Every Sentence Shines

This is the great difference between some recent developments of Nonconformity and the great Puritanism of the seventeenth century. It was the whole point of the Puritans that they cared nothing for decency. Modern Nonconformist newspapers distinguish themselves by suppressing precisely those nouns and adjectives which the founders of Nonconformity distinguished themselves by flinging at kings and queens.

- Chapter 2 in Chesterton, Heretics

Christmas Songs

Click here for some of the finest renditions of two Christmas classics that you'll ever hear.

Also, I highly recommend the Sacred Sandwich, which is like Lark News but from a bunch of Baptists.

I Almost Cried

Superman Returns contains one of the most racking scenes that I have seen in a while. The movie portrays Superman as strong. While one might expect this from a Superman movie, I have heard that media often portrays Superman as comparatively wimpy. In the beginning of the movie, Superman crashes into the earth from space. Soon after his return, Superman gently lays a crashing Boeing 747 on a baseball field. Later Superman takes a complete round of a chain gun to the chest, grabs a giant, iron advertisement in the air in mid-fall, and lifts a huge boat out of the water, holding it in the air with one hand as he saves Lois and Richard with the other. He is strong. But when he lands on Lex Luthor's kryptonite laced island things change. Lex punches Superman down a staircase. He kicks him around, and then one of Lex's thugs fish hooks Superman under the chin and drags him through the puddles and across the rocks. The three thugs start to beat him heavily, kicking him in the chest and drowning him in puddles. Seeing Superman try to crawl away, then collapse, moan and cry out in pain hurts.

I have read a number of comments on the Christological imagery of the movie. A heavenly being sends down his only son to help men. Jor-El mentions that men are capable of good, but that they need a light for their feet and a lamp for their path. After Lex and his cronies thrash Superman Jor-El says that men are corrupt and have evil hearts but there is still hope for them. The scene of Superman's suffering presents some of the most visceral imagery, and it is reminiscent of the Passion scene in which the Roman soldiers flog Christ (I say scene because I'm comparing movie with movie). There are differences of course: Superman is not almighty; Christ suffered willingly. The Superman scene illustrates the Passion scene in that the contrast between Superman's strength and his weakness is so obvious and so humiliating to us, whereas Christ's strength is not as obvious. As Flannery O'Connor said, when saying something to deaf men you have to speak very loudly. Michael Collender at St. Anne's Pub remarks, however, that all in all Superman was irresponsible with its imagery. I'll let you listen to that on your own.

Procrastination

I am in the Vaughan Memorial library. I've wasted most of the day on pleasant diversions. When I got to school I spent several hours in the Div school study room and talked with fellow students. Wasted time is a bit harsh. It was quite fun. Here in the library I stopped looking for books and just looked around. This is the first time that I've looked around this library. I am sitting on the third floor, looking down on the second. The library is on a hill, so the first and the second floor are on ground level. What look like cow skulls line the wall across from me. The lights cast shadows on the ceiling, which looks like it's made up of aluminum tiles with ventilating holes. The tiles look like army camouflage pants only a lighter green. A purple banner hangs from the ceiling and reads in big white letters "Quiet Study Area." Coughs and the tapping of keys reverberate off the walls, disobeying the sign. Textbook pages are turning, as students study for exams. It is exam week. A guy and a girl just told the girl sitting in front of me that her exam is tomorrow, not Wednesday, and she got so frustrated. She cursed herself, defamed herself, bit, chewed, and tore herself. Her friends felt awkward, almost like it would have been better if they hadn't told her. Below me are the literature books, and far down the stacks of books, on the wall above them, hangs a large painting. Someone has dug a road through a wood. The road is unpaved and about the size for a car to drive on. The sun in shining golden off the upper part of the far window sill and reflecting on the wooden panelled wall. I am scared that I'll miss Jason if I wait any longer, so I have to go now.

Fiction as truth

Some people don't like fiction.  I don't understand it, but there it is.  Something to do with "waste of time."  However, there are few things as profitable as reading a good story.  Through stories hidden things are revealed; we see, whereas before our eyes were covered.  A good story teaches, through characters that do not exist, some truth, either a new truth or one that we already knew but needed to see afresh.

Once there was a great man who committed adultery with a gorgeous woman, and subsequently had her husband killed to hide his deed. Then a storyteller, knowing about this deed and wanting to reveal it to him, came up to the man and told him the following story.  There was a poor man with one lamb, and he loved the lamb dearly.  He cared for it, fed it, and it was his joy and delight.  Then a rich ruler, who had many lambs of his own, took the beloved lamb from the poor man to use at a feast for his guests, leaving the poor man desolate.  The great man fomented at this story, and exclaimed that the ruler ought to pay four lambs for the lamb that he took.  The storyteller, realizing that the great man was a bit obtuse and needed more prodding, said, That ruler is you.  And the great man, seeing what he had done, wept.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

We have many things to be thankful for, not the least of which is being home with family this Thanksgiving. I have been looking forward to this weekend ever since we arrived home. I'm overdue for some big family time and definitly overdue for a large turkey dinner!

Scott's mom, Betty picked us up from New Minas yesterday afternoon and we are at their house in Dartmouth until tomorrow. Tomorrow (Sunday), we will travel to Porter's Lake where we will celebrate Thanksgiving Monday with a large family gathering, lots of Turkey and pie. I am so excited! I imagine that I'll pack on the pounds this weekend (the doctor told me I had to gain 10, so that's okay), however, I was planning on gaining it slowly, 5 in October, 5 in November to avoid the whole yo-yo thing with the fast gain that doesn't last.

We'll be in Dartmouth still on Sunday morning.. I don't know where we'll go to church? Maybe 'Grace Baptist'... Betty mentioned that she would like to try it out, as a possible church for them to attend, so maybe we'll end up there tomorrow... who knows?

Anyway... I'll end this by saying that we are very thankful this year for all of the blessings that God has given us (of which there are many), among those blessings, we are especially thankful for our ever-growing family and for the time we get to spend together. (... and lest we forget... turkey of course).

A New Song

I've uploaded the first take of the first part of a new song. Check it out here.

Finally getting a start...

Well, since my last post I finally have a job! I am a cashier at Kent Building Supplies. I just started training today (I had safety training yesterday). It's not really in my field (that is the one I went to university for); but, it's a job and a pleasant work environment with a helpful and friendly staff, so it's pretty good. Scott is still applying for jobs, but as of yet has not heard from any of the places he has applied... hopefully he'll get an interview soon.

Reuban Dixon (our youngest Dixon nephew) took his first steps yesterday, for those of you who have not heared. It was really cool... we were cheering him on (he walked to me the second time he did it), he looked awesome, stumbling forward with his belly pushed out, it was so exciting!

I guess that's all of the news I have for now, we don't do too much these days... Scott is still enjoying school and we've started going to a Reformed Presbyterian Church in Kentville, that we both enjoy... style of worship wise and liturgy wise.

Anyway, I'll try to keep this updated for our faithfull readers of whom there are a few (I guess, maybe there aren't any, but I think there are at least two... and if you're reading this, you're probably one of them).

Studio Ghibli

I find myself longing to see Kiki's Delivery Service and Whispers of the Heart. I think it helps to talk about it.

Job seeking woes

So, we've been on the job hunt for like three weeks now and not even a smidgen of hope! Every day I apply for more jobs, every day the phone fails to ring. I've now exhausted all of my options in New Minas... handing out something like sixteen resumes, so tomorrow it is off to Kentville to try my luck there. Things in Kentville seem a bit brighter since I read online that Lawtons there is looking for a Pharmacy technician... someone to help the pharmacist with labelling, cataloguing, organizing... that sort of thing. So, I'm hoping that they'll at least consider me... I do have lots of experience with chemicals and biological things and with labelling and organizing (thanks to my Biology degree and all of my labs that up to this point have proved completely useless in my job search).

So, tomorrow morning I will bike to Kentville and scout out the territory, hand out some resumes and hopefully I'll finally get some interviews. I did have two interviews at Sears, but they were only looking for someone for 6 to 20 hours per week and they decided against me in the second interview when I told them that I didn't work on sundays (after they told me that they would soon be opening on sundays). So much for people saying that we wouldn't be discriminated against in finding jobs if we refused to work on sundays for retailers!... I'm not bitter, really. It wasn't that great of an opportunity because I'm looking for full time and they were only offering minimal hours. Also, they said that on friday nights I would have to work until 11pm setting up displays for saturday morning... and I'm not too keen on working until 11pm, then walking home in the dark from County fair mall. So, it was all for the best I guess.

Home at last

I apologise for not keeping this site up to date lately (for those of you that read it). We are now at long last back home in our native land! We have been home in Canada for two weeks now, but already it seems like forever... like we never even left. We moved into our own place in New Minas, NS on Monday evening and have had a busy week. I have been busy printing off resumes and looking for work. Scott has been going to school at Acadia Divinity College, studying and already working on his first report. When I'm at home I keep myself busy with arranging and decorating things the way I want them and I think I have everything looking pretty good. Everything is unpacked and arranged in the different rooms anyway. It is so nice to have our own place and so much space.

I have yet to post our last pictures from Korea, but I promise to do so soon. I need to get a bunch of our pictures printed off so that I can make a scrapbook of our time in Korea... that will be a big project, so I have to get started soon.

Anyway, I have to go finish getting ready for church. We will attend New Minas Baptist Church today, but we don't know where we will go permanently. We were going to try out the presbyterian church in the area, but upon looking at their website discovered that they ordain women reverends at their church and have women in leadership roles, which we do not agree or feel comfortable with. So, we now have three to try over the next few weeks... New Minas Baptist, New Minas church of the Nazarene, and a new church just starting up: Heritage Baptist church (independant Baptist). So, as of right now, I don't know where we will attend, but hopefully we'll settle into a place before the end of the month, I don't like hopping around.

Coming Home

So, we now have approximately fourteen hours until we fly out of Korea! I am so excited! Most of the day will be spent in preparation to leave tonight. We will go to church this morning, then when we come back to the apartment, we'll do some last minute preparations and then we'll depart for the airport at about 4:30pm (it's about an hour and a half drive to the airport, but with weekend traffic, probably longer). We will take the 'airport limousine' bus to the airport and we'll arrive about 2-3 hours before our flight, hopefully with plenty of time to get all the check-in etc... done.

Yesterday, our last full day in Korea we actually did very little. We went out for breakfast in the morning, then Scott had to go to work for his final day (he had to work until 1pm). While Scott was at work, I did some last minute packing and then went for my final trip to the gym here... working out very hard in an attempt to make my body tired enough to have no choice but to sleep on the airplane. After the gym, I cleaned up and went upstairs to the school to meet Scott, we ended up staying for the staff meeting at 1pm. We then went home and I went out to do a little grocery shopping, just for some snacks and a bit of food for the next day. At 6pm we had a school farewell dinner for us and our roommate Wasseem, who is leaving to teach at a public school. When we came home at about 8:30pm, I finished packing and went to bed. So, overall it was a pretty uneventful day, but oh so relaxing.

Last night I had a terrible sleep probably partially from excitement and partially from the food I had eaten at the staff dinner (galbi always does a number on my digestive system after I've eaten it). It was actually a good thing to have a bad sleep though because it gave me the opportunity to hear Scott talking in his sleep once more. At about 3am, I looked at Scott to see him having some kind of spasm with his hands in the air (he must have been dreaming... about what, I have no idea)... anyway, I asked him "What on earth are you doing?" and he replied "We have to get ready to start the conversation class, we're going to start the conversation". Thinking that I could amuse myself by actually having the conversation with him while he was asleep, I said "okay, what do you want to talk about?", unfortunately he partially woke up at that moment and said "oh nothing". So, I didn't get the conversation I had hoped for, but it was still pretty funny.

I can't wait to get home and see everyone! Unfortunately I have a long flight ahead of me and I don't like being in the air that long, but if it's the only way to get home, so be it.

We sang a duet at worship

Here is a link to our performance. You must watch it in Internet Explorer. We sang Psalm 111 from our new hymn book, Cantus Christi.

Spinoza

I guess July 27th was the 350th anniversary of Baruch Spinoza's excommunication from his Jewish community. Spinoza is a giant among philosophers. Funnily enough, although I majored in philosophy, I don't think I ever learned about Spinoza or read his works. I know vaguely that he was a pantheist, but Rebecca Newberger Goldstein claims that he gave us modernity. Modernity is basically summed up in the title one of Kant's books, Religion within the Bounds of Reason. According to Goldstein,

Spinoza's faith in reason as our only hope and redemption is the core of his system, and its consequences reach out in many directions, including the political. Each of us has been endowed with reason, and it is our right, as well as our responsibility, to exercise it. Ceding this faculty to others, to the authorities of either the church or the state, is neither a rational nor an ethical option.

Our religion should thus be tamed by our reason, and reason should build the foundation of our religion. All revelation is disallowed. We need not be contacted from the outside, but only sit in our room with a paper and a pencil and pull our ethics and beliefs from within us.

But when we sit in our rooms, we all start from different places, and we take different paths. So it's no surprise that we end up in different places. There are plenty of ethical systems, and though many are similar in letter, they are very different at heart. Utilitarian and emotivism and categorical imperatives and divine command theory, and darwinian survival-of-the-fittest, and so on and so on. Reason will not unite us.

Reason is not our redeemer; Christ is. From the beginning, reason is compromised (cf. Rom 1:19-21). God can be known, is known in fact, by everybody. They who don't believe in him are merely "suppressing the truth" by unrighteousness (vs. 18). We see, then, that righteousness is neccessary to have proper reason; obedience is key to getting things right. We must be regenerated, given new hearts, before we can depend on our reason at all.

Even then, however, a man is likely to suppress the truth. A man's decisions always look good to himself, but he will often believe things simply because they suit him. So, he must, contrary to the quote above, submit his reason to other authorities, secondarily to the church, and primarily to the Word who speaks in the scriptures. Where a man's thinking differs from these he must obey them, even when he doesn't see the reason. I'm pretty sure he'll understand it eventually: "I believe that I may understand," goes an old saying.

A better book title for Christians is Reason within the Bounds of Religion (there is such a book, by Nicholas Wolterstorff). But in school we were all taught to think like Kant, and sometimes it's quite hard work to begin to think like Wolterstorff. But keep trying, because it's Christ working in you for His good purpose.

Science and Logic

Michael Shermer notes, in his essay for Scientific American entitled "Folk Science," that our intuition of causes is often wrong. "To discriminate true causal inferences from false," he writes, "real science trumps folk science." As an example, he mentions intercessory prayer, and how many attribute their convalescence to it. He claims that the following experiment refutes this. 1802 patients were having coronary bypass surgery and two thirds of them were being prayed for by some churches. Half of those being prayed for were told so, and the other half were told that they might be prayed for. In the end, there was no significant difference in recovery. Prayer had no effect: "case closed," pronounces the Sherminator: the god of the christians is impotent.

That's it? Hold on a second, Mr. Shermer. Let's lay it out. The experiment is set up thus: if there is a statistical increase in the recuperation of prayed for patients, then intercessory prayer works. Straight up conditional. But the statistics were the same. Therefore...the statistics were the same. That's it. That's what we get. The falsity of the antecedant doesn't affect the truth of the consequent. If A, then B: not A: therefore, not A. This argument, which seemed to speak so loudly and which he thought strong enough to close the case, doesn't actually say anything. Teach your kids logic, folks. It'll serve them well in the fight.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my!

This past Saturday we went to the Seoul Zoo and though I do not have much time to talk about it now, it was awesome! It was such a big zoo and had so many cool different types of animals. Unfortunately I couldn't get pictures of them all... all of the primates were inside for the day, so the gorillas and chimps and orangutans were behind frosted glass and I couldn't get a good picture of any of them. It was a really great time though and we had great weather, so if you'd like to see them there are some really cool pictures of animals that we took, they are posted on our photo page. There are also some pictures of when we visited a palace, but when we arrived, it was closed for the day, so there are only a few pictures of the outside.

Lasts

So.. we now have only fifteen more days to wait until we fly home to Canada! It's really exciting! However, with the recent terrorist actions.. I have had to check the websites for Korean air and for Air Canada to check on recent changes in baggage allowances. The only changes are that we cannot have any liquids or gels in our carry-on, which really isn't that big of a deal I guess since neither of us uses hair gel or spray. Having no toothpaste and handcream will be kind of a drag (On a fifteen hour flight... hello bad breath), but like I said, not a big deal. Actually I think I recall that there was toothpaste in the plane bathrooms on Korean air when we came.

It's fun to think of the last things we are doing here and when the last of each will be. For example: My last choir practice... Sunday Aug 13th, my last choir performance... sunday August 20th, our last time teaching specific classes, our last time teaching all classes... Friday August 25th. Anyway, you get the idea. I'm really excited to get home and spend time with family and to see our new place.... just fifteen more days!

My favourite people

I just wanted to show everyone who doesn't know them, who some of our favourite people are... our nephews and nieces. They are all here in at least one of these pictures... all but one, Liam... My brother Shawn and his wife Heather's baby, was not in any of the pictures (I stole these off of the Dixon family website.. sorry guys, hope they're not copyrighted :) ) The names of our nephews and nieces by family are:

The Robert and Carolyn MacDonalds: Alley and Daniel
The Shawn and Heather MacDonalds: Liam
The Dixons: Caleb, Katie and Reuban
The Morris': Jaime (soon to be joined by another in December)

So anyway, wanted to show them off because they're so cute and because we miss them so much and can't wait to see them soon!

Love you

Can't beat the heat!

It sure has been unbearably hot here lately! Everyday this week it has been at least 33 degrees or more and the humidity has been between 86 and 100%! The good news is that rainy season is over, the bad news... it's only going to get hotter. I've been trying not to complain too much because it seems that no matter what the weather is like, everyone finds something to complain about, and I complained enough about the rain last month, so I should be rejoicing that it has been sunny all week. It is difficult to feel good about clothes sticking to you and constant sweatyness and heat rash, but we're trying to hang in there.

Things we've been doing to try and survive in the heat and humidity: -drinking lots of water and water popsicles -keeping the lights off and blinds shut during the day -keeping the fans on all day even when we're not home -putting buckets of ice in front of the fan facing our bed at night to make it bearable enough to sleep.

It's all very strange... I'm not used to the extreme humidity here, it's weird to get to sleep and wake up twenty minutes later all sweaty.

Oh yeah, another thing we've been doing is to take cold showers... this however is not by choice... our apartment building has shut off the hot water in the building for the entire month. Why? We have no idea, but I have to boil water to wash the dishes etc.. and we have to take cold showers.. a lot of times I shower at the gym though, to avoid the icy water, Scott also showers at the gym sometimes because he thinks his cold is partially due to the cold showers.. who knows, maybe?

Time here is winding down... we have only 23 days left until we fly out.. It's very exciting! I can't wait to see everyone again and to have hot water and having our own place finally is going to be awesome! I am very excited, I started packing some of the stuff we won't be using, but once I started I wanted to pack everything, so I had to give up on that, I'll have to resume closer to our departure date.

Our Trip to the East Sea in GangNeung

Since Thursday we have been on a one week vacation from our school. We decided to take a little vacation to refresh ourselves for our last month of work and so Friday morning we took a bus for four hours to the next province and to a place called GangNeung. GangNeung is geographically bigger than Seoul, but Seoul has about 13 million people and GangNeung has about 220000. Quite a difference. GangNeung is on the coast of the Pacific Ocean and is surrounded by mountains covered in dense forest, it is clean, the air is fresh and it is beautiful! On Friday, when we arrived it was raining, so we didn't get much done. We went to the tourist information office and got a brochure and a map, then checked in to the first hotel we saw, which turned out to be really nice and really cheap (I think it was cheap because it was quite far away from the beach and there were many many hotels in the same area). We then took our umbrellas and headed out for a walk around the are which we hoped would end up at the closest beach (gang-po), the beach turned out to be farther away than expected, so after a couple of hours walking, we hailed a cab. The beach was pretty empty as it was raining, so it was a good day to walk along and enjoy the scenery and the breeze. We ate dinner at a korean restaurant near the beach and then headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up pretty early and got a bus to Odaessan National Park, it's a really big park with tons of mountains, rivers, temples, mineral springs etc.. It was about an hour bus ride away (by coach bus to the smallest town I've ever seen, you could walk through the whole thing in about ten minutes), then took a regular bus to the park entrance. We first explored the first temple near the entrance, then the pine forest, then we hiked in the mountains. The mountain is almost untouched... the paths are barely paths at all, so it was extremely beautiful, though because it was wet from the previous days rain, I did what I'm best at. Again, I ended up taking quite a tumble. Near the end of our hike, on the way down, we were rushing to get out of the woods before the sun went down and I slipped on a wet piece of ground, hit a big rock and then fell about three feet into a shallow, rocky part of the river, landing face down in the river. Suffice it to say, it hurt a lot and it was probably the first time I've cried in pain since I was a kid. Scott didn't want to move me at first, so I laid face down in the river until I was able to assess the damage. As it turns out I was pretty lucky, just ending up with a lot of bumps on my legs and arms, some bloody spots and a lot of bruises all over my legs, arms, wrists and shoulders. I was super lucky that I didn't hit my head on a rock though. I had a bit of trouble walking after that but since we were near the end and with Scott's help, I made it. We actually missed the last bus out of the park though, but were luckily able to wave down the one cab in the area that had just happened to drive someone up the mountain. When we arrived back at the hotel, I took a hot bath and felt much better in the morning, though to be expected I'm still quite sore.

Sunday morning we got ready and took a bus to a really big church near Gang-po beach. It was Kang - nung (another way to spell GangNeung) Presbyterian church and there was no english translation, it was all in Korean, so it was kind of hard to sit through the sermon, but their choir was beautiful and we knew the tunes of the hymns and some of the words so we hummed and sang along in English (Scott actually sang along in Korean because he can read the symbols, though he doesn't know what they mean). After church we walked to the beach, this time it was really sunny and hot. After changing our clothes we found a spot and went swimming for the first time in the Pacific Ocean. It was extremely salty which really stung my cuts, but it actually made me feel a lot better. It was really refreshing and relaxing for both of us, so nice to be in the ocean and lay on the sand feeling the hot sun (although Scott got a really bad sunburn on his back)... yes we were wearing sunscreen 45 spf. After our time at the beach, we headed back to the bus terminal area and had a late lunch at a nearby korean restaurant after buying our tickets, then we went on the four hour trip back to Gwangmyeong.

It was such a relaxing and refreshing trip, we both felt refreshed for our last month here, knowing that we can make it through with our new found energy. Some of Scott's energy may drain though, as he has a really bad cold now! I have never heard someone sneeze so much or go through so much Kleenex! I thought that maybe he had an allergy, but to what? Anyway, hopefully that will clear up soon and he'll be on the mend.

Sorry, this post was so long... to those of you who made it through the whole thing, there are lots of new pictures of our trip, if you'd like to see them.

Sorry, I forgot

Sorry, I forgot to mention that the latest song that I've recorded is a hymn and was not written by me. I didn't mean to mislead, and I'll be more careful in the future. It is called "The Day is Past and Gone." The music is EVENING HYMN by Elisha West and the words are by John Leland. I've recorded two verses, but there are 5 verses in total.

Amateurish poetry appreciation

"The Old Familiar Faces" by Charles Lamb has seven stanzas, each with three lines. I here suggest that Lamb chose seven stanzas to reflect the passage of time by reference to the seven days of the week. Thus, the first stanza represents the first day of the week. It also talks of Lamb's early days, as one can see from the word playmates: "I have had playmates, I have had companions" The next stanza is about the next stage of life. Lamb is now with friends: "I have been laughing, I have been carousing" and it is now Tuesday and time is running out. After having friends, the next step in life is to fall in love: "I loved a Love once, fairest among women." The next part isn't so staight forward. It goes from being in love to having a great friend: "I have a friend, a kinder friend has no man." This is Thursday. After love, or rather, later in life, there is man to man friendship again, and it is more intimate than the young friendships. This was Wednesday, and it is the last day of new relationships. On Thursday, in the fifth stanza, Lamb is pacing "round the haunts of [his] childhood." He is remembering and longing, "seeking to find the old familiar faces." On Friday, we're near the end of life here, he simply laments that his bosom friend was not a member of his family, for then he would be there now, and they could talk. They would talk of what Lamb thinks to himself in the final stanza, namely, what has happened to all people they used to know: "some they have died, some they have left me/ some are taken from me; all have departed."

Each stanza ends with an elegiac line about the old familiar faces, for example, "All, all are gone, the old familiar faces." So, in each day of the week, that is, in every period of life, there is the sense that time will take what one has and it there will remain only a memory, both pleasurable and painful.

The Old Familiar Faces by Charles Lamb

New Song

Who's that soprano and alto?! Fantastic!!!

Things wonderful

Every so often one ought to read up on the important things, and here's what I found when I did. I really think that Nintendo has a chance get back into the system race. The new Wii system looks like it will be extravagantly fun. It's controller has motion sensor technology, so for many games one simply has to move the contoller rather than press any buttons. For instance, if one if playing tennis, one has to use the controller as a racket; just swing it when the ball comes to your character. Likewise with baseball. In the Legend of Zelda, one can swing the controller like a sword. On top of the controller, Nintendo Wii will have free online access, with the option to download famous games from Nintendo's past library. That includes the original Nintendo, the Super Nintendo, the Turbo Graphics 16, and the Nintendo 64. That in itself has made me want one. Also, Nintendo will have a space for independent games on its server. Developers who want to make games but don't have a large budget can make games and send them to Nintendo, and players can download them and play them.

In other news, the Nintendo DS, the handheld which also has motion sensor technology, was the highest selling video game system in June (I think).

Argument

The use of argument is to persuade, and not primarily to bludgeon. Arguing to win is a form of pride, and pride is not our friend, and however often he shows up, he is not welcome (Father, forgive me for I have sinned). Truth is satisfying; it fills and delights the soul. As we want to put food into the mouths of the hungry, so we want to put truth into the souls of the ignorant. Argument is a tool for getting that truth into those souls, but if a person is particularly receptive and doesn't need the argument, then nothing is lost.

To reverse a phrase from some musician, we haven't just been loved, we've been told. God loved us, and part of that love was telling us things, speaking to us about the good things which He has planned and prepared for us and of the good things He has done for us. And when such a one tells you things, you must simply believe and rejoice.

The problem with argument is that sometimes one can be skilled at argument and yet reach conclusions that are face down in a ditch somewhere. On the other hand, one can believe what one has been told by a reliable source and therefore know the truth, and have no argument to support it except, say, "my parents told me so." For instance, what year were you born?

Of course, such an appeal to authority depends on the reliability of the authority. When my parents tell me when I was born I believe them. If I met a drunkard on the street, however, and he told me that he was my father and that I was born in 1975, I wouldn't believe him, nor should I. When the authority is God, you have to believe, because God is perfect and cannot lie and is perfectly able to communicate. Therefore, many people, anyone who can hear or read, can believe lots of truth, and very important truth, without any argument at all.

Argument isn't useless, but argument's main purpose is destructive. It is a maxim of presuppotional apologetics that the role of apologetics is to shut the mouth of the opponent, not to convert his heart. The latter can be done only by the Holy Spirit. It is the role of apologetics to show that every worldview apart from Trinitarian Christianity is self-contradictory. Through argument, the apologist reveals all the holes and inconsistencies in opposing worldviews.

One should develop one's ability to argue, but arguments are not the greatest thing we have. They help one speak with clarity, with coherence, and with connecting ideas, but truth is what we cherish most.

South Korea when it rains; and when we get home

It rained steadily here for the whole weekend, and this rain was heavy, no lightweight stuff. Thunder and lightning are frightening if they happen when one is asleep. The river near our house has risen probably more than ten feet; it overflowed its boundary and then rose nearly to the rims of the basketball nets that are beside the river. It is still contained in valley, though. We'll try to get some pictures before the water subsides. Perhaps it already has, in which case case we won't post said pictures.

Recording songs is fun. I think that perhaps it's narcissistic, but then again, my most complete songs are the ones that I've written for other people and for specific occasions. Writing pop songs should be a more usual activity. Rebecca and I did it for a while, and then we stopped. But it was fantastic when we were doing it. I still remember the riff at the beginning of our first song. I usually just record fragments, but with a computer they're easy to keep track of, and then I can look them over later and form them into a whole song. I'm going to try a more thorough approach soon though, so expect some full length songs in the future. I remember reading about a band that wrote the song titles and then wrote the songs. In imitation of them, here are the titles for my future-complete songs:

1. In the halls of Praetorium
2. The field of Machpelah

On a similar note, I can't wait to hear Andrew's psalm settings.

Monsoon

The weather here has been a very different experience for me lately. We are in the middle of the rainy season or monsoon season here and for the last month, it has rained almost everyday at least a little bit. It is generally cloudy at the very least. Recently we experienced our first 'monsoon', I guess it's the same as a hurricane, so it's not really our first, but our first that was called a monsoon. We actually got very little of it. The big storm was in the south of the country where some people died, but we just got some wind and very very heavy rain, and some occasional thunder. The rain was incredible though! I was walking to work and while waiting at the stoplight, my umbrella was my only protection from the sheet of water falling all around me (they make pretty strong umbrellas here... forget about one of those small fold-up ones.. they'd never survive). My feet and legs got quite wet, along with all of the contents of my bag, but the rest of me stayed remarkably dry under my umbrella.

Today we are having a break from the rain, but not from the humidity. Along with the rainy season comes terrible humidity. So though the temperatures are only around 30 degrees celcius, the humidity is at over 90% everyday... I don't really know what the percentage means, but the air is so thick you could chew it and our bodies are constantly sweaty and clammy. I feel the constant need to take a shower, but of course you can't stay in the shower all day, though sometimes I'd like to, although it does little good, shortly after exiting the shower, I'm all sweaty again. Blech! Anyone who thinks the maritimes have bad humidity in the summer ("It's not the heat, it's the humidity") You're sadly mistaken... because I have never experienced humidity like this and I've been in the Maritimes my whole life.

So, the rainy season has been quite the experience so far and though I think new experiences are wonderful and all that.... I won't be sorry to see it go.

A good sermon

The sermon that I remember most from Sheffield, other than John Henry's, is one by a visiting preacher, entitled "the Little Enemy of the Church." He spoke about the tongue. He told us what the scripture had to say about the tongue, how it was a dangerous thing, how it cut like a sword and cut people apart. He told us that if we controlled the tongue then we could control the heart. And he revealed to us how very often we aren't controlling our tongues when we think that we are. As I remember, most everyone felt called out on it, yet we had the grace to be thankful for the man. As Doug Wilson said, the job of the preacher is not to talk about the sinfulness of the world, but of the sinfulness of the flock. This is how he cares for them, by attacking their enemies and whatever is attacking them, which is their own sins.

Sufjan Stevens songs on NPR

Here are some links to Sufjan Stevens songs. When you hit the link, the songs will be right there.

The Lord God Bird is a song that is not on any albums.

John Wayne Gacy Jr. is about a serial murderer in Illinois. This is from Stevens's album Illinois.

Casimir Pulaski Day is about a girl dying of bone cancer. It is a beautiful song, also from Illinois.

Adlai Stevenson is from a CD of outtakes that will be released in July.

I'm just listening to this one for the first time. It has a long title so I won't write it. It turns into "All creatures of Our God and King" at the end.

Chicago is from the Illinois album. Great song!

Dress looks nice on you and Sisters are from Seven Swans, an album which I haven't heard.

Detroit lift up your weary head is from the album Michigan.

Romulus is about Romulus, Michigan and Sufjan's grandmother. It's also a great song. It's sad like Casimir Pulaski Day.

Updates

Last weekend was our anniversary and most of you already know what we did on that day, but I'll say it again. We had planned on going on a day-long date after the morning service at the church, so I went to the morning choir practice and sang in the choir for the morning service... Scott did not show up for the morning service. It turns out that I forgot to turn the alarm back on before I left for choir practice and so, Scott slept right through the service. Anyway, he met me after the afternoon choir practice and after lunch, we travelled to Yeouido Park by subway. At Yeouido park we rented a bicycle built for two for an hour. That was really cool, we rode all along the river side and it is a good anniversary activity because it requires a bit of team work and cooridination. After that we rented a swan-shaped paddle boat and went out on to the river, that was also fun. When we finished that, we walked through the park, viewing the various attractions such as the barefoot rock garden and the statue of King Sejong. Then we exited the park and went out for dinner at a restaurant called 'Seven Springs', it is on the twentieth floor of a building in Yeouido. The food was great. So, all in all we had a great anniversary.

My birthday was the next day and I had to work from 9:30am to 9:00pm! So, it wasn't all that fun. However, Scott cheered me up when he secretly bought an icecream cake during his break and delivered it with his students to my last class of the day at 8:00pm. I had just begun writing sentences on the board for copying when the lights went out and I turned around to see the students and Scott with the cake and candles singing 'Happy Birthday'. Our classes combined to share the cake... my class was glad to get out of writing the sentences. It was a nice suprise (Thanks Scott).

Since then, the week has been fairly uneventful. I've been improving my swimming.. For the past month, due to sore knees I replaced two of my running days with swimming at the pool here. So on Wednesdays and Fridays I swim for about 30 - 40 minutes (depending on the crowds). I'm not a good swimmer but I have been getting better. My classes on those days end at 8:00pm and swimming starts at 8:30 for the public, so I go downstairs to the observation room and watch the swimming lessons, then I try to copy the lessons with myself when I swim at 8:30, so I think that I've been improving a bit.

Yesterday was Katie's 3rd birthday back home, they were at Robert and Carolyn's house for the event. I called but she didn't seem too interested in talking about her birthday... anyway... "Happy Birthday Kate!" We love you and we miss you! My family is away this weekend. They've all rented some cottages on PEI and are spending the weekend together... everyone, all of the original nine and their spouses and children, except for Scott and I because we're here in Korea.. so that's kind of a bummer. But I hope everyone has fun.

Next week on Wednesday June 28th, it's Beth El's birthday (Scott's brother Stephen's wife), so in case we don't blog again before then... "Happy Birthday Beth El!", we'll probably call and say it again, but there's an early one.

Well, so long everyone, this is getting pretty long and I have some work to do... I have to go on a run, then get groceries, then prepare a picnic, Scott and I are going on one today.

For our Dads...

This is a Father's Day post to say Happy Father's Day to our Dads whom we miss so much and who have done so much for us throughout the years and continue to do so much for us now. I have so many memories of my Dad from as far back as I can remember, I remember playing baseball in the backyard, winning all of the arm wrestles I had against him.. Even though he was much bigger (figure that one out... Someone wasn't really trying), bedtime cereal snacks and morning porridge, teaching me my times-tables and pushing me to do my best at everything I tried. I probably have thousands and thousands of memories, but I took a few of my favourites and put them into a poem for you Dad (bear in mind that I don't write poetry often.. That's Karilyn's forte, but you can find my attempt down below. Happy Father's Day Daddy... We love you!

Father'’s Day Memories

When I think of you Dad,
It'’s hard not to recall
My memories of you,
From when I was small.

I was always trying
To be tough like the boys.
A kitchen boxing lesson
Would fill me with joy.

In outside work,
I was in the way
But you let me help,
You didn'’t send me to play.

I wanted to help
I didn'’t want to go inside,
Because I knew
The end brought a wheelbarrow ride.

Dinner time
Was filled with glee
As it was always a good joke
To hide your tea.

Later on,
We would style your hair
And though it looked silly,
You didn'’t seem to care.

After devotions,
I often pretended to sleep
Knowing I'd be carried
If I didn'’t make a peep.

At night there was a value tale
Of right and wrong
Or if I was lucky
Maybe a Wilf Carter song.

I closed my eyes
You shut off the light
And kissing me
You said "“good-night...
..my little cherubim"

-For my Dad (A.K.A. Ian Allen MacDonald), from Deborah

Now Scott will contribute some of his memories of his Dad (A.K.A. Kenneth Millar Montgomery) and he will post one of his famous original compositions for him on the music link.

I have plenty of memories, but I always remember things in snatches and I can probably best express them with a colon: watching the news with your stomach as a pillow; waking us up early to take us to McDonald's; showing you that I had memorized my times tables on my little toy; taking me to computer camp; taking me to hockey games; you giving me my first trouncing at chess; making a maze in the snow with the snowblower; you taking me on the court with my bicycle, telling me to turn the wheel in the same direction that I was falling; driving us in the tractors; playing scrabble. The list wouldn't end if I didn't cut it off.

To both of our Fathers.. thank you for loving us but being strong for us when we needed it. Thanks for the snacks and for the whacks that kept us healthy in more ways than one. We love you very much!

David and Goliath

Richard B. Hays, in his book Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul argues that Paul's interpretation of the Old Testament is ecclesiocentric, that is, it talks about the Church. Therefore, many stories in the Old Testament are for the edification of the Church. One example that Hays gives is the way that Paul uses the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar as an allegory about the people of God (see Gal 4:22-31). I want to apply the eccliocentric method to the story of David and Goliath, which I think might help us to understand the destiny of the Church. It might point to a postmillenial eschatology, which is the belief that the Church will be triumphant on earth, that it will win people and nations for Christ and will have a large cultural impact, that the earth will be filled with the knowledge and love of the Lord as the oceans are full of water. After this happens, Jesus will return again.

In this story, Goliath the giant is the champion of the Philistines and he challenges the champion of the Israelites to a duel. If Goliath wins, the Israelites must serve the Philistines, and vice versa. The Israelites are all terrified and none of them will fight. Then David comes and says, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?" (1 Sam 17:26b) After a bit of trouble in the Israelite camp, David goes out with no armor against Goliath, looking quite weak and tiny compared to the giant. Yet wit his unexpected weapon, a sling and some stones, he slays Goliath and then cuts of his head with his own sword, whereupon the Israelites storm the Philistines and kill them all.

In this story David is a type of Christ, and the great enemy is Satan and death. Just as David defeated Goliath, so Christ has defeated Satan. He has cast him out of this earth (John 12:31ff; 14:30ff). We also know that Christ has defeated all enemies, for the last enemy to be defeated is death (1 Cor 15:26), which Christ has already defeated in the resurrection. Once Christ defeated the great enemy, then there was only a "mopping up"[1] victory to do, and now Christ's army, the Church, will conquer its enemies. In the New Testament, however, we fight a different battle and so our weapons are different: "For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete" (2 Cor 10:4-6). Christ will be praised from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth.

Ewwwwwww!

So, I killed my first cockroach... it was so incredibly gross! I was at the school, teaching an evening class of middle school girls; heading to the tape player to rewind the song we were about to listen to I noticed the cockroach walking toward my foot. Naturally, I screamed... and for those of you who know me well, did my "I'm scared of big bugs dance" (it's not really a dance, just a jumping up and down reaction to seeing it). The middle school girls all started screaming as well and standing on their chairs as we tried to decide who would kill the disgusting intruder. One of the girls had more courage than the rest of us and she kicked it across the room to the door, it flipped over on its back and so couldn't go anywhere.. so we left it upside down by the door for the rest of class. However, at the end of class I had to leave the room and so I took all of the courage I could muster, put the chair leg on top of the cockroach and pushed down. It made the biggest, most disgusting crunching sound I have ever heard come out of an insect.... oh.. and by the way, it took three tries to finally kill it! Over here these bugs are a part of life, but I have never seen one back home in my whole life and so I hope to soon return to that life and never see one again.

Pukhansan Mountain

On Tuesday it was Memorial Day in Korea so we had the day off. We decided to go to Pukhansan Mountain to see the fortress/castle and the wall (we never did end up seeing these things). It has been made into a national park and is quite large, so we ended up starting out on the wrong side of the park to see the wall and fortress. We did do some hiking of the large mountain though. We did not do the whole hike as it was very hot outside (30 degrees) and we did not come prepared with enough water. But we did have fun and had some adventure and took some beautiful pictures of the mountain.

"Adventure 1": Climbing down a steep and slippery rock, Scott almost falls but doesn't, however, he is seen by some Korean men who are quite shocked by his rather quick movement down the rock. The same men proceed to come up the rock to show me how to get down without killing myself... showing me ended up involving one of them holding my arms from above and another holding my feet from below... so I didn't do very well and it was all rather embarrassing, but they assured me "good job" when I was down.

"Adventure 2": Later on we were going down another rock face and my foot slipped on some loose pebbles. I fell and hit my tail bone on a rock ledge, then turned my body and continued sliding/rolling down the rock, grabbing frantically for any tree branches or shrubbery to stop myself. In case you're wondering, yes I did manage to stop myself and did not roll right off of the mountain as I originally feared I would. It supplied us with much laughter after I was finished groaning and supplied me with a rather painful bruise on my tail bone, another on the left side of my hip, another on my shoulder, another on my leg, a few on my ribs and some scrapes on my arm, stomach and rib cage area. I was and still am incredibly sore as well. But at least I didn't fall off of the mountain or break any bones.

If you are interested, pictures of this latest adventure are posted on our pictures of Korea link.

Deborah showcases her talent

We've posted a couple new songs over on our songs page, both of which feature Deborah on the violin.

A beautiful bride and a walk in the park

Yesterday we went to Cooper and Namju's wedding (a couple from the International English Worship). It was a beautiful ceremony combining elements of the Western ceremony and the Korean ceremony (Cooper is American, Namju is Korean). All of the officiating was done in both english and korean, Cooper read his vows in Korean (which is amazing... he doesn't speak or read Korean, he just practiced a lot) and Namju did her vows in english (she definitely had the advantage since she speaks both). The parents came in as a processional at the beginning and sat in chairs at the front.. the mothers bowed to eachother. After the exchanging of the rings there was a ceremonial bow to the parents, they first bowed to Namju's parents, then to Cooper's (Cooper did a full bow... right on to the floor). So, it was really beautiful and interesting. Namju was an extremely beautiful bride, she wore an amazing dress with a really long train. After the wedding they had the traditional korean wedding buffet (when you sign the register the person at the table gives you a ticket and you present it at the door of the dining hall, then enjoy an enormous buffet feast). Koreans certainly know how do put on a wedding feast... I have never seen so much food at a wedding. Cooper and Namju changed clothes into the traditional Korean Hanboks for the reception. Then after the reception there was a post reception reception (for toasts and so on.... more food). It was quite an amazing wedding.. I consumed about enough food for three days, but it was a beautiful day (outdoors as well, as it was 30 degrees and sunny). I took quite a few pictures, they are on the page already if you would like to take a look.

After the second reception at about 5:30pm, we went to a park and walked around for awhile, it was really nice.. those pictures are there as well... enjoy.

Yay!

This is just a short note to let everyone concerned know that we have our plane tickets booked now. We had to upgrade our tickets to get on the flight, but now we're on it! So we will leave Korea 8:55pm Sunday August 27th, get to Toronto 8:50pm Sunday August 27th, then we have to spend the night in Toronto and our flight to Halifax leaves at 7:05am Monday August 28th and arrives in Halifax at 10:10am Monday August 28th! So, three more months and we'll see you then!

A post about nothing in particular

Hello everyone..

this is Deborah and right now I'm bored out of my tree so I'm writing a blog. There are plenty of other things I could be doing (reading, practicing the violin etc..) but none of them appeal to me right now. Today was a holiday because it is election day and Koreans get the day off. However, our school only closed for kindergarten, so I got the morning off and got to spend it with Scott for a change.. that was nice. But now Scott has gone to teach his afternoon classes and I'm here all alone. I went to the school, but my alone class was cancelled so I came home again. I have another two classes tonight starting at six o'clock. Scott's 2pm class only two students showed up and his 3pm class no one showed.. so it probably would have been better if they had just shut down the school for the day.. as very few people are attending their classes.

Scott is booking our plane tickets today! Yay.. We found a way to go home on the flight leaving on August 27th! We had to upgrade our seats... it cost us extra but at least we get to leave on time. I'm excited even though we still have 86 more days left of our contract. Hopefully the last three months will not drag on. We have lots to keep us busy in June anyway. This Saturday we are going to a wedding, next saturday is a church hike of a mountain and a fellowship, the next Sunday is our first anniversary and the next day is my birthday. So, hopefully June will fly by and then only July and August will be left.

I'm enjoying the weather right now though. It is in the high twenties everyday and often reaches thirty. It is raining more often though as the rainy season has just begun, but I think the rain is going to be much worse in June and July. I have heard that the Haan river floods in those months.

Well, I have to be going (not really but I've run out of things to talk about)

Miss you all

Love Deborah

More photos

Realizing that we are only here for three more months and that we had taken very few pictures of actual life here... I decided to start carrying the camera around with me and just taking various street shots and the like. So, yesterday we went to Dongdemun to shop (it's a clothing town... every building is shopping, plus there are flea markets and street vendors).. we took some pictures there and of the Chongyechon river (an artificially created river through the middle of Seoul). Enjoy.

Saturday fun

Yesterday we decided to keep busy and go out for the day. We were unsure of what we were going to do when we left though. We had been planning to go on a boat ride of the Haan river, but it poured rain... I have rarely seen such hard rain. (The rainy season has begun by the way).

Anyway, we left late, around lunch time so we went to Hongdae and ate at Subway (one of the few around... first time we've eaten at one in Korea, so though it's a common food at home, it was somewhat of a treat). Jared has posters here too (except he's called Mr. Jared).

After lunch, we went to Rossi Mango (an italian yogurt ice cream shop) and had frozen yogurt covered in fruit toppings for dessert. We then walked in the rain for a bit, thinking of what to do.

We ended up travelling to Yoido to the 63 building and going to Seaworld... it was really cool.. I especially liked the seaturtles, penguins and sea lions... the sea lion show was cool too. I think sea lions would make fantastic pets (if you could keep enough raw fish on hand to feed them).

Well, I took some pretty cool pictures of the sea creatures, so feel free to take a look in our photo album.

Cultural Malaise

While walking home today, I was practicing smiling (smile, release; smile, release). It was the end of the day and I was a bit tired, so my face was flat. This reminded me of when I was in grade school and the schools were trying to teach us to smile. I remember they tried to play on our laziness by telling us that it takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. They also told us to turn our frowns upside down. Why did they have to tell us to smile? What was wrong with us?

Long Day

Hello...

How are all of our loyal fans out there (the three of you that read this)? I'm at school right now on my only break of the day.. Fridays are extremely long for me. I start teaching at 9:30am and finish at 8:00pm with one one hour break from 3-4pm. So, it's now 3:15pm and I'm exhausted after the morning and early afternoon kindergarten classes.. but I still have four one hour classes to go before I can call it quits.

Anyway, I'm not here to complain about my schedule.. I'm actually here because I'm putting off preparing for my last four classes, but asside from that, to tell everyone what a beautiful day it is outside. It is bright and sunny and 30 degrees celcius. It's actually bordering on too hot for me, but since it goes up to 40 degrees here in the summer, I'll take thirty and be happy for it.

I guess this was kind of a pointless blog today, I could say more but I really should go prepare for my classes (blah), so talk to you all later

-Deborah

To our Dads....

This is a Father's Day post to say Happy Father's Day to our Dads who we miss so much and who have done so much for us throughout the years and continue to do so much for us now. I have so many memories of my Dad from as far back as I can remember, I remember playing baseball in the backyard, winning all of the arm wrestles I had against him.. Even though he was much bigger (figure that one out... Someone wasn't really trying), bedtime cereal snacks and morning porridge, teaching me my times-tables and pushing me to do my best at everything I tried. I probably have thousands and thousands of memories, but I took a few of my favourites and put them into a poem for you Dad (bare in mind that I don't write poetry often.. That's Karilyn's forte, but you can find my attempt down below. Happy Father's Day Daddy... We love you!

FatherÂ’s Day Memories

When I think of you Dad,
It'’s hard not to recall
My memories of you,
From when I was small.

I was always trying
To be tough like the boys.
A kitchen boxing lesson
Would fill me with joy.

In outside work,
I was in the way
But you let me help,
You didn'’t send me to play.

I wanted to help
I didn'’t want to go inside,
Because I knew
The end brought a wheelbarrow ride.

Dinner time
Was filled with glee
As it was always a good joke
To hide your tea.

Later on,
We would style your hair
And though it looked silly,
You didn'’t seem to care.

After devotions,
I often pretended to sleep
Knowing I'd be carried
If I didn'’t make a peep.

At night there was a value tale
Of right and wrong
Or if I was lucky
Maybe a Wilf Carter song.

I closed my eyes
You shut off the light
And kissing me
You said "“good-night...
..my little cherubim”

-For my Dad (A.K.A. Ian Allen MacDonald), from Deborah

Now Scott will contribute some of his memories of his Dad (A.K.A. Kenneth Miller Montgomery) and he will post one of his famous original compositions for him on the music link.

To both of our Fathers.. thank you for loving us but being strong for us when we needed it. Thanks for the snacks and for the whacks that kept us healthy in more ways than one. We love you very much!

Love Scott and Deborah

Disappointments

As kind of an add on to how time goes fast and how our time here will be over soon, I'll just mention the kink that has recently entered our plans. On Saturday afternoon, we called Korean Air to book our seats for our open ended tickets. As it turns out, the flights are all booked up at the end of August and they can't get us on one until September 10th at the earliest! This throws a wrench into the works as our plane tickets expire on August 27th and even if we can get them extended Scott will still miss the first few days of school at least.

They said that they can get us on an earlier flight on August 15th, but at that time our contract is not finished and we would forfeit our $4000 end of contract bonus (severence pay, I guess it's called). So, we don't want to do that since we will have worked for the whole year only to not get it because we left ten days early.

The airline has put us on the waiting list for the flights on the 25th and 27th, so we need people to cancel their flights for those dates in order for us to get home on the desired date.

I have no idea what we're going to do if this does not happen... all we can do is pray that everything works out.

Time, it goes so fast

The saying goes that "time flies when you're having fun". I'm not sure that the person who made this up did all of his research. Because although there have been moments of fun and enjoyment, on the whole I haven't been having that much fun (as compared to other times). However, looking at the calander I was struck by how fast time actually has passed... for example, it seems like a very short time since Scott and I got married, but yesterday was actually one month away from our one year anniversary (I guess that is still a short time as compared with the rest of our lives, but it seems to have gone by extra fast). Also, we now have only 98 days until the completion of our contract in Korea, then we will be headed home. To me 98 days still seems like a long time, but compared to 365 days, it is very short and will probably go by fairly quickly.

So, in conclusion since I only have three minutes until I teach my next class: You don't have to be having huge amounts of fun for time to fly... you just have to be living and getting older.

Some book I read

In some book that I read a long time ago, the author said that the church must always beware of two problems. The church, like a chameleon, can change its colours to look like the culture around it, or it can recede into itself and have no contact with the world. Jabez would be upset by this. We need to expand our territory.

Here in Korea, Deborah and I have become tribal. We separate ourselves from our roomates and our coworkers, and the result is that we hardly talk with them. A few weeks ago, however, we joined them for a spaghetti party at our apartment. Everyone pitched in to buy the ingredients and we all helped to make it. It resulted in a lot of conversation, much of which was about Jesus and the church. I was able to share the faith because we participated in their spaghetti party.

For those unbelievers who read this, sharing the faith is not like trying to make you take your medicine, or, worse, trying to feed you poison. It's inviting you to a feast that brings abundant joy.

I think that Jabez would have liked this spaghetti party.

Mother of Mine

To all of our mothers at home (which would include two people.. Lynnette and Betty). We want to wish you a very Happy Mother's Day and tell you that we are so thankful to have mothers like you, who loved us and taught us so much through the years; sometimes through mental lessons, sometimes through physical (the words "do you want me to get the stick" come to mind for me and Scott recalls a hand reaching for the belt). I'm sure these lessons were well deserved although we didn't think so at the time, but we appreciate them now. We miss you both very much and we would love to be back home to celebrate the day that is set asside to honor those who brought us into this world. But as we cannot be there for another four months, we want you both to know that we love you and cannot imagine how on earth we would have survived this far in life had it not been for the firm and loving hands of our mothers guiding us all the way. As a wise man is fond of quoting: "She's your mother, God love her, She's as true as a prayer". As our gift to you both this mother's day, we have recorded a few tunes. Simply click here to see them. These are very "rough" recordings and you know the saying that "he has a face only a mother would love"... well, these may be recordings that only a mother could possibly love.

Happy Mother's Day! We love you very much!

Love Deborah and Scott

I wrote "Mom gave birth in pain" for my mother, who loves hot dogs in summer, and the one titled "A word that means the world to me," written by Howard Johnson and Theodore Morse, sung here by Deborah, originally recorded by Eddy Arnold, is for Lynnette. "Scott plays hard for the ladies back home" is again mostly for Betty, though its for all the people who have acted as my mother through the years, such as the honoured Lynette, Darlene Robison and Donna Meulenkamp.

Plane tickets aren't cheap

We love you.

Hot Weather... and getting hotter

The past week has been absolutely beautiful here weatherwise! Everyday, it has been sunny and between 20 and 25 degrees celcius, so nice. I'm not used to such an early spring, but it's quite nice. The trees are now in full bloom, the world is green again (well, if you're looking away from the asphalt and apartment buildings). We got to Korea at the end of August and it was extremely hot, about 38 degrees on most days. But I have since been told that June and July are actually the hottest months here, so I shudder to think what the temperatures will be. Coming in at the end of August we also skipped the rainy season. So, we are in for a treat there in the coming months.. starting half way through June I think. It rains really hard almost every day. Right now though, I am enjoying the warm weather and the sunshine.

Already however, I have had to restrict my running to after the sun goes down. The afternoons are too hot to run in. Although it is only about 23 degrees, the humidity is usually between 85 and 100 percent so the weather webpage informs us. So, I don't run in the heat. It is still quite warm in the evenings. I now run only 3-4 days a week, usually every second day. I don't know what I'll do for exercise when the rainy season starts, it will be very windy as well as very rainy, probably almost impossible to run in. Maybe I'll have to join the gym again, or maybe just the swimming pool. Who knows?

Although we are both well adjusted to life here and it doesn't bother us as much as it used to, we are both looking forward to getting home in a little less than four months. We have started counting down the days.... only 112 more to go! (112 days makes it seem so much longer than 4 months). It will be so good to see everyone again and to finally see my three new nephews who aren't so new anymore, but they're new to me, so I can't wait to see them! Sometimes we talk about when we will go home.. how excited we'll be to be teaching our last class, getting on the plane, arriving in Toronto, knowing that we are only a two hour flight away from home and then landing at the Halifax airport... we will both be very excited. Now we are starting the four month task of shopping for souveniers, something we haven't done any of yet... we must be the worst tourists ever... although I guess we're not really tourists since we've been living here for the whole year.

Tomorrow we have the day off... long weekend yay!!! May 5th is Children's Day in Korea, and it is a holiday. This year Buddah's birthday also lands on May 5th, denying us the regular two holidays in May in Korea... they're combined into one this year. The week surrounding Buddah's birthday is an interesting time around here. People buy lantrens from the monks and they are all hung in the streets, each lantren you buy is supposed to bring more blessings on to your family and loved ones. It sounds like an elaborate scheme to get money if you ask me. But it does make for colourful streets. I haven't taken any pictures of the lantren lined streets yet, I'll have to do that and post them. There are also many traditional ceremonies, parades and so on.

Well, I'd better sign off for now... this is getting way to long for anyone to bother reading.

Deborah

okay.....

This is just a funny story we thought we'd share...
Last night, or early this morning, I awoke to the feeling of the quilt being flapped up and down somewhat violently on my head. I asked Scott "Scott, what on earth are you doing?" he replied, half awake at this point... "trying to keep you warm". I thought to myself.. yeah sure, okay..., then I asked "are you dreaming?" and he said "yes". Really bewildered as to what he could possibly be dreaming about that would make him flap the blankets up and down, I asked "about what", and he said "you wrote a square on the board and I have to erase it". I just said "oh, okay" and went back to sleep. But we both laughed a lot about it at breakfast that morning.. Scott only slightly remembered it. It was quite funny, I still don't see how flapping the quilt would erase the white board in his dream, but dreams are funny things.
So, remember to ask questions if someone is doing something really strange in their sleep, because depending on how coherent they are, you could get some pretty humorous answers.

Music Online

Don't worry, I'm not here to sell Sufjan Stevens albums. I'm here to sell myself. That's right! We have a music page, and we'll probably never post on it, except for this one song fragment. Anyway, the link is on the sidebar.

I made this song with my roomate's guitar and Audacity, an open-source program for recording music.

Christian Women, Confucian Women

Korea is historically confucian. That means that men are considered important than women. In fact, I've heard that until fairly recently, abortions of females was pretty common. Also, older parents in Korea take much more care over their sons' lives than they do over their daughters'. Korean society is changing now, and so is the treatment of women.

However, the older, Confucian, society was partly right. Women were in charge of the house and the children, as they are in Christian societies. Husbands were the heads of their wives, as they are in Christian societies. (Actually, as they are in every marriage whether they recognize it or not). Their error was in not honouring the women. Because the women were under authority, they thought of them as less important. But Christians can't think that way. Authority is not the same as superiority. We see this in the nature of the triune God. As the husband is the head of the woman, so the Father is the head of Christ (1 Cor. 11:3). However, Christ is equal with God (Phi 2:6,7), and husbands are wives are equal. Husbands are to love their wives (Eph 5:25), making them beautiful (v. 27) and loving them as they love themselves (vv. 28,29). Also, Christian husbands ought to praise their wives (Pro. 31:28). Proverbs says that she'll be praised in public places (v. 31).

This means we should never say things like, "Men make the money and women spend it." Men who says things like this should have to walk down a row of elders that each has a paddle. In public people should only hear us praise our wives. Of course, it should never descend into boasting or competition.

The nature of God is our picture for all types of authority, including civil and ecclesiastical authorities.

The Box Office Ballot Box

Here's an argument why you should go to the movies on May 19th. Unless you don't go to the movies on principle. Then don't bother.

Here's how some of us see it

A family sits down and eats a wonderful meal, so filling and satisfying that after it they feel like they'll never need to eat again.  It has plates and plates of savoury meats; baskets full of steaming breads and rolls; creamy potatoes with plenty of butter; and juice and then dessert.

 

After they finish eating, they all go into the living room and gather around the bare coffee table.  Then they stir themselves up to a fearful solemnity and proceed to pretend that at this table they are partaking of the most wonderful foods.

Springtime and Easter

Springtime in Seoul looks a lot better than the other seasons. The trees are lined with cherry trees that are now in blossom. The blossoms blow in the wind and look like snow... it's quite beautiful. Also there are many magnolia trees, if you are like me and had never seen a magnolia tree, they are very beautiful. They look like a tree covered in water lilies.

Tomorrow is Easter and we will miss our families. We will be spending most of the day at the church participating in the various Easter programs. I was actually able to share a bit about Easter and the reason we celebrate it with the kids in one of my classes, three girls. They of course don't celebrate Easter, because they don't have the holiday here, but they were very interested in our traditions. On Friday night I didn't do the textbook, instead I gave the girls a printout about the history of Easter and we read it together. I was able to share about Jesus' death and ressurrection and explain it to them. Then we talked about other traditions like chocolate, easter eggs and the easter bunny. Then I gave them each some chocolate and brought eggs for them to paint. They had never painted eggs before so it was quite fun. We had to use boiled ones because I didn't have time to blow them out before class... Eugene broke hers and ate it.

If you are interested in any of these things, check out the new pictures of springtime in GwangMyeong and Painting easter eggs with my class.

Some light reading

After the last few of Scott's posts, I thought anyone reading might like some light reading to balance out the heavy topics previously discussed. And so, I bring you some of the lighter stories of my week.

It's so funny that with the language barrier in the classroom, you have to be really clear in your meanings. During one of my 8pm classes, they were learning the names of food ingredients and reading menus at restaurants. The book suggested that they all make pizzas using art supplies. Since I did not have the supplies suggested, I decided that we would all make a pizza together on the white board. I then told the class: "Okay, now we're going to make a pizza together..." I then proceeded to walk to the board. One of the children... Andrew...said "but teacher, we don't have any sauce, no toppings... no cheese!" He was so serious and said the last part so emphatically... it was so funny, I wanted to laugh so hard, but I was afraid that he would be upset thinking that I was laughing at him... so I simply explained that we would be drawing it on the board.

The next story has nothing to do with the children... only my own stupidity.. and that is the best kind of story. Two evenings ago, I was walking home from the school and absent mindedly walked into the wrong apartment building. Since all of the buildings look exactly the same on the inside and out, I didn't notice; just made my way up in the elevator to the thirteenth floor, walked to apt. 1307 and put in my key. At first, my key wouldn't fit the lock and so I joggled it a bit until it fit and turned (the door must not have been locked properly). Opening the door I came face to face with a Korean woman wearing an apron, who looked at me strangly and said in a questioning voice "Yobosayo" (or Hello?). I was equally as confused, not cluing in that I was in the wrong building, so I took a peek inside then quietly said "I'm sorry" and walked away. She closed the door but I just stood there, I was still really confused, I checked the apartment number and then the floor I was on... both right. I thought that I must be dreaming some strange dream. It wasn't until I was on my way down in the elevator that I finally clued in that I was in the wrong building.

Anyway, that was my week

The Myth of Religious Neutrality

Some beliefs are obviously not religious, such as my belief that I'm going to have noodles for lunch. That's not religious, even though it elicits thanksgiving. I think it's true, however, that everyone has some sort of religious belief. As Chesterton, like always, once said, if man refuses to worship God, the result is not that he will worship nothing, but that he'll worship anything. But even when it doesn't result in worship, I think everyone has religious beliefs. What makes a belief religious? This is the question Roy Clouser asks in the first chapter of his book The Myth of Religious Neutrality.

To answer this question, we need to determine what all religious beliefs, and no other beliefs, share. Usually, people tie in religious beliefs with worship. However, in some religious traditions, worship is non-existent, for example, in some forms of Buddhism and Hinduism. Others think that religious beliefs serve the purpose of giving a group an ethic. Again, though, many groups which aren't religious have ethics. From what I understand, Confucianism is only a code of ethics for a well ordered society.

These obvious definitions fail us. Continuing on, then, one might define religious belief as belief in God or in gods. Once more, though, we are foiled by counter-examples. Pythagoreans did not believe in God or in gods. They believed that numbers were the primary things in the universe, the stuff of which everything else was made. They held, as a religious belief, that 1+1 = 2.

Roy Clouser proposes another definition of religious belief, one which I think covers the basics. He calls it primary religious belief. It covers the whole spectrum of religions, and only religions. It is this:

A religious belief is belief in something as diving per se no matter how that is further described, where “divine per se” means having unconditionally non-dependent reality.

This definition does not assimilate the different ideas of what is divine. It says that every religious belief is about what is divine per se, but allows that different religions believe different things are divine per se. Pantheists believe one thing, Christians believe another, and atheists believe yet another. This definition, as the last sentence revealed, includes even the supposedly non-religious. Some people don't like to include atheism as a religion, but we should. Atheism and theism are enemies, after all, in a way that theism and, say, the PTA are not, or that Atheism and the Engineering society are not.

This is only the first chapter of this book, but I'm really excited about it. Clouser promises to prove that all theories necessarily depend on one religious belief or another. Such an argument would disarm opponents who try to devalue Christian arguments because they are religious. We can rejoice, as we always should have, that our arguments are religious. They are inevitably so.

The Semi-Pelagian Narrower Catechism

This is definitely worth the few moments of your time it will take you to read it.

The Emasculated Church

Church hopping is like bar hopping, although it takes more than a night to make the rounds. The church, so it seems, is a place where people that think along the same lines join together to hang out, and if you begin to differ somewhat in ideas you can go somewhere else. Others, however, think that the church is more like a family, where people with differences are bound together. Sometimes the family squabbles, but it's family and, except under certain extreme cases, it has to stay together. In the same vein, the church is like a city or civilization. Here's a little story from Mark Horne to illustrate:

An American drives into Canada and eats at a diner. His waiter asks him where he's from. “Oh, from America! I'm actually an American, too.” “Really? You were born there?” “No.” “Are your parents American?” “No, sadly they were Canadians their whole lives, but I've been reading this tract about American ideas and I'm fascinated by them. Now I've memorized the Declaration of Independence and I'm firmly committed to Americanism.”

This is odd because one doesn't become an American by holding certain ideas. America is an institution and not primarily a belief system, and one must enter it by a certain way. Similarly, one sometimes hears that Christianity is not an -ism. Peter Leithart, in his book Against Christianity, writes: “The Church is not a people united together by common ideas, ideas which collectively go under the name 'Christianity' ” (Canon Press, Moscow, ID. p.14). Rather, we are united in one faith, which is an entire way of “leaning into life.” We are a new culture, a new people, like the old people of God. We are united by our ritual of baptism (Eph. 5.4-6). We are united because we eat the same bread (1 Cor 10.17). We are new culture, a new people, like the former people of God, and we are united by our rituals.

We are a kingdom like other kingdoms, except we are the kindgom of God. We cannot divide between the religious and the secular, religion and politics:

In the New Testament, we do not find an essentially private gospel being applied to the public sphere, as if the public implications of the gospel were a second story built on the private ground floor. The gospel is the announcement of the Father's formation, through His Son and the Spirit, of a new city -- the city of God (16).

When one understands the church not as the city of God but as a social group like the ymca or a literature society, then it loses one's devotion, and “real life” takes place outside of the church; taking part in the church is an extra thing added on to life, which one can choose to belong to or not. In Psalm 2, however, we get a different picture:

I will tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to me, “You are my son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel (vv. 7-9).

Jesus will destroy the other nations, not by force but by the transforming power of the Spirit. They will be assimilated.

The book of Daniel makes similar points. In chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar has a dream about a large statue with a head of gold, breasts and arms of silver, a belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay (vv. 32,33). Then “a stone was cut out by no human hand” and it smashed all the statue to bits, which the wind carried away so that no trace of them could be found; but the stone that smashed them “became a great mountain and filled the whole earth” (vv. 34,35). The different parts of the statue, according to Daniel, and of course he's right, were different kingdoms. The stone that smashed these kingdoms and was established forever was the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is not friendly with other kingdoms. It destroys them, smashes them to bits.

Perhaps this is in the future, though. Perhaps the kingdom is not yet. In Jesus's ministry, however, he talked as though he were bringing in the kingdom. He talked as if the kingdom were there because he was there: “But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11.20).

Some might say that the kingdom of God is not even on earth, but is another realm, because Jesus said that his kindgom is not of this world. We can understand this in another way, however, and in a way that is consistent with scriptural language. When something is not of the world, it doesn't use worldly methods, and we have our own methods: “For though we live in the world we are not ccarrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds” (2 Cor 10.3,4).

Back to Leithart for the conclusion. He thinks that the way we view the church nowadays (which I haven't well defined, by the bye) is a great heresy. He calls this heresy Christianity, by which he means treating scripture like a system of ideas to which we give our assent and then there's an end of it (14-15). He says: “Christianity is the heresy of heresies, the underlying cause of the weakness, lethargy, sickness and failure of the modern church” (13).

Like, you know, whatever.

Works Cited (In preparation for returning to school)
Leithart, Peter. Against Christianity. Moscow, ID: Canon, 2003.

Busheeshee

Hello again everyone... I thought I'd write on the blog because I have nothing better to do at the moment, so you all will suffer the reading of a boring blog about pretty much nothing.
Hmmm.... well, on Saturday night Scott took me on a date to the Seoul Arts Centre to see a performance by the Korea Symphony Orchestra. They did two symphonies and a movement of a third. The one movement was by a Korean composer. It was very strange.. I didn't like it as much as the German or Russian symphonies they played. The Korean music used traditional instruments in the orchestra (traditional drums and a gong). Anyway, it was a good night, the music was beautiful and the building was beautiful. Next to the arts centre is the opera house. We did not go inside, but the outside of the building is big and round and looks kind of like a Greek coliseum. It also had big fountains in front and the water movements went along with the music that was playing... it was kind of cool.
The weather has been quite nice here, spring has come. Today it was 18 degrees and very sunny. I have ended my gym membership now and have been running outdoors along the river that is close by our apartment. I usually run about 7.5 km 3-4 times a week, so I guess I'm not as consistant as when I was going to the gym, but on days when I don't run I usually walk a lot, so I'm keeping pretty fit.
Today was the first time that I have been told that my hair was 'busheeshee' (not the correct spelling... but that is the phonics of it). After washing my hair this morning I put it in braids, then before my evening classes, I had taken them out. Two of my middle school girls told me that my hair was 'busheeshee'... it means fuzzy .. I guess. I think 'busheeshee' sounds better, I'm going to start using it when referring to someone's puffy hair.
Anyway, that's all for now

ta ta

WCF and LBC, chapter II

The second chapters of the Westminster Confession and the London Baptist Confession discuss "God and the Holy Trinity" (LBC 2). Both begin by saying that "there is but one only, living, and true God" (WCF II.I). This God works all things according to His will and for His own glory. He is

most loving, gracious, merciful, long- suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty (WCF).

The only difference is that the LBC replaces "and withal" with "And Who, at the same time."

God's glory and goodness all come from Himself, and he has no need of any of the creatures which he has made (WCF II.II and LBC 2.2). All things were created by Him and for Him. He has "sovereign dominion" over all His creatures, and He can do with them whatever He pleases. All of His actions and commands, however, are perfectly holy. Humans and angels must give Him whatever worship and obedience He asks of them, and the LBC adds whatever worship and service they owe Him as his creatures.

Chapter III, section III gives the doctrine of the Trinity. The LBC begins: "In this divine and infinite Being there are three subsistences" (2.3). The word "Being" emphasizes that God is one being. The WCF begins: "In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons" (II.III). This also emphasizes that God is one being. Both confessions state that these three persons are "one in substance, power and eternity (LBC). Being one in eternity means neither existed before the other. The LBC adds another clause to make this specific; the WCF doesn't. Finally, both state that the Father proceeds from no one, the "Son is eternally begotten of the Father" (WCF and LBC) and the "Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son" (LBC). Actually, the WCF says "Holy Ghost," which leads me to believe that its writer's might have been necromancers. If so, we can expect the two confessions to diverge later on.

One more thing (sorry for the above "finally"). The LBC concludes this chapter thusly: "This doctrine of the Trinity is the foundation of all our communion with God, and our comfortable dependence on Him." The WCF has no corresponding clause, but nevertheless the trinity is a central concern in reformed theology.