Tuesday, June 5 Riding Home with River.

We woke up and had the hotel breakfast. It was fine. We had to be at the clinic at 7:15 am. River had an MRI first and he did so well. I was so proud of him. They said he could bring a movie and he decided to bring Food Inc. That's my boy. He then had bacon as part of his lunch. Oh well. Baby steps. I got to read quite a bit in my Blue Like Jazz book. Review to come later.

After the EEG of which he also did very well, we went exploring. We went to a nearby park and made our way down next to the water (Lake Michigan). It was like 50 degrees and windy but I had a sweatshirt so I could teach him a lesson on how to always pack a sweatshirt and real shoes.

Met with the doctor and it was a good meeting. River's gonna be OK :) Headed home and listened to a couple Science Mike Podcasts per River's request. We got to talk some science and God stuff along the way.

Comments

Book Review - Blue Like Jazz

I liked the book for the most part. I sort of thought there'd be more speaking from a skeptic's point of view. But a critic of the Christian culture is an important endeavor as well. I thought there were a lot of different assumptions that were made concerning various points of view, and so there were some jumps that a reader such as myself had to make. Seeing as how the book was written in the early 2000's that does make sense. I like his bend toward social justice and he also seems well traveled into the realm of secular thinkers and communicators. It does us a disservice as communicators in this century to be in our faith bubble and think that that's how people should think. It was a little tough reading all his stuff about being single and wondering about marriage and girlfriends ugh.. I know it was his journey but I have a bias, I think, about guys that aren't married. I just think of them as kids. There's an emotional muscle that marriage works that ...

Pacem In Terris

Last week I went to Pacem in Terris. Such a cool experience. The cabins are outfitted perfectly for simple living that leaves you pining a little bit for modern conveniences but also supplies you with enough to feel like you can sustain yourself on very little. Which, in reality, you can. I journaled extensively throughout my stay there.( July 9th in the afternoon through mid-morning on the 12th). It was muggy and buggy the entire stay save the first night, it cooled down quite a bit which was nice. By the third night it was so hot at night that I attempted to sleep out on the screen covered porch. That went OK until about 2 in the morning and then a thunderstorm raged through. That was great, I like the thunder and the lightning but there was no cooling effect from it unfortunately. They supplied me with a straw hat on which to drape a full-body bug net. I tried to go outside without it. Nope. The rest of the time I wore it almost every time I ventured outside. I saw lots of wild...

Poker Night

So I really thought about what gives me energy and what takes energy. What takes energy from me is being in the Pastor Jared role. Not that that's really my title at all any more but it used to be and just the fact that I work at the church puts me in that role in the eyes of many of the people that attend Hope. I feel like there's a real distance that happens socially when people relate to me in that way. It's all about "great song, or great set, or how about those old songs." Which is fine. I mean I know that it's part of the territory but if given an option of being in an environment where I am in that role or just known as myself, Jared, guy who is just trying to be a good husband, dad, responsible citizen and thinking critically about my faith, beliefs and politics, I will always choose the latter. So in response to this I'm thinking of putting together a group of guys who would be ok with sitting across the card table from me, having some snacks,...

Jared's Sabbatical Journal

Search This Blog