Maple

I love my dog. See originally we had planned to get two dogs and name one Maple and the other Syrup, but we ended up just getting Maple. Hehe...there were also plans for getting dogs named Chocolate (Black Lab), Corn, Blueberry, Boysenberry... Bad Joke...sorry. Haha. Anyway, here is an adorable set of photos for your enjoyment.

Disclaimer: The writer of this blog is not responsible for any outbreaks of jealousy regarding said dog. Also, he is not responsible for any throat problems resulting from screams of, "Awwww!!!" and "Soooooo Cute!!!". That being said, on with the (slide) show.

(You can click the photos for much larger sizes)

This would be her Regal Sphinx Pose

Stretching just before the performance:

The Yawn.

I'd say that was a 10/10 wouldn't you?

Notice the nonchalance with which she finishes off and excellent performance.

Curtains!

*Thunderous Applause*

Thanksgiving

A few months ago I read Ephesians 14 times (on the advice of Dr. Sanders in his post about synthetic readings of the Bible) and this evening I spent 2 hours reading it once with much prayer for wisdom and understanding. Praise God! He truly works! He cares about us! Even on the 15th reading, there is soooooo much more that I learned! I think Sayers says something about this, like the student will come to the wonderful realization that truism is true! To my shame I admit that I have not read my Bible at all for the past 3 months. (Really, truly read I mean, token scanning but never concentrated, focused, etc.) But in those 2 hours i feel like I've gained a world of Joy. I am very thankful. Thank you God. =]

Salvation?

John Wesley has got to be my favorite author so far in Foundations.

So our class was discussing the topic of Justification and Sanctification and Faith. (Oh Boy!) This has got to be my favorite discussion so far too! It's going to be hard to distill our entire ream of thought but I shall try:

3 Analogies

1)
Good Tree=Good Fruit,
Good Faith=Good Works

The whole relationship is organic. By not doing some good works your faith doesn't automatically shrivel up and die, it moves in degrees towards being alive or dead. Also, when too many fruits are being supported and there are not enough resources to go around, all the fruits suffer. Same with good works. When one is spread too thin, all good acts suffer. This is, of course, a very incomplete and inept summary of this (awesome) analogy.

2) A Muscle is either: Healthy and Fit, weak and flabby, atrophied, or dead.

Same with Faith. It works (so we think) like a muscle. More it is used, the stronger it gets. When it doesn't get used, it starts getting weaker then shrinks then dies. (eventually...I think)

3) Vine:

Sometimes the vine needs to be pruned in order to be able to focus it's resources in order to produce better fruit. Same with us. In order to produce a few excellent good works, sometimes it requires just focusing on those few.

Those were the main analogies we had. We only had two hours but we covered alot! However we didn't go too much into what we meant by good works. Or maybe we did....Anyway, these questions about Faith, Justification, and Sanctification are some of the Cornerstones of Christianity. I hope I never stop learning about them.

Rhapsody on a theme of Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff's music is incredible. My friend MKR sums it up by saying, "He's perfect". Especially in his Piano Concertos (#2 and #3 specifically) the music becomes so complexly beautiful, they evoke so many wonderful emotions and give such a sense of hope that nothing I've ever heard can compare with it. For forty minutes I experience ecstacy. And perhaps the most wonderful thing about Rachmaninoff's Piano Concertos is that I can see glimpes of the Divine Love. I suppose the thing I feel is Wonder as defined by Chesterton, "Gratitude mixed with Awe". Nothing seems impossible and eveything is beautiful during those 40 minutes. Of course I haven't heard that much, but he really is and will always be my favorite composer.