GroshLink

Have you seen the cartoon, We used your unsold copies to build a tree, but it’s not the same (Two men stand before a tree made out of books)? It ran in The New Yorker, June 11, 2007.  If not, go here. Will that be the end of Encyclopaedia Britannica which is not on-line or will the paper Encyclopaedia Britannica be produced on demand?

I don't know, but I must confess it has been fun to look up various items and compare to Wikipedia. But I must confess disappointment, with only one Encyclopaedia Britannica article referring to a Grosch/Grosh.  Surprisingly that was better than the IFES, InterVarsity/IVCF, InterVarsity Press, and Urbana Student Missions Convention combined!  Anyhow, love the research opportunity and the This Day in History feature.  I'll be using this material shortly, but much to do today especially with Eden not staying in her room during naptime while Theresa's at the store and the laundry's going.  Note:  Earlier post on the origin of this subscription . . . 'Encyclopaedia Britannica' for free?

Theresa's due in 43 days, with a 4% chance she'll give birth on the due date?  And Eden seems to be obsessed with the run to the hospital.  Just this morning she was crawling/walking around wanting to know when we're going to the hospital. 

On a more serious note, join me in prayer for the healthy delivery and godly growth of our baby girl.  In addition, continue to ask the Father to mold me into a father who is a blessing to 4 daughters of the Lord and a shepherd for the whole family.  Lastly, intercede for Theresa to have the energy and multi-tasking ability for all her tasks:  caring for Eden, cleaning, cooking, gardening, raising a 'class rooster,' etc.

On one of the various campus fellowship lists of which I am a part, I saw the below list of internally generated suggestions for summer commitments:

What a dream come true, I can't wait to show my Daddy! According to The Chronicle for Higher Education's Education-technology news from around the web (which took its news from TechCrunch reports) the reason for bloggers being offered free access to the on-line Encyclopaedia Britannica are the publisher's fears [of] being nudged into irrelevance by the proliferation of free online reference sources.

3rd places, for more see my post Most fulfilling parts of the college experience, were a significant feature of last week's Pittsburgh Mission as I mixed with graduate students at Kiva Han in Oakland, walked the streets of Squirrel Hill and paths of Frick Park, met a friend from Allegheny Center C&MA at the Blvd of the Allies Panera over cobblestone and tea, lunched with a pastor at Allegheny Center C&MA's Cafe, dined at Gullifty's before walking to Manor to see Smart People (a film about a fictional CMU faculty member, which I hope to review shortly regarding the value of student/teacher, and flooded me w/campus memories), breakfasted with one faculty at the Wexford Eat-n-Park and another at Pamelas in Shadyside (and picked up a Burnt Almond Torte at Prantl's . . . shhh!  Don't tell Theresa. I already blessed her with some Singapore Rice Noodles).  AND I even added one for the future when coordinating a lunch at the newly renovated Lutheran Center (between Pitt & CMU along Forbes Ave).

I'm a Lucky Bird!

On Thursday the weather was sufficiently warm enough to take Lucky outside for the first time. I expected him to dart out of his cage and run, but instead he preferred to hang around the girls and I. Even when we weren't directly paying attention to him he didn't wander off. And darned if I didn't begin to feel just a little, shall we call it, affection for this fowl! Eventually the 3 kids tired of watching a chicken wander around and went inside to watch tv. I on the other hand, continued to sit in the warm spring sunshine with a young chicken sticking close to my side. He preferred to stand underneath my chair. Then I decided to assemble a little red wagon that we had purchased in January, so I brought that out. Lucky then preferred to stand inside the box that the wagon came in.

Eden says the funniest things sometimes.  This week she's been telling me that the bathroom is sad.  "Why is the bathroom sad?" I ask.  "Because he's sick and has to go the hospital!"  Of course!  Silly Mommy.  She's in a hospital obsession phase right now.

The other day at lunch a fly was buzzing around us.  She kept shooing it and telling it not to eat her food.  Then she said, "Eat your own food, fly!"

Temptations, of course, cannot be avoided, but because we cannot prevent the birds from flying over our heads, there is no need that we should let them nest in our hair.

—Martin Luther (1483–1546)

Tonight, at the U. of Pennsylvania there will be a follow-up gathering to Jim Sire's visit.  Pray for strong participation and good conversation as they take Sire's material an additional step by using If God is There, Why Doesn’t He Show Himself? -- a short piece by Rick James, author of InterVarsity Press' (IVP) Jesus Without Religion: What Did He Say? What Did He Do? What's the Point?   Note: You might consider picking up a copy of Jesus Without Religion to share w/friends and family interested in knowing more about Jesus, it's widely used on campus with undergrads. Below is the end of the preface, taken from the IVP website, which also has Chapter 1 for your consideration:

As this is religious subject matter, I feel I should give a disclaimer up front. I write with considerable bluntness, and generally, if it pops into my mind, it appears on paper. I, of course, could edit myself, but for the most part I choose not to because I’d like this book to be as accessible and down-to-earth as possible, as such subject matter rarely is. But I do want to say that it is neither my desire nor my goal to be irreverent, only relatable. And don’t mistake my manner of communication for either apathy or agnosticism — I assure you I’m neither. Rather through context, commentary and considerable bluntness, my desire is to strip away the veneers of both religiosity and skepticism (which has its own creeds) and get down to the bare wood, looking to arrive at not some austere set of facts but the unvarnished Jesus of the Gospels and history -- Jesus without religion.

I'm embarking on a new experiment and the trial run was relatively successful. Yesterday I picked up a cookbook at the library called Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld (wife of Jerry). It consists of kid-friendly recipes that sneak in vegetables by using vegetable purees as secret ingredients.

Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason -- for I can believe neither pope nor councils alone, as it is clear that they have erred repeatedly and contradicted themselves -- I consider myself convicted by the testimony of Holy Scripture, which is my basis; my conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one's conscience is neither safe nor sound. God help me. Amen.

What Luther Said
When Martin Luther stood up for his ideas at the Diet of Worms, did he really say, "Here I stand?"
by Elesha Coffman
from Issue 34: Martin Luther—The Early Years

The words of 1521 (and their implications) still ring in our ears today.

I knew this day would come and I've been dreading it. But it's gone remarkably better than I anticipated. A few days ago we moved Eden out of her way-too-small portacrib and into a toddler bed. Her first sleeping attempt was for naptime and after 1 hour of coaxing and discipline, she fell asleep in her bed. I kept the crib in her room to use as a back-up. At one point I told her she was going back to her crib, and actually put her in there, but the pitiful plea she gave me to peep in mah big gurl bed! was so heart-wrenching I relented. The first night she slept pretty well in her bed. I think I only had to go in to her room once, when she turned on her light and called for Mommy at 4:30am, announcing to me, It's time to get up. Oh no, I responded, It's not time to get up. She actually went back to sleep until the more reasonable hour of 7am.

Last night was a little rougher. Eden required 3-4 visits in the middle of the night. She's taken the admonition to stay in your bed! so seriously that if something falls out of her bed (cup, blanket, doll) she won't get out of bed to pick it up. We're still trying to work that one out. She also fell out of bed several times last night. She didn't do that at all the first two times she slept in the bed, so I don't know what that's all about. We haven't yet located the little guards that came with the bed. We're also trying to convince her that if she falls out of bed she can put herself back into bed without help.

Today she fell asleep for her nap after an hour of protesting. I finally had to wake her at 5pm and she was precariously close to the edge of her bed, head pointed towards the floor. I literally caught her when I woke her up or she would have slid head first into the floor. For bedtime tonight she settled without any visits from mom! Hallelujah for small miracles! I guess next step will be to move the crib out of her room and into the new baby's room. But it still comes in handy for time-outs... [Theresa, 4/11/2008 10:40:17 PM]

Today's concerns of overpopulation, global warming, and food shortages have been around for awhile.  An adaption of Harry Harrison's 1966 book, Make Room! Make Room! came to the big screen with a big name actor in 1973 with the release of Soylent Green.

It's the year 2022. ... People are still the same.  They'll do anything to get what they need.  And they need SOYLENT GREEN.

Should I read The Shack, a fictional piece which wrestles with the timeless question "Where is God in the world so filled with unspeakable pain?" through some unique storytelling [which has caused quite the conversation (e.g., see comments on Chris From Canada]. According to Eugene Peterson, Professor Emeritus Of Spiritual Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, B.C.

When the imagination of a writer and the passion of a theologian cross-fertilize the result is a novel on the order of The Shack. This book has the potential to do for our generation what John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress did for his. It’s that good!

At dawn on April 9, 1945, the prison doctor found him [Dietrich Bonhoeffer] kneeling in prayer in his cell.  Bonhoeffer was taken outside and down a short flight of steps to the execution area, where he went calmly to be hanged.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer's voice was silenced at age thrity-nine, but through his writing and the example of his life he has spoken and will contiue to speak to generations of believers.  Contemporary Christians can gain much from studying Bonhoeffer. . . .  -- from the introduction of Dale & Sandy Larsen's Deitrich Bonhoeffer: Costly Grace (Downers Grove, IL:  IVP, 2002, p.11). 

As I look forward to visiting Pittsburgh next week, I'll return to some favorite 3rd places for extended, exploratory conversations regarding following Christ in higher education over tea, coffee, and various pastries. Why?

Still meditating upon the below daily asterisk. I've passed over Heaven is a Place on Earth, but maybe it's time to pick-up a copy to read how Michael E. Wittmer fills out this vision a little bit more . . . and compare to N.T. Wright :-)  I would comment that we are most at home with/in our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer who enables us to step into proper self-understanding, care for creation through vocation, and love of neighbor no matter the context.

I recently began making my own granola and not only does the family enjoy it, but so have others who have tasted it.  Since I'm tired of writing out the recipe, I decided to post it here for the entire blogosphere to enjoy.  I hope you do.  It's from the More-with-Less Cookbook. -- Theresa

Much good news to share regarding Jim Sire's Signals of Transcendence central PA tour.  May the saints rejoice in answered prayer and to God be all the glory! 

Want to know more about Following Christ, InterVarsity's triennial conference for graduate students, faculty, and professionals?

Go to http://www.followingchrist.org/ to register, to explore scholarship info, and to download audio from Following Christ 98 (which includes the material N.T. Wright used for The Challenge of Jesus: Rediscovering the Jesus Who Was & Is) and Following Christ 02.

One day last week Lucky hopped up onto the top edge of his carboard box.  Fortuitously we saw this day coming and had just borrowed a rabbit cage from Tom's parents. So the next day, we moved Lucky to his new digs. As Eden says, Ucky have new home! We're still using the heat lamp, especially since the cage is draftier than the box. Ellen and Hayley are very good about giving him clean water twice a day. Lucky is very curious. If you stick the thermometer through the cage he likes to peck at it. And the other day when I cleaned Avery's cage (the canary), I set Avery's cage on some paper on the floor next to Lucky and Lucky was very interested in his fellow fowl. Normally Avery's cage hangs on a stand high above Lucky's cage so this was the first they saw beak to beak. Check out the new pictures and note Lucky's new big bird feathers.

Thank-you to my friend in campus ministry who passed along, John Stackhouse's recent post The Reality of Sex. May followers of Christ not be found to be fools regarding the gift of our bodies. Here is a benefical quote: