Whatnot

A serious update on life and work is on the way.  

Lots of good stuff stirring up, but I can’t publicly comment on it at this time…

This is such a great season…my kids riding their bikes in the street (we live on a pseudo dead-end);  swimming at the community pool (it’s just one block away); gardening…man I find so much peace in that it’s weird…

Summer in Syracuse is special.  We have a ton of great days in the 65 degrees to 85 degree range.  Pretty amazing.

We’re praying about/ thinking about a neighborhood barbecue…August just may be the time!

Tim

I finished the Gospel of John in just a shade under 2.5 hours.  Actually, it was about an hour and 45 minutes with 3 breaks/changes of location interspersed.  

For me it really raised the question – why don’t I do that more often…really concentrated reading of a text.  The stories start to blur together, but you have a real context for everything.

Here are a few things that struck me:

-          from the time his ministry started, Jesus was in “GO” mode all the time.

-          A lot of the people who “followed” Jesus didn’t really understand what he was saying and just wanted to see more miracles

-          Jesus comes precariously close to asking people who misunderstand his parables “Are you seriously that stupid?!”

-          In spite of the above question, Jesus was remarkably patient

-          Nicodemus is mentioned three times and we get to see a highly religious person struggle with his social role and his desire to follow Jesus.  We last see him as he openly goes to assist in the preparation of Jesus’ body for burial…this guy just blows me away.

That’s all for now – I am going camping tonight.

Tim

During a recent visit, my Mom and my grandmother (driving all the way from southern Illinois) brought a trunk full of my childhood with them.  The kids are loving the action figures and cars.  For my part, I hooked up the old tray-loading NES and got pummeled in a couple of games of Tecmo NBA Basketball (circa 1992 – BJ Armstrong at point guard for the bulls…)  I then proceeded to show that I still “have it” by nearly beating Super Mario Brothers 3 in a little over an hour.  I got tired though so I had to throw in the towel.

And then there’s dr. Mario…what a great game.

The real gem was discovering a $20 NES game purchased at wal-mart (The wrapper and price tag were in the box).  The game is “Solitaire” – like just basic solitaire.  I found out that it is selling for $90+ on ebay.  So…I’ll be selling that gem J

I’m going to read the gospel of John today.  I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Tim