SNOW!

I woke up this morning to a little snow. It started to get cold late yesterday (the Rockies couldn't get a run either), and it snowed. Funny how things work in tandem. When I looked outside this morning, I saw a robin knitting worm gloves. I hope it warms up today! I've been in Ohio all week. It rained really hard and there were constant tornado warnings and watches. As I was driving back to the airport I noticed the rivers and streams had gone over their banks and flooded nearby fields.

Birthday

My granddaughter celebrated her second birthday the other day along with her favorite cartoon character Minnie Mouse.

My daughter made the cake. I knew that art major in college would pay off someday! However, it didn't help when I had some for breakfast in front of the kids. Of course they wanted a piece too.

The meaning of life

What paganism and the Hebrews, too, maintained was that to see God is to die, or at least to become blind, dumb, etc. Christianity expresses ethically the task to 'die to the world' as the condition for seeing God.

In both situations there is the expression of majesty - that we cannot see God in the same sense as we see everything else, we cannot go on living and to see Peter and Paul, and God also. No, to see God (immediately) is to be set in pausa (the end). And ethically the task is to die to the world in order to see God.

There are only two views of life which correspond to the duality that is man: animal and spirit.

According to the one the task is to live, to enjoy life, and to put your energy into this.

The other view is: the meaning of life is to die.

Moral guarantees

The abolition of moral guarantees in order to substitute legal guarantees was an invention of conceited and suspicious human ingenuity; but it was also something else, an attempt to abolish God or to make God worthless, he who on the one hand is beggarly enough to be satisfied for his part with the moral guarantees and on the other hand is the guarantor of all the moral guarantees.

How to live

Live in such a way that if your life were to be put on the stage the audience would weep in ecstasy. If you live your life this way in actuality, you will in proportion to how far you go in expressing perfection, be persecuted, derided, spit upon, and ostracized. It is easy to understand - it is the human self-defense against the rigors of perfection.

Rockies

Jim and I went to the Rockies game last night and watched them give up 5 runs in the first inning. Then Timmy walked to the mound for inning after inning. He's a lucky pitcher. He always pitches on days the other team can't score a run. The final was 8 to 1, thanks to a Carlos Gonzales walk and a Todd Helton double. That was it! I think the team may be in real trouble. At batting practice the pitching machine threw a no hitter!

The problem of evil

I like what CS Lewis says about the problem of evil. If one is to deny God's existence - then the reality of evil goes away with it. As soon as you throw out the the idea of God, you've also thrown out the meaning of evil. C.S. Lewis realized that if there is no God, then nothing can really be considered evil.

Hike in the wind

Nancy and I had a nice hike today in Deer Creek Canyon. It was 77 degrees but the wind was blowing about 30 miles an hour! I have no idea why I even bothered to wear a hat! If it weren't for the warm temperature, we would've been miserable. Let's hope it starts to calm down soon.

Biking the South Platte and Highline Canal

I enjoyed a very nice bike ride today with my friends from FROGS (foothills Outdoor Recreation Group) which is a small group in our church. The weather has finally started to improve here in Denver so the ride was especially refreshing. Afterward, we all went to Jim and Chris's for a cookout.

Jim and Chris lead the group and do a fine job. We've been to many new places and seen many new things together. I like their bike!

The baby

My daughter sent me this photo of my grandson. Careful now little guy... you don't want to spit up on that fine looking sweater! I can hear them now... "It must be time to get up, dear." "How do you know?" "The baby's fallen asleep!" I told her that one of the tricks of a happy parent is to fall asleep when the baby isn't looking.

Excuses

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted something. My excuse? I've been in Chicago for a couple of weeks. I've been watching the Colorado Rockies win. I've been sick. I've been watching the Denver Nuggets win. I've been sick. I was traveling...

I don't like excuses, but I can't think of other ways out of tight spot. Of late, however, I've managed to avoid the need for excuses. I get up in the morning and say, "I'm sorry," and that covers me for twenty-four hours. You know a man who comes up with a lot of excuses is always on his "but."

Nuggets beat LA

The Nuggets beat the Lakers in LA yesterday 95 to 90. It has been a very good run for the Nug's since the trade. Their 15 win, 4 losses without Carmelo tells quite a story. Better to have 10 good starters than one superstar. Teamwork always wins. I think the real test is yet to come with two of our remaining games against Oklahoma City.

Prairie dog fat

We have prairie dogs in our neighborhood. I call them "little defoliators." They eat everything in site. In fact, when they run out of grass to eat, they dig more holes and move to new locations. It's an environmental disaster. Look how fat he is! It reminds me of a woman in Pennsylvania who looked at her shadow on Groundhog Day and predicted six more weeks of dieting! In the case of prairie dogs, they need two glasses of water when they eat - one to drink, and one to cool down their knife and fork.

Gifted Hands

Here's a good movie for you to see. Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story. This is a great story about an underachieving boy flunking out of grade school, who is inspired by his mother to study and work at school. He becomes a brain surgeon. It's based on a true story.