In a mirror, dimly

It’s been an absolute age since I last did one, so here’s this week’s Friday Five:

1. How are you planning to spend the summer?

Working, and preparing to start into a 2 year distance learning ministry training course being run through the Vineyard Leadership Institute. I’ll finish off making the flowerbed in the back garden sometime in the next few weeks, and maybe I’ll release a couple more versions of Chronicle Lite.

2. What was your first summer job?

I worked in a local supermarket, initially stacking shelves then moved to the bakery counter.

3. If you could go anywhere this summer, where would you go?

Anywhere at all? I want to visit New Zealand: take a tour of the locations that Peter Jackson used when shooting the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. That, and spend some quality time soaking up sun and surf on the beach.

4. What was your worst vacation ever?

I was a youngster, probably 9 or 10. My little sister and I were meant to stay a couple of weeks with one of our older sisters. At some point early in the vacation we talked to our parents on the phone and my mother asked, “so, are you missing us?” and I didnt know what to answer — a lose/lose situation since Stephanie (my older sis) was watching/listening. Anyhow, I said “yes we are” and the next day we found ourselves packed into a car and shipped right back to our parents house … vacation cut short.

5. What was your best vacation ever?

Hard decision. Took Alison to see the “Phantom of the Opera” in San Antonio (TX) for our 6th wedding anniversary. We spent a few days in the town and it was wonderful. The other possible answer was when we spent a week in San Diego (CA) to celebrate our wedding anniversary. The best thing about having an anniversary at the start of August is how lovely the weather can be!

We went on our first ever float trip this weekend. Within the first 5 minutes we had all managed to crash into a tree and capsize. Being dumped unceremoniously into the river so early on was a great introduction - what else could beat that, if we survived that, how could anything else be worse? It all settled and we had fun for the rest o fthe day with a number of other capsizes to our credit.

As expected all of the other campers mentioned my snore over breakfast of the second day. The only person it seemed to bother was one of the others sharing the 4 man tent I was in. Ho Hum. Guess he and I wont be camping again, at least not in the same tent!

The family we were with said at a couple of points (as our stuff was floating off downstream after a capsize) “we told you not to bring anything you werent prepared to lose to the river” … I brought my life, and I definitely wasnt prepared to nearly lose that on the river! At one narrow bend of the river on the second day, a fallen tree blocked all but about a 3 foot pathway. The current was rushing and the canoe ahead of us hit the tree, dumped everyone and almost went under. Somehow they all held on, keeping it upright. That lasted only a few seconds until we hit them full speed as we missed our line. It was messy - canoes and people tangled in the tree and stuff bobbing off down the river with some force thanks to the current.

I have to say I saw God’s hand over it all. As we aproached, one of the other canoe’s occupants moved to the right about 12 inches. The front of our canoe slammed into theirs right where his head would have been only seconds before - I had visions of it splitting like a ripe melon on impact. Gross, I know, but in that split second before impact everything seems to take on a surreal quality. One of the other canoe’s occupants was about 6 months pregnant, and although she got bashed around by canoes, it ammounted to bruises and scraped at shoulder level and above: baby was fine. Alison was in my canoe, and she claims to have no memory of events other than slamming into the other canoe and then being the other side of the tree and grabbing onto our cooler as it floated past. This acted as a floatation aid as the current carried her away downstream, until someone pulled her into shore.

I wasnt so lucky - I went under the first tree trunk, found there was a second, then got snagged into the mess of tangled vines and branches trailing off downstream. Very scary, given the current. Panic set in. I called for help but no-one else could get to there thanks to the current and depth. I prayed as I pulled on the branches in front of me, and they suddenly shifted, allowing me to move a foot or so downstream into a new tangle. A second time I pulled, prayed and shifted only to finally end up in a loop of vine that went all the way back to the trunk 5 feet upstream behind my head. I was gulping air - panic driven shallow breaths - trying to find my footing and fighting to get free. Prayer was specifically answered when for no other reason than the prayer the vine untangled from the tree trunk, it slip[ped through my hands and I slipped out to tumble off downstream.

I swam to the bank and landed on my hands and knees, offering heartfelt thanks for making it through! Not only did everyone survive, but all of our stuff was recovered downstream.

And, in other news (not wanting to say “I told you so”, but…)

Row over sexuality splits church
By Alex Kirby
(from BBC News Online)

Appointments of several gay men as church leaders are testing Anglican tolerance almost to breaking point.

I expected the new archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, to steer a course different to his predecessor but this is rather worrying. Rev David Phillips (general secretary of the UK’s Church Society, which represents evangelical Anglicans) told BBC News Online

We think a split is inevitable, both within the church of England and the whole communion. We’re surprised at [an openly gay man, Canon Jeffrey John, being appointed as assistant bishop of Reading] - we wouldn’t have expected it so soon, and it shows how things are changing under Rowan Williams.

People like Canon John are sincere, and both sides are convinced they’re right, so I can’t see any way forward. I don’t think the Anglican fudge can work in the long term.

Christianity Today, June 2003 reports

No Religion-Based Zoning
Illinois Vineyard church wins right to worship in its own building.
By Bob Smietana in Chicago

The same story was reported elsewhere also

Churches Fighting Restrictive Zoning Laws
Bob Smietana
Religion News Service

and

Victory for Vineyard no solution to conflict
By Andy Nelson
May 02, 2003

If you go back in time, Christianity Today, back in October 26, 1998, reported the start of the story

Illinois City Bars Worship at Vineyard-owned Facility
by Verla Gillmor in Evanston

The church in question - Evanston Vineyard - has a website. The articles mention the executive pastor of the church - Bill - whose bio is available online.

So, voyeurism of the day: I am filling in the forms for VLI and there are 2 essay questions to answer. Thought readers might be interested in seeing the first of the answers:

Q: Give an account of your conversion to Christ or the nature of your Christian experience.

My spiritual search was kicked off by an experience of the presence of God in an Intervarsity Christian meeting during my first year of University, November of 1988. I knew internally that “they” were in touch with this presence and I wasn’t. I joined a small-group bible study and was a very outspoken thorn in their side as I grappled with biblical truth, wanting to learn and experience more.

I made a conscious commitment to Christ on May 28th 1989. Members of the bible study group made an issue of going to church - they told me that going to Intervarsity meetings and the bible study “isn’t enough” and after a period of fighting them I finally agreed to go. First was an Anglican church, who it turned out were celebrating communion that night. Though it wasn’t explicitly mentioned, there was an internal check in me saying not to partake. I visited my parents the following week and tried out a nearby evangelical free church (small and very conservative), which too was celebrating communion. I returned to university and the following week (May 28th) visited the local charismatic church only to find the Sunday sermon was on communion: 3 churches in 3 weeks, from 3 different traditions … I finally got the message! God was clearly present I felt a clear (internal) communication that “if I start taking communion today, I can never stop, this is a lifelong commitment”. I prayed a very non-traditional (but heartfelt) prayer of commitment and externalized that prayer, recognizing Christ’s death in my place, by taking communion for the first time that Sunday.

It’s not enough to be biblically literate, we must be biblically obedient also.

— John Wimber

Couldnt agree more!

Have you noticed how people’s blog almost always seems to involve them opening up great swathes of their personal life for all onlookers? It’s almost embarrassing sometimes to arrive at a blog and find the person giving the gory details of their most recent date, or agonizing over a crush that they have on a coworker / school friend. Is it the voyeurism of society that drives that kind of blog into the stratosphere in terms of its hit count, syndication and overall popularity?

Link followed link, thanks to Alison, and I ended up encountering both the dullest blog in the world and the hilarious “born twice” section on Ship of Fools, with user submitted clerical look-alikes. Particular favourites of mine were John Cleese and Os Guinness, Jar Jar Binks and J. I. Packer, Dr Who and St John Vianney and last but definitely not least, former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr George Carey and Mr. Rumbold from “Are you being served”

The author of the ReiserFS filesystem for Linux (or GNU/Linux if you prefer) wrote:

Software Libre Takes More Than A License — It Takes A Design

Making the source code available to you is not enough by itself to bring you all of the possible benefits of software libre. Many file systems are so difficult to modify that only someone who has worked with the code for years finds it feasible to modify it, and even then small changes can take months of labor due to their ripple effects on the other code and the difficulties of dealing with disk format changes.

This is why we have a plugin based architecture in Reiser4, so that it is not just possible, but easy, to improve the software.

In writing this he managed to codify something that I have been thinking for a while. I was planning to add a plugin architecture for Chronicle Lite and this only fuels the fire. There are optional add-ons for the application that I wanted to release as self-contained plugins - would be wonderful to drop a JAR file into the application directory and have it find them auto-magically on startup.

Last week’s Friday Five:

1. How many times have you truly been in love?

I will either plead the 5th or, fall back on a great quote that I heard about marriage: you have to fall in love many, many times over … all with the same woman!

Ammendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

2. What was/is so great about the person you love(d) the most?

First thing that comes to mind is that she puts up with me! I like the fact that the love is backed up with a deep connection, a bond only a life-partner can offer.

3. What qualities should a significant other have?

Female. Pulse.

4. Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

Probably, many times over, but I doubt it.

5. If there was one thing you could teach people about love, what would it be?

Love Bites - Def Leppard

If you’ve got love in your sights
Watch out, love bites

When you make love, do you look in the mirror?
Who do you think of, does he look like me?
Do you tell lies and say that it’s forever?
Do you think twice, or just touch ‘n’ see?
Oooh babe

When you’re alone, do you let go?
Are you wild ‘n’ willin’ or is it just for show?
Ooh c’mon

I don’t wanna touch you too much baby
Cause making love to you might drive me crazy
I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don’t wanna be there when you decide to break it
No

Love bites, love bleeds
It’s bringin’ me to my knees
Love lives, love dies
It’s no surprise
Love begs, love pleads
It’s what I need

When I’m with you, are you somewhere else?
Am I gettin’ thru or do you please yourself?
When you wake up, will you walk out?
It can’t be love if you throw it about

I don’t wanna touch you too much baby
‘Cos making love to you might drive me crazy

Love bites, love bleeds
It’s bringin’ me to my knees
Love lives, love dies
It’s no surprise
Love begs, love pleads
It’s what I need

I don’t wanna touch you too much baby
‘Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don’t wanna be there when you decide to break it
No

Love bites, love bleeds
It’s bringin’ me to my knees
Love lives, love dies

Love bites, love bleeds
It’s bringin’ me to my knees
Love lives, love dies
It’s no surprise
Love begs, love pleads
It’s what I need

If you’ve got love in your sights
Watch out, love bites

(Yes it does, bloody hell)

Went to see “Finding Nemo” this afternoon and, just like in “The Matrix Reloaded” you need to sit through the whole credits! They are a hoot - someone had fun animating them. The movie itself was great with small references in there to both “Toy Story” and “Monsters Inc”. If you spot the references to the other movies, leave comments but I am thinking of 2 specific instances… there may be more!