Big downer in our community.  Below are the details.  Here is the link: http://www.salemnews.com/local/x1617554686/2-under-arrest-in-Beverly-homicide.

June 18, 2010

2 under arrest in Beverly homicide

Homeless-on-homeless crime suspected, DA’s office says

By Bruno Matarazzo Jr. Staff Writer

BEVERLY — Two homeless men will be arraigned today on murder charges following the death of another homeless man at a shuttered rooming house near the post office downtown.

The 52-year-old man died at Beverly Hospital around 6 p.m., the Essex County district attorney’s office said. The victim was found by police and EMTs, who performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Eric Roberts, 33, and Michael Bryson, 49, were arrested shortly after police received the report. They will be arraigned today in Salem District Court.

No word on a possible motive or what led police to the two men.

Police learned of the crime when a friend of the victim went to the police station at 5:40 p.m. to report a possible homicide at the closed rooming house at 45 Broadway, said Stephen O’Connell, spokesman for the district attorney’s office.

Neighbors said the rooming house, which has 16 units, closed within the past month.

Access to the former dwelling was blocked by police tape as state police investigators waited outside for a warrant in order to begin processing the evidence.

Earlier in the evening, police and investigators began their operations around a public park directly across the street from the post office. None would speak about the investigation or the incident that prompted it.

Questions about what happened in the area were on the minds of many people last night, especially commuters getting off the commuter rail.

Taxi driver Ollie Marley said people had been asking him for hours what happened.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Marley would tell them.

Alexander Sharrett, 26, who lives near the crime scene, said he was walking home from work when he saw two men sitting on the bench that police investigators were so interested in last night.

Hours later when he came from the grocery store, the entire park was cordoned off with police tape.

“I didn’t think anything of it because I see the people sitting there all day,” Sharrett said.

Neighbors who knew the victim would always see him around the park area pushing a shopping carriage and collecting cans.

“He was harmless,” Sharrett said.

But, as you can see, learning about 2 topics that have been pretty foreign to me until last fall has contributed to keeping my blog relatively silent. But rest assure, although I could go on and on about politics, I find golf much more interesting because there is more concrete information to learn.  Politics is simply a glorified ad campaign centered around a person or group.

Work has been crazy the past few weeks as we just ended our fiscal quarter/year. I’m glad that is finally over and we are back to relative normalcy.

We’ve been taking a break for church the past month and a half as things have been super busy for all of us. Hopefully, we should begin meeting again. 10/4 marked a year that we’ve been gathering.

Kalila has been in classes for the past few weeks. She is taking 3 classes: 1 Monday evenings, 1 Tuesday/Thursday in the afternoon, and 1 Saturday mornings. Her Monday night class is her favorite. It’s an American Lit class I think, but her prof is very intelligent and can teach well. He actually taught them about Jonathan Edwards.

Right now I am at my sister’s house in the Seattle area. My dad and I are visiting my little niece Julia who is 16 months old. She is the cutest thing in the world I think. I’ll put some more pics up soon. Also got to visit Mars Hill Church yesterday. I’ll be back tomorrow to work a half day and get to see my wife for the first time in 4 days!

With regards to focus, I have been able to continually shift attention from the trees to the forest, to “see the microcosm in macro vision” (line from Depeche Mode song “Macro”). Taking a few steps back from analyzing topics and subtopics of thought into the greater panorama has facilitated my ability to ask more questions. This isn’t just with biblical studies either, this has been with many things in life. There is a great need for both macro exegesis and micro exegesis and an oscillating focus between the two for all areas of life. In particular for me, stepping back from the Bible and assessing the great methods (e.g. discourse analysis) and structures (i.e. historical-redemptive biblical theology) I have come to love has helped me to read the whole Bible in my head. I know that sounds funky, but hear me out. The Bible is a large collection of writings spanning 2000 years of people, nations, backgrounds, and events while employing at least a dozen different genres from about 40 different personalities. Familiarity with this kind of material takes lots of time, which is a major reason to read it consistently. For me, 4 years of a Biblical Studies degree and 3-5 years of a Master of Divinity degree have fostered a generous amount of familiarity. Now, it is impossible to read the whole Bible in an hour or even a day because there are simply too many words and too much information. But when one gains a certain degree of familiarity with the Bible (or anything for that matter), it is really an indication that a mental table of contents or index (or even concordance if you wish) has formed in their mind. Thus, when another person mentions a book of the Bible, or a character, or event, or topic, one can recall or mentally recapitulate whatever is mentioned. The contents of this index are varied for us all and are shaped by the methods and structures we were taught or employ. The more we read the Bible, the sharper and more comprehensive this index becomes (hopefully). This index is what we walk away from the Bible with and can allow us to “read” the Bible in our minds. We can “read” the Bible this way very quickly because of the miracle of instantly thumbing through our index. Thus, I think since I have had time away from “index-building” (or micro exegesis), I’ve had more time to review the index (running it through the logic filter) and ask more questions of it (macro exegesis). I have found this very refreshing and of greater value when I jump back into both my Bible and my books.

With regards to freedom, I have no obligations or demands on me to study which has allowed me to think freely; read less and think more. I still find myself drawn to certain people’s works like Meredith Kline, Gerhard Forde, N.T. Wright, and John Piper, but for the most part I’m trying to work out things on my own and in a small community of close friends. Granted, these friends are on the same page and entertain even the most ridiculous ideas I might have, but I have the freedom to be wrong. I taste much freedom also knowing that I need others. Boy does that take pressure off in the “theological project”.

I think much of what I am talking about has coalesced beautifully with our little home group/church on Tuesdays. It’s been an immense blessing to have a teaching outlet and an on-going discussion with wonderful saints that are relatively flexible and available.

A few months back however, I met up with my buddy Josh over at the cigar shop “The Federal Tobaccanist” in Portsmouth,NH. We had a great time looking around at their fine pipes and cigars. We were also engaged in a good cigar tutorial by the one of the helpful people that work there. Thus we spent a lot of time in their walk-in humidor checking out their vast aray of quality smokes. As I perused the room one last time before we left, I noticed the inside cover of a box that seemed strangely familiar to me. It took me no more than a second after I stopped to look to recollect where I had seen that design and color scheme. Take a look for yourself:

It was then I realized that one of the higher ups at Crossway involved with the marketing of the ESV must be a cigar smoker. What a clever guy. Josh agreed with me instantaneously. Don’t be fooled by the piety of those involved with the ESV. They are stealing their marketing ideas from a vintage cigar company. Keep that in mind the next time you open your ESV for devotions tomorrow. Hehe.

Although I can see how this job will open up many opportunities for me in the future, it certainly is not my first love. I do go into work everyday feeling a little empty inside, knowing that I want to do something else, namely, working full-time at a church. I want so badly to study Scripture and read all day, to have an open schedule so that I can meet with people all the time, and dreaming with saints about God and his glory spread to his people. I find it funny that I have gone into great debt and spent may years in theological education, while volunteering time for ministry with the goal of working in a church, yet nothing has opened up for me. Yet, I have no degree in business and just about 3 years of experience and I got 3 job offers in one day in early February. Figure that out. People are willing to pay me more money than I would make in most churches even though I have no where near the same level of qualifications.

Well, for now I am rolling with the providence alotted for me in Grace, and am stoked about the prospects of the Gospel in our area. We have a wonderful group of saints gathering on Tuesdays now in Haverhill. In the sixth month of our habitual meeting, I have encountered Christ in very sweet levels. Praise be to him for is infinite power and grace and wisdom to channel his waterfall in the greatest direction possible. Soli Deo Gloria.

Explosion rocks Danvers, several hurt, none seriously

By Kathy McCabe, Donovan Slack, Christine McConville and Kay Lazar, Globe Staff

A major chemical explosion at an industrial park in Danvers shook several North Shore towns this morning, knocking homes off foundations and damaging buildings up to 1/4 mile away, according to witnesses and fire officials.

At least 10 people have been taken to local hospitals, but no one was killed and none of the injuries are life-threatening, said Danvers Fire Chief Jim Tutko.

People felt the blast as far away as New Hampshire, and State Representative Theodore C. Speliotis called it a “miracle” that no one died. “There’s no other word for it,” Speliotis said

The explosion at about 2:45 a.m. at the CAI, Inc. company shattered windows, knocked in doors and leveled several homes and businesses, damaging an estimated 60 buildings. Fire has been restricted to the chemical plant in the Danversport industrial park where solvents and ink are produced.

Frances Fratus heard a noise that sounded like “thunder” that knocked her out of bed. She looked out her window about 500 yards from the explosion and saw “a giant ball of fire, going up about 100 feet in the air.”

“The impact blew in all our cellar windows and my front door was blown out,” said Fratus, 63.

A man who answered the telephone at CAI’s plant in Georgetown refused to comment on the explosion. He said that the company is waiting to find out more from investigators, and then hung up the telephone.

No one could be reached for comment at the Danvers plant.

The industrial park is along the Danvers River off Route 35, near the Peabody town line. At least three homes and several businesses were nearly leveled and dozens more homes were damaged, according to Town Manager Wayne Marquis.

Some of the homes near the blast site may need to condemned, Marquis said. Entire roofs were blown off the Danversport bakery and pizza factory.

“You won’t be buying your holiday rolls there,” said State Fire Marshall Stephen Coan.

Residents described an earthquake-like explosion. Authorities closed off nearby roads and tried to control the crowds as people wandered into the streets. Some described a huge mushroom cloud hovering over the area.

As the sun rose, homeowners began assessing damage. Cracks stretched across the walls of Richard and Cindy Parker’s house on Water Street, about a block from the explosion. Windows were blown out of frames, and Richard Parker had to axe their way out the front door because the force of the blast had twisted the frame. Objects fell off counters and shelves. The impact knocked ash out of the chimney, spewing it acorss the living room floor.

“It felt like something actually hit the house,” said Richard Parker, who was asleep with his wife in the second floor bedroom. The clock popped off the wall and stopped at 2:45 a.m.

Representatives from the state fire marshal’s office and the US Environmental Protection Agency were on the scene, along with state police, and firefighters and ambulance crews from Middleton, Wenham, and many other North Shore communities.

Alan Farell was sleeping in a downstairs bedroom about 100 yards away when the explosion blew in his windows.

“It was God awful,” said Farell, who ran outside because he thought his own home was on fire.

Tom Russo lives on Endicott Street about a half mile away when h his windows cracked and his doors flew open.

“I was in bed watching television. It rolled me right out of bed,” Russo said.

Residents are being evacuated by bus to Danvers High School, where the Red Cross is setting up a shelter. About 60 people from the nearby New England Home for the Deaf have also been evacuated. School in Danvers has been cancelled for the day.

Outside Beverly Hospital, Trisha Lynch, 22, stood wrapped in a blanket. Lynch and she and her fiancé, Fred Grenier, were asleep on the second floor of a home on Bates Street about 150 yards from the explosion. .

“I thought a plane had crashed,” said lynch, who had brought in a relative who needed stitches on her face.

Coan, the State Fire Marshall, said it was too early to speculate what caused the explosion.

(David Rattigan and Andrew Ryan, Globe correspondents, also contributed to this report.)

Posted by the Boston Globe City & Region Desk at 08:27 AM

While I was gone, my wife Kalila was able to enjoy an October archaeology dig in New Hampshire. However, since it was 20 degrees in the evening up there, she brought back with her a mysterious virus that has slowly been bringing down the household. All the symptoms are creeping their way in: achy bones, sore throats, sneezing, coughing, runny noses, and fatigue. Please pray that God would be merciful to our souls in the midst of our oncoming illnesses.

One major thing that I’ve been busy with the past few weeks has been the development of local church community. God has indeed been gracious to knit a few of us like-minded friends together to start meeting as a house-group in Haverhill,MA. Danny, Cyndie, Jerry, Sue, Moses, James, Josephine, Jim, Allison, Paul, Kalila, and myself began meeting Wednesdays at 7:00 PM at Danny’s home on October 4th under the banner of the centrality of God in the heart of God. We truly believe that Jesus Christ is the most beautiful thing/being/reality in existence and that this is evident as we unfold each passage of Scripture. Our plan is for either Danny or myself to kick things off with an intentional working through of a text for 20, 30 or 40 minutes, while entertaining questions and appropriate discussion. From there, more fellowship, prayer, and perhaps communion as God may lead. We view this time as an extension of our friendship set aside for specifically focusing on God as he has revealed himself in Scripture and feasting on him together. In lieu of this, I have set up the site www.god-centered.com to serve as a way to introduce new people to the community, to provide relevant discussion stemming from our meetings, and to encourage the saints with a host of resources and links. The site is still in progress, so there are many things we are trying to do to get it tip-top. Let me know what you all think. I am really excited about what God has been doing as our recent gathering is in step with, and is overflow of what has been happening in our friendships for the last few years. Please pray that God would encounter us gloriously and delightfully.

Needless to say, I learned that God can use anything he wants to accomplish his purposes, even if in retrospect they are so cheesy and out of place they make you cringe.  I think there was a number floating around of like 5,000 people that made visible commitments to Christ in our short 3-week trip.  There is surely no way to verify that at all.  But beyond that, I think one interesting thing I took away from that experience is that the groups we worked with there had no real inroad to many of the places we were able to go before the trip.  Because we were from the US and had a “program”, we “reached” more people in a few days then they could in a few years.  I thought that was pretty cool.

We arrived at the hospital at 3:00am. At triage they found that she was 1 cm dilated, and her water had broken, which of course means BABY ON THE WAY! We were admitted, and got to our room.

Wendy went through another 3 hours of painful contractions, before getting an epidural around 6am. This was the greatest relief she had ever felt – up to this time. She is now at 6cm.

She continued contractions under the epidural for another 2 hours. She is now at 9 and 3/4 cm. Doing good! At 9:30am she starts pushing.

In the background for the last hour or so, I’m talking with people on IM and calling parents. One of the comments that sticks out rather well is from Mike Richards:

“I bet she’ll push for 20 minutes, 30 minutes max.” heh.

After the first hour of pushing, Wendy is starting to feel pain. More pain, more pain. Hit the epidural button, get more medicine, not good enough, hit the button again, not good enough. Call the anesthesiologist. She comes in and ups the dosage and gives her more powerful stuff. “You should be all good in 5 to 10 minutes.” She leaves around the 9 minute mark. Wendy is still in pain, and it’s growing. Now Wendy is pushing and in major pain. In total, 2 and 1/2 hours of pushing are done. During the last 30 minutes, it’s painful to watch. Finally the doctor comes in and suggests that “we go get this baby”. “OK!”, no need to twist our arms. This must have been the longest 10 minutes of my life. Wendy is curled up, shaking and groaning in pain. She has to be put onto a new gurney, wheeled down the hall, put into the OR, cleaned up, prepped, and then she gets the Spinal Block. About 30 seconds after the spinal block, Wendy is out of pain. (Now this is for sure the greatest relief that she has ever felt) — It’s really hard to communicate how hard that is to go through, and I was just the helper.

So now, they make me put on these funny gowns, mask, hat, and booties. I have to go in via a different door than Wendy. I get to sit right next to Wendy, up near her head. There are people buzzing around, but I barely notice; I’m just watching Wendy.

Just as I get comfortable, they make me go out the door that I couldn’t go in, and then around the corner, to go back in the same room, but on the other side. I guess I’m not supposed to walk around the sterile objects to avoid contamination. I go around, and sit next to Wendy, this time on her left side.

The crew throws up a blue shield, with a little plastic window in it. Wendy can’t see what’s going on below, but I can. I’m not sure if that’s good or not, but I’m adventurous, so I look.

The team is fast. The cut through the various layers, and get to Julia, in seemingly 3 minutes. The doctor calls out, “Oh, look at those lips!”, indicating that Julia is indeed, sunny side up. That is one of the reasons why Wendy was in so much pain while she was pushing. They pull Julia out, whisk her over to the various people that need to inspect and poke her. Meanwhile I start crying, Wendy starts crying as we see her over in the basket. CRAZY.

After we get a few pictures in the OR, we go back to our room. I’m carrying Julia, as Wendy is being rolled back. After they put Wendy on the main room bed, we hear the other reason that Wendy was in so much pain. The epidural had fallen out. Whoa.

Julia is amazing. She is pinked up, alert, looking around, has already cried plenty, and even latched on right away, first try, evoking ‘wows’ and ‘whoas’ from the nursing staff and doctor. Her vital signs look good and we’ve both decided that we’re going to keep her.

Welcome to the world Julia Walter & Congratulations Wendy and James!!

With that in mind read her email to Kalila today:Last night was the Train concert. I was dead-center balcony with a good view, and they played all the great songs from all four albums. After the show, I wanted to get my CDs autographed so I was hanging around the stage with a small crowd. Someone came out and said the band wouldn’t be coming out, but a small backstage party was being held for people with backstage passes.Since there was alcohol no one under 21 was allowed, and they were carding . One girl with a backstage pass (How DO they get them???) was 16 and couldn’t get in, so I altruistically offered to get her pass and ticket autographed for her, if she gave me her pass. So there’s your mom, schmaltzing backstage, drinking beer with the band. The room was tiny, so they only let 15 people in! The only down side was that not all the band showed up! I got autographs from the lead guitarist (excellent) and keyboardist. Still, it was pretty cool! LOL, Mom

I have no idea how she did that, but my homeschooling, headcovered, conservative-minded mother-in-law is a groupie.

Saturday Afternoon/Evening. No sooner do I leave this meeting that I get a call from my dad letting me know that he has tonight off, he just bought a new truck, and he wanted to come up and visit. His truck is brand new, which is crazy because the newest vehicle my dad has ever had is was like 10 years old. Since he now has a truck, he was now able to bring up some bureaus and chairs we had wanted that he had in his basement (we’ve been meaning to get this stuff for about 10 months). While waiting for him, we had lunch at the new Panera now in Beverly and we talked about the importance of the meeting that morning. My dad arrived around 5:00 and we quickly moved the furniture up the stairs and in place at our apartment. After we cleaned some of the furniture and chatted a bit, we headed to have another fantastic meal at the Wildhorse Cafe.

Sunday Morning/Afternoon. There was a new sense of anticipation as we went and enjoyed the worship gathering at our church Sunday morning. There was a slight buzz while at church, I gather, from the rest of the guys who were at Saturday morning’s meeting. At church we just had a great time catching up with the saints and meeting new ones that came to visit. We ended up going out to lunch at the Longhorn Steakhouse with our good friends Eric and Elizabeth. This Friday will be Elizabeth’s birthday, so we offered to cover her meal. It had been a long time since we caught up, so it was sweet to get together. Elizabeth will be turning 31, happy birthday!

Sunday Night. After a late afternoon/early evening nap, we went again to the Wildhorse for a drink and some nachos with our good friends Matt and Kayle and their friend Matt. We had an interesting yet brief discussion about some of the reasons that their friend Matt, a seminary student, doesn’t attend a church regularly. I could really resonate with some of his reasons and it really opened up a great context to hang and chat about it further.

I think the reason I feel so fond of this weekend is that it was all about people I care about. I don’t think I am really satisfied as a person if I am not well connected with those that I love. It is great to feel re-connected.

And I regret to inform you that I have missed the playoffs in all three of my fantasy football leagues. This is a direct result of poor drafting, as I chose Quarterbacks in the first round of every draft. I will never make that mistake again. This was truly a learning year for me in fantasy sports, and I am so ready for next year. So expect an increase in blogging now that fantasy baseball doesn’t start till April.

Bono: When I visited him at home one time, he said the most beautiful, poetic grace. He said, “Shall we bow our heads?” We all bowed our heads. Then, when he was done, he looked at me and Adam Clayton and said, “Sure miss the drugs, though.”

I busted out laughing pretty hard when I read that. I suppose I understand.

League 1

My Starters
QB Daunte Culpepper
WR Drew Bennett
WR Donald Driver
WR Derrick Mason
RB Corey Dillon
RB Willie Parker
TE Ernie Conwell
K Shayne Graham
DEF Jacksonville
DB Robert McGee
DB Brian Dawkins
DL
DL

My Bench Players
QB Ben Rothlisberger
RB Steven Davis
RB Michael Anderson
WR Kevin Curtis
WR Antwaan Randle El
WR Antonio Bryant

League 2

My Starters
QB Donavan McNabb
WR Isaac Bruce
WR Joey Galloway
WR Mushin Muhammad
RB Tiki Barber
RB Lamont Jordan
TE Randy McMichael
K Nick Kaeding
DEF Jacksonville

My Bench Players
RB Steven Davis
RB Michael Anderson

League 3

My Starters
QB Daunte Culpepper
WR Reggie Wayne
WR Donald Driver
WR Mushin Muhammad
RB Tiki Barber
RB Lamont Jordan
TE Ernie Conwell
K Rackers
DEF Pittsburgh

My Bench Players
QB Brian Greise
RB willie Parker

I am a sinner; I’ve thrown my lot into 3 fantasy football leagues: 1 with friends, 1 with work, and 1 public. My first draft is tomorrow for the public league. Next Sunday is my friend’s league, and the following Saturday, my birthday no less, is the work league’s draft in the morning.

Steve Stockman has updated his book Walk On: The Spiritual Journey of U2 that he published in 2001. This is a welcome update since their newest ablum would be a significant contribution to that theme. He’s added about 5 new chapters and is definitely worth checking out. Stockman is a Presybterian chaplain at Queen’s University in Belfast. He has a pretty groovy sight worth checking, http://www.stocki.ni.org/. However, I still prefer Bono’s conversation book.

The residence, where my grandmother currently lives, pictured below.

A two family, which is actually two apartments, upstairs and downstairs, pictured to the right of my grandmother’s house below.

And finally, the guesthouse across the street from my grandmother’s, which my aunt bought around 1996/97.

My grandmother is kind of a pack rat, and so keep that in mind as you see her livingroom below.

Here is the view from her house over Shellpoint, pardon the orange temporary fence, it is there because they set off the fireworks from the point:

I’ve been going down to Onset every summer of my life for the Fourth of July. All my family goes, including all my aunts, uncles, and cousins from the Herring side of my family.

This was Kalila’s second time coming, so she was not real used to the geography. I took her along the water, on our way to town for chips and soda:

This is the heart of the baracaded area above, where the fireworks were being prepared.

Above is a picture of the Onset Bay, and Wicketts Island is in the center.

A view of the larger beach.

The prettiest thing in that day is leaning on the light pole above.

Pictured in the center above is the pier in Onset. To the immediate left of this picture is a park at the edge of town.

For Kalila’s sake, I showed her the statue of the Inidan girl in the center of the park above. This is the statues view of the bay.

Mark Anthony’s is the only pizza place in Onset and it is probably the best pizza I’ve had in Massachusetts. When I was a kid, me and my sisters used to stare at the pizza dude all the time in the window as he would be tossing the dough. I was lucky to get this kind of a shot since the traffic was so bad.

Above is the small park in the center of town, and the wall there is a monument to the veterans of the area.

Above is a picture from the center of town to Shell Point, Central Blvd. My grandmother lives at the end of the street on the left.

Above is a view of the bay from a side street on Central Blvd.

Above is a view from the upstairs deck of some friends of the family, Bruce and Moe.

There is the token sunset shot over the inlet of the bay that leads to the Agawan River.

I tried my hand at some fireworks shots too.

Saturday we are going back from our second BBQ of the summer in Onset. We normally have one 2 or 3 weeks after the Fourth. Everytime I’m there, I get an Onset of memories…Sorry, that was cheesy, but I bet that would sell on t-shirts.

In the back of my mind, I know it is God orchestrating such circumstances. I feel like every day I go to work that I am swallowing my pride to offer customer service. I don’t get paid very much, I get monitored closely, and on busy days I can go up to 90 minutes without having time to breath. I get some of the most bonehead questions any seasoned christian could imagine. “Not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble” (1 Cor.1:26). This could not be more true of our customers. My problem is that I judge my circumstances by whether they make much of me. Rarely do I consider how much they can make of Christ. I weep in shame for my faithlessness in the infinite One. Oh, that I could rap my lips around the rod and embrace the painful path of grace! It is painful because it strips me of myself. It kicks away the crutches so that I may be carried. God has been dismantling me in many ways.

Gracious God, to clothe me in Christ! For letting me taste your beauty today! Thank you for letting me peak around the corner of the path today! Brew in me more faith in Your Wisdom.

Dear Friends and Family,

As we look over the names on this list, we regret that Helen and I have to inform you in this way of some very difficult news. We wish that we could call and tell you each personally, but that is impossible.

On the evening of July 3 our Lynda Joy was in a terrible automobile accident north of Madison, Wisconsin. A few hours later in the early morning of July 4, she succumbed to her serious injuries. She was 26 and was living in Chicago.

While the details are still being worked out, it appears that we will fly her body back to California for a service and burial the end of the week. The date for the funeral, however, may be later due to the circumstances and location of her death.

Many of you will remember Lynda for her intelligence, her infectious enthusiasm, and her sweet spirit. We will miss her terribly and cherish many wonderful memories of the years she spent with us.

“The Lord gave. The Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Will and Helen Varner

Dr. Will Varner is a former professor of mine at The Master’s College in Santa Clarita, CA. He taught me Intermediate Greek, Advanced Greek Grammar, Greek Exegesis, NT Backgrounds, and Jewish Thought and Culture. As you can read his initial email above, he has just lost his youngest daughter, as well as classmate and friend of mine, Lynda. Dr. Varner is a sensitive man, so I am sure this is difficult for him and Helen.

Lynda was an excellent student at TMC and was particularly gifted in biblical languages (which was her major). She transfered there in ’99 from UCLA and their fantastic linguistics program. We took first year Greek together, and there was no doubt she was the best student in the class. Lynda was extremely intelligent, she was witty, affable, and immensely cultured. One time she took me to the Grace Community Church college Bible study at UCLA. It was there that she introduced me to bubble tea. After she graduated in 2001, she was planning on going to Trinity Western University in BC, Canada. She wanted to join Wycliffe (which she did) and do Bible translation among the least reached people groups. The picture above was on her prayer card when she was a summer missionary with Wycliffe in the Philippines.

I’m not exactly sure of the timeline, but about 2 years ago, Lynda made it evident that she had had second thoughts about missionary work and Christianity all together. She moved to the Wheaton, IL area where her other siblings happened to be as well. Part of her change in direction was due to a boyfriend she had met in China who was an agnostic. That was really the last I had heard about Lynda till now.

Needless to say, this is an extremely hard time for the Varners. Your prayers mean more than you’ll know.

I will not be able to attend the service. But I trust the God of all wisdom will flood his grace over the Varners and Lynda’s mourning friends.

We hung out for a while and then went to the lovely Soma restaurant in downtown Beverly. We had an unbelievable meal. She had a rubbed jerk pork that was to die for. I had a rib-eye with mash and asparugus that was amazing. We shared two white peach martinies that were the best I’d ever had. To top it off, I asked the waiter to bring out a piece of chocolate cake. It had whipped cream and a little rasberry sauce that was perfect.

After that, we headed off with enough time to go see Batman Begins. It was very well done and we enjoyed it thoroughly. Christian Bale’s performance exceeded expectations and we always love the token Morgan Freeman role. There were some lines at the end that Katie Holmes’ character made that simply made no sense. We had no idea what she was trying to communicate. We still couldn’t figure out how Bruce gets to Asia or why he’s there at the start of the movie. As a fan of the cartoon, I enjoyed how they weaved the part of Scarecrow into the overall plot that made it seem plausible. Overall, good flick.

I do love my darling beauty. She looked beautiful that night and her smile melted me all evening.

I love you sweetypie. Happy Birthday!

http://scrapdig.blogspot.com/2005/06/kalila-got-married.html

Once we get our act together, there are many picture blogs on the way!

I’m feeling bad because I haven’t been to church in 6 weeks and really miss the beloved saints from King of Grace. They probably think I’ve left the church by now! But that is certainly not the case. Looking forward to sweet times with them this summer.

Saw “I Love Huckabees” last night with Kalila. Hilarious movie about the tensions of existentialism and nihilism in a most briliant comedy. Who would have guessed Mark Wahlberg would have been my favorite character.

Saturday. In spite of the fact that we stayed up extremely late and we got out of the door at 5:00PM, we accomplished the impossible. We arrived at Portsmouth at about 6:00PM, parked at the garage, and we found our reception location immediately: The Metro (www.themetrorestaurant.com). It was essentially love at first sight and first price. Only a $400 room fee and about $29 per person, which is extremely inexpensive considering the menu, the quality of the place, and the area. From there we walked over to Prescott Park (where we thought we would have the wedding). As we tredged through the snow we came to the place we thought the ceremony would be. We found a spot under a tree, called some folks to tell them we found a place, and then we danced und the tree. As we walked back into downtown, we began to look for rehearsal dinner places, as well as place to eat since we were hungry. We stumbled upon this sweet Irish pub called Molly Malone’s and had dinner there. I can’t describe how happy we were at that moment at the pub, eating the best steak tips, having good drinks, having a great meal all around, hearing timely music being played, enjoying a window view of a rustic alley in Portsmouth, and saturating ourselves with each other’s presence. From there, we walked around, peeking into different places and talking with managers about accomadations. We found a sweet place close to the water called the Dolphin Strker (www.dolphinstrker.com) that had the look and menu we were aiming for. We spoke with the chef about times and dates and we locked it in. We left Portsmouth that night around 10:00 PM, mutually agreeing that it was one of the greatest days we’d had together.

Sunday. Going on less than 3 hours sleep, we made our way to church (struggling to stay awake). We went to care group after at Danny O’s and hung out there till about 5:00 PM. Then we made our way to Sam Fisher’s (a fellow coworker) where we had dinner with Sam, his wife Rachel, and Josh and Heidi (of the shire). We enjoyed some wonderful hours of Thai/Indonesian dining, beer, wine, a game Sam tried to teach us that Rachel didn’t want to play, and stimulating conversation. While we were there, I kept getting calls from my friend Dave Scoggins. He had wanted me and Kalila to visit with him and his wife Amamda. At first, I told him were weren’t going to make it, given our lack of sleep and long day. Then he called to see if we could come later because they were going to Guatamala that week and this would be the only time we could get together. I abliged on our behalf and we got there sometime after 10:00 PM. We stayed there for about an hour and a half and we got home late.

Monday. I had a job interview at 9:00 AM at my work so I brought Kalila down with me so she could hang out and meet some people from my work. She got to meet many famous bloggers like Gentry and Art. She met some other good friends like Bill, Price, and Pam. From there, we had lunch with my roommate at Penara’s and then spent the afternoon at Bed, Bath, & Beyond registering. At 5:00 PM, we met Danny and Cyndie O at the Wildhorse Cafe. A little later, Dr. James and wife Brooke met us there and we hung out till about 8:30 PM. We checked an apartment a little later, and then had some time at the seminary to talk some things over.

One thing that everybody who knows me must check out is http://www.davidherring.blogspot.com. I never thought I would find another David Herring who is both a christian and reformed, but Danny O found him on a profile search and he thought I had two blogs, but I do not. Ladies and gentlemen, I have a clone.

At last
my love has come along
my lonely days over
and life is like a song

At last
the skies above are blue
well my heart was wrapped up in clover
the night I looked at you

I found a dream
that I could speak to
a dream that I could call my own
I found a thrill
to press my cheek to
a thrill that I have never known

well

You smile
you smile
oh and then the spell was cast
and here we are in heaven
for you are mine at last

I found a dream
that I could speak to
a dream that I
could call my own
I found a thrill
to press my cheek to
a thrill that I have never known

well

You smile
you smile
oh and then the spell was cast
and here we are in heaven
for you are mine at last

ooo yea
you are mine
you are mine
at last
at last
at last
at last

I love you sweety.

Just did my taxes online. It’s a fairly easy process, a lot of sites do it for free. Irs.gov lists all the sites that do it free and what their conditions are. I didn’t read carefully enough for one site. I got through the whole process on it and I realized it was people who make over $28,000 not under. So I had to start from scratch on another website. In either case, its done. That’s another monkey off my back.

But just as soon as I can get a few monkeys off my back, I’m sure there will be dozens that jump on to replace them.

First, my church is meeting in a new building. We just began this on Sunday. We are now meeting in the YMCA intead of the good old Timony Grammar School. I like the new setting, it’s in a busier area, so there is better opportunity for growth and potential for certain social functions. I was privledged to be escorted by Danny O on Sunday morning. He was nice enough to pick me up in my neck of the woods and then let me recline at their table with them, as well as crash on their couch. We may do the same this coming week. I really feel God loving me through saints like Danny who have been stepping up to help me out. Nothing like feeling love from such high quality and high class folks like Danny and fam. Good old Moses was kind enough to give me a ride home also, but he would not let me buy him or Karan a meal or a beer.

Second, I started a new semester so now I’ve got more work ahead of me than I can hope to accomplish. I’ve got Exegesis of Galatians, Personal Evangelism, Christian Ethics, World Mission of the Church , Church History II, and Pastoral Counseling. Yeah, that’s right 6 classes, and I work full-time second shift. Exactly.

Third, Kalila and I were brainstorming last night about not doing a big reception, but limiting it to the closest people (i.e. just a few more than would be at the rehearsal dinner). This would be at the Wildhorse Cafe, so we wouldn’t have to worry about doing any cleaning or orchestrating any food. We are toying with the logistics, but it’s something we both want to do. This will move our wedding to around 5 pm and the reception to 6:30 or 7:00. This is certainly a new direction and we are exploring all the implications still.

I’m listening to “One” by U2 right now. I think it is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Axle Rose said it was the greatest song he’s ever heard. That means a lot coming from Axle.

I would like to take a week or two off sometime. I am really feeling bogged down (no pun intended since my team is the Cranberry team). The problem is that I can’t afford to and I need to save time off for wedding time. Must find rest in Christ.

I’m proud to announce that 2 good friends have now joined the ranks as bloggers; both Josh and John are now linked to the side of my page and will be great bloggers. Looking forward to their contributions.

I hate working second shift. If you ever get a chance to work it, don’t. The only reason I am working it now is because I wouldn’t have a job otherwise. Maybe second shift a few days a week would be OK, but not full time. I guess I’m surviving but this will not last forever.

Here’s a blurry picture taken on my camera phone of my roommate today to catalog the amount of snow we got.

Here’s another.

And another.

I think the final tally was 38 inches in next town over, Beverly, the home of our beloved Dr. James and Gentry. At least we were able to get out today.

Here is a picture of me and my beautiful fiance.

Been thinking about church the past few days. My good friend Danny Ovalle gave some really good links that I checkout out and are really cool:

www.mdchurch.org Missio Dei
www.a29.org Acts 29 Church Planting Network

Almost every church associated with Acts 29 has an excellent website. Missio Dei is a church in Portland, ME that Danny and I intend on visiting soon. It is exciting to see churches that are stongly Reformed, yet culturally atuned. I think much of Christian “culture” is submersed in termonology and thinking that most people find unattractive prima facie. I don’t particularly care for the Purpose Driven Church model, in that most of their churches lack strong theological foundations; they just want to get people in church. It’s not hard to get people in churches if you offer them free Starbucks and top-notch child care; Microsoft can do that. So many churches skurt around the biggest culture and life questions that people have and tell people to just have faith. When that happens, everybody thinks we are a bunch of idiots, that are intellectually cripple and not caring. Today, my roommate and I were listening to the Radio Factor (Bill O’Reilly), and I don’t know, I heard some Christians call up in response to homosexuality in schools. I was just thinking to myself, people know where most Christians stand on the issue, why do we always have to keep reiterating what we think. “Its wrong and destructive to our society.” OK, I might agree with that, but we would get a better hearing if we actually knew more people that were gay. Granted, we may think that homosexuality is a life-dominating sin, but honestly, they’ve got bigger issues we can address with them; let’s deal with them as people first. We are not even approachable to people, though, when we bark about their sexual preference. We can’t even begin to penetrate people or this society if we don’t put things in a gospel context. Let’s love people, let’s build relationships, let’s get to know people and really care about who they are. Let us exude Godwardness that is beautiful, glorious, and real. Let’s not define ourselves by the fact that we vote for Bush, that our country was built on Christian values, that we don’t swear, that we don’t drink, that we don’t masturbate, that we don’t listen to “secular” music, that we don’t watch TV, that we don’t watch “questionable” movies, that we were homeschooled, that we went to a Christian college, that we have a Christian lawyer, bank, accountant, mechanic, coffehouse, book store, or president. These are all peripheral. We can’t expect to be taken seriously by people if we don’t take them seriously. Just some thoughts.

Found other bloggers who like Piper and seem cool:

coupleofwords.blogspot.com
bittersweetblue.blogspot.com

Saw “Closer” on Saturday night with Kalila. Very interesting flick. I’ve been thinking about it now and again for the past few days. Great acting. Great music. Gripping story line. It’s predictable, but it’s not. Good cinematography. Damien Rice’s song, “The Blower’s Daughter”, opens the movie with Jude Law and Natalie Portman eying each other down a London street. This song is very moving to me. It seems like it would be for any one who can appreciate being in love and knowing beauty. Perfect song for the movie. I now know what James was talking about when he said that this movie was “staying” with him.

Oh well. Not in the best mood. Feeling vulnerable. Don’t want to talk to any one, really. Feeling alone, helpless.

Guess what I got on Friday. I got sick. Finally. I was waiting for it all week. Like clockwork, 6 AM up and in the WC ready see the three previously eaten meals from the day before. Just before I’m ready to give way, all my thoughts run to God. I couldn’t believe how immediately God-centered I became. I prayed with all of my soul and God pushed everything down again. I was so thankful and so humbled. Fortunately I had a buddy covering me at work already so I didn’t have to call in sick for Friday. But most waking moments I had alone that day, I was thinking about Him. Thinking about how flagrantly I’ve been opposing his will for me lately. I was bathing in grace and it was reaching crevices I’ve forgotten about. Even now, I’m listening to U2′s “Grace” from their last album on repeat. I’ve heard the song about 20 times the past day. If ever I’ve had reason to be upset it would be know; Kalila left for school yesterday and yesterday I dropped my car off because the head of my engine is most likely cracked. I have no girl and no transportation. But grace has been absorbing and improving me. As much as I love my girl and being with her, God has caused me to believe that she is in my heart and with me all the time. Nothing can seperate me from her love or my love from her. It’s bigger than phones and distances and blindness. With regard to my car God is loving me through my family and friends by stirring generosity in others to help me get to where I need to be. It’s really remarkable. All my problems just seem so temporary and thin.

“Grace” by U2

Grace
She takes the blame
She covers the shame
Removes the stain
It could be her name

Grace
It’s a name for a girl
It’s also a thought that changed the world
And when she walks on the street
You can hear the strings
Grace finds goodness in everything

Grace, she’s got the walk
Not on a ramp or on chalk
She’s got the time to talk
She travels outside of karma
She travels outside of karma
When she goes to work
You can hear her strings
Grace finds beauty in everything

Grace, she carries a world on her hips
No champagne flute for her lips
No twirls or skips between her fingertips
She carries a pearl in perfect condition

What once was hurt
What once was friction
What left a mark
No longer stings
Because grace makes beauty
Out of ugly things

Grace makes beauty out of ugly things

Booboo update: We found out what got everybody sick this weekend. It was a Saturday morning brunch/baby shower for my youth pastor’s daughter. They all had food poisoning. Kalila’s mom got sick yesterday, and little Wesley got sick last night (he’s 7). He threw up 11 times. He wasn’t even at the shower. Weird. You gotta see this kid, though, he’s probably one of the cutest children I’ve seen. He’s like a little person and he has the vocabulary and maturity that exceeds some college students I know. Kills me to think of him blowing chunks all night.

Good news. I think I have enough funds to pay for the the repairs.

Good news. I’ve been graced by others providing me rides and I have my dad’s car till next Tuesday.

Good news. I found out work will keep me on till March at least. Still waiting to hear if I got permanent spot.

Good news. Although physical intimacy has abounded with my lady, we’ve had a good talk about curtailing things. It’s all about self-control for future grace.

Good news. The New Testament Survey class I am teaching at church is going well and I’ve heard good feedback.

Good news. I’ve finally got into Radiohead (The Bends and OK Computer) and they are dynamite. Can’t wait for more.

Good news. Kalila likes Seinfeld. I repeat, Kalila likes Seinfeld. Very good news.

Good news. I’m getting married in 7 months. Excellent news.