GroshLink

Yes, I have to agree with Jon's comment regarding addiction. But I have to admit that I too swung by a Starbucks the other day. After an excellent IVY Jungle Regional Conference hosted by Biblical Seminary, I had some time to burn before visiting with my supervisor, so I carried in a stack of books to read for an upcoming Early Christian Spirituality Spiritual Formation Elective at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. While successfully ordering a pumpkin spice frappuccino, Mitch Albom's new for one more day caught my attention.

And not long afterward, I was reading a very personal story about Chick Benetto, a man beaten down by life in the years since he briefly played in the major leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates (and part of a ficitional World Series against the Baltimore Orioles in 1973, if I remember correctly that was the A's and Mets).

After an awkward attempt to end it all, he is given an extra day with his mother, Posey, who teaches him one more lesson that might just save his life . . .

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I'm beginning to re-acclimate to rural life. But after city living for 10 years I have changed. I have become a self-admitted coffee snob, courtesy of Starbucks Coffee School that I attended. And although the rest of the world complains about Starbucks taking over the world like a plague, a coffee shop of any sort, and especially the siren variety, is a particularly difficult thing to find around here. The closest Starbucks retail store is about 20 miles from here. But there is another option--one that I've scoffed at and chastised my parents for succumbing to. (More)

About 40 students and faculty gathered in Huntsman Hall at Penn's Wharton Business School to hear Andy Crouch speak about this larger societal concern. Below are my notes, but here is a link to a copy of the transcript (and an audio file is coming).

Crouch began by defining evangelicals as those which take the Bible seriously and try to share their faith with others. Then he briefly contrasted the extreme views on Christian Cultural power, with Sam Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation (also see Cornell's http://www.theocracywatch.org) on one end of the spectrum and The Next Conservatism, A Series by Paul M. Weyrich as part of Concerned Woman for America's resource material on the other.

Due to the brief presentation time and to allow for more dialogue, Crouch began by placing his thoughts on the table, Christians are gaining power and access in institutions. Fears of theocracy are unfounded. I fear Christians already have more power than we know how to use.

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Terry Nichols, Chair of the Theology Department at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN, began his Duquesne campus lecture by reflecting upon a recent visit to a Copenhagen congregation with 35 on a Sunday morning. I tried my best to keep pace, but I must confess that I didn't get it all down :-( But it will give you a good glimpse into the material which he presentated last week.

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After returning the remaining elements of the GFM Conference book table to Hearts and Minds, I swung north to Messiah College to join Ted Davis' class on the Creation-Evolution Debate (Also check out ID on Trial notes from his recent F&M presentation). I found this opportunity of interest because the material he presented today parallels a seminar which he provides for local congregations as they seek greater understanding of the issues involved. I'm going to explore options for a seminar in the Elizabethtown area.

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This little girl has really taken off in the last 2 weeks! She is now fairly proficient at pulling herself up at the sofa, bed and bathtub (a personal facination of hers). She also can pull to stand in her pack n play now. She now crawls on her hands and knees ("creeping" in PT jargon) more often than she belly crawls. I see more small movements in which she chooses to use her right hand (e.g. touching my face). And her vocabulary is started to expand. Common words include: car, truck, cup, Grandma/pa, mama, dada, some derivation for Hayley/Ellen, hat, sock, thank you, and bus. Most of these words sound pretty similar to "Gock", but depending on what she's pointing at when she gocks you can figure out what she's saying. Her receptive language is huge (how much she understands when spoken to). She'll follow directions such as, "give mama the sock" and when asked, will point to the appropriate location such as hair, nose, piggy-toes, foot, etc. If I mention something about her eyepatch while she's wearing it, she will immediately try to pull it off. She knows when she's doing something she shouldn't do and will look at me and laugh before she scurries off to do it. At least once a day someone in the household will exclaim, "She doesn't miss a trick!" And my grandfather likes to say "there's nothin wrong with her thinker!" (More)