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Saturday, 14 June 2008

It's been awhile since I've posted. Time to restart the fun...

Monday, 15 October 2007

Daily Cuteness...

This was Bryce recently at the South Coast Botanical Gardens...

Thursday, 04 October 2007

Happy New Year!

Unless you're Jewish or have Jewish friends, you probably had no idea that September 23 was "Rosh Hashanah" or the Jewish New Years Day of the year 5767. Rosh Hashanah starts the Jewish High Holidays lasting 10 days which culminates in Yom Kippur. ("The Day of Atonement")

As a Christian, I have a certain amount of interest in Jewish culture as the Old Testament is the story of God's relationship with His Chosen People.

As I was reading about Rosh Hashanah, I was struck by the custom of Tashlikh where (according to Wikipedia,)

Tashlikh (Hebrew: meaning "casting off") is a long-standing Jewish practice performed on the afternoon of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The previous year's sins are symbolically "cast off" by throwing pieces of bread, or a similar food item, into a large, natural body of flowing water (such as a river, lake, sea or ocean).

Other sources say that some will also go to a body of flowing water and empty their pockets as a symbol repenting of and casting off sins and facing the new year with a clean slate.

I've always thought that in the process of moving away from empty and meaningless rituals, the modern Protestant church got rid of many rituals.(particularly those that Catholics still observe)

In Hebrews 12:1-2 (NIV) it says, ¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. ²Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV), it says, ¹²Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Like many people, I often get hung up on the past, mistakes I've made, things that I shoulda, coulda, woulda done better, or had not done at all, but as I approach the Gregorian New Year in about 2 1/2 months or so, I think I will go find a large, natural body of flowing water and cast my sins, my doubts, my mistake, and other baggages and instead "strain toward what is ahead."

So, L'shanah tovah tikatev v'taihatem "May you be inscribed and sealed for a good year." or loosely, "Happy New Year!"

Wednesday, 03 October 2007

Bryce in Hawaii

Hannah, Bryce, and I went to Kauai for 9 days on vacation recently. The trip was actually very hard and Hannah and I didn't get to do very much because of Bryce. It has been suggested by some other parents that one person go out and participate in activities while the other parent watches the baby, but what's fun in that? I wouldn't really enjoy scuba diving, or hiking or whatever unless Hannah (and perhaps Bryce) was there doing it with me!

Anyway, here is a picture we took of Bryce while there...

Wednesday, 26 September 2007

The Clinton Gift for Communication & Connection OR the Lack Thereof...

I saw this in Time Magazine recently, and found the descriptions fascinating.

The crowd seemed similarly ambivalent. About eight minutes into her speech, some started to get distracted, holding audible conversations, even moving away from the stage rather than angling forward. The moment highlighted the risk of following the former President's act. Bill Clinton sounds intimate and conversational when he's discussing energy policy. Hillary Clinton sounds like a policy wonk when she talks about her mother's childhood struggles.

Setting aside the well publicized character issues of the former president, what is it about Bill Clinton that makes him such a gift communicator, probably on par with Ronald Reagan? (All of you Reagan fanatics, please don't feel the need to flame me. I'm only comparing their communication skills...)

I used to give speeches and debate competitively (forensics) so I am very interested in the reasons...