Well ... Happenings

Well ... Happenings

Well ... it is Thursday nite here in the desert. I am sitting on my porch enjoying the incredible evening air and the moonlight listening to Metallica's new CD (Death Magnetic). In many ways it is classic Metallica with some songs that are akin to speed metal and may grow old on you if you are "old." Songs like "The Day That Never Comes," "The Unforgiven III" and the "The Judas Kiss" however are deeply moving songs at least to me.

Well ... today is my dad's birthday. I called him up to wish him a happy one and all he wanted to do was ask about how my struggles were going. I tried to brush that off but dad is ... well dad. He is patient and I think feels more helpless than I do (if that is possible) ... Happy birthday.

Well ... my computer is now completely bug free and practically new ... thanks Paul

Well ... I was rereading the Gospel of John this week and was once again totally impressed with two things: just how Jewish Jesus really is and how important the "Exodus" traditions are to the writer. John begins in his Prologue by point to the "Old Testament" as the place to find salient features of Jesus' life. Three major compass points perhaps are to be pointed out: Jesus' passion is cast in terms of the passover; the wilderness wanderings are woven in various places with Jesus' life; and Jesus and the tabernacle/temple are linked. The central part of the Exodus remembered by Jews was the slaughter of the Passover Lamb. Jesus is explicitly identified as the "lamb of God" (1.29, 36). John alone records that Jesus' legs were not broken and then applies words about the Passover lamb to Jesus (Ex 12.46 in Jn 19.36). Then unlike the Synoptics John has the death of Jesus at the time of the slaughter of the lamb (John 13.1; 19.31). The blood of the Passover lamb was the marker of the salvation of the people of God. I will pass over comment on the other two themes for lack of space ...

Well ... I have been particularly agitated/ticked since Monday afternoon. No need to go into the story but sometimes you really feel like asking God when the BS will stop. BUT then I was thinking, and I do think this was the hand of God, that I am still a blessed person. I was feeling really persecuted on Tuesday but on that day I got a phone call from Jan and Daryl from Milwaukee that really cheered me, got an email from Lisa from Abilene, and Wednesday John Mark called, last night Jeanne Holt was giving me a hard time ... well you know it is good to have friends. I still do not understand and my agitation is still there but there are people out there who have been cursed to walk this world with out friends and ... well they are just poor wretches and I am grateful for friends and family. "A friend loves at all times and a brother is born for adversity" (Pr 17.17, NIV)

Well ... what am I reading? I just finished James H. Charlesworth's How Barisat Bellowed: Folklore, Humor, and Iconography in the Jewish Apocalypses and the Apocalypse of John (The Dead Sea Scrolls & Christian Origins Library, Vol. 3) and started Alec Baldwin's A Promise to Ourselves: A Journey through Fatherhood and Divorce and have been laughing through Gary Larson's The Complete Farside

Well ... that's all folks ...

Seeking Shalom,
Bobby V