I should post a warning stating that I have not previewed most of these videos; therefore, I do not endorse the content contained in each. I hope that most of it can be enjoyable for you guys.

Film Fest

Good evening everybody! I'm back after a busy weekend.

There is a website available that I discovered this afternoon, and I am really excited about the door that it opens up for you. We have a competition (Film Fest) on our university campus each year for which teams of students produce films to compete for specific awards. All of these movies are available at the website linked on this post. You can see scenes from our university campus, and the film "Thanatos" even opens up with a shot of the beautiful monarch butterflies that I was wanting to shoot with my camera during their migration.

Enjoy!

Facial Lawn

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
Our family is known for having really tough, thick hair. Especially facial hair. Some mornings Papaw forgets to shave his face before he comes to breakfast, so after he eats and cleans the dishes, he'll say, "I guess I better go mow my face now." Again, all I can do is chuckle inside.

(Mow is the verb we use for cutting the grass in the lawn with the big, loud lawn mower.)

Silhouette Against the Setting Sun

Some more fall pics for all you lovers of the seasonal changes. I took these Sunday. Today I cut the grass, so maybe a can get a picture of our yard for you soon.


Mesquite tree, Maple tree, Pecan tree

Symmetry

Reflections_ (top of my car)

Cotton Ball Clouds.

An Eary Saying

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
A little tongue-and-cheek for you this time . . .

Tonight I met a couple (Enrique and Noemi Martorell) who is visiting here from Spain. I found out that they met my Papaw many years ago in northeastern Spain, and he had stayed in their home. Noemi told me a funny saying that Papaw used to say when he was with them. It was not a saying they had heard before, but it was so funny that they continue using it to this day. I decided to use that as the peculiar saying for today.

Voy a planchar mi oreja. (Voy a acostarme en la cama)
I'm going to iron my ear. (I'm going to bed.)
Vou passar ferro na minha orelha. (Vou deitar na cama.)

Achei isso muito engraçadinho :P

Have a great day!

A New Religion?

Did Jesus ever intend to found a new religion? David Bosch speaks to this question:

I have suggested that Jesus had no intention of founding a new religion. Those who followed him were given no name to distinguish them from other groups, no creed of their own, no rite which revealed their distinctive group character, no geographical center from which they would operate (Schweizer 1971:42, Goppelt 1981:208). The twelve were to be the vanguard of all Israel and, beyond Israel, by implication, of the whole ecumene. The community around Jesus was to function as a kind of pars pro toto, a community for the sake of all others, a model for others to emulate and be challeged by. Never, however, was this community to sever itself from the others.

This high level of calling was, however, not maintained for long. Already at a very early stage Christians tended to be more aware of what distinguished them from others than of their calling and responsibility toward those others. Their survival as a separate religious group, rather than their commitment to the reign of God, began to preoccupy them. In the words of Alfred Loisy (1976:166), "Jesus foretold the kingdom and it was the Church that came". In the course of time the Jesus community simply became a new religion, Christianity, a new principle of division among humankind. And so it has remained to this day.

David J. Bosch. Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission. (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1991) 50.

What do you think about this? Were we intended to be a new religion? or simply a movement of people committed to the reign of God?

Shari's Poem

This is a poem written by a sister in Christ in Jasper in response to Hurricane Rita. I'm sorry, but I can't figure out how to maintain the beautiful format of the poem. Be blessed...

Katrina & Rita’s Wrath & Aftermath

Winds of the world came . . .
Ravishing the land . . .
Blowing my life away . . .
Storm clouds of hurricanes . . .
Raining torrents . . .
Flooding family and friends . . .
Wind whirled . . .
Rains pounded . . .
Lightning cracked . . .
Mighty oaks crashed,
Power ceased,
People panicked,
Tempers flared,
And darkness descended . . . all around me
In the natural world where winds blow and floods flash.

Evacuated, fleeing for life, homeless, running scared . . .
What to take? What to leave behind? How to know?
Now a new town . . . knowing no one;
Just a trunk-full of treasures to call my own.

“Where is my God?”

Here, He is right here; here with me; He is within me!
He hovers over me and shelters me from all harm.

“I am with you always”
He promises
“And I shall never leave you.”

O, what perfect peace, what refreshing rest for my soul!
Knowing my Lord personally
Sustains me . . .
In the midst of all life’s storms.
Partaking in such an intimate relationship enables me to
Trust the Jesus of Galilee, the man who stills storms
With just a word.
And through this trust He uses me to turn to others –
To speak – To bless – Others who are more afraid,
More in need, more desperate, more without hope
Than I.
We reach out to each other – to hug, to comfort, to share a meal
And in doing so share the love of the Lord.

Rebuilding life . . .
Trying again to gain some normalcy.
But how?

Waiting in lines an entire day . . .
Filling out papers till hands cramp . . .
Staying on hold till you want to scream . . .
Red tape, frustration, red tape, then finally: “You don’t qualify.”
World government tries to help, but falls short.

Suddenly realization dawns: “Where can I go, but to the Lord?”
Yes, stop the hassle, take a breath, and smile . . .
My dependence is on God Almighty;
In Him alone can I trust!

I pray . . .
I ask . . .
I wait . . .
To see Him open Heaven’s gate!
Helping hands, safe shelter, encouraging words, hot meals, fervent prayers,
and the money comes . . . blessings for others and also for us.
Praise the Lord!
God’s bounty pours forth from His Body on earth!
Provision is here. God’s children taking care of one another.
Father smiles . . .
He is pleased . . .

Even though winds of the world come
They cannot blow my life away
For my life is safe and secure,
Hidden in Christ.
And even storm clouds of hurricanes
Cannot flood away my family
For my family is God’s family
And my inheritance is the Kingdom of God
Which endures forever!

So . . . blow winds blow . . .
Flood rains flood . . .
Flash lightning flash . . .
Crash trees crash . . .
Come what may . . .
I shall not fall
I shall endure to the end
With strength from Jesus, my Lord, my friend.

By Shari Gunter 10-4-05

A Perfect Day for Recovery

Thank you guys for your prayers. God has answered, and today I have been doing much better. I have been in class, and I was able to teach my ESL class in the afternoon. My voice is still very weak, but by God's grace, I should be fully recovered soon.

We have been having unseasonably warm weather recently, but today a cold front has blown through again and cooled temperatures back down to normal (23ºC/75ºF). I am thankful that I have been able to be out and about on this beautiful fall day.

How is the weather today in the place where you live?

Papaw's Peculiar Corner
Often at night when I am just sitting in the living room reading, Papaw will come in from his place of study in the dining room leaning on his trusty cane and say, "I think I'm gonna go wash off a few layers of dirt."

This always makes me laugh because it's as if he'd been working out in the fields for a week without showering. Even though it's a mild exageration, life would be so boring if he didn't put things in his own peculiar way.

"Thank you, Lord, for putting me in Papaw's home for this special time."

Spiral Down

Hey Guys,

I took a down turn during the night and worsened quite a bit. I stuggled to breath, and I wasn't able to sleep until sunrise this morning. After sleeping today I am doing a little better, but I continue with severe congestion. Please pray with me that the Lord might restore my health.

Thank you for your prayers and concern,
Brian

Papaw's Peculiar Sayings

One of the joys of living with my 92-year-old grandfather is hearing the funny things he has to say. He has a peculiar way of saying things that must be a hodge-podge of mannerisms that he has picked up through almost of century of interacting with people from literally all over the globe.

I have decided to begin making a collection of "Papaw's Sayings" as a special memory for my family to remember, laugh at and cry over as we remember our patriarch after he has preceded us into our Father's presence.

Would you like to read some? I thought I might start including them regularly in my blog. Why not start today...?
____________________________________________________
Papaw's Peculiar Corner
When we look at the wall-size window in our dining room that looks over our backyard, Papaw sees the squirrels scurrying across the power lines or the top of the fence, and he makes the remark:

"Those squirrels can't walk across that power line like that, [he hesitates] but they don't know that... so they go ahead and do it anyway."

Then he smiles and chuckles softly in admiration of the marvelous way God created the little critters. I will never watch a squirrel cross a fence top or a power line without remembering my Papaw with a little chuckle and a tear in my eye.

Os Ditados de Papaw

Você sabe como é quando alquém que você conhece e ama diz alguma coisa que te faz sorrir por dentro, e rir por fora...?

Eu moro com meu avozinho de 92 anos, e ele tem uns ditados comuns que são muito engraçados. Deve ser por ele ter vivido durante quase um siglo com intercâmbio constante com pessoas do mundo inteiro. Vou começar a incluir os ditados dele nos meus post, mas tenho que dizer que a maioria deles vai ser em inglês. Talvez houver uns em espanhol de vez em quando; vamos ver...

Life Group at the Rangel's

_________Peggy, Paola, Jorge, and Phil___________

Here are some pictures of the life group at Jorge and Peggy's house on Wednesday nights. We gather to eat, commune, sing praises and study scripture.

Jorge shares and eats.____It's good to bless the pizza.

O PQ do Novo Blog

Aqui eu vou estar publicando mais dos meus pensamentos diários para vocês lerem. Como meu outro blog era o site da missão, esse blog será o meu site pessoal. Vou tentar postar em várias línguas para todo mundo poder desfrutar. Espero que vcs gostem. Enjoy the new blog.

The Posting Continues Here

I have decided to make my blog a little more personal, so now the posting will continue here.

I have been at home sick most of this weekend. Some type of allergy flare up I think. I was supposed to do a series of interviews today for my missionary research class, but I have no voice because of my hoarseness, so I suppose I will have to postpone it. During this time of sickness I do feel pretty weak, but it does serve a purpose. I have spent more time in prayer asking God to purify me and reveal what he desires for me. I believe that this time of weakness and staying at home has drawn me back closer to the Father.

I really missed being with the church yesterday. I was too weak to go, and I am afraid what I have might be contagious, so I stayed at home. That makes two weeks that I have not met with Fountain Gate. My lifeline during these two weeks has been the life group at Peggy and Jorge's house on Wednesday nights. Five of us have been fellowshipping and studying scripture together there.

Now I am going to get back to my readings for the mission theology that I am writing this semester. I am reading David J. Bosch's work that transformed mission theology, Transforming Mission: Paradigm Shifts in Theology of Mission.