- in the midst of our afternoon walk, dizzy shit in front of her favorite convent. i was not surprised to find foreign objects in her excrement. foreign objects that i have found thus far: pieces of electrical cord, splinters of wood, remnants of my 180 earmuffs, fragments of richard russo's nobody's fool, and tassels from the red and black blanket that becky made us. of all the foreign objects, the tassels are my favorite, since they tend to suspend pieces of her shit and that makes for quite a show.
- kellie and i watched eternal sunshine of the spotless mind again on sunday night. the more i watch and reflect on this film, the more i appreciate it. i love how the story is able to raise metaphysical questions (i.e., the possibility of determinism, the possibility of providence) without ignoring the blundering beauty of the humanity (note the themes of forgiveness, self-awareness and reconciliation). if our preaching, teaching and creating could evidence such a skillful balance of "vertical" and "horizontal" issues, our communities would undoubtedly benefit.
- i decided to surprise a friend by buying two tickets to the upcoming folds/wainright tour for his birthday. the tickets set me back $95. i thought the tickets were a bit overpriced at $35, but it was ticketmasters' $8.50 surcharge per seat that really pissed me off. if folds doesn't score the second, substantially longer set, i am going to bolt. mark, you know i love you if i am willing not only to deal with rufus and his puffy shirt wearing, poof ass, but also pay for the tickets.
- warning: the cardinals are not as spectacular as they appear. their pitching has been mediocre and will have to improve if they are going to make a run in october.
- in better news, gordon edes of the globe reported that the cubs are seriously considering firing dusty baker and replacing him with grady little. this cardinal fan is praying that this will indeed happen and is going to bed with dreams of brock for broglio dancing in his head.
- from the wtf files: after listening to the order of the phoenix on audiobook and reading the first half of the goblet of fire i have become a harry potter fan. i will undoubtedly buy the next book and cannot wait for the movie version of goblet.
- i read an article by john macarthur on crosswalk.com yesterday that sent me up the wall. i was simply shocked by how much my understanding of salvation and judgment differ from his. if you want to read the article, and try to figure out which parts pissed me off, you can find it here.
What a Beautiful Place to Call Home
2 weeks ago
9 comments:
Yes, while the prospect of Grady Little coaching the Cubs is a sort of 'cream in your jeans' excitement for Cards fans, it is undoubtedly another opportunity for me to shit in mine.
indeed, dr. james. i think what the cubs really need at this point is to have a skipper who runs his starters into the ground. wait...
grady little needs to be in kansas city guys...come on. it's obvious he's the perfect fit there.
without a doubt, uncle cade.
as dr. james reminded me earlier, somebody once said that grady little would win a world series with another team before the sox won one. i wish that wasn't false, but it was.
guess that guy wasn't a prophet or the son of a prophet:)
um...i meant i wish it was false. stupid grammar.
Gentry,
Your pessimism amazes me. Our pitching is 2 levels above last year. Our starting 5 are among the top starting 5 in the league.
Name a team with its top 3 starters going 18-3. With our #4 we are still 23-6. Ridiculous for this point in a season.I don't have time to check the Marlins or White Sox to verify the info. It may be hyperbole, but I doubt it.
Carpenter is a half step above last year. Morris is like he was 3 years ago and Mulder is the Mulder of every year before 2004.
You mentioned in an old blog how worried you were about the Braves pitching (below ours, but good), the Astros pitching (pathetic besides Clemons with such a bad offense that it does not matter) and your beloved Proir leading Cubs (Prior is no better than #2 or #3 on the Cards this year. Zambrano is below our #1).
Only the Marlins are to be a concern.
Sure things can go south, but they always acan for any team. This is the best pitching I have seen top to bottom in a long time (granted the bullpen is a concern- but whose isn't. Plus Izzy is not blowing saves like they were bubbelicious like the rest of the closers- oh yeah, I want Lidge or Foulke or Kolb).
You have become to Bostonian in your cheering for the Cards. Midwesterners are supposed to be unfailingly positive.
Less jaded, more optimist. But, of course I am also a Spurs fan.
there are reasons for my pessimism. namely, i have been watching the games.
two out of mulder's last three outings have been subpar (one against the royals (!) who whipped him like a red-headed stepchild), marquis can't seem to find the strike zone and suppan is as vulnerable as a catholic schoolgirl with a drinking problem. the cardinals are only one game over .500 against teams outside of the central and their run differential suggests that they are evenly matched with florida, atlanta and chicago.
so...they're a good team, but they are far from a great team. only time will tell whether they can work their way deep into october. at this point, either florida or atlanta would give them a run for their money.
as for the 'stros, they still have the pitching. it isn't clemens or oswalt's fault that bagwell's shoulder is falling off or berkman drank too much whiskey before a southern baptist picnic.
with regard to the cubs, i was wrong. on paper they have the best starting rotation in the country. but the vulnerability of prior and woods' elbows and zambrano's addiction to "emailing his brother" (right...) has left their well pretty dry. i love how the BBTN guys were talking about zambrano closing. i think that's a horrible idea. front line starters are almost always more valuable than stoppers.
what about it...can little lead the little bears to the world series?
who,
thanks for stopping by. both time and sanity suggest that i should not get to deep into this matter. that being said, when daddy mac said, "The issue, may I remind you, is justification by faith alone. Those who do not adhere to that fundamental biblical doctrine are not going to heaven," i got more than a little frustrated. my doubts about and differences with this assertion are many. here are a few:
1. the context of this statement, which focuses on evangelical's uncritical acceptance of roman catholics as brothers and sisters in Christ, suggests that this polemic is yet another example of the anti-catholic bigotry that has reared its head from time to time throughout protestant history. this adversarial position concerning catholicism is problematic for a number of reasons, including: the fact that Luther and Calvin themselves were not interested in condemning the RCC as much as they were of reforming it; after ecumenical meetings with the Lutherans in the late 90s the RCC basically stated that they affirm justification by faith alone; such a litmus test for faith would position the great majority of current catholics outside of the faith and would force us to question the salvation of catholics throughout history (including St. Benedict, St. Francis, St. Theresa, St. John, etc.).
2. This kind of certainty concerning who is "in" and "out" of heaven suggests that daddy mac and his fundamentalists friends have unmitigated access to the Lamb's book of life. It is our job as pastors of Christ's church to point people to Christ, whom Scripture proclaims as the only way to salvation. However, it is not our job to elevate one view of justification to such a degree that we alienate the great majority of the saints throughout the ages.
In the end, I find MacArthur's unflinching certainty regarding God's economy of salvation and his barely disguised anti-catholicism (is it any surprise that this revised article reappeared shortly after JPII's death?) troubling. I want to say that this type of thought is more characteristic of a fundamentalist than an evangelical, but I could be wrong.
peace.
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