After finishing The Book of Lights, I wanted to read another Potok book, and I chose “The Chosen” as it is the one that was sitting on the coffee table at a friends house that toggled my desire to read him again to begin with.  I read this book in one day as I flew back from CA to NC, and thought it was absolutely great.  In fact, I liked it better than The Book of Lights, which is odd because I had thought I remembered liking that book the most of all the Potok books when I read nearly everything he wrote 10-12 years ago.

I think I’ll just have a bunch of quotes in this entry…

First is the quote that started the book, by Karl Menninger:

When a trout rising to a fly gets hooked on a line and finds himself unable to swim about freely, he begins with a fight which results in struggles and splashes and sometimes an escape.  Often, of course, the situation is too tough for him.

In the same way, the human being struggles with his environment and with the hooks that catch him.  Sometimes he masters his difficulties; sometimes they are too tough for him.  His struggles are all that the world sees and it naturally misunderstands them.  It is hard for a free fish to understand what is happening to a hooked one.

Now on to some quotes from the book:

…when a person comes to talk to you, you should be patient and listen.  Especially if that person has hurt you in any way.  [Note he doesn’t say it will be easy!]

He told me once he wishes everyone could speak in silence…  [this is a key concept in the book, but I won’t go into it here…]

No one knows he is fortunate until he becomes unfortunate… [I don’t fully agree… We can know we are blessed/fortunate, though we may not understand it fully without having something taken away…]

The Talmud says everyone should do two things for himself.  One is to acquire a teacher….  The other is to choose a friend.

… the most mysterious thing in the universe to man is man himself.

Honest difference of opinion should never be permitted to destroy a friendship.

This one needs its own quotes:

Human beings do not live forever… We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure against eternity.  So it may be asked what value is there to a human life.  There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?…  I learned a long time ago … that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing.  But the eye that blinks, that is something.  A span of life is nothing.  But the man who lives that span, he is something.  He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant.  …  A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.  It is hard work to fill one’s life with meaning.

And one more:

A man is born into this world with only a tiny spark of goodness in him.  The spark is God, it is the soul; the rest is ugliness and evil, a shell.  The spark must be guarded like a treasure, it must be nurtured, it must be fanned into a flame.  It must learn to seek out other sparks, it must dominate the shell.  [ This one is perhaps must deeper theologically than what you think at first read...]

In the past 12-24 months, I have had a growing sense of a lack of depth with the level of theology being discussed, taught, and preached in this area (the South in general 🙂 ) and in Baptist churches in particular.   This feeling has grown as I have read more books, many of which I have read due to the Classical Christian School we have worked so hard to start.   A quote from The Paideia of God by Douglas Wilson hit the nail on the head:

. . . many of those who are involved in starting up classical and Christian schools are on their own pilgrimage.  They do not have any settled doctrinal convictions but are unsettled by that fact.  They feel rootless and unequipped to teach their children.  They have begun the process regardless, and they have constantly come up against what may be described as a fundamental theological reason why their studies seem so fruitless.  They are trying to be faithful but cannot seem to get any traction.  I have seen numerous such individuals who have begun to investigate Reformed theology precisely because their previous theology (or, more likely, lack of theology) provided an inadequate foundation for the kind of eduction they wanted to provide for their children.

But even before that, I have always been drawn to theology books and had even started reading books such as What is Reformed Theology (RC Sproul) and Systematic Theology (Gruden), as well as listening to Systematic Theology courses Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) makes available on iTunes.  Just in the past month I have heard speakers at ACCS mention the “superficiality” of the south, and I have begun asking a few local pastors their thoughts on the topic.

At any rate, I came across the following three podcasts which do a really good job of going through the history of the SBC and touch on what I would consider much deeper theology than what we typically see in today’s SBC churches.

http://www.ncbaptist.org/index.php?id=audio_koinonia

I highly recommend listening to these, especially if you are a member of a Southern Baptist Church and if you have been searching for deeper things.   For example, one point that was brought up was the submerging of doctrine to a more pragmatic and experiential view of faith took over.  Another example is how they show the root of Baptists is a combination of English Separatists, dissatisfied Anglicans, and a desire to get back to the basics of what is taught in the Bible.  They go on to say that in every way Baptists are Protestant except in their view of Baptisms (age of accountability vs. infant), and that we can in general be called “Evangelical Calvinists” (though they point out some differences in sub-aspects of what that means.  Each of these points is discussed by leading Baptist Theologians of our day.  (I may have thought that term was an oxymoron until listening to these guys talk!  😉 )  A general sense I got is that Baptists tried to be as broad in their theology as possible while maintaining primary doctrine as taught in the Bible, but let some of the more subtle differences be settled at the family or local church level.  For example, Evangelical Calvinist as a broad term does not just mean Reformed Baptist.  (I’m still trying to get my head around all of these terms and doctrines, so if I have mischaracterized anything, I apologize!)

Even if you have not felt the same lack of depth, the podcasts are worth listening to so you can get a feel for the history of the SBC — where the organization came from (and why), some foundational beliefs, and what issues it is currently facing.

And finally, they mentioned the SBC Confession of faith, which is worth a read through as well…

Recently, someone I have known less than a year, but have grown to respect quite a bit, said this to me in an email:

You know, one of the best books on leadership I’ve ever read (although its really a narrative about rabbits) is Watership Down by Richard Adams. It’s a great summer-beach read. Check it out if you’ve not read it.

I had just recently given him a copy of “Leading with a Limp,” one of my new favorite non-fiction books.

My interest was piqued, so I headed over to Amazon to check it out.  What struck me there was the following chart of ratings:

I have never seen a book with that many 5 star ratings, so I immediately ordered it.  (Amazon Prime is such a bad thing!!!  Or a good thing depending on how you look at it.  🙂  )

It was really an excellent read — a great story; and there are great examples of leadership:

• a leader that uses his resources wisely — by having those that follow him do tasks they are well suited to
• a leader that is not afraid to take on risk himself when necessary
• a leader that speaks what is appropriate to the appropriate rabbits (people) at the appropriate times
  
• a leader that shows courage on the outside even when unsure on the inside
• a leader that knows when to discuss his uncertainty with key rabbits (people) when necessary
• a leader that “thinks outside the box” to solve problems or while facing difficult situations
• a leader that is humble and recognizes his weaknesses, but is able to work around those weakness (often by using others around him that are strong in that area)

Of course, I was looking for leadership qualities and you may not notice all of those if you have just picked it up as a fun summer read.  But it is both fun and thought provoking as a leadership study if you want that too.

Only a few quotes:

• “Besides, he was not particularly impressive in appearance or as a speaker.”  This one is somewhat surprising since most leaders are at some level attractive and almost always good speakers.  This was in reference to a particular situation where a delegate that was impressive in both appearance and as a speaker was very much warranted.
• “For what is is what must be.”
• “Many human beings say that they enjoy the winter, but what they really enjoy is feeling proof against it.  For them there is no winter food problem.  They have fires and warm clothes.  The winter cannot hurt them and therefore increases their sense of cleverness and security.”

Sixteen years ago, on May 8th, 1993, Kelly and I got married.  I am so blessed to have her in my life, and I thank God for her every day.  In many ways, we have grown up together, and each of us is who we are because of the other.  I would not have done it any other way.  We have truly lived a dream.

Here is a relatively recent picture of the two of us.  (You can clearly see I married way above myself! )

I am no poet — never have been and never will be (so please don’t make fun of me!) — but here is something I wrote a few months after we started dating:

Kelly’s Poem

The rings of the moon, and Heaven’s Star,

Will never be as beautiful to me as you are.

Gold and Riches may one day be mine,

But their value will never be as thine.

The longer we are together,

The more I love you;

I hope that this is forever,

And I hope you hope it too.

Love is ours to explore —

We can have so much more — we just have to be willing to try,

To never say goodbye.

— 1988

(The “rings of the moon” is from a night in October 1987, about 3 weeks after we started dating, where there were two “rings” of light around the moon — a beautiful sight indeed, and one I have never seen since.)

Happy anniversary Kelly!  I love you with all my heart.

Sunday, March 15th, there was a Backwoods Orienteering Klub meet at Schenck Forrest.  Schenck is a little too small for anything above a brown level course, so normally BOK tries to do something more interesting.  This time, they had a snooker-o.

Normally orienteering courses are run in a given order of controls for each given course.  Then there are score-o’s in which you choose the order, and each control is worth a different number of points.  So you create a strategy to get the most number of points in the given time.  (Rogaines are just long score-o’s — as much as 24 hours, of which I’ve done one.)

A snooker-o was a new concept, which is similar to a score-0, but with the added caveats that:

1. you must start with a control worth 1
2. you must finish with a control worth 1
3. whenever you get control worth more than 1, you must follow with a control worth 1

To expand on 3, you are allowed to get as many controls worth 1 in a row as you want.  But you have to be careful to not use up all the 1 pointers!

It was really an interesting concept, and made for a fun event.  Below is the map, with my scribbled strategy on the side of which order I was going to go in:

I wanted to save 46 as a safety, since it was so near the start and finish.  And most of the multi-point controls were towards the west, with several across the stream.  Since it had been raining for a couple days and was still raining, the creek was a little crazy, and several people opted not to cross it at all.  I got control 68.  The stream crossing on the way out was not too bad.  The water was high and moving fast, but I judged it well and came out on a nice beach/shore right were I wanted to.  But returning was a little scary.  The rush water pushed me a lot further than expected, and all of a sudden I was in chest deep water being pushed into a 5 foot high bank.  I did a strong scissor kick and grabbed a tree, and pulled myself out.  Did I mention the water was VERY cold?  But a couple minutes later after running, I didn’t feel it at all.

I thought I did better than the results show.  I had trouble with 51 but abandoned it quickly so I don’t think that affected me much.  And I ran almost the full hour I was out.  Oh well, it was fun, and each time out, I am getting closer to my old form!

Riley drew a picture of me orienteering out in the rain, that I had to include here!

So far I like Fiction Family, which is Jon Foreman (Switchfoot) and Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek).  Their sound is much more like Foreman’s solo work than Switchfoot, though I like Foreman’s solo work more than Fiction Family.

I also like My Morning Jacket, which is another band that made a lot of top albums last year with their Evil Urges CD… Here is a video from that album:

Test post from Dad’s iPhone to see if I can live blog.

Update 11:47 am:
Testing an update.

Update: 11:50 am:
Update number 2!

Twenty-one years ago on October 24th, 1987, Kelly and I started dating, and we’ve never looked back.  I know most happily married men think they are the happiest, luckiest, man alive, but I’d have to disagree with each one.  That man is me.  God has truly blessed me with the most amazing, beautiful, selfless woman I know.  Jack Nicholson (Melvin) said to Helen Hunt (Carol) in As Good as it Gets,  “you make me want to be a better man.”  Well, Kelly is so much a part of who I am, and I know I am a better man because of her.

Here’s to 21 years together…  as well as the rest of our lives.  🙂