As one who frequents various electronic message boards and forums, I really appreciated these Top Ten suggestions for "more digestible" theological discussion on the internet.

Although in no particular order, number 1 seems to be the most important to remember:

1. The characters appearing on your screen were at some point generated by human fingers that were fearfully and wonderfully made by a marvelously working God who has made us in His image. Treating another human being in a contemptible way is an offense against God the Maker.

Thanks to Jason for posting these excellent (and quite convicting) points.

It's not a myth -- I've seen it!

Another Thanksgiving has come and gone, and we are quickly back in the swing of work and school. Rather than write out a complete blog on our holiday travels, I think I'll shamelessly substitute my sister's account, which covers many of the same highlights. Our events weren't exactly the same as hers, since (for some reason) we weren't invited to dinner with Mike's family. But that's okay. We did get to experience the dog mayhem, the tasty foods, and the samurai sword. We also watched Spiderman with my Grandmother and her brother on Thursday night. That was fun.

One noteworthy point at which our holiday travels diverged from Amy's was Thanksgiving dinner with Allison's extended family at her aunt's new house in Montgomery. Sure, I could talk about the cute children or the pony rides (!). But I'd rather talk about ...

The turducken.

Allison's aunt had a turducken for Thanksgiving dinner! Just a few short years ago, I was convinced that those things were a hoax of some kind. But now I know better. Much better. It was so awesome, stuffed with all kinds of breading, crawfish and cajun spices. I cannot sing its praises more highly. Unfortunately, there were no leftovers to be taken. But, there's always Christmas ...

(Amy, that's two consecutive plugs for your blog! I promise not to make this a recurring theme. Maybe.)

How to Kill a Mockingbird

This animated short defies any attempt at explanation. Just watch it. (It's got pirates AND ninjas, if that helps entice you.) Note, it may take a minute to load, as it is of a decent length. But worth every minute invested.

Special thanks to sister Amy for the heads-up on this one. I'm now being assaulted by Zoe, the Redd family dog, who insists that I throw stuffed animals to her. So I'll be off. Happy Thanksgiving, and all that good stuff(ing).

Thanksgiving Wheels

And they were all in one...Civic?

Team Redd now has a new family car! I just drove home a green 2001 Honda Civic. Thank you State Farm insurance...and to the awesome guy who went to all the auto auctions and finally found this one for us. Woo-hoo! (It actually looks just like this other used Civic ...but, thankfully, was a lot cheaper!)

Today was also my last day of student-teaching until January, so I have double reasons to celebrate. Actually, I found out about the car while at school, so I celebrated with my students! They got home-baked cookies-- I got a car AND the cookies. (I think I got the better deal.)

In the spirit of the holiday: I'm thankful that because of that crazy wreck, we now have a car that has half the miles and is five years newer than the car we had before! I'm also thankful that I was forced learn to depend on everyone around me to get wherever I needed to be. I certainly got to spend lots of quality time with friends from my grad school cohort, and relived the summer days of riding with my dear husband to work. And...I'm thankful that I now have the time and the means of transportation to go to Curves again. After this week's celebrations, I'll need the regular workouts even more!

I really enjoyed this interview with Andrew Peterson, about art, the music industry, his new album, the lasting impact of Rich Mullins, and of course, cheese.

Too much of a good thing?

Thanksgiving began early this year. On Friday, we had our company Thanksgiving lunch/teambuilding day. I don't know how well the team was built, but the lunch was pretty great. It was mostly potluck, and I apparently work with a number of folks who have been blessed with above-average culinary skills. Most importantly, one of my co-workers (in addition to having played football for both Tech and the 49ers) has a catering business on the side, and he brought the turkey and dressing, including a mouth-watering Cajun dressing.

But that's not all. We also had our Apartment Life pre-Thanksgiving Potluck on Saturday night, and several of our neighbors brought some yummy dishes. (These helped to soothe the pain of the Tech game that afternoon, as did Auburn's Iron Bowl victory.)

So, I have just a few days to recover before the Thanksgiving (proper) onslaught. Because we are fortunate enough to live fairly close to several sets of relatives, we are going to hit three Thanksgiving meals in two days. I'm already planning the massive exercise initiative that must commence next week, lest I need to shop for larger clothes.

Lewis, against Docetism

"You are silly, Bree," said Aravis.

"By the Lion's Mane, Tarkheena, I'm nothing of the sort," said Bree indignantly. "I have a proper respect for myself and for my fellow horses, that's all."

"Bree," said Aravis, who was not very interested in the cut of his tail, "I've been wanting to ask you something for a long time. Why do you keep swearing By the Lion and By the Lion's Mane? I thought you hated lions."

"So I do," answered Bree. "But when I speak of the Lion of course I mean Aslan, the great deliverer of Narnia who drove away the Witch and the Winter. All Narnians swear by Him."

"But is he a lion?"

"No, no, of course not," said Bree in a rather shocked voice.

"All the stories about him in Tashbaan say he is," replied Aravis. "And if he isn't a lion why do you call him a lion?"

"Well, you'd hardly understand that at your age, " said Bree. "And I was only a little foal when I left so I don't fully understand it myself."

...

"No doubt, " continued Bree, "when they speak of him as a Lion they only mean he's as strong as a lion or (to our enemies, of course) as fierce as a lion. Or something of that kind. Even a little girl like you, Aravis, must see that it would be quite absurd to suppose he was a real lion. Indeed it would be disrespectful. If he was a lion he'd have to be a Beast just like the rest of us. Why!" (and here Bree began to laugh) "If he was a lion he'd have four paws, and a tail, and Whiskers! ... Aie, ooh, hoo-hoo! Help!"

For just as he said the word Whiskers one of Aslan's had actually tickled his ear.

...

"Now Bree," he said, "you poor, proud, frightened horse, draw near. Nearer still, my son. Do not dare not to dare. Touch me. Smell me. Here are my paws, here is my tail, these are my whiskers. I am a true Beast."

"Aslan," said Bree in a shaken voice. "I'm afraid I must be rather a fool."

"Happy the Horse who knows that while he is still young."

The Horse and His Boy

ouch!

Yesterday, my co-worker took his cat to the emergency room, as the feline had consumed an unknown quantity of thread. Today, the vets operated and removed over four yards of thread from the cat's intestines.

Ustrationfray

I went to the dentist today, though fortunately only for a routine cleaning. As I was waiting in the chair, I found myself flustered by my inability to read my dentist's framed diploma, which was written completely in Latin. Apparently, all those years of high school Latin have atrophied ...

(Thankfully, I have retained fluency in that other classic language, Pig Latin.)

TREAT - Someone left a big jack-o-lantern cookie jar on the bookcase we use for office communal food (doughnuts, cookies, etc).

TRICK - It's empty.

infernal affairs

This post by richard reminded me that I wanted to post some thoughts on Derek Webb's new album, I See Things Upside Down. Actually, it would be repeating a lot of his post, so just read that. I just hope people give the album a chance, since it is so different from his previous work. It is very good stuff.

I'm not sure what the BEST track on the album is, but my current favorite is "Ballad in Plain Red." (Maybe it's because I really liked The Screwtape Letters?)

i'm robbin' peter, i'm paying paul
i'm changing my name back to saul
i got to them and you know i'll get to you
i'm turning shepherds into sheep
and leaders into celebrities
it's holy sabotage, just look around you

'cause everything's for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century

don't want the song, i want a jingle
i love you Lord but don't hear a single
and the truth is nearly impossible to rhyme
but i know the songs with all the hooks
and i know some lines that will sell some books
so grab 'em fast, i'm running out of time
just keep selling truth in candy bars
on billboards and backs of cars
truth without context, my favorite of all my crimes

'cause everything's for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century

what works versus what's right
what's the difference tonight?

take out the sign, forget the meal
we've got a gym and a ferris wheel
i swear it's just like the country club down the block
'cause you can make your life look good
you can do what Jesus would
but you'd be surprised what you can do with a hard heart

'cause everything's for sale in the 21st century
and the check is in the mail from the 21st century

i think you've got trouble in the 21st century
so welcome to the struggle. it's the 21st century
i never thought i'd make it to the 21st century
Lord, i love the 21st century

i write these words from the grave
'cause it's the only place that I'm safe
and only the dead are permitted to speak the truth.

(True to DW form, all the lyrics are in lowercase. EXCEPT -- and I never noticed this before -- he capitalizes "Lord," "Jesus," and other names for the divine. You learn something new everyday.)

While I've been off in student-teacher never-never land (which is what middle school feels like sometimes-- the place where people never grow up), we've been practicing a reading approach called "think alouds." Tonight, I happened upon this most excellent and humorous example, though I don't think my students would get the joke. If only some other people would...

Okay, so it's not at all unusual for me to sing endless praises of the fine folks at Homestarrunner.com.

Regardless, the latest Strong Bad e-mail is a stroke of genius.

Seriously.

Sadly, I don't follow college football too closely these days. My current interests are limited mainly to Georgia Tech (of whom I am a proud alumnus) and Auburn (of whom I am a fan via heredity) -- and of course, their respective in-state rivals (Georgia and Alabama).

This weekend, Tech trounced U. Conn 30-10, LSU beat 'Bama 26-10, and Auburn crushed the Dawgs 24-6.

So, at least for me, it was a great sports weekend.

(In other sports news, the Atlanta Falcons won yesterday, but it appears that no one cares.)

Yeah, that sounds right ...

Courtesy of Societas Christiana:

And of course in 500 years, when people are still listening to Bach and Beethoven, it's highly doubtful that anyone will remember Carman or Michael W. Smith or Petra. But even a shallow culture that embraces vast sections of life and tries hard to make them its own is better than a "deep" culture that can't do anything more than Pretentiously Ponder Propositions all day long and act like Sentences are the supreme reality. I'm starting to be of the opinion that theologians who don't read works of fiction on a pretty regular basis just aren't good theologians. There's no better cure for the excessively literal (wooden) mind than to spend some time in Narnia or Perelandra.

w00t!

My Hotmail mailbox finally got upgraded to 250 MB. Let the good times roll.

Interesting

This week, we will be singing "The Church's One Foundation" during our Sunday corporate worship. The lyrics I know (which are, to the best of my knowledge, the original ones) state the first verse as:

The Church’s one foundation
Is Jesus Christ her Lord,
She is His new creation
By water and the Word
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her
And for her life He died.

However, upon consulting The Baptist Hymnal, I noticed this alternate wording:

She is His new creation
By Spirit and the Word

Very interesting. I'm curious to see how this variant text came into existence, though I have a hunch that it stems from a certain view of the sacraments.

Blah.

Being sick stinks. Especially when you aren't sick enough to stay home from work.

Last night, as I was near-comatose on the sofa, I saw that the WB was playing the second half of The Fellowship of the Rings. (They played the first half on Sunday night.) So naturally, I watched most of it. The sad part is, the DVD sits languishing on our bookshelf. I have the exact same problem with the Star Wars trilogy. The tapes (and now DVDs) are right there on the shelf, waiting in vain to be played. Yet, as soon as they appear on broadcast TV, I can't turn away.

Am I the only one with this problem?

By the way, for those interested (who haven't already seen it), Doug Wilson has posted his opening salvo in his debate with James White on the question "Are Roman Catholics Members of the New Covenant?"

I think it is a very good outline of Wilson's position, and especially of how Rome fits into his view of the "objectivity of the covenant." I am very interested to hear/read the rest of the debate.

Once again, the business and busy-ness of Team Redd has prevented any sort of frequent blogging. Here's a brief glimpse:

* I attended my first Catholic funeral, for Allison's grandmother. I was deeply impressed and encouraged by the hope of resurrection that permeated the service. The liturgy did not contemplate the fact that Mrs. Lee is in some ethereal better place; it turned our hope and faith to the Scriptural proclamation that those baptized into Christ will ultimately be resurrected as He was.

* We stayed with my family the night before the funeral. We discovered that no alarm clock can substitute for Zoe, the new family dog, who enjoys licking faces and chewing on ears (even at 5 AM).

* Tech played an uneven game on Saturday, but ended up beating NC State 24-14.

* Allison continues to prove her graduate student mettle with one outstanding grade after another. She's also getting to flex her creativity, as evidenced by the spoooooky (well, not really) witch hat and dry ice used in her group presentation on Macbeth. (I also get to embarrass her by bragging about her grades.)

* My parents got me a copy of the Star Wars boxed set for my birthday. Allison got me the first season of Arrested Development, which finally started its second season on Sunday.

* Although we missed the Tim LaHaye prophecy conference, we got to attend something just as funny. Actually, much funnier. The Reduced Shakespeare Company rolled through Madison, GA, and we were present to see their performance of "All the Great Books (Abridged)." It was my third time seeing RSC (Allison's fourth), and our second time seeing "All the Great Books." These guys are brilliant and hilarious. For those unfamiliar with the RSC, their deal is that they compress all the works of Shakespeare, Western Lit, etc into a zany two-hour romp. The three-man cast rotates over time, but this weekend, we were fortunate enough to see a performance starring both the script-writers. The show appeals to an interesting demographic, because it really helps to have familiarity with the works they cover, because there are a ton of subtle references. But one also has to be well-versed in pop culture to get many of the other references. For example, a rollicking survey of War and Peace discusses Napoleon's defeat while Abba's "Waterloo" is briefly played over the PA. And who can forget the synopsis of Little Women, as detailed on white board by the P.E. Coach (a la half-time locker room strategizing). The cast are also good at improvising, as they were humorously sidetracked by some tangents from the audience, especially concerning the Election Day fallout. (Although, I am intrigued yet somewhat frightened to know what their survey of the Bible is like ...)

* And our search for a replacement Allison-mobile continues.

Perhaps this week will be more blog-friendly.

Okay, so it was pretty cool to see the Red Sox come back against the Yanks and then go on to sweep the World Series. But I'm already sick of the media sloganeering that has ensued. Example: I lost count of how many times I heard the phrase "reverse the curse" during the Florida-Georgia game on Saturday. What the heck? What "curse"? Florida has dominated the last 14 years, but Georgia still leads the overall series. Not only is it a recycled catch-phrase, it doesn't even apply! Yet, as soon as Georgia (sad to say) won on Saturday, sportscasters were shoving microphones into the players' faces and asking them what it felt like to have "the curse reversed." To their credit, most of the UGA players had a vacant, bewildered expression in response to that particular non sequitur.*

* Of course, a vacant, bewildered expression is what I generally expect from athletes at the University [sic] of Georgia.