Saturday, December 07, 2002
It is Saturday. Ruben had a piano recital today- he played Jingle Bells, without any sheet music.
Our friend Deborah is making ginger bread houses with our kids right now - she said, "It is odd for a Jewish girl to be making ginger bread houses." I am not sure why, but it seems like a good way to finish Hanukah to me.
Our friends the Snyder’s are coming over tonight with their three kids, Shelley is making Chicken Noodle soup.
Lance is going to tell us about his trip to Africa and the Sudan over the last couple of weeks.
Our friend Deborah is making ginger bread houses with our kids right now - she said, "It is odd for a Jewish girl to be making ginger bread houses." I am not sure why, but it seems like a good way to finish Hanukah to me.
Our friends the Snyder’s are coming over tonight with their three kids, Shelley is making Chicken Noodle soup.
Lance is going to tell us about his trip to Africa and the Sudan over the last couple of weeks.
Friday, December 06, 2002
I spent the last three days with my son Taylor's 6th grade class at an environmental retreat in Wisconsin. the retreat was great. There were about 80 students from his "class team". My cabin was 10 boys.
The retreat was very interesting and fun, a wonderful thing for any school to do, but especially for a public school. We have really gr4eat school around here.
In fact, one of the teachers, Mrs. Gardner, a hip 28-30 year old was a real encouragement and blessed the children. I am still coming to grips with her effect on all the kids and may write more latter.
The thing that was running through my mind in the last day, was from the "night walk". We were spending time outside getting use to the dark - there is a different way of seeing in the dark.
During one of the experiments in the dark we each put a winto-fresh life saver in our mouth and crunched it. It created flashes of light, "lighting in the mouth".
The instructor said that when there is pressure the life saver brakes apart and the energy creates a reaction with something in the life saver and it makes a spark. So we spent time talking about the energy released in the deconstruction process.
This sent my mind racing to a seminar that Tony Jones and I led at Youth Specialties conventions this fall where we talked about the role of deconstruction. The "Breaking of Nut Shells" as we called it.
There was during these seminars as always concern that two much energy is used to deconstruct and we should be building and not so "owly" about everything.
Well, during the lighting in the mouth, I was thinking about how the use of energy to deconstruct was creating more energy, to be used in a different way. Then I was thinking about nuclear energy and the splitting of atoms for energy, a subject I now want to spend a bit more time looking at.
Maybe that is part of what is happening in the world of faith and religion. Maybe we are not wasting out time and being negative in this deconstruction (asking and looking at what is in our little "nut shells), rather, we might be creating a new kind of energy for other purposes.
The retreat was very interesting and fun, a wonderful thing for any school to do, but especially for a public school. We have really gr4eat school around here.
In fact, one of the teachers, Mrs. Gardner, a hip 28-30 year old was a real encouragement and blessed the children. I am still coming to grips with her effect on all the kids and may write more latter.
The thing that was running through my mind in the last day, was from the "night walk". We were spending time outside getting use to the dark - there is a different way of seeing in the dark.
During one of the experiments in the dark we each put a winto-fresh life saver in our mouth and crunched it. It created flashes of light, "lighting in the mouth".
The instructor said that when there is pressure the life saver brakes apart and the energy creates a reaction with something in the life saver and it makes a spark. So we spent time talking about the energy released in the deconstruction process.
This sent my mind racing to a seminar that Tony Jones and I led at Youth Specialties conventions this fall where we talked about the role of deconstruction. The "Breaking of Nut Shells" as we called it.
There was during these seminars as always concern that two much energy is used to deconstruct and we should be building and not so "owly" about everything.
Well, during the lighting in the mouth, I was thinking about how the use of energy to deconstruct was creating more energy, to be used in a different way. Then I was thinking about nuclear energy and the splitting of atoms for energy, a subject I now want to spend a bit more time looking at.
Maybe that is part of what is happening in the world of faith and religion. Maybe we are not wasting out time and being negative in this deconstruction (asking and looking at what is in our little "nut shells), rather, we might be creating a new kind of energy for other purposes.
Tuesday, December 03, 2002
My friend andrew mentioned me on his blog - tallskinnykiwi last Saturday.
What an honor. I will sleep well this night.
It is Tuesday. I am at an event that I am helped plan with Bethel Seminary called The Communicators Series. The idea is for pastors to learn from other disciplines about communication. We are learning about film creation today. My friend Chris Seay, who came in town yesterday, is going to spend the afternoon guiding us in a discussion of film making and communication in ministry.
Anyway, in the middle of things I had this need to write in my blog, no real reason, just thinking about it – I guess I am hooked.
A couple of things have been racing through my mind lately about consumerism and the commodification of inspired ideas.
It seem to me that if any of us are inspired with ideas from God, or even from our past or people, that those ideas do not belong to us, they are for the benefit of others. For the thoughts inspired by God, they are for kingdom purposes, and they are not ours to own and make money from.
I am really wondering about the issue of being an author, paid for ideas. And the selling of those ideas to publishers to own and distribute at there discression.
I really believe that when people write they should be paid for the work of writing, but they are not “intellectual property” to be owned by the author.
I guess I feel that we should be led by a different system then the commodifying ideas that are for the benefit of the kingdom.
The really weird part is that I think this needs to written in a book and shared more broadly, but I cannot conceive of a way to not commodify the idea of the need to not commodify ideas.
Maybe that is the benefit of a blog.
It is butt cold in Minneapolis today, 5 degrees Fahrenheit today.
Anyway, in the middle of things I had this need to write in my blog, no real reason, just thinking about it – I guess I am hooked.
A couple of things have been racing through my mind lately about consumerism and the commodification of inspired ideas.
It seem to me that if any of us are inspired with ideas from God, or even from our past or people, that those ideas do not belong to us, they are for the benefit of others. For the thoughts inspired by God, they are for kingdom purposes, and they are not ours to own and make money from.
I am really wondering about the issue of being an author, paid for ideas. And the selling of those ideas to publishers to own and distribute at there discression.
I really believe that when people write they should be paid for the work of writing, but they are not “intellectual property” to be owned by the author.
I guess I feel that we should be led by a different system then the commodifying ideas that are for the benefit of the kingdom.
The really weird part is that I think this needs to written in a book and shared more broadly, but I cannot conceive of a way to not commodify the idea of the need to not commodify ideas.
Maybe that is the benefit of a blog.
It is butt cold in Minneapolis today, 5 degrees Fahrenheit today.
Monday, December 02, 2002
