well, well, well... i am free at last! i am sooo glad i do not have to think for the next 3 weeks! someone decided to allow us to have SEVEN finals. say bye-bye to your sanity. the practical tests really wear me out. you always feel like you are performing... which is pretty much the case. i have actually done better on my practical exams than the written ones, but they require a lot more energy! it is much easier to be tested by reading yourself the questions and answering them on your own time, or even skipping some and coming back if you so choose. i study a lot more simply because i do not want to look like an idiot in front of my teacher. also, if you violate the more than one safety rule you fail! i understand that it has to be that way, but it does stir up some tension. enough said about school!
it is snowing like crazy here! only 24 degrees and frigid. i love the snow! my goals for this next week of relaxation include making a real snowman and taking a snow-flurried christmas picture. also, i would love to have a snowball fight and go sledding, but we might save those activities until the big snow comes to town- which we have been told comes after christmas. speaking of christmas, pittsburgh is forecasted to have a white one folks! how sweet! also, i would like to finish some christmas shopping, if i want to get out in the snow that is. i might just sit in my slippers and drink hot tea all day and stare out the window and watch the snow fall. sounds wonderful, right? feel free to join me. we will be here until the 21st.
jon and i have felt the need to settle into a church around here and get involved. we do not want to join anywhere... don't worry ollie pollie! we just miss being active in church. now that we have some free time, we started working with the shadyside pres youth group. it was a really fun night of sardines all over the church, a lovely mac n cheese dinner, and a service project/ bible study/ discussion time. i hope we have time to keep it up next semester. the kids were great, and i think we fit right in.
jon and i are trying to watch as many christmas movies as possible this year. so far it is not going so well. we have seen christmas vacation, the holiday and part of white christmas. and now i am off to watch the rest of white christmas! do not tell me how it ends. this is my first time to see it!
merry christmas friends!
e l i z a b e t h
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
happy birthday, love!
today is a great day. it is a great day because 23 years ago today elizabeth anne cooper wagner was born. what a blessing to this world! so today we celebrate your birth, elizabeth, with great rejoicing.
henri nouwen wrote, "birthdays need to be celebrated. i think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion, or a victory. because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone: 'thank you for being you.' celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it. on a birthday we do not say: 'thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished.' no, we say: 'thank you for being born and being among us.' ...celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people's birthdays every day, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection. these are ways of saying: 'it's good that you are alive; it's good that you are walking with me on this earth. let's be glad and rejoice. this is the day that god has made for us to be and to be together.'"
so in honor of elizabeth's 23 years on this earth, here are some pictures that i think really show what a blessing she is to us all:
one year older, one year wiser, one year more loved.
thank you, love, for being you and being here with us! you are truly adored, cherished, and loved!
love,
jw <><
henri nouwen wrote, "birthdays need to be celebrated. i think it is more important to celebrate a birthday than a successful exam, a promotion, or a victory. because to celebrate a birthday means to say to someone: 'thank you for being you.' celebrating a birthday is exalting life and being glad for it. on a birthday we do not say: 'thanks for what you did, or said, or accomplished.' no, we say: 'thank you for being born and being among us.' ...celebrating a birthday reminds us of the goodness of life, and in this spirit we really need to celebrate people's birthdays every day, by showing gratitude, kindness, forgiveness, gentleness, and affection. these are ways of saying: 'it's good that you are alive; it's good that you are walking with me on this earth. let's be glad and rejoice. this is the day that god has made for us to be and to be together.'"
so in honor of elizabeth's 23 years on this earth, here are some pictures that i think really show what a blessing she is to us all:
one year older, one year wiser, one year more loved.
thank you, love, for being you and being here with us! you are truly adored, cherished, and loved!
love,
jw <><
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
it's beginning to look a lot like christmas!
the first big snow!!!! below are some pictures of us frolicking in it...
outside the window...
eating some snow... hey, was some of that yellow?
elizabeth with a snow face...
fun with an icicle.. please notice what a fabulous job the city of pittsburgh does cleaning the snow off the roads! i learned a few lessons about snow driving today - don't accelerate quickly, don't brake quickly, and don't drive quickly
a little snow angel action... good form, sweetie!
this snow angel was pure perfection... only a true southerner could make one this good!
shaking the snow off... elizabeth going nuts after making the angel...
a little snow on the face...
pittsburgh seminary chapel...
cheers,
jw <><
outside the window...
eating some snow... hey, was some of that yellow?
elizabeth with a snow face...
fun with an icicle.. please notice what a fabulous job the city of pittsburgh does cleaning the snow off the roads! i learned a few lessons about snow driving today - don't accelerate quickly, don't brake quickly, and don't drive quickly
a little snow angel action... good form, sweetie!
this snow angel was pure perfection... only a true southerner could make one this good!
shaking the snow off... elizabeth going nuts after making the angel...
a little snow on the face...
pittsburgh seminary chapel...
cheers,
jw <><
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
let it snow!!!
it is snowing!!! it has snowed here a few times the past few weeks, but this is the first snow that is sticking. we just thought we would share some pics and our excitement!
right outside our apartment in the courtyard.
trying to catch snow in my mouth, which is probably not the wisest thing to do. who knows what kind of nasty crap is in these flakes!
yay for snow! elizabeth eating some snow off my car... not really. if you notice, i have blurred out my plate. who knows what kind of shady folks out there might be looking at this! ha!
a little snow in the hair. one of the pesky things about snow that i have discovered is that it gets all over you and melts... not so appealing. another pesky thing is that it pokes you in the eyes when you are trying to walk. i have to walk around with my eyes closed now. elizabeth said earlier, "just close your eyes and open your mouth and discover a little treat!" what?
any way, these pictures don't really show how much snow there actually is (which wasn't actually all that much) but there is definitely a lot more now after it has been snowing all day. we are supposed to have a few more inches by tomorrow night... and that is just with "light snow showers." then, the mother load is supposed to hit wednesday! high tomorrow... 28! burrr.
bundle up out there,
jw <><
right outside our apartment in the courtyard.
trying to catch snow in my mouth, which is probably not the wisest thing to do. who knows what kind of nasty crap is in these flakes!
yay for snow! elizabeth eating some snow off my car... not really. if you notice, i have blurred out my plate. who knows what kind of shady folks out there might be looking at this! ha!
a little snow in the hair. one of the pesky things about snow that i have discovered is that it gets all over you and melts... not so appealing. another pesky thing is that it pokes you in the eyes when you are trying to walk. i have to walk around with my eyes closed now. elizabeth said earlier, "just close your eyes and open your mouth and discover a little treat!" what?
any way, these pictures don't really show how much snow there actually is (which wasn't actually all that much) but there is definitely a lot more now after it has been snowing all day. we are supposed to have a few more inches by tomorrow night... and that is just with "light snow showers." then, the mother load is supposed to hit wednesday! high tomorrow... 28! burrr.
bundle up out there,
jw <><
Friday, November 2, 2007
tension in between...
there is tension in life, in which we must learn to live...
elizabeth and i live in an apartment at the seminary. the building in which we live is one of three buildings that form a square with a courtyard in the middle. roads run parallel to each of the four sides of this complex. our apartment sits right in the middle of (what I consider) the back building of the complex. since there are apartments on our left and right, we only have windows on two sides of our apartment, half looking into the courtyard and half looking into the neighborhood that lies behind the seminary – and let’s just say that this neighborhood is not what I would consider upper-class.
i recently became aware of the importance of the positioning of our humble abode. monastics (called anchorites from the greek, anachoreo, to withdraw to a place apart), who started appearing in the first few centuries after the start of christianity, began withdrawing from society to devote themselves entirely to contemplation and prayer. eugene peterson describes the living situation of anchorites, who “often lived in sheds fastened to the walls of the church” and sometimes had a “world-side window through which the nun or monk received the sights and sounds of creation as data for contemplation.” these sheds were called anchorholds. our anchorhold has some world-side windows. i have been quite amazed at what i see on this side of the apartment. there is a house that is directly behind our apartment that is home to a group of men (these guys are not simply roommates, if you catch my drift). the road that lies only feet from our apartment is more like an alleyway, and being in such a great neighborhood, you can imagine some of the stories we have heard about as to what has gone on back there (rest assured, we are very safe!). the most interesting characters with the most colorful language walk this street at all hours of the day and night, sometimes stopping to hang out just outside our living room windows. their conversations tear at my heart (although not like the conversations I have heard on the bus – that is another blog).
this is quite different from the life outside the other end of our apartment. these windows look out on the center of the gated holy fortress we live in. recently, i have felt that our complex resembles some ancient near eastern cities in israel, which had city walls that enclosed and fortified these cities. peoples’ homes were built right into these city walls, so half of their windows looked out at the land surrounding the city. this served for security purposes (see joshua 2 – the story of rahab). life in our fortified city is a utopia. christians (all of which are ministers and middle to upper class) live all around us. we sit out in the courtyard, relaxing, chatting, enjoying life. We talk about what we are learning in all of our classes and discuss the material. We grill delicious, plentiful meals and eat as a community. Often, there are children out there playing and laughing, safe inside the fortress.
interestingly enough, most of my best time (and much more of my time) is spent on the world-side, sitting on the back porch just watching and listening (and occasionally studying, eating, and talking on the phone). there are birds and squirrels out on this side, which are living playfully and talking with one another. the “guys” have some dogs that they bring out a few times a day to walk, which I have grown quite fond of. a cat, which reminds me of our stray pet back in starkville, comes by almost everyday, and she even came up on the porch to say hello the other day. no animals live in the gates of the fortress. it is too enclosed. the harsh realities of the world live outside the walls of the fortress, no doubt, but it is real out there. i find inspiration there. there is a beauty with the wild-ness. there is grace in abundance. there is holiness if you just pay attention.
i think my living situation is a microcosm of the life i live. i have found this tension in my education. i have learned so many useful things here already. i think i have enough sermon ideas to last a lifetime if i can remember them all. i am learning about discipline and obedience. i am learning how to read and use scripture – how to meditate over it and allow it to speak to me. i am learning how to pray and especially how to just be quiet and allow the still small voice to speak. i am learning how to pay attention to the world around me and find the subtext. i am learning how to think and speak about god in the appropriate language. i am learning how to be grateful. i am learning what it means to be a pastor. i am learning all the correct answers, but underneath there is friction... unrest. for i have discovered there is a big difference between how it is and how it should be. i have been a christian long enough and worked in a church long enough to know that some of this stuff (while “correct”) doesn’t translate simply in a practical sense. i am tired of accepting the "correct" answers without a fight to discover the meaning and application in my everyday life. what do these things really mean? how do they really play out? what are their implications? it is easy to know what is right. we even talk like that. "oh yeah, this is what you do in that situation." we are so confident... so certain. it isn't so easy to actually apply the answers, though. the only thing that is simple and certain for me to see is that there are too many "correct" answers and not enough "correct" living. i have committed myself to a struggle which i know i will never win. nonetheless, i will fight.
i have a window looking out into the world and one looking in on the christian perfection, but I live in between. I have discovered god there.
jw <><
elizabeth and i live in an apartment at the seminary. the building in which we live is one of three buildings that form a square with a courtyard in the middle. roads run parallel to each of the four sides of this complex. our apartment sits right in the middle of (what I consider) the back building of the complex. since there are apartments on our left and right, we only have windows on two sides of our apartment, half looking into the courtyard and half looking into the neighborhood that lies behind the seminary – and let’s just say that this neighborhood is not what I would consider upper-class.
i recently became aware of the importance of the positioning of our humble abode. monastics (called anchorites from the greek, anachoreo, to withdraw to a place apart), who started appearing in the first few centuries after the start of christianity, began withdrawing from society to devote themselves entirely to contemplation and prayer. eugene peterson describes the living situation of anchorites, who “often lived in sheds fastened to the walls of the church” and sometimes had a “world-side window through which the nun or monk received the sights and sounds of creation as data for contemplation.” these sheds were called anchorholds. our anchorhold has some world-side windows. i have been quite amazed at what i see on this side of the apartment. there is a house that is directly behind our apartment that is home to a group of men (these guys are not simply roommates, if you catch my drift). the road that lies only feet from our apartment is more like an alleyway, and being in such a great neighborhood, you can imagine some of the stories we have heard about as to what has gone on back there (rest assured, we are very safe!). the most interesting characters with the most colorful language walk this street at all hours of the day and night, sometimes stopping to hang out just outside our living room windows. their conversations tear at my heart (although not like the conversations I have heard on the bus – that is another blog).
this is quite different from the life outside the other end of our apartment. these windows look out on the center of the gated holy fortress we live in. recently, i have felt that our complex resembles some ancient near eastern cities in israel, which had city walls that enclosed and fortified these cities. peoples’ homes were built right into these city walls, so half of their windows looked out at the land surrounding the city. this served for security purposes (see joshua 2 – the story of rahab). life in our fortified city is a utopia. christians (all of which are ministers and middle to upper class) live all around us. we sit out in the courtyard, relaxing, chatting, enjoying life. We talk about what we are learning in all of our classes and discuss the material. We grill delicious, plentiful meals and eat as a community. Often, there are children out there playing and laughing, safe inside the fortress.
interestingly enough, most of my best time (and much more of my time) is spent on the world-side, sitting on the back porch just watching and listening (and occasionally studying, eating, and talking on the phone). there are birds and squirrels out on this side, which are living playfully and talking with one another. the “guys” have some dogs that they bring out a few times a day to walk, which I have grown quite fond of. a cat, which reminds me of our stray pet back in starkville, comes by almost everyday, and she even came up on the porch to say hello the other day. no animals live in the gates of the fortress. it is too enclosed. the harsh realities of the world live outside the walls of the fortress, no doubt, but it is real out there. i find inspiration there. there is a beauty with the wild-ness. there is grace in abundance. there is holiness if you just pay attention.
i think my living situation is a microcosm of the life i live. i have found this tension in my education. i have learned so many useful things here already. i think i have enough sermon ideas to last a lifetime if i can remember them all. i am learning about discipline and obedience. i am learning how to read and use scripture – how to meditate over it and allow it to speak to me. i am learning how to pray and especially how to just be quiet and allow the still small voice to speak. i am learning how to pay attention to the world around me and find the subtext. i am learning how to think and speak about god in the appropriate language. i am learning how to be grateful. i am learning what it means to be a pastor. i am learning all the correct answers, but underneath there is friction... unrest. for i have discovered there is a big difference between how it is and how it should be. i have been a christian long enough and worked in a church long enough to know that some of this stuff (while “correct”) doesn’t translate simply in a practical sense. i am tired of accepting the "correct" answers without a fight to discover the meaning and application in my everyday life. what do these things really mean? how do they really play out? what are their implications? it is easy to know what is right. we even talk like that. "oh yeah, this is what you do in that situation." we are so confident... so certain. it isn't so easy to actually apply the answers, though. the only thing that is simple and certain for me to see is that there are too many "correct" answers and not enough "correct" living. i have committed myself to a struggle which i know i will never win. nonetheless, i will fight.
i have a window looking out into the world and one looking in on the christian perfection, but I live in between. I have discovered god there.
jw <><
Saturday, October 27, 2007
yay for costumes!
crystal looked good as a hippie... haha! she worked hard to get her hair really big. the pic does not do her "do" justice.
jamie felt bad about her goth looking costume because people upstairs to see the band were really dressed like that... haha oops!
dave was the best oompa-loompa i have ever seen. i think he came right from the chocolate facotry!
shaggy was scared as usual, so i am trying to save him! haha the dude in the back giving the thumbs up was a band groopie... haha i guess he wanted to be in our pic.
i think matt is borat's twin for sure! not only does he look like him, he had the voice down, too! matt is our class president.
my pt class had our first class party last night. we had a sweet turn out with a wide varity of costumes!
jon and i went as daphne and shaggy from scooby doo. a special thanks to connor for providing the daphne constume! we of course did not have time and/or money to put together costumes. we wanted to do something different because jon's shaggy costume (green shirt and brown pants) did not really apprear to be a costume, although that is exactly what shaggy wears! we could have done a shaggy wig, but i am not so sure jon would have worn it anyway... haha. jon did shave his beard to look like shaggy which was a nice touch! it was a fun night!
the band that night was quite a sight to see... wow! this was the hardest rocking, head banging crew i have ever seen. luckily we could go downstairs to get away from these crazies. i have to admit we did sitck around for the first few minutes of their show just because it was so shocking to see a band and a whole crowd of their followers going absolutely nuts! i am talking long hair, smashing and jumping dudes screaming songs. i think my jaw was hitting the ground at this point, and i am sure my ears were about to start bleeding at any second. so we took our party elsewhere! i am not sure if i was more scared or shocked... haha! either way.... it was an experience for sure!
e l i z a b e t h
some HUGE hamburgers
for some reason this had me laughing one evening, so of course i reached for the camera to capture the moment for all my blog readers! although it does not seem to have the same effect looking back at the pics now... haha oh well.
also, i know how some of my readers out there have a great appreciation for a good home grilled (not a fast food, mass produced pattie of who knows what) hamburger!
jon has mastered the art of grilling. these burgers were huge and delicious!
we vow to use the grill as long as we can. you can pretty much grill year round in ms; we are not so sure that will be the case here in pa, but we're going to give it a whirl. we will keep you updated! haha
happy grilling everyone!
e l i z a b e t h
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
thank you, god, for the routine...
i have to be honest - i sort of assumed that most of my classes in seminary were going to be a lot theological jibber-jabber that would leave me (after seminary) trying to figure out how to apply what i learned to everyday life. not that this is a bad thing. i think it is important to believe in a triune god and a christ who is fully god and fully man, for instance, even though it is difficult to figure out how all that works and the implications for our lives.
however, since i have arrived here, i have realized that i could not have been more wrong! the professors here at pittsburgh have a special way of making everything very practical - even the most theological things. i will give you an example from today's spiritual formation class (or as we affectionately refer to it - spifo) with dr. barnes. this particular lecture was about several things (a little augustine, justice and compassion spirituality, etc.), but one of these things was spirituality in everyday, ordinary life. i hope this will bless your soul as it did mine! by the way, this is dr. barnes' stuff - not my own. i am not this clever, and i do not wish to be accused of plagiarism! also, i will certainly not articulate it as well as he did, but i hope you get the point. so here it is:
apparently if you add up the instances that are talked about in the gospels, it only adds up to a year worth of days. those of you who are on your toes will be asking, "i thought jesus' ministry was 3 years." good point. so what was he doing the rest of that time? as dr. barnes put it: "this means that 2 out of every 3 days jesus looked at the disciples at the end of day and said, 'well, don't write down anything from today... nothing significant happened.' it was just a routine day." it was a laundry day possibly... or another day running around town... or working... or whatever you do on a normal day.
but, no matter how ordinary, these are nonetheless significant days because god loves routine. think about it. everything in creation hinges on the routine. electrons moving in circles around a nucleus. planets moving around the sun. seasons come and go and come again. the sun comes up and goes down and then comes up again. everything in creation is in a constant routine, and we would be in serious trouble if any of these things got out of wack. but through this routine, all of creation is singing doxology to god because, through this routine, everything in creation is doing what it was created to do. praise god from whom all blessings flow! the sun comes up every morning, not necessarily because of natural order, but because god instructs it to.
those of you who have played with little kids recently know the truth of routine being a god created thing. if you start a game with a kid, what is the first thing they say after you stop (say you are swinging them in circles)? that's right... do it again! do it again! do it again! soon you realize that they are going to keep this up a lot longer than you can. why do they do this? simply put, they love routine because they were created in the image of a god who loves routine.
the problem for us is that we are real good with our spirituality during times of crisis or when things are going really well. but not everything is valley and mountaintop experiences. what about the plains in between which take up the majority of our lives... the days when we are waking up and going to school or to work and picking up the kids from school and cooking dinner and doing laundry and cleaning the house and cutting the yard and going to meetings and practices and ______ (you can fill in the blank). the real challenge of spirituality for us is to pay attention to the things happening in our routine - this is the task of spirituality! as dr. barnes said, "you have to see the mystery beneath the ordinary." it is all about the subtext. if we got to go back in time and we met jesus, chances are that we would see him on an "ordinary" day... a day when he was not healing or casting out demons but going about his daily routine (if there was such a thing!). but was there truly anything "ordinary" about anything jesus did? certainly on the day he was crucified, people walked by and saw something that was ordinary. unfortunately, everyday people were hung on crosses. surely, people saw him that day, and it was just part of their routine. but christ was at work in that ordinary event to make it extraordinary!
too often we don't see the holiness of routine. i know that i don't. i even get upset at it! it is boring. i want constant change to keep me entertained. but this is why it is so important for us to live in community. the people around us can see the holiness in our routine. they know the subtext. they know the mystery beneath our ordinary lives. we certainly can't take our beating heart for granted when there are those around us who know what a blessing a healthy heart is. we certainly can't get sick of tending to our children when there are those around us who desparately want the frustration of tending to children but can't get pregnant.
karl barth stated that all sin begins with a lack of gratitude. how can there be room for sin when we are grateful? may we be grateful for our "ordinary" routines. may we look for the subtext and find the holiness in everything we do. may we find christ making the ordinary extraordinary.
cheers,
jw
by the way, the theology of the triune god is extremely important in everyday life. check out james torrance's worship, community, and the triune god of grace. just another great, practical lesson taught to us here at pts!
however, since i have arrived here, i have realized that i could not have been more wrong! the professors here at pittsburgh have a special way of making everything very practical - even the most theological things. i will give you an example from today's spiritual formation class (or as we affectionately refer to it - spifo) with dr. barnes. this particular lecture was about several things (a little augustine, justice and compassion spirituality, etc.), but one of these things was spirituality in everyday, ordinary life. i hope this will bless your soul as it did mine! by the way, this is dr. barnes' stuff - not my own. i am not this clever, and i do not wish to be accused of plagiarism! also, i will certainly not articulate it as well as he did, but i hope you get the point. so here it is:
apparently if you add up the instances that are talked about in the gospels, it only adds up to a year worth of days. those of you who are on your toes will be asking, "i thought jesus' ministry was 3 years." good point. so what was he doing the rest of that time? as dr. barnes put it: "this means that 2 out of every 3 days jesus looked at the disciples at the end of day and said, 'well, don't write down anything from today... nothing significant happened.' it was just a routine day." it was a laundry day possibly... or another day running around town... or working... or whatever you do on a normal day.
but, no matter how ordinary, these are nonetheless significant days because god loves routine. think about it. everything in creation hinges on the routine. electrons moving in circles around a nucleus. planets moving around the sun. seasons come and go and come again. the sun comes up and goes down and then comes up again. everything in creation is in a constant routine, and we would be in serious trouble if any of these things got out of wack. but through this routine, all of creation is singing doxology to god because, through this routine, everything in creation is doing what it was created to do. praise god from whom all blessings flow! the sun comes up every morning, not necessarily because of natural order, but because god instructs it to.
those of you who have played with little kids recently know the truth of routine being a god created thing. if you start a game with a kid, what is the first thing they say after you stop (say you are swinging them in circles)? that's right... do it again! do it again! do it again! soon you realize that they are going to keep this up a lot longer than you can. why do they do this? simply put, they love routine because they were created in the image of a god who loves routine.
the problem for us is that we are real good with our spirituality during times of crisis or when things are going really well. but not everything is valley and mountaintop experiences. what about the plains in between which take up the majority of our lives... the days when we are waking up and going to school or to work and picking up the kids from school and cooking dinner and doing laundry and cleaning the house and cutting the yard and going to meetings and practices and ______ (you can fill in the blank). the real challenge of spirituality for us is to pay attention to the things happening in our routine - this is the task of spirituality! as dr. barnes said, "you have to see the mystery beneath the ordinary." it is all about the subtext. if we got to go back in time and we met jesus, chances are that we would see him on an "ordinary" day... a day when he was not healing or casting out demons but going about his daily routine (if there was such a thing!). but was there truly anything "ordinary" about anything jesus did? certainly on the day he was crucified, people walked by and saw something that was ordinary. unfortunately, everyday people were hung on crosses. surely, people saw him that day, and it was just part of their routine. but christ was at work in that ordinary event to make it extraordinary!
too often we don't see the holiness of routine. i know that i don't. i even get upset at it! it is boring. i want constant change to keep me entertained. but this is why it is so important for us to live in community. the people around us can see the holiness in our routine. they know the subtext. they know the mystery beneath our ordinary lives. we certainly can't take our beating heart for granted when there are those around us who know what a blessing a healthy heart is. we certainly can't get sick of tending to our children when there are those around us who desparately want the frustration of tending to children but can't get pregnant.
karl barth stated that all sin begins with a lack of gratitude. how can there be room for sin when we are grateful? may we be grateful for our "ordinary" routines. may we look for the subtext and find the holiness in everything we do. may we find christ making the ordinary extraordinary.
cheers,
jw
by the way, the theology of the triune god is extremely important in everyday life. check out james torrance's worship, community, and the triune god of grace. just another great, practical lesson taught to us here at pts!
Monday, October 22, 2007
msu vs. wvu
the day got off to a wonderful start! we dressed in maroon with cowbell in hand and set out to cheer on our dawgs. the sun was shinning and it was cool and breezy outside... just the perfect weather for a football game.
the drive to morgantown was beautiful! we did not get a pic because we were conserving battery life for the rest of the day (i forgot to charge my batteries.) don't worry we will post fall pics soon! we passed lots of wvu fans on the way, and we made sure to display our maroon and white! haha
after about 90 minutes we arrived on the wvu campus. it is an odd campus i might add. we first saw soccer fields and then continued to dirve a mile or so until we reached the wvu alumni center. the stadium was about another mile from the alumni center, and we did not pass any other campus buildings in between. so we are not really sure where their heart of their campus is. anyway... i quickly spotted our tailgate!! jon questioned, "how do you know that is our tailgate?" i answered.... "well, they are all wearing maroon!" haha he immediately rolled down the window and rang the cowbell out the window (we are still sitting on the hwy stuck in game day traffic.) everyone at the tailgate responded by ringing their cowbells right back at us! haha it was a good feeling.
this was not the "tailgate" i am familair with. this was catered with glass plates and glasses. there was no plastic cutlery for at least a mile or so. although we did have the usual hamburgers/hotdogs/beans/chips/cookies meal, it was the nicest version you could have.
we got to see a couple familiar faces from home which absolutely made our day... (straton greeted us walking in, brad fuller, adam telle.) also, we chatted with other random msu grads from all over which was fun, too. we send out a speical thanks to stacey's mom and dad for taking us under their wing. haha we got to spend some quality time together at the tailgate! it was lots of fun!
after the mini pep ralley and the door prize give-aways (no i did not win anything... it must have been an off day for me), we decided not to wait on the shuttle and just hike over to the stadium. as i mentioned earlier, we passed nothing like dorms, or class buildings... or anything marked wvu for that matter. it was just like walking through town... we passed kroger, burger king and other businesses. i guess their campus is really spread out.
we could tell we were getting close to the stadium when we filed into the the cattle herd of navy and yellow. oh yeah... we stuck out. the worst part was marching through their tailgate parties. we have it good at msu as far as tailgating goes. they seriously tailgate in a HUGE parking lot from their trunks or truck beds. we did end up walking next to some dude who was a little on the sober side and nice to chat with, so that made the walk through the enemy terriotry a little less painful.
once inside the game... we notice everyone standing along side a glass wall looking down. we assume is it the little tram car they have buzzing all over campus. but to our surprise, you can look down on to the team's workout room. i wanted to take a pic because it was really neat, but then i felt odd and decided against it. feeling odd usually doesn't bother me, but this time it got the best of me for some reason. you could see the players all geared up pacing around, all the workout equipment lined up painted in school colors, and a snack bar of some sort. the snack bar was serving power bars and protein shakes for a little pregame boost.
once safely seated in our msu section we were anxiously awaiting the game to begin. it was great until we forgot how to kick off the ball. we were a little flustered after that and never found our heads again. i do not know how you could ever find your head in that stadium... they play LOUD. obnoxious rap music for every down in the game. it was seriously so bad that everyone was sticking their fingers in their ears. our least favorite was at EVERY thrid down they would play these doom day bells that would shake your brains out. i kind of felt bad for the bands... they never got to play. it was homecoming, so they had an alumni band as well. we did get to cheer during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, so that was fun!
here are the pics from the day...
a little pregame. everyone in the band wears a cape. it was pretty sweet. their band was huge and ran everywhere on the field.
so wvu has a bad history of couch demolition. i think it is a thing of the past, but the alumni are still making reference to the old days.
a shot from the 2nd quarter when we actually decided to play.
we were hoping to take a pic with the score board after the game and send it out for christmas cards... haha since the game was clearly not going our way, we opted out.
this turned out to be quite a blog... whew!
e l i z a b e t h
the drive to morgantown was beautiful! we did not get a pic because we were conserving battery life for the rest of the day (i forgot to charge my batteries.) don't worry we will post fall pics soon! we passed lots of wvu fans on the way, and we made sure to display our maroon and white! haha
after about 90 minutes we arrived on the wvu campus. it is an odd campus i might add. we first saw soccer fields and then continued to dirve a mile or so until we reached the wvu alumni center. the stadium was about another mile from the alumni center, and we did not pass any other campus buildings in between. so we are not really sure where their heart of their campus is. anyway... i quickly spotted our tailgate!! jon questioned, "how do you know that is our tailgate?" i answered.... "well, they are all wearing maroon!" haha he immediately rolled down the window and rang the cowbell out the window (we are still sitting on the hwy stuck in game day traffic.) everyone at the tailgate responded by ringing their cowbells right back at us! haha it was a good feeling.
this was not the "tailgate" i am familair with. this was catered with glass plates and glasses. there was no plastic cutlery for at least a mile or so. although we did have the usual hamburgers/hotdogs/beans/chips/cookies meal, it was the nicest version you could have.
we got to see a couple familiar faces from home which absolutely made our day... (straton greeted us walking in, brad fuller, adam telle.) also, we chatted with other random msu grads from all over which was fun, too. we send out a speical thanks to stacey's mom and dad for taking us under their wing. haha we got to spend some quality time together at the tailgate! it was lots of fun!
after the mini pep ralley and the door prize give-aways (no i did not win anything... it must have been an off day for me), we decided not to wait on the shuttle and just hike over to the stadium. as i mentioned earlier, we passed nothing like dorms, or class buildings... or anything marked wvu for that matter. it was just like walking through town... we passed kroger, burger king and other businesses. i guess their campus is really spread out.
we could tell we were getting close to the stadium when we filed into the the cattle herd of navy and yellow. oh yeah... we stuck out. the worst part was marching through their tailgate parties. we have it good at msu as far as tailgating goes. they seriously tailgate in a HUGE parking lot from their trunks or truck beds. we did end up walking next to some dude who was a little on the sober side and nice to chat with, so that made the walk through the enemy terriotry a little less painful.
once inside the game... we notice everyone standing along side a glass wall looking down. we assume is it the little tram car they have buzzing all over campus. but to our surprise, you can look down on to the team's workout room. i wanted to take a pic because it was really neat, but then i felt odd and decided against it. feeling odd usually doesn't bother me, but this time it got the best of me for some reason. you could see the players all geared up pacing around, all the workout equipment lined up painted in school colors, and a snack bar of some sort. the snack bar was serving power bars and protein shakes for a little pregame boost.
once safely seated in our msu section we were anxiously awaiting the game to begin. it was great until we forgot how to kick off the ball. we were a little flustered after that and never found our heads again. i do not know how you could ever find your head in that stadium... they play LOUD. obnoxious rap music for every down in the game. it was seriously so bad that everyone was sticking their fingers in their ears. our least favorite was at EVERY thrid down they would play these doom day bells that would shake your brains out. i kind of felt bad for the bands... they never got to play. it was homecoming, so they had an alumni band as well. we did get to cheer during the 2nd and 3rd quarters, so that was fun!
here are the pics from the day...
a little pregame. everyone in the band wears a cape. it was pretty sweet. their band was huge and ran everywhere on the field.
so wvu has a bad history of couch demolition. i think it is a thing of the past, but the alumni are still making reference to the old days.
a shot from the 2nd quarter when we actually decided to play.
we were hoping to take a pic with the score board after the game and send it out for christmas cards... haha since the game was clearly not going our way, we opted out.
this turned out to be quite a blog... whew!
e l i z a b e t h
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