Canon A85

Just some pictures from inside our place of worship. Hey, that's what happens when you get a new camera.

NFL

Sarah and I were given Cowboys tickets for Monday Night's game. Let me just say that I love watching football live. Let me also say that the cowboys did not play football on monday night. I usually enjoy professional sports simply because I get to watch things that I can't do. I can't dunk or catch a 45 yard pass in double coverage. I can usually catch punts without dropping them and I can throw a football into the wide open arms of a 250 pound tight end, but apparently on Monday Night, the cowboys could do none of those things. There was some non-intentional humor, though. The guy sitting in front of us at the game was wearing this t-shirt.

A Scandalous Grace

Yasser Arafat has died.

I've got to start by saying that Yasser Arafat was a villain who ushered modern terrorism into our world. He ordered suicide bombers in the form of men, women, and even children. In 1974 he had terrorists take 100 children hostage in a school, where they later murdered 21 of them with grenades and random gunfire. Yasser Arafat has died and the United States, among many other nations, will be sending a diplomat to the funeral. There would be no hangings as with the Nazi leaders. There would be no reminiscing of his crimes as if Osama Bin Laden had died. There will be a funeral and people will mourn. Countries will act political and send condolences.


With that in mind. . . .I stumbled onto this article, posted by Jeff Jacoby, a Boston Globe Columnist on November 11, 2004.

"In a better world, the PLO chief would have met his end on a gallows, hanged for mass murder much as the Nazi chiefs were hanged at Nuremberg. In a better world, the French president would not have paid a visit to the bedside of such a monster. In a better world, George Bush would not have said, on hearing the first reports that Arafat had died, "God bless his soul."God bless his soul? What a grotesque idea! Bless the soul of the man who brought modern terrorism to the world? Who sent his agents to slaughter athletes at the Olympics, blow airliners out of the sky, bomb schools and pizzerias, machine-gun passengers in airline terminals? Who lied, cheated, and stole without compunction? Who inculcated the vilest culture of Jew-hatred since the Third Reich? Human beings might stoop to bless a creature so evil -- as indeed Arafat was blessed, with money, deference, even a Nobel Prize -- but God, I am quite sure, will damn him for eternity."

That last sentence rings in my ears. Mainly because if I take the Bible as actual truth, then I know Yasser Arafat and I are exactly the same. It's not an easy thing to say now is it? It's unfair and unjust for God to look on us all as equals in the pool of sin. But the scandalous truth is just that. When God talks of a covering grace he isn't just talking about the good people. In fact, he's not talking about good people at all. He's talking about the darkest parts of you and me. God sees and knows that part. He's been there. And yet he remains to give pardon and peace.

I'm sure I've mowed over people in my life who are certain that "God....will damn him for eternity." I'm sure those words may have even been spoken aloud about me.
Praise God for scandalous grace.

That October day. . .

I've been out of the posting for awhile. . .only this time I have an excuse.

I got married on Oct. 23rd.

Sarah and I spent about a week in Chicago after the wedding. We saw some shows and enjoyed the cooler weather. Now we're in the middle of organizing life and answering all the "how's it feel" questions. I'm not sure I've answered any post-wedding questions honestly. Most of the time when someone smiles at me and asks "well how's it feel to be married!!!?!?!?" I just smile back and say "it feels great." But inside I just wonder how a person can honestly answer that question. How can the asker possibly know what Sarah and I have gone through in 7 years of knowing each other? Can they understand how we've loved, fought, wrestled and pained over our relationship long before we said 'I do'? Only now we wake up next to one another, and we share a closet. We usually just smile at each other at night because it feels like we're having a long-winded sleep-over.
So what's married life like? It's life spent unalone.

PS: There are several wedding photo albums floating around out there on yahoo. If you'd like to see some just let me know.