Two reasons blogging has been slow this year are that my interests in the past few months have been primarily golf and politics.  These are just so out of character for me.  I swear, if I were still in the seminary/church loop that I would not have time to talk or participate in either.  If golf hadn’t fascinated me so much, I would probably have joined a tennis league, which I suppose I could still do.  I generally don’t know what to believe or who to trust when reading and listening about politics, but I have been reading all of the coverage from the NY Times on the Democratic Primary.  It is just an amazing case study and/or entry point for many in participating in the primary process.  I can see why many get caught up into the political season, because it is a different kind of sport.  The game is about words and image and the match-ups occur state by state.  It is fun to see the results come in as you route for your candidate: “Come on Indiana, count those last few counties and bring it over the top!!!”  We all have our pet issues that delineate our deal-breakers for each candidate and we all have our character preferences.  I personally would like a candidate that is brilliant, with uncanny people and speaking skills , the ability to admit mistakes and save face, the ability to educate and teach Americans what is really going on with the political processes instead of walking all over our ignorance, one who balances both a short-term and long-term perspective of policy, one who hears matters carefully and exegetically, a critical thinker who can argue points clearly and tactfully, one who surrounds himself with great minds but is not controlled by them, and most importantly, one who is steeped in world history, american history, presidential history, modern history, military history, economic history, and is continuing to learn.  But, my guess is that some one like that would never run for president.  Obama might be closer than the other candidates, which is why I will probably vote for him, but he still has quite a bit to grow in to.  That is really the shame of the timing of these things, because if Obama has a bit more time, he could sharpen the things I’d like to see.  Well, time is of the essence, and now is his time, albeit a little pre-mature.  He certainly surpasses the other options.  And ultimately, we only know what we are exposed to, and all we know of any candidate is what we read and hear from/about them.  So all the progress I have made, perhaps, is that I read (NY Times, The New Yorker, Reason Magazine) and listen (NPR, PBS, & BBC) to better sources then I have in the past (The Union Leader, WTKK, & FoxNews).

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.

Thanks for your patience as I’ve certainly been on a blogging sabbatical. Or you could call it a creativity sabbatical too. The past few months I’ve been hooked on golf for some strange reason. I’ve spent much time and money at the driving range and a couple dvd’s on the fundamental golf swing and golf fitness. I’ve also been listening faithfully to the Golf Smarter Podcast and watching many hours of the Golf Channel. I suppose professional golf is my goal at this point, but I’m hoping cooler weather and budgetary concerns will temper this interest back to sanity.

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!

At this point in my life I have more books than ever, but read far less than I have in the past 9 years or so. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it. It is the standard lament of every student after they are “out of the loop” of academia. Currently, I have one class left to take at ye old Gordon-Conwell Seminary in order to graduate with an M.Div. after 5 years. So far, that is 2 years longer than planned due to migration into married life 2 years ago, requiring migration into the full time workforce. This has severely decreased my academic productivity, and perhaps jeopardized my academic future. Weird how life can take sharp turns into seemingly dark alleys. In God’s smiling providence, however, I could have not asked for a better circumstance in my life to percolate my desire to understand Scripture. I think this is due in part to being away from “biblical studies” and the safe harbor of others’ thoughts on the Bible in commentaries and monographs; and even not reading my Bible as much. Yeah, that”s right, even reading my Bible less. How can this possibly help? Good question. I think 2 factors are involved: focus and freedom.

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.

Ok, I really enjoy the ESV bible translation that was originally introduced in 2001 and has become immensely popular since (due largely, I believe, to good marketing and distributing free copies). One thing I like about the ESV “campaign” is that emblem on the front cover and top of the spine of my particular hardcover partially seen in the picture below:

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.