such small hands

Changes

I put in a request with my social worker this week to transfer from the dialysis unit in Troy, where I've been going for the past two years, to the unit in Royal Oak.

Two years ago, I guess I thought the Troy unit would be more convenient to my office. I wasn't thinking about it being 10 miles from home and how long that drive home would become on many nights. Depending on how many traffic lights I hit, it takes me anywhere from 17 to 25 minutes to drive home. When I leave the unit at 9 p.m. or later, that makes for a late arrival home. Not fun.

Anyway, that was my thinking behind requesting the change. So my name has been put on the waiting list for a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday spot. Openings come up all the time. People move, or change times. People die.

The new location is about 10 minutes, max, from my house. I will have to ask my boss if I can leave work earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays, however, because the latest the Royal Oak unit starts treatments is 3:45. But that means I could be getting home before 9 p.m. instead of after.

A New Direction for Spirit Scholars

Detroit Free Press religion writer and friend of this blog, David Crumm, is starting a new online venture called ReadtheSpirit.com. Since he describes the site’s purpose better than I ever could, here is an excerpt from his e-mail:

For a year now, leading up to today’s launch, we've formed a network of dozens of professionals across the U.S. who, over the next year, are working to make www.ReadTheSpirit.com a “must stop” location for anyone interested in spiritual media.

Phase 1.0, which “goes live” today, is the daily “Voice” of what will unfold into a major, multi-faceted Web hub celebrating the best in religious voices — along with interactive areas coming later this fall where you can connect your communities, your students, your friends with other people and their fascinating religious perspectives.

While the subject matter is not limited to Christianity, ReadTheSpirit should be of interest to any Christian who wants to stay in tune with what’s happening in matters of faith and spirituality.

Today is My Birthday!!

There won't be much celebrating, since this is a dialysis night and Ken is in Dallas at a Delta V conference. But like a good husband, he made sure I was well-remembered before he went out of town. He gave me the third season of "The Office" on DVD and a sweet little portable DVD player so that now I can watch movies while I'm at dialysis. I swear, the thing is about the size of my Bible. Wow. First on the bill: a "Lord of the Rings" marathon.

From my darling daughter, I got a long phone call while she was home for lunch.

It's been a good day.

Books: The Case for the Real Jesus

“The Case for the Real Jesus” by Lee Strobel. Zondervan, 2007.

Christian journalist-apologist Lee Strobel adds another in his list of “The Case of …” books with this new title exploring answers to some of the new challenges facing Christianity in recent years.

In this new volume, Strobel takes on questions such as:
• Did Christianity copy its beliefs about Jesus from pagan religions?
• Are ancient documents such as the Gnostic gospels as credible as the four Gospels in the canon?
• Was Jesus an imposter who failed to fulfill the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament?
• Why can’t people just pick and choose what to believe about Jesus?

Strobel uses his tried-and-true method of interviewing scholarly experts in biblical studies, philosophy, textual criticism and other fields. Far from being dry and esoteric, Strobel’s tone is conversational, approachable and memorable.

As scholars once again present well-documented, logical evidence to support the historicity of the resurrection and the reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, you might wonder why Strobel is going over the same ground again.

But if you’ve been paying attention to current events, you’d know how in recent years the best-seller lists and TV have been populated with all sorts of challenges to orthodox Christianity, from “The Da Vinci Code,” to the alleged discovery of Jesus’ ossuary near Jerusalem, to the Gospel of Judas. These “new” discoveries and allegations have shaken the faith of some and caused others to scoff at Christianity anew.

If you know anyone in your life like that, this book would be for them.

Strobel’s interviewees include Craig A. Evans, Ph.D., biblical studies professor and author of “Fabricating Jesus: How Modern Scholars Distort the Gospel,” and Daniel B. Wallace, Ph. D., author of “Reinventing Jesus” and an expert on textual criticism.

Such scholars and experts take on challenges from critics ranging from Dan Brown and Michael Baigent to Bart Ehrman, the Jesus Seminar, Muslim apologists and postmodern syncretists.

Because of its thorough answers and reader-friendliness, this book would be a valuable addition to a church library and certainly any individual Christian who cares about defending his faith. This is the sort of sound historical apologetics every Christian should know.

Early in the book, David Wallace, the New Testament expert and textual critic, says something that hit me right between the eyes. He tells Strobel: “Christians are not being led into proper historical research by their pastors. I have been saying for some time that I don’t think the evangelical church has fifty years left of life to it until it repents. … We have to quit marginalizing scripture. We can’t treat the Bible with kid gloves. We really need to wrestle with the issues because our faith depends on it. … We need to quit turning Jesus into our buddy. He’s the sovereign Lord of the universe, and we need to understand that and respond accordingly.”

If we as Christians are going to wrestle with the issues that challenge our faith, “The Case for the Real Jesus” is a good place to begin.

Hornets' Nest

Well, we certainly had an interesting weekend. Saturday morning I noticed an unusual number of hornets or yellowjackets or something flying around our sliding glass door out to the deck. I pointed it out to Ken and we agreed the insects must have a nest in the area, maybe under the deck.

Ken gave them a good spraying with hornet killer, but by Monday it really hadn't had much effect. Ken reasoned that the nest was most likely under the step (which is basically a 3-sided box). He decided to flip the step over and have a look. I thought he should wait and cover up to protect himself from stings. But, fearless hornet killer that he is, Ken decided to just flip the step over and run like the dickens.

This is what we found. I can't imagine how long the critters were at work building their mansion, but I do know one thing that has me really creeped-out. I've been basically stepping on top of this thing every time I went out to the back yard this summer. Ew.

Ken pretty thoroughly dosed the nest with hornet killer and this morning there were only a couple of them still buzzing around. Oh, and during the night some other critter (a possum I think is most likely, or raccoon) tore open the hornets' nest.

Oh, the joys of wildlife in the middle of the city.