DISQUS

I'm a big fan of Halloween. Our neighbor's house would make you happy--everything from goblins to demons to vampires hanging around that place. I'll have to take a picture for you.

Yup.
Sorry. Don't have time to say more than that. Too stressed and busy.
There's also the aspect that seasons are busier than others. I've had a nice calm season for a while. Now I'm embarking on a crazy busy one, and to be honest, I'm not excited. But here I am. And I feel like for this season, I need to do this. Hopefully, it'll be short. Hopefully, I'll have calm in my schedule in about 3 or 4 months.
Hopefully.

Whatever floats your boat

I'm a character girl.
(Some would say I'm a character.)
Others would point out that sometimes I have plot problems.

Were you the one who told me about this publisher? They have some very interesting looking poetry (or interesting sounding, rather):
http://www.wordfarm.net/books/

So basically your daughter does the hard work while you stand around looking pretty...

Karen--that's exactly what I'm getting at. Christianity too often looks more Platonic--focusing on the spiritual to the neglect of the physical. When God, no matter how He created it exactly, declared the world (and everything in it) good, that meant in every way possible--spiritual and physical. The fall is an active destruction against that, and the second Adam (Christ) is an active redemption against that. So at the resurrection, when we are all physically raised (like Jesus--see 1 Corinthians 15 re: the true nature of our hope), it will be to a physical eternal life. No death in any form.
I do want to reiterate, though, that I don't believe the Genesis account is concerned as much with the how as with the fact that God is Creator (and Sustainer) of all Life, and because of that He's sovereign over it, and that man is pre-eminent in creation (which also gives us the responsibility of caring for creation).
A couple of things that strike me about evolutionists and creationists:
--Evolution arose because of questions in the Modern period (I believe that the philosophy of a culture precedes the science of it--c.f. C.S. Lewis' The Discarded Image)
--Creationists claim that God created the world and that man was placed here by God, yet we're often at fault for irresponsibility of earth's resources. Evolutionists claim that we evolved through survival of the fittest--which I'd then assume gives us the right to use the resources as we feel like because, after all, we fought to get here, we're the fittest and we're surviving--yet they're often the "liberals" (notice my use of quotes, please) that fight for the environment.
Of course, nothings that simple, and I say that a bit tongue-in-cheek using sweeping generalizations.

I know those words to another tune, so I had a melodic break-down at first.
How did you know that I had a day like that yesterday, though?

I think the fall led to all types of death--physical, emotional, relational, etc. Death is contrary to creation and re-creation and redemption and everything that God is up to. That's why we have a "second life," as my niece calls it--the resurrection of the earth where there will be no more tears, death, pain, etc. Everything's restored to how God intended it to be. Jesus' resurrection on the cross was not a onetime event. He's the firstfruit, and we will follow him physically in that resurrection.
Saying that doesn't mean that I take the Genesis account to be intended as scientific. I believe it's intended as the beginning of the story, as great myths and stories and legends, etc. And, like any good story, the end recapitulates the beginning in some way. In the last chapters of Revelation, we see re-creation and even a forward progress from Genesis, although based on Genesis, if that makes any sense. So, yes, I believe theology and literary-ness to be intertwined here. God's the master story teller. But I don't believe death, any type including physical, to be a part of his plan. In fact, it really irritates me when people call death a natural part of life. No, actually, it's not. It was never meant to be. It came as an effect of sin. All creation groans from this death-ness and destruction.
Sorry. There I go again.

I don't know if the world was created in 6 days or not. I don't know if it was created aged or new. I don't know how old the earth is.
That's not the point of the creation story. The creation story emphasizes, over against other Ugaritic myths, that God is sovereign and that man, rather than being some accident, is pre-eminent in creation.
That being said, I don't believe in evolution, not because of my oh-so-knowledgeable scientific expertise, but because evolution means that death came before the fall, and I don't believe death to be natural. It's unnatural. It's part of the fall, and I believe Christ's victory in his resurrection (and our hope of our future resurrection) defeats the fall and death.
Now that being said, I do believe that creationists and evolutionists alike have a hard time being unbiased about the whole thing--and should we? Aren't we by nature biased toward something or other? Isn't it impossible to be purely objective about anything? Don't we come to everything with the presuppositions of our worldviews? As C.S. Lewis said, there's enough science in the world to prove anything (in The Discarded Image). I have many friends who are both, and I imagine it will always be that way until the day that it no longer matters.
So that's my two cents. I hope I didn't get too "Genesis-y" on you! ;) Will you still be my friend?

Gasp! My comment showed up!

The YouTube updates remind me of FDR's fireside chats.
I know I have no way of politically helping. But thanks for asking anyway!

you can't go wrong with muppets.

Ah, the resurrection.

Heather's last blog post..Christus Victor

Brings a whole new image to the church of Laodicea. Certainly jars the picture we have of God from paintings with soft lighting.

Heather's last blog post..Hee-hee

I think I'm going to go hide in my closet and cry.
Alas, being overwhelmed with disappointment's good for the soul and good for the writing.

Heather Goodman's last blog post..Beavers, Fauns, and Lions

Can I come play with you? Pirates are all that is good and cool. Pirates and mafia.

Heather Goodman's last blog post..Creativity in the Sanctuary

I've been slowly working through Dark Night of the Soul, and there have been so many times in my life where I've felt this (see also Jeanne Guyon's writings about it). The yearning is palpable and painful, like being engaged. At the same time, I get a taste of His physical presence through His Body--every time I hug a brother or sister in Christ, I feel Jesus' arms.
(Side note: This is why, if you only have Christian community through the Internet, you're missing out.)

Heather Goodman's last blog post..Creativity in the Sanctuary

More thoughts--this goes back to the idea of blogging as expert (i.e. marketing) or blogging as community (I was thinking of the post you did the other day--the other day to me can mean yesterday or three years ago, by the way--about this idea). It adds the dimension (or dementia...) of trust in community in social networking and sales. We don't buy Oprah's picks because she's a literary expert but because we (and I'm using a preacher's we) trust her as a person. Even the experts I go to for advice (Mary DeMuth's So You Wanna Be Published, Camy's Story Sensai, Randy's Advanced Writing), I go to because either I met the blogger or because of trusted word-of-mouth.
Which is what you're saying, I know, but what can I say? I'm an external processor.
(And I know that you wouldn't offer financial advice--or I assume as much since you've never spoken of it before. That was more of an extreme example.)

I feel honored that you included me here. Thank you.
A lot depends on what the advice is. The people you listed up there I'd trust for book recommendations, writing advice, thoughts (challenges, encouragements) regarding ministry, music, art work (in other words, all things important to me personally), but I'm not sure that I'd take their financial advice. No offense intended, but if I don't know about your finances (and I'm not asking you to share), I'll probably trust someone who's financial situation I'm more familiar with when it comes to buying stock options.
By the way, I saw The High Calling table at the art conference I went to this past week. I was hoping to run into you and kept stopping by the table, but alas, no Mark. (The guy at the table was always chatting with someone--yay!--but I didn't want to interrupt to ask if you were there.)

I'm a huge fan of the movie, Hero. Sobbed at the end. Beautiful story. Aesthetic cinematography. Amazing acting.
I'm catching up on blogs, so I haven't read yet Randy's on high concept. I'm not sure I understand the difference. It made me clench my jaw, though, that Pride and Prejudice is not considered high concept even if I don't know what it means! Maybe I should read before reacting ;)

The Church and postmodern culture blog had a good post about art and faith the other day and how when we impose our faith, it often becomes sentimental, which I think is what we're all fighting against (being sentimental, that is, which is not faith or theology). He says the key link is liturgy and sacraments. I agree. Which is perhaps why I have become Anglican.
Notice how I deflected with a brilliant link addressing the beginning of your post and completely ignoring the dialogue you posted because if I were to make some astute comment on the dialogue, about as far as I could go would be, "Huh?"

Ah-ha. So this is why you write sci-fi.
In all seriousness, your reflections on standing firm hit me today (in a place I'd rather them not hit). I started a Bible study at my church. The intention was in this 6-weeks to not only study this particular story (Abraham and Sarah) but to also practice it (namely, the theme of spilling out God's good into the earth). We would together choose a way to fight injustice in our community, particularly by working with a group our church partners with (i.e. a homeless shelter or an orphanage).
I had high hopes for six weeks.
Not many people showed up in the beginning. Even fewer committed. But committed we did. We chose a particular organization and contacted them. We're ready! How can we help?
Um, we don't really need anything right now. Not short-term.
Oh, well, okay.
I called someone else. We're ready! How can we help?
Great. We need help decorating a table and selling tickets for a fund-raising event.
Decorating tables? How on earth is that fighting oppression?
Let me fast-forward to the end. Tonight we're having a dinner to "celebrate" the end of the study. And I've been surprised at what God's teaching me.
Yes, we have to fight to get out of our comfort zones, take a risk, push aside the busyness of life, and work toward social justice. And I will say that I never expected to "fix" anything in six weeks. My hope was that by doing this one project, it could lead to a greater understanding of how we can be involved long-term.
But God stepped in to teach me some things. These things happened to be best described by what you said above--standing firm. We can't wait to serve God, to make His mark in this world. Most of the time, our intentions are good, our desires are good. The question is, will we stand firm when nothing seems to happen?
I've talked too much. I'll shut up now.

Didn't know he's a pilot. That helps.

Love the poem.
Just one more day!