Ring Stackers

I think one of the greatest toys for kids is this stack of colored rings made by Fisher-Price. (By the way the offical title is Rock-A-Stack.) We've all seen them...we've probably all played with them at one point.

I think the brilliance of this toy is that it has so much to teach. It teaches color, size differentials, order, stacking...etc. What's fascinating is that as Cadence has grown, she has enjoyed the toy in different ways. At first she loved taking the rings off and holding on to them. Then she let us put them on her amrs and legs (Grandma Fiegl's idea). She did figure out how to put them back on the post...but didn't know how to put them on in the right order until recently. And she will soon be able to learn the difference between the colors. But as she has discovered new things about this...you should see her face when she figures it out...sheer jubilation at the discovery.

The rings have always been the same, but Cadence has experienced them in different ways as she has matured.

I wonder if truth is similar to Rock-A-Stack toys. Truth remains constant, but as I grow and mature I experience it's complexity.

Love is similar too...the more I engage in my relationship with Aubrey, the more I find out the depths.

There is joy, simple and exuberant joy, as the facets of truth and love are discovered.

A Community Called Atonement Ch. 9 and 10

Many apologies on the tardiness of getting back to this discussion. A few weeks ago I went to Boston with our teens and then the weeks leading up to last weekend I was preparing for our 30 Hour Famine. Both events went really well, but I'm mostly excited about the Famine event. It's the perfect youth ministry event, because it teaches the spiritual disciples of fasting and serving and gets kids involved in caring for the world and making a difference...and if you do it right, it builds a foundation for a life of compassion and justice.

Now onto the discussion of our book. I've decided to change our format up a bit to provide a little bit more direction for our conversations. So I'm gonna have some questions to which we can each respond. Feel free to go beyond the questions (maybe even ask your own), but I hope that trying to answer the same questions would give us a bit more focus.

So here are the questions for chapters 9 and 10.

1. Did you agree with Scot's statement that "the cross creates the kingdom as Christ envisions it"?
2. How have you explained the wrath of God as it appears in scripture? (Scot gives a couple options: impersonal wrath or personal wrath)
3. On page 75, Scot says that "...the gift of the Spirit is cosmic." In this instance he is connecting the Spirit to the enabler of community. I'd love to hear stories about how you've seen the Spirit's work benefit community.

Absent...Returning Soon

Congratulations to Allie and Ryan

My "little" cousin Allie is getting married to a guy who sounds like a high quality fellow! Much congratuations to them!

You can see their newspaper announcement here.

Emerging Amishness

First ever emerging amish church

This story appeals to me because of my beard...but mostly because it's hilarious.

Andrew Jones was responsible for my finding it...wow!