Jesus loves you, but his Dad thinks you're a...

I stole this from Halden's blog...it's seriously funny!

22...So Far, So Good!

I just turned 22 and what a birthday it was!

I got back from my Modern Theology night class to find this taped on my door (A quote from Bridget Jones, of course):


My apartment was full of lots of Bridget balloons (I think this one is the, "I like you very much, just as you are" quote):
and a table full of candles. Thanks, guys!
That weekend we headed to Chicago for my all-time favorite musical, Wicked! Laura likes to take pictures of herself while she's driving.

They couldn't open the doors fast enough! The anticipation was killing me.EEeeeeeeeeee! :)


We spent way too much money on tee-shirts. :)

And then we finished off the weekend with some great Mexican food with Laura's mom and aunt.

Seriously, what can beat Bridget and Wicked? 22 is great so far.

Saved from Clouds and Harps

I checked the Generous Orthodoxy Think Tank this morning and found that Kevin Corcoran had posted a link to a Time interview with NT Wright about his new book, Suprised by Hope. After reading the interview, I can't say how excited I am to read his book. Wright talks about how we got it wrong with the view of Heaven as some sort of ethereal, disembodied existence. I don't know about you, but I find this a colossal relief. The life everlasting had never much appealed to me until somebody explained the doctrine of the Trinity and life as participation in the love of God and I found out that Heaven was real and earthy and I would still be myself.
It was kind of funny, because in his sermon this morning Jack remarked, "I don't want to just exist forever, that would be hell!" We were created to live forever...in real communion.

The Resurrection and the Life

I thought this selection from Jack's sermon a couple weeks ago was particularly thought-provoking...just wanted to share. :)

You see, secularism, Christianity criticizes it not because it doesn’t sufficiently comfort people in this dying. It does it all too well. Christianity’s quarrel with this acceptance and normalizing of death is that it has turned God’s creation into a cosmic cemetery. It has simply eliminated God and accepted death, normalized it. And there is something so profound – so telling about the fact that the Prince of Peace, the Life, the Resurrection – seeing death, seeing grief – His heart shatters. He is deeply moved in spirit to see what the principalities of darkness and powers have done to God’s creation. We have a quarrel with death. Jesus is come not to ease our way into dying He has come to trample death to death.