England...Cheers!

Well, it's been almost a month since I posted, and the most exciting thing that has happened has been my trip to England. I left on Sat. the 17th and came back on the 24th. It was really a wonderful trip. I was pretty tired Sunday evening because I had to get up 8:00 on Saturday and I stayed up untill 10 o'clock on Sunday...24 hours when you subtract the time difference.

Sunday we went straight to our hotel to put our stuff in a safe place and then we headed right downtown and saw the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben), Churchills Cabinet War rooms--which are now a museum, and Buckingham Palace.

Monday we went to the Tower of London. I saw the crown Jewels, the tower where Bloody Mary was held, the tower where Sir Walter Raleigh wrote "The History of the World" (which they had an origional copy of) and lots of other awesome stuff. From there we went to the Museum of London and then to St. Paul's Cathedral...If only he could have seen it.

Tuesday we saw the British Museum...the home of the Rosetta stone, the Sutton Hoo artifacts, most of the Parthenon, and tons of other incredibly awesome stuff.

Wed. we went to the Imperial War Museum...that was awesome but sad. The Holacaust display was particularly devastating. From there I went back to the hotel to pack for the next couple of days and then to the train station to head north.

I got to Keswick in the dark and bought some fish and chips and walked down to the lake. It was dark and there were ducks quacking it was very calm, so there weren't even waves lapping the shore. I figured I would be in for a pleseant surprise in the morning...

On Thursday, I woke up at half 7 and headed out on a walk. I went 20 miles that day, over hill and dale and I have never seen such beautiful country. Friday was pretty much the same, except that I rented a bike for the some of the trip. Anyway, if your not bored yet, you can see pics of all this here. I didn't post all of my pics; most, but not all.

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Zoe!

We got a puppy! Her name is Zoe. She's a german shephard/rottweiler mix, and she's the bomb. I posted a bunch of pics of her on my picasa site...my first album there. Click on the blog title (Zoe!). I don't think I have much room there, so I don't know if I'll continue to post pics there. But for now...

Zoe is great. She is curious and yet good at entertaining herself. She doesn't like to be alone though. I guess that comes from being born in a litter of 12. Shoosh! She whines and howls whenever we leave her. She doesn't care if we are playing with her or not as long as we are with her. She kept me up all night last night. I had her sleeping next to my bed so that I could comfort her if she got scared, and I woke up every hour or so. Amy seems to have slept well enough though. Maybe I'll have her sleep by the dog tonight.

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Florida!

Well, we are back. Florida was great. It was relatively cold and very windy on our first day, but it got better every day, and by wednesday, it was 80 degrees and beautiful. I went rollerblading almost every day, and we got lots of reading done. On Monday, we went to the Naples Zoo, which is where we saw this Monkey. He's a spider monkey, and if I can figure out the best way to display my pics on the web and which of the 293 pics I took are good enough to display, you will see more of him. He's cool. He has a prehensile tail. It's very strong. I wish I had one.

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I'm going to Florida!

Yeah! I'm off to florida for a week! I have snorkeling gear and books and family and card decks to bring and a beach, a pool, some sun, warm weather, and stuff to look forward to. I will see you all later...:)

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Hip Hop Bible

I must admit I have a certain disdain for hip hop. One teacher at HVCC calls ebonics a new and distinct language from english. I find this disgraceful and Idiotic. Ebonics is bad english. Very bad. Maybe you think I am silly and uncultured for automatically associating ebonics and hip hop. I don't care. In my mind it all comes down to the distortion of an excellent language and the foolish expression of being different for the sake of being different or because it's "cool" rather than because you are different.
Anyway, I do not understand the culture of hip hop. However, if someone else does, and they can have a positive influence...more power to them. This website I found is a bit over the top though. Check out this new translation of Psalm 23. I laughed with a wry smile.

Psalm 23 as adapted by Ryan Kearse
The Lord is all that, I need for nothing.
He allows me to chill.
He keeps me from being heated
and allows me to breathe easy.
He guides my life so that
I can represent and give
shouts out in his Name.
And even though I walk through
the Hood of death,
I don't back down
for you have my back.
The fact that you have me covered
allows me to chill.
He provides me with back-up
in front of my player-haters
and I know that I am a baller
and life will be phat.
I fall back in the Lord's crib
for the rest of my life.



please note that I ammended the last post in responce to your excellent comments.

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Random thought of the day...What is God really like? I met a guy yesterday who is Protestant, but who's girlfriend is Catholic. We talked about it for a while. One of their biggest differences lies in the fact that she feels that Mary is an intercessor between man and God and therefore worthy of worship. He, being Protestant, disagrees. My question is... is it worth breaking up with someone for? Based on their beliefs, I would say that they are both going to heaven, so it doesn't seem as though they are completely at odds. Supposing that in every other way they are perfect for each other, what do you think they should do? The real q. here is: Is it a breach of faith to associate yourself so strongly with a position you don't agree with, or is it a show of wisdom in avoiding confrontation in a matter which, ultimately, will not affect your place in heaven? Paul suggest that, where possible, we "live at peace with all men."
Anyhow, I'm not trying to present a point of view here, just to spark an interesting conversation. Obviously, there is room for debate on which of these positions is right, that is to say, Some of you may disagree that your stance in this matter will not affect your place in heaven. An answer to that q. would resolve the posted q...


This all brings me to the first Q. What is God really like?

2-7-12:32pm
Excellent comments. However I will play the devil here and say: Is it possible to be Catholic and to be a true Christian? I think you all would agree that it is. How then? Are there different levels of worship? The word worship comes from the Greek which means to kiss. The inference here is that to worship is to love. I think this embodies our worship of God. You suggest that to worship anything or anyone other than God is to be irreverent to Him, or to love Him less. I suggest that it is possible to love Him more by loving others more...friends and family for example. Is it possible then to "worship" Mary and maintain complete reverence for God? Maybe the difference between catholics and protestants is not so much the object of worship, but the intercessor. I think that Catholics would agree that Jesus is the way, truth and life. They may be dissillusioned in thinking that Mary can intercede for them, but is that such a great difference? Is it unforgivable? Can a Catholic be a true Christian?

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Cool.

Wow, what a day. I have been sick, so I got up late, and the world was covered in Ice. I went out and helped Tom rescue a birch tree that he is fond of and which had nearly succumbed to the weight of the ice, and then I went around and took some photos of the ice. I got a couple of good shots, and one great one. It was fun, but-I suppose because I am sickish, I was completely exausted afterwards, and I fell asleep on my bed for two and a half hours. What a great day to blog! Please note, you can click on the pics for a bigger view...

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