Pour Votre Connaissance Et Votre Plaisir...

Big News

2006-10-06T03:11:00.000-07:00

Most of you probably already know by now, but for those of you who haven't heard, Olivia and I are engaged. What many of you probably don't know is that we have decided to move back to Utah early. We had already planned to come back to visit for Christmas, but now we are planning to stay afterwards. This will give Olivia more time to learn English, give me an opportunity to earn and save some money before I start my masters program, and it will give us more time to plan the wedding. This was kind of a sudden decision but the more we think about it the more we see that it will be a good thing. So now we're in the process of appealing for Olivia's fiancee visa. I have several questions concerning the visa application, so if anyone has any experience with this sort of thing, or knows someone I could call for free legal advice I would appreciate it.

I'm finishing up my third week here at the seminary and so far it has been great. I'm sad that I won't be able to finish out the year here, but I have other things to look forward to. It's a very small school, with only 25-30 students attending classes on-site, so there is a very intimate atmosphere between both students and faculty. For lunch and dinner most students cook a big meal together, which is usually accompanied by a lot of singing and laughter. The classes have all been great as well. The first two weeks were consecrated to learning Hebrew, and this last week was the first real week of classes. It turns out that I will be learning Greek at the same time as Hebrew, which actually isn't as intimidating as I thought it would be. On top of that I'm taking New Testament, Old Testament, church history, ethics, and apologetics.

On a final note, I find the French bureaucratic system thoroughly disagreable (to put it euphamistically!). Let me explain. When I went to San Francisco in May to get my student visa I was told by the French consulat that I was going to have to leave France and then re-enter in order to get my visa stamped, in order to get my residency card. This was because I came to France in July and the starting date for my visa was September 10. At first I thought that it was going to be simple: all I have to do is take a train to Italy and get my visa stamped at the train station, right? Wrong. I called everywhere I could think of, the American embassay, the French customs agency, the French border police, the train station, the airport, the French prefecture, to find out where I could go to get my visa stamped. Nobody knew and everyone sent me somewhere else, often to somebody I had already talked to. Eventually I was told that there was a customs agency in a train station in Vintimille, a small coastal city not far from the French/Italian border. So last Friday Olivia and I took a train to Vintimille to get my visa stamped and to spend an afternoon in the market and on the beach. Upon arrival we were informed that they no longer stamp visas at the train station and that I would have to take a plane somewhere, which was exactly what I was trying to avoid. Since I am only permitted 90 days here on my passport I had until October 6 (today) to get my visa stamped and validated. I spent most of Saturday scrambling to figure out what I was going to do next. It ended up that on Monday morning I took a train from Marseille to Geneva, then a plane from Geneva to Paris, and finally a train from Paris back to Marseille. Unfortunately when I got to Paris they told me that they couldn't stamp my visa, even though when I called and asked them the day before they said that they could. On Wednesday I went to the prefecture, which I should have done in the first place, and explained the whole situation. They told me that they didn't know why the consulat in San Francisco said I had to leave the country, that they didn't care about getting my visa stamped, and that all I had to do was fill out the paperwork for the residency card, which I don't even need now that we're coming back to Utah early. Argh! As Mike Howard would say, "What an opportunity to praise Jesus!"

Why Memorize Scripture?

2006-09-12T09:55:00.000-07:00

This comes from John Piper's Taste And See, which can be found on his website at www.desiringgod.org. I found it useful and encouraging, so I thought I'd pass it along to whoever is still reading this blog.

Why Memorize Scripture?
By John Piper September 5, 2006

First, a few testimonies: I have it third hand, that Dr. Howard Hendricks of Dallas Seminary once made the statement (and I paraphrase) that if it were his decision, every student graduating from Dallas Theological Seminary would be required to learn one thousand verses word perfect before they graduated.

Dallas Willard, professor of Philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote, “Bible memorization is absolutely fundamental to spiritual formation. If I had to choose between all the disciplines of the spiritual life, I would choose Bible memorization, because it is a fundamental way of filling our minds with what it needs. This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth. That’s where you need it! How does it get in your mouth? Memorization” (“Spiritual Formation in Christ for the Whole Life and Whole Person” in Vocatio, Vol. 12, no. 2, Spring, 2001, p. 7).

Chuck Swindoll wrote, “I know of no other single practice in the Christian life more rewarding, practically speaking, than memorizing Scripture. . . . No other single exercise pays greater spiritual dividends! Your prayer life will be strengthened. Your witnessing will be sharper and much more effective. Your attitudes and outlook will begin to change. Your mind will become alert and observant. Your confidence and assurance will be enhanced. Your faith will be solidified” (Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1994], p. 61).

One of the reasons Martin Luther came to his great discovery in the Bible of justification by faith alone was that in his early years in the Augustinian monastery he was influenced to love Scripture by Johann Staupitz. Luther devoured the Bible in a day when people earned doctorates in theology without even reading the Bible. Luther said that his fellow professor, Andreas Karlstadt, did not even own a Bible when he earned his doctor of theology degree, nor did he until many years later (Bucher, Richard. "Martin Luther's Love for the Bible"). Luther knew so much of the Bible from memory that when the Lord opened his eyes to see the truth of justification in Romans 1:17, he said, “Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory,” in order to confirm what he had found.

So here are a few reasons why so many have viewed Scripture memorization as so essential to the Christian life.

1. Conformity to Christ
Paul wrote that “we all, . . . beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18)) If we would be changed into Christ likeness we must steadily see him. This happens in the word. “The Lord revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the Lord” (1 Samuel 3:21). Bible memorization has the effect of making our gaze on Jesus steadier and clearer.

2. Daily Triumph over Sin
“How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word. . . . I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you” (Psalm 119:9, 11). Paul said that we must “by the Spirit . . . put to death the [sinful] deeds of the body” (Romans 8:13). The one piece of armor used to kill is the “sword of the Spirit” which is the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). As sin lures the body into sinful action, we call to mind a Christ-revealing word of Scripture and slay the temptation with the superior worth and beauty of Christ over what sin offers.

3. Daily Triumph over Satan
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness he recited Scripture from memory and put Satan to flight (Matthew 4:1-11).

4. Comfort and Counsel for People You Love
The times when people need you to give them comfort and counsel do not always coincide with the times you have your Bible handy. Not only that, the very word of God spoken spontaneously from your heart has unusual power. Proverbs 25:11 says, “A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver.” That is a beautiful way of saying, When the heart full of God’s love can draw on the mind full of God’s word, timely blessings flow from the mouth.

5. Communicating the Gospel to Unbelievers
Opportunities to share the gospel come when we do not have the Bible in hand. Actual verses of the Bible have their own penetrating power. And when they come from our heart, as well as from the Book, the witness is given that they are precious enough to learn. We should all be able to sum up the gospel under four main headings (1) God’s holiness/law/glory; 2) man’s sin/rebellion/disobedience; 3) Christ’s death for sinners; 4) the free gift of life by faith. Learn a verse or two relating to each of these, and be ready in season and out of season to share them.

6. Communion with God in the Enjoyment of His Person and Ways
The way we commune with (that is, fellowship with) God is by meditating on his attributes and expressing to him our thanks and admiration and love, and seeking his help to live a life that reflects the value of these attributes. Therefore, storing texts in our minds about God helps us relate to him as he really is. For example, imagine being able to call this to mind through the day:

The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:8-14)

I used the word “enjoyment” intentionally when I said, “communion with God in the enjoyment of his person and ways.” Most of us are emotionally crippled—all of us, really. We do not experience God in the fullness of our emotional potential. How will that change? One way is to memorize the emotional expressions of the Bible and speak them to the Lord and to each other until they become part of who we are. For example, in Psalm 103:1, we say, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name!” That is not a natural expression for many people. But if we memorize this and other emotional expressions from the Bible, and say them often, asking the Lord to make the emotion real in our hearts, we can actually grow into that emotion and expression. It will become part of who we are. We will be less emotionally crippled and more able to render proper praise and thanks to God.

There are other reasons for memorizing Scripture. I hope you find them in the actual practice.

Who do you say that I am?

2006-08-16T02:37:00.000-07:00

[Jesus] said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" -Matthew 16:15

Imagine that one day one of your friends started saying some rather odd things to you. During lunch you ask him to pass you the chicken and he says, "he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink" (John 6:54-55). When you ask him how his family is doing he replies, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me" (Matthew 10:34-37). When you ask him when his birthday is he tells you, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:58). You ask him for directions to a restaurant and he says, "I am the way the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me" (John 14:6). At this point you're considering whether it is in your best interests to remain friends with him, and just then he asks you, "Who do you say that I am?" How would you respond?

I love this question that Jesus poses to his disciples because it is so simple and straitforward, yet all of how we view and live life hangs in the balance of our response. Several things that I've read/listened to recently have caused me to reflect on the person of Jesus and on the radical implications of following him. The first comes from Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. He writes:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: 'I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God.' That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronising nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.

Tim Keller, in a lecture entititled Who Is This Jesus?, takes up where Lewis left off and explores our options as to what we can honestly and consistently believe about Jesus. He starts off by saying that throughout history the actions and statements of Jesus have ignited debate about his identity, and every thoughtful person must a be a part of that debate. The the combination of the impact of Jesus on history and the sweeping magnitude of his claims for all of our lives are such that you had better not just doubt that Jesus is not God, you'd better know that he is not God. Is Jesus a myth or was he a real man? If he was a real historical figure, then is what is written about him reliable and accurate? If what is written about him is reliable and accurate then was he crazy, deceptive, or divine? Regardless of how you answer these questions I would encourage you to listen to this lecture (click on the link above). It's easy to follow, interesting, and humorous.

In a short devotional entitled Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, John Piper displays the biblical portrait of many different facets of what makes Jesus glorious. He writes:

Can we know him as he really was--and is? How do we come to know a person who lived on the earth two thousand years ago--one who claimed to rise from the dead with indestructible life and therefore lives today? Some people say you can't. The real Jesus is buried in history, they say, and there is no access to him. Others are not so skeptical. They believe that the biblical records of Jesus' life are reliable, and that its earliest interpreters--like the apostle Paul--are more dependable guides than today's critics. But how can you be sure that the biblical portrait of Jesus is true? People take two paths in search of solid ground under the feet of faith. One is the path of painstaking historical research to test the authenticity of the historical records....I still value the path of scholarly historical research. In fact, I lean on it often....There is another path. It's the path I have followed in this book. It starts with the conviction that divine truth can be self-authenticating....The practical effect of this path is that I do not ask you to pray for a special whisper from God to decide if Jesus is real. Rather I ask you to look at the Jesus of the Bible. Look at him. Don't close your eyes and hope for a word of confirmation. Keep your eyes open and fill them with the full portrait of Jesus provided in the Bible. If you come to trust Jesus Christ as Lord and God, it will be because you see in him a divine glory and excellence that simply is what it is--true."

As I've been thinking about the identity of Jesus I've been led to a practical application of believing in his divinity that I hadn't expected, although in hindsight it is perfectly logical and consistant with biblical teaching. That is, the necessity and 'exceeding sweetness' (to use the language of Jonathan Edwards) of prayer. As Christians we are not dealing simply with abstract theories or moral principles. We are dealing with our Creator, our Father, and our Judge. When the fact that Jesus is God really sinks in we can have no other option than to worship him, confess to him, and trust in him to provide; that is, to pray to him. Only when we place Jesus at the center of our affections as God can we truly obey the law: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment" (Matthew 37-38). With all of this in mind, I also came to the realisation of how consistently I strive to not consider the divinity of Jesus, as evidenced by my lack of prayer, obedience, and joy.

One of the things that I love about Christianity is its openness to investigation and critique. Jesus makes bold assertions about being absolute truth, but he also invites us to come with open minds and open hearts to see if what he is saying is true. Truth has nothing to fear and nothing to hide. And so Jesus asks, "Who do you say that I am?"

Weekly happenins'

2006-08-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday Olivia's friend Dania came to visit for three days. Dania lived in Marseille last year but recently moved away. Tuesday night I taught the gals how to make zuchini bread and banana bread, both of which they really liked. As a random sidenote, "zuchini" is the first word that I taught Olivia in English. On Wednesday we drove out to a small town on the coast called La Ciotat, where we picnicked by the beach and watched the sunset by the rocky seaside cliffs. I might be able to post some pictures of that in a day or two. Thursday we went to see Pirates of the Caribean, which I liked, but they girls hated. I did think it was a bit drawn out, and I missed some of the plot since it was in French with no subtitles, but overall it was just what I expected and I enjoyed it. I'll probably try to see it in English if I can while it's still in theaters. Olivia and I spent the weekend being lazy in her appartment. On Sunday we got out her painting gear and I tried my hand at my first landscape (my first painting of anything for that matter.) I started with an orange and red sunset, added some mountains, and then put in a green valley with a river. Pretty standard as far as landscapes go. Olivia touched it up and made it look decent. Just when we were about finished I thought I would be brave and try something courageous. Taking my cue from Bob Ross, I added a friendly tree in the foreground, which ended up taking up about one third of the left side of the canvas. My tree may be friendly, but it's also ugly. Overall, I'm satisfied with my work, considering that it was my first time and all. Who knows what great masterpieces might spring forth from my brush in the years to come?

Clarification and further thoughts on studying the Word...

2006-08-10T02:13:00.000-07:00

"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me; and you are unwilling to come to me Me, that you may have life." -John 5:39-40

And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, [Jesus] explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. -Luke 24:27

And according to Paul's custom, he went to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and giving evidence that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus whom I am proclaiming to you is the Christ"....And the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea; and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they recieved the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so. -Acts 17:1-3;10-11

"You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them; and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." -2Timothy 3:14-17

In my last post I talked about the Bible study I had with my French friends and I expressed my frustration about what I called "share time". Two clarifications need to be made: 1) I don't think every Bible study must be the equivelant of an intensive seminary course for it to have value. A study can be short and simple and still have great depth; and 2) I'm aware that what I said could be interpreted as being a little arrogant, culturally insensitive, and/or judgemental, as in "they don't know what they're doing and they need me to show them how to really study the Bible." I hope that's not what I communicated. My friends can get along very well without me, and even I don't live up to my own standards. But all this raises the very legitimate question of "Is it arrogant, culturally insensitive, and/or judgemental to say that one way of studying the Bible is better than another?"

The purpose of studying Scriptures to lead us to Christ, where true life is found. We must be careful (especially myself) not to make an idol of the Scriptures. They are not an end in and of themselves, but they lead us to something, or rather, Someone. The reason that I quoted all those versus above is to show that Scripture speaks of itself as having this role of leading us to Jesus. So, if Jesus is where we get true life, and the Scriptures are where we get Jesus, then we need to be careful about how we approach the Scriptures.

The frustration that I expressed with share time is really a frustration with the idea that religion is a completely subjective thing, and therefore there are no right answers and all opinions are equal. But if God really does exist, and if He has revealed Himself to us (as Christianity claims), then religion is something objective that we can study, and there are right and wrong answers. There is a subjective side as well, and it is very important, but what we feel subjectively about God and ourselves always needs to be rooted in what God says about Himself and about us.

In one sense, the Bible is a book just like any other book. It is written in certain languages with words and sentences and paragraphs. It is written in certain styles, such as history and poetry and teaching. We need to take all of these things into account when we read the Bible. We cannot spiritualize or subjectivize the text just because it is a 'religious' book. If we take a passage out of its context and then try to apply it directly to our lives or develop certain principles from it, then we are not really reading what it says and therefore we are not really learning what it says about Christ. We might be able to say true things when we do this, but we are not interpreting the text for what it actually says.

Take this illustration: An English teacher is teaching her sophomore class "Romeo and Juliette". After having read the text together as a class the teacher asks the students to analyze the text and talk about the themes and issues raised in the text. One girl, Sue, raises her hand and says, "I really loved this story because it reminded me of my boyfriend, Tommy, and the love that we have for one another. I think it's so romantic how they died for one another. I think I'd die for Tommy if I had to. And the scene where Romeo climbs the balcony symbolizes for me the struggles that Tommy and I face in our relationship, and how we overcome them." The next boy, Fred, raises his hand and says, "For me, Romeo's love for Juliette represents Bush's love for oil. He's totally obsessed with it and doesn't care what anyone else thinks. And the fact that they both died in the end represents how his greed is killing our economy."

I would think that any good English teacher would be less than satisfied with this 'analysis' of Romeo and Juliette. In both cases the students are using the text as a vehicle to communicate their own personal baggage. What Sue and Fred said might be true. Sue might or might not be willing to die for Tommy, and Bush might or might not be greedy for oil. But what does any of that have to do with the text? I am certain that Shakespeare had niether Sue nor Tommy nor Bush in mind when he wrote his play.

This is why I think it's not arrogant or culturally insensitive to assert that one way of studying the Bible better than another. If one only has this kind of 'share time' analysis, then at best one misses out on the beauty and wisdom of what the text actually says, and at worst one makes the text say something that it was never intended to say.

Holy whirling wind, Batman!

2006-08-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

The 100+ degree temperatures that have been blasting southern France for the past few weeks have finally subsided and have in turn been replaced by some pretty impressive and consistant windstorms. I've been told that this is pretty normal for Marseille throughout the fall and the winter.

I've had lots of downtime since Olivia started back at her job. Lots of reading and napping. While I was in Paris I somehow managed to get bitten by a tick, and, not realizing that it was there, I accidentally scratched it off, leaving the head entrenched in my thigh. About a week later a red spot showed up where the tick had bitten me (don't worry, I'm not going to post any pictures of it) and it continued to get bigger, so I went to go see a doctor. He put me on some antibiotics, which seem to be working since the spot has disappeared, but the medicine makes me really drowsy, thus the inordinate amount of napping that I've been doing lately. Contrary to popular belief, I'm really not lazy in the "I like to do nothing" sense of the word. True, my class schedule this past year seems to indicate otherwise, but I really do like working when the work is fulfilling and engaging.

This laziness has really been affecting me these past few days and I've been itching for just that sort of engaging and fulfilling work. Thus it is that this morning I started learning the Hebrew alphabet (or "aleph-bet"). I thought that I was going to be taking New Testament Greek this year, but it turns out that you don't start that until the second year at the seminary. I really want to learn Greek, so I was bummed when I found out that I'd be taking Hebrew, but now that I've started studying it I've found that it's actually really interesting. It's a challenge since it's so completely different from English, but that's part of the fun. I'm especially intrigued by the fact that there are no actual vowel characters, but rather vowel markings, which consist of little dots and symbols below the consonants. It's also just really fun to write. I need to buy a calligraphy pen.

On wednesday we hosted a young adult Bible study at Olivia's place. Olivia cooked and I prepared the study. One of the guys at the study, Victor, described the difference between the french and the americain mindset as applied to Bible study well. He said, "The thing I like about Bible studies in France is that the most important question is not 'what are we studying?', but rather, 'what should I bring for the meal?'. We set the start time for 7:30, everyone showed up at 8:30, we started eating at 9:30, and we started the study at 10:30. Now, in a way I think this is a good thing. The gospel is very much about community and the dinner table is a central hub for community in the Bible. The French have the community thing down. The area that I'm excited to see some growth in is in their study methods. My study was an introduction to worldview apologetics. We discussed some of the most common criticisms leveled against Christianity and then we discussed what a worldview is and how everyone has basic philosophical presuppositions that determine what they believe about life and religion.

The study went well and generated some good discussion, but afterwards Olivia told me that that's not normally how they do study at all and she thought that the subject was much too advanced for some people there. It seems to me that her idea of study is more what I'd call 'share time', where whoever is leading the study chooses a verse that speaks to their life at that moment and then draws from it some general religious principals or analogies. Now, trying not to be too much of a stuffy-kill everyone's fun-reformed-presbyterian, that kind of study just doesn't satisfy me. Where's the beef? I'm looking for some hearty 'put it in context' exegesis and a side order of meaningful dialogue on important issues, can I get an AMEN! Yes, all that should lead to practical life application, but Christianity has so much more to offer, both philosophically and practically, than what we can get from share time. So I'm stuck with the dilemma of trying to figure out how to communicate my thoughts on the subject without stepping on any toes or coming off as a pushy 'my way or the highway' american.

Like I said, I've been doing a lot of reading lately. I finished the Le Compte de Monte Cristo a few days ago, and it is without a doubt the most entertaining novel I've ever read. I also just finished Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and although there are some things in there that are questionable, there are even more great insights that have given me things to think about. Right now I'm in the middle of Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live? and I just started on a novel by Neil Stephenson entitled Quicksilver (thanks for the recommendation, Sam, if you're reading this). I'm going to try to start posting more often about what I'm reading 1) to give me something to post about, 2) to help me analyze and remember what I'm reading, and 3) to hopefully generate some discussion in the comment section (other than the standard fare of "why don't you post more often, you cheese sniffing, baguette toting, couldn't-write-a-limerick-to-save-your-life frenchie?").

A bientot

Quoi de neuf?

2006-07-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

So....it's already been three weeks since I left Salt Lake. Wow, that went by fast. So here's a quick recap of what I've been up to. I took a red-eye flight from SLC to JFK airport in New York, where I had a twelve hour layover. Luckily my friend Kim, who lives in Connecticut, was able to meet up with me in New York. I hadn't seen her since last fall when she was doing an internship in Salt Lake. We went to Times Square and to several other places, which really helped pass the time until my flight. From New York I flew to Dublin, and then from Dublin to Paris.

My plane was an hour and a half late getting into Paris, but luckily Olivia waited for me. I was worried that it would be awkward being around her again after a year of only talking on the phone, but things worked out better than I could have hoped. We picked up right where we had left off a year ago, comfortable and at ease with one another. Our first three hours together again were spent in the Paris metro lugging around my three fifty-pound suitcases. For just under two weeks we stayed at Olivia's dad's house in St. Germain en Laye, a suburb about 40 minutes northwest of Paris. We went to most of the places you think of when you think of Paris: the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, the Tuilleries, Montmartre, etc. We didn't, however, go the the Eiffel Tower. We also went to a chateau in Normandy, as well as the famous chateau in Versailles. The weekend of the 14th (Bastille Day) the two MTW missionary interns for this summer came up to Paris and we hung out with them for a few days.

At Olivia's dad's house we spent a lot of time cooking, cleaning, eating, and playing with her two cats, Cleo and Bibi. Bibi is hands down the strangest cat I've ever met. Imagine a cat, a pig, and a pirate all mixed together and you can begin to get a picture of Bibi. He's a 14 year old Siamese cat who is missing several teeth, has the worst breath you've ever smelled, and has a penchant for sneezing in your face and scratching your head at one o'clock in the morning.

We headed back to Marseille last Wednesday. We were actually going to catch a train back last Tuesday night, but we missed the train by 20 minutes because traffic was really backed up. As an aside, I just want to say that traffic in Paris is INSANE!!!! We drove through the famous roundabout that goes around l'Arc de Triomphe and it was unlike anything I had ever experienced in a motor vehicle. The roundabout must be about 5 or 6 lanes wide, although it's hard to guage the exact width since THERE ARE NO LINES ON THE ROADS. None. What's more, there were cars going in about every direction imaginable, with motorbikes zipping in between them all. It's a total free-for-all. Craziness.

So I've been back in Marseille for about a week now. Olivia returned to work today, which afforded me the time to finally sit down and post on my blog. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. It's been good to see some old faces from last year. My friend Jacky picked us up from the train station, and we had lunch at the Pastor, Joel's house on Sunday. Throughout the summer I'll be staying at different people's houses from the church.

So there's a brief sketch of what I've been up to. I know it's kind of dry, but hey, it takes a long time for me to write these things and you've got to start somewhere, right? I wish I could post some pictures, but unfortunately in the transition from Paris to Marseille I misplaced the cable that connects my camera to the computer. I might be able to post some from Olivia's camera, but most of the good pictures are on mine.

Keep in touch and leave lots of comments

Animal Quiz

2006-06-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

I like funny signs

Yesterday morning I went to Hogle Zoo with Rachel Creps. I've been wanting to go to the zoo for several years but have never managed to get around to it until now. The last time I went to Hogle was sometime back in my elementary school days. Since I hadn't been to the zoo for such a long time my knowledge of animals was a little rusty. So, for those of you who, like me, are a little "behind" in visiting the zoo, I've assembled a little quiz to test your prowess in animal trivia.

Question #1:

Is this a(n)....
a) alligator
b) lemur
c) diamondback rattlesnake
d) camel

Question #2:

Is this a(n)....
a) horse
b) african swallow
c) cheetah
d) elephant

Question #3

Is this a(n)....
a) linx
b) flamingo
c) zebra
d) giraffe

Question #4

Is this a(n)....
a) mouse
b) hippo
c) moose
d) gorilla

Question #5

Is this a(n)....
a) tarantula
b) turkey
c) kangaroo
d) peacock

Question #6

Is this a(n)....
a) baboon
b) shark
c) Dillard's mannequin
d) Jon Umbriaco

If you answered 'd' to all of these, you are correct. Congratulations!

Friends in low places

2006-06-13T15:45:00.000-07:00

poverty is so hard to see
when it’s only on your tv and twenty miles across town
where we’re all living so good
that we moved out of Jesus’ neighborhood
where he’s hungry and not feeling so good
from going through our trash
he says, more than just your cash and coin
i want your time, i want your voice
i want the things you just can’t give me
so what must we do
here in the west we want to follow you
we speak the language and we keep all the rules
even a few we made up
come on and follow me
but sell your house, sell your S.U.V.
sell your stocks, sell your security
and give it to the poor
what is this, hey what’s the deal
i don’t sleep around and i don’t steal
i want the things you just can’t give me

-Derek Webb, Rich Young Ruler

"Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation" -Romans 12:16

"And [Jesus] also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, 'When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return, and repayment come to you. But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.' -Luke 14:12-14

"My brethren, do not hold your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with an attitude of personal favoritism. For if a man comes into your assembly with a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and there also comes in a poor man in dirty clothes, and you pay special attention to the one who is wearing the fine clothes, and say, 'You sit here in a good place,' and you say to the poor man, 'You stand over there, or sit down by my footstool,' have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil motives? Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Is it not the rich who oppress you and personally drag you into court? Do they not blaspheme the fair name by which you have been called? If, however, you are fulfilling the royal law, according to the Scripture, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF,' you are doing well. -James 2:1-8

These verses have been on my mind a lot recently. I'm often tempted to read Jesus' parables or Paul's moral exhortations with an attitude of "Oh, that would be a good thing to do", and then move on and not really think about the practical implication they should have on my life. For example, Jesus tells us to invite the poor and the crippled to eat dinner with us. Paul tells us to associate with the lowly. But they're just saying that to make some intellectual, ethical point, right? They don't actually expect us to bring them into our homes or befriend them, do they? I mean, have you seen the poor and the lowly? Poor and lowly, like 'the weird guy on Trax' poor and lowly? Poor and lowly, like 'the homeless woman who's always in front of the city library' poor and lowly? Poor and lowly, like 'that foreign guy who lives down the street and who I think is a little crazy' poor and lowly? But they're all so dirty and strange, and conversations with them (if there ever are any) are always so awkward and repetitive. How do I know they won't steal something if I let them into my home? How can I befriend them when we have so little in common?

Like Derek Webb says, "poverty is so hard to see when it's only on your TV and twenty miles across town." It is frighteningly easy for us as middle class Americans to seclude ourselves from the rest of the world. Garth Brooks sings, "I've got friends in low places". There's a lot of gospel insight in that. When we shelter ourselves from the poverty and suffering in the world around us it's easy to ignore it. We know that it's there in some hazy sense, but we aren't really compelled to do much about it. But what if those who are poor and suffering are our friends. What if we live among them and see them all around us. When we're actually confronted by the poor and and those who are suffering on a personal level we can either embrace them with compassion or run away from them with hardened hearts, making excuses to ourselves for why we couldn't help them. There is no middle ground.

I'm convinced that Jesus has much more in mind than just filling the bellies of the poor when he tells us to invite them into our homes for dinner. Of course we're called to feed and shelter the poor, but what they are longing for (as are we all) more than a full stomache is someone to treat them as who they really are, namely, fellow image bearers of God. They are longing for someone to reach out and touch them and ask them their name and their story and their desires and their struggles. They are longing for human interaction that goes beyond being treated as a charity case. How hypocrytical is it of us to give our money to feed the poor to fulfill some sense of obligation or moral duty, if when we see them in the street we walk past them and try to avoid any sort of contact. Doesn't that kind of attitude show how little we actually care for the poor themselves, as people who bear the image of God. I know I struggle with this, and I think it flows from my propensity to read the Bible as a set of intellectual propositions. As long as I can send money (which I never see) to people (who I never see) in a place (that I never see), I can feel good about the fact that I'm "helping the poor". But as soon as it comes time to actually care for the poor in person, as soon as I have to take my only ten dollar bill out of my pocket or take time out of my busy schedule to talk with someone or take them to get something to eat, it becomes so much easier to clam up, avoid all eye contact, and think about the check I just sent to charity so that I can not feel so bad about not stopping and helping the person on the street.

What would it look like if we actually did what Jesus told us to do? What would it look like if we invited the Trax guy, the homeless lady, and the crazy foreigner into our homes. What would it look like if they became our friends? I recently had an opportunity to invite two people in need to a dinner, which, in large part, is the reason this has been on my mind so much. I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm saying it as an encouragement and as a testimony to the fact that it truly is a blessing to "associate with the lowly". And it was hard. All of the concerns I mentioned above about things being stolen and awkward conversations were forefront in my mind. But being able to bring joy to them through food and fellowship put all those concerns to shame. Afterwards, in both cases, they both engaged me in great gospel conversations and I was able to open up the Bible with them.

So I encourage you. Go make friends with those that nobody wants to be friends with. Go love those who are hard to love. Jesus died to break these kinds of social and economic barriers. Ask them their name, ask them their story, treat them like you would treat all your other friends. In the world's eyes this is foolishness, but in reality it is the wisdom of God.

Spelunkin'

2006-06-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I took a day trip to a cave with my friends Sean and Kelly. I don't remember the name of the cave, but I think it was somewhere in the Great Basin National Park, right next to the Utah/Nevada border. It was about a four hour car ride to the cave so we left at about 6:30 in the morning. Sean was going to make us eat a gas station breakfast, but Kelly and I eventually persuaded him (by way of a finely balanced combination of elementary school kid complaining and guilt tripping) to stop at a One Man Band diner. We had some time to kill before our guided tour started, so we took a scenic drive up a nearby mountain and then hiked to a small lake. On the drive up the mountain Sean nearly swerved off the cliff in order to avoid hitting a squirrel. The ninety-minute cave tour was cool. Everywhere you looked you could see some pretty incredible formations. Our tour guide was a middle aged guy from the south who had a very friendly, gentle, and soothing voice, which actually made listening about stalactites and stalagmites and shield and popcorn formations really enjoyable.

On another note, I need to make a clarification from something I said in a previous post. I had mentioned that I had "shaved" my head, and it has subsequently come to my attention that this word choice has been a source of confusion for some of my readers. I would like to substitute the word "shaved" with the more accurate word, "buzzed". As you can see in the pictures below, there does remain a remnant of hair on my head. Sorry, Clint, I just don't have what it takes yet to join the ranks of you and Jeremy white.

Sean and me in front of the fabled "Parachute Shield Formation"

I had no idea sean was behind me while I was taking that picture

Sean and Kelly

The fabled Parachute Shield up close

It was difficult to take pictures that didn't come out fuzzy

It's just like the mines of Moria....sort of

Which language should you learn?

2006-06-03T17:31:00.000-07:00

You Should Learn French

C'est super! You appreciate the finer things in life... wine, art, cheese, love affairs.
You are definitely a Parisian at heart. You just need your tongue to catch up...

What Language Should You Learn?

Zion Pictures

2006-06-01T22:08:00.000-07:00

From left to right: Jeff, Rachel, Alisha, and me. Behind us is the beautiful landscape of Kolob. Only in southern Utah would you find a place called Kolob....

Jeff, Alisha, and Rachel on the ascent to Mount Doom....er....I mean, Angel's landing

Rachel and me in a cool little cave. Yes, I know. I'm white.

This one's for you, Sara Z. There's something morbidly comical about this sign.

Me clearing some stones out of the path.

I just like this picture because the tree lignes up with the rock.

A big rock

This is why I shaved my head. It was really windy up there.

View from the top of Angel's Landing.

Pictures and Updates

2006-06-01T16:52:00.000-07:00

There's lots of stuff that I could write about, but for now I'll just give some brief updates and let the pictures do some of the talking. First of all, I'd like to thank all of my faithful readers who have kept this blog alive in the comments section. It is one of my noblest goals to help others to delve deeper into their creative potential, and I feel that, at least in some measure, that goal has been attained in the creation of the 'mini-blog' concept. Way to go guys (and gals). Keep up the good work.

This past weekend I went to St. George with my friends, Rachel, Alicia, and Jeff. We hiked around in Zion National Park and some other areas down south. I wimped out on Angel's Landing and didn't go the last stretch to the final peak. In order to get there one has to traverse several hundred feet on a narrow ledge that has massive vertical dropoffs on either side, with nothing but a chain to hold on to. It was really windy up there so I feel that not going to the end was a rational decision. I don't know about anyone else, but I don't like being able to say to myself: "If I move several feet in this direction I will fall to my death."

In just over one month I'll be flying back to France. I'll be staying in Paris for two or three weeks with Olivia and her dad. For those of you who don't know, Olivia is my girlfriend who I met in Marseille last year (see pictures below). After a few weeks of vacation in Paris we'll be heading back down to Marseille, where Olivia lives. I still need to find a place to stay for a few months before school starts, so feel free to keep that in prayer. I may be able to stay with a lady with whom I stayed last summer, Mme. Marin, but nothing is confirmed yet. I'm really excited to get back to France and see Olivia, but I'm really nervous and anxious as well. It will be weird to actually spend time with her in person after only having talked to her on the phone and on the internet for the past year. But mostly I'm just excited....

I shaved my head yesterday. It's something that I've been contemplating doing for a while, and yesterday when I had the trimmer in my hand an impulse came over me and I went for it. It was somewhat liberating, but more difficult than I thought it would be. It takes more time than you'd think and it's really easy to miss spots. I had to keep doing touchups throughout the day.

And now for the pictures:

Wait For It.....

2006-02-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

That's right, folks. I'm back.

WWCD?

2005-08-26T15:29:00.000-07:00

Earlier on the comments section:

eric james said...
even john calvin would of[sic] blogged again by now...

It's at times like this when I have to ask myself, "What would Calvin do?" As my good friend Eric James (or is it Jon Umbriaco?) has pointed out, Calvin most obviously would have blogged by now. Thus it is that I have decided to reenter the blogosphere (as the honorable James White likes to call it).

School started on Wednesday and thus far it has been pretty good. The house is a lot busier now that everyone is moved in, but overall that's a good thing. Living with an Olympic hopeful and the ever muscular A-mobilizer has inspired me to get back into shape. I've been trying (and generally succeeding)to get up at six in the morning for prayer, bible reading, and running. Every morning we've been meeting as a house to pray over the day before we all head off to class, which has been very encouraging.

I bought all my books for the semester a few days ago and the grand total came to...get this... 110 dollars. That's my cheapest semester ever. All I had to get was ten paperback novels in French. I also have the sweetest schedule I've ever had this semester. No classes on Friday gives me a three day weekend every week, and other than Tuesday I just have one class per day, which starts at 1:30.

That's the news for now.

And now for a special treat:

I once played some bumper pool
With that Umbriaco fool
Though I brought my game
Jon's pool queue was lame
And I totally took him to school!

Some Poetry/De La Poésie

2005-08-10T15:46:00.000-07:00

This first poem was written by none other than Ginodean.net in commemoration of my new facial hair.

Ce premier poème a été écrit par mon ami Chris Dean, qu'on appelle "Ginodean.net". Le poème commémore ma nouvelle barbe.

He’s returned from a place known as France
And out there he took a big chance
He left smooth faced and feared
but now he’s got a beard
Now many lives Chris Snow will enhance.

Il est revenu d'un endroit qui s'appelle France
Et là-bas il a pris une grande risque
Il est parti avec une visage lisse
Mais maintenant il est barbu
Ce qui va ameliorer beaucoup de vies.

This second poem was sent to me by my friend from Marseille, Olivia.

Mon amie Marsaillaise, Olivia, m'a envoyé ce poème.

Monde habile à séduire
Monde aux plaisirs trompeurs
Qui, sous ton faux sourire,
Déguise tant de pleurs
Moi, qui fus ton esclave
Je ne t'appartiens plus
Libre de tout entrave
J'appartiens à Jésus

Faux biens que l'homme envie
Et qu'il attend toujours
Faux plaisirs de la vie,
Faux amis, faux amours,
La vérité m'appelle
Mon coeur ne vous croit plus
Pour la vie eternelle
J'appartiens à Jésus

-E. Monod

O seductive world
O world of false pleasures
Who, under your false smile
disguises so many tears
I, who was once your slave
Belong to you no longer
Free from every shackle
I belong to Jesus

O false treasure which men desire
And always hope for
O false pleasures of life
False friends, false lovers,
The truth calls to me
My heart no longer believes you
For the life eternal
I belong to Jesus.

Leavin' On A Jet-Plane

2005-08-01T08:57:00.000-07:00

Well, hard to believe but it's almost over. The Mitchell's left for vacation yesterday and I'm here in their empty apartment. It's sad thinking that in less than twenty four hours I'll be leaving some close friends here that I won't see again for at least another year. On the other hand, it's exciting to think that I'll be seeing all my friends back in Salt Lake in just a few days. I talked to Jon on the phone a few hours ago and that helped to cheer me up a bit about leaving. I wrote a few weeks ago that I was torn between wanting to live here in France and wanting to stay in the states. I've given this some thought over the past few weeks and I've come to the conclusion that that if it were just a matter of me and the city, I don't think that I'd be able to handle the move, mentally, physically, or spiritually. It's exhausting and depressing being away from the familiar. That's where I was at at the begining of this trip; everything was new and unfamiliar and exciting and tiring, and the prospect of staying here long term seeming very daunting. But I found that after a few weeks, little by little, that which was once unfamiliar started to become familiar. I've come to the conclusion that a city is more than a geographical location comprised of terrain and buildings. A city is a place where people live, where they laugh and cry and struggle to live together in community. It's the people you know and who know you who make a place livable, which is why the prospect of leaving is bittersweet. On one hand I've made friends here who I sorely want to see again, but don't know for sure if I ever will. On the other hand I'm part of a community back in Salt Lake that I miss and would have a hard time saying goodbye to if I decided to come back to France.

More later. Right now I'm off to enjoy my last few hours with my friends in Marseille.

Weeks 3-5

2005-07-25T12:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy past few weeks and there's a lot to write about. I started writing a post last weekend but it ended up being way too long, so I'm going to try to give a (relatively) short summary of my past three weeks in Marseille, but be warned, it will still be very long.

Week 3
This was my first week at my second host family, the Soulace's. I already wrote about them so I won't say much more about that. On Monday Pete and I drove out to the airport to pick up two new interns, a father and daughter duo named Greg and Katie (respectively). Greg is an elementary school teacher and Katie is a junior in high school, and they came out to help us with the club d'anglais. Unfortunately, since no kids signed up we had to find other things to do. The first thing we did with Greg and Kate (henceforth known as G&K)was what any sensible hungry jetlagged person would want to do: we walked up hundreds of stairs. That's right, straight from the airport Pete took us all to the the cathedral "Notre Dame de la Garde" (Our Lady of the Gaurd), which sits atop a large hill next to downtown Marseille. From there we had a great view of the city, which was interesting to see from that perspective after having been in the city for a few weeks. The other noteworthy thing about Notre Dame was what was written above the alter of the church. Just above a ten foot statue of Mary was written: "Allez à Jésus Avec Marie", which means "Go to Jesus With Mary". I won't say much more about this now for fear that this post will be way too long, but when I get back I'll try to post some pictures with commentary. Moving on. Later that night I played Lord of the Rings Risk in French (three of my favorite things all rolled into one!)with Joel, Roger (Pete's eldest son) and Jacky. Joel and I were on a team and we got crushed. Moving on. Tuesday I showed G&K how to find their way around this city using the bus and metro (if I can do it, anyone can!). Wednesday we visited an ancient christian church and its catecombs which dated back to the first or second century. Later that day we got a history lesson of the tramway and metro systems of Marseille by an eighty year old train enthousiast who attends Pete's bible study. Thursday and Friday we went to a city just north of Marseille called Aix-en-Provence to help a seminary professor move. Aix is home to the only conservative reformed seminary in France. In talking to the professor I found out that the seminary offers a program called "L'Année Passerelle", which roughly translated means "The Bridge Year". It's a program for students coming out of high school who don't know which direction they want to go. I'm seriously considering doing this the year after I graduate. It seems to be just what I'm looking for. It would allow me to live in France for a year (or more) and greatly improve my French while taking seminary courses. Two birds with one stone. What's more, it's cheap. If I could find a Christian host family to stay with it would be very affordable. Also, since I've already made a lot of friends here in Marseille and since I'm familiar with the area, it wouldn't be nearly as hard a move as if I went somewhere completely unknown. Definate, definate possibility. Saturday Kate and I babysat the Mitchel kids, and Sunday we had church and then a picnic with the congregation. I headed up a game of baseball (using foam balls and bats) with the kids, which was really fun because most of them had never played before.

Week 4
An interesting week indeed! Instead of the English club Pete decided to have us repaint the floor of the basement of the chapel, where they usually hold sunday school and social events. We started early monday morning by moving everything that was downstairs up to the sanctuary. Joel, the co-pastor of the church, showed up wearing army camos, so I christened him "Colonel", which became an ongoing joke throughout the week. Joel is a 29 year old native Frenchman who sports a red beard and who is quite jovial. If he wasn't a pastor I'd say that he'd have no trouble finding a job doing physical comedy. Come lunchtime on Monday Olivia and I walked down to the grocery story to pick up some fixin's only to find out that the grocery store is closed on Mondays. We had to walk a lot farther to another grocery store, which turned out to be a good thing because it gave me an opportunity to hang out with Olivia and find out more about her. She told me that when she was younger she used to ride horses competetively but one day she fell off her horse and injured her back and the doctors didn't think that she'd be able to walk again. A few months later, however, she was back up and walking. I've been measuring my grasp on the French language by how well I can communicate with Olivia. She's from Paris and thus speaks very quickly and softly, making it very difficult for me to understand her. Moving on. When we got back we got our first look at the sander that Joel had rented. Now, the room that we were working on is fairly large, and thus I had imagined that Joel was going to rent a proportionately large sander. I was wrong. He came back with a hand-held sander that used a circular stone about five inches in diameter. To top it off, Joel insisted that we put water on the floor to eliminate the amount of dust created. The water helped with the dust, but not with the sanding. On Tuesday we decided to ditch the water, which sped up the sanding process immensely, but created tons of dust. We probably swept the floor, without exageration, about fifteen times by the time we were done. The reason that we decided to opt for dust over water was because Joel was leaving for vacation on Thursday and we had to finish sanding and putting down the first two coats of paint before he left. We finished sanding late that afternoon, and then I went with Joel and some of the youth from the church to watch a movie at Olivia's place. After the film Joel, Olivia and I went back to the chapel around 11 pm to put on the first coat of paint, and we didn't finish until 3 am. We finished the second coat on Wednesday afternoon, and sadly, I had to say goodbye to Joel. He upgraded me from captain to colonel status and was going to give me his camos but decided instead that simply knowing him was reward enough. On Thursday calamity struck. I thought that I was going to have the day off but then Pete showed up at the Soulace's around noon and asked me to go over to the chapel to touch up a few spots. Aside from the deadline of finishing painting before Joel left, we also had another deadline of getting the sanctuary cleaned up before Friday afternoon since there was a wedding scheduled for Saturday. Our plan was to let the paint dry on Thursday and then move everything back on Friday morning. Just as I was finishing my touchups a man came into the chapel and asked why there was a bunch of stuff in the sanctuary. Turns out that there was a catholic wedding scheduled for Friday afternoon in addition to the other wedding on Saturday, and the family had come to decorate. Pete showed up shortly thereafter and the two of us managed to get everything back down, but we were very hot, and very panicked. What an opportunity to praise Jesus! (that one's for you Mike). Pete and I finished with just enough time for me to run back to the Soulace's and take a five minute shower before Ruth (Pete's wife) came to pick me up so that I could hook up with some of the youth to celebrate Bastille Day. Olivia was in the van with her and she complimented me on my French. I had left her a message earlier to try to figure out our plans for the evening, and she said that she could actually understand me this time, as opposed to the first few times we had spoken on the phone when neither of us understood anything the other was saying. Score! Five notches up on the Olivia-language-comprehension-guage. We met up with Jacky, Olivier, and Christion and headed off to MacDo's for dinner and then to a small beach town called Cassis to watch the fireworks. After the fireworks we headed back to Marseille and went back to the beach, where we stayed until three in the morning listening to Jacky play guitar. More on Jackie's musical guinious shortly. Friday we cleaned up the chapelle and painted one of the walls. Katie and Mary-Ellen (Pete's daughter) fashioned a paper dress for me to wear in order to protect my clothes from splattering paint. Friday was my last day at the Soulace's. One memorable quote from M. Soulace, who is a Catholic deacon, came when I was describing to him the work we were doing at the chapel. He said, jokingly: "Oh, you protestants are always destroying things!"

Week 5
Sunday after church I moved in with my new host family, the Razamoelie's, who are members of Pete's church. Honorette and Harry, the parents are both from Madagascar but met each other in Marseille. Their daughter is away in Vietnam for airforce training, and their son, Jackie (whom I've already mentioned a few times) is nineteen. Jackie and I hit it off real well and we've had a lot of fun goofing around these past few weeks. He finished high school when he was sixteen and is now in college. He's also uberly musically talented on the piano and guitar. He doesn't know how to read music, but he has an incredible ear and can play just about anything he hears. Dinners have been really enjoyable with them, and very helpful for my French, since they like to joke around and make fun of each other a lot. Honorette keeps saying that they need to find me a good French wife before I leave so that I can stay here and practice French all day. Monday was really cool. Pete, Greg, Katie, and I hopped in the van at 7 am and drove northwest to a region called "Les Cevennes" to visit several historical protestant sites. First we stopped at an ancient roman coloseum in Arles, which didn't have any protestant significance, but it was cool nonetheless. When we got there we found out that they were preparing for a televised "spectacle" in the coloseum later that night. There were all sorts of colorful inflatable obstacle courses in the middle, which created a really strange contrast. From Arles we headed up to the Tour de Constance, which is part of an ancient walled city. It was there that many protestant women were imprisoned after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Engraved on the floor by one of the tower's most famous prisoners is the word "RESISTER" which means "RESIST". It was humbling to know that I was standing in the same room in which many women were imprisoned, some for over 30 years, for their faith. After the tower we went to the Musée du Désert, which is a small museum of huguenot and camisard history. The huguenots were the French calvinists during and after the Reformation, and the camisards were a group of huguenots who faught against catholic persecution. The museum was this reformed fracophone nerd's playground. They had a 1566 version of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion, tons of old Bibles translated by Beza, lots of cool painting and wood etchings of the reformers, and tons of other really cool stuff. My favorite wood etching was one showing a large hanging balance scale. On one side was a group of monks, two of whom were standing on the scale next to a large key, the pope's hat, and a demon, while on the other side of the scale, outweighing them all, was the Bible. After the museum we made our last stop at "Le Pont du Gare", an enormous ancient roman aquaduct. Again, no protestant significance, but definately cool. We dropped Greg and Katie off at a hotel near the airport around midnight and their plane left around 6:40 the next morning. Tuesday and Wednesday I helped clean the facade of our sister church downtown, Thursday I helped Pete hang wallpaper in his appartment, and Friday I was back at the chapel repainting the wall and preparing for next weeks (I guess it's this week's now) work of painting the floorboards and giving the floor a third coat of paint. Friday night a group of three tourists from Nashville stayed the night at Pete's, and on Saturday Jackie and I took them out to Chateau d'If. Chateau d'If is most commonly know as the island prison from which Edmond Dantes escapes in the Count of Monte Cristo, but was also the place where 3500 protestants were imprisoned and killed. After d'If we took them up to Notre Dame de la Garde to get a view of the city. Yesterday after church Jackie and I, along with the Nashville-ites/onians/ers, and Lee went over to Jolène's to play uno, which was a lot of fun since I got to act as translator. And that brings us to today. I'm currently in a town just south of Marseille called Berre. I'm staying at the house of the pastor of our other sister church because I'm helping them to plaster and paint the entry room of their church. I truly believe that this trip has shown me that my calling in life is to be a painter, and I await only the sure and trustworthy confirmation of Jake's ubiquitous bosom before acting upon this calling. Amen. It's hard to believe that my trip ends in just one short week. It's gone by really fast but it seems like I've been here for ages. I'm getting used to being here, and haven't really experienced any homesickness at any point. I think it will be a bit of an adjustment getting used to life back in Utah, but I'm looking forward to seeing everyone. That's about all for now. You just got a big dose of my schedule over the past few weeks, so I'll try to post soon about some of my thoughts.

P.S. Thanks to Robyn and Jamie for the comments. I'm glad to know that I've made my way onto google. I tried googling myself but couldn't find me.

The City Of My Dreams?

2005-07-16T01:46:00.000-07:00

Austin must be the city of the indecisive and the uninvolved, since for most of my responses I opted for the "I don't care" choice. Also, judging by the results that others have posted on their blogs, I think that newsong should just uproot and move to Denver.

>

American Cities That Best Fit You:

85% Austin

80% Denver

70% San Diego

65% Seattle

60% Atlanta

Which American Cities Best Fit You?

Update and Replies

2005-07-04T01:13:00.000-07:00

I'm all moved into my new residence and my new hosts have been great. M. and Mme. Soulace are an elderly retired couple who, despite their age, still have plenty of energy. They have a medium sized black dog named Twiggy who is very mild mannered and affectionate. The Soulace's were very amused when I told them that "twiggy" in English means skinny, since Twiggy is a little on the plump side.

This afternoon we have have a father and daughter team arriving to help us out for the next two weeks. They were going to help us teach the English club, but since no kids signed up we're having to find other things to do. We'll probably be doing some projects around the church as well as helping some people move. One of the people who we'll be helping move this Thursday and Friday is a professor at the reformed seminary in Aix-En-Provence, which is exctiting since I'll be able to visit the seminary. This morning Pete has me filing a bunch of loose papers in his office (a monumental task, I assure you).

That's the news for now. And now for a few quick responses to those who have commented:

Jon: It was great to hear from you and I'm glad you got back safe. I expect an e-mail telling me all about your trip. I tried calling you on your cell phone on Saturday but you were probably still sleeping. I'll try calling again when I can. Word to your mother.

Paul: Yes, the sunset over the Mediteranian was nice. I didn't know you'd been out this way before. I'll try giving you a call next weekend just to chat and get caught up. Keep an eye on Eric for me and make sure he's not throwing any wild parties while all of us are away. Thanks again for your support.

Danny: The slang that we taught the students has spread like wildfire and now a majority of the elderly french population in Marseille are wearing upside-down sideways visors and sagging pants. I feel like my work here is done.

Jake: Howdy Pardner! Have you hung up your Texas flag in your living room yet? I wanted to write you a limerick here but I'm running out of time and couldn't come up with a good one, so I'll give you a rain check. Thanks for your battle-readiness.

David: Good to hear from you! You're right, there was much wisdom in the emphasis on culture. I'm still going through "cultural mood-swings", but I think that's inevitable. Thanks for the scripture references, they were encouraging. Sorry I won't be able to see you at debriefing, but we'll stay in touch.

Emery: While you're in New York you need to stand outside Rupert G's deli and get on the David Letterman show. Sorry you haven't been getting my e-mails. I'll try to find your website again and get your address.

To all: Thanks for your prayers, friendship, and support. It's a real treat to be able to hear from you all.

On The Threshold Of Two Weeks

2005-06-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Today has been pretty tiring and frustrating so far, but I think the worst is over. I went around to a bunch of the appartments near the chappel to put up fliers for the children's english club and it was very hot and I got very lost. I had no idea where the bus stop was and I walked around in the hot sun for over an hour trying to find it until I finally came across a telephone booth and called the pastor's wife, who was kind enough to come pick me up. We ran into two LDS missionaries on the way back home and talked with them for a few minutes, but I didn't have the energy or desire at that point to engage them in a friendly theological exchange.

Anyways, sorry to start off so negative. On another note, since I've come to Marseille I have gained a deeper understanding of the significance of Jesus washing his disciple's feet. I've worn my flip-flops every day since I've been here, and walking around in dusty areas while you're uber-sweaty causes your feet to become pretty gross. Another unexpected effect of wearing flip-flops in the sun is that the hair on my hobbit feet has become sun-bleached. Sweet.

Last night I went to the movies with Olivia and Olivier. We saw "Madagascar" and "Les Poupées Rousses" (The Russian Dolls), which is the sequel to "L'Auberge Espagnol". Hanging out with two young native French people for an extended period of time has really caused me to question my comprehension of the French language. Almost every time they asked me a question I had to ask them to repeat themselves, sometimes multiple times. It almost feels like my french is getting worse the longer I'm here. This in turn has caused me to reflect on my future plans. Every day I engage myself in a constant mental back and forth battle between wanting to come back to France for a year or two and wanting to rest content in the states forevermore once I get back. I keep on asking myself if I could really live in such a different environment and culture for an extended period of time, and I just can't decide. It's weird, but its the small differences that really seem to affect me the most: the street signs, the ambiance of the city, the look of the buildings, the food containers, the flushers on the toilets. Its things like that that really make me feel like I'm in a foreign country.

I have to admit that I haven't been spending as much time in the word and in prayer as I should, which I'm sure is why I'm feeling so drained right now. Please keep me in prayer that I would be able to find joy in my work so that I would be able to learn and grow and enjoy my time hear, while being a blessing to the church and the people of Marseille.

More later.

A week and two thirds in Marseille

2005-06-27T11:41:00.000-07:00

I finally figured out how to switch the keyboard settings to American style on the computers over here, so behold now, my first post from Marseille. I haven't had as much access to the internet (let alone time to sit down and write) as I thought I would, but that should change soon. I'll try to be more diligent about keeping you guys informed.

It's weird the way that time works sometimes. It feels like I just got here and at the same time like I've been here for months already. The days pass really quickly and I'm usually always busy. The first few days here I was working with a group called Juifs Pour Jésus (Jews For Jesus), a Christian organization headed by messianic jews that focuses on bringing the gospel to Jews. They're in the middle of a large campaign in Marseille right now that will be wrapping up next week, and the church that I'm working with agreed to work with them and host a showing of a film that they have been playing in various places throughout the city. The days that I worked with them I mostly passed out tracts by the metro entrances, the goal being to start conversations and get contact info. This was very tiring and very intimidating work, but I did meet one guy about my age who is a muslim from north africa who said that he was really interested in learning about Christianity and perhaps learning some English too. I got his phone number and I'm hoping that I'll be able to talk with him some more at a café. A few days ago a regional newspaper featured a very critical article on Jews For Jesus on the second page. In effect, the article told people to be wary of their "tactics", and it even quoted someone as saying that JFJ had already "scandalized" many jewish neighborhoods. It even mentioned the group of us who went to pass out tracts at Tom Cruise's appearance, so in a way I've made it in the French papers.

Last Tuesday I started working with one of the pastors of the reformed church, Pete Mitchell. I've been following him around and helping him with various odds and ends related to the church. One of the main things that we did was to go around to all the appartements around the church and put flyers for the JFJ movie in people's mailboxes. Tomorrow I'll be doing almost the same thing, except for this time I'll be advertising for the Club d'Anglais (English Club) that we'll be teaching two weeks from now. So far we don't have any kids signed up, so that's a major prayer request. There will be a school teacher and his sixteen year old daughter coming over from the states to help teach. If we don't get at least five or six kids signed up then we're going to have to bag the whole program, and I'm really hoping that doesn't happen because I want to get a taste of what it's like to teach.

The two missionary families here teach several English courses for adults, and last Thursday night we hosted an all american BBQ dinner for their students. Lee, the other intern, and I put together a fun little lesson for them before we ate, and I think everyone really enjoyed it. First we played a game of twenty questions and had them guess at items that we had a bag. After that we introduced ourselves, and then we taught them some american slang. It was really amusing to hear a group of 50 year old French people saying things like, "'Sup" and "My Bad".

One of the best aspects of my trip so far has been getting to know other Christians here in France. It's amazing how the gospel has the power to unite even through so many cultural barriers. This thought really came home to me as we were celebrating the Lord's Supper yesterday, just knowing that we share in the same communion with believers worldwide.

Last night was probably one of my best nights here so far. A group of people about my age from the church invited me to go to the beach with them later that night. Before that however, I went with Michel, the son of my host and the rollerblading champion of France, to see the finals of a major skateboarding championship at the Marseille skatebowl right next to the beach. I went more out of a desire to get to know Michel than out of my overflowing abundance of enthousiasm for skateboarding, but it was still pretty exciting. Apparently la crème de la crème of skateboarding were competing, and one of the finalists was friends with Michel, so I got to meet him close up. After that I headed off to the beach and hung out all night with Jolène, Olivia, and Olivier (that's a guy's name if you were wondering). We found a nice spot on the edge of the beach were we sat, talked, and at our dinner as we watched the sun set over the Mediteranian. It was one of those times when I kept thinking to myself, "Enjoy this moment, 'cause you'll probably never be here again". It was hard to keep myself involved in the conversation all the time since the other three were talking very fast, but it was good practice and I managed to catch the sense of most of what they were saying. Once the sun had set we got some ice cream cones and walked around the beach. Altogether a very enjoyable evening.

Well, that should get you all just about caught up. I know this was a long post, so if you're reading this, thanks for your perseverance. Remember to comment and to write me e-mails.

16 Hours 'Til Takeoff

2005-06-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's the night before I leave for France and it still hasn't really sunk in yet that I'll be gone for six weeks. These things don't usually hit me until after I'm there for a day or two. I don't really know what to expect, which is probably a good thing. My plane leaves at 1:07 tomorrow afternoon and I arrive in Marseille at 1:55 on Thursday afternoon. Altogether it's about sixteen hours of travel and I lose nine hours just from the differenc in timezones. Hopefully with the help of my sleeping pills and ultra cushy travel pillow I'll be able to get about eight hours of sleep on the plane. Huh, like that's realistic. Not to fear though, I'm bringing all 900+ pages of Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, which should keep me occupied for a good portion of the flight. I'm very much looking forward to being immersed in the French language again, and in being in an environment where I can really grow in my faith. Please continue to pray for me that this would be a time of growth and opportunity to share the gospel, and not a vacation. I'm going to try to be good about sending out e-mails and posting here regularly, and it would be a great encouragement to me if you guys would post on the comments section and drop me an e-mail every once in a while so that I can stay connected and so it doesn't feel like I'm quite so far away. So, that's all for now. The next time that I post I'll probably be in France.

A tout à l'heure,

Chris

Back in The SLC (Again)

2005-06-11T14:02:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I last posted. I'm not sure why, but every since I moved into the Salt Company house I just haven't been able to muster up the will to blog. Thank you, Jon and Gino for your loving rebukes. I fully understand that your harsh words on my comments section were meant to restore me to communion with my blogging fellowship. By the way, Jon, I don't consider the term "frenchie" to be an insult. So, sorry if you've been checking regularly to see if there's anything new. I'm going to try to post regularly while I'm in France to let you know what's going on.

I guess I should start with a quick recap of the summer so far. About a week after I moved into the house Eric moved in as well. To celebrate his arrival I cooked a chicken and dumplings dinner, which took a lot longer to cook than I had anticipated, and we ended up eating at around 10:00 that night. For the next week or so the house was pretty busy with four guys living here (me, Eric, John, and A-Mob). John and A-Mob took it upon themselves to induct me into the house through various pranks and "snuggles" (don't ask). A-Mob took advantage of the bathroom door that doesn't lock in order to pour a large glass of water on me while I was on the toilet, but I got him back a few days later by pouring a can of root beer on him while he was in the shower.

After a few weeks everyone started to leave. Jake and Erin moved to Houston, John left for Thailand, and A-Mob left for California. The house has been pretty quiet without them. Last Wednesday I flew out to Atlanta for my missionary internship training. The training was actually in N. Carolina at a PCA retreat called Ridgehaven. It was really encouraging to meet so many people from so many different places who were all doing the same thing that I am. It was actually kind of eerie (but in a good way) to walk around and see people reading Jonathan Edwards, John Piper, The Westminter Confession, etc. and talking about Derek Webb and Indelible Grace. You just don't see that in Utah.

There were lots or really strange connections at the training. The first night there I noticed that the missions director was wearing a shirt that said "Grace Church of Utah", which is the church that I went to all through High School. Apparantly he had been out to visit Grace last december to talk about internships, and I remember that it was one the elders from Grace who first mentioned internships to me. I also met the neice of the pastor who I'll be working with in France, who was there for her training for her internship in Ireland. There was a guy there who looked exactly like my friend Sean, only with red hair. The resemblance was uncanny. But the weirdest connection of all happened on the plane back from Atlanta. As soon as I sat down on in my seat I felt a top on my shoulder. I turned around and there behind me was my friend Elton's mom, who was returning from visiting Elton. Bizarre.

I almost forgot to mention my stitches. While at Ridgehaven (exactly a week ago, to the minute, as a matter of fact), I got in a fight with a tetherball. The tetherball won. I got smacked right in the eye while I was wearing my glasses, which left a sizable gash right below my right eyebrow. Surprisingly, the injury was moderately painless, and the ensuing trip to the hospital in Brevard with the nurse was more of an adventure than anything else. Luckily Kate Wheatley who lives right next door is a nurse and can take my stitches out for free. She took two out yesterday but we thought that they might need a little more time.

So there you have it. That's my summer so far at a glance.

Back In The SLC

2005-05-12T09:21:00.000-07:00

I officially moved into the Salt Company house in Salt Lake yesterday afternoon. I've been at my parent's house in Layton since Thursday last week and sadly it was really depressing. There wasn't much to do except send out my support letters and pack my stuff, and I quickly found myself missing my Salt Lake community. Monday and Tuesday were especially trying. Getting involved in other people's lives is a messy, painful, and draining endeavor. These past few days I've been emotionally drained on two fronts. In one case I've realized that I might have gotten too involved in someone else's life, while in the other case I haven't been involved enough. Both situations involve close friends, and trying to rectify the situations is going to put major strain on both friendships. I'm really having to step out in faith and prayer and trust that God will work both situations out to his glory. The guys from Men's Group really stepped up last night and helped me out in what I'm going through, and I greatly appreciate them being there for me.

Rêves Étranges (Strange Dreams): Episode 1

2005-05-10T08:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I often have very strange dreams. I'm talking insanely bizzare. If you don't believe me just ask Eric, he's heard a lot of them. I don't have them every night, but I go through periods every once in a while where I'll have them for several nights in a row. I thought it might be interesting to post some of these dreams and have you, my faithful readers, interpret them for me. Here's my dream from last night:

I'm not sure if I was one of Michael Jackson's sisters, or if I was just viewing the dream from her point of view (see, I told you they were weird), but we'll say it was the latter for sanity's sake. I'm not sure which sister it was, I think she was just a generic Jackson sister. Anyways, she was very disgruntled about her brother's musical success (I think this must have been set sometime in the eighties). Michael was scheduled to put on a show someplace and both he and his sister were staying at the same hotel. The sister locked Jackson in his room and stole his costume, and she looked enough like him that nobody noticed at first. She went on stage and was looking at the floor a lot to try to avoid being recognized, and some reporter in the audience asked why she was looking at the floor so much. The show began and she began to perform, missing a few notes here and there, but she kept the show going for a while. This part gets a little fuzzy and I can't remember everything, but eventually she gets found out and thrown in jail. Weird, huh? I eagerly await your interpretations.

Summer "To-Do" List

2005-05-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

You heard it here first, folks. I'm done with the semester. I just finished my English grammar final a few minutes ago and now I'm free as a bird. Strange though, it doesn't really feel like the semester is over. Hmmm. I'm sure it will set in sooner or later. It's hard to believe how fast the past three years have gone by. I've now been in college as long as I was in High School. In one year I will be graduating. Now that's a scary thought. What am I going to do with myself this summer when I'm not in France? Lets see...I'm going to:

1)Brush up on my guitar (and maybe even learn how to play some new stuff)

2)Bust out my harmonica that I bought last semester and learn how to play it like a blues master

3)Finish reading Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion

4)Finish reading Les Trois Mousquetaires

5)Establish an exercise routine of running and lifting, with some boxing elements to spice things up

6)Publish a book of original limericks to establish once and for all my supremecy in this area

7)Learn how to catch a baseball

8)Establish my title as Master Chef of the Salt Company Domain, starting with Mrs. Hopson's chicken and dumplings recipe.

9)Convert the Salt Company house to the RUF house

As you can see, this is going to be an action packed summer for me. I can't wait to get started.

Where's The Power Button On This Thing?

2005-04-29T16:28:00.000-07:00

My last paper is in. My oral exam is behind me. All that remains is my English grammar test on Monday. My nose is all cleared up but I have this really annoying cough now and I just feel really drained. I had to skip out on softball tonight, so I feel kind of bad about that, but I don't know how much help I'd be anyways. So, like I said, my oral exam is behind me, and boy am I glad it is. The format was like this: we were given fifteen minutes to respond to three questions. One question was on a broad subject that covered all the books we had read. The second was a question on the book that we didn't write our paper on. The third we prepared in advance and we could basically talk about anything we wanted. We were supposed to get there fifteen minutes early so we could get our questions and prepare while the person in front of us was going. The problem with that was that we were in the room while the other person was going, so it was very distracting. The person who was before me had just had her baby a few weeks ago, so the baby kept on crying, which didn't help in the concentration department. Now, my brain doesn't function at high speeds. Papers I can do because they give me time to organize my thought. Oral exams not so much. The second I saw my questions my mind shut down and I forgot how to speak French. Not good. There were a lot of long awkward silences as I tried to kick my brain back into gear, but to no avail. All that to say that it could have gone a lot better. Still, I'm not worried about my grade. Sorry, I just realized that my last few posts have had a sort of pessimistic tone. Things really aren't all that bad. In fact they're quite good. Summer's almost here, I'm going to France, I'm moving into the Salt Company house, Rachel is coming back. God really is gracious. Sometimes it's just easier to complain.

Coming Up On The Last Stretch

2005-04-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

Note to self: NyQuil is where it's at! I took some last night and slept like a baby. I also read the back of the Sudafed box, which said: "Stop using and consult doctor if: You experience nervousness, dizziness, or sleeplessness." Hmmmm. I guess I can't say I wasn't warned. I'm still feeling pretty under the weather today, but at least I'm rested up. I'm hoping to finish up my paper this afternoon and then start getting prepared for my oral exam tomorrow. It'll be over before I know it.

How Do You Infuse Spaghetti?

2005-04-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

One of the items on today's menu at the cafeteria was "Spaghetti Infused With Garlic Oil". Is that funny to anyone else, or is it just me? Maybe I'm just really tired.

Hungry For Some Meat?

2005-04-27T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was just checking monergism.com and found a link to johnowen.org. 02 Men's Group is currently reading Owen's Mortification of Sin, which has challenged and encouraged us all. Be warned, Owen is not for the feint of heart, nor those who see themselves as "basically good". Here are a few quotes from the site:

"Without absolutes revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers."

"Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens mens' hearts, and brings them to ruin."

"Let our hearts admit, "I am poor and weak. Satan is too subtle, too cunning, too powerful; he watches constantly for advantages over my soul. The world presses in upon me with all sorts of pressures, pleas, and pretenses. My own corruption is violent, tumultuous, enticing, and entangling. As it conceives sin, it wars within me and against me. Occasions and opportunities for temptation are innumerable. No wonder I do not know how deeply involved I have been with sin. Therefore, on God alone will I rely for my keeping. I will continually look to Him."

Ugh (continued)

2005-04-27T08:20:00.000-07:00

Note to self: don't take sudafed at 9:00 p.m. My friend Brian gave me some last night, and it worked wonders at clearing me up, but it also kept me up all night. My mind was going at a million miles per hour and I tossed and I turned all night. I went to bed at 10:00 and after a long time of not being able to fall to sleep I decided to check my clock, thinking it would be around 1:00 or 2:00. It was 4:35. This is not what I need right now. I have a paper to finish today. Ugh.

Ugh

2005-04-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 4:00 this morning with some major sinus pressure building up, a leaky nose, and the beginnings of a soar throat. I managed to fall back to sleep around 6 or 7 and proceeded to have one of the most relaxing and pleasant dreams that I can remember. I just finished my French grammar test, which wasn't too hard, so I can now check that off the list. Our professer for that class hasn't shown up once for any of our tests and always has one of the other profs give it to us. This morning our prof wasn't there when class was supposed to start, and after twenty minutes of waiting we were all starting to hope that we wouldn't have to take it. Alas, my other professer, who I have later today, came in just as we were all contemplating leaving, and we had to take the test. Luckily we still had ample time to finish. I'm off to get some breakfast.

P.S. To who it may concern: I have some limericks on the way

I can't think of a good title

2005-04-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

Note to self: don't drink iced vanilla lattées at 8:00 p.m. I had a very hard time falling to sleep last night and ended up studying french verb conjugations and memorizing which french verbs take the preposition 'à' and which take the preposition 'de', which turned out to be quite relaxing. I surprisingly didn't have any bizzare dreams after watching Primer over at the Dean's. This was bar none the most confusing movie I have ever seen. Memento is child's play compared to this. That's not to say that it was bad. In fact it was quite good, even if I had no idea what was going on. Gino Dean sent me an e-mail with some links that attempt to explain it, but I'm still really confused. I can't believe how fast these last two weeks have flown by. One week from right now the semester will be all over. This week is going to keep me busy, but I'm off to a good start and I think I'll be able to get through it sans problèmes. For my last paper of the semester I have my quotes, I have my outline, and I have an introductory paragraph complete with interest grabber and thesis. This paper is practically already written. Well, I'm off to a study session for my French Grammar test which is tomorrow, so that's all for now.

Look Ma, I Hit The Ball!

2005-04-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

I was wrong to have been so pessimistic about the softball game. There was no decimation nor did I sustain any major injuries. We lost 12-9 but everyone was still really excited because that was apparantly the best that Newsong has ever played. Go team! I actually surprised myself by hitting not one, but two balls into left field. Here is a brief reenactment of my thought process immediately after I hit the first ball: "Wow, look at that thing go. That was pretty good. This a rare occasion. What happens next? Something about running. Ah yes, but first I must drop the bat. Better get going." All this happened very fast, but it took me a moment to process what had actually happened. In the end both my hits were caught, so all I really contributed to the game were two outs, but it still felt good to hit the ball. The outfield was another story. I was playing right field and was dreading the entire game that the ball would come straight to me and I'd do something really dumb, like catch the ball with my eye socket. Luckily that never happened. I didn't touch the ball once. Phew! Needless to say, I need some practice fielding the ball. I was using someone else's mitt which was a little too small too, which didn't help either. The only real injury I sustained was when Gino Dean and I were playing catch to warm up and the ball bounced off my glove and hit me right on the kneecap. It's a little bruised today, but nothing too bad. I think if I can learn how to catch and throw the ball I might actually have fun playing softball this summer.

Plugging Along

2005-04-22T15:05:00.000-07:00

I've made good progress on my francophone literature paper today. I'm about 3/4 of the way done and I have a very solid thesis. I have high hopes for an 'A' on this one. It's amazing how much easier it is to write when you already have planned in advance the structure and content of your paper, as opposed to just sitting down and trying to pound something out without any forthought. As much progress as I've made, however, I could probably have been done an hour ago if I just wrote non stop. I have a very hard time concentrating when I'm writing and I can stare at the screen for half an hour at a time without writing a thing, even when I know what I should be writing. It's very annoying. I think I'm going to call it quits for this afternoon and finish up tonight or tomorrow. Right now I'm off to be decimated in church league softball. I havn't played, or even practiced softball in years, and Newsong is going up against a church that has TWO teams tonight. Two teams. These guys are serious about their softball. I'll have a full report on all of the injuries I'm about to sustain later on tonight.

Your Winner and Still Champion...

2005-04-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

I had planned on yesterday being a writing day, and was hoping that I could finish one of my big papers, but as you'll note if you scroll down just a bit, I had other battles to wage that kept me from this goal. The Limerick Wars have begun. First Jake, and then Gino decided that they would challenge my undisputed title of Master of the Limerick. Jake came out swinging with a fast flurry of punches that, while they looked intimidating, in reality packed no punch and were easy to dodge. I waited until the opportune moment and unloaded a devastating left hook limerick in French to the jaw, which sent Jake reeling to the floor. As he was struggling to maintain consciousness and regain his balance he made a few desperate swipes that had no chance of connecting, while murmering some inchoerent nonsense about Reformed Egyptian. Then out of nowhere, before they had even carried Jake's dazed body out of the ring, Gino jumped in and started swinging at full force. His punches were strong, and there were many of them, but I waited until he had spent himself and then responded with equal fury. And that's where the bout stands right now.

So anyways, all that to say that I didn't get one word of my paper written. I did, however, get all the quotes that I needed, so I should be set to write if I can just discipline myself to sit down and do it without any distractions. I found out this morning that next Thursday and Friday are reading days, and that the French Grammar test that I thought was next Thursday is actually next Tuesday. This is a good thing, because it gets the test out of the way and gives me a whole extra day to write papers. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

And now the moment that you've all been waiting for....my review of The Interpreter. Paul and I got to the theater at about 6:20 and snagged the last tickets in. Gino Dean and associates were hosting the premier for B98.7 and thus weilded unimaginable power. When he spotted Paul and I he guided us to some choice seats right in the middle and made people move over so that we could sit there. Now that's what I call REAL ULTIMATE POWER!!!! The movie was solid and entertaining, but probably not something I'd watch again anytime soon. It was your standard fare of mystery and suspense, the girl with the mysterious past being chased by an unknown enemy and being protected by the downtrodden lone-ranger cop. Stuff we've all seen before, but well done. Entertaining for what it's worth, but you might want to catch a matinée or wait for the dollar theater or rental.

Raising The Bar

2005-04-20T16:10:00.000-07:00

A new fighter has entered the ring
Who goes by the name Gino Dean
Just 'cause he writes songs
Doesn't mean he'll last long
For he's facing the true Lim'rick King

Though papers I should now be writing
I find myself still limerick fighting
For so much is at stake
Against Gino and Jake
Who like rabid dogs just keep biting.

Jake claims he's recieved revelation
Which to me should cause lamentation
But his seer stone
Can't usurp my throne
All that awaits him is great aggravation

Now Gino my French has bemoaned,
He's wailed and he's whined and he's groaned,
His Italian roots
Have major disputes
With, by a Frenchie, being owned.

Au Revoir, Punk

2005-04-20T11:59:00.000-07:00

Witness now the raw brilliance of my bilingual limericking ability:

J'espère que tu peux m'entendre,
Et que tu vas me comprendre,
Je t'écraserai
Sans aucun délai,
Le titre de Maitre à prendre.

Translation:

I hope that you can hear me
And that you will understand me
I will crush you
Without any delay
The title of Master to take.

The Gauntlet Has Been Thrown

2005-04-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

Here's Jake's first wave of attacks in our limerick war. Because he knows he can't beat me in quality he's trying to overwhelm me with quantity. You see, Jake does nothing at work except play minesweeper, so he has the time to devote to constant limerick creation. I on the other hand have papers to write and tests to study for. Don't be fooled by Jake's seemingly strong start. I've got something up my sleeve...

Funkmaster J-Neezie (aka Jake) says:
Chris, your limericks are wack -
And trust me, Eric ain't got yo' back
So bring your best rhyme,
And I'll show you in time
That Jake is the master of (limerick) mack

Yo C' my rhymes can't be beat,
I got limericks busting out my feet,
I'll bust my ebonic flow
So all these suckas will know
Who's limericks are truly elite

And now for something completely different -

Chris loves doctrine and French,
He's shy, he boxes, and lacks stench
He'll baptize your baby
And an adult? Maybe.....
To the solas his soul will clench

Let the battle begin.

2005-04-20T09:51:00.000-07:00

Earlier on Jake's blog:

Sarah H said...
Jake, you're getting some serious limerick competition. Are you going to stand for this?

jake & erin said...
Sarah....you are correct.... I shall assert my authority in a series of new limericks.

Chris said...
My limericks are clearly the best,
They're better than all of the rest,
But if competition
Is what you be wishin'
I'll surely be up to the test

Addiction, Papers, and Premiers

2005-04-19T15:47:00.000-07:00

I think I'm developing some sort of compulsive blogging syndrome. I don't know how many blog runs I've made today. It just keeps calling to me. So here's a brief update of where I'm at. I've written my Newsong article for my French grammar class. I've come up with some basic ideas for my two big papers and have gathered up the quotes that I will use. I've learned that in writing these types of papers quotes are everything. They pretty much consist of plopping in a quote and then providing commentary on it. I think that my experience in studying the Bible and learning basic exegetical procedures has really helped me in writing my college papers. You see how any given passage fits in with its immediate context, then the context of the chapter, and then the context of the whole book. The papers really aren't all that difficult to write if you can plan out how to structure your quotes before you begin writing. I'm planning on tomorrow being a writing day, and I hope to get a big chunk of one of my papers done with. Tonight I'm going to see a premier of the movie The Interpreter. Once again Gino Dean (known by some as the almighty bowlcut)came through with the hook-ups and scored some free movie tickets. I'm taking Paul (known by some as Mississippi) as my date. He's not the best looking date I've every had, but he's good company. According to Gino there will be a lot of movie critics there reviewing the film. I'll be posting my own thoughts and musings of the film tomorrow, so if you want to know before you go check out my upcoming review.

Ode to Umbriaco

2005-04-19T13:08:00.000-07:00

Over the past few days Jake's blog has brought out the poet inside me. I am quite proud of these mini masterpieces of verse, so I thought I'd post them for my wider audience out there. If you want to see them in their original context check out the comments on Jake's blog.

Chewing Gum
Jake doesn't like gum in the least,
When he hears it he turns to a beast,
At one little chew,
He threatens to spew,
For he'd rather eat pounds of raw yeast.

Minesweeper
Minesweeper Umbriaco does play,
He clicks on those boxes all day,
And when he does win,
He shows us a grin,
And puts his high score on display.

In light of Jake and Erin's upcoming departure to Huston, I think that all who know them should write a limerick to commemorate their time here in SLC. Also, feel free to share any funny/embarrasing Umbriaco stories that you might have.

A Dilemma of Literary Proportions

2005-04-19T11:08:00.000-07:00

I have ten minutes before my francophone lit. class starts, so this will be quick. I didn't go to this class at all last week because the reading finally overwhelmed me and I decided not to read the last book. My reasoning was that since I had read the previous book I could just write my final paper on that, and I could spend the time that I would have spent reading this last book doing homework for my other classes. Come to find out that for my oral exam next week we are going to be asked a question on the book that we didn't write our essay on. The one book that I decide not to read the entire semester turns out to be the one book that I had to read. So now I'm trying to decide whether I want to try to read this book in a week while I'm busy writing my papers (highly unlikely) or if I should just admit that I didn't read the book when the oral exam rolls around. What should I do?

The Soreness (special extended edition)

2005-04-17T16:02:00.000-07:00

I've already told a few people that I could have just skipped over this week and been perfectly fine. I have five things that I have to do before school is over, and I couldn't start on any of them this week. Here they are in chronological order:

1. Write my newspaper article about Newsong for my French grammar class.
2. Write my 4 page paper on "L'Aventure Ambigue" for my francophone lit. class.
3. Write my 5 page paper on Montaigne for my Rennaissance French lit. class.
4. Take French grammar test.
5. Take English grammar test.

Even though the semester is so close to being over it still feels like it's lightyears away.

I'm completely exhausted today. On Friday night I went to a six hour Bible study in Galatians put on by the good folks at O2. Six hours of Justification by Faith and putting the Law in its place. Now that's what I call a rockin' Friday night. My only letdown was that all the hype about castration turned out to be a gimmick (if you don't understand that just move on and don't give it a second thought). I also learned that night that Jake has some weird complex about chewing gum which freaks him out whenever he sees or hears someone chewing it. I fully intend to exploit this weakness of his to get my Bahnsen tapes back. The Bible study didn't end until midnight, and then the next morning I went and played ultimate frisbee with some 02-ites at 10:00. Now, I've been exercising these past few weeks, but playing ultimate just trashed me. I can barely move today. Even the muscles on the bottom of my feet (do we have muscles on the bottom of our feet?) hurt.

Scarcely had I returned home when Gino Dean called me at noon and told me that I had to come to the Real (pronounced ray-al) soccer game with him because he had free tickets. So we picked up Sam on the way and headed over to Rice-Eccles stadium. The game was good (as far as the word 'good' can be applied to soccer), but I picked up an unexpected farmer's tan (farmer's burn?). Real beat Colorado in a close 1 to 0 bout. 1 to 0. Need I say more? The highlights of this outing for me were: 1) The delicious BBQ sandwich that I had for lunch, and 2) Listening to Jake yell at the players to pass the ball to him. It's Jake, need I say more?

After that I spent the rest of the day hanging out with Jon. After being humbled to the dust by him in bumper pool for the umpteenth time that afternoon, we hopped in the car and jammed out to some Beauty and the Beast and Les Misérables on the way to Smith's. After Smith's we headed to a little burger joint and got some greasy sustenance and some shakes. We took a trip down memory lane and shared about our high-school experiences and some of the stupid things we had done during that time.

So anyways, that's what I've been up to. It's time to go to Sunday night small group, so I need to wrap it up, but stay tuned next week for more thrills and suspense.

Jesus With Thy Church Abide

2005-04-17T15:51:00.000-07:00

We sung one of my favorite hymns this morning at Newsong. Good song choice Nate. Here are the words:

Jesus with Thy church abide,
Be her savoir, Lord, and Guide,
While on earth her faith is tried:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
We beseech Thee, hear us.

Keep her life and doctrine pure,
Grant her patience to endure,
Trusting in Thy promise sure:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
We beseech Thee, hear us.

May she one in doctrine be,
One in truth and charity,
Winning all to faith in Thee:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
We beseech Thee, hear us.

May she guide the poor and blind,
Seek the lost until she find,
And the brokenhearted bind:
We beseech Thee, hear us.
We beseech Thee, hear us.

Kidnapped Again

2005-04-17T12:34:00.000-07:00

Eric and I are currently in Mrs. Hopson's secret lair. We were abducted about an hour ago, but I have managed to gain access to the internet for a short period of time while nobody was looking. They are currently preparing their secret fettuccini torture. I can hear the clinking of metallic objects in the other room. The anticipation is too much. They just sent Eric to the other room to do some sort of menial labor. I hear someone coming. I have to go. This may be the last opportunity that I have to post. I don't know what horrors await me...

Enfin, une reponse. La France m'attend. (Finally, a response. France awaits me.)

2005-04-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

This is from an e-mail that was forwarded to me earlier this afternoon:

I wanted to write and inform you of our decision to accept Chris Snow as summer intern for the MTW Marseille, France team. After consultation and prayer with the team, we feel that Chris would be a good candidate. I'm looking forward to getting to know him this summer. I'm sure that we'll learn and grow together in our understanding and experience of the gospel of grace!

Weekend Update, volume 2: Sunday

2005-04-11T10:02:00.000-07:00

The fun didn't stop on Saturday. Sunday morning I woke up with plenty of time to prepare for church, unlike the previous week (curse the savings of daylight!). In Sunday school we were continuing our series on Christian Ethics, which really made me want to listen to my Bahnsen tapes again (cough, cough, Jake). Excuse me. I taught children's church during the sermon. I'm taking the kids through the Westminster Confession. Right now we are going through all the books of the Bible and getting a general sense about what each one says. If I had to describe the kids in one word I think it would be "bouncy". They like to wiggle and wriggle and ask lots of questions, some of which are very random. But it's fun and I enjoy it. I just need to find some way to establish authority with them and make them remember stuff, because right now they're walking all over me.

Now the time after church when everyone mills around and makes small talk is always Eric and mine's *favorite* (or in Eric's case, "favourite") part of church. We generally just stand around and try to avoid eye contact with anyone, lest we should have to try to come up with generic conversation topics. Case in point: there are three girls who go to Newsong, who Tauna likes to tease are my "little ballerina girls", because they are dance students at the U. Given the facts that, A) I'm a shy introvert, and B) they are attractive females, I haven't talked to them much since they started coming to church. But yesterday when I was busy trying not to converse I was actually feeling a little guilty about my avoidance. The whole thing just seemed a little ridiculous. I see them all the time in the cafeteria. We go to the same church. We should at least make an effort to get to know them, right?

After church Mrs. Hopson (why is Mrs. spelled with an 'r'?) kidnapped Eric and I and took us to her secret lair where she proceeded to feed us chicken and dumplings. Now I had never had chicken and dumplings before, and I must say, I quite enjoyed them. I spent most of the afternoon playing with Captain, the Hopson's ginormous newfoundland, and preparing a lesson out of Proverbs for small group later that night.

That's all for now.

Weekend Update, volume 1: Saturday

2005-04-11T09:03:00.000-07:00

I had an action packed weekend. Saturday morning at 9:00 Paul picked Eric and I up in his monster truck and gave us a ride to the Intervarsity house, whereupon we partook of a multitude of bagels and doughnuts. Dave from Intervarsity was putting on a seminar about life after college for students who are about to graduate or who have recently graduated. There was a good mixture of grads and non-grads, so we got a lot of good perspectives.

One of the things that stuck with me the most was Paul's comment about how "A job is just a job" (said with a full Mississippian accent, of course). He talked about how he knew what he wanted to do all through college, and he did it. He got the job that he had worked so hard for, and then was surprised when he realized that it didn't provide the sense of fulfillment and security that he thought it would. He said that "A job is just a way to pay the bills and advance the kingdom." Now of course I think that you should find a job that suits you and that you enjoy, but it's easy to get your identity too wrapped up in your profession. We're not here ultimately to do our jobs, but rather to "glorify God and enjoy him fully forever" (Westminster Shorter Catechism, Q1).

The seminar lasted until 4:00, but it really didn't feel like seven hours. I'm glad I went and I think that I profited much from it.

Later that night Rachel called, and it was good to talk to her again. I've talked to her more this past week than I have this last year. It kind of suprised me because I hadn't talked to her since Tuesday night, and I started to miss talking to her. Every time I sat down to try to concentrate on my homework I got this anxious feeling and wondered, "I wonder when Rachel's going to call?" I tried calling her a few times but could never get ahold of her. I can go almost a year without talking to her much, and then suddenly two days seem like a year. It's good to have my friend back.

Comments

2005-04-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have tried to comment on my previous posts and were struck by a frantic sense of panic and distress upon discovering that only blog members can post, rest easy. I have changed the settings so that all may comment to their heart's content (except the spammers).

Calvin on Servetus

2005-04-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

I ran across these two quotes recently as I was reading through Institutes of the Christian Religion. I just find Calvin's animal analogies amusing. I hope you do too.

This first one comes on the heels of Calvin refuting Servetus' teaching that Christians already enjoy all of Christ's promises to them. He says:

"Meanwhile, in leaning on the promises, we obey the command of the Holy Spirit, whose authority ought to have weight enough with us to silence all the barkings of that impure dog." -Institutes 2.9.3

This next quote comes in the context of Calvin discussing the similarities of the Old and New Covenants:

"This discussion, which would have been most useful at any rate, has been rendered necessary by that monstrous miscreant, Servetus, and some madmen of the sect of the Anabaptists, who think of the people of Israel just as they would do of some herd of swine, absurdly imagining that the Lord gorged them with temporal blessings here, and gave them no hope of a blessed immortality. Let us guard pious minds against this pestilential error, while we at the same time remove all the difficulties which are wont to start up when mention is made of the difference between the Old and the New Testaments." -Institutes 2.10.1

Brought to you by popular demand...

2005-04-08T10:45:00.000-07:00

This is for all my fans out there who have been clamoring for me to create a blog (you know who you are). I don't have much to say at this point in time, I just needed to post something in order to see how it looks.