Posted on

gearing up #1

I have something of a reputation for being an outdoor gear maven.  So I thought I’d share my top five essentials.  This list is up for debate, but I’m pretty convinced.  It is also in order of importance, so if you are slowly building your inventory for yourself or someone else, start with number one.

Can you tell that I’m running out of things to talk about on the thirty day challenge?

1) Headlamp

Really, if you don’t have one of these, you should probably quit reading and go buy one right now.  This isn’t just for outdoors.  It’s for everything.  I probably use it weekly, and if you count reading to the kids in bed, then almost daily.  Outdoors, the value of this over a standard flashlight… no comparison.  As with all things, you can spend next to nothing or ridiculous amounts.  I generally hit some middle ground that I’m comfortable with.

Genius just struck.  By sharing one item a day, I just turned one post into five.  My work here is done for today.

Posted on

an ugly ditch

I think I mentioned yesterday that I’m somewhat fascinated with communication.  Lots of reasons for that.  I’m a communicator.  So is God.  So are you.  We all do it everyday.  It can make relationships flourish…  or not.  So on, and so on.  On top of all that, studying and understanding the way communication works is interesting in and of itself.  At least, it is for me.

I’ve slowly been working through a book entitled, Is There a Meaning in This Text?, by Kevin Vanhoozer.

It is something of a standard work for biblical interpretation that seeks to maintain something close to a conservative approach toward the Bible.  Anyway, I picked it up today after a fairly long break from it, and within a few minutes I read a passage that touches on some thoughts from yesterday.

What Derrida undoes is the possibility that the author’s intention can serve as the ground and goal of interpretation.  Are meanings voice-controlled?  As we have seen, Derrida exposes an “ugly ditch” between conscious speech and “writing.”  Derrida contends that writing – the artificial and arbitrary system of differences and distinctions in terms of which an individual thinks and speaks – frustrates the conscious aims of the author.  The author as sovereign subject has been undone, exposed as a metaphysical, rhetorical, and ideological construct.  The author, like the signs he uses, is only a cipher that stands at a swirling crosscurrent of various competing forces and discourses that constitute him or her.  Indeed, Harold Bloom portrays the author not as a master in command of his discourse, but as one who struggles to make one’s voice heard over and distinct from those of previous texts.  The case against the author seems so strong that we must ask whether an author can ever say what he or she means.

Now, that’s a happy thought.  Makes you want to click on over to Amazon right now, right?  Probably not.  That Derrida’s got a lot of nerve calling me a “metaphysical construct.”

His mama’s a construct.

I’ll show him an ugly ditch.

In case you are wondering, this is theological discourse at its highest level.

Posted on

every thought

So I preached today at my church.  Actually, I do it quite a bit with the students, but I speak in “big” church maybe ten times a year.  I really do love teaching from the Scriptures.  I consider it a great privilege to take Truth and make it understandable for a group of people.  The study, preparation, delivery are all things I enjoy giving my best efforts to.

However, I think I’m discovering that I prefer the written word to the  spoken word.  Certainly, each has its place, but writing offers a certain amount of precision that isn’t always possible in speaking.  I think that clarity is possible with both, but frequently one can’t say all that can/should/needs to be said.

An example from today would have been my treatment of a much beloved verse from 2 Corinthians 10.

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:5

I spent exactly zero seconds talking about the second half of this verse, and next to no time talking about the first half.

I’ve had this verse explained a at least two different ways.  Most frequently, the second half of the verse is used to encourage holiness in one’s thought life.  So for example, if I were to have a lustful thought (it seems most commonly applied to lustful thoughts), the idea is that when I am having that vile thought, I take it captive.  And in taking it captive, I make it obedient to Christ (i.e. change what I think about to something that honors him and the former thought is something of a POW).  Of course, it doesn’t just have to apply to lustful thoughts.  Angry thoughts.  Jealous thoughts.  Greedy thoughts.  Any of them will presumably qualify for being taken captive.  I hope that is true and think it would be a good thing.

Problem with that line of thinking is that it doesn’t do justice to the first half of the verse.  So another explanation is that it might apply to personal holiness, but really the application is more about apologetics and combating spurious philosophical arguments.  When someone is trying to speak against the existence of God or cleverly argue against the Christian faith, this verse gets paraded out for biblical support to the idea that true Christian reasoning can take down the best of any other religious or philosophical alternative.  I hope that is also true and also think that would be a good thing.

However, the problem with both is that neither really seems to fit in the verses around it.  I’m of the opinion that Paul isn’t doing some general theologizing here, but is instead addressing a specific situation that he’s facing in Corinth.  His opposition is trying to discredit him and he’s trying to determine how best to respond.  It seems to make a ton more sense to say that the overall flow of this passage is Paul’s attempts to wrestle with how to respond to this attack.  And he’s already said that he won’t “wage war with the weapons of this world.”  He most certainly isn’t talking about literal WMD, but is saying that he isn’t going to respond in a worldly manner to his opponents.

So when he says, his mode of response has “divine power” and can “demolish arguments and pretense,” he is almost certainly talking about a sort of response that is captive or honors God.  It is the sort of response that destroys all other criticism and argumentation.

I made a pretty strong case (at least in my opinion) that his response was one of being a person of integrity.  It seems to do the most justice to the overall flow of the passage.  Needless to say, this wasn’t a text that made its clear meaning readily accessible.  But that’s more or less how I got to where I got.  I’m pretty sure the parishioners weren’t interested in me taking another ten minutes to take them down that theological side road.  Like I said, you can’t share every thought you have.


Posted on

don’t tease me

I’m not sure iPhone and weather.com understand the power they have to bring hope to a heat beleaguered soul.  They better not be lying about Wednesday and Thursday.

Posted on

Four for Friday (Returns)

A while back, I was putting some songs up every Friday.  I know that the A.A. Bondy rant as of late has been all you’ve needed to keep you musically happy for a while…  but there is more!

Each of these are songs from albums that have been eagerly anticipated by some (or just by me).  Have at it.

Arcade Fire – Ready to Start

The National – Conversation 16

Menomena – Taos

Lissie – Bully

Posted on

a slow parade

A.A. Bondy – A Slow Parade

Well, last night was all that one could ask for in a live performance. It was a packed house down at Stickyz and for those who made it out, they were treated to one fine show. Like I said, I saw him in the same place last November and there were half or less there then. I guess word has gotten out.

We got to hear several songs off of When the Devil’s Loose (2009), as well as some newer things. His songs aren’t necessarily the most diverse music you’ve ever heard. He does his thing, sticks to it, and does it well. Listening to tracks online, or on iPod, or on a disc might mislead you to think that seeing him live is sort of sleepy affair. You’d be wrong. The room was filled with an energy on par with an AC/DC concert. Albeit, a different sort of energy, but nonetheless.

The track included here is one such example. Enjoy.

Posted on

A.A. Bondy

So tonight, I’ll be seeing Mr. Bondy at StickyFingerz, a local music venue.  I came across his music early in 2009 and then had the chance to see him play last November.  It was a great show.  Here’s a sample of what’s probably in store for tonight.

A.A. Bondy – I Can See the Pines

A.A. Bondy – Mightiest of Guns

A.A. Bondy – I’m on Fire (Bruce Springsteen Cover)

Posted on

odds and ends

I’m hoping that this will be the last time I bring up Colorado this month, but there were a few notable pictures that I left out.

These are the world-famous Maroon Bells.  Their beauty, symmetry, and accessibility are reasons for these being among the most photographed mountains in Colorado.  More specifically, they are North (the one in front) and South (the one in back) Maroon.  They are both fourteeners, and yes…  I’ve climbed them.  In fact, when you do the traverse from one peak to the next, it is called “Ringing the Bells.”

This is the Crested Butte-famous Camp 4 Coffee.  I haven’t tried all the coffee spots in town, but I would be surprised if any were better than this.  Whenever we stay in the Butte, a trip here is mandatory.  Usually, several.

This should-be-famous puzzle provided a distraction and respite when the Chino kids had gotten their fill of outside for the day.  The pieces were annoyingly uniform.  As often happens with puzzle-making in our family, there comes a time when most everyone loses interest, save one.  And that One labors long into the night becoming increasingly frustrated as each hour passes.  Eventually though, I… I mean, the One utters, “It is finished!”

Posing with the moose are the someday-famous Ben and Simon.

Posted on

what she said

Yesterday, I had only thought that I had sunk to a blogging low.  Tonight, I’m setting the bar on the ground.  Alison has written a post on Castle Bluff camps that is so good that I’m counting it for both of us.

I’m even stealing her photos…  which I think is ok, because she stole them from Whitney.

You should head over there right now and read it.

Posted on

I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this

As you can see, I’ve officially sunk to a new low.  Two days running of Dumb and Dumber quotes for blog titles.  Anyway, no summer would be complete without the Senior Backpacking Trip.  In our student ministry, we take graduating seniors away for a week in the high country of Colorado for a week they will never forget.

The trip is significant on so many different levels that it is hard to really explain, but I’ll give it a shot.


First, it marks this significant transition from high school to whatever is next.  They have generally got eighteen years under their belt and are anticipating the next four (or so).  It gives them a chance to reflect on how life has been so far and what lies ahead.  It is a rite of passage of sorts.

But it also stretches people in ways they didn’t know they could be.  For some, it will be the first time camping.  For many, it will be the first time backpacking.  And for nearly all, it will be their first attempt to summit the mythic fourteener.

However, the challenges aren’t all physical.  Pulling away from civilization, comfort, and convenience can have a disorienting effect that makes room in the heart and soul for God to work and for certain aspects of life to become profoundly clear.  Maybe more so than one has ever experienced before.

But perhaps the most significant thing any of us walk away with is a sense of deep connectedness to one another that can only come from a shared experience that is so powerful that your relationships with one another will never be the same.