Welcome Weekend

On Thursday Em and I will be flying to Buffalo for two days at Houghton College. It's a "Welcome Weekend" for students who will be starting there in the fall. It should be fun and I'm looking forward to spending a lot of time with her.

Breakfast with Rick

This morning I had breakfast with Rick. He is a good friend who lives north of Boston so we meet at a half-way point, the IHOP restaurant on route 9 east of Worcester. He is a brother in the Lord and we have similar outlooks and interests about living the Christian life. Discussing what the Lord is doing in our lives is fun and interesting- well worth the drive.

His daughter recently came from California, where she's a college student, to visit him. He is busy planning an outdoor baptism for his house church, to take place at Walden Pond (yes, Thoreau's Walden Pond) next Saturday. And he's helping with wedding arrangements for a close friend who's being married the Saturday after that.

We talked also about Jesus's teaching that we need to remove the plank from our eyes before we can remove the speck from a brother's eye. We discussed the passage from Matthew 7 where Jesus says that we should settle accounts with our adversaries. Rick's perspective is that we need to be willing to humble ourselves and give up our "rights" as Jesus gave up his. We also discussed the "burning coals" idea from Romans 12.

(The Christian) Noah's Arc

Noah's Arc is a film featuring professional surfer Noah Snyder. It is a documentary that shows the path of seven surfers who made a decision to commit their lives to God and how it impacted them forever. The film was shot on location around the world, with great shots of surfing. The DVD includes interviews with all the characters describing how Christ changed their lives. Our teens loved this.

New York Anniversary

Last weekend we celebrated our anniversary with a weekend in New York, where we met and were married. We sublet a small apartment on E. 63rd St. between Madison and Park for two nights. On Saturday it was warm and sunny and we spent the afternoon in Soho and at Battery Park. For supper we ordered in some Mexican food. Sunday morning we visited Redeemer Presbyterian Church's morning service on the East Side. They have a morning service on the West Side as well and evening services both on the upper West Side and in the Village. It was different from what we're used to, but we enjoyed it.

In the afternoon we went to the Museum of Modern Art, which was packed. The Munch exhibit was so crowded we couldn't really stay in there, but the other floors weren't too bad. then we walked up Sixth Avenue to the Park and sat and people-watched for a while. Back to the apartment for another ordered-in supper- this time Japanese. Monday morning we went up to the east 80's and looked at the building I used to live in before we got married. Then back to Grand Central and the train to New Haven.

Answer

James Arminius.

Take a Guess

Who wrote this, John Calvin or James Arminius?

But in his lapsed and sinful state, man is not capable, of any by himself, either to think, to will, or to do that which is really good, but it is necessary for him to be regenerated and renewed in his intellect, affections or will, and in all his powers, by God in Christ through the Holy Spirit, that he may be qualified rightly to understand, esteem, consider, will, and perform whatever is truly good. When he is made a partaker of this regeneration or renovation, I consider that, since he is delivered from sin, he is capable of thinking, willing, and doing that which is good, but yet not without the continued aids of Divine Grace.

(Stay tuned for the answer.)