Books

For whoever may find it interesting, these are some of the books I've recently read and plan on reading:

Currently working on:
The Problem with Evangelical Theology

Shenandoah Religion

Appalachian Mountain Religion

Books recently read:
The Lion and the Lamb -William Shea
(Informative, author wears his opinions on his sleeve)

Seeds of Hope -Tim Muldoon
(Some great insights)

Toward a New Catholic Church -James Carroll
(Don't recommend, but didn't finish, so...)

Handbook of Denominations -Frank Mead
(Fun read)

The Ecumenical Scandal on Main Street -William B Cate
(Didn't finish)

For the record...
My reading list recently has been a lot like throwing darts, i.e. I don't necessarily recommend ANY of these books before you talk to me about them.

More knowledge or more firepower?

“With or without Russian participation, NASA and ESA plan to collaborate on a major initiative to the outer planets that would launch around 2020 and have a transit time of about six years. A mission to either Titan or Europa would cost between $2 billion and $3 billion.” - Discovery.com

Many scientists, astronomers in particular, are holding out hope that either Titan (a moon of Saturn) or Europa (a moon of Jupiter) contains life in the oceans found beneath their frozen surfaces.

At the end of the 2008 fiscal year, the F-22 fighter plane program of the U.S. Airforce will have cost $65 billion. -Slate.com

How's that for spending priorities?

This is a Wordle of this blog. It's a fun way to see what Tom and I have emphasized on this blog thus far... at least as far as text goes. I think it's a fun snapshot.

Mom, Dad, and my older sister Mary in hawaii for the holidays

Covenant!

This last month Thomas, four other Company men, three other sisters and I had the privilege of making the covenant of the People of Praise together. I was invited to make the covenant earlier this year. I have spent the last five years underway in the People of Praise, discerning if this is how Jesus and I want to work in the world for the rest of my life. At the end of the discernment, as you can see, the Lord and I decided to throw our lot in with the People of Praise permanently! Glory!

As is probably the case with any life-long commitment, there are a lot of reasons for why I chose to make the covenant but I'll share just one here: Brothers.

The primary reason I came underway five years ago was brotherhood. I had spent the last four years trying to find it in Arizona and Oklahoma and I had not yet found a group of men who's greatest desire in life was to serve Jesus, become friends with Him, and bring others into that friendship. That's what I've spent the last five years doing with these men in the People of Praise. We've built houses together, gone door to door talking to people about Jesus together, we've prayed together, we've argued, we've asked forgiveness. Together we've left college, home and security behind to follow Jesus and most importantly we've helped each other fall in love with Him and taught each other how to work tirelessly for Him.

One paragraph is hardly sufficient to capture the robust friendship that has come about through the common life I've lived with these guys. I fear that trying to capture our life in a blog post would somehow sell it all short. These men and the People of Praise mean the world to me. The best way I have to describe my life and the brotherhood Jesus has given me is in His own words, "Come, and you will see."

Jesus' death

These last few weeks I've been doing the meditations from the Third Week of the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. The Third Week is on the passion and death of Jesus. As a result I wanted to learn some more about what theologians had to say about how Jesus' death atoned for our sins. This particular passage (from the Catechism of the Catholic Church) I found to be a clear concise way of putting Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. I found it very helpful and figured I would share it.

"By embracing in his human heart the Father's love for men, Jesus 'loved them to the end', for 'greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.' In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: 'No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.' Hence the sovereign freedom of God's Son as he went out to his death. ... This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience."

Jesus, we strive to love as you, your Father and your Holy Spirit do!

This Summer

Elizabeth and Joe did one of their last videos of the summer on what we've been doing on the North side of Indianapolis. This video is pretty much my whole summer in a nutshell. Thanks Joe and Liz!