Not in vain

I hope this verse encourages you today as much as it has me.

“Always abounding in the Lord’s work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not empty” (1 Cor 15:58).

Quote of the day

“To say the very thing you really mean, the whole of it, nothing more or less or other than what you really mean; that’s the whole art and joy of words” (Jacobs, 240).

sobering news

It’s a good thing my hope is not in the government, otherwise I would be very alarmed by the news about the economy:

-The government has to borrow 40 cents of every dollar it spends
-The goverment will face a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit this year, just as it did last year
-The government will vote to raise the national debt to 14.3 trillion dollars. That means that if every single man, woman, and child in the US paid $45,000, we could erase the debt.
-14.3 trillion is a lot of zero’s: $14,300,000,000,000.00

Game night

We had a great time with the Walters last night. Johnny welcomed us with a stirring reading from an Irish short story book. Then, the guys challenged, and of course beat, the gals in Cranium.

Paula and HJ were valiant opponents

Some of our wonderful drawings (done within a time limit, and the one in the upper left hand corner with eyes closed)

Snow cancled

How much snow does it take to cover a quarter of an acre with 6 inches of snow? 30 tons, at least according to “Snow my Yard, the company contracted by the city of Cary this weekend to fill Bond Park with snow. The scheme was to be a moneymaker, with tickets being sold to eager residents wanting a chance to frolic in snow. Such plans were thwarted by the incliment weather. Perhaps “Snow my Yard’s” motto, which states, “When mother nature can’t deliver – WE CAN,” had something to do with the cancelation. Maybe, just maybe, God, with his great sense of humor, decided to remind everyone who is in charge of such phenomenon, and that he is able to dump, not 30 tons on a quarter of an acre, but to cover more than one state with a soft white blanket.

Dinner with friends

Many thanks to our friends Jeff, Kristen, Brogita, Celia, Elle, and Anna for comming over to dinner Wednesday night. Brogita (a native of Germany) brought a delicious German potatoe salad, and German sauerkraut. The girls performed their clogging routine for us (which they recently won first place for). And everyone had an all around good time! Viele Danke.

Couchsurfing in Ireland

So it’s official, my wife and I are going to be in Ireland over Easter. My wife has dreamed of going to this land of green hills ever since I’ve known her. She has been so supportive of me during my time in seminary, I figured this would be a way to thank her, as well as for us to celebrate my graduation (a few months in advance), our anniversary (a few months in advance), and to visit a possible school. So for a while now we have been carefully saving for the trip.

One of the most exciting developments of the trip has been our recent discovery of a website called couchsurfing.org/. People all from all around the world register on this website. By doing so, local folks open their homes up to travellers at no cost. Often times, as we are discovering, they also provide meals. So we will be staying with three Irish families, each for two nights. One lives just outside the Killarney National Forest, one lives on the southern coast within walking distance from a lighthouse, and one lives in a town above Dublin. This aspect of our trip is so exciting! We will have much more opportunity to interact with locals; hey, we’ll even be staying with them! Plus, this has drastically cut down the cost of our trip.

Our home here in Louisburg is also registered now on the couchsurfing website. Would you believe that we are the only home in Louisburg that is registered (not a surprise)! So, if any of you are ever planning on travelling the world, and want to make Louisburg NC one of your stops, we will be glad to have you, and we’ll give you a meal as well.

Quote of the Day

“Don’t just study to increase knowledge. Let every study of the Word of God increase your love for the divine Author!” (Moore, To Live is Christ, 22).

Ecclesiastes

In Sunday School we have been working our way through Ecclesiastes. When we first began this book, I asked the class to raise their hands if they had ever done a study of this before, whether in a class or even in a sermon series. Not a single hand went up. In fact, some even admitted that they thought I was off my rocker for wanting to study the book. But as the study continues, the class is really getting into it, and we’re having some great discussions. I must say, however, that the feeling of being the first to ever lead these believers in a study of this particular book is both exciting and terrifying.

In the midst of Ecclesiastes’ pessimism, one finds jewels such as these:
“I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear Him” (Ecc 3:14).

How’s that

I couldn’t help laughing when I came across this example sentence today in a Latin grammar:

I know that that that that man says is true (English)
Vera esse scio ea, quae ille dicat (Latin)
(Nunn, 47).