Adendum

in regards to my blog earlier today, i want to say that I recognize that I lack some key biblical study tools, such as an understanding of Greek or something. And so I'm not sure exactly what it is that jesus says in this passage, so I am open to a clarification if someone has more knowledge than i. and i know that interpretation is a difficult thing, I just want to make sure I'm atleast starting off on the right foot. So please tell me if you have any thoughts.

Etude Biblique

i've been thinking lots these days and not writing. something is a stirring inside of me. not sure what to do with all the thoughts i have but perhaps i will put one of them up here.
i've been thinking about how we read the bible lately. about how we put things in there that aren't really there and yet we do it totally subconsciously, and how we can easily miss a little bit of a verse or a small verse because we loose concentration while we read.
okay my example for things we just put in there....is this. the story of the rich young ruler.
"Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,'[d] and 'love your neighbor as yourself.'[e]"
All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Okay so in this passage we automatically paraphrase it and say "well obviously jesus is saying that it's hard for rich people to get into heaven." but Jesus doesn't say anything about heaven. he talks about how it is hard for rich people to enter the kingdom of God, but Jesus talked about how he was bringing the Kingdom of God, so....perhaps.....

Perhaps jesus is saying that it's hard for people to be apart of what he is doing right now, the kingdom that exists in this world right now and not something in the future. That it's hard for rich people to be apart of what God is doing right now in the world. Now the Rich Young Ruler does talk about Eternal life, so that in our minds points to heaven. But what if Jesus' life was so radically different that the Rich Young Ruler is asking how to get this life that Jesus lives, how to get this fuller life that Jesus teaches about. And Jesus says....well....it's going to be hard to live like me if you are rich, if you aren't interested in the poor.

I feel like this doesn't make any sense, oh dear. I just think we're quick to replace words in verses with what we think is a synonym but actually skews the real intention of the passage. we need to be careful of this.

Seconds anyone?

We had a Wednesday night supper last night and I was happy to see my extended family again. It feels like a big family, lots of laughs and good conversation, people from many different places...california, B.C, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario. it was so lovely to share a meal and experience something good together. there was no where i had to be, nothing that i had to do but be at the table. i would like more of life to be like that. life giving, that is what it was. whoever thought eating could be so wonderful...even for a celiac.

aqua-awesome

i've started swimming again, hoping to get my head and body in a better space or something. i think it should help. there's something healing about water.

i arrived a little too early for lane swimming and sat in the hot tub for a while and watched aqua-sizing. in the change room i was loathing the silly sport because of all the naked old women that i had to see in the change room . they're the sort of women that are...let's say...comfortable with their bodies. shudder.

anyway, i got out to the deck, sat down in the hot tub and watched the end of aqua-size class. they were cooling down and doing movements to "I hope you dance" and it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen in a while. here they are, all these regular, normal people moving in sync together to an emotionally manipulative song. lifting their hands to the sky and slowly pushing through the water.

i watched them for what seemed like a long time, but it was probably only five minutes. i looked at all their faces and realized they were all like me at somepoint, they had lived these long lives, seen many sights, had their hearts broken, laughed so hard that they cried and now they were nearer the end of their lives.

and right there in that moment, i had a sense that i could also keep going. that normal, everyday people were beautiful in their own way and that included me. i have always liked foreign films because they use regular looking people that have the odd mole or crooked tooth, whose hair might be too frizzy or not the right color. it makes the movies more powerful to see every day people living out the heartbreak, tragedy or comedy.

i'm glad i went swimming. it warmed my heart.

undecided

i haven't decided what to do about this blogging thing at this point in time. i will continue thinking about it. i guess since i am not working and puttering around life i have come to realize a lack of consistent community in my life. (and somehow that feels pathetic to admit) and yet there is this whole world of people thinking out there, writing, sharing ideas. i want to figure out what things hinder us from real community, from interacting face to face and sometimes i think blogging does that. i guess i'll just have to keep thinking about it.
thanks for all of you who commented and if some of you still have thought feel free to share them. jack...i'm excited about your coffee shop.

shalom.

Je suis finis

i have come upon an interesting thought in my own head and whilst talking to people i respect. i have come to realize that perhaps....just perhaps...i should terminate my blog. now before i get too into this concept let me explain.

there is something about blogs that is a little strange. you are excited or upset or just thinking about things and we blurt them out or perhaps you blurt them out on a blog page and there they sit. the only consolation or sharing in your excitement is someone writing a little post but it's such a faceless thing, no real hug just wishes of one.

the problem is that i like blogging. i like writing funny things out, sharing things i'm thinking about, finding funny pictures to download and use etc. etc. But sometimes i wonder.

i have thought about this crazy idea in the past and now i will put it up here. what if us edmonton blogging types got together and did a sort of live blogging type thing. you know? where we actually just planned to meet at a coffee shop and shared in person how we were doing, what we had been thinking, what books we were reading and shared our lives in person.

i have gotten some strange e-mails as of recent that I think were sent because it was easier to say in an e-mail because it can just be sent off and you don't have to see the reaction, you don't have to deal with a face....it is indeed a faceless way of communicating. And so these experiences have set in motion some wheels in my head thinking through this stuff, wondering if e-mailing and blogging is causing our world to pull farther and farther away from real interaction with people, to be avoiders and to create "communities" where we never have to actually look someone in the face and tell them how we're doing. Where we can share our pain and not actually have to admit weakness to someone else because we don't' know who is reading it. There is little interdependence in this e-mailing and blogging world and I worry that I am totally becoming apart of it. Rather than sharing interesting things with people in person i just stick it on my blog and if they want to read it they can, but we never talk about it because it's like blogging is this sort of secret world, "What is said in blog world, stays in blog world."

i have just realized my own tendancies to be much more of an avoider than i used to be, that it's easier to sit down and write it out in an e-mail or talk about it on msn rather than talking in person, and it would be easy to avoid people all together in some ways. then you never have to be actually close, you never have to say those hard to say things in person because you can just stick them in an e-mail or on a website. perhaps this is my own struggle rather than everyone else's but....

Maybe this is just rambling so comments, questions, and concerns are welcome. I mean there are those that blog from far away and it's nice to know how they are doing but then...perhaps we could call them or write them a letter, but then perhaps our worlds are full of too many people to call everyone. I don't know.... just working through something, but i like the idea of live blogging. seems like a good idea in my mind, find a cool coffee shop, sit down with your local blogging friends and talk in person.

The problem is that i like reading people's blogs and responding and writing etc. Anyway....comments?

bonneville

So guys I'm back from the Bonneville Salt Flats. What a uniquely wild experience. The car that I'm in there went 250 m/p back in the sixties and now they're trying to get the record back. It was in the movie "The World's Fastest Indian" as well. They have a 55 gallon tank of water in the back of the car to cool the engine while it runs. Gail drives it, but unfortunately the water system shut down during her run and she blew a piston and then that was it, her time in Bonneville was over.

At Bonneville you talk about cars all day. I talked about cars for five days straight, you know about air intake manifold systems, how to get more speed for each gear, pistons blowing, rear suspension, traction, conditions for highest speeds....you know regular talk for me in my world. :)

It was pretty cool to see a motorbike go 208 miles per hour. It's important that you recognize that I'm talking in miles. There was a GMC motorhome that went 102 m/h, some streamliners going 300 m/h or more, crazy mamba jamba goat carters with no roll cage or suspension going 108-130 m/h. And I even saw someone run a two toned blue van like the Tomalty's beauty. it's worth seeing, it's a great experience.

The salt is amazing and looks like snow the way it piles up underneath the cars. But it makes for a hot day with a hot utah sun shining down on you and then that same heat being reflected back on you from the glistening white surface below.

I'm really glad i went. It was a much needed break and distance from the old e-town and things that go on here.