Foolish, foolish, students

So I showed some students this richest person website bunruh found.
One student noted that his salary placed him ahead of 80% of the world. His response? "Sweet. Look - " (showing his friends the picture) " - that's them, and that's me ... I rule!"

It is hard to change the world.

Global Rich List

I came across this webiste, called "Global Rich List". It allows you to input your annual income and places you (by exact number!) in the world's wealth category. I am the 262,713,044th richest person in the world apparently. This means that I am in the top 4.37 % of the richest people in the world. Wow.

Blue Man Group in Regina

Sweet! The Blue Man Group, a trio which performs in trademark black clothing, latex bald caps and blue grease paint covering their heads, is bringing the "How To Be A Megastar Tour 2.0" to the Brandt Centre on Sept. 16.

Check the full story here

What's Making You Sick?

I preached last Sunday on the Rich Young Ruler and his conversation with Jesus - it's about our addiction to money. Here's a link to the audio of the sermon:

http://www.parliamentchurch.com/_audio/apr15am.ram

Update on our trip to TO

Hey everyone. Naomi and I are hanging out in Toronto this week, and are having a great time. So far, we've checked out a Raptors game, the TO zoo, a Jays game, and the Royal Ontario Museum. We've got a few more fun packed days before heading for home/Winnipeg on Thursday night. Here's a link to a few photos from this trip so far...

UPDATE: Add to the list above the CN Tower, the Hockey Hall of Fame and the CBC museum. Tomorrow is Casa Loma... pictures on these ones will follow later.

Trip to Toronto (April 2007)

Dilemma

So I came across this article by the leading scientist behind the Human Genome Project. It is an article about why he can believe in Jesus Christ and Evolution. I thought it was a good one.

You can read the article here. It's a short one: http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/03/collins.commentary/index.html


My favourite quote from the article is:

Yes, evolution by descent from a common ancestor is clearly true. If there was any lingering doubt about the evidence from the fossil record, the study of DNA provides the strongest possible proof of our relatedness to all other living things.

But why couldn't this be God's plan for creation? True, this is incompatible with an ultra-literal interpretation of Genesis, but long before Darwin, there were many thoughtful interpreters like St. Augustine, who found it impossible to be exactly sure what the meaning of that amazing creation story was supposed to be. So attaching oneself to such literal interpretations in the face of compelling scientific evidence pointing to the ancient age of Earth and the relatedness of living things by evolution seems neither wise nor necessary for the believer.

Here is my dilemma though. I would really like to use this article in a youth Bible study and present it as an alternative view, but I don't think I could "get away with it". I would probably run into the same opposition I ran into in the Fall over other issues, and would receive comments from upset parents. I really wish I had the freedom to express what I believe in some areas to the youth. It would serve to really broaden their understanding of the Bible, and help them to ground themselves in a more realistic interpretation of Scripture that is open to new discoveries - one that is not based in fear.

Another Random Quote

Here is another quote I came across that I appreciated. Strangley enough, I found it in a Focus on the Family publication. Even they can print some good stuff from time to time I guess.

"Sex is not a private matter, though it is certainly personal. Sexual intercourse is the ultimate creaturely gesture of promise. If we behave as if sexual intercourse is something less than a mutual promise of man and woman to be completely and wholly present to one another, and not just for the fleeting moment but always, society is left with no gesture of final commitment as the foundation for all other commitments. Community requires promise and abiding commitment, faithfulness and fidelity, or it does not endure. Ideally, we learn and practice these virtues and habits of being through courtship and within marriage. This is a wisdom all humankind knows." —Vigen Guroian, a Wilberforce Forum fellow, professor of theology and ethics at Loyola College

The Curse of Wealth

I know that I have been talking a lot lately about money, and my struggle with whether it is a blessing or not. I don't want to overdue it, but I do want to put down a couple of thoughts here, and then I will be done with it for a while.

I am really having a hard time seeing wealth (at least the wealth that we in Canada/the Western world have) as being a blessing given to us from God. It has come at the expense of all of the rest of the world, and is brought to us on the back of oppression. How can God be part of this? I recognize that wealth does bring blessings - such as the blessing of using it for good and giving it to those who need it. But there is so much curse that it brings that it really outweighs those blessings in my mind.

In my travels, I have come across people living in abject poverty. I have been to the poorest county in the western hemisphere - Bolivia, and spent time with the poorest of the poor there. What I have learned is not the typical, "Wow, I am so thankful that for what I have. I am so much better off than they are and I need to be greatful for it." Instead, what has been impressed upon me is, "Wow, I don't really have all that I think I have. They have more life, more joy, more peace, more confidence, more community, more of true life than I have ever experienced. I don't need to give them a whole lot - I need to receive from them what they have." And it is partly due to their poverty that they know more of true life than I do.

I want to challenge you to do something. It won't take that long (or maybe it will). I have been reflecting on several Scripture passages, and I want you to read them one after the other, and simply allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them. Read them asking the question, "What is the lesson Jesus is teaching me?"

Here they are:
Matthew 6:19-24
Matthew 25:31-46
Mark 12:41-44
Luke 12:13-21
Luke 18:18-25

Here is one final thought that reflecting on these passages has brought to my mind. What do these teachings of Jesus have to say about saving for retirement? I know that this flies in the face of our society, but what if saving for retirement is "storing up treasure on earth" and all that? Doesn't this kind of saving sound an aweful lot like the man in Jesus' story who built barns to store all his bounty and then was called a fool by God? We don't know how long we will live, so why are we planning for it? I know that it is called "smart planning" to do this (save for the future), but why does God call it foolishness then? What if works to eat away at faith and trust? For most of the world, saving for retirement isn't even part of their vocabulary - their family takes care of them when they can't. Do I need to move away from planning for my retirement and instead focus on what God wants now, and leave all of my future, and my family's (including how we will eat, etc.) to God? What would that look like?

I know that it seems foolishness to not plan for our provisions in the future, and it is a disrespect to our family and those that "count on us". But, is it really? I don't know. This is something that I have really been wrestling with.

And if God wants me to put all of my future, including retirement, in his hands, what does he want me to do with the pension that I have saved up?

Miscelleaneous Quote

Here is a recent quote I came across that I really liked. It is from author Earl Creps:

Jesus' resurrection is the guarantee that the reign of God (God's Kingdom) is breaking out in the world right now.

Blood Diamonds

Just watched the movie Blood Diamond yesterday. Very powerful film. I would say it is one of the must see movies of 2006. Excellent story, fantastic acting, powerful visuals, and absolutely heartbreaking. It is very hard to watch a movie like that and not do something.

Whenever I see stories like that, that bring out the suffering that our society is causing so many people, it makes it hard to remain in this society. It makes me want to leave and run away from it. Part me of thinks that this would be a very good idea, and not subject Ava to any of this baggage and shit that we carry, although of course we would be introducing her to whatever baggage any other part of the world has. Part of me also thinks that if those of us who realize what is going on all leave, who will be left to fight for change here?

There are some excellent lines in the movie too. In fact brilliant lines that blew me away. They are lines of Redemption and light. They are the Gospel:

At one point, Jennifer Connelley's character says, "A whole country is dying/being destroyed. What good is it if I help one person?...What the hell am I saying?!"

Later on, another character says to Leonardo DiCaprio, "A man may be evil, but with one act of love he can change someone's life. No one knows what path may lead us to find God."

Towards the end, Djimon Hounsou's character has one of the most beautiful lines that I have heard in a movie for a long time. He is speaking to his very young son who was taken by rebel forces and forced into being a child soldier, brain washed into doing horrendous things, "They made you do bad things. You are not a bad boy. I am your father. I love you very much. I will take you home and make you my son again."

What a picture of redemption, grace and love.

Congrat's, Josh!

So, Naomi and I were very excited for you when we read this. I hope this transition goes well for you. I'll keep an ear to the ground re: a position out this way. By the way, you might want to check out http://educationcanada.com/
It will keep you up to date on most any education job around the country (though of course, you can specify... say Math in SK).

Good luck!

humpty dumpty

So why is humpty dumpty an egg if it never mentions eggs in the nursery rhyme?

I'll tell you why. Because the rhyme is actually a riddle. A modern translation might read,

If I fall from a height, I break into pieces that can never be put back together. What am I?

Glad that's settled.

Met with Rod this morning...

So I had meeting number 2 with Rod this morning. I asked him for a transfer form, and he said he'd get one for me today. Deadline for transfer is April 17. I asked him about letting students / staff know and he suggested (to my relief) that we sit on that for a little while longer. He accepted my request graciously, saying the school would miss me, but agreeing that our philosophical differences were great enough that I'd need to find a position somewhere else.

I feel pretty worn out. Nervous about next year.

Dan, keep an eye out for a jr. math / social / history / whatever position at Melville comp. (PS your school website doesn't work).

Josh

from Robertson Davies

(paraphrase)

You look as though you had your hair cut in a dark cellar by a madman with a knife and fork.