it wreck my faith? No… but it did cause me to really ponder some of the things in there.
Monthly Archives: December 2003
Family Bloodsports
The following innocent games become full contact sports when played at family gatherings:
Scrabble (I’m terrified to introduce Speed Scrabble to them)
Monopoly (my brother is EVIL)
jigsaw puzzles (blows can be exchanged)
Trivial Pursuit (I show no mercy and I am darn good at it!)
These have been the highlights of the last few days.
Highlights of the Last few Days
A Hymn Sing for Christmas
Of the Fatherï??s love begotten, ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, evermore and evermore!
At His Word the worlds were fram’d; He commanded; it was done:
Heaven and earth and depths of ocean in their threefold order one;
All that grows beneath the shining
Of the moon and burning sun, evermore and evermore!
O that birth forever blessed, when the virgin, full of grace,
By the Holy Ghost conceiving, bare the Savior of our race;
And the Babe, the world’s Redeemer,
First revealed His sacred face, evermore and evermore!
This is He Whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord;
Whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word;
Now He shines, the long expected,
Let creation praise its Lord, evermore and evermore!
O ye heights of heaven adore Him; angel hosts, His praises sing;
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, and extol our God and King!
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert sing, evermore and evermore!
The first Noel the angel did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay tending their sheep,
On a cold winterï??s night that was so deep.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
They lookï??d up and saw a star
Shining in the east, beyond them far;
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
And by the light of that same star
Three Wise Men came from country far;
To seek for a King was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
This star drew nigh to the northwest,
Over Bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay,
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
Then entered in those Wise Men three,
Full reverently upon the knee,
And offered there, in His presence,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord;
That hath made heaven and earth of naught,
And with His blood mankind hath bought.
Noel, Noel, Noel, Noel,
Born is the King of Israel.
Minnesota Bumper Stickers
My wonderful mother-in-law sent me this. It’s bumper stickers that should exist for Minnesota. Among my favorites (with my commentary in parenthesis) are:
-My governor is a bigger crybaby than your governor!
-You think YOU’RE cold – try riding on the bumper!
-While your governor was fighting crime and injustice, our governor was wrestling pink feathered boas.
–Minnesota: Our peace and justice people can beat up your peace and justice people. (I WANT THIS ONE!!!!!)
-Our Governor is more embarrassing than your Governor. (I think this should apply equally well to California.)
-Minnesota . . . where gravity is not just a good idea . . . it’s the law!
-Our public radio network is better than yours . . . if you listen, you know that already!
-Minnesotans – so nice we walk on water – in winter.
-I bet my governor can beat up your governor.
-I brake for lutefisk. (Ewwwwww…)
-Minnesota: where all the mosquitoes are strong, all the loons are good looking, and all the snowmen are above average.
-Minnesota: Norwegian for mosquitoes and snow.
-Our governor is more narcissistic than your governor. (Ahem… California?)
-Home of the Chosen Frozen
-Lena of Sven thousand Ole’s (Um Ya Ya!)
-This governor is for entertainment purposes only.
-I survived Minnesota traffic.
-Minnesotans are God’s frozen people
-Peace and good wool from Minnesota
Continue reading
Jen is back!
Our stuff is in Minnesota. Jon was ordained on the 14th (and the ordination service went well) and we got our stuff into the U-Haul and took off at noon on the 15th. My brother Sean and I then managed to get stranded in Columbus with car problems while Jon continued on unaware that we had lost him on I-70. (Eight hours later, we tracked him to the hotel where he was shocked that we weren’t behind him.) On the 16th (after getting the problem with Sable fixed), Sean and I drove from Columbus to La Crosse, Wisconsin with 4 very mewy cats. On the 17th, we drove from La Crosse to Madison, spending 30 minutes of the time in a ditch on the side of I-90 because someone in front of us suddenly hit their brakes, causing us to swerve on an ice patch to avoid them. Sable made it (though there is still an engine cylinder misfiring) and has survived two runs to the airport in Sioux Falls in addition to the move up to Madison. A team of people from both churches was there to help us unload our stuff and I spent the next couple days (aside from the airport run and a trip to Watertown to get banking and household errands done) in bed with a wicked cold.
I’m in Montana now and I’ll be here until the 29th. I have Internet access here (YAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!) so I’ll actually update now and then. God willing, we will have DSL or broadband set up by the time I get back to Madison…
Can This Get Any More… *Interesting*???
We took Sable in yesterday and they reconnected a spark plug wire that had come loose. She purred like a kitten on the way home; but the problems started again this morning. Apparently, the connector was degrading but they didn’t think there would be a problem. Uh huh. Prayers that we can get her back into running shape (again!!!!!!!!) would be appreciated. This is of course happening on Saturday and we have to leave on Monday morning.
As for packing, I swear that I am going to stab a certain member of the church if she asks if I’m packed yet. (This person seems to know how to press all of my buttons at once — really strange but true.) My in-laws sent Jon to their hotel room to sleep and left me to pack by myself. I got some done but not the entire house. Jon has had a cold and so he hasn’t been able to do much. (I have his cold now. Oh joy!) Hopefully, we can get the rest of the house packed up with their help.
Oh did I mention that I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night?