First Days of School

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September 2008

Today is the first day of school for my youngest daughter. I love the first day of school. It’s the beginning of fall, when the sky is still clear and blue, but you get that cool morning feeling. The leaves start turning shades of orange. You have a backpack full of fun new school supplies, like paper, pens, scissors and a box of Kleenex. I always loved school, and would, in fact, be a full time student if you could make money doing it. New classes, new ideas, new things to learn. Add to it the beginning of football season, and I just love the autumn.

 

However, I have to say, that this morning the first day of school lacks some of the excitement. Maybe that is because my daughter was not as excited to have her obligatory first day of school picture taken. I guess she is getting too old for this sort of thing. And for me, the day-to-day drudgery of going to work doesn’t really change much with the turning of the seasons. There just isn’t that same rhythm to the seasons once you start work that you get  when you follow the school calendar.

 

Still, it is the first day of school, and we have of course still take the obligatory picture (see below). And even if today is no different for you than any other day, take some time today to enjoy the shift of seasons.

Trip to Coast with Eckerdts

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So, this might be on the borderline of blasphemous, but I found it actually quite hilarious. Imaging if Jesus were to tell the story of the Good Samaritan to a PC audience today:  

I've been reading through Isaiah this summer, and it is amazing how often the prophet talks about the coming kingdom in which the Messiah will reign with justice and power and will right all the wrongs. Here is a good reminder from Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Seminary about placing our trust not in Obama or McCain or any other leader, but instead putting our faith in the true King, Jesus, who will some day rule in righteousness and mercy.   http://www.netbloghost.com/mouw/?p=81   Rarely do I find someone with whom I agree politically as much as I did when I read this blog.

Here are the video highlights from our trip to Yachats last weekend, set to the music of the Vigilantes of Love. 

Yachats 2008

 
Video: Yachats 2008

Books I've Read Recently

• David McCullough: John Adams

  I checked this out from the library and am enjoying it throughly. I love the relationship of John and Abigail Adams.

• Lauren F. Winner: Mudhouse Sabbath: An Invitation to a Life of Spiritual Disciplines (Pocket Classics)

  This book taught me to think much differently about what "spritiual discipline" is all about.

• N.t. Wright: Simply Christian: Why Christianity Makes Sense

  An excellent post-modern apologetic for Christianity.

• David O. Stewart: The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (Simon & Schuster America Collection)

  Read this while backpacking recently. Fascinating story of the making of the US constitution. The style of the book wasn't great, but I learned a lot.

• Mark Driscoll: Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions (Relit Theology)

  Driscoll's style is irreverant and humerous, but his message is doctrinally sound and right in line with orthodox Christianity. A great look at the nature of Jesus told in a fresh new way.

• Garry Wills: What Paul Meant

  A compelling defense of the apostle Paul, demonstrating that Paul's message was consistent with Jesus' message. However, the author gets off track on his dating of the book of Acts and needlessly blames Acts for Paul's bad reputation.

Last week was a vacation week. It was not a typical vacation week, in that my family was busy doing other things than being on vacation. La Chel had to work while Aubrianne and Tanner were attending and teaching at a dance camp at the studio.

So, while they were all busy, I stayed at home and got caught up with projects around the home. One day we cleaned the garage, which included a trip to Goodwill with a van full of stuff we had been storing in the garage for who knows what purpose, painting a freezer with appliance paint, and making it so you can now walk to the tool bench without climbing over junk like a mountain goat.

Another day included repainting the upstairs bathroom, which along with my wife putting in a new floor in there, resulted in a complete remodel of the upstairs bathroom. Then I spent a day updating and backing up the computers at the dance studio. Another day we spent visiting with our friends from Norway who are in the states for a few weeks, and becoming convinced that a trip to Scandinavia to visit them has to be our next big trip.

To finish up the week, we went to our traditional coast hang out in Yachats. While there we accomplished nothing at all productive. We watched a few DVDs, did Sudoku puzzles, ate wonderful meals cooked in our suite's kitchen, flew kites, took walks on the beach, and slept in until 9 in the morning. I've posted pictures of our Yachats trip in the Photo Album here.

So now, this morning, I need to head back to work. There are, according to my Blackberry, over 135 email messages waiting for me when I get there this morning. But you know what is odd is that I'm ready to get back to work. I guess that means that the vacation accomplished its purpose!

Yachats, Oregon

Driving to the coast.

The surf crashing in Yachats.

Checking out the tidepools.

Checking out the tide pools.

The traditional pose at the Yachats Inn.

Driftwood crashing ashore in Yachats.

Being lazy back in the hotel.

Jumping the surf.

Aub playing in the surf.

Tanner's feet are dirty

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Last Friday we had over 60 people drop by our house for a "I'm Home"/Independence Day party. What fun it was seeing everyone and hear everyone give Aub a big welcome home. At any given moment we had a dozen kids in the pool or the hot tub, hamburgers on the BBQ, people singing karaoke on the XBox, and lots of people just visiting. It was great fun. You can see my pictures of the event on the right, or check out the pictures Amy Green took at the below web site:   http://thegreensblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/4th-o-july-first-half.html

I'm Home Party

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Olympic Trials

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Laura's Graduation

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This has been a crazy busy month filled with change for the Carson household. Take a look at our calendar for the last couple of weeks:

• June 14: Laura graduates from high school
• June 15: Laura's graduation/going away party
• June 16: Drive to Portland, pick up Aubrianne from airport after her year in Europe
• June 17: Return from Portland
• June 18: T-bird's last day of school
• June 20-22: Backpacking trip with Aub and Laura.
• June 22-23: T has training to be a counselor at Camp Harlow
• June 23: Aubrianne registers for summer term at UO.
• June 23: La Chel starts a college class to keep her teaching certificate current.
• June 24: Take Laura to the airport for her return flight to France.
• June 24: Aub has her first day of class at UO.

It's not just that we've been busy, but these have been emotional events as well. Lots of "welcome home" and lots of "goodbye" conversations. I'm not a guy who like a lot of change, and I'm finding myself emotionally worn out. I'm anxious to settle into the routine of summer.

Backpacking at the Metolious River

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We picked up Aubrianne yesterday evening from the Portland airport. We are spent the night with LaChel's sister and drove back to Eugene today. Her trip went fine, except her luggage didn't make it home. Best they can tell, her luggage is in Amsterdam. They think it should be home by tomorrow night hopefully. Aubrianne and Tanner have been giggling and talking nonstop since we picked her up from the airport. It is so good to hear them laugh together again.   Here are a couple of pictures from the homecoming.  

Last Sunday I gave the sermon at church. If you are interested, you can download the mp3 of the sermon here:   http://www.gcfweb.org/gcfupload/sound/2008_06_08_carson_mp3_32kbps.mp3

I came across this interesting article in the New York Times this morning.   http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/us/01evangelical.html?ex=1370059200&en=4505ab8829f86e02&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink   I share some of the frustrations that the "younger evangelicals" (as the article calls them) have with the association between evangelicalism and right wing politics. I loved this quote: “I’m comfortable with the word (evangelical) as long as it means a believer of Christ who wants to spread his teaching,” Ryan Witt, 30, said. “But it doesn’t automatically mean that you are... voting for McCain.” My frustration with the connection came many years ago when I received a letter from James Dobson. Not a personal letter, but one of those mass mailings, in which he stated that as evangelicals we need to stand up for the big social issues of our day like abortion, euthenasia, and tax breaks for the middle class. Now, hey, I like tax breaks as much as the next guy, but equating tax breaks as being a moral issue on par with abortion was problematic for me.   Let's get back to defining evangelicalism as it was originally. It means to be one who evangelizes. One who shares the good news of Jesus Christ. Not one who promotes tax breaks for the middle class and is against environmental responsibiltiy.

I came across this article today in Christianity Today, asking what the big deal is about the doctrine of the trinity.   http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/mayweb-only/122-51.0.html   I used to not get that worked up over the doctrine of the trinity. Sure, it is part of the orthodox teaching of the church, but I didn't understand why it is any big deal. Then, over the course of the last couple of years I have encountered a number of people who are casting doubts on this core doctrine. As I've re-examined this classic Christian belief, I have become more staunch in my belief that God is one and that God is three. Furthermore, the doctrine of the trinity is not only taught in scripture and by the universal teachings of the church, it also answers many philosophical questions about the nature of God that a strictly monotheistic view of God does not.   Mark Driscoll, the pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, summarized my thoughts on the trinity this way. He says the greatest verse in the bible attesting to the truth of the trinity is "God is love." If the trinity is not true, then God is either not God, or he is not love. Because love can only be real if there is an object to love, then without creation, God can not be love. However, if God needed creation to receive his love, then he is not God for he needed creation. But a trinitarian God does not need creation to receive love, for the persons of the trinity love each other.   What is even more compelling is that God chose not to contain his love, but out of the outpouring of his love, chose to create you and me. And now we can share in teh same love that God the father has for God the son. How remakrable is that? Makes me want to sing the last lines of that old hymn, Holy, Holy, Holy:   God in three persons, blessed Trinity.

Here are highlights from last weekends recital.